City of Stone Part Three

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"City of Stone" Part Three is the twenty-fourth televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the eleventh episode of Season 2. It originally aired on September 20, 1995.

Summary

Main Plot

This episode marks the climax of the "City of Stone" story. In the present, Xanatos concocts a plan to break Demona's spell, while in 1040 the magical link between Demona and Macbeth is established by the Weird Sisters, who have themselves pushed the two towards their fates with subtle interference. They had appeared as three old witches straight out of Shakespeare to Macbeth and King Duncan, announcing that Macbeth would overthrow his cousin. Fearing the prophesy of the Sisters, Duncan gathers his army against Macbeth. Left with no options, Macbeth makes a pact with Demona, exchanging his youth for Demona's aid against Duncan. With the help of the gargoyles Macbeth wins the battle and becomes king after he slays Duncan. He names Demona his primary adviser, bringing about a golden age between humans and gargoyles; an age that sadly would not last.

Subplots

Macbeth saves Duncan's life when he nearly falls off a cliff, just before coming across Demona and her clan sleeping in a cave. Macbeth prevents Duncan from killing them, but Duncan returns later that day to destroy them, fearing that Macbeth would recruit them to fight against him. He's able to destroy one gargoyle before sunset and the others retreat. Duncan's actions backfire against him, driving the gargoyles out of hiding and motivating Demona to take action and seek out the Weird Sisters for help.

Selene gives Macbeth a magical sphere right after he is linked with Demona, and informs him that Duncan had ordered Findlaech's murder. Duncan is killed when he hits the sphere with his sword while trying to kill Macbeth.

Canmore demands to be made King, and is banished to England. Just before he is taken away, he steals his father's mask from Demona, ensuring the continuation of the Hunter's line.

Demona is given her name by Macbeth during his coronation.

Back to the present, Elisa goes to confront Xanatos at PackMedia Studios and becomes stone along with Owen just as the gargoyles awaken. The gargoyles and the Steel Clan are equipped with gas dispensing packs that they fly through the city with. The packs would explode at a preset time controlled by a computer, giving the gargoyles enough time to disengage before the gas is ignited. Right after they leave, Demona enters through a hidden passageway, and stalks towards Elisa with a mace.

The Story

Act One

The sun rises and, inside the Clock Tower, the stone statue of Elisa Maza returns to flesh, without missing a beat she calls to the Manhattan Clan to turn on the television before realizing it's now dawn when two seconds ago it was sunset.

At PackMedia Studios, Goliath and Brooklyn turn to stone while Owen Burnett returns to flesh crying into his cellphone that Demona is going to turn everyone to stone before quickly deducing what happened, regaining his composure and bidding David Xanatos a good morning. Xanatos informs Owen that Goliath has agreed to work with them. Owen suggests searching the Grimorum Arcanorum for a counter-spell, but Xanatos wisely suggests that neither of them are practicing sorcerers and that "mixing magics" is dangerous anyway. When Xanatos asks what the exact translation of Demona's spell and Owen provides it: "All who see this, all who hear this turn to stone throughout the night until the skies burn." Xanatos confidently replies that they'll just have to set the sky ablaze.

At Rockefeller Center, Travis Marshall is on the air informing the public that the mysterious broadcast has ceased but notes that no one, including him, remembers. The Diamond Exchange Saleswoman emerges from the crowd saying she saw it all, that everyone was turned to stone like a bunch of statues. When Travis asks her why she didn't turn to stone, she retorts that she neve watches television. Travis dismisses her as "the most fragile among us" before throwing back to the studio for "an expert report on mass hypnosis.

The Hunter watches the broadcast and exclaims that he pursued Demona for centuries and she managed to slip from his grasp again.

Scotland, 1040. Young Luach and Prince Canmore run and play among the hills as their fathers, Macbeth and King Duncan look on. Duncan calls to his son to not fall, but Macbeth promises Duncan his son's safety. Duncan expresses surprise that the two children are getting along. As they walk along the cliffs, Duncan loses his footing and falls, hanging for dear life. Macbeth quickly pulls him to safety much to Duncan's surprise, at which point the king declares that this disspells all doubts of his loyalty to him and the crown.

At that point, they discover a cave of sleeping gargoyles. Duncan approaches one with a boulder with intent to smash it, but when Macbeth recognizes her as Angel, the gargoyle who helped him twice he requests that Duncan spare her and the rest of them, saying he has a history of fighting side by side with her. Owing Macbeth his life, Duncan reluctantly agrees. He exits the cave and calls for Canmore to join him, hey are leaving.

As they head back to Castle Moray, they get caught in a fog before coming upon three witches. Seline address Duncan as "King of Scotland and father of the king hereafter" when they address Macbeth with the same words, Duncan accuses them of treason. Macbeth insists that Duncan is the proper king and that Prince Canmore will rule after. Luna insists that Duncan is king now, but each of them will in turn be king and would he lecture her on fate? The Weird Sisters vanish into the fog, and Macbeth quickly advises Duncan to not take their ravings seriously. Duncan agrees with Macbeth to his face, that it's utter nonsense of no consequence. But already, in his paranoia, he's plotting to destroy the threat to his crown.

Act Two

As the sun is about to set, Duncan approaches the cave with Macduff and two guards determined to destroy the gargoyles within before Macbeth can use their aid in the coming battle. Macduff suggests waiting until dawn, but Duncan insists they might not be lucky enough to find them there in the morning. He dons the mask of the Hunter and smashes several of the gargoyles.

The sun sets and an elderly, gray-haired Angel bursts from her stone skin and catches Duncan's mace mid swing, throwing him against the wall knocking him out. She declares that this cave will be their tomb before she is knocked to the ground and nearly stabbed by one of the guards. Second pulls the guard from her, and the gargoyles quickly take to the air and escape.

Angel declares that they must find another lair. She openly ponders that she's tired of this fugitive life but that there's no one else to lead the last of their kind (Second doesn't respond well to this statement). She longs for the strength of her youth to give the humans cause to run. She then decides to seek out the Weird Sisters.

At Castle Moray, as Macbeth tends to the fireplace, Bodhe informs Macbeth that Duncan's armies move against him. Macbeth is shocked, especially after saving his life, but is ready to fight. Bodhe than advises Macbeth to "be reasonable", that his retainers are loyal but no match for Duncan's forces. Bodhe then advises Macbeth to surrender so that he may spare Gruoch and Luach... and it works. Macbeth tells Gruoch to always remember that he loves her, for Luach to always mind his mother. When Gruoch asks what's going on, Macbeth simply says that he's going to see his cousin and that the journey will be brief. Macbeth exits the castle on horseback. Gruoch watches from the window, clearly having her doubts.

Macbeth stops at the cave only to find it abandoned. Mostly. He spots Angel lurking in the fog and calls to her as the answer to his dilemma. She is uninterested and reminds her that he helped her defeat the Hunter and that he needs her help again. She refuses, she has her own problems and the Hunter still seeks her death. Macbeth begs her to help him defend his clan, but she demands to know what's in it for her clan. Macbeth proposes the old bargain, help him now and he'll keep them forever safe. Angel scoffs at this, that he sings an old song, how can she know he'll his word.

The Weird Sisters then choose this moment to appear, to Macbeth's eyes in the form of three old witches and, from Angel's point of view, three elderly gargoyles. Phoebe suggest an act of good faith and Seline asks Angel what she desires; Angel demands her youth so she may continue to lead her clan. Phoebe asks Macbeth what he's willing to trade and his response is a desperate "anything". Luna declares the bones are cast, and then the three Weird Sisters join hands in a ring around Macbeth and Angel and begin to chant. They cast a spell which transfers Macbeth's youth to the gargoyle and he ages in seconds. Angel is overjoyed at her newfound youth.

Luna tells them the pact is made and to make haste because the storm is coming. But Seline leaves Macbeth with a parting gift, and informs him that Gillecomgain served Duncan and that it was Duncan who ordered Findlaech's murder. Macbeth is now more determined then ever to throw down Duncan.

Macbeth gathers his forces and, with Bodhe, draws up battle plans. Gruoch expresses concern of the bargain that Macbeth has made, at which point Angel arrives with her clan. Gruoch tells Macbeth to fight bravely and Angel watches the two lovers longing for her own lost love.

The Battle of Bothgoanan takes place, both forces are evenly matched, but Angel arrives with her clan and route Duncan's forces. Duncan watches in shock, but when Angel takes down several of Duncan's troops in a mere moment, Macbeth calls out that she fights like a demon.

As Macbeth passes under a cliff, he is ambushed by Macduff and Findlaech. Angel intervenes but Macbeth tells her to stand back and duels his cousin to the death. Macduff tries to intervene but is taken out by Angel. As Duncan has the upper hand, Macbeth pulls Seline's gift from his pouch and tosses it in the air. Duncan's sword connects with it causing the magic to blow his head up from the inside. His flaming carcass falls from the cliff.

Angel discovers the mask of the Hunter inside Duncan's helmet and takes it as a trophy. Macbeth believes the battle is over now, for both of them. Bodhe emerges declaring that the night is won! The troops cheer victorious

Act Three

First Appearances

Quotes

  • "What was the exact translation of Demona's spell?"
"'All who see this, all who hear this; turn to stone throughout the night. Until the skies burn.'"
"Then we'll just have to set the sky ablaze." - Xanatos and Owen
  • "Double Double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble." - Phoebe
  • "You would lecture us on fate?" - Luna
  • "You! You are the answer!"
"I am uninterested in a question." - Macbeth and Demona
  • "By their acceptance are they consigned, unto each other's fate resigned. Forever and eternal bound, and each the other's pain resound!" - Weird Sisters
  • "You fight like a demon!" - Macbeth
  • "The Hunter's mask."
"Aye. So the battle is truly over; for both of us." - Demona and Macbeth
  • "If my father is dead, then I am King, and you should bow to me!"
"He will be trouble. Slay him now." - Canmore and Bodhe
  • "Let this mark the beginning of a golden age! Between all our clans; both human and gargoyle!" - Macbeth
  • "Humans will learn to respect you."
"I would rather they feared me."
"They'll do that too--Demona."
"'Demona'...I like the sound of that." - Macbeth and Demona
  • "That's one way to settle an argument." - Xanatos

Continuity

Travis Marshall makes another guest appearance, delivering a news report on the mysterious events of the previous night.

The woman that didn't turn to stone and tries to tell Travis Marshall this looks very similar to the woman who worked at the Diamond Exchange in "Her Brother's Keeper". Greg Weisman has stated, "I don't think it was the same woman from the Diamond Exchange. The voice here was Rachel Ticotin's." [1]

The man pleading with the Weird Sisters (in their policewoman disguise) to explain to him about his "lost night" looks very much like Billy and Susan's father from "The Thrill of the Hunt".

"City of Stone" Part Three provides the only scene in Gargoyles where one of the Weird Sisters acts separately from the other two, when Seline gives Macbeth the glowing ball that will bring about Duncan's doom, while informing him that Duncan had employed Gillecomgain to murder Findlaech. (Since Seline represents the Weird Sisters' vengeance aspect, it is appropriate that she should be the one to take on this role.)

Macbeth is crowned upon the Stone of Destiny (also known as the Stone of Scone), according to ancient Scottish custom. The Stone is mentioned again in "Avalon" Part One, but does not reappear until "Pendragon". The coronation itself would be shown again in flashback in both "The Rock" and "Rock & Roll", though on both occasions, depicted as outdoors rather than indoors, to better fit real Scottish coronation ceremonies. Greg Weisman later considered that, in the series, Macbeth may have done the coronation a second time "for show". [2]

Xanatos's remark that "mixing magics is dangerous" is another hint about Owen's true identity (the "mixing magics" part deriving from the fact that Puck's magic comes from his being one of the Third Race, while Demona's spell came from a source of human magic, the Grimorum).

In this episode we finally learn the circumstances in which Macbeth gave Demona her name, previously mentioned in "Enter Macbeth".

The revelation that Demona's magic spell has a "termination clause" harks back to "Awakening: Part Two", in which the stone sleep spell has a similar clause.

Tidbits

Duncan's red-haired second-in-command is left nameless in the dialogue, but called "Macduff" in the ending credits - a reference to the "Macduff, Thane of Fife" in Shakespeare's play who slays Macbeth.

Macbeth and Gruoch's son Luach is introduced in this episode. In actual history his name was Lulach (the second "l" was somehow lost during the creation of "City of Stone"), and he was really Macbeth's stepson, the product of Gruoch's first marriage to Gillecomgain. Greg Weisman has mentioned seeing Luach's actual parentage in the Gargoyles Universe as uncertain; his father might have been Macbeth, or might have been Gillecomgain, but nobody knows for certain.

The Weird Sisters have their most Shakespearean moment in this episode, when they recite the "Double, double, toil and trouble/ Fire burn and cauldron bubble" lines from Macbeth (Act Four, Scene One) and greet both Duncan and Macbeth with the words "All hail [Duncan/Macbeth], King of Scotland and father of the king hereafter!", echoing their words to Macbeth in Act One, Scene Three: "All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!"

Macbeth anachronistically calls the Weird Sisters "three old bedlams"; the word "bedlam", associated with madness, derives from the mental hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem - which did not become a mental hospital, however, until 1547, a little over five hundred years after Macbeth's victory over Duncan. Since all of the "City of Stone" flashbacks took place in a Gaelic-speaking period of Scottish history, this might be counted as an anachronistic translation rather than a true anachronism. Michael Reaves thought the word should have been "beldam", which means "hag" or "old woman", and he and Greg Weisman briefly debate the semantics on the commentary of this episode on the DVD.

Duncan's fiery death was designed to provide some variety from the "falling off a great height" deaths that had already befallen Hakon, the Captain of the Guard, Findlaech, and Gillecomgain, while still being acceptable to Standards and Practices (in the way that Macbeth running Duncan through with a sword would not). Ironically, in his death-throes, Duncan falls off the ledge upon which he and Macbeth were standing; apparently some habits are hard to break. [3]

DVD Release

Links

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