[7.5/10] I don’t know much about Gargoyles, but I’d heard enough to know this episode was taken off the air. I’m not one for censorship. And I believe that kids are capable of understanding and contextualizing more than we think. But I get it. The scene with Broadway accidentally shooting Elisa is scary, even jarring, in a way that most television aimed at kids just isn’t.
That’s also what makes it great. I’m reminded of “The Body” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where a real life tragedy similarly injects itself into a fantastical show. The way Gargoyles drops the music in that scene, to where there’s only quiet, heightens the unnerving nature of what's just happened. Broadway’s unanswered calls to his friend hang in the air, until he sees Elisa’s unconscious body slumped on the ground. His discovery his frightening, in a true-to-life sort of way, above and beyond the outsized clashes between heroes and villains that Gargoyles normally offers.
The scene drives home the core theme of this episode -- that guns and other weapons may look cool on television and film, but there are real life dangers to them which confirm, in haunting ways, that they are not toys. Broadway is a childlike figure, and his bearing mirrors the young audiences. While the kids of 1994 may not have been racing to the movies to watch Westerns, they did see plenty of heroes and villains having shootouts, to where it’s easy to confuse real life and fiction in an object’s ability to cause harm to someone we care about.
This experience fills Broadway with guilt and anger, which he takes out on the goons of Dracon, a local mobbed up “businessman” who’s stolen particle weapons from Xanatos. Broadway’s normally such a clown that it’s bracing to watch him seem so fearsome and furious. His manhandling of a mugger in central park, or berserker attacks on Dracon’s men show him as a force to be reckoned with, despite his normally happy-go-lucky vibe. It drives home how much he’s affected by these events, upset at the very concept of guns and his sense of being misled by entertainment about what happens when you use one.
The plotting works as well as the character motivation. Given Elisa’s hassling of Dracon and his snide remarks in response, it’s easy for the authorities (and Goliath) to assume that they put a his on her. This assumption makes for a good story engine, with Goliath and others following the clues to stop Dracon and exact some vengeance upon him for Elisa’s sake.
The climax of the episode is strong emotional material. Broadway’s apology to Elisa, bolstered by her family fearing for her life, helps humanize a pretty generic character in her sympathy for Broadway and the existence of other people who love her. (Nichelle Nichols as her mom! Michael Horse as her dad!) You feel the pain and regret in Broadway, and the understanding but dire warning that comes from Elisa and Goliath’s response. The show finds power in making a terrible mistake, trying to make up for it, and ultimately seeking forgiveness when someone we care about pays the price for our errors in judgment.
Overall, I understand why Disney or the network or whomever held this episode back. It’s intense, and not in a cartoony or adventurous sort of way. But given the subject matter, that tone is appropriate, and it makes me wish the powers that be had the guts to let the episode air.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-06-22T22:43:26Z
[7.5/10] I don’t know much about Gargoyles, but I’d heard enough to know this episode was taken off the air. I’m not one for censorship. And I believe that kids are capable of understanding and contextualizing more than we think. But I get it. The scene with Broadway accidentally shooting Elisa is scary, even jarring, in a way that most television aimed at kids just isn’t.
That’s also what makes it great. I’m reminded of “The Body” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where a real life tragedy similarly injects itself into a fantastical show. The way Gargoyles drops the music in that scene, to where there’s only quiet, heightens the unnerving nature of what's just happened. Broadway’s unanswered calls to his friend hang in the air, until he sees Elisa’s unconscious body slumped on the ground. His discovery his frightening, in a true-to-life sort of way, above and beyond the outsized clashes between heroes and villains that Gargoyles normally offers.
The scene drives home the core theme of this episode -- that guns and other weapons may look cool on television and film, but there are real life dangers to them which confirm, in haunting ways, that they are not toys. Broadway is a childlike figure, and his bearing mirrors the young audiences. While the kids of 1994 may not have been racing to the movies to watch Westerns, they did see plenty of heroes and villains having shootouts, to where it’s easy to confuse real life and fiction in an object’s ability to cause harm to someone we care about.
This experience fills Broadway with guilt and anger, which he takes out on the goons of Dracon, a local mobbed up “businessman” who’s stolen particle weapons from Xanatos. Broadway’s normally such a clown that it’s bracing to watch him seem so fearsome and furious. His manhandling of a mugger in central park, or berserker attacks on Dracon’s men show him as a force to be reckoned with, despite his normally happy-go-lucky vibe. It drives home how much he’s affected by these events, upset at the very concept of guns and his sense of being misled by entertainment about what happens when you use one.
The plotting works as well as the character motivation. Given Elisa’s hassling of Dracon and his snide remarks in response, it’s easy for the authorities (and Goliath) to assume that they put a his on her. This assumption makes for a good story engine, with Goliath and others following the clues to stop Dracon and exact some vengeance upon him for Elisa’s sake.
The climax of the episode is strong emotional material. Broadway’s apology to Elisa, bolstered by her family fearing for her life, helps humanize a pretty generic character in her sympathy for Broadway and the existence of other people who love her. (Nichelle Nichols as her mom! Michael Horse as her dad!) You feel the pain and regret in Broadway, and the understanding but dire warning that comes from Elisa and Goliath’s response. The show finds power in making a terrible mistake, trying to make up for it, and ultimately seeking forgiveness when someone we care about pays the price for our errors in judgment.
Overall, I understand why Disney or the network or whomever held this episode back. It’s intense, and not in a cartoony or adventurous sort of way. But given the subject matter, that tone is appropriate, and it makes me wish the powers that be had the guts to let the episode air.