Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: The Hound of Ulster

Welcome back to Gargoyles everyone!

We open in Ireland with two hoodlum’s, Rory and Molly, running from the police after having just shoplifted a jacket. Molly enjoys being a petty thief, but Rory seems disillusioned with the whole affair. It seems Rory is currently lacking direction in his life. He’s done with school but doesn’t know a trade, and even if he did, there’s no jobs to be had in Ireland and he doesn’t have the money to go somewhere else. Molly leaves, agreeing to meet with Rory that night in the woods, but not before sarcastically warning him of some great beast known as The Hound of Ulster. Rory says he has no patience for fairy tales, but on his way home, Rory hears what sounds like howling in the distance, and gets a brief mental image of a giant worm like monster.

It turns out the howling was actually Bronx, our heroes having just arrived in Ireland nearby. But Goliath and the others don’t have much time to investigate their surroundings as they hear a horrible wailing noise in the distance. So horrible is the noise that it physically pains our heroes to hear it. The Gargoyles try to get away, but the noise is making it impossible for them to fly straight and they land in a mud pit and begin sinking, with only Bronx managing to escape, the dog seeing the spectral image of a woman off in the distance.

The following day, Rory returns home to his father, who’s annoyed that Rory isn’t out looking for a job. Before we continue this article, it’s extremely important that all of you know that Rory’s dad is voiced by the incredibly awesome Colm Meaney, better known as Chief Petty Officer Miles O’brien, a recurring minor character from Star Trek: The Next Generation who eventually got promoted to main character status when he made the jump to Deep Space Nine. Like I said back in Reawakening, nobody puts Deep Space Nine in the corner, not on my blog! And since this character isn’t given an official name, I don’t think any of you will object if I just call him O’Brien from here on out. By the way, Take a Shot! Anywho, Rory is wondering if his dad heard anything that sounded like howling. At first O’Brien thinks it could be the eponymous Hound of Ulster whose howl warns of danger, but he quickly dismisses that as just a story. More likely, it was a police siren looking for thieves last night. Again, we see that Rory lacks direction and focus in his life when his father says he should make something of his life since he “has the blood of heroes in his veins” but Rory simply says “You Can’t Make Something from Nothing.” That night, Rory ventures into the woods looking for Molly only to run into Bronx. Believing the Gargoyle dog to be the legendary Hound of Ulster, Rory books it and ends up falling into a quarry.

That night, the Gargoyles wake up in a cave, odd since last night they were sinking into a muddy bog. Goliath believs that someone brought them here for a purpose, and that they’ll return soon. The big guy is soon proven correct when the room fills with an eerie white light and our heroes are met by a ghostly looking woman, The Banshee. It seems Banshee here saved our heroes from the bog because she can sense that they’ve recently been in Avalon. Banshee is one of Oberon’s Children you see and believes that if Goliath and the others have come from Avalon, they must have been sent by Oberon to bring her back. Banshee then alludes to a coming event called The Gathering, in which Oberon will return to Avalon and recall all of his children back to the island. However, it seems Banshee doesn’t want to go back, since terrorizing the people of Ireland is far too much fun. Goliath insists that they bare no agenda from Oberon, but Banshee refuses to believe them, releasing her torturous scream upon them.

Back in the quarry, Rory comes to and finds Bronx licking his face. Seeing that the big bad beastie might not be so bad after all, he starts bonding with Bronx. It’s adorable, even if you’re not a dog person. There’s even an especially cute scene where Rory rides on top of Bronx while Bronx climbs out of the quarry. I don’t know if it was intentional, but I can’t help but notice that this scene parallels the first meeting of Goliath and Elisa back in Awakening. Back with the Gargoyles, the Banshee hears Bronx howling, believes it to be the Hound of Ulster and vanishes. Once they’re safely out of the quarry, Rory gets a vision of a tomb on a hill and is overcome with this need to go there though he doesn’t know why or even where “there” is. Molly shows up, saying she’s been looking for Rory all night, but things get bad when Bronx growls at Molly. Uh-oh, when Bronx doesn’t like you, that’s when you know you can’t be trusted. And it seems Bronx’s instincts were right as Molly reveals herself to be The Banshee in disguise. The Banshee puts some magic whammy on Rory causing him to fall asleep.

Rory wakes up the next morning, believing the whole thing to have been a dream, Molly arriving to reinforce that belief. However, parts of the dream felt so real to him that he can’t get them out of his mind, especially that tomb on the hill. From Rory’s description, O’Brien recognizes the place as Cairn Na Chulainn, the resting place of the legendary hero, Cu Chulainn, greatest warrior in the history of Ireland who saved the land from the wicked Banshee. Rory still doesn’t understand why, but he knows he needs to go to that tomb, Molly refusing to let him go alone. Rory enters the tomb, his hallucinations growing stronger and stronger, much to Molly’s concern. A beam of light shoots through the window forming a celestial spear. Rory now knows who he is, he is the reincarnation of Cu Chullain himself, his memories dormant within the soul of Rory Dugan. Rory transforms into Cu Chullain, complete with a mustache that would make Sam Elliot proud, and Molly reveals her true form. The battle now begins. Cu blows a hole in the tomb, which just so happens to be where Goliath and the others are being held, allowing them to escape. Banshee has Cu on the ropes until Bronx shows up to aid his new friend in battle. This is when Banshee reveals her final form: Cromm-Cruach, The Mighty Death Worm! Banshee taunts Cu, even slipping in an “And Your Little Dog Too.” The Wicked Witch of the West’s lawyer’s will get you my pretty. The Gargoyles crawl out of the tomb and join the fight, their combined forces managing to tip the scales and vanquish The Banshee. Cu, reverting back to Rory thanks the Gargoyles for loaning him Bronx since he had a hound like him once upon a time. Our episode ends with Rory departing, having finally realized his true destiny.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the focus on Irish folklore and I thought Rory’s story was well handled if not a little rushed at times. The Banshee was a delightfully terrifying antagonist, a real highlight of the episode. It was also really nice to give Bronx his own episode, the legendary Frank Welker getting plenty of opportunities to shine. However, this episode has the smell of failed backdoor pilot all over it. What’s a Backdoor Pilot? Well, that’s when they use an existing TV Show to serve as a teaser for an upcoming TV show. Sometimes the show ends up becoming a hit and that’s great, but the backdoor pilot episode itself often results in your main characters feeling pushed off to the side and that’s exactly what happened here. According to rumor, there were plans for Cu Chulainn/Rory to get his own show that never materialized. Oh well, the episode is by no means bad, just could have used more involvement from Goliath and the gang. However, this episode does inadvertently drop a huge hint at things to come when Banshee alludes to The Gathering. This tells us four very important things. First, Oberon will soon be returning to Avalon. Second, he plans to summon all his children back to Avalon as well. Third, some of the OC’s don’t want to go. And finally, if such extremely powerful creatures like Anubis and The Banshee are merely Children of Oberon, then that must mean that Oberon himself must be one seriously scary customer. You may color the plot officially thickened. Anywho, next time we head to Australia for Walkabout. If you don’t know who we’ll be running into there, I can’t help you.