#enter macbeth

[thoughtfulfangirling]

Oh this is delicious. Why should Macbeth believe Goliath here? We don't know Macbeth's story yet, so we could just think here that he doesn't know Demona that well! But the truth is that there is perhaps few who could ever know Demona so well as Macbeth.

If these gargoyles had been just any gargoyles, ones Demona didn't know that he'd gotten his hands on, I do think she would in fact come for them. She doesn't want to be alone; she does want a clan of her own. And after such treatment at the hands of a human? How ready might they be to follow her path and not a path like Goliath's?

But the anguish on Goliath's face? I'm going with that's what convinces him. Anyone might make a lie, saying what Goliath does, to spite their captor, undermine them. He could assume it's a lie. But again, he does actually know Demona, and I think maybe he recognizes a bit of what is going on with Goliath here. In the face of that agony and the reality that these gargoyles also do know Demona not just as a leader or another gargoyle, but personally, he believes it. But also... it's a kids show and there's only so much time left in the episode. Much easier if he believes it for that reason. But still, going to attribute everything I can get away with to in-universe reasons, and I think it's a fair reading.

[castlewyvern]

[thoughtfulfangirling]

God I love this. Goliath is more than a foot taller than Elisa and more than twice her width, and here he is up in her face in a frenzy of fury. It is remarkably intimidating. But she is not intimidated. He draws in on her as she says "read my lips" almost to say 'don't you dare,' but she does dare, and she says it anyway. (He immediately turns away from her after this too lmaoo)

If there is anyone Goliath needs, it's someone who can stare his raw, dramatic emotions in the face and accept them as is. And then not cater to his bullshit. And that is exactly what Elisa is doing here. They may not know Macbeth was an invited guest per se, but they know he didn't just stumble upon their location. Any secrets their enemies have are not safe secrets.

Damn though he's just so stubborn. "This is all we have left" as though they don't have each other left and maybe it's worth keeping them safe?

BUT, part of the reason his emotion is just so big here is because he knows she's right. I think in a way he was able to convince himself of otherwise. I don't remember what more is needed for him to accept it, but this has really driven home I think finally for him that they do need to leave, and he needs to rage against it before he can accept it. And because Elisa can withstand that rage, she gets its direction here, and honestly I just love that. She's trying so hard XD

[thoughtfulfangirling]

They have to give up the spacious card playing room, well stocked kitchen, cozy TV room, and library for their safety. All the nice things we saw them doing in their down time at the beginning of the episode is longer easily available to them, and I really like this small nod to the fact that leaving the castle was harder than simply leaving a place. It was their comforts and routine and the familiar, and those are no small losses, something I think Goliath definitely understood. But there is good reason to believe that they won't have tampered with electronics they don't understand influencing them brazenly nor unknown enemies greeting them with violence upon waking, and they can assume they will live through the day to see another night, and as hard as the practicalities of that reality may be, it's all worth it. I like that things don't have to simply be all one way in this show. It can be both a duller and less inviting place to live and a better place to thrive and grow.

[thoughtfulfangirling]

I adore Broadway shoving himself between Elisa and Goliath. And he does have to shove himself! And he does in Goliath's direction! He doesn't move Elisa at all. He pushes his leader back! BROADWAY! Who has never once stepped into danger without provocation from his clan or threat of harm, who likes to stay out of conflicts, who has no inclination to take the lead in things.

lkjdflkjsdfokjioe

I am of course going to attribute a lot of this act for his feelings of loyalty and affection toward Elisa after what happened in the events of the last episode. I am team Broadway+Elisa friendship all the way!!

But also, perhaps of all of the gargoyles, I think Broadway values safety and security more than any of the others, and living at Castle Wyvern in New York has been utter chaos for him. Even before waking up there in New York, he'd woken up to vikings having infiltrated the castle and starting the night with battle followed by waking up to most of his clan destroyed during the day.

Broadway is done being stupidly, brashly brave for the sake of holding onto something from their old lives when those he care about don't need to stay there to be in his life. It is time to move on.

I am absolutely going to have to pay attention if any of the gargoyles go harder than Broadway here in defying Goliath (before Angela at least) because you don't see it much, and you would think Broadway would be the last of them to do. And YET!!

AND I LOVE THAT SO SO SO MUCH!!!

[thoughtfulfangirling]

Does Owen not employ cleaners 'round the clock, or is this a moment of self flaggelation at failing to keep the Grimorum in Xanatos's possession? Honestly it's probably just that cleaning up this small mess himself is the most practical means of cleaning this spot. But I also can't help but think it's just a little bit the later too. He prides himself on efficiently and effectively carrying out Xanatos's will, and that was a pretty humiliating fail. Wallow in it Owen XD It's kinda a great look XDXDDXD

[thoughtfulfangirling]

So of course Owen is overpowered and they take what they want and leave. BUT I love love love how quietly, without any fanfare, there's this moment between Hudson going to the Grimorum and Owen getting up where Broadway has retrieved the crutch Elisa threw, and we get to see him hand it back to her. No attention is drawn to this moment other than simply that it happens on screen like two. It's probably not much more than these frames tbh too. But it's just such a good little moment. Broadway takes care of his friends.

Hudson seems a Little miffed in the kiiinda vindictive way he looks down at Owen and says they'll be going, but also he mostly is like 'whatever' about being taken down by a human. His clan worked together to their goal and that's that. It's beneath them to seek and further vengeance for that little humiliation.

Owen I think is a bit more miffed. lol. But I love the way he composes himself back up by putting his glasses on. No one can say he didn't try to do his duty!

[thoughtfulfangirling]

Xanatos is about to be released, so finally Owen broaches the topic of the gargoyles. It's interesting that they have waited this long, and to me, speaks to the fact that Xanatos doesn't like the idea of killing in cold blood and that Owen knows this.

Owen, interestingly, is the only one who does not seem to have any issues with this. There are, of course, many villains in this series, and it is very interesting to me which ones would kill our heroes while vulnerable during the day and which ones would not.

Xanatos appears to consider it when he said he can't have them under foot, but I really don't think he has it in him to do it. I don't know if I think it's out of any particular nobility in the way we'll learn Macbeth has. For all he comes into this room saying he'll take care of the 'pests' which are obviously the gargoyles, he is less likely even than Xanatos I think to kill them in their stone states.

In that room, only Owen, if left to his own devices, would go to the measure without extreme duress. It's the practical solution, and he is nothing if not practical.

Honestly, I think Xanatos's reason has more to do with this idea that if he cannot best them himself in some way, then they deserve to keep fighting. I don't know if that's an honor thing or a weird dedication to some sort of fate. He is a mystical man in ways Owen Burnett specifically is not. He's sought out magic and the impossible against all rationalization, and his persistence and determination got him answers a normal person could never dream of. If the gargoyles, despite being alone and the last and outsiders and the outcast, persist on surviving and best all his attempts to get them to succumb, then who is he to intervene. For all he has reached a point where he is lord over his own life and come to wield power once not remotely imaginable for someone like him, that seems a power he does not wish to cross. Likely because it was that power that let him get where he is now.

It's just all very interesting. And yes we do, just after this, learn that this is Macbeth.