Xanatos wants to thank the clan for saving his son. What better thank-you than sorting out the three souls in Coldstone’s body? Problem is, Xanatos and Demona created Coldstone through science and sorcery. It will take science and sorcery again to sort out the souls. Without Demona, Xanatos doesn’t have any magic users at his disposal, though. Or does he? The answer is much closer than he thinks.
Miss last week’s? Read The Reckoning episode review.
Spoilers are in the 20/20 moments. Info from Ask Greg is in the According to Greg bits.
Season 2, Episode 49: Possession
Reason(s) for existence: To introduce Alex as a magic user. To explore Puck and Alex’s relationship. To show that Xanatos really is trying to make good on his truce with the gargoyles. To separate the Coldstone souls. To prep the way for Lex’s bond with Alex, and Broadway’s bond with Angela.
Main antagonist(s): Iago, Puck (sort of)
Time(s): September 28th – October 17th, 1996
Location(s): Himalayas; New York City, New York, USA
Previously: Oberon banishes Puck and strips him of his power except when training or protecting Alexander Fox Xanatos. Coldstone escaped his captors and flew away somewhere where he would not hurt anyone.
The Himalayas
We’re a little out of our normal area, here. I hope this isn’t another Avalon Cruise. Anyway, there’s an avalanche. The Steel Clan, or two members of it, are landing on it. They’re looking for something. And it’s looking for them. It tunnels through the snow and drags one down like it’s Tremors.
Then we see the assailant: Coldstone. He attacks the second robot.
Xanatos in his red exo armor arrives, hovering above. He activates a shoulder-mounted launching device that fires one heck of a taser. It’s kind of like the electro disc that Thailog shorted his armor out with.
He hits his own robot with it. But this also shorts out Coldstone. David lands next to the downed creature. “Someday, Coldstone, you’ll thank me for this,” he says. Really? What’s he up to now? And he has a lot of sketchy ideas about what people should thank him for… Is he back to his old tricks now that everything is straightened out with Oberon, Titania, and his son?
Back of the Eyrie building, Coldstone is not having a good day. He’s lost his head. Sort of. It’s still connected by wires. Owen, though, is fiddling around in the chest cavity area, but he’s having no luck. This is strike three for transfer attempts.
The consensus is that technology is not strong enough to overcome the magic inherent in Coldstone. They’re going to have to use magic somehow to set things right.
But how? Xanatos doesn’t do magic, and he doesn’t have any truck with those who do, now that Demona betrayed him. Except for his best friend, and his son. But that’s a different kind of magic.
David takes the opportunity to point out that Puck could fix things if he “just wiggled his nose or something.” But Samantha he is not. He can only use his magic when training or protecting Alex. And of course, as per their agreement, Xanatos got Owen’s help, not Puck’s. I mean, Puck still could, but it would be a little unsportsmanlike. I think Puck rather likes trying to figure things out sans magic. It’s more of a challenge.
I wonder if they had these discussions before we the audience knew about Puck being Owen? Did Xanatos make frequent remarks regarding how Puck could solve things? Or did it just come to mind now that Puck has sort of solved a major something? Namely, training Alex so that the fey don’t decide to take him back to Avalon.
Whatever the case, Coldstone is just going to have to keep his “chin up.” Yes, that’s Xanatos’s line. Got to love it.
David and Fox are going out on the town. They’re leaving Owen with kid duty. This is something that he does not dislike in the least. He’s actually smiling.
So as New York’s hottest couple go off on date night, another pair of delinquents is about to have some fun.
By the way, Alex is getting big. Remember, it’s been three months now. He grows like a weed anyway because of his fey blood (it’s in the SLG comic).
Goliath and Hudson somehow find their way into the lab where Coldstone is. They say that they are going to help him out. But they’re not acting quite right. Hudson doesn’t say a thing, and G is too smiley.
They bring Coldstone back to the Clock Tower.
20/20 moment: Yep, Puck remembers where they live.
The clan is a little unnerved by Coldstone’s arrival. Bronx especially. He doesn’t trust Coldstone OR Goliath.
G squats down to reassure the beast that Coldstone is okay — and blows dust in Bronx’s face. Magic? I’m assuming this isn’t Goliath and Hudson, then. But who are they?
Not happy either. How are they going to help Coldstone? Goliath says that he has magic. They can transfer souls as long as a few people volunteer to be the interim bodies. Of course the Trio volunteers. And Angela.
Lex is still confused though. Since when has Goliath done magic? But Goliath soothes him with the same dust that put Bronx to sleep. But this dust makes Lexington really excited about the fact that Goliath learned some magic on Avalon.
So G says his little spell: “For the spirit to be willing, the flesh must first grow weak, just long enough for soul in flight to pass from cheek to cheek.” Rhyming. That means it’s magic rather than the Latin used in most human Magic.
Othello’s soul goes into Broadway, and Desdemona’s goes into Angela. Does that mean Iago is stuck in Coldstone’s body? The new souls can feel the old, but the old souls are dormant.
Hudson and Goliath leave. When they have put a good distance between them and the clan, they land. And reveal who they really are: Puck is Goliath and Alex is Hudson. That’s some nice shifting there. That glamour is something special!
Puck says that they’ve started Alex’s first magic lesson. So is three months the average time for humans to begin learning fey magic if they’re part fey blooded? Start young, just like puppies I guess. But Alex seems to be having a good time, and if anyone can catch on quick, it’ll be the son of Fox and David.
Back at the Clocktower, Brooklyn wants to get some air. Broadway and Angela decide it’s okay as well. Lexington is left to guard Coldstone’s body.
Everyone leaves Lex. But he’s not alone. Coldstone stands up behind him…
Brooklyn, Broadway, and Angela land on Lady Liberty. Brooklyn and Angela are feeling kind of guilty, but also kind of jealous. They want bodies. Brooklyn says they must really be glad to be flesh again. Something’s off about him…
The real Hudson and Goliath return. They don’t see Lexington tied up in the corner. They are quite surprised to see Coldstone. But before they can ask too many questions, he says he came because Xanatos has created new monsters to send against them. Goliath asks if Xanatos has forgotten the truce. Sincerity, says Coldstone, is something men like Xanatos know little about.
20/20 moment: I love how Puck plays on David being a villain. He has more fun with the bad guys.
When Brooklyn, Broadway, Angela — or whoever’s in them — return to the Clocktower, they let Lex loose. He says Coldstone tricked Goliath and Hudson into going to war against Xanatos. You don’t hear that very often…
Brooklyn decides the only way to destroy Iago is to destroy Coldstone’s body, since Iago is apparently in it.
So they all set off to find him. Now the whole crew is going to the Eyrie Building.
Coldstone shows Goliath and Hudson two robots that are supposedly the creatures Xanatos is going to send against the gargs. They look like Iago and Desdemona. They’re called Cold Steel and Cold Fire. Goliath is a little skeptical. Why would Xanatos make these things to look exactly like the spirits inside Coldstone?
Coldstone is about to show them. They’ll get one fine demonstration of these robots’ combat capabilities. First hand.
Halftime!
Wow, what a start! It’s got my favorite characters in it too! Like, every single one of them! It’s going to be a good ep.
What is Puck’s plan? Why is he getting everyone into the Eyrie Building? I’m assuming he’s trying to swap souls, but why bother to show Goliath the robots?
Nice how Xanatos kept the castle lab to work on Coldstone in. Of course he would, though. What’s the point of being a billionaire if you can’t have a mad scientist lab?
What’s also interesting is that Xanatos is just trying to help. He’s trying to do the right thing for once. It’s a little odd for him, and he doesn’t know quite how to go about it. Now he’s a bit miffed that he’s unable to achieve his goal. But I like that he doesn’t let it get him down. He’s going to go have a good night on the town and forget his worries as he spends time with his wife. I also like that they have date night.
Seeing Owen interact with Alex is fun. It’s a whole new side of him – Owen, that is. He’s more like Puck when he deals with the boy.
Tune in Friday to see what exactly Puck’s convoluted plan is, how the souls will get bodies, and if Xanatos will get to give the gargoyles their thank-you present.
Thoughts? Comment!