Start Background Fan Work Chat More sites Credits/Contact Sitemap 
 Characters and Plot Episodes Comics Grimorum Merchandise 
 
Valid XHTML 1.0!
Valid CSS!
Episode List

Previous Episode |  Episode List |  Next Episode

Hunter's Moon, Part III

Synopsis |  Review by Juan F. Lara |  Review by Todd Jensen

Overview

Synopsis

by Lori Summers

Act I

Paris, 1980. A man stands in front of Notre Dame cathedral, explaining to his three children (who are clearly the three Hunters) that his family has been hunting the demon for centuries, and he vows to end it this night, putting on the Hunter's mask. The girl and the blond boy seem reluctant, but the oldest boy is angry. Demona returns to the cathedral. She retrieves a small statue of a praying gargoyle from one of the turrets and then is attacked by the Hunter. As the children watch from below, the Hunter is thrown from the roof of the cathedral and falls to his death.

New York, present. Rockets strike the clock tower and reduce it to rubble just as the leader of the Hunters snatches Elisa from the police station corridor. "What have you done?" she exclaims, removing his mask to find Jason. He drugs her to sleep and flies off with her. The gargoyles emerge from below the floor of the clock tower. Lex and Hudson are injured. Brooklyn remarks that it was fortunate that Lex found the tracking device on Goliath's shoulder in time for them to take cover. The other male Hunter (John) hovers just outside the wreckage, watching and taking aim, as the clan collect themselves. He is about to fire, but hesitates as he sees their concern for each other. He drops out of sight and retreats unseen. The gargoyles fly off.

John reboards the Hunters' airship. The woman (Robyn) spotted the gargoyles leaving. He seems reluctant to pursue them, but she has other ideas. Soon a newscast plays throughout the city, blaming the gargoyles for the destruction of the clock tower. Owen, Xanatos and Fox witness the broadcast, aware that the gargoyles are innocent of this crime but knowing that the entire city will now be hunting them.

Act II

In Captain Chavez's hospital room, Elisa and Matt also see the broadcast. Elisa insists that it was the Hunters and Detective Conover who destroyed the tower. Matt produces evidence that Detective Conover is not only a phony policeman but has a long history of violence stemming from his father's mysterious death in Paris.

At the headquarters of Nightstone Unlimited, Robyn breaks into a vault and steals a computer disk. While she is there, she receives a phone call from Dominique Destine, who informs her that she'll be taking a working vacation. Dominique urges Robyn to take some time off.

At Elisa's apartment, Goliath is hungry for retribution. Elisa urges him to let the law handle it, and the other gargoyles remind him of how much the feud has already cost them. Goliath wants revenge. He asks Lexington to use the Hunters' homing device to lead him to them. Lexington reluctantly agrees and Goliath flies off, ordering the others to stay there. He soars over a dam where he finds nothing, although Lex insists that they're right there. Lex tells Goliath to the reverse the polarity of the transmitter and it will bring the Hunters to him. He does, and the Hunters' ship rises from underneath the reservoir. Three hoverjets fly out and attck him. Goliath destroys one of them, and just as Robyn is about to fire on him Broadway appears and knocks her out of the sky. Elisa runs up and asks Jason to stop this, which of course he refuses to do. The fight continues, and eventually Golatih knocks Jason off his hoverjet. Elisa intercedes, begging them to stop, but Jason pushes her aside. He rushes at Goliath, who knocks him backwards directly into Elisa. They both topple off the dam into the spillway. Goliath leaps off to rescue Elisa, but he cannot reach her before she plunges into the waterfall. Growling in horror, he falls into the water at the bottom and comes to the surface, screaming Elisa's name.

Act III

Goliath and Broadway return to Elisa's apartment where Angela is crying. Lex explains that they heard everything, and wishes he'd never kept the transmitter. Goliath vows venegance (again) for Elisa's death just as he turns to stone...and a slow tear trickles down his frozen cheek.

On the Hunters' ship, John rants about the death of his brother and decided that gargoyles are evil after all, regretting that he spared them at the clock tower. Robyn now seems doubtful, not wanting to lose her other brother as well. Their computer finishes decrypting the disk Robyn stole, on which Demona outlines her plan to magically combine the DI-7 disinfectant and Sevarius' CV-1000 carrier virus and wipe out all life on the planet. The praying gargoyle statue will protect the clan and the gargoyles. Ground Zero will be St. Damien's Cathedral. "Any more doubts?" John asks.

At the dam, Jason Conover lifts Elisa, unconscious, from the water.

Nightfall. The gargoyles fly through the city, seeking the Hunters. They are spotted by a frightened population and by police helicopters. Demona and the Hunters arrive at the condemned cathedral. John steers the Hunter's airship right through the front wall of the cathedral as the gargoyles arrive. John and Robyn emerge in combat exoskeletons and are about to attack Demona when the other gargoyles arrive. As the group braces for combat, a large crowd has gathered outside the cathedral complete with news coverage. Matt is trying to keep the police from charging in and killing the gargoyles, but the crowd is hungry for blood.

Inside the fight continues as Demona retreats to another room to carry out her plan. She is about to begin when Brooklyn interrupts her. Goliath has John pinned down and is about to kill him when he hears a familar voice urge him to stop. He rushes to Elisa's side, amazed she's alive. She explains that Jason saved her. John gets up, equally amazed that his brother is alive. He asks Jason to help him destroy the gargoyles, but Jason refuses. The hunt is over, he says...these gargoyles are not their enemies. John will have none of it, saying that the demon must be stopped before she destroys the world. At that moment, they hear a laser blast and Brooklyn's cry of pain. Goliath starts off to help him. John, thinking Goliath is attacking, raises his laser cannon. Jason throws himself in front of Goliath and is struck by his brother's shot. Goliath catches him as he collapses, saying "it has to stop." Elisa tell Goliath to stop Demona, she'll take care of Jason. Robyn asks John to help them with Jason. "What have I...what have THEY done?" John fumes. He blasts off through a window, crying "the Hunt is not over!"

The gargoyles come upon Demona, who has already cast her spell. She explains her plan and the role of the praying gargoyle statue. Goliath promptly smashes the statue. "We can all die together," he says. Screaming, Demona tosses the vial containing the plague into the air. Goliath catches it precariously, but in the distraction Demona escapes. Goliath goes after her. Elisa comes in, warning the clan that they'd better leave because Matt can't hold the police off forever. "He risked his life to save us all?" Robyn says, amazed. "That's what he does...that's who he is," Elisa replies.

Atop the cathedral, Demona flies away. A police helicopter hovers over the clan. They are trapped. Then another helicopter comes up and the door opens. "Can I interest you in a ride?" Xanatos asks. The clan boards Xanatos' helicopter and are carried away.

Elisa visits Jason in the hospital. He is paralyzed. She says that she'd like to help him recover...but that there is someone else who will always come first. She reports that John has not been found...and that he and Demona are still out there hunting each other. Jason asks about the clan. Elisa replies that they're safe...at least she hopes they are.

"Of course they're safe," Xanatos tells her at the castle. Goliath has saved humanity (not to mention Xanatos' son) and the least he can do is restore the clan to their ancestral home. "The feud is over," he assures her.

The clan marvel at being back at Castle Wyvern. "And so it begins... Gargoyles chapter 2. Or is it three? I've lost count," Brooklyn comments.

Atop the highest turret, Goliath stands looking over the city. Elisa joins him. "So, things have come full circle," he comments. Elisa agrees. "You know how I feel about you, right?" she asks softly. "How we both feel...yes," Goliath agrees, running his talons through her hair. "Good," she says. She jumps up, links her arms around his neck and kisses him. She jumps down just as the sun freezes him in a surprised pose with a somewhat goofy smile on his face. "Welcome home, Goliath," she says as she turns to leave.

Note from the synopsist: *SIGH!*

Review

by Juan F. Lara

I initially had some problems with the season finale. But I've liked it more the more times I saw it.

Bad Points

Jason had been chewing scenery so savagely in the first two parts that I couldn't buy his big change of heart in Act 3. I suppose his feelings for Elisa could make him change. But Jason's lines and delivery in the cathedral scene came off as very wooden. The 180 degree turnarounds of the other Canmores also felt very jarring, but they made a little more sense. Robin had always approached her hunting in a calculated, dispassionate manner. So I could believe her thinking and wanting to stop the hunt after Jason's disappearance. Jon's turning on the Gargoyles was believable as he convinced himself that he missed an opportunity to save Jason. But I thought that his guilt-driven rage should've died away once Jason reappeared, and the Jon of the previous two episodes would return.

Oh, and BTW: Demona's trying to destroy the world. :-) A Demona plan that really would fulfill Demona's desire to destroy all humans was a perfect premise for the finale. But this plot device felt shoehorned into Act 3 of Part 3, even with the allusions to it that were shown before. I wondered what the original purpose of the Fulfillment Spell was, and why Demona waited 500 years to use it, and what the background of the Praying Gargoyle was.

Good Points

Over time, though, those bad points had less impact on me than the episode's many memorable moments:

All through Part 2 Jon had shown himself to be the most thoughtful and open-minded of the Canmores. So his refusal to kill the Gargoyles in Act 1 was a climax for him. He noticed Goliath's anger over what happened to his daughter in Part 2, and the writers continued on that theme by having Jon notice how the Gargoyles refused to abandoned their injured ones. I thought then that in the end Jon would take the initiative and be the one to stop the fighting, but of course the opposite happened.

Act 2 featured an excellently animated fight over a damn. I was especially impressed with Goliath's breathtaking flight maneuvers here. Act 2 then ended with the expertly staged scene of Elisa's fall. That scene went on at a normal pace and was shown from a camera angle next to Goliath. In this kind of scene the camera usually focuses on the victim and goes in slow-motion. (in "The Lion King" for example.) So this different approach gave this scene much impact. Goliath's sudden reaction to her fall and his screaming for her at the bottom were two of the series's more outstanding images.

And I supposed everyone stood up and cheered at the episode's final scene. :-) Of all its plot threads, the multiparter handled Elisa's relationship with Goliath best. This was the one major thread of the series that got resolved in the course of this story.

Also, I liked the flashbacks that started each part. The flashbacks established a perspective for the story, and gave each episode a strong structure.

Lexington and Matt stood out in the supporting cast. I sympathized with Lex whenever his voice showed reluctance to help Goliath's vendetta. Also, the writers had Matt show courage in keeping the Gargoyles from getting caught by the task force and the mob as long as he could.

Miscellaneous

Continuity gaffes: The building had not been hit yet when Elisa turned to see Jason in Part 2. But the building is wrecked in that same scene in Part 3. Also, how did the Canmores get those closeups of the Gargoyles for that TV report? :-)

And how did they undo the spell that created that lethal plague?

Goliath: WE are clan. Family. We do not abandon each other.

Demona: ...And gargoyles will take their rightful place as the rulers of this world. I will take my rightful place.

Elisa: I'd like to help you, if you let me. But I have to be honest. There's someone else who will always come first.

So the 1995-96 season ended on a high note. "Gargoyles" had some duds, and went into a slump during the Mists of Avalon storyline. But over this season the series had some groundbreaking breakthroughs for Disney and for TV Animation in general in terms of what BS&P can allow and in terms of how complex and sophisticated a story can be.

Brooklyn: And so it begins. "Gargoyles", Chapter 2. Or is it 3? I've lost count.

Commentary/Review

by Todd Jensen

"Hunter's Moon", the second season of "Gargoyles", and, in a sense, "Gargoyles" itself, all come to a very dramatic and powerful conclusion in this episode, a truly fitting finale.

Like the first two parts of "Hunter's Moon", Part Three opens with a flashback, outside Notre Dame Cathedral in 1980. Jason, Robyn, and Jon, then only children, watch as their father, Charles Canmore, confronts Demona atop the cathedral as she pulls the gargoyle statuette that we saw among her treasures in Part Two, with the determination to bring an end to the hunt forever. Instead, Demona kills Charles, hurtling him to his doom on the pavement below, before his horrified children's eyes. (This has a strong echo of Bruce Wayne's parents being murdered in front of him as a boy, the event that led Bruce to become Batman, and this does have a strong appropriateness about it. The Canmores do have a strong echo of Batman in their modus operandi - relying on a combination of good equipment and good training - alongside their double identities, and so giving them a parallel motivation works well here. Indeed, it's all the more apt, when one considers that the production team was very nervous about the possibility of "Gargoyles" being viewed as a mere imitation of "Batman: TAS"; here this becomes dramatized with the gargoyles' adversaries becoming Batman-like figures.)

It is here, by the way, that we first hear the surname "Canmore" applied to the Hunters, which indicates where the new Hunters came from; they are apparently descended from Duncan and Canmore. Perhaps the one noteworthy weak point of "Hunter's Moon" is that no explanation is given as to why these descendants resumed the hunt. While Duncan and Canmore had both hated gargoyles, the primary focus of their activities was directed against Macbeth; their gargoyle massacres were mainly carried out because Demona and her clan were Macbeth's allies. Furthermore, Canmore believed Demona to be dead alongside Macbeth, with no explanation given as to what led him or his heirs to discover his error. It is generally suspected among "Gargoyles" fans that Demona sought revenge on Canmore at some point, and in so doing, not only alerted him and his family to her survival, but redirected the Hunters' goal to once more be an ideological (or semi-ideological) war of vengeance upon the gargoyles, rather than a rivalry over the succession to the Scottish throne. Perhaps if the series had continued, we would have found out more.

But let us return to the present day. The Hunters' attack reduces the clock tower to rubble, but the gargoyles were able to hide in time thanks to Lexington's warning, if not unscathed. Jason himself has gotten Elisa to safety, though in the process, she discovers his double identity and is far from pleased with this revelation. And the gargoyles, their home destroyed, are forced to leave the clock tower, knowing that they will never be able to live there again. The loss of their home only fills Goliath with even more vengeful anger than before.

Matters now escalate all the more as the Hunters proceed to reveal the gargoyles's existence to the world, framing them for the destruction of the clock tower. The citizens of Manhattan respond with horror; now they know for certain that the gargoyles are real, and are convinced that they are hostile. Even this consequence of his feud is not enough to restrain Goliath, however. He sets out alone to confront the Hunters at a nearby dam, determined to slaughter them single-handedly, with disastrous consequences. (The fact that he specifically goes alone may itself be yet another danger sign. Throughout the series, there had always been a strong emphasis on true strength coming from teamwork and the family, rather than from the "lone warrior"; Goliath himself stated this during his battle with Demona in "The Mirror", when he said, "My strength has never depended upon brute force, but upon true friends". For him to now disregard that truth and set off on his own shows how much his longings for revenge are eating away at his wisdom.)

While Goliath and Jason both continue to let their rage and desire for revenge consume them, Elisa (aware of where this war is going, and desperate to stop two people whom she cares about deeply from killing each other) works equally hard to stop the fighting and bring about some sort of peace. In vain, she urges Goliath not to continue seeking the Hunters, and is supported by the rest of the clan, if to no avail. This leads to a particularly fine piece of dialogue:

ANGELA: Look at what this feud has already cost us.
GOLIATH: That's exactly why we should have vengeance!
HUDSON: Or maybe that's why we should let it go.

Goliath refuses to listen even to these wise words, however, and sets off for the dam. Elisa still follows him, hoping to still persuade Goliath and Jason to call off their feud, but in vain. In the heat of the battle, Goliath sends Jason flying into Elisa, so that both fall over the side of the dam. Goliath attempts to grab hold of Elisa and save her as he had done so many times before, but this time to no avail. His belief that she is dead drives him still further into anger, as he now blames the Hunters rather than himself for her loss, in a manner eerily close to Demona.

Goliath's wrath leads to the final confrontation with the Hunters at St. Damien's Cathedral, at just the point when Demona is preparing to cast her own great spell to wipe out humanity, a spell that the stolen industrial detergent, Sevarius's carrier virus, and the Medici Tablet from Florence were all key components of; thanks to the feud between the gargoyles and the Hunters, she comes dangerously close to triumph. Indeed, the only thing that stops the war from ending even more tragically than it does is that Jason saves Elisa's life - and is, in so doing, healed of his hatred. Their arrival stops Goliath from killing Jon and Robyn, and awakens him to what truly matters. Unfortunately, Elisa and Jason's intervention comes too late to save Jon from going down the wrong path himself.

Jon's fall into an even more intense hatred of gargoyles than Jason had ever possessed seems abrupt at first, but a closer inspection of "Hunter's Moon" shows that it is well-prepared for. Although Jon spends most of the three-parter (down to the battle at the dam) voicing his concerns that maybe the gargoyles aren't as evil and corrupt as Jason says, there is a half-hearted quality about it. He always lets Jason stare him down whenever the two of them argue the matter, timidly yielding the issue. While he spares the gargoyles at the clock tower, he then proceeds to (without even a hint of protest) frame them for the attack on the police station on the news; this act is perhaps even worse than the things that he will later on do as Castaway, for at that point, Jon knows the truth about the gargoyles, and is aware that he is persecuting the innocent. During the battle at the dam, Jon makes no attempt (unlike Elisa) to stop the fighting; indeed, when Elisa asks him if he can't help her out in making peace between Goliath and Jason, Jon only replies, "I wish that I could," without displaying any sign of making even an effort at it. From this angle, it should come as no surprise when he, after Jason's death, should at once change his stance on gargoyles and hate them in a most vindictive fashion, an attitude that becomes even more vengeful when he inadvertently shoots Jason while aiming at Goliath. Confronted with the horror of his deed and yet unwilling (or unable) to accept responsibility for it, Jon cries out, "What have I done?" and then changes it to "What have they done?" These words are all the more chilling when we remember where we heard them before, giving extra ominousness to Jon's cries of rage and revenge as he exits the cathedral.

The extent to which Goliath has been healed of his wrath at the end can be seen in the final confrontation with Demona, as she prepares to release her plague that will destroy the human race. Learning the role that the Praying Gargoyle (the gargoyle statuette that she had stolen in Paris sixteen years before) will play in her plot, that it will protect the gargoyles from the plague, Goliath seizes the magical object and shatters it into rubble. This is perhaps Goliath's most courageous and heroic act in the series, for it comes at a point when, if there ever could be a right time to wipe out the human race to save the gargoyles, this is it: the humans now know that the gargoyles are real, and believe them to be evil monsters bent on wiping them out. An angry mob is surrounding the cathedral, and although Matt (now in charge of the new Gargoyle Task Force) is doing all that he can to keep them at bay, he knows that he can't do this indefinitely. Killing off the human race would save the gargoyles from being massacred; by destroying the Praying Gargoyle, Goliath has seemingly doomed his species to a choice of extinctions, either death at the hands of the humans (if Demona doesn't release the plague) or death through the plague (if she does release it). Demona stares at Goliath in horrified shock as she realizes what he has done, then hurriedly tosses the vial up into the air and flees. Fortunately, Goliath catches it in time to save the world, though it was a close call.

Even with Demona foiled, the gargoyles are still in danger; the mob's fury has reached the point where Matt realizes that the only way to prevent it from stooping to vigilante action is to send in his team and take the gargoyles prisoner. The clan finds an unexpected helper, however, in Xanatos, who shows up in his helicopter to get them to safety. Indeed, we now learn that Xanatos is no longer the gargoyles' enemy; in gratitude to them for having saved Alex twice now (the second time from Demona's plague), he welcomes them back into the castle, where they can live in peace - and with no strings attached. "The feud is over," he tells Elisa.

And indeed, although it is not a completely happy ending (Demona and Jon Canmore are still at large, Jason is paralyzed from the waist down, and the gargoyles are still in danger from a frightened citizenry, even if they're safe in the castle for now), it is one filled with hope. The gargoyles have been returned to their original home, and their war with Xanatos is indeed at an end. But most importantly of all, Elisa finally can walk up to Goliath, admit her feelings for him, and even kiss him, to his astonished joy. "Welcome home, Goliath," she says happily, as she descends the tower upon which he now roosts once more. "Welcome home." A beautiful conclusion to a fine episode, and a fine series.

And this concludes my series of "Gargoyles" reviews, for I never taped "The Goliath Chronicles" (and, with the exception of "The Journey", I don't regret that at all). It has been a fine adventure, and I hope to continue it when the Gargoyles comic book begins next summer (the summer of 2006). But for now, it is time for us to bid the clan farewell, and wish it pleasant dreams in its stone sleep....

Tidbits

As in the first two parts, there are several echoes of Season One, and especially "Awakening", here. Among these are:

The gargoyles are forced to abandon their home again, as they had done in "Enter Macbeth" (though this time, Goliath is far more realistic about it than he was then).

In contrast to other episodes, Goliath fails to rescue Elisa at the dam.

The public is shocked anew by the revelation of gargoyles, just as they had been in "The Edge".

The final scene parallels "Awakening Part Five"'s final scene. After seeing a few light-hearted moments involving the other gargoyles, we join Goliath and Elisa at the top of the tower, where we see the close bonds that they share, bonds that will be even closer now after "Hunter's Moon", followed by Goliath and the other gargoyles turning to stone at dawn.

A few more scenes were deleted from this episode for time considerations. The most important of these was a meeting between Elisa and Jason at the ruins of the clock tower, in which Elisa urges Jason (in vain) to give up his feud with the gargoyles. She finally asks him what caused the feud in the first place, and Jason has to admit that he doesn't know; his family has been at war with the gargoyles for so long that they can't remember how it began. (A deleted line in the flashback had Charles Canmore telling his children that "We can no more stop hunting gargoyles than breathing the air", another echo of the first season.)

Familiar faces again show up in the background. Brendan, Margot, the Jogger, and Dave (the pool hall guy from "Protection") are among the frightened citizens watching Jon Canmore's news broadcast about the gargoyles. Travis Marshall reports on the battle at St. Damien's Cathedral, and Officer Morgan discusses the escalating situation with Matt there.

Robyn Canmore was to initially face prison for her attack on the police station, but the mysterious Director would see to it that she would lead his "Redemption Squad" instead, resulting in her becoming one of the regulars in the projected but never-made "Bad Guys" spin-off. Robyn, the only member of the team who would have contact with the Director, would recruit a number of other "semi-reformed antagonists", consisting of Dingo, Matrix, Fang, and Yama, taking them on one secret mission after another; in the process, she would enter into a stormy relationship with Dingo.

Jason and Jon's fates, however, would be incorporated into further episodes of "Gargoyles" itself. Jon would adopt the new alias of "Jon Castaway" (following the Canmore tradition of using surnames beginning with a hard C as part of their assumed identities) and, with secret funding from the Illuminati Society, take advantage of the public's fear of gargoyles to start up a new version of the Hunters known as Quarrymen (a sort of Gargoyles Universe version of the Ku Klux Klan). Jason would eventually find out Castaway's true identity, and make a number of attempts to turn him away from his destructive course; he was also one of the candidates for Elisa's date in the never-made "double date" story (the other being Officer Morgan).

Greg planned to do a story for the never-made "Team Atlantis" spin-off that would have included elements from "Hunter's Moon". In it, Demona would have a run-in with Fiona Canmore (a great-great-aunt of Jason, Robyn, and Jon) in Paris in 1920, involving the Praying Gargoyle (revealed here as being an Atlantean talisman); Fiona would stop Demona from using the Praying Gargoyle to bring the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral to a state of quasi-life and form them into an army to slaughter the humans of Paris (indicating that the Praying Gargoyle had other abilities besides protecting gargoyles from powerful curses); the Praying Gargoyle would be destroyed in the struggle, but Demona would conceal it in a secret compartment in Notre Dame - from which she would retrieve it in 1980.

The Hunter's Moon is a real astronomical phenomenon, applied to the full moon during October. (However, the opening flashback incorrectly places a Hunter's Moon as shining on the night of September 28 - not that this nit need interfere with our enjoyment of the episode.)

Previous Episode |  Episode List |  Next Episode