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Gargoyles: Metamorphosis
Reviewed: 08/11/2013
Into A Bat Like Panther!
So we are getting into season two and wondering just what Derek Maza decided to do with his life when it ended in a cliffhanger of sorts. Well; this episode is going to answer that question and it will also answer the question of if Derek would soon live to regret that decision. This is also the debut of the mad scientist played by Tim Curry. It's bad enough that he has a personal grunge against anthro ducks; but now humans and gargoyles?! So what is going to happen to Derek Maza? And is this "metamorphosis" going to be a tear jerking fest? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Lydia Marano and Brynne Chandler Reaves (it's Brynne Stephens in case anyone is wondering). Lydia started as a staff writer for Harmony Gold in 1985 with Captain Herlock & The Queen of 1000 Years. Then she did episodes for Starcom, Bionic Six, Spiral Zone, The Real Ghostbusters, Dinosaucers, Roughnecks, Spiderman 1995 edition, Phantom 2040, Conan & The Young Warriors and Max Steel as his most recent credit. Lydia also wrote the Ghost of A Chance episode in Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers. She also did a cameo in the 1989 movie The Laughing Dead. Animation is done by Sunwoo Animation.
Opening Moment #1: We get a recap from My Brothers Keeper which basically explains the conflict between Derek and Eliza when Derek took David Xanatos' offer; and it ends with Eliza showing the tape recorder with Fox's confession.
We begin this one with a far shot of Castle Wyvern AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) and we go to a long sequence of panning down to ground level to the alleyways of NYC with a newspaper flying around and landing in front of an oil barrel being used as a fireplace. There are two homeless people trying to keep warm in front of it while we see some blond haired female in the foreground looking on wearing a lime green dress and red coat as she claims that she is not like the others. What others? The homeless people in the background? I don't buy that for one second. Judging by the Princess Katherine voice (Kath Soucie); this has to be Maggie Reed. Then an old man in a purple trench coat and hat with a walking stick arrives and offers her a job as we discover that Maggie has only been in NYC for a short time and this was a temporary setback. According to the old man; this job pays well and the surroundings are much better than in the streets. The old man leads Maggie away and we head to a sky shot of the airport in the morning with the most out of place music in the entire series. Seriously; it feels so... Disney like. So we head to just in front of a hanger as we see a hot dog vendor pouring mustard on a hotdog as Eliza is making bad Zen Master jokes to kill time and heat. Comedy is not this show's strong point; and it shows the most right here. The black haired hot dog vendor at least agrees with me that the joke was unfunny as Eliza asks about Derek and the hot dog vendor proclaims that he should be here any moment now as Derek lands an orange stylized plane. Derek opens the hatch and comes out as Eliza asks what he is doing and Derek admits that this is one of the perks for working for David Xanatos; so he finally made his mind up and thought Eliza unfairly played snitch on him. Eliza asks about missing the family dinner and Derek blows it off when Eliza nudges that David Xanatos doesn't give a damn about employees and their families. This doesn't sound like someone who has decided to let someone live his own life here. Derek then proclaims that Xanatos is not Snidely Whiplash. Hmmm; so Dudley Do Right is in the public domain? Probably not.
Anyhow; Derek proclaims that he can handle it as Eliza accepts that this is his life; but he is still fooling himself. Eliza wants him to at least promise that if there is trouble that he cannot handle to call her and Derek and Eliza do the "cross your heart and hope to die" spot which is just asking for trouble. Derek thinks that there will be no trouble but he promises. So we scene change back to Castle Wyvern and pan southeast to the ground as we look at the streets filled with passing cars as Sunwoo is doing their damnest to make them not look bad. It's not working sadly as we pan over to the clock tower as the sun is setting, the night falls and the gargoyles live again! Goliath's statue had doves flying away and a whiplash jump cut for no reason at all. Damn; TaleSpin had better flow than this; even in their sub par episodes. And Sunwoo is still trying to impress on the fact that they can animate (and failing badly) by having a sequence where the stone chips after Goliath awakes fall on an unsuspecting New Yorker as the doves are flying around Goliath on the clock tower and then flying away. This leads nowhere; just like Sunwoo's attempt to look like good animators. So we head to a shot of a building with large letters reading Gen-U-Tech as we head inside as someone is throwing food trays at an orderly (Did I mention that this place looks like an asylum?) and crashes through a door into the hallway and runs out of the Gen-U-Tech on all fours. Did I mention that she looks like a gargoyle like creature; only she looks like a Manticore without the poison tail? The green dress she is wearing makes it clear that she is Maggie Reed by the way. We see the orderlies go outside; but no further as the old man is seen; but his back is to the hard camera (despite seeing him in full profile earlier) with the closeup of the walking stick. So we scene change to a shot of the full moon and then we pan down to a Mode 7 shot of the clock tower and then see Broadway and Brooklyn swoop down into the night sky. They appear to be flying to the left and in shadows; but on the next shot, they are flying to the right. Yeap; this is going to be one of those episodes from Sunwoo isn't it?
So Broadway and Brooklyn notice a shadow figure on the sky shot in the alleyway as we cut to Maggie Reed trying to hide as we see her face for the first time and she looks half cat/half dragon. She might as well be called A...ummm...Wuzzle?! Broadway and Brooklyn lands in front of her and she gets scared as they realize that it's not Demona; which would have been a perfect misunderstanding if Maggie Reed looked similar to Demona; but she doesn't. Maggie backs away as Brooklyn tries to reason with her as we hear sirens and here comes the asylum ambulances as the orderlies come out with tranquilizer dart guns as the red haired one proclaims that she is not alone; and the brown haired one with dark glasses want to GTS all of them and let "The Doctor" sort it out. Wait; so Doctor Who is creating these chimeras? Oh wait; he said "doc". So Doc Emmett Brown from Back From The Future is making these creatures? So the babyfaces bail behind the dumpster and the orderlies shoot their dart gun and Sunwoo animation is trying so hard to make it look like they are better than anyone in this show by using light blue flashes and darts hitting everything but the babyfaces. Pfftt; whatever. Brooklyn attempts to grab Maggie's arm to get her out of the way; but she no sells and screams which the force apparently drops the GEN-U-TECH bracelet onto the ground. Maggie then goes behind the dumpster as one of the darts electrifies the dumpster which is enough for her to shake and the orderlies grab her (in spite of Brooklyn's protests) and put her in the ambulance. Then two of the orderlies start shooting on the babyfaces; so Brooklyn and Broadway push the dumpster into the side door of the ambulance and it takes a fairly wussy bump into the side door. Sigh. Brooklyn runs in and scratches the front side door; but gets darted in the back as Broadway is forced to run in and grabs Brooklyn and fly into the air and away from the scene much to the protests of Brooklyn wanting to save her. So both ambulances leave without further incident as we see Brooklyn and Broadway looking on from the look outs not looking amused by these events.
So we head back to Castle Wyvern as a black helicopter with red trim lands on the castle grounds as Owen is waiting for him with documents as the step ladder is brought out. Xanatos and Derek walk out as Owen gives him the documents on the expenses from GEN-U-TECH. Yeap; Xanatos apparently owns the company that is making chimeras and keeping them in asylum. See; this is a special project Xanatos is overseeing as Owen calls it the creation of hired mercenaries. Wait; I thought THE PACK~ were "hired mercenaries"? I guess with Fox being lover to Xanatos; it means THE PACK~ is useless to him now. Xanatos claims that it is not to his knowledge as David wants to pay Doctor Sevarius a visit. Derek offers to come along; but Xanatos no sells the deal. Derek proclaims that he is his bodyguard and wants Xanatos to get his money's worth. Xanatos agrees and he shows this evil look that is showing the signs of impending doom. So we head back to the clock tower and inside as the Gargoyles and Eliza exchange notes on the situation. Brooklyn insists that she needed help; but Broadway claims that they weren't the help she wanted. Broadway called Brooklyn lover boy and shows the bracelet (taken from his shorts out of nowhere) she wore despite the fact that we never saw Broadway pick it up. Logic break #1 for the episode. Eliza looks at it as it has the GEN-U-TECH symbol on it. Eliza ponders it over and we head to GEN-U-TECH and zoom into the outside of the building as Xanatos wants Doctor Sevarius to update him on the project as we head inside Doctor Sevarius's office as Derek is with Xanatos and Xanatos is doing the Gruffi pose as we see Doctor Sevarius who is walking with a cane so it's the old man from the beginning of the episode; only he looks like a reject of the human form of Carnage from the 1995 version of Spiderman. Ummm; yeah. So we discover that this is a computer lab as he turns down the lights and puts on the projector as his walking stick is a pointer.
Goliath's flying is so contrived during the projector sequence that it appears to be limited as hell. Hudson isn't much better either as the guise of this is that Sevarius is trying to clone a living gargoyle; but none is available right now which would partially explain why the orderlies wanted to GTS Broadway and Brooklyn earlier on. Sevarius then shows a screen containing SCIENCE~! OH MY GOD! HE'S BLINDING ME WITH SCIENCE~! Or maybe not. The "good" doctor is splicing genes and DNA which is pretty new for DTVA fans as we are shown footage of jungle cats and bats as Sevarius explains that he has splices genes to clone a chimera with the power and speed of a jungle cat and the flying ability of a bat. Xanatos asks if they have the IQ of a human being and Sevaruis states that they have. Sadly; according to Sevarius' science talk; he states that to maintain strength throughout the day; they must eat the same amount as three cows a day; which is hilarious since most people today do exactly that. How else can you explain obesity rates. Xanatos cracks a joke about the amount of cows in New York City as Sevarius shows a slide of the statue gargoyles in the sunlight as he proclaims that they are like solar roofs in that they feed off the sunlight during the daytime when they are asleep which is not much different for us at night. However; he does not know about the rest of the animal kingdom; so he's going to try another method as he motions us to a large fish tank in the wall as it contains electric eels which Sevarius gives the full science name for the eels as well. See; these fish store energy in organs called electroreceptors which is legit since there is a science method based on that organ (on a funny biology note: There is such a thing as a Chimera in real life; but it's an exotic fish). Anyhow; adapting that to the chimeras would solve the problems. Derek is amused; however, he wants to know about these mercenaries being hired as Sevarius proclaims that one of his test subjects escaped which doesn't amuse Xanatos one bit.
Sevarius (I'm from now on calling him Seva because it's easier to type) proclaims that he used a shortcut and human protocols as he pushes a button on the console and we see a glass holding cell showing a lion chimera, a tiger chimera and Maggie Reed rolled up in a ball in the corner looking terrified almost to death actually. Yeap; he's a slimy, vile heel now as Seva proclaims that he simply injected the humans with mutagenic formula as the far shot makes it appears that Maggie is in a personal corner. So sexist of Seva as Derek is rightfully calling Xanatos out on it. Xanatos proclaims that he had no idea this was happening and then he stops and rephrases himself claiming that he was fooling himself as he knew Seva had a bad reputation. That is the understatement of the episode there David as David wants Seva to find a way to reverse the mutations right now; but Seva no sells because he is not going to allow his life's work to be destroyed. He brings out the dart gun and starts shooting as Derek rushes in and gets hit in the back with the dart somehow. Derek grabs Seva and disarms him. Derek puts Seva down and takes the dart out of his back claiming that he doesn't feel sleepy for some odd reason. Seva giggles proclaiming that he didn't GTS him; he TMNT'ed him! Yeap; he uses the formula in the dart and shot it in Derek's back which shocks and appalls Derek as he looks at the chimeras in the holding cell and that ends the segment 10 and a half minutes in. This was fine so far; but Sunwoo looks awfully cheap in this one.
After the commercial break; we head back to the computer lab as Seva is in his chair while Derek is feeling shameful about something. Xanatos demands to know where the antidote is and Seva admits that it's in his brain and he won't let Xanatos destroy his own work. Then two orderlies appear on the computer monitor to inform Seva that there are two detectives outside looking into a kidnapping and we see on the monitor Eliza Maza and Matt Bluestone flashing their badges. So David is giddy and demands them to let them in and see the entire project which makes Seva stammer because Xanatos bankrolled the whole operation. Xanatos simply doesn't give a damn because after this disgusting science; even he is willing to go back to prison again if it means bringing Seva down. Remember that this is the same Xanatos who didn't want Demona to kill the Gargoyles in Reawakening; so this is par for the course for David. David proclaims that the police, the press and the public will crucify him; which in case is Mike Adams and his conspiracy theory buddies who have conspiracies so absurd and wrong that even Matt Bluestone would blush in embarrassment. And if they don't, he WILL! And I wouldn't think twice about him saying that. Seva finally concedes as Xanatos consoles Derek and he is sweating like Oscar every time something silly happens. Xanatos offers to let Eliza in when Derek gives the word; but Derek doesn't want to thus breaking his word right from the start. What a shock?! Xanatos tells his orderlies to get Eliza and Matt out of their hair and orders Seva to proceed to work on the antidote right now. Seva bails as Derek is now having stomach pains and when he speaks; he is showing vampire fangs. UH OH! I do not like where this is going...
So we head to the clock tower and inside as it's almost sunrise and we see Eliza in the clock tower pacing around claiming that she knows Seva is lying about something. What exactly did he lie about? This is never explained since they scene changed to the clock tower before we saw the orderlies make Eliza and Matt leave. Brooklyn is perched on the stairs wanting Eliza to arrest him; but Eliza cannot because there is no probable cause and if there is no evidence for her to prove that Seva is doing evil stuff to humans; her hands are tied. Brooklyn runs out of the clock tower and gets on his perch proclaiming that his hands aren't which is funny because five seconds later; he turns to stone since it is morning. I was hoping for a witty retort from Eliza; but there is none. Yes folks; Goliath has not spoke a single word for 12 MINUTES now; although we have seen him in three scenes in the background. He might just break Baloo's record in Flight School for the most minutes without speaking, and not being seen. And we head inside Seva's Lab and yes, I suggest that record will be broken now. So we see a merry go around of test tubes on the table as it stops and Seva checks one of them as he blows off Xanatos for not selling junk bonds. We hear moaning as Derek is now huddled in a corner and the metamorphosis has almost completed itself as he is shaking like a leaf and clearly is looking like a chimera now. Seva wants to cage him for his own safety; but Xanatos blows off Seva's lack of humanity (which sezs nothing about Xanatos') and basically tells him to shut up and keep working. So Seva places the test tube in the merry go round and we spin again. So we head back to the clock tower as the sunsets and the gargoyles live again! Brooklyn leaps first as Goliath finally speaks 13 minutes into this episode! I think he has the record Baloo held four years ago now. Goliath asks where Brooklyn is going and Brooklyn wants to help save Maggie Reed again. Broadway sarcastically blows him off which causes Brooklyn to invoke the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Broadway for not knowing anything about her.
Thankfully; Goliath retorts that one for me since Brooklyn is acting like Lexington from Leader Of THE PACK~ and rushing in without a plan. However; Goliath actually has a Krackpotkin Plan in mind and the closeup of his eyes and Keith David's voice makes Goliath sound creepy. Now that I think about it; Lexington hasn't spoke at all in this episode either despite seeing him so he has already broken Goliath's record! So we head to the roof of GEN-U-TECH as Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington land on the roof in front of the solar ceiling window. Brooklyn wants to smash the roof window; but Lexington finally speaks and grabs Brooklyn's wrist. He explains that the window is electrified due to wires we do not see as Lexington deduces that the window is booby trapped. As if Seva was expecting them to show up. Brooklyn is not amused and asks how to get in now. So Goliath finds another way by tearing up the roof itself and landing inside the conveniently placed computer room which Lexington rushes in and is on the computer in the foreground. That was so Backyardigans convenient that I swear I'm watching Teddy Ruxpin again; only with much better shot continuity. So Lexington is on the computer typing on a red screen with white letters as Brooklyn blows him off for playing hooky. Lexington retorts in kind and apparently finds the location despite not seeing it; and we head inside the same room where Maggie Reed was held in the glass cell; only she's the only one in the holding cell and near the obviously placed intercom imbedded in glass. This is such an obvious setup; Lexington might as well have a sign on his chest saying: "I'm with stupid" with an arrowing pointing at Brooklyn and Goliath. Brooklyn tries to talk to Maggie; but she panics and yells on the intercom for help as the alarm is sound. Yeap; obvious setup is so obvious!
Goliath grabs something and bashes it into the glass and that cracks the glass. Then he scratches the glass for no reason whatsoever because he then proceeds to bash the object into the glass and it opens up a decent sized hole. Then the door opens and in comes the SWAT Team from Awakening. Wow; haven't seen them in quite some time. So the door locks down as they shoot the tranquilizer dart right into the shoulder of Maggie Reed and she goes to sleep in Brooklyn's arm. Goliath uses the tray to block red flashing dart shots (Ahh; Sunwoo is remembering TaleSpin now. Logic break is still a logic break; but whatever...) and then one of the SWAT members throws a canister of smoke and everyone coughs as we do the whiplash jump cut into Seva's official lab as he has created a dart gun like device with a test tube filled with lime green stuff. I'm guessing that is the antidote because Xanatos is hounding on Seva to give Derek the antidote as he looks like the Wolfman with wings. Then the door flings open and out of the smoke comes the gargoyles as Goliath accuses Xanatos of being behind this. Xanatos hounds on Seva to give him the antidote; but we get the SWAT Team in and they start firing like crazy and the gargoyles are dodging around and somehow Seva gets flung and the injector gun goes flies as Derek tries to make a leap of faith while yelling "Noooooooooooo"; but it does no good as the injector gun crashes on the ground and the test tube breaks. Ummm; if I were Derek; I would cup the stuff and try to drink it. But no; he just cries like a baby. Goliath climbs onto a table and claws at the roof to create a hole as Brooklyn climbs up with Lexington with Maggie Reed in Brooklyn's arms.
Goliath tries to climb up; but Seva is stupid enough to snag onto Goliath's ankle and Goliath flings him into the fish tank and it shatters causing all the water and electric eels to swim out of the hole and some of them make contact with Seva and he is fried as he oversells the shock like mad and then dies. Xanatos comes over to check his pulse and...he's dead as there is no pulse...Wait a second? Sevaruis was MURDERED by Goliath?! On a show marketed to children?! HOLY....Oh wait; I forgot about the onscreen death of Doctor No Good in Double O Ducks and that one was much more gruesome than this one. See what happens when you actually watch the shows and not based your opinions on an era that you remember only the good stuff from your childhood?! Derek cannot believe this as Xanatos has the gulping face on as we end the segment sixteen minutes in. Like I said before; Sevaruis being legit dead was shocking (to pardon the pun); but it's not the most gruesome death in DTVA history; but don't worry man children; you'll get a more gruesome death than the one in Double O Ducks; it's just not this one.
After the commercial break; Xanatos stands up as Derek is just upset as hell that his one last chance has died with Seva. Xanatos apologizes for this as Derek blames the gargoyles for causing this and I cannot disagree with that although Seva was stupid enough to be so selfish to wanting Maggie Reed back that he would risk getting killed to snag on Goliath's ankle. What an idiot?! Xanatos wants to help Derek out of the lab; but Derek shoves his hand away. So Xanatos reminds him of Eliza and Derek shakes his head in agony over it. So we head to the clock tower AFTER HAPPY HOUR as it's 10 o'clock pm and remember that for a bit later as Maggie wakes up and she's surrounded by the babyfaces inside the clock tower. She shakes like a leaf and she is horrified that she is a monster. Brooklyn tries to make peace with her; but it's not working. She asked if they were human once and Goliath just annoys me by getting in her face and saying no. Goliath is not much of a people gargoyle if you catch my drift. She slides to a wall yelling about a cure and not being a monster as the gargoyles claim that they aren't monsters either as Maggie finally reveals her name and is from Ohio. Just Ohio; no city. And now it's sunrise despite being 10 PM! Bad logic break there guys! I think we know who to blame for this one. So the babyfaces are on their perches and they turn to stone as we see Maggie at the doorway huddled and frightened like a timid little rabbit. So we cut back to Seva's lab as the place is cornered off with yellow tape as the police are looking around for clues. Matt is examining the scene where Seva was killed and Eliza comes in with papers and shows Matt that Xanatos owns GEN-U-TECH which is an angle we all knew about ten minutes ago. So we head to the streets and we pan up to the clock tower and Sunwoo has completely lost it as it is not even dark and the gargoyles still live despite still being sunset. UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Goliath and company walk into the clock tower as Maggie Reed is gone. Goliath deduces that she left after sunrise as Brooklyn is panicking now. If only he was panicking about the nosedive Sunwoo is taking in this episode.
So Goliath orders Hudson and Bronx to guard the clock tower because that is their gimmick now. Goliath wants everyone else to go to Castle Wyvern because they intend to find an antidote and confront Xanatos once again. So it's foggy as we pan up to Wyvern Castle and see Maggie Reed with Derek Maza in full black panther chimera mode (and blue underwear) with the tiger and the jungle cat chimeras as Derek decides to try out the new wings while in the intern. So the chimera fly for a while and suddenly; all the chimeras like this and want to screw the antidote. Don't you just love it when the chimeras actually realize that being as they are is good? And here comes Goliath and the gargoyles as the burning question is on everyone's minds: Who are the babyfaces in this fight? So Tiger and Jungle Cat chimera take on Broadway and Lexington; while Goliath gets Derek and Brooklyn gets Maggie Reed of course because he's lovers boy; according to Broadway. Derek blames Goliath for him becoming a monster which is stupid because it was Seva and his dart gun that made him into a chimera. Hell; Seva shot Derek in the back with it with a dart gun and we have it on film and even DEREK saw it! Sure; you can blame Goliath for murdering Seva and denying you the antidote; but you are sounding like a guy who is against vaccines or something. And the formula was still on the ground and you were dumb and not desperate enough to take it orally. So we get a rather lame fight (because Sunwoo cannot animate this properly) and then the best part of the episode happens: Owen comes in to inform David that Eliza is here and Xanatos wants him to send Eliza up; because according to Xanatos...
David Xanatos: I want to stop this senseless violence.
I...died and went to BS&P hell after that. I laughed so hard at that line; it is only half as good as Launchpad doing the Russian dance in The Wrath of Genghis Khan in Ducktales. So Brooklyn lands on the castle rooftop with Maggie and Brooklyn continues to try to reason with her; but she no sells in a panic and uses the HAND ZAP BEAM OF DOOM to fry and blind Brooklyn in the face. So she now has the electric eel's power and it gives her Megavolt's power. Megavolt is shocked and burned out now. So Maggie flies away stage left as Derek zaps with blue sparks Goliath down to the castle rampart and is stomping on him as Eliza arrives with her gun demanding it to stop stomping on Goliath's face. Derek stops and tries to explain that Goliath made him like this which we know is not true as Eliza calls this impossible; although Goliath did "kill" Sevaruis. More on that in a moment as Eliza asks for his name and Derek now calls himself Talon as they do the cross your heart; and that is enough for Eliza to realize that it's Derek and is in shock as Derek turns his back on her as he claims Xanatos was trying to help him; but Eliza blows it all off because Xanatos is a filthy liar and Talon electrifies his own body and Eliza gets shocked. Wow; didn't see that one coming as Derek then feels such regret that he shamefully runs off and flies away as the other chimeras follow him. The babyfaces want to follow; but Brooklyn disallows it because Maggie no longer wants his help; or anyone else's right now. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah; Stormy Weather when Kit threw the hat in Baloo's eyes. And sadly; I don't feel Eliza/Derek nearly as much as Baloo/Kit because I know Kit's back story; how little it is. Eliza proclaims that this is war making sure she invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Xanatos to force the point that she is going to take him down for good now. Riiiigggggghhhhhhtttt Eliza. So the gargoyles LOST for the first time in a while; tying at 1-1 and 2-10-3 for the season as we head to Xanatos' office and Owen comes in with a red haired man wearing a trench coat, hat and walking cane. UH OH!
Owen calls him the greatest geneticist on the planet as the trench coat comes off and it's....Doctor Sevaruis?! What a giant middle finger to everyone watching thinking that he was dead?! Ducktales in Double O Ducks never did that to the fans; and they are a funny animals show. And apparently; in death, he lost his white sideburns which I bet deflected the damage as this was a fake death scene which they somehow got past the police! What a stupid finish this is?! Xanatos claims that he overplayed the part as Seva explains that he was trying to get the subjects to actually escape and only Maggie Reed took the bait and allowed the Gargoyles to spot her. And then we see Xanatos click on the television showing Talon flying in the air doing stunts like Kit Cloudkicker only with wings, minus the airfoil. Seva is concerned about them escaping; but Xanatos proclaims that Derek/Talon will return because Xanatos promised to cure him, and that delusion make it a perfect bargaining chip. So yes folks; Xanatos has gone into full heel mode now as Eliza was correct about him all along. And his acting during that lie was so convincing; only the non-verbal cues would tell him that he's lying. As much as reading is so important; reading non-verbal cues properly is even more so since it's those cues that tell the story of a person's character much better than their voice. I just wish they booked a different finish and not piss off the fans expecting someone to actually die in this episode. So we head back to the clock tower as Brooklyn looks out the window with Lexington consoling him while Eliza is lying in a nest of hay in the corner crying her eyes out as the Gargoyles just watch on in disbelief as this group has hit rock bottom again after a promising start to the season. This ends the episode at 21:08. I got to admit that the last thirty seconds of this was pulled off well; but it isn't enough to salvage the first clunker in the series. The animation was off; there were too many logic breaks, no feeling until the end scene where Eliza is crying (after she was angry at Xanatos during the beginning of the finish) and had a really stupid illogical finish that flipped the bird on the audience expecting an on screen death. Thankfully; someone will die on camera in this show soon enough. Hopefully; it will be a much better story and animation than this one. Call it ** 1/4 (45%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; we finally got our first clunker of this series which I expected much later on. I will say this: The storyline was good, Xanatos did a great job convincing me that he gave a damn about Derek and it was probably a better job than Dan Dawson; albeit not much. And Xanatos made me laugh a few times in this episode. Sevaruis was all right as the slimy heel doctor and he did an awesome job dying in front of us. With that said; the finish was really stupid; not because they faked a death scene (Balooest of Bluebloods did the same thing for their finish), but because they managed to get his fake death PAST police and they never explained how. STUPID! Then there is Sunwoo being Sunwoo with animation screw ups and quite a few logic breaks. Maggie Reed was nothing and Derek is now reduced to playing a stupid black man who is now a chimera. Lovely. Add in a bad fight when ended too soon and a romance of Brooklyn/Maggie that went nowhere (along with Broadway producing the bracelet out of his shorts) and you got a below average episode that finally broke the good to excellent streak this show was shooting for. By the way; TaleSpin didn't get their first legit clunker until Your Baloo's In The Mail which was about 60 episodes into the run. So yeah; not the best of signs; although to be fair, they did beat TaleSpin on the Stud Muffin Scoring System since The Bigger They Are; The Louder They Oink was number five in the Air Date Order run; but on the DVD order; it was Bearly Alive which was #15. So there you go. Next up is Legion as Coldstone returns and it's not going to be pretty. Hopefully; in a good way here. So....
Thumbs barely down for this episode and I'll see you all next time.