Previous Episode | Episode List | Next Episode

Genesis Undone

Overview

The clones are ill
Sevarius says he can heal them, but needs lots of Gargoyles DNA
Thailog steals the serum after Sevarius just finished working on it
Instead of producing an anti-virus, Sevarius used the DNA for a new clone
The clones all die (or at least turn to stone for an indefinite time), including the newly created "Little Anton"

Synopsis

by D. Taína

Opening Monologue

"For a millennia, Earth's wisest creatures have stood in awe of the miracle of creation. But modern science has given the world the tools to challenge nature, to give life where none existed before. Such power is as intoxicating as it is perilous. The consequences of its misuse may soon weigh heavily upon us all."

Act I

A storm brewing outside the castle. Hudson is trying to watch TV, but to his frustration, all he gets is static. Goliath walks in, holding a book, saying that human science has its limits. Angela notices someone that looks like Broadway appear at a window, so all three go outside to meet him. He steps out of the shadows and to their surprise and Angela's shock, it's Hollywood. He's covered in a green substance and he appears to be in very bad shape. Hudson has to remind Angela that it's not Broadway, but one of the clones. Goliath wonders what happened to him.

Talon appears and explains that the clones have been infected by "a mysterious disease" and that their lives depend on the gargoyles going to the Labyrinth. Hudson says that the clones are not their responsibility and Angela argues that their suffering shouldn't concern them any less. Goliath says that the clones haven't done them any harm since Talon took them in. They agree to gather the clan and go to the Labyrinth to hear them out.

At the Labyrinth, the clones talk about their situation. Sevarius said he could cure them, creating a serum from a concentrate from new tissue from the gargoyles. Goliath says they would consider it, and they gather around to deliberate. No one trusts Sevarius and no one seems to bring up the fact that the clones are dying. Lexington says that the clones have no choice, but the clan does. They could just leave. Angela tells them to look at the clones, and they do, their hearts softening at the sight of them. So they agree to help.

The gargoyles take the clones to Sevarius' mansion. Meanwhile, Thailog lands on a nearby cliff (you can only see his feet, which are covered in the green substance). The gargoyles break into Sevarius' home. He's asleep, wearing a mask over his eyes, and snoring loudly. He's startled by Goliath shining a lamp in his face and he wakes up to the sight of all those gargoyles gathered around his bed. Sevarius cowers under the covers. Goliath declares that they' re "here to heal, not hurt," and he shows him the clones. Sevarius says, "Eww! I thought I told them not to bother me!" and snuggles under the covers, placing the mask over his eyes again. Goliath roars angrily and removes the mask, grabbing Sevarius and pulling him to eye level, daring him to try that again. Sevarius says that he'll help them, coughing.

The scene fades into some kind of laboratory, where the clones are shackled to examination tables. Sevarius explains that the clones are suffering from a defect in the DNA replication chain. He says he should be able to create a serum for them, but that he'd need to extract the maximum amount of genetic material from the gargoyles. Goliath growls suspiciously.

The scene fades into a room with a round contraption with all the gargoyles lying on it, hooked up to what looks like IVs. The clan is impatient. Sevarius says that the more they give, the better each clones' chance for survival. But the clones are getting worse, now writhing in agony. The clan can only look on, helpless. There's a montage of scenes of Sevarius doing paperwork, typing on the computer, mixing substances, and looking at vials.

Outside, Thailog is getting nearer, climbing up the wall. We only get a close-up of his hands. His right hand looks to be a different color, and wearing what appears to be some metallic contraption (it's never explained in the episode).

Sevarius declares that he's finished preparing the serum. The clan is still suspicious, but they have no choice. He tells them to "send in the clones," and Thailog bursts in through a wall, covered in the green substance and holding the "Hover Gun." The clan is surprised that he's there (not that he's alive), and Thailog declares, sounding incredibly weak, that he followed them there and that he's not leaving without the serum. Sevarius takes advantage of their distraction and tries to make a run for it. Thailog shoots a net at him, trapping him. Goliath tells Thailog to think about what he's doing, that the fever has left him too weak to fight and that he's outnumbered. Thailog climbs up a wall to reach higher ground, says, "Please, don't scare me. I may start to cry," and starts shooting at them.

Broadway tosses Lexington at Thailog like a boulder, knocking him off his higher ground, and Goliath catches him and throws him into a wall. He gets up, calls for his Hover Gun, and shoots electricity at them, trapping them in an electric field and knocking them unconscious. Thailog cackles maniacally, frees Sevarius from the net, and takes the serum from him. He shoots a hole into a wall and leaves. Goliath can only look on, helpless, struggling to get up, but fainting anyway.

Act II

The clones arrive to find the clan unconscious on the floor (now in different positions). Sevarius tells them that Thailog took the serum and that they have to stop him, reminding them that without that serum, they'll never make it to sunrise. The clones, having no other options, leave to battle Thailog.

The clan wakes up eight to nine minutes later. Sevarius lies about telling the clones to look for the serum, telling them instead that he tried to stop them but they were determined to get the serum back. All the gargoyles, except Goliath, leave to save the clones. Goliath asks Sevarius if he can make more serum, who says he could rearrange the leftover DNA markers. Goliath tells him to do it, and leaves. Sevarius smiles and walks off, whistling, and pulling another syringe out of his coat.

Somewhere in Manhattan, Thailog is using a laptop connected to a tiny satellite dish. He assumes that the gargoyles are still in the dark. Sevarius boasts about his convincing performance. Thailog tells him that he was born to play the role of "a spineless coward devoid of moral fiber." Sevarius tells him that he held up his end of the deal and that he should transfer the money to his Swiss account. But Thailog wants to test it first. He turns around and Sevarius sees him using the syringe. He says he doesn't feel any different, and Sevarius reveals that he gave him "advanced stage clone virus" and that he should start keeling over in pain before finally petrifying. He goes on about ending Thailog's threats and intimidations, that he's finally free of him, and that no amount of money could give him this kind of peace of mind. Thailog roars then falls to the ground and stops moving. Sevarius turns off the TV and walks up to his newest creation, "Little Anton," holding a strange contraption in his hands, and calling him his "kid."

Elsewhere, Hudson finds Burbank turned to stone, and Brooklyn and Angela discover Delilah losing altitude. They try to catch her, but she turns to stone in midair and the added weight makes them all fall to the ground.

Back at the mansion, Sevarius places the contraption around Little Anton's neck, going on about Little Anton's needs and his own petty complaining. He presses a button, the contraption activates, and Little Anton roars to life, calling Sevarius his "father."

Act III

The clan returns to the mansion with the petrified clones in hand, saying it was too late for them. To their surprise, Sevarius is indifferent, saying they 're better off sans the "bad sculpture." Hudson tells him to show some respect, and Sevarius threatens him. Goliath grabs Sevarius, demanding him to tell them what he's hiding from them. Sevarius screams for help, and in comes Little Anton, roaring and smashing everyone into walls. Sevarius orders him to attack Goliath, "the big bad gargoyle." The gargoyles fight Little Anton, but because of his immense size, they don't have much luck. A fierce battle ensues with Sevariurs boasting that thanks to Little Anton, no one will try to run his life again and that he's a free man.

Goliath has no choice but to hold Sevarius hostage, telling Little Anton to surrender if he doesn't want his "father" to be hurt. But Little Anton holds Lexington hostage, telling him that now he has to choose. Just when all hope appears to be lost, and in a stunning turn of events, Thailog swoops in through a window and tackles Little Anton. The clan is shocked that Thailog came to help them. Little Anton has no choice but to release Lexington. Goliath drops Sevarius, disgusted when he says, "But I saw you take the virus!"

Little Anton throws Thailog away and attacks the rest of the clan. He walks up to Thailog and gets ready to crush him with Sevarius cheering him on, but Goliath tackles Little Anton and wraps his wings over his face. The rest of the clan holds Little Anton down while Thailog activates the Hover Gun and goes after Sevarius, roaring angrily in his face. Sevarius is confused. How did he survive? Thailog says he wouldn't trust him and that he faked the injection performance to find out if he intended to betray him. Sevarius cries for Little Anton's help, who throws a boulder at the Hover Gun and makes it shoot in all directions. Thailog goes flying and doesn't get up again.

Little Anton throws everyone off him, grabs the hover gun (which is now large enough to fit in his hand) and starts shooting at everyone. Goliath glides over to Thailog, who's on the floor, unable to move. Thailog tries to inject him with the virus, but doesn't have the strength. Goliath takes the virus from him. Thailog gets a dramatic death scene. He gets in a few parting words to Goliath - "How I... How I did enjoy causing you grief." - and then turns to stone. A tear runs down Goliath's face, and he roars furiously and chargers at Little Anton, dodging all his shots, and tackling him to the ground.

Little Anton grabs him, with Sevarius yelling at him to crush him like a beetle. Goliath pulls out the virus and stabs Little Anton in the hand with it. Sevarius gasps in horror and Little Anton tearfully asks what's wrong with him as he's covered in the green substance. Sevarius cries, telling him that he's just taking a long nap, and Little Anton turns to stone. Sevarius is left alone with the stone statue, saying, "Daddy will always be here."

The gargoyles take the clone statues to a tower. Goliath says that these troubled creatures have not seen their final sunrise. And the episode fades to black.

Review

by Juan F. Lara

The best post-Weisman episode so far, with some of the strengths of the original "Gargoyles".

Good Points

Like "The Dying of the Light", this episode brought back characters and picked up story threads from last season. I enthusiastically welcomed the return of Thailog, Sevarius and the clones and found this episode much more interesting than the Quarry/bigotry episodes.:

Cary Bates did a good job on Thailog's characterization, giving him the best lines. His contemporary style of speaking and his cunningness were reliefs from the melodramatic characterizations of the main characters. He had a particularly memorable moment when he tried to infect Goliath before petrifying. I was impressed that Bates had Thailog stay unrepentant to the end.

(BTW: I thought Thailog's automated laser somehow added to the episode's grim mood, particularly when it reappeared in the third act.)

Sevarius provided for a few laughs in Act 1. His bombast and irreverence also made a good contrast with the Gargoyles. All through last season Sevarius had tended to subvert to more powerful characters. ( Remember how he seemed to go out of character in kidnapping Thailog in "Double Jeopardy". ) But here Bates had him try to take control of his own life. This was a new situation for the character, but I still was uncertain that Sevarius would really try such an effort. And I wondered why Sevarius felt an affection for Little Anton since he's never shown affection for any of his creations before.

"Gargoyles" has had episodes with somber endings of things turning out badly for certain characters. This was the case for the clones. Goliath's voiceover left the door open for the revival of the clones ( including Thailog ), but I still felt sorry for them in the episode's last scene. Likewise I was jolted by what ultimately happened to Little Anton. I never expected to see Goliath forced to hurt an innocent person.

And the episode got bonus points for having not a Quarryman in sight. :-)

Bad Points

The clones' illness was a muddle. First Sevarius said it was a defect in the cloning process. Then people referred to a "virus" that could be transferred through that serum. So Sevarius might have been lying in Act 1. But then where did this virus come from, and how come it affected every clone all at once? Were only clones vulnerable to the virus?

In Act 3, Sevarius stated that he made Little Anton out of the DNA he'd just extracted from the Gargoyles. But Little Anton had already been created in Act 2, with the DNA used to start his metabolism. It's taken weeks to grow clones. So from what did Sevarius grow Little Anton from? And while Little Anton apparently knew very little, he could still speak a few words and recognize Sevarius as his "father". How did Sevarius teach him that if Little Anton had just been animated with the DNA?

No one bothered to ask how Thailog survived the fire in "The Reckoning". No one even seemed surprised that he was still alive.

Gaffe: The laser suddenly grew to a size that Little Anton could use.

And I just felt uncomforable with the set-up in Act 1. The Gargoyles made themselves unreasonably vulnerable to Sevarius in letting him hook them up to his DNA extractors. They had to save the clones, but at least they could've put up some contingency plans in case Sevarius attacked them. Like have only some of the Gargoyles get their DNA extracted at a time while the others remained free perhaps.

Miscellaneous

Remember, it's Anton BARTHOLOMEW Sevarius. Likewise, it's Carl SWANDER Johnson. :-)

Brooklyn: Looks like Sevarius has done allright since Xanatos cut him loose.

Thailog: Dear child, the more one takes the better his chances.

Thailog: How I did enjoy causing you grief.

Thailog: You're looking good, Goliath. A pity I can't say the same.

"Genesis Undone" should've been better written and plotted, but at least it brought back some memories of last season.

Previous Episode | Episode List | Next Episode