Double Jeopardy

"Double Jeopardy" is the twenty-ninth televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the sixteenth episode of Season 2. It originally aired on November 6, 1995.

• Story Editor: Cary Bates
• Writer: Cary Bates

Summary

Main Plot

In a last ditch effort to obtain a living gargoyle, Xanatos enlists the help of Sevarius to clone Goliath without his knowledge. The result is Thailog; a self serving megalomaniacal gargoyle with a Xanatos-like temperament. Thailog manages to trick both Sevarius and Xanatos by setting up a plan for his own abduction during the day by Sevarius at the Eyrie Building, then has Sevarius demand a ransom of twenty million dollars from Xanatos, making it look as if the billionaire is behind the whole scheme. Thailog has them come to an abandoned oil rig, and lures Goliath there as well and chains him up along with Elisa and the two men, planning to kill all four of them. They escape, however, and Thailog appears to perish when the oil rig goes up in flames, but Xanatos assumes (correctly) that the clone is still alive.

Subplots

Elisa receives an ominous anonymous call, and brings Lexington and Broadway along with her to investigate. They are attacked by Thailog, but in the darkness and rain can't see him clearly and mistake him for Goliath. After Goliath convinces them of his innocence, he and Elisa go to the place where the attack happened and spot Xanatos driving a motor boat to the oil rig. They see a confrontation between Xanatos and Sevarius before finding Thailog chained in an oil tank. Goliath finds out too late that Thailog's chains weren't locked and that the clone had made the anonymous call to Elisa in order to lure him there.

The story behind Thailog's creation is revealed to Lexington when he breaks into the Gen-U-Tech databanks; A year previous, Goliath was attacked at the castle by a Steel Clan robot, and Owen collected his DNA under the guise of attending to the robot-inflicted injury. Sevarius created Thailog in his lab, aging him artificially, and implemented a subliminal education program designed by Xanatos.

Elisa convinces Goliath that he shouldn't take his anger out on Thailog, the apparent victim, after Goliath becomes angry at seeing him for the first time. She tells him that Thailog is almost like his son, before Thailog jumps Goliath and weakens him with a gas created by Sevarius. Thailog had planned for Goliath to meet with him at the oil rig in order to make an alliance, but Goliath's initial outburst turned the clone off to his "father".

Thailog tells his captives of his plan to take the money and ignite oil barrels on the rig to kill them. After he leaves, Elisa is able to get out of her manacles, and uses the electronic disk that Thailog used to short out Xanatos' armor to offset the gas used on Goliath. Goliath tries to appeal to Thailog to give up his ways and join the clan, but Thailog tries to shoot him with his flare gun, resulting in a fight and a fire on the rig. Goliath is knocked off into the water while Thailog gets away unseen with the money.

Goliath is disappointed in himself and feels partially responsible for failing his "son", and Xanatos feels true remorse at creating such a monster.

First Appearances

• Thailog

Quotes

• "You should have heard his laugh! Make my hair stand on end! If I had any." - Lexington

• "Surely you know I am not in the habit of playing childish pranks, or laughing maniacally in the dark."

"Do you even know how to laugh maniacally?" - Goliath and Hudson

• "I've never seen a statue that needed to be put to sleep."

"You have now." - mercenary and Sevarius

• "This is bad news, isn't it?"

"You can say that again."

"This is bad news." - Broadway and Lexington

• "Oh, we're being watched, is that it? Very well...Yes! I betrayed you!! You robbed me of my greatest creation; my ultimate achievement! I only took back what was mine....There how was that?" - Sevarius

• "What kind of abomination are you?!"

"The same kind as you! it was your blood that spawned me!" - Goliath and Thailog

• "They grew him from a piece of you like a cutting from a plant!"

"A piece of me? This thing is me! First Xanatos steals my home, and now pieces off my soul!!" - Elisa and Goliath

• "And just for the record, I'm more of a gargoyle than he'll ever be!" - Thailog

• "Typical. You do and do and do with them, and what happens? They twist the knife in you!"

"Don't tempt me." - Sevarius and Thailog

• "I love a woman with delicate wrists."

"You work with handcuffs as much as I do, you pick up a few tricks." - Xanatos and Elisa

• "He is of my blood; he is my son." - Goliath

• "Well, I should have known no copy could live up to the original."

"That copy was a living being...and we all failed him." - Xanatos and Goliath

• "You mean that creature is still out there; it has the money, it's as powerful as Goliath...and it's smarter than you?"

"Owen, I think I created a monster." - Owen and Xanatos

Continuity

Thailog is introduced for the first time. At the end of the episode he escapes with $20 million. He reappears in "Sanctuary", having used the money to finance Nightstone Unlimited.

Goliath's initial reaction to Thailog is similar to his reaction to seeing Coldstone for the first time in "Reawakening". Although Goliath quickly recants his opinion in both cases, Thailog seems less willing to forgive Goliath for the insult.

Owen makes a fresh mention of the Emir to Xanatos (the first mention being in "The Edge"); by this time, Greg was thinking of turning the Emir into an on-stage character, which would be achieved in "Grief".

Xanatos includes Demona, Macbeth, and Renard on his list of suspects behind Thailog's "kidnapping", even listing Renard twice (the second time comes when Owen reports that the oil rig named as the rendezvous for the ransom money is secretly owned by a large corporation, and Xanatos immediately asks, "Cyberbiotics?"). While it seems highly unlikely that Renard actually would be engaged in such an action (though there is "Golem" to consider), presumably Xanatos doesn't give much thought to the fact that a person's sense of integrity would be enough to withstand the temptation to abduct anything as valuable as a cloned gargoyle.

Broadway spells out the word "clone" carefully while watching Lexington hacking into Sevarius's files on the Thailog Project, another indication of his slowly learning how to read (a process he began in "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time").

Anton Sevarius appears for the first time since "Metamorphosis". He reappears in "The Cage".

Owen mentions the need for the installation of a newer security system at the Castle to Xanatos. This system will be in place by "Kingdom", though it is rather easily bypassed by Talon and the Trio.

Tidbits

The concept of Thailog was initially inspired by Greg Weisman's hearing Goliath's name spoken backwards while rewinding the voice acting tapes during the making of the first season. (It helped, also, that Greg was favorably impressed with Keith David's voice acting talent, and wanted to give him the opportunity to stretch that by playing a thoroughly villainous character as well as the noble Goliath.)

The dates given in Sevarius' video documentary about the cloning and education of Thailog are all dates of personal significance to Greg Weisman (the birthdays of himself and various family members, his wedding anniversary, etc.).[1]

Links

• Background Memo
• Greg's Ramble
• Extensive Synopsis and Review

<< Previous Episode: "Revelations"

Next Episode: "Upgrade" >>