Todd Jensen writes...

My little "return-ramble" to your "Awakening Part Five" ramble.

One part of this that I especially like is Xanatos's response when Goliath's holding him over the edge of the castle, correctly pointing out that "without me, you'd still be gathering moss". It's refreshing to see a major villain in an animated series who doesn't start whining for mercy in such a situation but maintains his sang-froid. That's one reason I find myself having that sneaking fondness for Xanatos: he defies so many of the cartoon master-villain cliches. (Other examples of that are his complete lack of interest in getting revenge and his having the highly efficient and capable Owen for his chief assistant in contrast to the conventional "bungling sidekicks" that most cartoon villains seem to be saddled with).

Your remarks on the little ironies in Goliath and Demona's conversation surprised me: I hadn't even considered the fact that Goliath's remark that the people responsible for the Wyvern massacre was deliberately intended by the writers to be wrong because of Demona's part in it, but it makes sense to me at once. I've got to admit, I think that Goliath must have afterwards had a very hard time believing that he'd actually argued that Xanatos was proof that there are good humans out there :)

One certainly can't help but feel a little sorry (or maybe even more than a little sorry) for Goliath; first he thinks that his "Angel in the Night" is lost to him forever. Then he gets reunited with her, only to discover that she's become lost to him in a much darker sense, turned into a vengeance-driven would-be genocidist. At least he has the rest of the clan and Elisa; that must be some consolation there.

I must confess that I never made the connection between Goliath's "Giants?" line at the end and Oberon's gigantic form. (There do seem to be giants apart from that in the Gargoyles Universe, since I remember spotting a couple in Oberon's throne room in "The Gathering Part One"). I did see that line, though, as another good little example of how Goliath is still seeing the modern world through his 10th century eyes. (One of my favorites, which I forgot in my earlier "Awakening" responses, was that bit where Xanatos has to describe the "stolen" disks in terms of "magical talismans filled with hundreds of spells". I thought that the production team did an excellent job of showing the gargoyles' response to the modern world).