The Reckoning

"The Reckoning" is the sixty-first televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the forty-eighth episode of Season 2. It originally aired on May 7, 1996. It was adapted into a Radio Play and performed at the Gathering of the Gargoyles in 2003 as a tribute to Gary Sperling.

• Supervising Producers: Frank Paur, Greg Weisman
• Story: Lydia C. Marano
• Teleplay: Gary Sperling
• Story Edited by: Brynne Chandler-Reaves, Gary Sperling
• Produced & Directed by: Dennis Woodyard
• Animation by: Koko Enterprise Co., Ltd
• Storyboard by: Vic Cook
• Backgrounds by: Koko Enterprise Co., Ltd
• Additional Production Facilities: Anima Sam Won Co., Ltd

Summary

Previously on Gargoyles

• Recaps: ("Sanctuary", "High Noon")

Main Plot

Demona allows herself to be captured and imprisoned in the Labyrinth in a scheme with Thailog to clone Hudson and the trio, and at the same time tries to convert Angela to her way of thinking. After the Clones are created by Sevarius, Thailog busts Demona and Fang out of the Labyrinth, and the three of them lure the Manhattan Clan and Talon to a fun house on Coney Island, where the gargoyles face off against their clones for the first time. The clan is defeated and imprisoned, but Demona releases them when Thailog threatens to kill Angela. The clan subdues the clones, and Talon beats Fang, while Demona and Thailog seemingly fall to their deaths while fighting on a burning roller coaster.

Subplots

Angela formally introduces herself to Demona while she's imprisoned in the Labyrinth, and they engage in lengthy discussions. While Demona is unsuccessful in turning Angela to her way of thinking, she realizes that she truly cares for her daughter.

Thailog reveals to Demona and the others his secret clone project, Delilah, who he made with the combined DNA of Demona and Elisa. Demona realizes that Thailog's been using her all along.

Talon offers to allow the abandoned clones sanctuary in the Labyrinth. The clones and mutates become the basis for the Labyrinth Clan.

First Appearances

Characters

• Burbank
• Brentwood
• Malibu (No Lines)
• Hollywood
• Delilah

Location

• Nightstone Unlimited Building
• Coney Island

Object

• Micro-Electric Mosquito

Quotes

• "I'm afraid we've got mosquitoes down here, and worse."

"Hey, hey! I resemble that remark!" - Talon and Fang

• "Man, you chicks are better than soaps." - Fang

• "Kinky!" - Fang

• "Yo, Goliath! How many gargoyles does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" - Fang

• "Some of my best friends are half-gargoyle half-human babes with bad attitudes." - Fang

• "He's a fool, but he may be of some use."

"I can work with that!" - Demona and Fang

• "My clan can beat your clan any day of the week." - Thailog

• "She's the perfect programmed companion. Obedient and lovely. She'll do anything for me." - Thailog

• "You are capable of anything. I hate you." - Angela

• "Goliath, save our daughter!" - Demona

• "It's all over, you...forgery!" - Brooklyn

• "Yeah, but we can't just take them back to the Clock Tower, can we? I mean, they kind of give me the creeps." - Lexington

• "Demona's love for you is the first goodness she has shown in a long, long time. For her, it may have been a new beginning. A new beginning for us all." - Goliath

Continuity

Thailog and Demona appear for the first time since "Sanctuary". They are initially still allies, although their partnership dissolves at the end of the episode. Demona reappears in "Hunter's Moon Part One", now apparently the sole owner of their jointly-formed Nightstone Unlimited.

The Goldencup Bakery Building suffers its second gargoyle attack in the series when Demona breaks into it at the beginning (the first time being Coldstone's raid on it in "Legion"). This marks its third appearance in the series, since it was also the site of Goliath and Xanatos's opening battle in "Vows".

The Mutates appear for the first time since "Kingdom" (even Fang, who is still in prison following his actions in that episode). The clones are introduced in this episode, and they are taken to the Labyrinth by Talon to join the Labyrinth Clan. The Labyrinth Clan (both gargoyle and Mutate members, excluding Fang) next appear in "Invitation Only".

Although Thailog is not heard from again in the remainder of this season, he did survive the roller coaster fire. He next appears at the end of "Invitation Only" as an unwelcome guest at the Labyrinth, out to reclaim the Clones (though only Brentwood freely leaves with him, in the end).

Fang next appears in the first issue of Gargoyles: Bad Guys, "Strangers", as a member of the Redemption Squad working for Robyn Canmore. The beginning of his second escape from the Labyrinth (this time broken out by Sevarius) is shown at the end of the second issue, "The Lost".

Tidbits

"The Reckoning" was originally intended as being a two-part season finale, but was later on shrunk down to a one-parter after "Hunter's Moon" became the season finale. This is probably the reason for Goliath's "new beginning" line and Demona and Goliath's discussion about clans ending with Demona mirroring Goliath's line from "Reawakening", the first season finale, "You don't know the meaning of the word," and adding in "but I'll teach you." to make it more fitting to the following development.

The names of the male clones, of course, are Los Angeles-based parallels to the New York-based names for the Trio and Hudson, rising from the question that the Gargoyles production team had asked itself out of amusement: "What if the gargoyles had been awakened in Los Angeles rather than New York?" (It obviously helped that Greg Weisman lives in Los Angeles.) No explanation is given in the script, however, for precisely why Demona would choose those names for the Clones; there was never any indication in the series that Los Angeles had any particular meaning for her. Greg Weisman has suggested that she was making fun of the names the Trio chose for themselves. Delilah, of course, was named after the biblical betrayer of Samson; the "bad girl" connotations of that name would clearly have appealed to Thailog.

One of the regulars in the projected Gargoyles 2198 spin-off was a namesake descendant of Delilah's - who would, naturally, be a member of Samson's team.

Fang's line, "I resemble that remark" is a commonly said line by Curly of The Three Stooges. It is also used by the Joker in an episode of the The Batman, "The Rubberface of Comedy", written by Greg Weisman.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command's "Clone Rangers" featured several references to this episode, including Micro-Electric Mosquitoes and a parody of Coney Island. Written by Greg Weisman, he has commented that the producers and story editor were initially looking for similar story elements that were also in "The Reckoning", so Weisman emphasized a few of them for Gargoyles fans to enjoy. [1]

(In the apocryphal The Goliath Chronicles, Thailog appeared in only one episode, "Genesis Undone", where he succumbs to a virus and is turned - apparently - permanently to stone. The Clones suffered the same fate. Also to note, the episode "Generations" is highly similar to "The Reckoning" in regards to the focus on Demona and Angela. )

Toon Disney/Disney XD Edits

In the episode as originally aired, when Fang watched Demona change into human form he said, "Kinky." In later airings, Toon Disney has censored this line.

They also edited a close-up of Thailog pulling the trigger on his gun as he was about to kill Angela.

DVD Release

• Gargoyles: Season Two, Volume Two

See Also

• 2003 Radio Play Script

Links

• Greg's Ramble
• Extensive Synopsis and Review

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