In the fifty-first and penultimate episode of the second season of Gargoyles, my heart. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Gargoyles.Â
H e l p m e
Well, the show has certainly escalated in its final story arc. IT HAS ESCALATED SO MUCH. Oh my god, where do I even start?
The Hunters
Based on what Robyn says here in “Hunter’s Moon, Part Two,” I am willing to bet that everything about the Hunters’ appearance in Manhattan was staged. None of it was accident. Jason didn’t end up with Elisa by mistake and Robyn suspected that Destine wasn’t who she said she was. Maybe the Hunters hadn’t figured out everything, sure. But they’re so creepy about how they’ve insinuated themselves into the lives of everyone, all so that they can get close to Demona and kill her once and for all. (They still don’t realize that they can’t, right? Where’s Macbeth during all of this??? Wouldn’t he be interested in a group of hunters who have taken it upon themselves to get rid of Demona?) I don’t believe they’ll succeed, but the writers are also making sure that they seem like they’ll get a victory. In many ways, they’ve got the upper hand, they have the advantage of surprise, and they just BLEW UP THE FUCKING CLOCKTOWER AT THE END OF THE EPISODE. With the gargoyles inside of it!!!!
They’re not foolish antagonists, y’all. They know what they want; they have technology on their side; they have BACK-UP PLANS when their main ones fail. Gods, there’s even that really great conversation the trio has about the possibility that Demona has passed on the sorcery that allows her to turn into a human during the day, which helps explain why they don’t just wait until daytime to attack the gargoyles. Smart villains are THE WORST. (The most rewarding, of course, but also NO DON’T DO IT.)
Demona
I will eternally love this show’s ability to make Demona one of the most complicated characters I’ve ever seen on television. Like…. look at her arc! Look at how much depth she was over the course of Gargoyles! Even here, as she secretly plotting to do something, Demona realizes that she can work with Goliath again. (And note that THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE TROPES REARING IT’S BEAUTIFUL HEAD, TOO.) The context of this alliance only makes sense after the gargoyles nearly beat up Demona on the Hunters’ ship. Which… look, I totally get why they assumed that she was working with them. Demona is, at times, a pure opportunist: she pursues what betters herself and her desires and nothing more. She worked with both Xanatos and Thailog, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she was allied with the Hunters out of some misguided attempt to wipe out Goliath’s clan.
But Angela’s presence matters here, doesn’t? The fact that Demona has a living daughter changes her perspective, and thus, it makes complete sense to me that Demona would put aside this feud in order to save the gargoyles with her. I gotta say that the writing for Demona, no matter the circumstances she’s put in, has been incredibly consistent, and there’s no exception here. Now, what’s this thing she’s planning with the disinfectant and the manufactured… thing? Disease? Illness? Is it a cure or a sickness? What the hell is this subplot for?
Jealousy
You know, it’s taken me over sixty episodes of this show to finally state that Goliath is a deeply emotional leader. He is not stoic, he is not unemotional, and he is highly involved with the decisions that he makes. That’s always been the case, even when he’s the one taking the moral high ground or doing things that are at great detriment to himself. Yet in the midst of this arc, we get to see Goliath at his most envious. Even if Elisa is not pursuing a relationship with Jason at all (GOOD, HE IS NOT WHO HE SAYS HE IS, FUCK HIM [NOT LITERALLY], PLEASE RUN AWAY), the interaction he sees still cuts him deep.
Gargoyles has sort of danced around the issue of Elisa/Goliath as a couple, and I imagine that’s largely a behind-the-scenes thing. Like, I don’t think Disney was very keen on a woman getting it on with a gargoyle? NOT THAT THE SHOW WOULD HAVE PUT THAT ON SCREEN. But it’s probably weird to other people? (Not kids, mind you. You better believe I thought all the anthropomorphic animals I watched as a child were Truly In Love Forever.) Yet this episode addresses it so directly that I was actually taken aback! Not in a bad way, mind you, but because it was clear to me that the show was escalating things in the final moments. Goliath resents this whole situation, FULL STOP. It affects his judgment, it makes him rush into battle with the Hunters, and it is probably why he didn’t even notice that Robyn planted a tracking device on him. Is Goliath going to acknowledge that his feelings for Elisa clouded his mind?
I can’t deal with this cliffhanger, y’all.
The video for “Hunter’s Moon, Part Three” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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