- Story Arc: Thailog
- Characters: The Manhattan Clan, Xanatos, Owen, Dr. Sevarius, Thailog
- Enemy(ies) : Xanatos, Dr. Sevarius, Thailog
Last year, Goliath had fought one of Xanatos' Steel Clan robots but been injured in the process; Owen had treated Goliath's injury.
In the present, a series of strange events (an anonymous tip to Elisa about vandalism on an oil rig on the river, an order from Xanatos Enterprises to Dr. Sevarius to steal a certain statue from the top of the Eyrie Building during the day, and an anonymous call to Xanatos demanding a ransom of 20 million dollars for the stolen statue) lead the three of them (as well as Goliath, who refused to let Elisa go alone) to the oil rig, where the culprit turns out to be Thailog, a gargoyle cloned from Goliath's blood and bred to have Goliath's strength and Xanatos' cunning. Thailog locks them up, but they manage to escape before Thailog can blow up the oil rig; both Thailog and the ransom money seem to have been destroyed in the blast, but Xanatos is convinced that both he and his ill-gotten riches survived...
Xanatos returns in Upgrade. Dr. Sevarius returns in The Cage. Thailog returns in Sanctuary.
This Episode contains the following Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: The successful bad guy in this case is Thailog. While Goliath, Elisa Maza, Xanatos, and Dr. Sevarius survive the destruction of the oil rig, even then it would merely have been a bonus as Thailog had already gotten his money and been able to fake his death so no one would try to look for him. Though Xanatos figures out Thailog's full scheme at the episode's end, but by then it is too late as he is long gone by then.
- Bastard Understudy: Thailog was one to David Xanatos, but by the time of his first onscreen appearance, he's ready to go his own way.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: Happens near the end when Thailog has set the oil rig on fire intending just before leaving his intended victims to die in the explosion when Goliath confronts him making one last attempt to persuade him to not go through with his plan.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Thailog places his enemies in a Death Trap instead of killing them outright, giving them a chance to escape. However, in escaping they became witnesses to his faking his own death, so it could have been a Xanatos Gambit.
- Chewing the Scenery: Sevarius upon meeting Xanatos at the oil rig believes that they are being recorded, and delivers a hamtastic performance about the state of Thailog.
- Continuity Nod: Broadway demonstrates that he has continued to make efforts at literacy since the events of "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time".
- Criminal Doppelgänger: Subverted. Thailog makes no attempt at framing Goliath for any crimes, even if Elisa briefly mistakes the former for the latter. Also worth noting that the creators by their own admission wanted to avoid any attempt having Thailog posing as Goliath being that they felt that as being too much of a Cliché Storm.
- Dramatic Irony: Hudson questions whether Goliath is even able to laugh maniacally, since he didn't hear Goliath's maniacal laughter in "Enter Macbeth."
- Even Evil Has Standards: The notion that Thailog probably survived and is now loose in the world leaves Xanatos horrified.
- Evil Laugh: Thailog. Lampshaded by Lexington "Made my hair stand on end...if I had any". And cited by Hudson as proof it wasn't Goliath."Do ya even know how to laugh manically?"
- Eviler than Thou: Thailog makes damn sure Xanatos and Sevarius know this by effortlessly double-crossing both.
- Faking the Dead: Xanatos figures out that this is what Thailog has done in order to get away with his twenty million dollars without anyone seeking to look for him.
- Foreshadowing: Owen Burnett mentions an individual known as "the Emir" has called Xanatos in order to make some sort of arrangement. It is eventually revealed what this deal is in the episode "Grief". Additional tidbit about the Emir: He was first mentioned in the episode "The Edge", but it was not until Season 2 that Greg Weisman decided to have him be an on screen character.
- Gone Horribly Right: Xanatos wanted a Goliath with his world view, and that's exactly what he got:Owen: You mean that creature is still out there; it has the money, it's as powerful as Goliath… and it's smarter than you?Xanatos: Owen… I think I created a monster.
- Graceful Loser: Xanatos is usually this (especially when he manages to achieve a secondary goal). This episode presents one of the few cases when he averts this as a result of his Thailog project resulting in the loss of $20,000,000, an oil rig, and his pet project - in return for which he gained a new and highly dangerous enemy.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Aside from Xanatos and Sevarius being betrayed by their own creation, this is actually crucial to Thailog's scheme. Xanatos is known for his Machiavellian plots, so Sevarius doesn't find "Xanatos" telling him to steal Thailog and then demand ransom money for him to be unusual.
- Instant Sedation: Thailog knocks Goliath out within seconds with a gas normally meant to subdue and weaken Thailog.
- It's Personal: The one single moment that Xanatos had took an affront to him personally. He isn't the most morally upstanding individual, but even he acknowledges that betrayal is wrong.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Dr. Anton Sevarius is under the impression that the plot being carried out is one of Xanatos' infamous schemes while Xanatos thinks that Sevarius has betrayed him. Eventually Thailog reveals that this plan was his doing.
- My God, What Have I Done?: While he doesn’t outright say it, you can definitely hear it in Xanatos’ voice after he comes to the conclusion that Thailog is alive and still out there.Xanatos: Owen... I think I’ve created a monster.
- Oh, Crap!: Xanatos at the end of this episode when he realizes that Thailog is probably still alive.
- Elisa's terrified reaction to Thailog erupting into sinister laughter and advancing on her after Goliath's been knocked out.
- Out-Gambitted: Thailog outsmarts everyone, the only thing he doesn't succeed in is killing them all (which he may or may not have really wanted anyway).
- Retcon: This episode includes a flashback segment set one year prior to the present, during the time Xanatos was in prison back in the middle part of season one, in which a Steel Clan robot attacked Goliath and Owen took a blood sample from Goliath's wound.
- Revenge: Xanatos breaks his norm by actually seeking it on Sevarius after his perceived betrayal. The fact that he loses so hard from it is probably why he doesn't usually pursue it.
- Too Clever by Half: When someone as smart as Xanatos fails, he fails hard.
- Tragic Villain: Thailog certainly never asked to be created by Sevarius and programmed by Xanatos. Fact is, from the moment of conception, who he was as a person was already decided upon. Thus you actually do end up pitying him to an extent.
- Unwitting Pawn: Both Sevarius and, surprisingly enough, Xanatos end up as the pawns in this episode. The latter gets special mention for making a clone of Goliath, teaching that clone his trademark trickery, and then getting duped by that same clone. In other words, he wanted a version of Goliath who was enough like him to be an ally. He got that mostly right.
- Xanatos Gambit: This trope is averted, for once, because Xanatos gains nothing as a result of this episode's scheming, no secondary goal or consoliation prize at all. Unless one counts the satisfaction for creating a creature that was as strong as Goliath and as cunning as himself.
