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Gargoyles: Awakening Part 2
Reviewed: 07/07/2013
We Live Again...In New York City...
Now after that tragic and epic finish to the first part of this pilot; can Goliath get his revenge on the vikings? And will that make Goliath sell his soul? So, let's rant on shall we...?
This episode is done by Eric Luke & Michael Reaves. The teleplay and story is edited by Michael Reaves. Animation is done by Walt Disney Animation Japan. Backgrounds are done by Studio Fuga. Additional services were provided by the following: Nakamura Productions and Thai Wang Productions. I'm guessing it's another name for Wang Films; but I'll probably be wrong on that count.
Opening Moment #1: Unnarrated version of the opening is used here. And there is a recap of episode 1 as well. Since this episode is a serial; you'll be seeing these recaps a lot. And Goliath did admit that he wasn't going alone which still weakens his promo that he could scare away the vikings without any help.
We begin this one with a closeup of Goliath handling the stone remains of what he believes is Demona and like "The Mystery Unravels" they reanimate it with a different angle. To their credit though; all the dialog is exactly the same as we pan south east to Hudson on the ground inspecting a bow and he deduces that the bow string was cut and there was betrayal. The rookery doors open and out comes Broadway, Lexington, Brooklyn and Bronx as Goliath swoops down and demands to know if anyone else was in there. There is no hope for Goliath as they were the only ones in there; which only serves to make Goliath think that Demona was killed. Goliath proclaims (with flashing white eyes) that they are going to rescue the humans of Wyvern Castle; and then he'll get his revenge. So all the babyface gargoyles jump onto the ramparts of the castle and start to fly into the air. They follow Goliath and I ask: What about the Gargoyle eggs? Bronx runs from the burning castle and then we head to the viking camp as the morale of the vikings is much, much different than it was in the previous episode. So the vikings are at the fire enjoying their drink and chattiness while we pan over to the "Prisoners of War" which includes a sobbing Mary. First "God" reference made in the series almost three and a half minutes in (Oh, God). Tom consoles her thinking that the Gargoyles will rescue them; but Mary indicates that they have been destroyed. Which is funny considering how she hated them earlier. Huh. Here's a stupid BS&P moment: Why say God in the first line Mary said; yet she refers to the Gargoyles as being destroyed. They are living beings; so saying killed would make more sense here. If you can say "god" in DTVA then you can say "kill" right? So we head to Hakon's cave (which is poorly shown for some reason) as Katherine and Magus are tied up in the corner while Hakon proclaims that the Magus is barely worth more alive than dead. Magus is pissed off; so Hakon shows him the spell book and rips a page from it and burns it in the open flame. Now that is just silly Hakon. Your uncle could have used that book to rule Scotland over. Just because you cannot read; doesn't mean that the king cannot either.
Captain still thinks Katherine is worth being alive as apparently; she is a niece of some king which Katherine is angry and she will see both of them hang for this. Hakon brings the sword and threatens to behead her in roundabout terms. Katherine: You are in no position to make threats like that. Just so you would like to know. Then we hear cries of alarm outside as Hakon and Captain come out and notice the vikings are pointing to the shadow of winged Gargoyles approaching. Hakon gets in Captain's face and Captain yells back at him; stating that he was stupid enough to kill them earlier. So Hakon grabs Katherine to inform her that the Gargoyles are coming and Katherine gets off death reference #2 of the episode. So Hakon brings out the knife because he is going to assassinate Princess Katherine. Katherine bumps Hakon away from her and runs (didn't tie up her legs I see. Why is it that Plunder and Lightning Part One was the only time the heels got it right?). Magus is screaming that Hakon is going to slay the princess and wiggles over to a sharp rock and cuts the ropes from his wrist. You know; if Hakon truly wanted to succeed; he should have F451'ed the book if you catch my drift. So the Gargoyles kick ass and drive some of the vikings into barrels of red wine as Captain and Hakon run to the cliff which is on the far shot and that shot of them running is not very good. At least the limited animation is covered up by awesome backgrounds; so it doesn't look so fake. Bronx does his "from the shadows" spot with flashing eyes and he sics on two vikings for fun. Lex and Brooklyn do some viking tossing for fun and most of the vikings flee the scene like a bunch of cowards. Magus comes out of the cave and blows them all off because he thinks the princess is dead (death reference #3); and blames the Gargoyles were coming just as Hakon was entertaining the thought of ransoming them both. Ummm; Magus, Hakon was the one who wanted to ransom you because you were worth more than the princess. Captain wanted Katherine ransomed. Then Magus goes into his spell book and proclaims that the princess is dead despite the fact that we clearly see that she is not yet. And he didn't see the dead body either; so Magus is being so stupid right now. IDIOT!
Magus proclaims that he would kill them with a sword if he could use one; so he'll do the next best thing which is to chant a spell which the babyface gargoyles no sell along with Hudson. Here's a clue guys: When the white haired magic guy is casting a magic spell: RUN OR STOP HIM~! They do neither; being so charmed by his chanting that we get fairy dust and a lot of blue light flashing as we get a closeup shot of Tom; who seemly no sells this which is really stupid because this is supposed to be a death sentence spell of sorts. We then cut to the cliffs as Katherine is still clearly alive as she runs to the edge of the cliff; but Hakon grabs her with knife in hand. This is somewhat dumb because Katherine would probably jump off like that female priestess from Fire Emblem Awakening...Oh wait; never mind. Captain is so stupid that he is with him in clear sight of Goliath. Goliath lands and he is PISSED. And I do mean PISSED OFF~! Captain tries to reason with him; but Goliath gets off death reference #4; so Captain blames Goliath for not listening to him. Oh yeah Captain; blame the victim, that's real smart in the presence of someone so pissed off. Hakon then poisons the well further by blaming CAPTAIN for killing them; which Captain calls him a lying scum and attacks HAKON! Katherine somehow gets bumped in the process and all three go over the cliff. Goliath grabs the princess first (despite the fact that she hated him for being a biblical version of the same name) and flies her to the top of the cliff. Captain and Hakon fall and are killed off-screen. Somehow; I think we will see them again in some form because this is Gargoyles and storyline twists are it's biggest advantage over. Goliath is now even MORE PISSED OFF because he has been denied his revenge now growling at the moon light. This is actually a really important plot point as we will see later in the series; but for now... Katherine can barely speak as Tom runs in to inform him that the Gargoyles need his help.
So we head back as the Gargoyles have been turned to stone...at night. Gargoyles demands to know what magic trick is this. Isn't it funny that Klang could say "what devilry is this?"; but Goliath cannot. Magus comes in with the spell book and is about to cast the spell to join them (death reference #5); but Katherine comes in and realizes that he really (insert swear word here) up here. Goliath is pissed and he grabs Magus and demands the counter spell; however, Magus points out that Hakon burned the page containing it. Katherine is in shock of Magus' madness (more like stupidity because there was no evidence that Hakon had killed her) as she asks Magus if the spell is impossible to stop; and Magus does admit that it's possible for the spell to reverse itself; as long as the castle has risen above the clouds. That sounds awfully contrived for some reason. So we head back to the castle as the remaining statues are placed on the ramparts as Goliath sighs that he is truly alone. Katherine feels really bad about the situation as Magus wonders what he can do about this. Goliath asks Katherine where she is going; and Katherine proclaims that she is returning to her uncle because it's much safer to do so. Goliath has one request to make to Katherine and he wants her to take the Gargoyle eggs with them to her uncle so they can hatch and the new breed will have guidance. Okay; I just realized how stupid Hakon was because I would have thought that the vikings would have been smart enough to find the rookery in that castle. Katherine agrees to the request as Goliath turns to Magus and states that there is one thing he can do. Goliath asks Magus to cast the stone spell on him. Personally; I wish that he never actually said the line. I would have scene change to the northern pan shot of Goliath on top of the castle turned to stone pondering in front of the moon on the side shot; to just after Goliath tells Magus that there is something he can do. That would have gotten the message across and make the situation more tragic; because having Goliath shown asking for the spell to be recast on him; dulls the moment down a bit. That ends the segment ten minutes in. It also completes the back story and now the REAL story of Gargoyles begins in earnest.
After the commercial break; we head to Castle Wyvern in the present time as the entire castle is crumbling down and filled with moss and stuff. We then zoom out and notice a human with a rectangle shaped head, a black coat and yellow sweater noticing the castle. He runs in and runs up the spiral staircase to the top of the castle. He removes the vines to reveal that all the remaining Gargoyle statues are perfectly intact which is just weird considering that stone would crumble more easily with statues. He loves this and calls to someone named Owen to make the deal at once. We then see a blond haired unemotional man with glasses on wearing an almond coat with a red tie. That is Owen by the way; voiced by Jeff Bennett. He isn't so thrilled about it because the costs are astronomically high in this invest. Owen addresses the man as Mr. Xanatos; and thus a kick ass tweener is born! Ah; David Xanatos; maybe the most complex Shere Khan ever created by DTVA. Only David is more bold, hands on, emotional and has a more monotonous "Yes-Man" than Shere Khan could ever be. And Owen proves later on that he has a lot of character development in his own right. It's hard not to see why a lot of fans love this series over everything in DTVA. It wasn't because Elisa got shot for real; it was because of character development and it's serial nature. This was what TaleSpin could have been if Disney gave a damn. TaleSpin still kills it in emotion and a killer lead children babyfaces though; and does a great job in character development in spite of the pathos. Needless to say; David Xanatos is my favorite character in this show, next to Demona as you will see later on.
David Xanatos is voiced by Jonathan Frakes and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): For a time in the 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at conventions in costume as Captain America.[6] Frakes moved to New York City and became a member of "The Impossible Ragtime Theater". In that company, Frakes did his first off-Broadway acting in Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape directed by George Ferencz. His first Broadway appearance was in Shenandoah. At the same time, he landed a role in the NBC soap opera The Doctors.[7] When his character was dismissed from the soap, Frakes moved to Los Angeles, California and played guest spots in many of the top television series of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, Eight Is Enough, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock and Steven Bochco's Hill Street Blues. He played the part of Charles Lindbergh in a 1983 episode of Voyagers! titled "An Arrow Pointing East". In 1983, he had a role in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence (which also starred his future wife Genie Francis), and a supporting role in the equally short-lived primetime soap Paper Dolls in 1984.[7] He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest[7] and the miniseries North and South before signing for the role of Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[8] Jonathan appeared in the 1986 miniseries Dream West. He has done animation voice acting, most notably voicing the recurring role of David Xanatos in the animated series Gargoyles, and he provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". He had a small, uncredited role in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. He also reprised his role of Riker for a Next Generation cutaway on an episode of Family Guy that also featured his co-stars Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn as their respective roles of Picard and Worf.
Later, he again played himself on another Family Guy episode, where the all seven main TNG (plus Denise Crosby and Wil Wheaton) actors made voice appearances. He is also one of six Star Trek actors (the other actors being Kate Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, George Takei, Avery Brooks and Majel Barrett) to lend their voices to the video game Star Trek: Captain's Chair reprising his role as Commander William T. Riker when users visit the Enterprise-D bridge featured in the game. Frakes is one of only two Star Trek regulars to appear on four different Star Trek series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise). (The only other regular to match or exceed that number is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who appeared in all five television series.) He has also directed episodes in three of them (TNG, DS9 and VOY) and was a popular and innovative director on the Star Trek set, often finding completely new ways to shoot the show's familiar sets. His directing career has included the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Frakes was an executive producer for the WB series Roswell, directed several episodes and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is made light of in the episode "Secrets and Lies", in which the alien character Max auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise. Frakes appeared on the 1994 Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled "Riker's Mailbox". Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker, drawing on his college marching band experience. He was also a member of "The Sunspots", a vocal backup group of Star Trek cast members that appeared on Brent Spiner's 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back. Frakes hosted Paranormal Borderline, a television series at Fox, which dealt with the paranormal and mysterious happenings and creatures.
In one episode, Frakes presented an interview of reporter Yolanda Gaskins with veteran astronaut Gordon Cooper, where they discussed the possibility of aliens having visited the Earth in the past.[9][10] Overall, the show was criticized and pulled off the air after it was found out that footage showing a yeti from the Himalayas was purposely faked by the show and its producers. The "Snowwalker" footage, as it is known, purportedly shows a yeti as it is crossing through a valley in the Himalayas, walking in front of a Belgian couple who are traversing the area on skis. The network finally admitted the hoax, and Frakes distanced himself from the show. He hosted Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction which also dealt in the paranormal world. Frakes and Francis appeared together in Lois & Clark in the episode "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape" as a creepily too-good-to-be-true couple. He narrated the History Channel's That's Impossible. Frakes has directed episodes of Burn Notice, Castle, NCIS: Los Angeles and TNT's Leverage.[11] Frakes works with the Workshops, the Waterfall Arts Center and the Saltwater Film Society, all located in Maine, where he teaches classes on film direction. He and Francis owned a home furnishings store in Belfast, Maine, called The Cherished Home which closed in August 2012 due to Francis being too busy with her acting to spend adequate time at the store.[12] He has also directed Episode 9 in Season 3 of the popular TV Series Falling Skies on TNT entitled Journey to Xilbalba, which is set to air in the US on July 28, 2013. He started his career as Tom Carroll in The Doctors in 1977. Gargoyles is his only DTVA appearance. In fact; it's one of a few voice acting roles Frakes did. Adventure Time as Adult Finn and The Glades as Administrator are his most recent credits. He has 80 acting credits, 30 direction credits (most recent credits: Falling Skies, Burn Notice, King & Maxwell and Castle), 36 Self credits and two production credits (Roswell and Dying To Live) to his resume.
So David wants Owen to get all the manpower he could get; but Owen isn't so sure about that. See; the local claim that the castle is haunted and therefore has a bad reputation. David blows it off and gets off kick ass line #1: Pay A man enough; and he'll walk barefoot into hell. I love how some fans love rubbing this line into funny animal loving fans like me; but Disney has allowed hell before in Sleeping Beauty long before this, so it's hardly a new concept. I don't get why they cut the line out of Toon Disney when they could have redubbed the line in syndication to have him say Hades; which is similar, but within their kid friendly mandate and Hades when pronounced as "Heys" instead of "Hey-dees" almost matches up with the mouth flaps. So yeah; I'm skipping most of the montage involving David Xanato's crew disassembling the castle stone by stone and placing the statues in wooden crates. One thing about this show; they have a lot of sequences that are easy to call and therefore you don't have to say much of anything. It reduces the space needed to rant about the show and it makes ranting on this show go a lot faster. The show is 22 minutes long; but it feels like 11 minutes. Another excellent mark for the quality of the show in general. So a large helicopter takes the top of the castle off from the castle and drags it away towards a cloudy like shot of New York City. BS&P Alert: The Twin Towers were NOT removed in the first shot. I don't know if Toon Disney played after 9/11 or not; so I'm not sure if TD snipped this shot out or not. So we head under the Brooklyn bridge and then a pan shot; followed by an FPS shot of Xanatos' ultra-SWANK black with red trim helicopter as it flies above the clouds and we see that the castle has already been reassembled on top of his own building. I hope he is going to charge admission to let the locals see the castle; because a castle on top of a tower is not going to NOT draw attention from ANYONE; let alone the locals. I'm just saying.
So the helicopter lands on the castle grounds as we go to the side shot of the SWANK skyscraper David has and then a shot of Goliath pondering; still in stone form as David watches on from the side shot. It is BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as David has a black sweater on for some reason. I refuse to believe that this is a coloring mistake. Gargoyles don't make no mistakes see. So the sun sets as we wait a long time as the rain and thunderstorm clap ensue as David only tells the statue not to disappoint him. So it's darkness and nothing was seemly happening; so David turns his back for a moment as the rain comes pelting down and then the statue finally crumbles and he turns around and looks shocked and afraid as Goliath does his wake up pose in the thunderstorm. That was great; and became part of the opening. We get some pan shots of the castle walls which look clearly unshaded which shows you that even in this era; it is still a reminder that this is television animation and not feature. Then the shot rotates as it's clearly a CGI spot as the Gargoyles wake up. It felt like an improved version of the CGI shots in Plunder and Lightning; but still feels like they were behind. Good otherwise as David is cheering this on. The Gargoyles all embrace themselves as they are together again. No Teddy Ruxpin song of doom ensues thankfully as the clouds and fog start to ease up and the Gargoyles are shocked because it looks NOTHING like it did in 994 AD and they aren't in Scotland anymore. David then comes from the shadow and asks for Goliath and Goliath responds to him which prompts David to say good. Ooookkkkaaayyyyy. So we head inside one of the castle's room as I discovered that this is David Xanatos new office as he is pacing around near his front desk (the side desk has a computer on the table by the way on the right side of the shot). Goliath wants answers to this outrage (namely the fact that they are NOT in Scotland nor 994 anymore) as David shows the Magus' spellbook under glass which had all the history of the six Gargoyles so it's obvious David knew about the legend beforehand. See what good booking and making things make sense does for a show?
Goliath asks about the eggs and David admits that they were gone and they are the last of his kind. Of course they are gone; Katherine had to take them with her when she fled from Castle Wyvern. That's the only way the "need guidance" part makes sense. Why Goliath had to ask that is a mystery to me? Anyhow; David offers his hand because he wanted to see if the legend is true and since it is; he wants to be friend of the Gargoyles. I should point out that anytime an exec wants to be someone's friend; it's about being friends with money see. Goliath asks what he could do for David and just as David is about to say something, a helicopter is heard in the distance. So David orders the gargoyles to stay in the office and goes outside; but the gargoyles don't like being told to stay so they follow him. David walks out and there is a helicopter in the sky with a spotlight on him and then the door opens; ropes comes down and it's the SWAT TEAM~! What? I didn't call the bad episode police, HONEST! David wants answers as he is backed against the wall by the armed guard with guns cocked up (betcha that was edited out on Toon Disney. It better be since Bringing Down Babyface had a similar scene like this) as he'll know soon enough and that ends the segment almost 16 minutes in. Whew; that one blew by real fast.
After the commercial break; we see the Gargoyles coming out from the shadows as Hudson is panicking because they are attacking the castle and that is all they need to know; so they swoop into action against David's orders. And yes; they use bullet sound effects; but orange/red flashes from the guns and we never see the bullets. The funniest thing about this is; Sunwoo Animation did War Of The Weirds; and despite the flashes, you could actually see the bullets in some of the shots. So yeah; they are using bullet shooting sounding guns; that have flashes and small orange explosions. And the Gargoyles dodge all easily. Okay; one of the SWAT members shoves Goliath down after managing to prevent being tripped by Goliath's tail whip attack. Dude; you are wearing a pink colored helmet. I cannot take any of your moves seriously. That helmet sucked! And thankfully; David runs in from the side in clear view of the pink helmet guy and slaps the gun away and judo throws him. That is so Heero of you David! David tries to go for the gun; but SWAT member #2 cuts him off; and then gets cut off by Broadway. So SWAT #2 taunts Broadway and brings out the dagger of doom and Broadway monkey flips him. Cool! David bails as Hudson comes in with the sword; so he gets the grappling hook in the mid section and gets shocked literally to his knees. That was neat as Brooklyn pushes the SWAT member away as the other babyfaces console Hudson. So a SWAT member in the foreground throws a bomb that Lexington grabs. He casually tosses it away and it explodes off-screen causing the babyfaces to bump. HA! we get a far away shot of the castle as the left side explodes. So David runs up stairs to a wall that he pushes on. The wall opens to reveal a concealed machine gun like weapon which he grabs. Geez; if only Shere Khan had that; he could have killed MEL that way. Sadly; the weapon is a red laser as he shoots it above Goliath's head and the debris which shouldn't have been that much falls on the SWAT member and is killed supposely. Goliath turns around to see David with the laser gun and then he shoots at more SWAT soldiers and causing about $100,000 worth of damage to the castle...
And then we get that moment I mentioned at the end of the last rant as Lex sees a blond haired female SWAT team member and thinks she is a viking. So the girl shoots the gun at Lex who dodges all. How sad that David cannot handle a bullet shooting gun; but she CAN. She must be a heel like the other SWAT team members. Otherwise; this makes no sense. Apparently; Lex fell overboard into the fog as she looks down and then Lex appears about fifty feet to her left flying into the sky and tackles her from behind. No male on female contact? What no male on female contact? The gun goes flying and crashes to the ground as the gargoyles think this is magic they are using. Well; it certainly KILLS like magic in a RPG; so magic it is. More bombs and bumps ensue as Brooklyn is dodging the SWAT member with the Ginzu Knife of Death as David runs in with the laser gun and proclaims that it's time to take the kid gloves off in that symbolic middle finger to BS&P throughout the ages. Then give David a BULLET SHOOTING GUN then; if you want to go that far. So SWAT member #4 shoulder blocks him which causes the laser beam to shoot up into the castle walls and the debris starts to fall as we return back to ground level of the city as we are now officially back to where we started with this pilot actually. I don't have to call it; because it's the exact same as in the beginning of Part One! Elisa walks out and we cut to a castle wall as someone has made a makeshift door in the process. All the babyfaces except Goliath run out as everyone but Bronx is coughing and being chased in their minds the SWAT guy; while Bronx is chasing AFTER the SWAT guy. HA! Goliath is looking on; and SWAT member #3 throws a bomb near him, and it explodes. Goliath does the oversell and free falls. He tries to grab a flag pole; but that breaks easily and then he tries to steady himself and claw the building like a cat clawing a scratching post. Ponder that one for a moment as this goes on for a while.
Goliath is able to stop himself and breathes a sigh of relief as we get more footage from the beginning of Awakening Part One which ends with Elisa noticing claw marks. So we head inside the hallway of the castle as SWAT member #2 is looking for kills it appears. He runs stage left and notices a computer locked door. He places a bomb like device underneath the security control panel and it goes off which melts the control panel into redness before exploding and allowing the door to easily open. That was cute. So we head back as SWAT Member #1 tackles Lex down and pins him to the ground. Lex struggles as Goliath finally gets up to break the pin 30 seconds too late and tackles the member down to the ground. BS&P alert: Goliath makes it like the SWAT member never made contact with the ground and Goliath landed on his feet; so the blow did no damage whatsoever. And apparently; SWAT Member whoever was as pissed off as I am as he throws the GREEN STINKY GAS BOMB OF PAIN AND SUFFERING on Goliath allowing the heels to bail stage left. We see the SWAT member return with a briefcase from the secured door saying that he has it. SWAT member shoots a solar flare from a flare gun and the whole sky turns white in a really neat spot as the helicopter returns to land and the light turns Goliath into a Mud Bulp for some silly reason. So the heels all get into the helicopter as David is on the ramparts with the gun and tries to shoot; but one of the SWAT members throws a metal object at the gun and it gets pulled out of David's hands. And yes; I get the biblical David/Goliath irony angle here, so I don't need to explain it. So the helicopter flies away as the solar flare dies down and that is that. That briefcase couldn't be anything important now...can't it? So David offers Goliath to stay and wants to work together to keep the castle and his headquarters safe. Plus David thanks him as Goliath isn't so happy about that since he was betrayed by Captain. David proclaims that he'll work hard to earn their trust and asks them to consider his offer. Hudson points out that Goliath can make that decision; but there is nowhere to go.
Goliath decides to stay as he thanks David for breaking the curse; but he'll never trust humans ever again. OW! David proclaims that there is a lot of work to do as he gets on his cellphone and calls for Owen to get a cleanup crew for the castle as Goliath asks why David was attacked; and David proclaims that he has lots of enemies and he's very rich. Classic psychopathic thinking from a CEO; which makes David look like the perfect tweener, only much more than just a comic tweener like Shere Khan was. So we get a sky shot of the street being closed and the sidewalk being barricaded by the police as there is a commotion going on from the people watching on. There is one major logic break to this: The fire hydrant spot never occurs here despite it happening in the opening. The black police officer (who is clearly voiced by Keith David so I'm guessing his name is Morgan as per IMDB) asks what is going on. Elisa doesn't know; but she is going to find out as we get another ground to air shot of the building with the clouds overhanging the building and that ends part two at 20:30 approx. The first ten minutes of this was great; but the rest of it seemed random and a let down as most of the episode until the fight with the SWAT team was just there; and then it got back to being very good again. This was 20 and a half minutes long; but it felt like ten minutes the rest of the way. Call it *** 3/4 (75%). The next part features Elisa meeting the Gargoyles which includes her free falling, Lex playing with a motorcycle and Goliath getting hit with a poison dart by the SWAT team again.
THE REVIEW LINE
Okay; this part was a contrast of two different episodes. The first ten minutes was a great payoff and was done well in spite of Magus being totally stupid about thinking that Katherine was dead and I also love the fact that Goliath never really got his revenge thanks to Captain doing it for him on Hakon. That was the best part of the episode which was the conclusion. The second half present day stuff; just felt there and was going through the motions; but then the emotion of the first ten minutes overwhelmed any hope of this being excellent; although nothing in it was bad and most of it was good enough; but it just felt there until the SWAT team showed up and then it felt good again. I will say this though: Gargoyles did a hell of a job in making David Xanatos into the guy you love to be in a love/hate relationship and I really like him as a character; but we have only scratched the surface of this Shere Khan Infinity character. The fight was good; but felt random at times, but otherwise, there was nothing bad outside of a few moments where the CGI was obvious. So yeah; this was a cool down episode, but it should pick up in episode three since Elisa is now involved and we know the SWAT team is coming back in some form. Also; I want to commend this show for being paced in such a way that time flies by and makes writing this a lot easier. It's something that bothered me in new Disney cartoon where way too much goes on in a small time period and it just pads these rants to unbearable levels. This show does the pacing perfectly. Sometimes TaleSpin does it perfectly; but sometimes a lot goes on that there's too much to call. So kudos to Gregory for that. So....
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.