In the twenty-second episode of the second season of Gargoyles, MY BRAIN IS BROKEN. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Gargoyles.
Trigger Warning: For consent.
How long had the showrunners/writers been planning this??? THIS IS SO INTRICATE AND MESSED UP AND IT PULLS TOGETHER LIKE TEN PLOTS INTO ONE STORY AND OH MY GOD, I WASN’T READY.
I don’t know what I was shocked my more: the complicated time travel plot or the fact that the Wyrd Sisters (STILL CALLING THEM THAT) were actually one of the main players in this drama. So often I find that mystical characters like them in fantasy novels aren’t primary characters or agents but simply a means of affecting the story for the real main character. Here, though, they not only affect the story, but they have a motivation of their own: they want revenge on the three humans (especially the Magus) who used magic to enter Avalon. They’re furious over what the Magus did, and the Archmage exploits that for his own gain
My god, the Archmage. I suppose this is an example of one of those closed circle paradoxes in time travel, where the origin of something exists within the loop itself. Once you start thinking about who saved the Archmage when he plunged into that canyon, I am certain your brain will hurt as much as mine did. But the complicated path that the Archmage takes is strangely logical, too, and watching the future version of him cycle back in time in order to put his younger self into a repeating circle was satisfying. In this, we learn how important so many other events were to this plot for revenge. We know why it was vital to see the Magus attack and temporarily defeat the Wyrd Sisters. All of the ambiguity surrounding the Wyrd Sister’s actions earlier this season now makes a lot of sense. They got involved with the fight between Macbeth, Demona, and the gargoyles not out of some desire to sow chaos, and they didn’t pull the two of them out of the world out of a desire to be responsible for their actions. (OH MY GOD, I WAS SO WRONG.) No, they wanted to manipulate and control Demona and Macbeth because the Archmage told them to. It helped to distract Goliath so the eye of Odin and the Phoenix’s Gate could be stolen! And how fucked up is it that they’re both under a spell that compels them to fight for the Archmage, something I imagine neither of them would do on their own? (Seriously, it’s disturbing to see Demona attack other gargoyles, y’all.)
It’s a lot to process as a viewer, so I can’t even begin to imagine what this is going to be like for Goliath and Elisa. Despite a warning, they don’t even know what they’re walking into! Plus, it’s already overwhelming to be on Avalon because THERE ARE MORE GARGOYLES. As far as I could count, about two thirds of the eggs survived. (We still don’t know the fate of the boat with Tom’s mother and the other princess, whose name I don’t recall, and that has a third of the eggs.) There are TWO DOZEN new gargoyles, all of whom are also ill-equipped to fight in any battles because they’ve lived in peace on Avalon for YEARS. We don’t learn a whole lot about what life has been like on Avalon, but little that is revealed here is AWESOME. First of all, let’s talk about gargoyle clans, because CHILDREN BELONG TO THE WHOLE CLAN. Community parenting! (There’s gotta be fics that explore the gargoyles as one big poly family. There HAVE to be.) So, that seems to suggest that gargoyles don’t really care who their individual, biological parents are because they place meaning in the group as a whole, which helps explain why the Manhattan clan is so close. (And why Demona’s betrayal must hurt, too.)
We also get to meet two new gargoyles who are named: Angela and Gabriel. I shall immediately worry that they won’t survive this arc because I have learned to not trust good things on television. (Gargoyles is no exception. While death doesn’t really feature on this show, the writers have still found ways of punching me in the heart.) The gargoyles of Avalon have heard stories about Goliath, but we know very, very little about these new characters. What are they like? What might they want to do if they escape Avalon? CAN EVERYONE BE ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY??? That’s now canonically possible, so don’t judge me.
The video for “Avalon, Part II” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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