We enter episode 2 of Season 2 with a “Previously On…” recapping the events of “Her Brother’s Keeper.” Detailing Elisa’s brother Derek and his concern over what he believes is an obsession on her part over Xanatos, him quitting the police force to work as Xanatos’ personal pilot and bodyguard, and Elisa admitting that Derek does need to live his own life but she still knows Xanatos is bad news.
The episode begins properly down in the lowly streets of New York City where we see several homeless gathering around, trying to keep warm. One young woman (Kath Soucie) is explaining to a shadowy figure that her situation is just a temporary setback and she expects to be back on her feet soon enough. The figure voiced by…Tim Curry?!
Brrr. Anyway the stranger explains that he’s in need of a temporary assistant and he’s more than willing to help her out, all while wearing an expression usually reserved for members on the Family Watchdog list.
The scene then shifts to a local airport where Elisa is waiting to meet up with Derek who’s taking his newly purchased glider for a spin. (Loop? Drift? Eh whatever.) Derek doesn’t mind rubbing in the hefty paycheck he’s getting working for Xanatos and Elisa’s a bit miffed that he missed the family dinner last Sunday. It doesn’t take long before the conversation to start to get tense.
Derek: How many times do I have to keep saying this? Xanatos isn’t the reincarnation of Snidely Whiplash!
Elisa wants to avoid another argument but isn’t letting her big sister instincts slip away, and tells him to be careful. And Derek at least promises to let her know if there’s any trouble.
Elisa: Cross your heart?
Derek: -And hope to die.
As the sun sets the Clan awaken for the evening, and accidentally pelt a passerby with some of their rocky exterior.
Elsewhere at some strange facility titled Gen-U-Tech, a disturbing scene plays out. An enraged cat-like creature has broken out of its containment and throws a few orderlies about before fleeing the building into the night, while that same old creep from before watches on.
While out patrolling, Brooklyn and Broadway see the creature and initially think it’s Demona. What they find however is not only does the cat-like being come with its own set of wings (hence the initial confusion) but she’s that homeless woman from the beginning.
Brooklyn and Broadway are pretty surprised by this but not as much as she is coming face-to-face with them. And despite Brooklyn’s offer to help she’s too scared of everything at the moment. And unfortunately that’s when the men in the white coats arrive, heavily armed at that. Actually, this is the same group of mercenaries that staged the attack on Xanatos’ castle and later tried to kill Goliath back in the five-part pilot. And it seems they’ve taken the Arnaud Amalric approach to subduing their quarry.
Mercenary: “Tranq them all. Let the Doc sort em’ out.
Brooklyn tries to convince her to come with them but she’s still too freaked out about everything going on and is soon subdued, though not before dropping her medical bracelet. The two gargoyles put up a good fight but when Brooklyn is hit with a stray tranquilizer dart, Broadway decides now’s the time for a tactical retreat.
When Derek and Xanatos arrive at the Eyrie Building, Owen is there to ask Xanatos about the unusual expenses at Gen-U-Tech, like Dr. Sevarius has been hiring mercenaries, which prompts Xanatos to go and investigate. And you know, mercenaries showing up in expense reports is going to raise questions no matter the occupation. While Xanatos thinks there shouldn’t be a problem, Derek insists on going along anyway, because, well, he is a hired bodyguard.
Over at the Clocktower, Brooklyn’s pretty despondent over how thing’s went, even with Broadway reminding him that she didn’t want their help he insists that she wanted his. Broadway brings up the dropped bracelet and notes that it carries the same symbol found on the ambulances that carted the woman off. So Elisa is also going to check out Gen-U-Tech.
The next day, Xanatos and Derek have decided to pay a visit to Gen-U-Tech and the not-so good doctor. Who decides to provide exposition with some visual aid.
Sevarius explains that Xanatos commissioned him to create a living creature based on a gargoyle, cloning was considered but since their wasn’t a living specimen available that idea had to be discarded. And wow, it’s pretty weird that the possibility of full-on cloning is not only a likely reality but is casually dropped here too. He then explains his plan B, splicing animal genes for the desired traits. In this case using jungle cats as a base and bats for wings and flight. One thing that was also brought up was energy needs for the wings to support such a large body, Sevarius theorizes that the gargoyles absorb solar energy during their stone sleep so he’s sidestepped that whole thing by splicing in genes from the electric eel. Of which he keeps a tank right next to his lab.
Derek circles back to the point on why mercenaries were needed and Sevarius sheepishly admits that one of the test subjects escaped, much to Xanatos’ surprise. And Sevarius, in an astonishing level of not reading the room, is quick to mention that they got her back, showing off the other “test subjects” as well.
Xanatos wonders how they grew so quickly and Sevarius straight up admits that he bypassed that and just mutated humans. Derek is furious at this and Xanatos is none too pleased himself, promising to find a way to undo the mutations. But like any good evil genius, Sevarius is all, “No! You ve’ll not destroy my work!” And tries to shoot Xanatos with a dart gun but Derek intervenes, getting the dart instead. And to his horror, Derek is told that what he was shot with was the same mutagenic formula.
Xanatos demands an antidote from Sevarius, but right now it only exists within Sevarius’ twisted mind. And in yet another inconvenience, Elisa and Matt have arrived to investigate a kidnapping.
Xanatos: By all means, Doc, invite them in. Let’s give them the slide show. Introduce them to the finished product.
Sevarius: You wouldn’t dare! You bankrolled everything.
Xanatos: You’re right, we’ll both go down for this. But I’ve been in prison before. Have you? The police, the press, the public – they’ll crucify you. And if they don’t, I will.
Knowing that there’s no way to spin doctor a vaguely Eastern European doctor committing unethical experiments on people, Sevarius gets to work on the antidote. Xanatos asks Derek if he should have Elisa sent in for support but Derek can’t face her yet, wanting to be cured first. Which can’t come soon enough as the changes are already occurring.
Elisa catches them up on the situation but despite her mistrust towards Sevarius, nothing can be done without proof for a warrant. Brooklyn feels he doesn’t need any warrant but with the sun rising there’s nothing that can be done for now. Over at Gen-U-Tech, Derek’s condition is worsening, to the point that he’s grown a full coat of fur and developed wings. At nightfall, Brooklyn is eager to rush off to help but is stopped.
Brooklyn: She needs my help.
Broadway: Yeah, right.
Brooklyn: You don’t know anything about her!
Goliath: And neither do you. Rushing off without a plan won’t help her. And I have a plan.
And so Brooklyn, Goliath and Lexington make their way to the facility and after some searching manage to find her. But unfortunately she still doesn’t want anything to do with them and signals for help, while they break her out some of the mercenaries arrive and she ends up tranqed and a fight soon breaks out. Elsewhere, Derek is preparing to take the cure when the fight spills into the lab and Goliath is none to pleaded to see Xanatos there. But during the fight one of the guards is knocked into Sevarius which knocks the injector gun out his hand and shatters the antidote, much to Derek’s despair.
The gargoyles having rescued who they were looking for decide to escape through the roof but Sevarius won’t let them leave with his test subject and clings to Goliath’s leg who kicks him off. Right into the electric eel tank which shatters electrocutes Sevarius to death as Xanatos can’t find a pulse.
Derek: No! I only needed a few more seconds. It’s the gargoyles’ fault. They’ll pay for this! If it takes my last breath, they’ll pay.
With the police soon to be on the way and Derek unwilling for Elisa to see him like this, Xanatos gets Derek away, promising to find a cure for him and the others.
At the Clocktower, the gargoyle’s new guest awakes to her new surroundings pretty freaked out, but then she is surrounded by gargoyles. She asks them if they were human once like she was, before introducing herself as Maggie Reed from Ohio. Wait….a cat named Maggie? Like the character from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?
While Brooklyn insists that she’s safe here, she doesn’t care and just wants a cure so she doesn’t remain a monster. Brooklyn sounds pretty hurt at the word and says they aren’t monsters either. With dawn coming the conversation will have to be tabled, but Goliath promises they will find a cure, even if it means breaking down Xanatos’ front door. As Maggie watches the gargoyles turn to stone, she slips even further into despair. Later that day, Elisa and Matt are investigating the scene at Gen-U-Tech and while going over some records, Elisa discovers that the facility is owned by Xanatos so she off to the Eyrie Building. When the gargoyles awaken they find that Maggie has left, so they decided to head to Xanatos too.
Later that night at the castle, Xanatos instructs Owen to find the best geneticist on the planet while Derek and the other Mutates have decided to try and get a handle on their new forms until a cure can be found and decide to practice flying. But their practice is interrupted by the arrival of the gargoyles and a fight soon breaks out as Derek blames Goliath for his condition. And rather inconveniently, now’s when Elisa shows up.
Xanatos: Send her up. We have to stop this senseless violence.
Brooklyn tries to talk with Maggie, still trying to help her but Maggie insists that Brooklyn wants her to remain a monster like she says he is. And if the hurtful words aren’t enough, it turns out that electric eel DNA also gives them lightning powers as Maggie uses on Brooklyn and Derek on Goliath.
Elisa arrives to stop the fight, wondering who the electrostatic, flying cat is. Derek is at least grateful she doesn’t recognize him and tells her his name is Talon.
Elisa: Why are you stomping on my friend here?
Talon: Your friend made me like this!
Elisa: Impossible. Goliath would never intentionally hurt anyone. Look, I want to help you.
Talon: Promise?
Elisa: Cross my heart.
Talon: Hope to-
Elisa: -Derek? Derek is that you?!
Well that didn’t last long.
Despite Talon saying it was an accident and that Xanatos is actually helping him Elisa insists that he’s lying like before. But when she reaches out to him Talon’s electrical power suddenly flare up and he shocks her.
Horrified at what he’s done and what he’s become, Talon and the other Mutates flee from the castle. Broadway asks if they should go after them but the heartbroken Brooklyn sadly notes that the Mutates don’t want their help and Maggie certainly doesn’t want him. Elisa however, turns her ire towards Xanatos.
Elisa: Now it’s war, Xanatos. You’re going down for this. I promise you, no matter what it takes.
And as our heroes leave, Xanatos actually shows a bit of concern. Perhaps thinking back to the beginning, and wondering if Elisa knew then what she does know whether she would’ve talked Goliath out of dropping him off the side of the castle.
Later in Xanatos’ office, Owen presents the best geneticist on the planet. Doctor Sevarius, minus the old man wig and makeup and now speaking in Tim Curry’s natural English accent.
Sevarius reveals that Gen-U-Tech has been staging escapes for months now in the hopes that the gargoyles would notice and thanks to Xanatos’ manipulations the two groups are now at odds. Sevarius wonders what they’ll do now that the Mutates have fled but Xanatos remains confident they’ll return. As long as Talon believes Xanatos is the only one who can cure him, it will make him easy to control.
And the episode ends with Brooklyn looking forlornly out the Clocktower, while the normally tough-as-nails Elisa lies in the corner, sobbing over everything that’s occurred.
Review and Thoughts:
“Metamorphosis” is dark, and while the series has never shied away from darkness or drama before it feels different this time. While villainous, Xanatos has always kept his schemes on an amicable level. But this time, it’s a personal attack. He’s made no secret that he’s wanted the gargoyles under his control and failing that, something of equal strength or similar. But robbing people of their humanity, not only one of his loyal employees but the lowliest and most desperate members of society, is a line that the audience wouldn’t expect him to cross. Not with his previous behavior and with what seemed like genuine outrage towards Sevarius.
“Metamorphosis” echoes the book of the same name fairly well. Like it’s main hero, Derek finds himself irreversibly changed and the chance of a normal life now gone. Deception is a strong theme of the episode, but so is pride and shame for that matter and how the two of them are tied together. Derek thought he had a pretty good handle on his situation until unforeseen circumstances changed all of that, and despite the love he has for his sister and despite the fact that she was willing to help him even before she knew who he was, he still resisted even letting her see him. Maggie was in a pretty bad situation to begin with if she was willing to take a no questions asked job for a shady person, and yet at the beginning of the episode she insists that she’s not like the other homeless populating the streets. And that same pride caused her to turn away from the few people who truly wanted to help her.
The term monster is thrown around a lot this episode, Sevarius gleefully destroys people’s lives for the sake of science and Xanatos planned the whole thing knowing just how many lives will be ruined. But the Mutates use the word a lot too, Derek even calling Goliath a monster after he thinks Goliath may have robbed him of a cure. Brooklyn may not have thought there was anything wrong with Maggie’s appearance and she may not have been wrong when she accused him of him wanting her to stay the way she is. But straight up calling him and the other gargoyles monsters was quite the cruel comment, and one they’ve struggled with in the past as well as the present. And for the Mutates? If they allow themselves to become pawns of Xanatos they could easily slip from victims and truly become monstrous.
Next time, we catch up with our previously established Frankenstein’s Monster….
Matt the Media Hunter 