Valid XHTML 1.0!
Valid CSS!
Episode List

Previous Episode |  Episode List |  Next Episode

Sanctuary

Synopsis |  Review by Juan F. Lara |  Review by Todd Jensen


Overview


Synopsis

by Adam Cerling

Act I

One afternoon, Macbeth and Demona, in human form [cf. The Mirror], stroll through city streets and exchange sweet nothings. They are in Paris and in love.

Elisa, Goliath, Angela, and Bronx arrive from Avalon [cf. Avalon, Part III] in the small boat, the latter three turned to stone for the day. Elisa is wry about being unable to share Paris with Goliath. Mooring the boat beneath a bridge, she leaves to go sightseeing. Remembering suddenly that she needs to call her parents, Elisa stops at a pay phone. Before she can place the call, Macbeth and Demona walk by, oblivious to her. Surprised and suspicious, Elisa follows them. When they part with a kiss, Elisa manages to tail Demona as far as Notre Dame.

That night, Elisa returns to the other Gargoyles to share the news. Goliath explains to Angela how Demona can be human during the day, but her truce with Macbeth defies explanation. Elisa then shows Goliath a newspaper with a photo of "the Monster of Notre Dame"--a gargoyle silhouette against the moon above the cathedral.

En route to Notre Dame via boat, Angela addresses Goliath as "father." He chides her, saying she must regard the whole clan as her parents. To keep Angela away from Demona, Goliath persuades her to stay by the boat and protect Elisa, who plays along reluctantly.

Goliath and Bronx ascend the cathedral. Goliath surprises Demona--she was expecting someone else. Demona attacks him. Angela sees this from below and rushes to help. Goliath and Bronx knock Demona onto the roof, but Thailog [cf. Double Jeopardy] is there to save her.

Act II

Demona is not the Notre Dame Monster--Thailog is. He and Demona are in love. Goliath tries to warn Thailog about Demona, that she and Macbeth plot something, but Thailog ignores him. Demona attributes Goliath's objections to jealousy. Sunrise slowly approaches, so Goliath leaves with Bronx. Angela leaves as well--she eavesdropped upon the entire conversation.

In the cathedral, Demona reports the day's events to Thailog. The two have pooled their funds, and they are now business partners under assumed names. Macbeth thinks Demona is actually a lady named Dominique--and they plan something big for the approaching day.

In the boat, Elisa and Goliath continue to ponder the dealings amongst Macbeth, Demona, and Thailog. Angela interrupts to ask why Goliath never told her he and Demona were once in love. Goliath is angry; he says the past doesn't matter anymore. This angers Angela in turn, but sunrise prevents an argument.

That afternoon, Elisa deduces that Macbeth has lost all memory of Demona's ability to become human during the day, thanks to the Weird Sisters' compulsion spell. Thailog and Demona are plotting behind Macbeth's back.

Inside Macbeth's Paris home, Macbeth and "Dominique" marry.

That evening, Macbeth feels obligated to reveal his past to Dominique--but before he can begin, his new wife begins the painful transformation back into Demona. Macbeth feels the pain [cf. City of Stone], and is horrified when he sees his true love become his archenemy.

Thailog awakens upon Notre Dame and swoops away to join Demona; Elisa leads Goliath, Angela and Bronx to the same place.

Act III

Demona greets Thailog when he arrives, and leads him to Macbeth's dungeon, where Macbeth is now caged. Stepping close to gloat at the prisoner, Thailog secretly slips Macbeth a laser gun. Demona explains her intentions to inherit Macbeth's fortunes and keep him locked away forever. Upon hearing this, Macbeth uses the gun to blow open a wall and escape. Thailog and Demona set off in pursuit. They split up, and Thailog abandons the battle to Demona. Macbeth engages her in the grand hall.

Thailog escapes through a skylight. He is not surprised at the arrival of Goliath, Angela, Bronx and Elisa, and he tells them about Demona and Macbeth's little spat below. If Macbeth and Demona both die, Thailog will inherit all their wealth, as the business partner of Macbeth's bride. As Goliath, Angela, and Bronx fight to stop Thailog, Elisa drops through the skylight to stop Macbeth and Demona.

Below, Elisa tries in vain to reason with Macbeth and Demona, but they are caught up in the spirit of battle. After minutes of fierce fighting Demona has Macbeth at her mercy. Macbeth invites her to kill him, thus ending both their lives. Then both are knocked cold as Elisa fills Demona full of blazing electricity from one of Macbeth's weapons.

On the roof, Goliath, Angela and Bronx have Thailog under control. When they hear no sounds of battle below, Thailog interprets it as a sign that both are dead. He escapes.

The three join Elisa below, where Macbeth is just regaining consciousness. Elisa saved his life, but he has only despair; he will forever face life alone. Goliath points out that, despite having been betrayed by Demona, Macbeth has still learned that he can love another. Awakening, Demona is shocked and confused by the unfamiliar presence of Angela. Before Demona can think about it, however, Thailog reappears and swiftly sweet-talks her back into his arms. They fly off into the night.

Returning to Avalon, Angela extracts confirmation of her parentage from Elisa and Goliath: Demona is her mother.


Review

by Juan F. Lara

In the best episode since "Shadows of the Past", Goliath and Co. travel to Paris to try to thwart the Feature animators from propagating a demeaning image of gargoyles....

...No, no, not really. :-) But this episode WAS more compelling than the three episodes before it.

Good Points

This was an episode about character interaction, with each person (except maybe Bronx :-) getting considerable time for development.:

Goliath experienced the culture clash with Angela that I thought he might have over how Angela regards her father. But the clash went more personal for him because of how Demona had hurt him and so many others. His concerns actually made him hurt Angela, by obliging her to "protect" Elisa in Act 1, and refusing to acknowledge that Demona is her mother. I was fascinated by seeing the starring "good guy" show these personality flaws.

Angela got her best characterization so far. She went through losses of innocence in finding out the truth about Demona, and seeing how Thailog treated her. I felt very bad for her in Act 3, as she sadly looked at the unconscious Demona. I could see future eps dealing with the tension Goliath feels over how Angela reminds him of his love and hate of Demona.

This episode had some particularly blatent allusions to a romance between Goliath and Elisa: Elisa felt wistful that she couldn't spend the day in Paris with Goliath, and Goliath looked to her when he adviced MacBeth to look for a true love. But Elisa also had to deal with Goliath's cruelty to Angela, going along with letting Angela "protect" her but showing that she knew what a sham that was. She also got to use her head, in figuring out Demona's plan among other things.

Demona was in top form. I loved how she mocked Goliath in Act 2 over how they used to be in love. She was irrational as always in trying to kill MacBeth. But then she had that all too brief reaction to first seeing Angela. I'm really looking forward to the episode where Demona and Angela get to spend a large amount of time together.

Thailog took after Xanatos more than any of his other "fathers" here, making snide remarks all the time. But he was more emotional, and blatently took pleasure whenever he hurt/mocked his enemies. I found him very entertaining and well characterized. The ep hinted at a possible "Xanatos vs. Thailog" clash in the future. Also, cool outfit. :-) Thailog's robot-like armor made him look very distinctive from Goliath. Likewise, the ponytail. :-)

MacBeth needed some work, though. Except for "City of Stone", MacBeth has been a one-note character, only concerned about killing Demona. So I found his romantic scenes with Dominique refreshing. But they should've been longer, to better characterize MacBeth's feelings for Dominique. I did like the last scene between MacBeth and Goliath, though. Nice to see MacBeth as not the good guys' enemy.

Bad Points

Thank you very much for Demona and Thailog's lengthy explanation of their plan in Act 2. :-) Actually, I thought the plotting overall was pretty clumsy. The script had too many other exposition scenes to make plot points. Also, Thailog returned at the end to whisk Demona away, and I found his sudden reappearance very jarring.

Animation by Hahn Shin. Their work reminded me of Wang's work for "Enter MacBeth". Overall, I didn't think they were terrible. But he had a lot of difficulty in following through a character's movement. And at times the characters went very off-model. Angela in particular had an inflating forehead ( eww. :-) Also, Demona's headpiece magically appeared when she transformed to gargoyle, and the "Monster of Notre Dame" had a deceptive coloring error at the beginning.

Miscellaneous

So how do Demona and MacBeth think they got to Paris if they don't remember Avalon? I guess MacBeth established a residence in France long ago.

Thank goodness that the boat is strong enough to support three heavy statues. But what does Elisa do to keep them from keeling over the side? :-)

DYNs: The yuppie wife had a cameo, and Elisa used the expression "jalapena".

Quotes

Elisa: Still plenty of time to see the Eifel Tower before dark.
[Glad to hear that Elisa is enjoying herself during the tour. :-) ]

Goliath: You mean the two of you...?
Demona: It was love at first flight. [Groan. :-) ]

Goliath: Where's Demona?! Where's MacBeth?!
Thailog: The newlyweds seem to be having a difference of opinion. I thought it best not to take sides.

Thailog: Teamwork is SO overrated.

Elisa: The most romantic city in the world, and Goliath isn't even awake to enjoy it with me.

"Sanctuary" had its flaws, but I still found it very moving and romantic. They should show this episode on Valentine's Day.

And I would've laughed if Elisa did run into some feature people in tracking Demona down to Notre Dame. :-)


Commentary/Review

by Todd Jensen

"Sanctuary" is one of the three "holiday episodes" of "Gargoyles" for me; this one I associate with Valentine's Day. It's not explicitly set then, but it does have a strong focus on love; the title itself comes from the speech made by the man officiating at Demona and Macbeth's wedding about love being a sanctuary (though it also fits with the presence of Notre Dame Cathedral in the story - particularly thanks to Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame). And we see plenty of romance in the story - though all with a tragic quality to it. Macbeth falls in love with "Dominique Destine", only to discover that she's really Demona in disguise and that it was all a trap that she had set up for him. Demona falls in love with Thailog, but it turns out that Thailog is plotting to betray her. Goliath and Demona's past love is mentioned - we all know how that one turned out. And while Goliath and Elisa's feelings towards each other are referred to in a couple of moving moments, the characters still are not acting on them; Elisa comments at the beginning that it's a pity that Goliath isn't awake to enjoy the romantic atmosphere of Paris with her, but she says so only when he's safely in stone sleep. There is a certain somberness in the story, lasting all the way down to the end, as Angela broods over the discovery that Demona is her mother.

As in "City of Stone", "Sanctuary" focuses on Macbeth as a tragic figure rather than as an antagonist, a lonely survivor from the Middle Ages condemned to an immortality that he never wished for, alone. His falling in love with "Dominique Destine" and horror at discovering her true nature are well-handled (my favorite moment is when he is about to explain to "Dominique" about his own identity, speaking in a hesitant fashion - and small wonder that he should be so concerned, seeing that he not only has to tell her that he's over nine hundred years old, preserved by faerie magic, but also that a certain play by William Shakespeare that is the sole source of information on Macbeth that most of us have wasn't historically accurate!). Once again, his suicidal longings make him ready to face Demona, convinced that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain if they slay each other. And it is pleasant to see, at the end, Goliath explaining to a still melancholy Macbeth that at least he now knows that he can still love, advising him to find the right "special someone" out there. Things have now reached the point where Macbeth can interact with the gargoyles on amicable terms.

Thailog, in the meantime, has developed all the more into a force to be reckoned with. In a particularly fine touch, he now wears a suit of high-tech armor, making him stand out visually all the more from Goliath. He also displays his cunning in subtly meddling with the plan that he and Demona have concocted to get their hands on Macbeth's wealth by arranging it so that Macbeth and Demona will kill each other, allowing him to help himself to their assets. (My favorite moment comes when Thailog, after slipping Macbeth the blaster that he uses to escape from his cell, shouts at Demona, "Didn't you search him?" Very cunning, indeed.) He's still clearly enjoying being a villain, expressing much delight in his schemes - and to top it off, leers a little at Angela when he first spots her (a very unsettling scene, though, to be perfectly fair to Thailog, he doesn't know that she's Goliath's daughter). His scheme goes awry at the end, of course, but he does not seem too concerned as he glides off with Demona. (Another nice touch is his calling her "Night angel", a breezier version of Goliath's "Angel of the night".)

In a follow-up to "Monsters", Angela is now aware that Goliath is her biological father, which disturbs him, ostensibly because it goes against gargoyle custom. However, it oughtn't to make that much difference (Goliath is the only clan-parent present, after all), except for the fact that Demona is her biological mother, and Goliath doesn't want Angela becoming aware of that, concerned about how Demona might take advantage of it. In spite of this, his plans fail; Angela, by the end, is aware that Goliath and Demona were once mates, and that Demona is indeed her mother, which she regards in a very troubled way. Goliath does not help matters in his well-intentioned silence, leaving Elisa to sadly confirm Angela's realization.

Elisa shows her detective skills again, as she realizes, after remembering how the Weird Sisters stripped Demona and Macbeth of their memory of the events in "High Noon" and "Avalon", that Macbeth can't know that Demona turns into a human in the daytime, meaning therefore that it's Demona and Thailog plotting behind Macbeth's back rather than the other way around. (The scene is weakened, unfortunately, by her cry at the end of "This is a job for the gargoyles", probably one of the most jarring moments in the series.) Likewise, she displays her resourcefulness in providing a "temporary death" for Demona to stop her from killing Macbeth (and thereby herself) for good.

"Sanctuary" is one of the most enjoyable (if sad) adventures on the World Tour, with a good look at three of the gargoyles' most well-realized opponents, and further development for Goliath and Angela, not to mention a couple of understated references to Goliath and Elisa's feelings for each other. The moment when Goliath glances at Elisa briefly while telling Macbeth to "search for that special someone" should definitely delight all those who are fond of that thread. (Demona, though, really ought to work better on that French accent of hers.)

Tidbits

Banquo and Fleance attend Macbeth and Demona's wedding (though without speaking roles). Margot briefly walks past Elisa while the latter is sight-seeing, though with no trace of Brendan about. (Is Margot still on a European vacation, or is it just another lookalike character, such as the one in "City of Stone Part Two"?)

Thailog's alias for interacting with the human world (mentioned only in this episode) is "Alexander Thailog", a name of particular interest since Xanatos's biological son will also bear the name of Alexander (and remember that Thailog views Xanatos as one of his "fathers"). The fact that Thailog comes up with this name independently gives this scene a particularly eerie tone - though it can easily be explained as a result of his sharing Xanatos's ambitions and means of achieving them. (The name itself is borrowed from Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian conqueror - an obvious source of inspiration to both Xanatos and Thailog in terms of his remarkable achievements.)


Previous Episode |  Episode List |  Next Episode