[8.1/10] Vengeance and division will get you nowhere. Forgiveness and acceptance will free your soul. Maybe that’s a little too pollyanna for the real world, but it beautifully embodies the ethos of Gargoyles. The season finale of the show is a series finale of sorts, with members of the original creative team moving on. And as a final statement on these characters and their world, this episode is a mighty fine tribute to those ideals which fueled the series from the start.
Given the opportunity to seek revenge, Goliath instead opts for true justice and reconciliation. Faced with the prospect of mankind’s extermination and the chance for gargoyles to inherit the Earth, he throws his lot in with humanity. When presented the opportunity to trade blood for blood or treat his own kind as supreme, Goliath instead shows remarkable grace, courage, and solidarity.
He is not alone in this. Hudson, Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, Angela, and even Bronx fight by his side and counsel him against rash decisions. Elisa comes in at the last minute to suggest that there’s nuance to the motivations and morality of the people Goliath was poised to kill. Matt Bluestone holds an angry public and antsy police force at bay. Even Xanatos, having become a husband and father, has softened and helps save the day.
There too is a type of solidarity. Through unexpected kindness and forgiveness, veritable refugees become makeshift families; enemies become allies, strangers from a world apart become true loves.
That’s right, in the final moments of “Hunter’s Moon pt. 3”, Gargoyles finally pulls the trigger on Goliath and Elisa. The two confess what they mean to one another and even share a kiss. For once, a smile eclipses Goliath’s face as he turns to stone for the day. Had the romance ended there, it would still be satisfying -- a small acknowledgement of feelings each clearly harbored but hesitated to express until they could be denied no more.
It’s a small moment, but a meaningful and earned one. We’ve seen Elisa and Goliath grow closer and depend on one another over the course of these past sixty-five episodes. Gargoyles rarely belabored the mutual attraction, simply realizing it in how the two star-crossed lovers treated one another. We also hear Goliath’s anguished cry when he believes Elisa has perished, and we watch her put herself in harm’s way to save him from his own grief-fueled worst impulses. Their admission of love, not in so many words, is a nicely understated culmination to what’s been simmering under the surface of stone and flesh for some time now.
That’s not to say this season finale is perfect. Like many of Gargoyles’ most momentous episodes, this one is rather overstuffed. We quickly jump from the wreckage of the clock tower, to one big confrontation with the Hunters, to a death fake out, to another big confrontation with the Hunters, to another big confrontation with Demona, to a minor victory lap. And that’s not counting the multiple death fakeouts for the Gargoyles and Elisa and Jason, and quick changes of heart for Goliath and Jon and Robyn, and rushed games of “reverse the polarity” necessary for various members of these warring factions to find each other. The gargoyles surviving the Hunters’ attack from the last episode, and Elisa and Jason surviving their plunge, both feel like something less than fair play on the part of the show.
And yet, the core of this story is good. At base, it’s about people on both sides who have been wronged and scarred by the cycle of vengeance. Goliath nearly lost his daughter in one attack, his family in another, and his love in a third. The Hunters lost their father to Demona’s fury and nearly lost their brother in another confrontation with the winged beasts. Even Demona began her road to darkness after facing years of prejudice from humans and then ultimately a betrayal that left her bereft of kin.
What I appreciate about all of this is that the lines between good and evil are not so clear. Don’t get me wrong, Demona’s gargoyle supremacist views and efforts toward obliteration are downright sinister and cruel. But we understand how and why she got there. We understand why the Hunters have committed themselves to exterminating gargoyles, even if we don’t want them to succeed. We understand why Goliath is so ravenous for the blood of his enemies, even if we don’t want to see him darken his soul that way.
And most of all, we understand that only letting it go and reconciliation can heal these wounds and stop them from festering and spreading and infecting others to hurt all the more. The action of “Hunter’s Moon pt. 3” is exciting, with aerial battles, cathedral-set skirmishes, and a game of hot potato with humanity’s continued existence on the line. Yet the crux of the episode comes when not just our heroes, but also our villains, decide to set aside their differences and stand together.
Or most of them anyway. The other part I like about this episode is that it’s not a complete victory, either in terms of strategy or in winning hearts and minds. It’s too rushed, but there’s something well-observed in the way Jon, the Hunter most sympathetic to the gargoyles who spares them after recognizing them as more complicated beings, becomes the one who can’t let go of his grudge against them after they put his brother’s life at risk. And after centuries of bitterness, Demona is too far gone to let go of her hate for humanity.
Acceptance and understanding can stop the cycle from perpetuating, but it can’t save everyone. Maybe Demona and Jon’s fates are simply Gargoyles saving something more for a rainy day, in case the show were renewed for a third season. But I’d like to take their lingering perspectives and efforts toward destruction as an acknowledgment that whatever the best of intentions for burying hatchets and loving thine enemy, for some it will be too much and too late.
But it isn’t for Goliath, his clan, or the people he’s come to care for over the past year or so. The episode’s closing moments make a big deal of how our heroes and even their foes have come full circle. After having to abandon Wyvern castle due to Xanatos’s machinations, the gargoyles find themselves once again making their home there as a safe haven. The feud with their mercenary benefactor has ended, and the city that once spoke of them in whispers and myths now knows and fears them. And the budding trust between a mortal human and a creature of legend has blossomed into genuine love, one that transcends the differences in time and form between them.
These are the things made possible by showing mercy when you want vengeance, embracing acceptance when you’re inclined toward prejudice, making room for open-hearted possibility over close-minded hate. The real world is more complicated, and such virtues don’t always find purchase. But in Gargoyles amid the myths and legends, science fiction and sorcery, man and beast, there was always room for Goliath, Elisa, their allies, and their adversaries to overcome their worst instincts and become their better selves. A city, and a world, are all the better for it and, perhaps, so too were the young men and women who watched their stories unfold.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-08-24T02:09:41Z
[8.1/10] Vengeance and division will get you nowhere. Forgiveness and acceptance will free your soul. Maybe that’s a little too pollyanna for the real world, but it beautifully embodies the ethos of Gargoyles. The season finale of the show is a series finale of sorts, with members of the original creative team moving on. And as a final statement on these characters and their world, this episode is a mighty fine tribute to those ideals which fueled the series from the start.
Given the opportunity to seek revenge, Goliath instead opts for true justice and reconciliation. Faced with the prospect of mankind’s extermination and the chance for gargoyles to inherit the Earth, he throws his lot in with humanity. When presented the opportunity to trade blood for blood or treat his own kind as supreme, Goliath instead shows remarkable grace, courage, and solidarity.
He is not alone in this. Hudson, Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, Angela, and even Bronx fight by his side and counsel him against rash decisions. Elisa comes in at the last minute to suggest that there’s nuance to the motivations and morality of the people Goliath was poised to kill. Matt Bluestone holds an angry public and antsy police force at bay. Even Xanatos, having become a husband and father, has softened and helps save the day.
There too is a type of solidarity. Through unexpected kindness and forgiveness, veritable refugees become makeshift families; enemies become allies, strangers from a world apart become true loves.
That’s right, in the final moments of “Hunter’s Moon pt. 3”, Gargoyles finally pulls the trigger on Goliath and Elisa. The two confess what they mean to one another and even share a kiss. For once, a smile eclipses Goliath’s face as he turns to stone for the day. Had the romance ended there, it would still be satisfying -- a small acknowledgement of feelings each clearly harbored but hesitated to express until they could be denied no more.
It’s a small moment, but a meaningful and earned one. We’ve seen Elisa and Goliath grow closer and depend on one another over the course of these past sixty-five episodes. Gargoyles rarely belabored the mutual attraction, simply realizing it in how the two star-crossed lovers treated one another. We also hear Goliath’s anguished cry when he believes Elisa has perished, and we watch her put herself in harm’s way to save him from his own grief-fueled worst impulses. Their admission of love, not in so many words, is a nicely understated culmination to what’s been simmering under the surface of stone and flesh for some time now.
That’s not to say this season finale is perfect. Like many of Gargoyles’ most momentous episodes, this one is rather overstuffed. We quickly jump from the wreckage of the clock tower, to one big confrontation with the Hunters, to a death fake out, to another big confrontation with the Hunters, to another big confrontation with Demona, to a minor victory lap. And that’s not counting the multiple death fakeouts for the Gargoyles and Elisa and Jason, and quick changes of heart for Goliath and Jon and Robyn, and rushed games of “reverse the polarity” necessary for various members of these warring factions to find each other. The gargoyles surviving the Hunters’ attack from the last episode, and Elisa and Jason surviving their plunge, both feel like something less than fair play on the part of the show.
And yet, the core of this story is good. At base, it’s about people on both sides who have been wronged and scarred by the cycle of vengeance. Goliath nearly lost his daughter in one attack, his family in another, and his love in a third. The Hunters lost their father to Demona’s fury and nearly lost their brother in another confrontation with the winged beasts. Even Demona began her road to darkness after facing years of prejudice from humans and then ultimately a betrayal that left her bereft of kin.
What I appreciate about all of this is that the lines between good and evil are not so clear. Don’t get me wrong, Demona’s gargoyle supremacist views and efforts toward obliteration are downright sinister and cruel. But we understand how and why she got there. We understand why the Hunters have committed themselves to exterminating gargoyles, even if we don’t want them to succeed. We understand why Goliath is so ravenous for the blood of his enemies, even if we don’t want to see him darken his soul that way.
And most of all, we understand that only letting it go and reconciliation can heal these wounds and stop them from festering and spreading and infecting others to hurt all the more. The action of “Hunter’s Moon pt. 3” is exciting, with aerial battles, cathedral-set skirmishes, and a game of hot potato with humanity’s continued existence on the line. Yet the crux of the episode comes when not just our heroes, but also our villains, decide to set aside their differences and stand together.
Or most of them anyway. The other part I like about this episode is that it’s not a complete victory, either in terms of strategy or in winning hearts and minds. It’s too rushed, but there’s something well-observed in the way Jon, the Hunter most sympathetic to the gargoyles who spares them after recognizing them as more complicated beings, becomes the one who can’t let go of his grudge against them after they put his brother’s life at risk. And after centuries of bitterness, Demona is too far gone to let go of her hate for humanity.
Acceptance and understanding can stop the cycle from perpetuating, but it can’t save everyone. Maybe Demona and Jon’s fates are simply Gargoyles saving something more for a rainy day, in case the show were renewed for a third season. But I’d like to take their lingering perspectives and efforts toward destruction as an acknowledgment that whatever the best of intentions for burying hatchets and loving thine enemy, for some it will be too much and too late.
But it isn’t for Goliath, his clan, or the people he’s come to care for over the past year or so. The episode’s closing moments make a big deal of how our heroes and even their foes have come full circle. After having to abandon Wyvern castle due to Xanatos’s machinations, the gargoyles find themselves once again making their home there as a safe haven. The feud with their mercenary benefactor has ended, and the city that once spoke of them in whispers and myths now knows and fears them. And the budding trust between a mortal human and a creature of legend has blossomed into genuine love, one that transcends the differences in time and form between them.
These are the things made possible by showing mercy when you want vengeance, embracing acceptance when you’re inclined toward prejudice, making room for open-hearted possibility over close-minded hate. The real world is more complicated, and such virtues don’t always find purchase. But in Gargoyles amid the myths and legends, science fiction and sorcery, man and beast, there was always room for Goliath, Elisa, their allies, and their adversaries to overcome their worst instincts and become their better selves. A city, and a world, are all the better for it and, perhaps, so too were the young men and women who watched their stories unfold.