Happy St Patty’s day! There’s no Ireland in this episode, but Macbeth is wearing green!
The Weird Sisters cast their spell on Demona and Macbeth. Now their fates are sealed. Allied, Demona and Macbeth clash with King Duncan in battle. In the present, Xanatos prepares to set the sky ablaze with the help of the gargoyles. While they’re away, though, an unexpected visitor sneaks into the Eyrie Building’s great hall. This trespasser could cost everyone their lives and doom the city to its stone sleep.
Confused? Read the City of Stone part 3 Episode Review.
Toil and Trouble
The Weird Sisters say Demona and Macbeth’s bargain requires a pledge of good faith. What bargain? There’s no bargain yet.
They ask what Demona wants. She wants youth. Macbeth? He’ll trade anything for his family. Apparently that’s enough informed consent for magic, because the three begin their spell:
“Across the mists of space and time
we pose this covenant sublime:
Macbeth his youth doth offer here,
to make this one a force to fear,
While she with fang and claw and wing
doth swear sweet death his foes to bring.
By their acceptance are they consigned
unto each other’s fate designed,
forever and eternal bound,
and each the other’s pain resound.”
Wait a minute! Nobody said anything about living forever or giving up youth or sharing pain! This was a bait and switch.
20/20 moment: Demona and Macbeth were desperate, but had they known what it would lead to, I wonder if they would’ve chosen it? Probably not. Well, Demona would have. Macbeth lost pretty much everything anyway, and gave Demona immortality. I’m sure he’s spent many a century kicking himself. Or perhaps not. He’s pretty pragmatic.
Now Demona is the age we see her now, and Macbeth is in his 60s as we know him now. That’s pretty novel!
Side note: You’ll see the Weird Sisters work magic in a tongue understandable to the people they’re living among. They don’t need Latin. Also, fae spells rhyme, if we take theirs and Puck’s as precedence.
As the three leave, Seline (black hair, representative of vengeance) turns and gives Macbeth a black orb, then tells him that Duncan ordered Gillecomgain to kill Findlaech, Mac’s dad. Talk about adding insult to injury! Not only does Duncan fight him now, he’s screwed Macbeth’s life up for decades! There’s no surrender now.
We cut to the command tent where Macbeth is making final arrangements for battle. Gruoch remarks that she hopes his bargain is worth it.
According to Greg: He told the animators a hundred times to have Gruoch stroke Macbeth’s gray hair as she says this. It never made it into the end product.
Demona enters. Gruoch and Mac embrace, perhaps for the last time. Demona’s expression is mixed: sadness, anger, loss…
Battle is joined! Moray is losing until the gargoyles help.
Duncan and Macbeth end up facing off. One of Duncan’s men tries to barge in, but Demona carries him off.
The fight rages, but Duncan gets Macbeth down. Just as the king swings, Mac throws the black orb. Duncan shatters it with his sword – and bursts into fire. That escalated quickly. Now justice and vengeance have been satisfied.
According to Greg: This was how they got Duncan’s death past S&P. It’s graphic, but it’s not “easily reproducible.” It also avoids yet another falling death. He does fall over the cliff, but he’s already ash, so it doesn’t count.
Macbeth and Demona find the Hunter’s mask and believe the hunt is over. Mm, I doubt it.
Return of the King
After victory, they have to decide what to do with bratty Canmore, who insists that he should be king. Rightfully, he should be dead. That’s what they did back then. Bodhe knows they should kill his squirrely butt. Mac refuses. He exiles him instead.
Right after that mercy, Canmore grabs a dagger from his guard and tries to stab Macbeth. Demona disarms him. Even she doesn’t kill him. This is gonna be a mistake, considering the Weird Sisters’ prophesy.
The brat takes the Hunter’s mask.
Macbeth is crowned king and announces a golden age for humans and gargoyles. He names her. Demona, he chooses, because she fought like a demon.
Then he promotes her to his adviser. She says she’d rather be feared than respected. He says humans will do both.
You know, I dunno about the wisdom of appointing someone who really hates humans and wanted to kill you as your adviser. I’d say he wanted to keep her close to keep an eye on him, but he’s not that paranoid yet.
The three sisters in the guise of maids smile.
Clans Allied
Three cops who are identical – yeah, the Sisters are in the 23rd Precinct.
Maza is with Chavez. The captain says the FCC traced the broadcast to PMS, but while they found evidence of conflict – you mean a battle? – they can’t find any hard leads. This is interesting. It tells me that the gov’t is semi capable, and there is an investigation going on. However, they didn’t bother to fingerprint anything or do much digging. Apparently Xanatos Enterprises’s link to PMS is covered well.
What I’m wondering is, did the authorities translate the spell? Surely they did. Of course, the gov’t often fails to do a lot of obvious things. Even if they did translate it, they wouldn’t believe that’s what caused the lost night. Really they’re just pissed because the broadcast hijacked the airwaves.
I’m surprised more people aren’t putting two and two together. People have been seeing gargoyles around, right? They’re urban legends like gators in the sewers, or Batman, but still… Now there’s one on TV.
At the Eyrie Building, Owen and Xanatos (in armor) are welding square packs to the front of Steel Clan robots. It’s notable that the guys made this a DIY project instead of having one of the mechanics who works for Xanatos Enterprises do it.
Xanatos is quietly pleased with himself at his plan, whatever it is.
Just then, “the charming detective Maza,” as Xanatos refers to her, stomps out of the elevator. When are we gonna fire that incompetent security guard downstairs?
She’s all outrage. Xanatos owns PMS, “so as usual, this is your fault.” As usual? Sadly, not every single episode has featured him as an antagonist. She’s still pissed about Derek.
Owen runs interference. “Mr. Xanatos is trying to fix things. What are you doing to help?” Oh, buuurn! He’s right, too. Blame isn’t going to help right now. Time is running out.
Elisa loses it. She actually grabs Owen by the shoulders. We’ve not seen her this aggressive before. Before Owen can deal with her, the sun sets.
“That’s one way to settle an argument,” Xanatos remarks.
Semi Side Note: Fox apparently awoke and picked the boys up from PMS. How much did Xanatos end up having to explain? I’m pretty sure he didn’t tell her earlier because he wanted to avoid admitting failure if Demona’s spell fell flat. It’s the old advice, “Tell them your accomplishments, not your plans.” I wonder how uncomfortable the flight home was?
The clan wanders in next. This time their timing is perfect.
Xanatos explains his plan: The Steel Clan, Xanatos, and Goliath’s clan will fly over the city spraying a harmless but flammable gas in the upper atmosphere. In 25 minutes, the packs on the robots will detonate, igniting the gas and setting the sky ablaze for 10 seconds. He’ll lose his robots, “but I can afford it.” Yeah, considering you had a hand in this. Plus, who doesn’t like to watch things explode?
That’s a great plan! Sort of. I dunno what kind of gas is totally breathable and doesn’t ignite from the robots’ and Xanatos’s jet packs yet stays in the air and burns for an extended period of time. Also, why blow up the robots? Can’t you ignite the gas with, I dunno, a flare gun? And don’t you have little drones or something that could disperse the gas more quickly and easily? But if they did that, it would ruin the symmetry between Clan Moray and Demona’s clan allying, and then the Steel Clan and Goliath’s clan teaming up.
Goliath asks if they’re to be sacrificed too.
Xanatos reassures him no. This again proves what a unique antagonist David is. This game is about saving the city, not toying with the gargoyles. Sure, he could rig the gas packs to incapacitate the gargs and then he could take them captive, but where’s the fun?
Before they leave, Bronx starts ripping up a tapestry. Xanatos is not happy, pointing out how rare and expensive the wall rug is. It’s almost as valuable as the life-sized velvet Elvis in the bedroom.
Off they all go, flesh and steel gargoyles flying together, Xanatos and Goliath side by side. If that doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.
Back in the castle, Demona steps out from behind the tapestry Bronx was tearing up. She says there are things in the castle that even Xanatos doesn’t know about. How does he not know about a secret passage behind the tapestry, even if there is a section of wall that slides out or whatever? When you rebuild a castle, you kind of notice little things like secret tunnels. Plus, the castle’s been repaired about a million times. Just ask Owen.
She finds the timer computer – it controls when the bots blow – is online. Xanatos doesn’t follow IT’s warnings to log out, I see.
But first, she’s gonna finish off that pesky Elisa once and for all.
Final Thoughts
Now we’re getting somewhere! The ramp to the climax is getting steeper, meaning we have a wild ride down soon!
Things seem to be A-OK back on 1040 AD, so we’re left wondering what went wrong to make Demona and Macbeth mortal enemies. He’s been hunting her since we met him, so this isn’t a passing idea, either.
Last ep, when she recognized him, she asked how many times she would have to destroy him. Eh? Will this time be different?
Will Xanatos’s plan work? It’s daring, but it’s certainly doable. It’s almost simple.
What about the Weird Sisters? They’ve been up in Mac and Demona’s business for 1000 years. What are they planning tonight?
Don’t miss the conclusion of this 4-parter!
Thoughts? Comment!
You didn’t discuss Demona receiving her name. 😉
Uh-huh! I mentioned it right above Mac getting crowned. I’ll touch on it more in the next ep.
Looking forward to it
Isn’t Mac more close to early/mid-50s than 60s? I remember reading an “Ak Greg” saying that they swapped ages and, as a result, she was like 35 years old, and he was circa 52… (I admit, the reason I am so fussy about it is that I am a shameful fangirl -.-“)
Yeah, she’s stuck at 35 and he’s stuck at 52.