While the clan investigates Goliath and Elisa’s disappearance, Fang has co-opted Claw and a few human thugs to help him take over the Labyrinth below the city. The residents are vagrants who can’t stop the uprising. While Talon could probably handle the other two Mutates, this time is different: they have laser rifles. When they take Talon captive, it’s up to the clan to intervene. Will Fang rise to power, or will he be broken?
Confused? Read part 1 of Kingdom Episode Review
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers
Fang, Claw, and the human thugs Chas and Lou have stumbled upon a cache of laser rifles.
They get the guns and the case/pod they were in.
At the Eyrie Building, the clan and Talon are finishing up their violation of Xanatos’s personal property/space. Of course they come up with nada regarding Elisa and Goliath. Lex says there were only “the usual shady deals.”
Xanatos replies, “A man has to make a living.” Dang, he’s got some zingers today.
He thinks the clan’s turmoil is hilarious. It’s like when someone who always crosses you finally gets a karmic slap in the face. But he maintains his dignity and doesn’t mock them. Props for that!
Broadway reports that they “looked everywhere” but didn’t find anything. (That was fast!) Brooklyn doesn’t find this shocking at all, considering Xanatos LET them look.
Side note: The place looks pretty cleaned up already. I mean, the new “skylight” is gone, and they’re not climbing around rubble.
What I’d like to know is how Lex searched ALL the files for the entirety of a multinational, multi-billion-dollar company in only an hour or so. I lose stuff on just my laptop and DVDs!
Xanatos follows them outside and yells that he’ll use his resources to find Goliath and Elisa. When they say, “We don’t want any help from you,” he comes back with the legendary, “I wasn’t aware I needed permission”…
According to Greg: Greg has since figured out “a good flashback to be had someday in some medium” on how Xanatos would have put the absence of the protags’ leader to good use.
Did this ever happen, guys? I want it. Badly.
Welp, that’s the last we see of Xanatos this ep, so we can just wrap up here.
Enemy at the Gates
Talon returns to find Fang at the main gate. Fang is tired of taking orders. He’s power-hungry, jealous, frustrated, and angry. Remember, he was a human who was recruited to help at a lab. If he’s like Maggie, he was down on his luck. He might have been a criminal as a human. So this whole being a winged eel cat bat is new to him. While he claims he doesn’t want to return to being a human, he obviously misses the human world. On top of this, he sees Talon take the one female of their “race.” Remember, these guys now have cat DNA, which would make the normal human male reaction toward women even stronger.
Talon tries to brush him off, but Chas, Lou, and Claw standing behind the gate with laser rifles change his mind. They’ve taken Maggie hostage, locking her in the case they got the rifles from.
Talon puts up a good fight, but it’s no good. They eventually capture him.
What is good, though, is Maggie talking Claw into letting her escape. Fang underestimates her, thinking she can’t go anywhere since she’s an eel cat bat. Ha! Joke’s on him She puts cloak on and sneaks into the clock tower. When the clan wakes up, she fills them in.
Follow the Leader
Brooklyn now steps into his leadership role: they’ll help Talon. All of them, even Hudson.
I should mention that throughout, Hudson has been unhelpful. Oh, sure, he’s nudging Brook into leadership, but he’s not being a Mentor. He just asks, “What should we do?” when Brook has an issue.
Cue grand fight when they get into the tent city in the Labyrinth. They pretty much fight to a standstill. Then Brooklyn calls for a halt. He’s leaving and taking Mags with him. Talon can stay here for all he cares. If Fang wants to lead the bums, fine. And by lead I mean oppress.
Maggie is taken aback – until Brooklyn hands her the key to Talon’s cage. She releases him secretly.
Talon explodes from the cage and tackles Fang. Fang appeals to Claw, telling him not to be weak like the rest of the people. Claw looks like he’s going to help…then he smashes the laser rifle.
Talon realizes he is the leader and must act like it. Promising to protect the people here, he shakes hands with Brooklyn, who’s also accepted the mantle of leader.
I love Brook’s line: “This has nothing to do with what I want.” He’s talking about leadership. This is a great observation. Leadership isn’t about taking power and making your life better, it’s about doing what’s best for your people.
Side Note: Talon makes the Labyrinth a weapon-free zone. Doesn’t he know that all but one or two of the recent mass killings happened in gun-free zones? All this will do is prevent the good people from having weapons to protect themselves from the criminals. If a person is gonna commit assault with a deadly weapon, they’re not going to stop just because a sign says No Weapons.
Final Thoughts
Fang is turning into an interesting character! He started out as just another member of the Mutates, one who was snarky but didn’t have much personality otherwise. We knew he rather liked being a Mutate after it grew on him , but other than that he was just a side kick for Talon.
His character arc here makes perfect sense. He is trying to find his place in this new world. It’s not like he can Google a Wiki How on adjusting to being a Mutate. Plus, I think he wasn’t exactly the upstanding citizen that Talon was. He seems like a biker type. At any rate, I get the feeling he made good use of his intimidation ability even as a human. He’s smart, but not smart like Thailog or Demona. Street smart, I guess is what you’d call him.
It seems like he’s following a course that he either already followed as a human, or had experience with. He doesn’t have any qualms about it, that’s for sure.
His pride is growing, too. He’s a powerful creature that can take on humans easily. That means the social norms and rules don’t apply (in his view). The fact that he dumps them makes me think he only followed them before because he had no choice. He didn’t see the point of them. Now he has freedom! Or so he thinks.
IMO, he’d be a good candidate for Xanatos to recruit. Get Fang over the sticking point regarding Xanatos and Sevarius turning him into an eel cat bat, and you’re golden.
Next week we look at Monsters. The gargoyles meet Nessy. Really they do, I promise. This episode proves the line from American Horror Story: All monsters are human.
Thoughts? Comment!
Shoulda screencapped that evil grin Talon had when Maggie unlocked his cage. Priceless.