In the eighth episode of the second season of Gargoyles, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Gargoyles.Â
Lord, that was a complicated one, and if there was any doubt, it’s now gone: David Xanatos is the most purposely ridiculous character in this whole show. THIS WAS HIS HONEYMOON. This was how he made himself rich! HE WASN’T EVEN BOTHERED BY HIS FATHER COMING ALONG FOR THE RIDE. He’s so casual about the entire thing, and it’s a way for the show to show us just how comfortable he is with wealth and power. Time-traveling for a honeymoon? No big deal.
The entire episode is one closed-loop trip for Xanatos, a grandfather paradox of sorts because the whole thing is impenetrable from any observable angle. Though part of me wonders if Goliath would have upset the timeline if he hadn’t been so distracted by Demona’s attempt to change history. Perhaps not; Goliath seemed quite focused on keeping things as they were. Thus, I’d argue that “Vows” is about preserving the past exactly as it was. Even though Goliath could have done things to more definitively push Demona to his side, even though he could have taken out the archmage, even though he could have stranded Xanatos in the past… he didn’t. I don’t even think he was tempted to do so!
Well, maybe I’m not entirely right. The nostalgia that Goliath had for Demona and the vows he once exchanged with her was partially responsible for his appearance at the wedding of Xanatos and Fox. Which is just so goddamn weird all on its own. BAD IDEA, WHY DID YOU GO TO THAT WEDDING. (At least the time travel loop explains why Xanatos but not Owen was so certain.) The premise of this episode is absurd, but once that Phoenix Gate got activated, who cares about pointing out absurdity? This whole thing is over-the-top. AGAIN: XANATOS TAKES HIS WIFE AND FATHER TIME TRAVELING A THOUSAND YEARS IN THE PAST FOR HIS HONEYMOON.
So, if this is all ridiculous, how do the writers ground the story? The tortured romance of Demona and Goliath ends up being the centerpiece of “Vows.” Demona believed that she could convince her younger self to abandon her relationship with Goliath and other humans. That’s a tall order, of course, and part of the reason she fails so spectacularly is because she misjudges the optimism of her younger self. The Demona of 975 AD was not exactly ready to throw away Goliath or to go on a rampage and eliminate all of the humans of Earth. I’ve noticed that Demona has a major flaw: she doesn’t know how to persuade anyone. AT ALL. She just assumes people will understand her perspective by… force? With lots of yelling?
For example: she merely shows the younger Demona the fiery world after the humans (well, some of them) turned on the gargoyles. To be frank, it’s not enough! It’s not enough to show a radical aftermath of a set of decisions spanning nearly twenty years and hoping that a person knows what it all means. Demona does this a lot, too. She doesn’t ever try and convince people of her side, which isn’t all that radical anyway. Humans are HORRIBLE to gargoyles! There’s evidence of it everywhere, and Xanatos is a prime example of that. (Which makes her all the more complicated as an antagonist, since she’s allied to a human who is definitively The Worst.) So it’s not like she’s coming from an irrational place; she just has irrational means to achieve a terrible end.
In the end, Demona also couldn’t destroy the immutable nature of the past. Aside from the addition of memories of the events that took place in “Vows,” everything is exactly as it was, which makes me think that Demona won’t try time travel again. (Or, if she does, she’ll try a different technique.) It also means that Goliath’s attempt to influence young Demona didn’t work either. Demona was most likely always going to become this version of herself, and no amount of tenders and no number of warnings would have changed that. It’s a sobering end to an otherwise fantastical ride, and lord, did I ever enjoy it.
The video for “Vows” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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