Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: M.I.A.

Welcome back to Gargoyles my friends!

Our episode today opens in London. We know that because much like how Paris was immediately identifiable by the Eiffel Tower, we are almost instantly shown Big Ben. To be fair, a lot of our episode takes place in Soho which is only about ten minutes from Big Ben, so I’ll let it slide. Anywho, we see a man running from some vicious street thugs who look like bad early 80’s punk rockers. The man ducks into a magic shop run by two Gargoyles named Leo and Una. It is here where we learn that there are different varieties of Gargoyles depending on where they come from. Since these are British Gargoyles, they have the heads of a Lion and a Unicorn respectively (a reference to the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom) and Bird Like Wings as opposed to the Bat like ones of Goliath. However, as far as any passerby may be concerned, they’re just a couple of mask wearing eccentrics who run a magic shop. The Man pleads with Leo and Una for help, but they insist that what goes on outside their shop is none of their concern.

Meanwhile, our heroes arrive in London, Goliath, having now caught on to Avalon’s game, immediately tries to find the purpose for which they’ve been sent here. Well, I’d say Angela spotting a World War II Monument depicting two Gargoyles, one of them looking exactly like Goliath, is a pretty big clue. An aging cabbie who happens to be passing by sees Elisa inspecting the statues and tells her about the London blitz and the old legends that Gargoyles fought on the side of the British Air Force, pointing Elisa in the direction of the magic shop in Soho if she wants to know more.

Elisa and the others arrive at the shop only to get jumped by the gang of thugs from earlier. I guess be it New York or London, street thugs are too stupid to be afraid of a massive winged purple monster and attack on sight. After the thugs get their asses handed to them, Leo and Una emerge from the store and seem to recognize Goliath, believing him to have died alongside someone named Griff, though Goliath has no idea what they’re talking about. Una and Leo insist that Goliath is the one who led Griff to his demise in 1940, but Goliath knows that to be impossible since in 1940 Goliath was still under the Magus’s spell. Una and Leo refuse to listen and Una zaps Goliath and company with a spell of incapacitation.

Goliath wakes up with Una and Leo standing over him, his friends apparently having been hidden from him, so as to inflict the pain of not knowing their fate upon him as they believe Goliath did to them with Griff. Goliath insists that he’s not the one they’re looking for and that he doesn’t know any Griff, but Una and Leo are clearly beyond reason. It’s at this point that Goliath remembers, “oh yeah, I’ve been carrying around a pocket-sized time machine this entire time” and uses the Phoenix Gate to transport himself back to 1940.

When Goliath arrives in the past, he immediately finds himself on a collision course with a British fighter jet. Fortunatley our hero is saved by Griff. And I have to say, Griff’s design may be my favorite of any Gargoyle we’ve seen outside of the main clan. He’s clearly based on a Griffin, hence the namesake, with the head of a bird and the tail of a lion. The red accent of his wings is also pretty cool, but what really sells it for me is that sweet biker jacket. Anywho, Griff, recognizing Goliath as a Scottish Gargoyle, assumes that he’s come to help with the war effort. Griff takes Goliath to meet the younger versions of Leo and Una. Turns out the magic shop has been in Griff’s clan for generations, making it sort of like their castle. It seems that Griff has been having some disagreements with Leo and Una over getting involved in the war. While Leo and Una see the Nazis as a “human problem” and feel their first concern should be defending their home, Griff sees the Nazis as a threat to the entire world and compared to that, protecting a shop seems like small potatoes. I actually really enjoy this argument. It’s almost like an argument between season one Goliath, who was really only concerned with defending the Castle, and Goliath now, who now sees all of Manhattan as well as the people in it as being under his protection. While Griff is ultimately the one in the right, since, as Goliath puts it, human problems often become Gargoyle problems, I do appreciate that Griff holds no ill will against Leo and Una for choosing to stay behind while Griff and Goliath go out to fight. While he obviously sees the Nazis as a threat bigger than himself or his clan, it’s clear that the magic shop is still his home and appreciates that it will be well defended. This is again a parallel with the Manhattan Clan, since the Gargoyles rarely leave the Clocktower undefended despite Goliath seeing it as “merely the place where we sleep.”

And now, we get one of the most awesome things this show has given us so far: Gargoyles Fighting Nazis! There’s very little I can add to that, it’s Gargoyles kicking Nazi ass and I’m here for it one hundred percent. The fights get pretty brutal, especially after Goliath takes a shot from a German plane right in his wing. I do appreciate how this one fighter pilot just rolls with the concept of Gargoyles fighting the Nazis. I guess he realizes that they’re on his side and isn’t the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. Throughout the battle, Goliath is overly protective of Griff, hoping to change history so he survives and Una and Leo have no reason to hold his friends hostage. However, after Goliath manages to narrowly save Griff from death one too many times, Goliath begins to realize that fate is too powerful a force for Goliath to influence and that making the space-time continuum one's bitch is a skill that only Xanatos has mastered. However, while he may not be able to prevent Griff’s disappearance, Goliath does know a way to cheat the system and hopefully save his friends. Using the Phoenix Gate, Goliath teleports himself and Griff to the present. Incidentally, this is one of the few times I’m willing to forgive the whole “Not Where but When” nonsense because they actually are in the same place.

Back at the Magic shop, Una and Leo have Elisa and the others tied up and it seems they still very much blame Goliath for Griff’s disappearance. However, Leo seems to realize that they’ve been blaming the wrong Gargoyle for the loss of Griff. He feels that the fault is theirs for not going with them to fight the Nazis, and they have blamed Goliath all these years to avoid confronting their own guilt. Leo frees the others as Griff and Goliath arrive outside the shop. Needless to say, jumping forward fifty-five years is a bit of a shock to the system for our friend Griff, so much so that the mere sight of a punk rocker with a Gameboy is enough to cause him to nearly feint. I bet Goliath’s thinking “Amateur, try being frozen for one thousand years.” Anywho, Goliath and Griff enter the shop and there’s happy reunions all around. Our heroes leave their new friends as Goliath tries to explain time travel to a very confused Elisa and our episode ends with Griff, Una and Leo fighting off the street thugs from earlier, now protecting all of London, not just their shop.

Not going to lie, I loved this episode. I really like how certain aspects of the London Clan seem to parallel the plight of the Manhattan Clan in ways almost too numerous to list. Plus, Griff is a really cool character. I already talked about his sweet design, but I also appreciated his more proactive personality. He’s showing that this evolution of the Gargoyle way was not something unique to Goliath and the others. Plus, he has plenty of wit and British charm. Wisely, the show will bring Griff back in a later episode, but we’ll get there when we get there. If I had one nitpick, it's the fact that Leo's change of heart seems to come out of nowhere, but you could argue that this is something he's felt all along, and seeing Goliath again simply forced him to realize it. Regardless, this is a fine episode with some great characters and Goliath kicking Nazi ass as the cherry on top. Combine this with the pleasant surprise that was Golem and the awesomeness that was Sanctuary and it would seem that the World Tour Arc is finally picking up steam. Next time, our heroes head to Egypt where the Pack are helping an ally of Xanatos summon a powerful death God. The World Tour continues in Grief.