City of Stone Part Two
"City of Stone" Part Two is the twenty-third televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the tenth episode of Season 2. It originally aired on September 19, 1995.
- Story Editor: Michael Reaves
- Story: Michael Reaves
- Teleplay: Brynne Chandler Reaves & Lydia Marano
Contents
Summary
Continuity
Jeffrey Robbins reappears (as someone whom the gargoyles can get information from, thanks to his blindness), as does his dog Gilly. He next appears in "Masque".
Brooklyn still displays some of his vengeful attitude towards Demona from "Temptation".
In the flashback scenes, Duncan is shown taking the mask of the Hunter after Gillecomgain's death. Duncan would also become the ancestor of all subsequent Hunters.
This episode marks the end of Demona's alliance with David Xanatos, which had been formed even before Xanatos' first appearance in "Awakening Part Two". Xanatos and Goliath then form their own alliance in order to foil Demona (they had previously worked together in "Eye of the Beholder", just as briefly).
Tidbits
In one of the most notorious errors of the series, Demona includes among her victims during her "smashing spree" two stone humans who bear an uncanny resemblance to Brendan and Margot - even though the yuppie couple will appear in many more episodes after "City of Stone". This might count as the one occasion where the reuse of familiar characters for incidental scenes turned out to be a bad idea; Greg Weisman has been grilled over this incident several times by fans since then. (His "defense" is that Demona had most likely shattered two humans who looked similar to Brendan and Margot.)
Gruoch is briefly referred to by Bodhe during her wedding to Macbeth as "Lady Macbeth", the only time that she bears that name during Gargoyles. Certainly she is a far cry from the Lady Macbeth of William Shakespeare (a role which Demona would be better-suited for - and does indeed fill, in a sense, in "Sanctuary").
Canmore, Duncan's son (introduced here as a baby), was named Malcolm in actual history (and in Shakespeare's play); "Canmore" was only a nickname, being Gaelic for "big-head". The script deliberately called him Canmore throughout in order to distinguish him from Prince Malcolm.
In actual history, Bodhe and Gruoch were descended from Kenneth III (997-1005), whom Duncan's grandfather, Malcolm II (1005-1034), the "Maol Chalvim" of Avalon Part One betrayed and overthrew. (This is confirmed in the Gargoyles Universe in "The Gate".) Since they would thereby have had a better technical claim to the Scottish throne than Duncan (or Macbeth) did, this offers a possible reason as to why Duncan opposed Macbeth and Gruoch's marriage - and an additional reason for his eagerness to get rid of Gillecomgain after his marriage to Gruoch, once Gillecomgain developed too defiant an attitude towards Duncan.
Hudson reveals that in order for you to be affected by magic, you must both see and hear the spellcaster - which is why Jeffrey Robbins was not impacted by Demona's spell. (Presumably, any deaf people in Manhattan as well as blind people were thereby spared, although no examples of the former were shown in the episode.) Since both Puck and Oberon were able to enchant the entire population of Manhattan without being seen and heard by them (in "The Mirror" and "The Gathering Part One" respectively), evidently this rule only applies to mortal magic.
Links
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