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The Journey

Synopsis | Review by Juan F. Lara

Overview

by Kevin Catchpole

John Canmore has returned as John Castaway and formed The Quarrymen
Goliath is angry that it is foolish to risk being seen in public
Macbeth attempts to defend the gargoyles as Lennox Macduff on Nightwatch
Margot Yale is reintroduced as most prominent gargoyle hater NOT involved with the Quarrymen
Vinnie joins and leaves the Quarrymen, in the end reconciling his differences with Goliath and helping save his life

Synopsis

by Kevin Andrew Catchpole

Act I

Goliath's Monologue: "Now that the existence of gargoyles has been revealed to humans, our fate lies in the balance. Will we join together and embark in a journey of hope, or will we be engulfed by the flames of fear and hatred? The time has come to choose."

The story opens with a pan up the castle, flashing in to show Travis Marshall on Nightwatch. He begins with more info. on the shocking revelation that gargoyles are living among humans in Manhattan. Travis then continues with interviews of Vinnie and the jogger, and Billie's Mother (seen in "Thrill Of The Hunt"). All 3 of them express moderate anti gargoyle sentiments. After this, Travis turns the interview over to Matt Bluestone, who has been named head of the NYPD's gargoyles task force. Matt follows to indicate "We have no evidence to suggest the gargoyles pose a threat to public safety" carefully keeping his knowledge of them secret. Travis then question Matt as to the truth of rumors that David Xanatos is harboring the gargoyles atop the Eerie building. Matt's response is a noncommittal "All leads are being investigated". Travis then comments that Mr. Xanatos could not be reached for comment.

The setting at this point switches to the TV room at the castle. Hudson asks Xanatos what his comment will be when he is reached. Xanatos merely replies that he'll think of something, he always does. Brooklyn quips "Welcome home." After which, the shot changes to a Quarrymen helicopter checking out the castle, looking for gargoyles. One of them comments that there's no sign of 'em The leader of the group then follows with "Alright let's go, Castaway'll have our heads if we're late for his BIG MEETING". After the helicopter leaves we see Brooklyn questioning their faith in Xanatos not to betray them. Goliath seems content Xanatos won't destroy them while they sleep. Hudson is also sure of this. Brooklyn, however, points out that he might just be gearing up for another scheme. Goliath reprimands Brooklyn ".....where would you have us go?" Brooklyn tries to hold his side of the argument, but ends up getting flustered and dropping the subject. Goliath then stands on the parapets as if to leave, and both Brooklyn and Hudson comment on how Goliath shouldn't risk being seen. Goliath, in no uncertain terms, tells them "I am GOING to see Elisa". To which Brooklyn and Hudson cautiously back off and tell Goliath to send Elisa their best.

The shot changes to Vinnie walking down the street commenting on how he can't even read his own writing. Moments later, we see him knocking on a door decorated with a gold hammer logo. He knocks, and John Castaway comes out and introduces himself. John then proceeds telling Vinnie he made "quite an impression" and he is "just the sort to join our little group." After this, we see Goliath landing on Elisa's windowsill with her warning him about being seen. Goliath reacts with mild anger, and as he and Elisa are exchanging troubled looks, the scene cuts to a Quarrymen recruiting rally. John Castaway delivers his speech:

I know that you are all reasonable people... but you do not live in a reasonable world. Violence, racism, injustice... you struggle with the world's problems and wind up feeling so alone. Now, something alien and horrible has entered your world.

Are you afraid of this monster? Well, for once you are NOT ALONE!

Are you afraid these creatures will attack you while you sleep? You are not alone in that fear! Are you afraid they will steal your children away? You are NOT alone! Do you believe that these monsters must be stopped? You are NOT alone! JOIN US! Join the Quarrymen! When you wear our hoods believe me, you are NO LONGER ALONE!

TAKE A HOOD! TAKE A HAMMER! You are QUARRYMEN NOW! Join us! And I promise... you will NEVER BE ALONE AGAIN....

After John Castaway proclaims "you are NOT alone", we see Elisa and Goliath again. Goliath is brooding heavily over how he and the clan cannot find a stable life. Elisa comforts him, and this brief scene ends on a more romantic note. Castaway continues to complete his speech and instantly gains everyone in the room as a new member of the Quarrymen. This acts concludes on a dire note as Castaway charges up his hammer and smashes the statue of Goliath on display in the room.

Act II

This act opens with Cagney pestering Elisa. After Elisa gets up, we see a Quarrymen helicopter closing in on Goliath, perched outside Elisa's window. As they land, the view switches to Vinnie talking to John Castaway about the necessity of using the hammers on the gargoyles. Elisa is then shown noticing the helicopter, at which point she and the Quarryman who has come down to smash Goliath have a brief fight. Through sheer perseverance, Elisa manages to stall Goliath's smashing until dark, at which point the two of them fight off the remaining 2 Quarrymen and leave the building with the ones in the helicopter in hot pursuit. As this chase begins, the scene cuts to Hudson watching an edition of Nightwatch on which Margot Yale, assistant D.A., and Lennox Macduff (a.k.a. Macbeth) discussing the "gargoyle problem". After a broef glimpse of this, we see more of the Quarrymen chasing Goliath. After a slew of failed shots, the Quarrymen fire off one that hits Goliath on the wing spur. The act ends with Goliath falling out of the sky, clutching his wing in pain.

Act III

As Goliath falls, he manages to glide, in excruciating pain, to a landing on a nearby rooftop. Meanwhile, Macbeth is continuing to promote tolerance of the gargoyles while Margot Yale continues to assert her vapid anti-gargoyle posture. In a true touch of irony, she comments "our children are not safe" at which point the scene cuts to Bronx being nice to Alex, then Lexington being just as, if not more nice to Alex. After this, we see Elisa and Goliath after their landing. Goliath, unable to glide on his hurt wing, starts leaping buildings with Elisa in his arms.

As he continues, the scene cuts to Margot talking about the gargoyles as if they should be lab specimens, and is practically amused at Macbeth's rebuttal of her talking of them in such a manner. While she calls them "Beasts, animals", we see Broadway reading Shakespeare to Angela, and commenting on his reading lessons.

Brooklyn saunders in, only to leave dejected as he sees Broadway and Angela kissing each other. At this point, Goliath has made it as far as the clock tower. As he is about to continue leaping rooftops, they are spotted by the Quarrymen. They run into the building, which the Quarrymen immediately begin searching the building, only to have most of their numbers overwhelmed by Goliath and Elisa.

Even in the moment of triumph, John Castaway enters the scene and stuns Goliath and Elisa. Just as he is about to smash Goliath, he manages to fight back. Vinnie, seeing John so intent on killing Goliath, express his sentiments, only to almost end up dead at John's hands. Goliath manages to stop him in time. At this point, John simply runs out the window onto the rope ladder to the helicopter. As he is leaving, he yells "Dream of me, Goliath! Dream of ME!".

After he leaves, Vinnie comes to, believing he saved Goliath and Elisa, parts on good terms with both of them. After he leaves, Goliath discusses the "journey" of his life so far, and how though the road has been hard, he and Elisa have no regrets about the path they have chosen. With this, the episode is over.

Review

by Juan F. Lara

Greg Weisman's last hurrah was a notable episode for "Gargoyles".

Good Points

As the episode progressed Weisman reintroduced various characters and worked in tangents to the main story. These tangents could be promising starts for some compelling storylines for this season. (Or not. See below):

Tom Wilson did a good job conveying Matt's uneasiness during his interview. Matt had spent his adult life trying to uncover the secret operations of the Illuminati. But here he found himself having to cover up the truth about what he knew about the Gargoyles. An ironic situation that could lead to much personal conflict for him.
It was great to see MacBeth again. Up to then he'd been neutral about the Gargoyles. He had no quarrel with them but he'd fight them if they got in his way. But here he tried to help them out. MacBeth as a good guy made a very strong impression on me in "City of Stone". So I'd be very interested in seeing more of MacBeth in this new relationship with the Gargoyles. Also, I agree with whoever suggested on the net that MacBeth could carry his own series.
(Incidentally, I liked the "Nightline" send-up. Also, the yuppie wife (full name: Margot Yale :-) for once had a substantial role and didn't really act like her usual one-dimensional stereotype.)
Angela apparently had started a relationship with one of the trio. On a related note, Brooklyn, who had led the Gargoyles in Goliath's absense, argued with Goliath in the first act. I wondered if Brooklyn was beginning to drift away from the clan.
They made a reference to the Illuminati. The show forgot about the Illuminati after "Revelations" and so I hoped that they'd pick this thread back up.

I liked the structure of the story. The ep often juxtaposed scenes of people ranting against gargoyles with contrary scenes of the main cast members. In the Night Watch sequence, this structure provided for a useful means of showing us what domestic life was like at Wyvern. And the scenes of Goliath and Elisa in Act 1 seemed all the more touching in contrast to the Quarrymen meeting.

Speaking of which, I found that a very powerful scene. The Quarrymen had many parallels with the Ku Klux Klan, and John Castaway's rhetoric had a strong sense of relevancy. He used the gargoyles as a scapegoat and suggested nightmare scenarios like the gargoyles stealing children. (recalling Prince Malcolm's stories for Katherine)

I winced when Vinnie reappeared, then cringed when I realized that he would be a central character in this episode. But fortunately Vinnie didn't do any of the silly slapstick from "Vendettas" and the script downplayed his comic-relief personality. They used the old "bad guy learns better" premise, but it worked O.K. here. Still, I didn't look forward to any return of Vinnie.

And finally, an ABC cartoon with blood in it. :-)

Bad Points

Of course, this was the last episode that Greg Weisman was involved in. I have no idea if the people that succeeded him took up any of those threads from above. But you could tell that Weisman had a lot of interesting ideas for the third season. It would be a big loss for the series should the new staff ignore them. I felt that next week's episode would be the real start of the "new" Gargoyles".

At times the characters' lines tended to be overly melodramatic. ("When will we be safe from those who dispute our very right to exist?!") I particularly cringed during Goliath's meaningless monologue at the end, the kind of monologue that the Tick parodies. The monologue was the only instance that the script made a connection to the title, but I thought that it was a confusing connection.

Goliath couldn't glide with that injury. But he glid in the last scene.

Miscellaneous

Goliath had a brief voiceover at the beginning. Guess that was the "Goliath Chronicles" part.

The show had a new theme and computer-animated opening credits. I felt neutral about the new opener, though the clips from last season's episodes looked tacky. Disney probably wanted an opener that resembled that of "The Mighty Ducks".

Qutes

Hudson: And when ye are reached, what will yer comments be?
Xanatos: I'll think of something. I always do.

Fox: Listen, I know you and I got off on the wrong foot. But now that we're all living under the same turrets, I'd like to start over.
Lexington: Well, I'll give it a shot, for Alex's sake.

Brooklyn: Parting is such sweet sorrow...

MacBeth: Madame, they BURNT witches like you in the Middle Ages!

Elisa: Uh, Goliath, who was that guy?
Goliath: Honestly, I was never quite sure.
Elisa: Do you think we should tell him there are gargoyles in Japan?
Goliath: Somehow, I think he'll find out for himself, and maybe that is the point.

"The Journey" didn't have the fancy graphics and loud sound effects of the "Mighty Ducks" premiere, and it moved at a slower pace. It also involved me on a much greater level, on the strength of its characters and themes.

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