Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: Long Way to Morning

Welcome back to your daily recommended dose of Gargoyles.

We open with a flashback to Castle Wyvern back in tenth century Scotland, several years before the events of Awakening. A very young Princess Katherine is being told by her father the prince that if she doesn’t behave, the Gargoyles will get her. I think we just found the root cause of the Princess’ hatred and fear of The Gargoyles from back in Awakening. If you recall, it was that same hatred that lead Demona to strike a bargain with the Captain and Hakon that ultimately led to the slaughter of the Gargoyles’ entire clan. I’m not going to place the events of the entire series squarely on the Prince’s shoulders but he definitely contributed to a domino effect that led to mass genocide just so you could get your daughter to go to bed early. I know this character has a name, but I don’t care, I hereby dub thee, Prince Jackass! Anywho, Hudson, who at this time is still the leader of the clan, requests a word with the Prince. Hudson isn’t too happy about stories his people being used to frighten small children, but Prince Jackass waves it off as the Gargoyle being too sensitive. Besides, there are more pressing matters to attend to as Hudson is worried about a recently banished traitor to the prince known as The Arch-mage coming back for revenge. And faster than you can say convenient timing, The Arch-mage arrives and attacks. By the way, the Arch-mage is voiced by the legendary David Warner, who is known for far too many great performances to list here, but I will make a special note that he was around this same time appearing in Batman the Animated Series as the villainous R’as Al Ghul. It’s also worth noting that while he’s never been a main cast member, David Warner has appeared as a guest star in many Star Trek episodes and films so… take four shots, five if you understand the reference I’m making. Anywho, the Arch Mage quickly subdues Hudson with a magical spell and shoots the Prince with a poisonous dart, leaving the young princess horrified and Hudson dejected by his failure.

In the present, we join Elisa Maza in her apartment as Demona (Marina Sirtis, Take a Shot) crashes through her window and shoots her with a poison dart (seems to be a theme this episode). Demona says that the poison will kill her in twenty-four hours and she’ll only give up the antidote if Goliath agrees to face her. What Demona doesn’t realize is that the dart hit Elisa’s police badge so she’s going to be perfectly fine. When Elisa tells the Gargoyles what happened, Goliath feels that, while Elisa is safe, if Demona finds out her plan failed, she’s likely to come after her again, so Goliath agrees to meet her, bringing Hudson with him for backup, though the old warrior seems reluctant to go.

The two find Demona in an old opera house thanks to Hudson’s expert tracking skills. Demona, wielding a high-tech laser, jumps the two Gargoyles and Goliath is severely wounded from a shot square to the chest. With Goliath down for the count, Demona goes after Hudson, but he manges to deflect the laser blast with his sword, throwing Demona off balance long enough for Hudson to pick up the wounded Goliath and attempt to get away. Hudson knows if he can evade Demona until sunrise, the stone sleep will heal Goliath and then Demona will be outnumbered. Goliath insists that Hudson leave him behind, but Hudson refuses.

Back in medieval Scotland we learn that it was no ordinary poison dart that hit Prince Jackass, but one that’s been beefed up by magic and the only cure is in pages of the Arch-Mage’s spellbook, the Grimorum Archanorum. Hudson, still down about failing to protect the prince, calls for a young Goliath and Demona to assist in tracking down the Arch-Mage. Demona mentions to Goliath that Hudson should step down in leader as he’s getting on in years, but Goliath feels that Hudson is the right Gargoyle for the job. Get used to this argument people, it’s repeated pretty much every time we flashback and it gets old really fast.

Back in the present, Demona starts blasting everything in sight in order to find Goliath and Hudson, who uses the chaos from the blasting to escape into the sewer. This prompts yet another flashback where Demona once again insists that Goliath should be leading the clan and Goliath says that now is not the time. I for one am inclined to agree. They track the Arch-Mage to a deep underground cave where the old wizard is ready for them and attacks with a magical blast. In the present, Demona has cornered the two Gargoyles at a sewage waterfall and, seeing no other way out, Hudson jumps over the edge allowing both himself and Goliath to escape, for now. Back with the Arch-Mage, The old wizard makes quick work of Hudson but is overpowered by Goliath, who manages to wrestle the spellbook from his clutches. Desperate, the Arch-Mage charges at Goliath trying to smash his head in with a rock and is sent falling off a cliff for his trouble. Hudson comes to, now sporting the scar on his eye that he has in the present.

Hudson finally decides to make his stand in a cemetery, hiding the injured Goliath in a mausoleum while he fights Demona. Hudson is pretty tough and fairly agile for an old-timer, so he manages to give Demona quite a fight. Also, for some reason, Demona starts using her gun as a melee weapon. Eventually, Hudson is able to stall Demona long enough for the sun to come up and for the Gargoyles to turn to stone. Back in the tenth century, Prince Jackass has made a full recovery thanks to the Grimorum and Hudson realizes that he is getting too old to lead. He officially names Goliath the new leader who reluctantly agrees on the condition that Hudson stays on as his mentor, seeing his great Wisdom as invaluable. The next morning, The Gargoyles emerge from their stone sleep and Goliath is now back to one hundred percent. Demona, realizing that this is no longer a fight she can win, Demona flies off, taunting the Gargoyles that Elisa is likely dead by now and the Gargoyles agree that it’s probably best if Demona keeps believing that.

You know, I remember loving this episode as a kid, and on paper the story is pretty cool, but, I don’t know, this one just didn’t do it for me. The cat and mouse between Hudson and Demona was pretty cool and I loved their fight in the graveyard, but other than that, this episode was very slow in its pacing and felt painfully repetitive in its dialogue. So yeah, not the greatest episode we’ve covered so far, but that’s okay, a sub-par episode of Gargoyles is honestly still better than a great episode of some other shows out there. Next time, we get the return of Jackal and Hyena of the pack in Her Brother’s Keeper.