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Gargoyles: The Cage
Reviewed: 09/22/2013
...Of Revenge!
Now we are heading towards the Avalon stuff coming up; I wonder what Derek Maza is up to?! Well; this episode is bringing him back after a lame performance that disappointed us when Sevarius faked his own death. Now Talon and the Mutates are swearing revenge on Goliath because they want a cure that is never going to happen of course because David is cruel and Seva is a scumbag. So; will they improve their game? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Lydia C. Marano and story edited by Brynne Stephens. Animation is done by Toon City Inc. with additional services done by Moving Images International Inc.
Opening Moment #1: We have a partial recap of Metamorphosis which seems to tone down the drama of the entire Eliza/Derek Maza tragedy. However; I should not be surprised since they pretty much did the same thing with Home Is Where The Heart Is in Plunder and Lightning.
We begin this one with a moon shot with some fog AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we see some gargoyle flying around which appears to be Talon; only with brown fur as we pan down to a large house and into a dining room with lots of green walls and brick sides. There is also a nice island painting on one of the back walls as a dining table is set up and we see sitting down at the table with Peter Maza, Diane Maza and another Maza wearing a lot of purple with green pants and has lighter skin than Diane and wearing the same hoop earring. I discover through my notes that this is Beth Maza. Beth Maza is voiced by Monica Allison and she began her career as Joanne in The Golden Palace in 1992 along with the television movie The Jacksons: An Amazing Dream as Hazel Gordy; and went from there doing mostly cameos and bit roles in television moves; not doing much of note. Gargoyles is her DTVA debut and only appearance. Chicago Fire as Guest is her most recent credit. She has 32 acting credits to her resume. She was Julie in The Adventures of Brer Rabbit in 2006 and the video game Everquest II: Desert Of Flames. Eliza comes in with a pot of "chicken mole" (pronounced mo-lay; not mole) and dips some out as it's Diane's recipe for making Peter Maza feel right at home. Beth recalls Derek getting first dibs on the stuff and then she realizes that she went too far and complains about taking a break and having her brain in neutral and Peter asks about if Eliza has seen him and Eliza claims that she hasn't recently; but he'll be here when he is ready. We see a gargoyle like shadow behind the window as Peter threatens to file a missing persons report in a week. Okay; here's the problem with this: It has been 17 episodes since Metamorphosis and at least one episode had a time frame of four weeks within the episode. Most people file missing persons reports literally within 72 hours. So...WHAT?! When people wait months to file one; police are going to suspect that Eliza murdered her brother (even though we know that he's alive and Eliza is innocent of any crime.). It's natural instinct.
Anyhow; Beth looks over to the window and panics. The shadow bails before the rest of the family notices as Eliza points out that they are on the top floor. Beth claims that the thing had wings and the family mocks ducks! This family mocks Cartoon Duck Syndrome. I like it! DISCO~! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... (Shellsea: And to think you actually went dozens of episodes before stealing my disco jackhammer again.) So we head back to the clock tower on the perch with Eliza and Goliath exchanging notes about lying by omission (Kit's secret weapon) as Eliza is afraid of the reaction of her family to Derek being a Mutate created by David Xanatos. Plus; she's awfully concerned about Goliath being seen by Beth and Goliath proclaims that he wasn't there. So Eliza thinks that it was one of the other gargoyles; but Goliath points out that Hudson/Bronx are watching television (AGAIN!); and the goofballs are watching a concert in the park. So Eliza deduces that it's Derek and Goliath admits that Derek/Talon were spotted flying from the Eyrie building with Maggie Reed and some other Mutate towards Castle Wyvern. Eliza asks why Goliath didn't tell her this and Goliath points out that there was nothing he could do since Derek made his choice which Eliza blows off as unacceptable. She demands to see Derek right now and try to get him away from David Xanatos. So Goliath carries Eliza over to Wyvern Castle and they land as we see Talon, and two of his male Mutates on the top tower of the castle overlooking the grounds below. And Toon City's first major error of the episode occurs: On the closeup; the one on our right looks like a regular panther like cat, similar to Talon. I discover that the one on the left is Fang (James Belushi voices him who you saw in Mighty Ducks as Phil Palmfeather. Ponder that one for a moment.) and the right one is supposed to be Claw. On the hard camera shot that comes next when Talon goes into white eyes mode; Claw turns into a tiger. Yeah; that one sucks.
So Fang and Claw pounce on Goliath; but Goliath shakes them off which is basically allowing Talon to jump him from behind like a back fighter. Goliath manages to shake him off as all three surround Goliath in a triangle; but they stop because Eliza brings out the gun and orders everyone to stop. Goliath swoops down and flies up towards Eliza in mid air; so Fang uses the beams from his hands to shoot Goliath down to the ground right in front of Eliza. Eliza gets in between Goliath and Talon as he moves in for the kill ordering Eliza to get out of the way because Goliath is evil see. However; Maggie Reed flies in blowing off Talon and gets in between Talon and Eliza. See; she doesn't want to be fighting anymore and then David Xanatos appears from the entrance to inform them that he commends Talon for protecting the fort; but Eliza and Goliath are always welcome here. Wow; that is some kidney punch to Goliath's gut; wasn't there David. Eliza invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on David because David caused these problems; which Maggie blows off because David is the only chance to become human again; which Eliza blows off in kind calling David the cause of this and not the cure. Talon blows that off because it's all Goliath's fault because despite Dr. Sevarius being to blamed to having him changed into a Mutate; Sevarius in his mind wanted to cure him despite the fact that Sevarius was "forced to" by David. So we flashback to Metamorphosis where we replay the moment Doctor Sevarius was "killed" by the electric eels and the "antidote" was shattered onto the floor and Derek was stupid enough not to do anything. I should point out that Metamorphosis was the first thumbs down episode of the series. We return to reality (no, not really) as Talon continues to point the finger at Goliath; because Sevarius is lucky that he is dead. This goes on for too long and Goliath thankfully tells Eliza that this is going nowhere and carries her and flies away. Derek calls him out for being a coward and proclaims that she will let her guard down and Goliath won't be so lucky. Maggie comes over to Talon and asks him what if Seva is alive and Talon wants to murder him too. Okay.
So we head to Owen's office as Owen is at his desk doing nothing of note until David comes in and tells Owen to phone Seva and tell him to disappear for a while as we look up as Owen's office has upper windows and we see what appears to be the shadow of Eliza and Goliath flying away from Castle Wyvern. Now the reason I say that is because it might be Talon himself. So we head to Gen-U-Tech labs and we see that there is a security guard and a barrier house with the fence as the guard reading the newspaper is the exact same guy who was guarding several places already. I discover that his name is Vinnie and oh boy; he will really suck and shallow later on in this series. So we see Seva in a brown trench coat (damn; the SWANK blue sweater he wore in Double Jeopardy was far cooler as he apparently has left the building to go to his black car. Which changes to blue in later shot I might add. So Seva is about to unlock his car and then turns around and a shadow of a gargoyle pounces on him while Seva screams; which Vinnie doesn't quite hear. We cut over to Vinnie reading the newspaper as Eliza's car appears at the barrier. Eliza shows her badge to Vinnie and asks for Seva; but Vinnie turns around and notices that he is gone and apparently; the gargoyle painted his car at the same time. Vinnie is voiced by Jeff Bennett by the way as Eliza looks up and sees a shadow of Goliath on one of the perches and calls him a guardian angel. Vinnie is as confused as I am as Eliza asks if she could go in and take a look; and Vinnie has no problem with that as he lifts the barrier and Eliza's car goes inside. Vinnie is so fired now. So Eliza goes in and it's raining as Eliza gets out of her car and walks towards the blue car and notices the briefcase which has Doctor Anton Servaruis on it. Yeah; the animators are so stupid that they have come Captains Outrageous today. So we get some more shots of the streets of NYC; and then we pan down to inside the sewer system towards some iron double doors which have been clearly pushed open. Then we cut to Sevarius in a cage as he has lost the brown trench coat. Aw; I see this kidnapper has good taste after all. Seva protests this outrage claiming that this is impossible; but the fiend in shadow growls like Goliath. Huh.
So the shadow points to the left wall where there is research computer equipment and then we cut back to the rain finally stopping and we have moonlight as we head back to Castle Wyvern and we go into David Xanatos' grand library which looks like Macbeth's library in High Noon actually. Owen comes in as David is sitting at a table reading and since David is a heel; this will not give Al Khan a heart attack. Owen comes in to inform David that Seva is unreachable. David proclaims that Talon got to him first which is a "huh?" moment for me as we head back to the castle ramparts to see Fang throwing bones away while eating a lot of chicken legs. He mocks Claw inability to speak as Maggie comes in and blows off Fang for acting like an ablest jackass. See; he has not spoken since the transformation which indicates that he is clearly a deaf mute to begin with; or the transformation made him a deaf mute. Fang is acting like an ablest as Talon comes in white eyes mode (a sign of a babyface gargoyle) claiming that Seva is gone and Goliath is the one who kidnapped him. That sounds about right as Maggie is trying to calm Talon down; and she gets blown off by Fang as he accuses her of not having monster expert skills. I am supposed to buy that one Fang? For all we know; you might be Phil's twin brother. Maggie thinks that the gargoyles were trying to help her as we flashback to inside the clock tower in Metamorphosis where Maggie gets all scared of the gargoyles and the gargoyles try to point out that they are not monsters which doesn't work because she leave soon after sunrise. Yep. So we return to reality (no, not really) as Maggie recalls them taking her to their home and that somehow angers Talon even more as he gets in Maggie's face. So we head back to the clock tower as Maggie lands on the perch and calls for someone; and we see Hudson come out looking giddy about Maggie's return. The moment he walks towards her; he gets jumped by Talon and Fang from the side. Bronx comes out to get Maggie and Claw but he gets zap fried by Claw and Bronx flies into the clock tower wall with a wussy bump. Sigh. So we see Hudson and Fang doing the GRECO-ROMAN KNUCKLELOCK OF DOOM near the corner of the railing; but gets zapped by Fang and Hudson does the kneeling down before getting knocked out spot; and then Maggie looks all horrified and apologizes to end the segment 10 and a half minutes in. Yep; this is meant to be episodic. Better than Metamorphosis; but it's still pretty sloppy at this point.
After the commercial break; we head back to the prison with Seva as Seva continues to blow off the shadow gargoyle who is clearly Goliath now; but gets growled at for a while. Seva then admits that he cannot do anything without the notes in his briefcase and wants him to open the door to the cage because he has decided to try the attempt at the formula. So we head back to the clock tower as we head inside to see Bronx and Hudson chained up as Maggie apologizes to him because she didn't want it this way. Hudson asks what do they want and Fang gets in his face demanding to know where Goliath is and Hudson proclaims that he has gone a couple of days; which pretty much gives away who Seva is talking to in the sewers. Fang tells him that he will have to clean off his social calender and we head to David Xanatos' office as we continue to exchange notes on Seva's disappearance as David is pinning the blame on Talon; even though it clearly is not him. Owen is checking files as we see Eliza with the security guard on screen showing the badge and then the briefcase is on the ground. Owen also points out that Talon has no authorized access to the labs so it's clear it isn't him as the doors fling open and Talon storms in accusing David of lying to him because Seva is not dead. David claims that he was fooled about this as well; which we all know is a lie. Talon continues to get in his face as David points out that Goliath and Seva were in on Seva's death because Goliath wanted to make more Mutates see. Not only that; David was pressuring Seva to create a cure; but the cure was a placebo and worthless. So Seva does homeopathy?! No wonder Seva is such a slime bag; he's was going to shoot magical water in Derek Maza! David proclaims that he didn't tell Talon because he didn't want to give his hopes up and felt Seva was going to get a true cure (which makes no sense at all for obvious reasons); and asks for Derek to release Seva from custody if it isn't too late. So we return to the clock tower to see the goofballs return from the rock concert to perch to talk about how loud the music was. Broadway measures that you could hear it across the lake.
Broadway looks around calling for Hudson and Bronx and Hudson yells that it's a trap and he gets zapped again inside the clock tower as the opaque sparks don't do a good job of concealing Fang's zapping. Sigh. So we have Claw and Fang come out as Broadway is fighting with Claw while Fang grabs Lexington and throws him into the clock wall. This is the only time Lex speaks and it's a grunt. Brooklyn bails as Fang goes after him while Claw and Broadway knuckle up like Hudson on the railing which is so dumb considering what happened to Hudson. So we see Brooklyn and Fang fly for a while and then Fang remembers that he has electric powers and starts to fire electric beams at Brooklyn. Brooklyn remembers to dodge them and go up as he goes into white eyes mode and as he charges; Fang turns to Talon right on cue. WHAT?! Then he changes back into Fang when he passes him and it looks like I'm watching a moving version of a Japanese comic book. Or as they say; anime. Brooklyn bails and flies over onto the clock hand as Fang yells at him to go and fight like a man which Brooklyn blows off because he's a gargoyle. He jumps down and manages to stomp Fang right in the face and knock him right down onto the ground. Claw tries to zap Boradway; but Broadway shoves him so hard that he goes flying right into the conveniently placed steel railing that breaks off and it's in perfect position for Lexington and Brooklyn to wrap Claw up in; which they do with ease. Brooklyn calls for Hudson and Bronx; which allows Bronx to come out with chains (a sign that Maggie was the one who released them since the chains are intact); and Hudson comes out with Maggie accusing her of leading them to the tower in the first place. So we head inside the clock tower as Claw wakes up and gets growled by Bronx as the gargoyles are surrounding them. Except for Brooklyn who is over to the red love seat with Maggie as Brooklyn tells her to get over her persecution complex as they are not enemies.
This talk goes on for a while as Brooklyn accuses David again and that enough for Maggie to blow him off claiming that if he would lie about David not wanting a cure; he'll lie about anything. Brooklyn ends by saying that he will have to earn his trust of her because as I noted in storyline; Brooklyn wants to be friends with Maggie Reed; but Maggie wants to be human again because she's not a monster. Even though her comrades are certainly acting the part. So we head outside as Claw and Fang are released; and once again the animators have no idea who is Talon and who is Fang because Talon is in the scene for no reason at all and there is no Fang in the scene. Brooklyn allows them to return to David Xanatos as this is their choice; but warns them to watch their backs. The Mutates all fly away without further incident as Brooklyn goes back inside the clock tower. Hudson asks if this is the right thing to do and Brooklyn proclaims that Xanatos cannot keep up the pretense forever and they will know what he's really like. Somehow; I doubt it Brooklyn. I mean; David is the smartest guy in this universe so far. So we head to Gen-U-Tech labs and into the security control center as Eliza and Vinnie are watching the monitors as we replay the scene of Seva getting kidnapped by the shadow which clearly looks like Goliath because the purple color gives him away. Eliza wants him to freeze it to the moment that Seva is picked up and enhance the image as the hard camera is facing from the screen so we cannot see who kidnapped Seva (too late fools!) and Vinnie is panicky and we get a closeup of Eliza's eye proclaiming that she cannot believe this. I think they were suppose to show an image of Goliath in her eye; but the overlay couldn't be done. Not that it matters since we already knew it was Goliath about ten minutes ago. So we head to the wrecked Gen-U-Tech lab (Wait; they never fixed the lab after 17 episodes?! FACKING BULLSHEET!) as Seva is at the lab table mixing chemicals blowing off the shadow because these are primitive conditions; which allows the shadow to finally reveal himself as Goliath as he threatens to make it more primitive for him and that ends the segment 15 and a half minutes in. The story of this fine; but the animation and the logic is just dying before us. Seriously; does "returning to the scene of the crime" sound so stupid to you babyfaces?!
After the commercial break; we head to Castle Wyvern as we head back to David's office as Talon informs him that he doesn't have him and he knows this because Maggie informed him that she went to see the guard at Gen-U-Tech so she could ask where Seva is. Wait; WHAT?! Maggie went to the clock tower; but I don't recall her doing any such thing. What a logic break that is?! Talon claims that you cannot miss someone who has been dead for weeks. Yes you can because Maggie was nowhere near Gen-U-Tech; but she was at the clock tower. Eliza was there though as Owen is on the computer and shows off the monitor to Talon where they show Goliath kidnapping Seva and there's no shadow in this one for another bad animation logic break. This episode is dying a rapid death now as David deduces that they are working together as Talon demands to know where they could have gone. David asks Owen if there is any chance of tracking them and Owen claims that it won't be needed because there is only one lab left which you would think is the Gen-U-Tech lab; but Owen claims that it's the underground lab of Cyberbiotics. Wait; WHAT?! Goliath has never been to that lab. But he was at the Gen-U-Tech lab which was trashed to death where Seva faked his own death with the electric eels (which his white hair protected him from death). God damn do I hate this episode now! So Talon runs out of the office as Owen asks if they should stop him; and David waves it off. To make matters worse; Talon took a side door despite storming through the double doors to begin this scene. I think we might have the worst episode of the series pre-Goliath Chronicles era. So we head back to Castle Wyvern as we zoom in; then jump cut to Maggie, Claw and Fang flying towards the tower like Spiderman 1960's and then land on the grounds as Talon storms out and shoves everyone aside. I almost thought Claw was going to speak; but it's Fang asking where he is off to; as Maggie has no clue; but she knows he is angry as they follow him off the tower in shadow stage right. Man; that last minute or so looked poopy.
So we head back into Gen-U-Tech's abandoned lab as Seva is mixing lime green chemical and blows off Goliath for looking over his shoulder right behind him; then he turns around and notices that there are two people in on the conspiracy as Eliza Maza finally comes in. Goliath turns around and asks how she found him and Eliza states that Seva needed a place to work and this was the only place that he could find. Goliath tells the doctor to continue working as Eliza accuses him of kidnapping as Goliath explains that he had to do something about this because Eliza is in pain and he also didn't want Talon to get to Sevaruis first because Talon might kill him before he finds a cure. You don't say! So Eliza points out that she doesn't trust Sevaruis in finding a cure to begin with which is probably true and the ends do not justify the means at all here because that is how David Xanatos behaves and this isn't the behavior of Goliath, despite Goliath's heart being in the right place. Okay; as much as Goliath did kidnap Seva with impunity, at least they were smart enough to point out how wrong Goliath was and Goliath agrees and decides that he would release Seva. Most modern cartoons wouldn't bother with that; so it's a thumb up on the old farts. Still doesn't change Goliath's bad behavior though which is the second time he has acted on it and the last episode sucked badly. And wouldn't you know it; Seva proclaims that he may have found the cure; and then the green door comes down and here's Talon acting like a stupid black man because he outright accuses Eliza of being in on the conspiracy. And people accuse Matt Bluestone of this crap?! It's things like this that make me not care about the Eliza/Derek relationship. So Talon pounces on Goliath just after Eliza tries to point out how stupid he is and they go over the lab table as Seva tries to escape stage right which would be smart in any sane universe; but gets caught by Fang grabbing on his lab coat. Not sane at all indeed.
So we have a fight for a while and then Goliath get zapped into the wall by Talon as Claw runs in and grabs Eliza while Talon prepares to pounce on Goliath and he shoots electrical beams about five or six times towards the ceiling and the debris comes down on Goliath which looked awfully crappy to watch. So Fang brings in Seva as he struggles like an idiot and Talon proclaims that he and Goliath can die together; but Maggie runs in to stop it as Seva shows off the test tube containing the antidote. Seva also proclaims that there is only enough for one; but he can make more. Talon and Fang automatically blow it off because Talon doesn't care about antidotes because he wants to see Seva pay for his crimes. Fang doesn't want to because he likes being a Mutate. Remember that one for another episode as Maggie comes in and asks Talon about what is more important to him: vengeance or humanity. Talon waves it off and order Seva to give the antidote to Maggie which Seva throws to her. Seva wants her to take the antidote right now and Eliza points out that if Seva was going to make more; then why would he care who gets it first. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever; and Talon still sells it as Seva giving him poison! UGH! Please end this episode! And Seva is begging for mercy and then we hear Xanatos' voice as he shoots a red laser towards Talon's feet and Seva is released and he steps back towards what would be the Steel Clan and Red Goliath. David unmasks himself and Talon looks around and suddenly acts like he realizes that Goliath was not behind this and it was David all along which really pisses Derek off. Considering that Seva hiding behind the steel clan; this is a non-verbal cue to show that Talon and company are turning face now. David apologizes for keeping him the dark and how he looks now; but he cannot have any damage done to Anton. I club BS&P! Why? Because Anton's mind is limitless and Talon is just an experiment. Goliath slowly gets up and David finally notices him and greets him. What a slimeball?!
Seva follows David out of the lab proclaiming that it might be poison and there is only one way to find out. Yeap; it's poison because he basically taunts the Mutates into the "it might be, it might not be" spot. Maggie doesn't care as she is about to drink up; but Talon goes over to her and she gets all whiny about it thinking that this is the antidote. My god; whoever did the DVD mastering of this set did an awful job because we go in and out of focus during this scene. Talon blows off the risk as being too high as Maggie continues to not care because she thinks she's better off dead than a monster. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah; Warrior Mommies who don't vaccinate their kids because they think autism is bad and vaccines cause it. Talon stops her proclaiming that he's a monster but he cannot stand to be without Maggie because they together will make them stronger as Goliath redeems himself for kidnapping Seva by offering them to join the clan which surprises Talon because he said all those evil lies about him. Goliath forgives because Eliza is part of the clan and therefore; part of the family. Talon declines the offer because he has a clan of his own anyway as Claw, Fang and Maggie show up and they come together as his family now. This is a sweet moment; but damn; the build up was crappy. And then we head to some apartment room somewhere as there is clearly no one there as Eliza brings in the entire Maza family in telling them that Derek is different now; but no less friendly as they turn the corner to the empty room and we see the Mutates come in together out of nowhere. Whatever guys. Diane looks somewhat frightened while everyone else is slightly in shock; but they still embrace him anyway as Derek introduces Maggie to the Mazas while we cut to Goliath smiling from the white sheets. We cut back to the entire group together as Maggie is seemly trying to kiss Talon; but we jump cut to a open jail cell which is the same one Seva was in just to jackhammer the point home to end the episode at 21:12 approx. That last shot was a laughable attempt to force the point home about Derek and Eliza freeing themselves from the stigma of Derek being a Mutate and to pay off the episode title. Absolutely pointless and dumb because the end scene before the closing shot already made the point crystal clear to the viewer. The first half of this was good; but then the episode plummeted fast with dialog that made no sense; logic breaks out of the wazoo and the finish making even less sense. The ending was sweet and good; but the animation was off a lot here. We have reached another low point in the pre-Goliath Chronicles era. ** (40%). Derek Maza just cannot buy a break here. It's like the writers are racist; or something.
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I just realized why this episode sucked and it's another Lyndia special. To be fair to her; the first 13 minutes or so of this episode was good. The storyline made sense for the most part and the "who kidnapped Seva?" was decently done even though I pretty much figured out it was Goliath. The only bad stuff about this was Toon City/Moving Pictures screwing up the Mutates and confusing Fang with Talon half of the time; which was clear when Claw went from a cat beast to his true form which was a tiger. Sure; Goliath kidnapped someone with impunity; although it was a sort of type since he did it to protect Sevarius from Talon. And Goliath realized that he was wrong and decided to release him anyway. So as much as people whine about the hypocrisy of classic cartoons doing stuff that modern cartoons do; at least there were some consequences in the classic stuff, so that is perfectly fine with me. The real problem is Lydina's writing and animation fell like a stone as everyone started to sound so stupid. Talon claiming Maggie asked the security guard at Gen-U-Tech? Really? She's a damn Mutate; you expect Vinnie to just accept her cart blanche? Eliza was with Vinnie during this time too. Second; Cyberbiotics? Really Owen? The lab they were in clearly looked like a Gen-U-Tech lab to me. Then there is Derek just acting like everyone is in on the conspiracy and then he out of nowhere claims that Seva's antidote is poison because of Eliza's counter to that which makes no sense. Talon has already decided to stay like this and get revenge on Seva; while Fang doesn't want it either. What should have happened is Talon tries to kill Seva; but David stops him with the laser and then Talon realizes that the vial might contain poison during the blow off of David betraying him. Apparently; Maggie and Talon are going to be an inter-racial couple which I'm fine with because Talon did a great job convincing Maggie not to drink the antidote. The pay off to this was that Derek and Maggie accept themselves as they are and Derek can finally face his family who after a bit of shock; accept him anyway which Maggie was very slow doing. The ending was great; but the finish and climax to it was ugly and horrible. And to top off the negative stuff; they ruin the effect by giving one last shot of an opened cage to pay off the title which is stupid because the ending scene before it did the job it couldn't do. Heck; even Derek saying at the end "I feel like I have been freed from the cage" would have been a better message than that non-verbal cue. Yeah; for once, a non-verbal cue subtracted from the episode instead of adding to it.
It's episodes like this that really grind my gears as they had a great payoff at the end about accepting people for who they are (which is a big deal with the amount of ablest garbage we see nowadays) and it felt like it was sabotaged by crappy dialog and bad animation. I can forgive Goliath kidnapping Seva because it was a storyline and Goliath did have a double reason for doing what he did; but the execution from the 13 minute on was cringe worthy. This is why; like the diehard Rescue Ranger fans before them; I don't buy what the diehard Gargoyle fans are selling either. They are bedazzled by the ideas of the show and see them as groundbreaking and such. That is all well and good; but it makes excuses for bad execution and diehards seem to ignore them every time because of some idealism of what is being mature is. You know why Kevin Johnson claims TaleSpin is an adult show that pretends to be a kids show? Because the writers never wanted to be groundbreaking; they wanted to write stuff that make sense; made us laugh and be memorable without acting like a child. Sure; TaleSpin has had some real misfires (maybe not as many as most of the DTVA); but at least I didn't ignore them because I took notes on the show. Really detailed notes. So I know what is going on and know when things make sense or not. Execution is the key and without that balance between execution and ideas; you end up with misfires like this. And poor Derek Maza. This is the second straight episode where things got screwed up badly. So there is my tirade of the week and so next up is the last pre-Avalon story arc which is The Price which "Macbeth" is back; but Hudson is stone at night. So....
Thumbs down for this episode and I'll see you all next time.