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Ransom

Overview

Ba Guandalug la'Fay

In a political rally, Pat Doyle - wannabe major - announces his goal of exterminating the gargoyles
Lexington is playing nanny to Alexander
Alexander gets kidnapped
Lexington lets himself getting caught to save Alex
Pat Doyle wants to make a show out of killing Lexington to prove his claims of wanting to get rid of the Gargoyles
Goliath and Hudson accompany Elisa to Doyle's headquarters, where they find the kidnapped baby
Back at the potitical rally, Xanatos and Fox show up, with Alexander in Fox' arms. Doyle knows he lost, and grabs Alexander again, threatening to kill him
Lexington breaks free from his bonds in rage, tackles Doyle, saves Alex and simply walks away

Synopsis

By D. Taína

Author's Note: I hate this episode with a passion. It's nowhere near as bad as "To Serve Mankind," but it's still excruciating. "Pat Doyle" is almost as bad as He Who Shall Not Be Named, although nowhere near as annoying. I'll try to remain neutral, but I'll often point out obvious mistakes and poke fun at the episode. I think it's a defense mechanism. Well, without further ado, on with the show - or lack thereof!

Opening Monologue:

"The human passion for money is an emotion that gargoyles do not understand. When wealth is used toward health and security, we appreciate the value in its fevered creation. But when riches simply adorn or fuel ambition, we see envy, discord, and the temptation to sacrifice all righteousness to achieve them. We see innocent victims, and we grieve."

Act I

The episode opens with a toy store, simply called "Toys." A janitor is mopping the floor, humming and whistling to himself. Lexington is sitting among a few toys, trying to remain unseen in plain sight. The janitor whistles by Lexington, but he fails to notice him. Taking advantage of his distraction, Lexington grabs a stuffed panda off the shelf, inadvertently throwing another toy off balance, and leaves money at the cash register. He tries to leave, but finally notices the toy that's about to tip over and fall. He rushes to catch the toy, but is a few seconds too late.

The janitor hears the noise and turns around abruptly, but he sees nothing except the toy on the floor. He picks it up and goes to put it away, and finally looks at Lexington in the eye. Lexington doesn't move a muscle, making the janitor think that he's a toy, too. He says, "Man, they make these things uglier every year," then goes away.

Lexington scorns at him, saying out loud, "Who's ugly?" Oddly enough, the janitor fails to hear this, and Lexington makes his getaway with the stuffed panda.

At Washington Square Park, Goliath and Angela are watching a political rally. Angela asks him if gargoyles ever chose leaders this way. Goliath tells her, "The methods may differ, Angela, but the struggle to earn allegiance is a universal one."

As soon as he says this, an announcer over the microphone announces that Pat Doyle's first step as mayor is "to rule out those filthy gargoyles from whatever sewer they live in, and exterminate them."

Angela is angry by this. "What did we ever do to him?" she asks.

Goliath frowns and tells her, "The sad truth is, that it is often easier to excite people with hatred than with reason."

At a considerably shorter-looking Eyrie Building, little Alex is crying hysterically. Xanatos, Fox, and Owen just stand around and do absolutely nothing. Lexington is at the door, and he shakes his head at them and whispers, "Amateurs." He rushes to the crib. He offers the panda to Alex, and he instantly calms down. He picks up Alex and cradles him in his arms, and Alex stops crying. Xanatos sighs with relief and says that now they can get some peace and quiet.

Outside at the courtyard, someone places a time bomb on the floor. It marks sixty seconds. The security alarm starts beeping and a robotic voice starts saying things in the background. Everyone stands completely still, looking alarmed. Xanatos asks Owen what's wrong with the security system, and Owen says he'll check the controls. Lexington hears a helicopter outside. His eyes glow and he rushes to the wall, which promptly explodes. The explosion sends Lexington flying, crashing to the floor as rubble covers him completely. Owen is also sent flying and is knocked unconscious.

The helicopter hovers in front of the big gaping hole in the wall. Three men, hanging from ropes, dressed in green and wearing black masks, swing into the building.

Xanatos and Fox take two of the thugs down. The third thug, taking advantage of their distraction, shoots a net at Xanatos that traps him. Another thug shoots some kind of rope at Fox that ties her up. Another man, wearing a gray coat and a black mask walks up to Xanatos. He tells him that if he can have a gargoyle, they'll be on their way. Xanatos denies knowing the gargoyles. The thug ignores him and makes for Alex's crib. Xanatos breaks free of the net and tries to stop him, but gets shot with some kind of blast and sent flying. "Well, well," says the thug as he picks up Alex, "Perhaps my new partner here can persuade you."

Fox, still fighting her restraints and the thugs holding her, yells that there's a gargoyle in the rubble. The thug, predictably enough, doesn't believe her. The thugs head for the helicopter and hop in. Lexington finally wakes up, sees the helicopter that's flying away, and tries to run toward it, but he trips [!!]. Not once does he try to go after them. Instead, he goes to help Fox out of her restraints.

She explodes on him, yelling, "What kind of gargoyle are you? You're supposed to protect us!" Lexington picks up Alex's little blankie and holds it to him, looking incredibly distressed, then glides away and we get to see every last thrilling moment of this.

Back at the political rally, Elisa is walking amidst the crowd. Her bomber jacket looks like something went terribly wrong at the dry cleaner's. The announcer presents Pat Doyle as "the next mayor of this fair city," who arrives in the same helicopter that was at the shrunken Eyrie Building, which I will refer to from now on as "The Mini Eyrie." Pat Doyle walks up to the microphone and begins his speech, which I will transcribe in all its glory:

"Thank you, thank you, my friends. What's on your mind tonight? Your families, your jobs? Putting food on the table? Or is there a new worry in your life? Something dark, something unknown, something. with wings? Who knows what they want; who knows what they'll do? They're soulless beasts! Monsters! The current mayor is doing nothing about the gargoyle scourge. Elect me and that will change. To prove it, I will capture and exterminate at least one gargoyle before the election. That is a promise! Anyone want to help?"

Elisa just thinks he's a creep. The crowd, however, is extremely excited about the opportunity for random violence and starts yelling "destroy gargoyles!" and holding up banners that say "destroy all gargoyles" and "gargoyles go home." Elisa knows this means trouble. Everywhere, the angry mob is destroying lifeless gargoyle statues.

The sun is almost up. Goliath glides to the Mini Eyrie and lands on the area below the Castle Atrium. Elisa is there, telling them that they have to stay out of sight because people are out of control. She wonders where Lexington is, who promptly arrives and collapses a few feet away, moaning for help. Goliath rushes to his aid and asks him if he was caught in a riot. Lexington yells that they took Alex. Goliath looks surprised even though he should've found out by now, and asks him who took him. Lexington doesn't know, but he's determined to find him.

Elisa tells them that they can't do anything. It's too dangerous for them because of the gargoyle bashers and it's nearly sunrise. They need to stay at the Mini Eyrie. However, she'll get every cop on the force on it but they need to stay put. Lexington, sounding incredibly distressed, yells, "But what if he's hurt?!"

Goliath, sounding incredibly calm and collected, says that if Elisa can't find Alex, then they'll find him at sunset. Then he adds, "Together." Lexington, who had been keeping Alex's blankie in his loincloth [!!!!], uses it to wipe away a tear, then the sun rises and they turn to stone.

Act II

Xanatos leaves the Mini Eyrie. A crowd of gargoyle bashers and the press are gathered outside. Xanatos thanks them for coming. He demands for the kidnappers to contact him "now" and that there's no point in dragging things out. The crowd cries, "It was the gargoyles!" and Xanatos looks flustered.

At his campaign headquarters, Pat Doyle is watching Xanatos' message (which has been edited) and chuckling to himself. Elisa comes in and Doyle looks incredibly calm and collected. He asks her how she's doing and she says "busy." She tells him that her boss insisted that Elisa come down there to tell him "that she doesn't like mayoral candidates inciting riots in her city."

Doyle tells her, "There's a plague in this town, detective, and I'm just the doctor to cure it." Elisa tells him to save it for his commercial. Doyle looks suspicious, asking her why she's so soft on gargoyles. Elisa tells him that she's not soft on anyone and that he should cut the "rabble-rousing" because people were hurt. She looks out the window, and then asks him about all the security. He says, "Visionaries like myself are always hounded, Ms. Maza. I speak the truth. There are those who would do anything to silence me."

The scene mercifully ends with Elisa saying, "Count me in."

Back at the Mini Eyrie, Xanatos, Fox and Elisa are watching Night Watch at the office, with audio that looks like it was taken directly from The Journey. Xanatos is randomly pushing buttons, which, for some reason, make all the gargoyles drop down from the ceiling[!!] and through glass[!!!] and land in exactly the same poses as that official picture of all the character models.

Elisa tells them that there's news about Alex. Xanatos tells the clan that they don't know what the news is yet, and that he's commanding the biggest private army the city has ever seen. He wishes that Owen were conscious because "he could find Alex in a minute."

Lexington adds, "Owen isn't the only one that can help."

Travis Marshall, now with original dialogue not taken from an infinitely superior episode, reveals that they've received the message from the kidnappers. Xanatos will get his baby back, "if and only if he gets us a gargoyle tonight." The humans and gargoyles (still in the same poses, taken from publicity art) look distressed as Travis goes on: "A secret location is being provided to Mr. Xanatos to drop off the gargoyle. I repeat: a gargoyle in exchange for the baby."

Hudson says, "I'll go. I'm old."

Lexington screams, "This is my fault; I'll go!"

Xanatos interrupts them, saying that "giving into blackmail accomplishes nothing."

Fox, sounding like a desperate, helpless mother instead of the mercenary she really is, just screams, "Oh, but David!!"

Xanatos, now the voice of reason, tells her that "if our association with the gargoyles is revealed, our family will never be safe." Fox just looks down and frowns. "Help me," says Xanatos to no one in particular, "and we will find Alex!" The gargoyles then take off and glide away, except for Lexington. He waits until everyone is gone then glides in the opposite direction.

Brooklyn and Broadway are patrolling the city. Brooklyn starts giving orders, but then realizes that Lexington is missing. Just then, they're blinded by search lights. Having been spotted by the angry mob, they make a run for it just as the crowd destroys yet another statue. But, instead of gliding away, they glide toward the crowd [!!].

Back at the Mini Eyrie, Xanatos is looking at some random red patterns on some table. There's a random guy sitting just a few feet away, examining the bomb from the beginning that exploded [!!!!]. Xanatos asks something about the technology that breached their security, but Random Guy says that he hasn't found anything about the bomb (the one that exploded but he's holding in his hand anyway). Random Guy asks about Owen. Xanatos says that he's stable, but not yet conscious. Random Guy sighs and says he will do what he can, and disappears from the show after such a memorable appearance. Xanatos gets a phone call and he says "what now?" We shall never know who it was.

Fox, now in the full-time role of a grief-stricken, panicked mother, and holding that panda they took all that time to establish at the beginning, demands to know why Xanatos refused the kidnappers' offer. She tells him to get one of those gargoyles to the library, that the kidnappers are waiting, and that he should think of their son.

Xanatos says that he is thinking of his son, but caving in won't be the end of their troubles. "What about the next night, and the next? It ends tonight." Xanatos leaves. Fox looks at the panda, and then collapses in a rocking chair and cries hysterically. Lexington is at the window and overheard everything.

Pat Doyle is outside his headquarters, surrounded by the Gargoyle Bashers and the press. He has a speech ready: "I deplore the violence that has erupted tonight, but you can't blame honest citizens for being scared. But let's talk about what is important tonight: a baby is missing. I am doing everything I can to help. I sent out an army of Doyle volunteers to help find baby Alex. Mr. Xanatos, our hearts are with you." The speech comes complete with a handkerchief he pulls out of his coat. The crowd applauds and the press takes pictures.

Meanwhile, Lexington arrives at the library. "I'm here; come and get me!" he cries. He sighs when he hears dogs barking and no sign of the kidnappers. While he's feeling sorry for himself, the thugs, now dressed in black instead of green, throw a net on him and throw him on top of a giant metal gear. Lexington is roaring and snarling, trying to get the net off him, but the thugs are too fast for him and bolt his limbs to the gear. His tail is still free, so he uses it to swat a thug away, which gets him his tail bolted to the gear, too. Then they toss him into the back of a truck and climb in with him.

Act III

Elisa and Matt are cruising around in the car. Elisa says, "If you were a kidnapper, where would you hide a baby?" Suddenly, the Captain's voice comes from the police band radio. She says that a gargoyle was captured by Doyle volunteers and that he's scheduled a news conference for 5 AM. She orders all available units to Washington Square Park, and Elisa momentarily loses control of the car, and then swerves away in a rather undignified way.

The gargoyles return to the castle. Brooklyn, Broadway, Angela and Hudson land in perfect synchronization. Goliath lands and immediately asks where Lexington is. Brooklyn tells him that he took off on his own, and Goliath growls. "He couldn't land anywhere, Goliath," Broadway says, "We're public enemy number one."

Goliath says that they, too, met hostility. "We have one hour!" he announces.

Back at the news conference, the crowd has gathered yet again, with signs that say "destroy all gargoils," [sic] and there are an awful lot of people there, considering it's 5 AM. People are throwing cans of soda at Lexington, who's hanging like a painting for everyone to gawk at. Elisa arrives at the scene, but she's stopped by police offers, who say they're under strict orders. Elisa nods at Lexington, who nods back at her.

Pat Doyle arrives at the scene. Lexington notices the helicopter and realizes that it's the chopper that kidnapped Alex. "Friends," starts Pat Doyle, "it appears our hard work has paid off. We have uncovered and captured a gargoyle! And though I would prefer to rid the planet of this pest, I will trade the creature to the kidnappers, once they return the Xanatos baby!" The crowd awws and cheers.

Lexington calls Elisa over, who somehow escaped the police officers, and he tells her that Doyle's the kidnapper because "it's the same helicopter that kidnapped Alex" (who hadn't figured this out by now?). Elisa pulls out her gun, meaning to shoot him down from there [!!!!], and Lexington tells her not to because Doyle may hurt Alex. "Get Alex first; I'll be okay!" he says.

So, Elisa drives away and talks to Goliath, who's wearing the transmitter. She tells him that Doyle has Lexington, that he's not in immediate danger, and that she knows where the baby is. She speeds away.

The gargoyles and Elisa are now standing on a rooftop, just in front of Doyle's headquarters. She says that she had a bad feeling about the place because even "a jerk like Doyle" doesn't need so much security. She leaves and Goliath tells the rest of the clan to go to Lexington and to do nothing unless they have to. Brooklyn and Broadway glide away to do their duty.

Elisa walks up to two guards who are guarding the entrance to the headquarters. She says she wants "into this building," and they deny her unless she has a warrant. Angela and Hudson arrive and kick them to the floor. Elisa runs into the building, with Goliath gliding above her, and he promptly begins to toss bodyguards all over the place. "I'm gonna run out of cuffs," says Elisa.

One bodyguard tries to attack Hudson, but he grabs him and, as he holds him up in the air, he says, "Why don't you go play with your friend?" Then he tosses him at another bodyguard that was shooting at him.

Brooklyn and Broadway arrive at the news conference and get to watch people throw things at Lexington. Broadway is enraged and ready to attack, but Brooklyn holds him back, saying that Lexington wouldn't want them to. Broadway pushes him away and breaks part of the stone railing in his frustration.

Back at the headquarters, the gargoyles and Elisa are still fighting bodyguards. Hudson gets shot in the gut and is down. Angela tries to rush to his aid, but someone's firing at her. She swats the bodyguard away with her wing, then goes to help Hudson. Goliath snatches a bodyguard's gun, crushes it, and the guy promptly flees in terror. Then Elisa rips a Doyle poster off the wall, throws it on the panicked bodyguard, makes his head go through it, then she kicks him the butt. Goliath tosses the last bodyguard into some desks, and finally, they hear baby Alex crying.

Goliath rips a poster off the wall and sees the steel door and Alex's cries coming from behind. He rips the door off its hinges then throws it on some bodyguards that were shooting at him, crushing them. With all the threats eliminated, Goliath walks up to Alex's crib, smiles at him, and Alex stops crying.

Back at the news conference, Doyle is shaking hands with everyone. Travis is there, saying to the camera, "And there you have it! Pat Doyle captures a gargoyle. David Xanatos is flying in now to personally thank him. If Pat Doyle's efforts bring about Alex's freedom, he'll be a shoe-in for mayor."

"We're almost out of time!" cries Broadway, just as Xanatos' helicopter arrives. Once it lands, Xanatos and Fox step out, with the baby in her arms. Pat Doyle, who had been looking awfully smug, was now cowering. Lexington is just happy that Alex was found.

"My son is safe!" says Xanatos, "Thanks to some very caring individuals, he was found hidden in Mr. Doyle's campaign headquarters!" The crowd gasps and looks horrified. "This was a sick attempt by Mr. Doyle to make political gain from endangering the life of an innocent child! Sick and criminal! Arrest that man!"

"No, it's not over!" screams Doyle, and he rushes past the guards who had come to restrain him, and snatches Alex from a now completely helpless Fox, and holds him up threateningly. "Keep back! One step toward me."

"Nobody move!" says Xanatos, and they all back away. Alex is crying in terror. Brooklyn tries to move in to attack, but Broadway holds him back. Pat Doyle runs away, with Xanatos on his tail, who suddenly can't keep up with him. Lexington is so enraged that he breaks away from his restraints and tackles Doyle. Baby Alex goes flying high into the air. Lexington snatches him out of the air and Alex croons contentedly. He hands him back to his parents and walks away.

One guard wants to grab him, but the other says, "Get real, man, he just saved the kid!" Lexington climbs a ladder and glides away. Brooklyn and Broadway follow.

"Cut it kinda close, pal!" says Broadway, though it's unclear who he's talking to.

"We had him covered," says Brooklyn.

After a scene that was obviously taken from Awakening: Part II of the Xanatos helicopter flying to the castle, Angela and Brooklyn are shown looking out a window. Elisa is bandaging Lexington's arms and legs. Xanatos and Fox walk in and reveal that Owen has finally regained consciousness and that they're on their way to the hospital. They wanted to thank him for his help.

"Anything for Alex," says Lexington, and Fox gives him the baby.

"Check out daddy," says Broadway.

"Yeah, now if we could just get the kid a set of wings," says Brooklyn.

The sun rises and everyone turns to stone. Lexington is holding Alex in his arms. Alex curls up for a nap and the episode fades to black.

The End.

Author's note

Why did they spend all that time to establish the stuffed panda? Was the bomb at the beginning really a bomb, or something else? How did the wall explode then? What was the point of trying to figure out the bomb? And for that matter, what was the point of Owen being unconscious? Why was Fox so helpless? How did Elisa sneak past the guards who held her back in the first place due to "strict orders"? Why was she quite willing to shoot Lexington down from there? And last, but not least, why did they use one scene from another episode and audio from The Journey? These are questions that would haunt us forever if we actually cared! But since we don't, let the healing begin!

Review

by Juan F. Lara

I wanted to like this episode, but it had many problems when you thought about it.

Bad Points

I don't care what the title says. Goliath's opening monologues have got to go. The monologue for this episode sounded simplistic and self-righteous, making Goliath sound like a fool. Goliath's dialogue with Angela was in a similar style. Also note that he talked about money and greed, but the villain's antics in this episode had nothing to do with money.

The Quarreyman seemed a credible menace to me because of their parallels to the Klan, and John Castaway's rhetoric was well written. But Pat Doyle's followers came off as a more one-dimensional and less sophisticated characterization of "gargoyle bashers". (I wanted to know where were those people whose property were the gargoyle statues people were smashing.) So their evil didn't have as much impact on me as that of the Quarreymen. Doyle himself was way too over the top to take seriously. John Forsythe chewed scenery with the best of them.

(And too bad for Doyle that he could only afford one helicopter. :-)

Fox was poorly characterized, IMHO. She's been a mercenary who's had to save herself and others from dangerous situations before. So I didn't think that she'd react to the kidnapping by completely breaking down in tears. She was written as the stereotypical helpless and devastated mother. (Also, maybe she should've tried to call on her fairy capabilities as she did in "The Gathering".)

Animation - the dreaded Akom. :-) Actually, Akom can do just fine on cartoony shows like "Earthworm Jim" and "The Simpsons". But they couldn't handle the realistic character design and facial expressions very well here. Characters tended to be rubbery and sloppy, and they overdid the emotions. So Alex looked too cutesy and the pathos was overplayed. (Also, they reused the animation of Xanatos's helicopter from the old opener.)

Good Points

Still the show had some strengths.:

A Lexington episode at last. :-) After "Leader of the Pack", where Lex was different from his usual self, Lexington disappeared into the background while the others got interesting plot threads. So I was glad to see that Thomas/Lewald picked up the Lex/Alex thread from "The Journey". Lex himself was very well characterized; very earnest in trying to accomplish a task and very bright. His strong feelings for Alex was a working example of the gargoyles' high regard for protection.

The episode also still had the slow and steady pacing that made "Gargoyles" stand out. Before the kidnapping occured Lexington heard the helicopter for a few seconds, and the ep took the time to show each of Lex's five shackles getting attached. I also liked how Xanatos and Gargoyles cooperated like a team and followed a definite plan in Act 3. So while the plot itself was problematic the episode could still build tension and suspence.

Xanatos played the role of the father protecting his child again. His outrage at the Doyle rally in Act 3 was memorable.

Miscellaneous

"Ransom" was the fourth episode listed in the Official Disney page's episode guide. So I wonder if ABC is showing "The Goliath Chronicles" in their proper continuity order, or if they have a continuity order at all. I wish someone at Disney could clear that up.

Did Xanatos sound different in Act 1 to anyone else? Almost like Keith David was doing his voice.

Xanatos: I wish Owen were conscious. He could find Alex in a minute.
Lexington: Owen isn't the only one that can help.

Lexington breaking his shackles reminded me too much of "Hunchback" at first. But I guess with enough rage a gargoyle could break them. And I did like that they remembered to bandage Lex's injuries later on.

Elisa: Gonna run out of cuffs.

Xanatos: This was a sick attempt by Mr. Doyle to make political gain from endangering the life of an innocent child. Sick, and criminal!

Xanatos: Nobody move.
Brooklyn: [growls]
Broadway: He says don't move!

Broadway: Check out Daddy.
Brooklyn: Yeah. Now if we could just get the kid a set of wings.

"Ransom"'s plot had a lot of flaws, but it still felt like a "Gargoyles" episode.

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