Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: Monsters

Well, after Heritage yesterday, I can only hope today’s episode will be better. So, let’s waste no further time and dive right in.

As our episode opens, our heroes are on the Avalon skiff headed for their next stop on the world tour. Suddenly, they hear a rumbling and see a large shadow beneath them. Oh Crap, not another sea monster. Hopefully this one doesn’t have tiny little arms. Our heroes head for the shore and whatever they saw seems to have moved on. Elisa spots lights in the distance, meaning a town a possibly even a place where she can use a phone to call Bluestone and have him tell her friends she’s okay. Once Elisa reaches the town, we find out that we’re back in Scotland, Loch Ness to be exact. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what that means and what that creature we saw really was, but we’ll get to that in due time. Anywho, Elisa tries to call Matt but gets his answering machine and the tape is full. Well, that sucks.

Back with the Gargoyles, Angela says she has heard legends of the Loch Ness Monster and wants to stay a while, but Elisa says it would be a waste of time since the “Monster” is likely little more than a submarine dressed up to give tourists a thrill. Damn it Elisa, why do we have to do this every time? Your best friend is a seven and a half foot tall purple winged monster and since you’ve met him, your partner has uncovered proof of the existence of the Illuminati, you have seen your brother turned into a flying electric cat creature, you yourself have been transformed into a Gargoyle, you have seen an eccentric billionaire move a medieval castle stone by stone to the top of a skyscraper so he could pull off a tech heist and you have met insane mercenaries, mad scientists, immortal Scotsmen, robots, zombie cyborgs, faeries, werewolves, weird sisters, evil clones, all powerful sorcerers, spirits of Native American mythology and King Fucking Arthur! YOU DO NOT GET TO BE A SKEPTIC!! Anyway, as the gang pulls away in the skiff, our heroes spot a tour boat being approached by what appears to be Nessie. However, following Nessie appears to be a strange mechanical Loch Ness Monster that capsizes the Skiff and makes off with Angela. Goliath tries to follow, but the sub dives too deep.

Once Mecha-Nessie returns home, we see that its pilots are wearing the same uniform as Xanatos’ mercenaries, who have apparently been loaned out to none other than our old pal Anton Sevarius. Well, already this episode is better than Heritage because it has Tim Curry in it! Anyway, it seems that Anton and his rent-a-thugs have already captured a female Loch Ness Monster, but without its male companion, whom they’ve nicknamed Big Daddy, it’s likely to die soon. Anton is furious that his minions have failed to capture Big Daddy but changes his tune when he hears they’ve brought home a live Gargoyle. Sevarius is overjoyed to see Angela, perhaps a little too much given the way he’s playing with her hair. Then again, Anton has always been a creep so are you really surprised. Maybe he’s just excited by the prospect of a new clan of Gargoyles in the area. Now’s as good a time to mention that according to Greg Weisman, there actually is a clan of Gargoyles in Loch Ness whose sole task is to protect the Loch Ness Monster. Where the hell are they during this episode? Did they get into a fight with a time traveling sorcerer and end up sailing all over the planet too? What gives? Anywho, Anton instructs the thug to extract some DNA from Angela and place her in the grotto.

Angela wakes up to find herself set upon by an angry Loch Ness Monster. However, Angela, being an empathetic sort, Angela quickly recognizes that the creature isn’t hostile, just sad. I have to say, Angela bonding with Nessie is actually really adorable and Anton observing the whole thing and acting like he’s about to vomit is hilarious. The highlight of the episode to be sure. Time passes and it seems that Angela’s companionship has improved Nessie’s condition and soon, Sevarius will be releasing it into the wild to draw out Big Daddy. The following evening, Anton enters the grotto, tranquilizes Nessie, and chains Angela before she can wake up from the stone sleep. Sevarius introduces himself before revealing that analysis of Angela’s DNA has uncovered something very interesting. While Anton had initially assumed that Angela was part of a new clan all together, he's since learned that not only is Angela is a member of Goliath’s clan, but she’s actually the biological daughter of Goliath himself. Seriously, who didn’t see this coming a mile away? Well, I guess Angela didn’t because she is utterly shocked by this development. However, processing that will have to wait since Anton’s goons are fitting Nessie with a tracking device to carry out Anton’s plan.

Meanwhile, Goliath, Elisa and Bronx have made their way to Anton’s lair, Elisa having recognized the uniform of the Xanatos thugs in an earlier scene. Unfortunately, Anton was ready for them and drops them through a trap door into a dungeon. Upon learning that Sevarius is the one behind all this, Goliath is ready to rip out his intestines and wear them as a belt if he doesn’t let Angela go. However, Sevarius is bringing Angela along with him on their hunt for Big Daddy. Amusingly and perhaps very ill-advisedly, Sevarius leaves one generic and overeager henchman to guard Goliath and the others. This guy actually thinks he can take down Goliath when Xanatos, MacBeth, Demona, Cold Stone and countless others have failed to do so. His name is Bruno apparently. Goliath and Bronx dig their way out of confinement and, surprise surprise, easily take down Bruno. However, Bruno’s gun misfires and causes an explosion. The lair will soon be completely flooded if they don’t escape now, so our heroes, along with Bruno, escape with Anton’s mini-sub.

Out in the Loch, Big Daddy has found Nessie and the two aquatic creatures share a touching reunion. Unfortunately, Anton’s sub is not far behind. Our heroes catch up in the mini-sub and Goliath is enraged upon seeing Angela being dragged behind the back of Anton’s vessel and has Elisa ram the mini sub into Anton’s Robo-Nessie. Then, donning some scuba gear, Goliath swims out and rescues Angela. Nessie and Big Daddy attack the sub, dragging it down into the abyss, Sevarius nowhere to be seen and likely having escaped. And so our episode ends with Nessie reuniting with her mate and sharing a brief farewell with her new friend.

This episode is kind of standard for the world tour arc I’d say. Our heroes venture to some new and exciting part of the world, encounter some kind of legendary being, and have to fight off an old foe. It’s not an episode that’s going to wow anyone too much, but after Heritage yesterday, this feels like City of Stone by comparison. The real highlight of this episode is its villain. To my recollection, this is the first time we’ve seen Sevarius as a solo main villain instead of a lackey that Xanatos barely tolerates, and he carries the role of main villain very well. Tim Curry was on his A Game this entire episode and I was loving it. I also liked Angela bonding with Nessie and her reaction to learning Goliath is her father, something we’ll be following up on later. Otherwise, I don’t have too much else to say. This was a fine and enjoyable episode. Next time, the World Tour takes us to Prague where we meet up with our old friend Renard in Golem.