Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: Deadly Force

Before we get started today, I’d like to encourage you all to check out SF Debris’ review of this very episode as he elaborates on some of the finer points of it far more eloquently than I ever could. I’ll be repeating some of those points in this review, as I agree with them wholeheartedly, but I will do my best to keep that to a minimum. With that said, welcome once again, to Gargoyles.

We open today’s episode with Owen overseeing a shipment for Xanatos Enterprises at the docks. Some bad guys step in and try to steal the shipment, and despite Owen managing to over-power some of the thieves like some kind of badass Mr. Smithers, the thugs get away with one of the shipment crates and GOOD LORD LOOK AT THAT FACE! I thought Owen’s poker face was intense, but his angry face could probably melt through solid steel by sheer force of will.

That evening, at the castle, the Gargoyles awaken from their stone sleep and Broadway immediately heads to the cinema to catch his new favorite movie, Showdown, a Western in the same style of something like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, more on that later.

So, who has the testicular fortitude to steal from Xanatos, a man with his own fleet of Laser Robot Gargoyles as well as his own privately funded mercenary company with their own world famous TV show? (and that’s just the stuff we know about) Well, Elisa seems to think that local crime boss Tony Dracon is behind the theft and pleads with her captain to let her take him in, but since there isn’t enough evidence, there’s sadly no way the police can touch Dracon right now. Not good, especially considering the stolen crate was full of experimental laser weapons, because Xanatos loves him some lasers. Owen arrives to further give a more accurate technical exposition of what these weapons are and the power they have. What this ultimately translates to is, yeah, these weapons are seriously bad news in the wrong hands, forcing Elisa to storm out of the Captain’s office to “do her job.”

At the cinema, Broadway sneaks in through the roof to watch the movie from the balcony. I guess that’s one of the perks of being a massive green winged monster, you never have to pay for a ticket. Broadway seems especially enamored with the sweet gunplay on display, while your humble writer is more enamored with the sweet pseudo-Magnificent Seven theme playing during the film. Nice!

Elsewhere, Elisa goes to confront the suspected mastermind behind the theft at the docks and it’s here where we’re properly introduced to Tony Dracon. A lot of the recurring antagonists this show has introduced up to this point such as Xanatos, Demona and even The Pack to a lesser extent, are all interesting and complex characters with well-rounded personalities and backstories that will be explored throughout the course of the show. Not the case with Tony Dracon. This guy’s character begins and ends with the word “Scumbag” and never grows beyond it. The dude is so slimy that I had to wash my TV screen about five times over the course of this episode. Dracon, of course, feigns ignorance of the heist when Elisa questions him, all while being as big a creep as possible as he refers to the Detective as “sugar” and “honey,” and claims that even if he was behind the heist, there’s not way the law can touch him. Man, I would LOVE to see Xanatos get his hands on this guy to just to show him what a loser he really is. I’d bet he’d be on all fours yapping like a corgi within twenty minutes if Xanatos willed it so.

Frustrated after getting nowhere with Dracon, Elisa returns to her apartment, where her cat, Cagney, named for one of the title characters from the 80’s police procedural drama, Cagney & Lacey, is waiting. The show also makes a point to draw attention to Elisa hanging her gun holster on the easily accessible coatrack near the front door. As Elisa makes herself some dinner, Broadway, on his way back from the movies, stops by for a visit. Broadway immediately spies Elisa’s gun and starts emulating the character from the movie, accidentally firing it… at Elisa. Horrified by what he’s done, Broadway immediately flies Elisa to the front of the nearest hospital. Broadway frantically repeating the word “Sorry” and his horrified expression at Elisa’s blood on his own hands are especially nice touches to illustrate the seriousness of the situation.

Later, at the Castle, The Gargoyles are concerned that Broadway hasn’t made it back to the castle by sunrise. However, the Gargoyles will soon have much bigger things to worry about as Owen arrives to inform them that Elisa has been shot and the Doctors are not sure if she’ll make it, Goliath barely having a chance to react before turning to stone. Seriously, again? What is it with this show and scenes where characters turn to stone in mid-conversation!? Also, dick move on Owen’s part to choose this exact moment to tell Goliath. I don’t know if Gargoyles dream during their stone sleep, but if they do, Goliath is going to have nightmares.

During the day, Dracon and his goons are testing the stolen goods while having a laugh about Elisa getting shot. Good lord, this guy’s balls get more kickable by the minute. Regardless, the guns seem to pack a serious punch, able to shoot holes straight through solid wood and stone. Glasses, Dracon’s right-hand man, says that they’ve already set up a buyer for the bulk of their merchandise and the exchange is set to go down that night.

That night, Goliath and the others waste no time in storming into Owen’s office demanding details about what happens to Elisa. Owen is apparently unsure what happened, but alludes to the fact that Elisa was trying to get a shipment of stolen weapons off the street and seems to suspect there may be a connection. While Broadway is seen sobbing on a rooftop near the Chrysler Building, Goliath heads to Manhattan General to check on Elisa. It is in this scene where we’re introduced to Elisa’s family, minus her sister who is off-handedly mentioned as living in Arizona. There’s her parents Pete and Diana and her brother Derek, who will become a much more important character later in the series. It’s also here that we learn that Elisa is actually half Black and half Native American. Not only is this a very unique bit of multi-cultural representation, especially for the 90’s, but I want it to sink in with you people that this is Disney, doing a tasteful depiction of a native American character and several months before Disney would release Pocahontas at that. Damn, this show really was ahead of its time. By the way, even though Elisa’s parents are comparatively minor characters, the show still fills these roles with a pair of all-stars as has become the standard for this shows incredible voice cast. Pete Maza is voiced by Native American actor Michael Horse, probably best known for his iconic role as Deputy Hawk on Twin Peaks. Elisa’s mother Diana is voiced by the wonderful Nichelle Nichols, who is of course known for playing Lieutenant Uhura from the original Star Trek, the only original series cast member to appear in the show. That’s a shot for those of you playing the Gargoyles drinking game. Anywho, the Doctor informs the family that they were able to remove the bullet, but Elisa is far from out of the woods. Elisa’s captain from earlier arrives to check on her, and Derek asks if they have any idea who could have done this. The Captain seems to think that Tony Dracon is behind the attack, which Goliath overhears from his perch on the window ledge. When the coast is clear, Goliath enters the room and promises the unconscious Elisa that he will find the man who did this to her and make him pay.

Meanwhile, in the park, a mugger sticks up a random passer by using one of the high-tech laser weapons that Dracon stole. A very angry Broadway swoops in and looks ready to rip the muggers throat out. Mind you, Broadway doesn’t actually know about Dracon at this point, he’s just so disgusted by what he’s done that he’s not thinking rationally and is looking to tear apart anyone he sees holding a gun. Broadway crushes the man’s gun with his bear hands and demands to know where he got it, the mugger saying he got them from a guy named Glasses. Broadway, still on a warpath, finds Glasses and breaks up a sale, demanding to know who Glasses is working for.

After learning about Dracon, Broadway meets up with Goliath, who has been in hot pursuit of the slime ball ever since hearing the Captain implicate him in shooting Elisa at the hospital. Both Gargoyles seem ready to turn Dracon’s head into a red stain on the wall, but Broadway hearing that Goliath believes Dracon shot Elisa seems to snap him out of his rage. The two massive Gargoyles manage to easily overwhelm Dracon and his thugs, Goliath subduing Dracon and dangling him by his leg over the edge of a high stairway. Broadway realizes that this has gone far enough and confesses to shooting Elisa, much to Goliath’s shock. Okay, I know the aforementioned SF Debris already made this joke, and I don’t mean to undercut the seriousness of this scene, but I would have laughed my ass off if Goliath was so surprised by Broadway’s confession that he accidently dropped Dracon. It would certainly be more than the little punk deserves. Broadway insists that it was an accident and Goliath begrudgingly accepts this but there’s still the matter of Dracon to deal with. Goliath ties the scumbag and his goons up with steel beams and just as the buyer arrives. The buyer, it turns out, is Owen, who, likely at the prompting of Xanatos, set all this up, including putting the Gargoyles on Dracon’s trail, in order to recover the stolen property. That’s right, even though they now see him as an enemy, Xanatos can still manipulate the Gargoyles into doing his dirty work, and from prison no less. Goliath, not happy about being used, again, uses one of the guns to destroy the rest and disables the one he used, leaving it with Dracon so the police have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Back at the hospital, Elisa wakes up and the Doctors inform her family that she should eventually make a full recovery. Broadway and Goliath visit her, Broadway apologizing profusely for what he did. Elisa forgives him and says that she should have been more careful about where she left her weapon, and they can now both put this ugly incident behind them, having both learned a valuable lesson. The episode ends with Goliath and Broadway turning to stone outside the window of Elisa’s hospital room, symbolically standing guard over their fallen friend.

I really like this episode. While Gargoyles was aimed at children, it still wasn’t afraid to push the envelope in terms of the violence that one could get away with in such a show and didn’t pull its punches when it did. The violence in this episode isn’t glorified or done just to be cool or edgy as it was in Broadway’s Western, it was treated as the horrific thing that it was. I cannot emphasize enough how the little touches like Broadway’s expression at Elisa’s blood on his hands really sold that point. SF Debris mentioned in his review that this message about gun violence is not a political one. Yes, gun control is a hot button topic in this day and age but I think regardless of what side of the issue you fall on, we can all agree on this point: Guns are not toys. They are dangerous weapons that must be respected and the safety precautions necessary for wielding such a tool must be observed at all times. That isn’t political, that’s just common sense, and it was that lack of common sense that nearly caused Broadway to take the life of someone he cared about. A hard lesson to be sure. Anywho, next time on Gargoyles, we’re introduced to yet another recurring antagonist, and thankfully one far less douchey than Tony Dracon, in Enter MacBeth.