[6.3/10] My understanding is that this episode was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a whole New Olympians series, and it shows. Our usual heroes feel more like passengers than protagonists in this story, which is fine, except the show did little to gin up my interest in this new cast of characters.
For one thing, their designs were almost uniformly ugly. It’s hard to put my finger on why, but there was a color clash and cartooniness to them that contrasted with the designs of the usual characters. For another, they fell into some pretty generic archetypes, and you could feel the show trying to jam in all the important details to set up their world, deal, and major conflicts, while still serving the tory du jour, which left everything seeming very rushed.
That said, this installment isn’t without its merits. For one, it's nice to hear Michael Dorn on the show again (and playing another security chief no less)! His character Taurus’ arc about overcoming his societal prejudice toward humans is a solid one and pays off the over-the-tip bias the other Olympains have against Elisa given the way their ancestors were treated two thousand years ago.
At the same time, Proteus may be the smartest villain Gargoyles has ever had. He slips up a bit by not being able to replicate Goliath’s altruism, tipping him off to Elisa. But his plan to convince Goliath he’s Elisa, and then Elisa that he’s Goliath, to get out of jail and use their boat to scram shortly after blowing the place up in revenge is surprisingly solid. I know Xanatos is supposed to be the chessmaster and everything, but this may be the most effective plan any of the bad guys has had.
That said, the episode tries to do too much heavy lifting here, quickly trying my patience. There’s decent arcs and plenty of things happening, but little of it is truly compelling. The fact that the episode practically promises more adventures from the NEw Olympians in a cheesy fashion doesn’t help. On the whole, I definitely get why the powers that be decided to pass on this corner of the Gargoyles world.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-08-05T20:24:45Z
[6.3/10] My understanding is that this episode was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a whole New Olympians series, and it shows. Our usual heroes feel more like passengers than protagonists in this story, which is fine, except the show did little to gin up my interest in this new cast of characters.
For one thing, their designs were almost uniformly ugly. It’s hard to put my finger on why, but there was a color clash and cartooniness to them that contrasted with the designs of the usual characters. For another, they fell into some pretty generic archetypes, and you could feel the show trying to jam in all the important details to set up their world, deal, and major conflicts, while still serving the tory du jour, which left everything seeming very rushed.
That said, this installment isn’t without its merits. For one, it's nice to hear Michael Dorn on the show again (and playing another security chief no less)! His character Taurus’ arc about overcoming his societal prejudice toward humans is a solid one and pays off the over-the-tip bias the other Olympains have against Elisa given the way their ancestors were treated two thousand years ago.
At the same time, Proteus may be the smartest villain Gargoyles has ever had. He slips up a bit by not being able to replicate Goliath’s altruism, tipping him off to Elisa. But his plan to convince Goliath he’s Elisa, and then Elisa that he’s Goliath, to get out of jail and use their boat to scram shortly after blowing the place up in revenge is surprisingly solid. I know Xanatos is supposed to be the chessmaster and everything, but this may be the most effective plan any of the bad guys has had.
That said, the episode tries to do too much heavy lifting here, quickly trying my patience. There’s decent arcs and plenty of things happening, but little of it is truly compelling. The fact that the episode practically promises more adventures from the NEw Olympians in a cheesy fashion doesn’t help. On the whole, I definitely get why the powers that be decided to pass on this corner of the Gargoyles world.