It appears Matt Bluestone has betrayed Goliath to Mace Malone and the Illuminati Society, who are intent on breaking Goliath’s will. But Goliath is breaking out of their Hotel Cabal, aka the torture chamber. Matt continues to ply Mace for info on the Society. When push comes to shove, though, who does Bluestone side with? And what will become of the aged gangster Mace?
If you’re lost, you either fell asleep or missed Revelations Episode Review part 1.
Check-In Time
At the Hotel Cabal, Goliath and Matt Bluestone try to enter the roof access, but it turns to a slide, with Matt going one way and Goliath another. Matt ends with Mace Malone. If Matt had gone the wrong way, and if he hadn’t had the Hotel key, he’d be stuck in the maze. A warm body is all it takes to activate the rooms.
Just then, Goliath disappears from radar. Mace grabs a machine gun and sets off to hunt him down. If the Illuminati finds that Mace has allowed the garg to escape, they’ll cut of Mace’s pension and his “rejuvenation drugs.” Um, I think the treatments need some work, cuz they’re not doing much. I’ve seen people 100+ years old who look better.
Mace finds Goliath climbing up an elevator shaft.
Taking aim through the two-way mirror glass, Mace is about to fire – when Matt tackles him through the window. Why tackle him through? Also, that’s some pretty weak glass.
Goliath snags Matt as the detective plummets. Somehow Mace catches himself.
Turns out Goliath and Matt planned all this to make it look like Matt was on the Illuminati’s side. What the overall plan from there was, I dunno. So what if you catch Mace revealing the Illuminati’s secrets? He’s a crazy old man, they could always say. Or…they could just kill Matt. Either way, any evidence Matt found would vanish, just like Mulder’s evidence always vanished at the hands of the smug Smoking Man.
Mace rails at Matt, but the joke’s on the gangster, because Matt took his key. The old guy is left to wander the halls. Is no one outside monitoring this place? Is nobody keeping tabs on Mace and his operation? Probably Mace spent a max of an hour wandering before some Illuminati colleague came to investigate. Bet he was the laughing stock of the group!
According to Greg: I quote: “And of course, I enjoy the irony of Mace being trapped in a Hell of his own making. And i like the notion that the Illuminati just left him there to rot. He had outlived his usefulness. A non-member had found him thanks to his annoying sentimental habit of visiting Pine Lawn. AND he had failed to hold the Gargoyle in the Cabal. Breaking a perfect record. Woops.”
I guess it would send a message to the members to severely punish Mace, but one has to think of the politics withing the Society. Somebody was bound to have an issue with that. Also think of another message it sends: Even though Mace was indispensable to the Illuminati at one time, and even though he gave up everything for them, they’re letting him die a nasty death just because he failed in a mission he might not have been fully qualified for. If this happens enough times, members will get nervous. If it could happen to Mace, it could happen to them. A bunch of nervous members isn’t good. Get enough of ’em and they’ll flee en masse to make their own group. Then again, the “it won’t happen to me” fallacy is common, so perhaps they could get away with abandoning Mace.
Secret Decoder Ring
Matt and Elisa debrief. Matt wants to know why Elisa kept the gargoyles secret for over a year. She admits that it made her feel special. Being the only human they could confide in was a distinction she didn’t want to give up easily. I guess she doesn’t know about Robbins and Renard?
Matt leaves work, sad that he won’t be an Illuminati member. He should instead be scared that they’ll push him through a window cuz he knows too much.
Outside he finds Hacker waiting for him. The old partner has a gift: and Illuminati pin. Matt’s now a member!
Apparently Matt’s betrayal – er, I mean, success at bringing Goliath in impressed them. It wasn’t Matt’s job to “hold him,” it was Mace’s. So…it’s totally cool with them that Matt obviously was never on their side? Mm. Well, I hope he watches his back, because this organization isn’t one to be trifled with.
Turns out Hacker was trying to keep Matt away from Mace, and Hacker thought the stepson lead was just another wild goose chase, like the many others he’d sent Matt on. But Matt’s detective skills came through. I wonder how much Hacker had to push for Matt’s acceptance? I’m assuming he did it as a way to save his own neck after accidentally giving away a major clue to Mace’s location.
Well, this was a short review. That’s cuz the ep is mostly about Matt. It shows that he’s a good schemer and is loyal to the gargoyles. The revelation of the gargoyles to him will open new opportunities for stories, no doubt. The increased presence of the Illuminati will also turn up later, I bet.
20/20 moment: the Illuminati is a major mover in the SLG comic’s plot. It sends House Xanatos to visit the White House and encourages the Quarrymen to destroy the gargoyles. The Society is essentially supporting both sides of the gargoyle issue in an effort to increase its own already-expansive power.
So let’s take a sec to look at Mace’s character. He’s a powerful crime boss who’s sold his soul to the Society. Not that he probably had much choice – or much of a soul to begin with. You don’t get to call the shots when you’re working for what’s essentially a gang on steroids. When they say jump, you ask “Off which building?” I don’t think it took much coaxing to get him to side with them, though. Their retirement plan includes dental, rejuvenation, and a pension. That beats Medicare and Social Security! Plus, a gangster doesn’t have many qualms when it comes to working for a shady organization. The Illuminati saddled Mace with the job of dealing with the gargoyles because he had Matt under his sway. Old-age and cunning are supposed to trump youth and vigor, but they overestimated Mace a bit here.
Mace enjoys running the Hotel Cabal. One gets the feeling he’s seen many a person lose their minds here. He certainly gets a kick out of goading Goliath and watching the garg suffer. When an antagonist enjoys cruelty, they truly earn the title of Villain. They also lose a lot of appeal for me, because while torture may have its place in a villain’s scheme to get information from the hero, enjoying the suffering is just low-class.
His one redeeming quality was that he loved Flo Dame. I wonder if he sent her funds to take care of her and his step son?
The main interest for me at this point is what became of him. Did they just dump him out on the street? Did they leave him to die in the Hotel? Did they shoot him out back and dump his body in the river? It’s not like anyone would miss him; everybody thought he was dead already. I don’t know how useful to them he was anymore anyway, as they’ve made their own connections in organized crime.
Final Thoughts
The Illuminati has had some attention throughout the series, most notably in that it is the sources of David Xanatos’s wealth. Or rather, he used them 1000 years ago to send himself a coin that would be the seed of his fortune. They were nothing more than a FedEx truck that had a delivery date 1000 years in the future. Other than that, they’ve been an urban legend, an org of unknown proportions.
I’m wondering if the horrible idea of putting Mace in charge of this project, something he’s totally not qualified for, was some power-player’s way of moving up in the Illuminati? Take out the old man and take over his place. Or maybe it was just a step to take down the real rival(s). Perhaps the Society just got sick of looking at him and paying his pension.
Next Tuesday we meet a new player in the game, one who combines the best aspects of Xanatos and Goliath. It’s Xanatos’s pet project. This time David may have gotten in over his head. It’s never good to make a minion that’s smarter than you. It’s one of my fave eps: Double Jeopardy.
Thoughts? Comment!