On today’s edition of our Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles retrospective, we’re looking at episodes 7 and 8, “And Justice for All” and “Genesis Undone.” Respectively aired November 2 and November 9, 1996, these two chapters see Goliath go on trial after being blamed for robbing a jewellery store, and Thailog and the other clones becoming terminally ill.
1. Aaargh
“And Justice for All” is such a mindbogglingly inept piece of animation that it squanders any interest I had in the premise. Take the inciting incident, where Goliath flees the cops arriving on the scene of the crime: there are so many shots on the truck that knocks him out bracing for impact, that I swear I could’ve got up and made a cup of tea in the time it took for him to not move out of the way. I couldn’t find a clip of the scene in question, but this one makes about as much sense:
There’s much more moments like that, like Goliath’s lawyer saying they’ve waived a jury trial, only for us to subsequently see the trial’s spectators in the jury box; the sudden disappearance of the rioters who disrupt Goliath’s move from his cell to the court; and even a missing sound effect when he lands a kick. There’s even a moment where a thug pulls a pistol on Elisa and somehow draws a rifle instead – truly terrible stuff.
2. A Mixed Moral
The episode is clearly trying to explain to kids the notion of “innocent until proven guilty,” to trust in the justice system and not jump to conclusions like the civilians, or Elisa’s colleagues, do. However, writer Mark Edward Edens is presumably aware things like wealth or systemic racism mean that isn’t always the case, hence why Goliath explicitly turns down Xanatos’s help, but ultimately, it’s only by escaping after the mob attacks his transportation, and planting a recording device on the real culprit, that he is able to attain justice for himself and the jewellery sellers: the episode undermines its own message, yet continues to wrap it up in the message of trusting in the courts.
3. Genesis Rushed
“Genesis Undone” reveals the clones introduced are dying, and their creator, Anton Sevarius, needs DNA from their progenitors to cure them: however, the mad scientist double-crosses the gargoyles, using their tissue to create a gigantic clone he amusingly dubs Little Anton. This isn’t a terrible episode like “Justice” (although there are still lazy moments like Thailog’s guns somehow fitting Little Anton’s hands), just a boring one: most of the clones were just introduced in “The Reckoning,” meaning I’ve had no time to become emotionally attached to them, and it’s just as well they turn to stone after the midway point, because if I’m not invested in them, clearly why should the episode bother while writing them out?
4. Least Tim Curry’s Having Fun
This has to contain Tim Curry’s most hammy performance as Sevarius: he’s let go of any subtlety he had in his previous appearances, and seems to be playing with giving the mad scientist a German accent to boot. His best moment has to come during his entrance, when the gargoyles wake up in his bedroom: he takes one look at the dying clones, their bodies covered in green pustules, and exclaims “Ew!” like a prissy schoolgirl before putting his sleep mask back on.
5. Revenge!
Still as wily as ever, Thailog reveals he suspected Sevarius would betray him, and passes the fake cure he made to Goliath before he turns to stone. Realizing he didn’t know what he had until he was gone, an enraged Goliath plunges the fake cure into Little Anton, petrifying him permanently too. While Goliath’s end narration reminds that there’s a chance all the clones might be cured someday, just as they were all revived in the present, it’s still striking to see Goliath pull such a brazen act of revenge, especially given how many episodes have mused over the futility of vengeance. (But alas, this is The Goliath Chronicles, not seasons 1 and 2.)
Bonus thoughts:
– It’s very strange how Goliath and Elisa refer to the homeless folks who witness the robbery as “street people” – was this a ’90s thing? Was calling people homeless deemed dehumanizing back then?
Continued below
– Thailog’s rifles, with their rocket boosters, and different barrels for different projectiles, are kinda cool actually, certainly helpful to someone as sick and disabled as him by this point.
– Broadway and Lexington perform the Fastball Special, although they call it Load and Fire.
– Little Anton has an Ankylosaur tail.
Join us next week for Demona’s return in “Generations,” and more.
