Eye of the Beholder
"Eye of the Beholder" is the twentieth televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the seventh episode of Season 2. It originally aired on September 13, 1995.
- Produced by: Frank Paur, Greg Weisman
- Written by: Steve Perry
- Story Edited by: Michael Reaves
- Directed by: Frank Paur
- Animation by: Walt Disney Animation Japan
- Backgrounds by: Tachiko Kimura, Jade Animation Productions
- Additional Production Facilities: Nakamura Production, Studio Robin, Light Foot, Studio Cats, Takahashi Production, Jade Animation Productions
Contents
Summary
Main Plot
Fox receives the Eye of Odin as an engagement gift from Xanatos and is transformed during the full moon into a werefox, and is in danger of dying from heightened metabolism. Xanatos enlists the help of Goliath and Elisa to stop Fox from rampaging through the city and get the Eye off of her. Fox crashes the Halloween block party and leads Xanatos, Goliath and Elisa to a rooftop. The werefox lunges at Elisa but is intercepted by Goliath, who pushes her against a large electric sign allowing Xanatos to pull the Eye off her and return her to normal.
Subplots
Xanatos proposes to Fox in a business-like manner, believing he is incapable of true love. When Fox is in danger he realizes he does have feelings for her, and his true motive is to save her life rather than to reclaim possession of the Eye.
Elisa confronts the werefox rampaging for food at Mr. Jaffe's shop. Fox runs away when the police arrive and Elisa informs Goliath of the creature, who is concerned over Elisa's safety when he's not around.
Fox had been transforming into the werefox for a few weeks before Xanatos realizes what's going on and attempts to remove the Eye of Odin from her. Owen shoots her with a tracking monitor dart before she escapes the Eyrie Building. Xanatos then lures Goilath and Elisa to a meat factory where Fox is and confesses the truth to them when he's unable to remove the Eye. At first they refuse to help, but eventually Goliath, understanding what it's like to lose a loved one, relents and teams up with Xanatos.
The gargoyles have been looking forward to Halloween because it's the one night of the year they can go out amongst the humans. The Trio dress in costumes for the block party, and Elisa, dressed as Belle, shares a dance with Goliath.
Goliath takes possession of the Eye of Odin from Xanatos, who assumes it's a trade for Fox's life.
The Story
Previously on Gargoyles
- Recaps: ("The Edge", "Leader of the Pack")
Act One
October 1st, 1995: In the Dining Hall, David Xanatos and Fox, having donned their finest evening wear, sit at the heads of a long table as Owen Burnett serves them tea. As Fox sips hers, the silence breaks as Xanatos suddenly says "marry me." Fox asks if he's serious before Xanatos rises from his chair and approaches her. "We're genetically compatible, highly intelligent, and have the same goals," he says, explaining why it makes perfect sense to get married. Fox agrees, but asks about love. Xanatos replies that he thinks they love each other "as much as two people such as ourselves are capable of that emotion." He takes her hand and Owen approaches the couple opening a box. Fox is awestruck by the gift inside and accepts the proposal.
October 30th, 1995: Elisa Maza exits a costume shop and places her acquisition in the backseat of her car when an inhuman shriek echoes through the block, coming from the General Store. The window shatters as a magazine rack is thrown through it; Mr. Jaffe bursts out of the front door and runs across the street, horrified by whatever is still inside his shop. Elisa draws her gun and enters the now blacked-out store. Sounds of more products being thrown to the ground and glasses shattering draws the detective in. Elisa rounds an aisle and finds it empty. She spots half-eaten food and packages being tossed out of another aisle and approaches with caution as a carton of eggs shatters on the floor. She comes around the corner and gasps at the sight of a red-furred beast ripping meat off of a leg of ham. She points her gun and shouts "Freeze!" but the beast darts down the aisle and comes around, surprising Elisa and knocking her gun from her hands. Elisa dodges a strike and falls against a stack of flour bags. The creature picks her up as Elisa strikes it in the face with flour. It cries out, dropping her. Elisa crawls away and grabs her gun as more squad cars arrive, but the creature has vanished.
Moments later, police and now the press are on the scene. Elisa towels flour out of her hair as Officer Morgan approaches her and mentions that he hasn't been able to get through a shift all month without mopping up after that thing. Elisa agrees that every night is trick-or-treat in the Big Apple. Travis Marshall goes on the air reporting that the creature was first sighted on October 4th and since then the frequency has increased dramatically...
... Xanatos shuts off the TV, concerned over yet another sighting. Fox then enters the office, bundled up in a trench coat that she's holding tightly closed. Xanatos asks where she's been hiding herself. Fox nervously lies and says she was out taking a walk. Xanatos follows up by asking if she is wearing his engagement gift. Fox insists she never takes it off before exiting the office, claiming she's feeling sick. Xanatos turns to Owen and says it's time for Plan A.
October 31st: Across the city, trick-or-treaters are out and about as the Sun sets and the Manhattan Clan awakens at the Clock Tower. Lexington exclaims that tonight is Halloween, Brooklyn and Broadway can hardly wait – they can walk around the streets and nobody will know who they are or what they are. Elisa steps out onto the balcony to talk to Goliath. After hearing her story, Goliath takes her hand feeling guilty because he should have been with her. But Elisa tells him that, practically, he couldn't anymore than she could be there guarding him all day. She assures him that it just helps to know somebody cares.
At the Eyrie Building, Fox stands at the window of the master bedroom staring out at the Moon... waiting for something. She is startled as Xanatos enters asking for her engagement present, saying he wants to have it engraved. Fox protests that she can't bear to part with it, but Xanatos holds out his hand saying he'll have to insist. Suddenly, the jewel around her neck begins to glow, as do her eyes. Red fur sprouts on her arms, her fingernails extend into claws. Fox breathes heavily and claws at the jewel around her neck. She cries out as her body changes shape, exploding from the trench coat. Xanatos watches in shock as the werefox stands before him and approaches with murderous intent.
Act Two
Xanatos draws a tranquilizer gun as the werefox advances upon him. "I thought so," he says before taking his shot, nailing her in the shoulder. But the dart barely slows her down and she knocks the gun from his hand before grabbing Xanatos and pinning him down on the bed... her intent animalistic, if not murderous. Xanatos calls out to Owen who bursts in and fires another tranq at the werefox, nailing her in the upper back. The werefox roars as Xanatos escapes her grasp. The two men make a failed attempt to overpower her, but she knocks them aside and exits the master bedroom making her way to the elevator. She forces the doors open and climbs down the shaft, deep below the Castle into the upper floors of the Eyrie Building. Elevator doors burst open where Bruno and his security force await in full tactical gear. They fire more tranqs at her, but the werefox makes short work of them before escaping... her roars echoing through the skyscraper.
Owen stands before the monitor in Xanatos's office reporting that the tracking monitor he shot her with is working, Fox has left the building. Xanatos had hoped to accomplish things the easy way. Owen continues to report that according to he monitor, Fox's metabolism is operating at an accelerated rate; if it keeps up her system will burn out by morning and she'll die. Xanatos muses that had he known the Eye of Odin had that kind of power, he'd never have just given it away. He shrugs it off as "spilt milk" and suggests moving on to Plan B. But as he turns away from Owen, his face betrays actual concern. Owen picks up the phone and dials a number... and not too long afterwards, Elisa approaches Goliath in the library telling him that she just got an anonymous tip about where to find the creature that attacked her earlier. Goliath puts down his book about werewolves and accompanies her.
Having since donned his exo-frame, Xanatos flies across the city towards the financial district, following the signal. He tracks the werefox to Felice's Meats where, just as he predicted, her accelerated metabolism forces her to eat almost constantly in order to maintain energy. He enters the butchery where hundreds of pieces of meat hang from hooks, armed with a weapon he is hoping will finally subdue her. But the werefox hears him coming and gets the drop on him, mauling his armor and greatly damaging it. Xanatos is forced to lose his helmet but the werefox attacks again, knocking him backwards. For but a moment, Fox regains control and gazes down at his face, but the Eye's affect reasserts itself. The werefox leaves him and jumps from the window to the loading platforms below.
The werefox stops to catch its breath as Goliath soars down, Elisa in his arms and kicks the werefox to the ground. The two grapple and Goliath manages to overpower the beast. He and Elisa approach to find out more about it when Xanatos lands behind Fox in his damaged armor. Elisa demands to know why he's here and he tells her that it's a private matter. The wound of Derek's mutation still being fresh, Elisa assumes it's another one of Xanatos's mutated victims as he reaches for the Eye of Odin. But magical energy explodes from the Eye shocking Xanatos and he topples backwards. The werefox is again on her feet and attacks Goliath. Goliath tries to make peace: "If Xanatos is your enemy then, believe me, we are your friends!" The werefox doesn't respond, but vanishes into the night. Elisa pulls her gun on Xanatos determined to bring him in, but he just rockets back off to the Castle. Goliath approaches Elisa, who believes the creature was human once, just like her brother. Xanatos "clearly wants the jewel around her neck. We need to gather all of the gargoyles to make sure we get it before he does." But Goliath pauses, believing he's figured out Xanatos's game.
Xanatos lands at the Castle and is greeted by Owen, observing that Plan B wasn't entirely successful. Xanatos agrees but mentions, "Plan C is in place. Goliath and company are, as usual, determined to thwart me. They'll pull out all the stops to get the Eye away from Fox before I do," looking satisfied he adds, "they'll do all of my work for me." But Owen is confused, failing to see how it would be any easier to get the Eye away from the gargoyles then from Fox. But before Xanatos can further explain himself, Goliath and Elisa land in the Courtyard. His manipulations have failed and Goliath snidely supposes that Xanatos opt for a Plan D.
Act Three
Goliath vows that this time they won't be Xanatos's pawns. As he and Elisa prepare to leave, Xanatos asks them to wait. In a rare moment of vulnerability, he admits the situation has gotten out of control and he thought he could handle it... then admits the creature is Fox and that she's been affected by the jewel she wears. "Legend says the Eye Odin endows its wearer with power and insight" and admits he had no idea it had metamorphic capabilities. Goliath isn't interested, "perhaps it will give you some insight into Fox's real character. It's made her more like herself." Xanatos begins to plead, but Elisa cuts in telling Goliath not to listen to him, it's another trick and that Xanatos couldn't tell the truth if his life depended on it. Xanatos continues to plead: "Buy my life doesn't depend on it – it's Fox's life." But Goliath has no more love for Fox than he does for Xanatos. "Even if what you say is true, why should I help her?" he argues. Xanatos reminds Goliath that he knows what it means to lose someone he loves. But Elisa won't hear anything of it, "this IS his Plan D. If he fails, he'll move on to E or F!" Goliath agrees and takes Elisa into his arms telling Xanatos that it was a noble effort, but another failure. After they depart, Xanatos asks Owen how long until his exo-frame is repaired. Owen responds that the damage is extensive. Two or three days, but Fox won't last that long.
At the Greenwich Village Halloween block party, crowds of people surround Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway in awe of their costumes (or rather, their "costumes over costumes"). Elisa, now dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast strolls down the street with Goliath, telling him she's wanted to do this for a long time and the two begin their dance. The Trio watch; Lex opining that they should have Halloween more often. Brooklyn wistfully agrees.
After their dance, Goliath and Elisa step away from the crowds when they are alerted by the a growling sound and a werewolf-like creature approaches them. Goliath instantly reacts and pounces, knocking the mask from the poor, innocent costumed human. The man tells him to be cool and Goliath lets him go and ponders that things aren't always what they seem. Elisa asks what he means, and Goliath posits that maybe Xanatos was telling the truth, maybe the creature is Fox and she is dying. Elisa reminds Goliath that Xanatos cannot be trusted and, while Goliath agrees, he knows the creature is still a danger to the city. "And if Xanatos speaks the truth, if someone like him can love – perhaps there still is hope for this world." Elisa resigns herself to the idea that Goliath is going to help Xanatos when the man himself approaches. Elisa angrily asks how he found them, when Xanatos quickly reaches for a radio transmitter he planted on the back of Goliath's shoulder. "Old habits die hard," he says. He pulls out a radio receiver and confirms that Fox isn't far.
The Trio continue to celebrate the holiday, having a good time and agreeing that it doesn't get any better than this when a bunch of costumed party-goers flee from inside a building. Hearing the roars, they agree it's Fox and are about to enter when Goliath orders them to stay there: he, Xanatos, and Elisa will handle it. They enter the building and Xanatos shuts the doors behind them. The werefox appears on a balcony above them and pounces. Goliath pulls Elisa from harm's way and the creature pins Xanatos to the ground. Goliath pulls the monster from Xanatos who then gets back to her feet. Elisa draws her gun, but Xanatos grabs it from her hands, crushing it in his armored talons before handing it back. The werefox tosses Goliath out of the building's double doors where he collides with Brendan and Margot's car, with the momentum forcing the car into a lamp post, which topples into the street.
The werefox exits, growling and roaring and the people realize that these aren't just people in costume and begin to flee. The creature leaps over Goliath onto the hood of Brendan and Margot's car before leaping onto the side of the building and climbing towards the roof. Goliath does the same, further damaging the yuppies' car, and pursues. Xanatos whips off his overcoat revealing a more compact suit of armor. Elisa places her arms around him before glaring that she trusts him about as far as she can throw him. Xanatos has no time to argue, takes ahold of her by the waist, and activates the jetpack and flies towards the roof.
The werefox hides as Goliath searches the roof for her. As Xanatos and Elisa come in for a landing, the werefox lands in front of them and approaches. Xanatos tries to reach her, but the werefox turns her attention to Elisa and for a moment, sees her own human self. In what can only be an act of self-loathing, the werefox pounces, fangs and claws bared, towards Elisa – determined to wipe herself out. But Goliath intervenes, tackling he werefox and pushing her into the neon sign, shocking her with electricity. While holding her in place, Goliath calls on Xanatos to act and the billionaire grabs the Eye of Odin. Energy coursing through all of them, Xanatos falls back with the Eye in hand. Goliath also falls back as the werefox collapses and slowly transforms back into a human. Elisa tears the skirt from her costume and covers Fox's nude form as the spotlight from a hovering helicoper shines down on them.
The helicopter lands and Owen steps out. Xanatos gets back to his feet and is relieved when Goliath assures him that Fox is alive. Goliath then demands the Eye. Xanatos hands it over asking if this is a trade. "Let's just say I don't trust you with it," Goliath replies. Xanatos muses that Goliath now knows his weakness. Disgusted, Goliath points out that only Xanatos would consider love a weakness. Xanatos takes Fox into his arms as the Trio arrive on the roof. The clan leader tells them it's over and suggests they go home.
As Xanatos approaches the helicopter, Owen tells his boss that he's never looked more heroic. Xanatos assures his bespectacled assistant that it's but a momentary lapse. Fox begins to come to and asks what happened. Xanatos tenderly tells her that it was a bad dream that's now over. "Goliath had the right idea," he realizes. Heading home, Owen smiles as Xanatos boards the helicopter with his one true love.
Featured Characters and First Appearances
| Gargoyles | Humans |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
- "Marry me."
- "Are you serious?"
- "We're genetically compatible, highly intelligent, and have the same goals. It makes perfect sense to get married." - Xanatos and Fox
- "I fail to see how it would be any easier to get the Eye from the gargoyles than from Fox." - Owen
- "Your manipulations have failed, Xanatos. I don't suppose you have a plan D?" - Goliath
- "I have no more love for Fox than I have for you. Even if what you say is true, why should I help her?"
- "Because you know what it means to lose someone you love." - Goliath and Xanatos
- "Come on, I've wanted to stroll down the city street with you for a long time." - Elisa
- "If Xanatos speaks the truth; if someone like him can love – perhaps there still is hope for this world." - Goliath
- "How did you find us?"
- "Old habits die hard." - Elisa and Xanatos
- "So now you know my weakness."
- "Only you would regard love as a weakness." - Xanatos and Goliath
- "Actually Mr. Xanatos, I believe he's right; you've never looked more heroic."
- "A momentary lapse, I assure you." - Owen and Xanatos
Continuity
This is a good episode for incidental characters: in order of appearance, we have[Mr. Jaffe (whose grocery store is attacked by Fox near the beginning), Officer Morgan, Travis Marshall, Bruno and his commandos, and Brendan and Margot in their second appearance in Gargoyles (with Fox and Goliath both jumping on the hood of their car as they watch in astonishment). And one of the crowd at the Halloween block party, judging from his voice, is clearly Vinnie (for once, having a pre-"Vendettas" encounter with the gargoyles that doesn't wind up disastrously for him – assuming that he didn't have any comical misfortunes when Fox showed up and broke up the party).
Elisa alludes bitterly to Xanatos's mutation of Derek into Talon from "Metamorphosis" (one reason why she is so reluctant to help him in this episode).
Xanatos places another tracking device on Goliath, commenting when it is revealed, "Old habits die hard". He had previously done the same thing in "Awakening: Part Three". (This episode plays fair in having Xanatos place one hand briefly on Goliath when the latter shows up with Elisa in Castle Wyvern, giving him the opportunity to plant the tracer.)
The Trio all have their own Halloween costumes, appropriately chosen. Broadway wears his trench coat and fedora from "The Silver Falcon" again (in light of all the destruction that his outfit underwent in that episode, these would have to be a look-alike replacement). Brooklyn wears a pirate outfit, fitting his swashbuckling nature, and Lexington dresses up as an old-fashioned airplane pilot (straight out of the time of World War I flying aces and Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight), as an echo of his ambitions in "Her Brother's Keeper".
For Halloween, Elisa dresses as Belle from the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast (this is the only explicit reference in the series to that movie, which served as an inspiration for Elisa and Goliath's relationship). The following Halloween, shown in "Masque" and "Bash", Elisa dresses as another Disney heroine: Jasmine from the film Aladdin.
David Xanatos and Fox appear together for the first time since "Leader of the Pack", in which it was revealed that they were in love, and in this episode Xanatos proposes marriage. The wedding takes place in the following episode, "Vows"".
The Eye of Odin, Fox's engagement gift, appears for the first time since its introduction in "The Edge", and for the first time it is revealed that it has powerful magical properties. This foreshadows the Eye's later appearances in "Avalon" Part Two, "Avalon" Part Three and "Eye of the Storm".
At the end of the episode, Goliath takes the Eye of Odin for safekeeping. It will remain in the Clock Tower until "High Noon".
Tidbits
There is a small animation nit when the transformed Fox is attacked by the Commandoes outside the elevator shaft. As the scene shifts, the Commandoes' headgear switches from all grey to all red and back again.
Elisa's dressing up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast for Halloween is a reference to her relationship with Goliath and shows the first instance of her dressing up as a Disney Princess (the second being in "Masque" where she dresses up as Princess Jasmine from Aladdin). Shortly before Elisa is seen in costume, a crowd of people in Halloween costumes includes a man wearing a coat very similar to that of "The Beast" and appears to be wearing some sort of animal mask suggesting that this is intentional.
Despite several superficial similarities (not least the existence of an immortal Scotsman in the Gargoyles Universe, and the Goldencup Bakery Building), this episode contains the only confirmed, intentional references in Gargoyles to the film Highlander, when the sign (which says "Mercury Building") explodes behind Fox at the end of the episode. [1][2]
Though non-canonical, the Disney Adventures' story "All Hallows' Eve" follows this episode.
DVD Release
See Also
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