Mark Watches ‘Gargoyles’: S02E46 – Vendettas

In the forty-sixth episode of the second season of Gargoyles, I can’t believe y’all did this to me. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Gargoyles. 

This show spent like 50 episodes setting up a single punchline, and I can only hope to achieve something that momentous someday. How can I even talk about anything else at this point? The ending of “Vendettas” is a tonal shock, and yet it still feels like it fits within the wacky world of the gargoyles. That’s… that’s impressive!

And it’s not the only reason to love this episode, even though it’s my favorite aspect of this. One thing that the writers for this show have been consistent about is examining the ramifications of each thing that happens within this universe. How many callbacks have there been over the course of these two seasons? And how many times do these callbacks exists so that the writers can tell a new story? This show is not referential for the sake of it; Gargoyles is giving us a complicated, layered story full of characters who recur and reappear as the world evolves.

Which is why we’ve gotten so many episodes dealing with the Pack, who I initially saw as nothing more than a disposable set of characters. Yet they’ve been a consistent antagonistic force, with the exception of Dingo. Here, Wolf reappears, but alongside Hakon, both of whom have been bonded through their mutual hatred of Goliath. The magic at work is kinda absurd, but I didn’t question it because… well, I’m so far into the weirdness of Gargoyles that it seems silly to nitpick anymore. Plus, Wolf is Hakon’s direct relative (!!!!!! WHAT !!!!!!), so… magic! That’s how it works! The greater theme here, of course, is that both of these characters’ lives were irrevocably changed due to Goliath and the other gargoyles. They resurface in Manhattan with a vendetta in mind, and the vast majority of the episode is devoted to that. This is a no-frills, vicious fight sequence between Goliath, Hudson, Wolf, and Hakon-possessed Wolf, and from it, you really do get a sense for how badly those two characters wanted their revenge. What’s left unsaid, however, is the duty that Hudson and Goliath demonstrate. They never question fighting Wolf. Instead, they see it as the next logical step. They thwarted both Wolf and Hakon before, and it’s almost like they expect people to come back from their past to get revenge. So what do they do?

They fight as hard as they can.

Now, that can only be so entertaining, so “Vendettas” features… Vinnie. Vinnie, a character I’d thought was so small and inconsequential that I had to be reminded of when he’d been on the show, and I DID NOT EVEN RECOGNIZE HIM AS THE THREE CHARACTERS WHO HAD HAD THEIR LIFE RUINED BY THE GARGOYLES. This poor man had the unbearable luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time thrice. Lexington ruined his bike; Goliath frightened him on a Xanatos ship; and he got fired from Gen-U-Tech. Now, it was time for his revenge, except Vinnie appears to have been plucked right out of an episode of Looney Toons. I started feeling horrible at how often random chance prevented him from firing his weapon at Goliath. I mean, not that I wanted Goliath hurt!!! But this guy just couldn’t catch a break.

I’m still reeling from the final scene of “Vendettas,” though. After all this, we find out that Vinnie just wanted to shoot Goliath in the face with a banana creme pie. Creamed. THE EPISODE LITERALLY TOLD ME WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THE END. And I deeply, deeply respect the commitment to this joke, y’all, and I fully admit that I fell for it. Bravo, Gargoyles. Turns out the joke was on me.

The video for “Vendettas” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
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