Today’s Gargoyles retrospective looks at “The Mirror,” which aired September 11, 1995. This is a big episode that really opens up the show’s universe, while also being a really chaotic and fun romp, with Demona gaining possession of an enchanted mirror that gives her control of the mischievous fairy Puck (Brent Spiner), whose defiant spirit leads him to obey her demands, but never the way she intends.
1. Infodump incoming
Like the story of King Arthur in the previous episode, “The Mirror” reveals that William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is canon to this universe. Much of what we learn is conveyed via a big piece of exposition from the Gargoyles to Elisa, which is fine, as we’re also seeing when Demona makes Puck her personal genie. Goliath explains that there is a third race, separate from humans and Gargoyles, known as Oberon’s Children, and that the mirror belonged to Queen Titania.
It’s curious that the show has the Gargoyles stop short of using the word “fairy,” with Goliath stating the Scottish called Oberon’s Children the Fair Folk. I imagine there may have been resistance from the producers to using the term, who may have deemed it too childish sounding for such a moody and older-skewing show, but Goliath also states the Vikings considered Oberon’s Children the Dark Elves, so there’s a hint of a plan to incorporate more of the world’s mythology into the show. It should be noted Puck and Oberon are both characters that predate Shakespeare’s play, which begs the question: if Titania is real, how did the Bard know about her? Was the show’s version of him like a 16th century Elisa, and go on his own magical adventures, which became lost to history?
2. Logic is Fun
If Puck has to follow Demona’s rules, he’s gonna have fun, and so he sets off a mad chain of events, starting by granting her wish to be rid of “that human” Elisa, by turning her into a Gargoyle. Unhappy, Demona nevertheless has Puck perform the same spell on the rest of the city, transforming them all into Gargoyles. Realizing he’s still not listening, Demona orders him to turn the Gargoyles into humans, a rash request that leads to Goliath’s clan transforming into blokes wearing loincloths.
Adding to the game is how Puck’s spell makes those transformed believe they’ve always been the species they’ve become. Goliath has to remind Elisa of how her past experiences prove she didn’t have wings before, and then she has to do the same when they claim they’ve always been human. It’s all clearly done so the show doesn’t have to deal with a mass freakout on the streets of New York, but it’s pretty cool to see a cartoon emphasize critical thinking skills, and culminates in an unforgettable climactic moment, where the human Gargoyles fend off the transformed humans by remembering they’re still considered the monsters here, and frighten them off. I honestly felt like a kid again, wanting to yell out solutions to a magician’s problems.
3. Real Locations
I love the locations in this episode, they add to the sense of scope to what is a small, zany comedy of errors. The episode starts with Demona stealing Titania’s mirror from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, making her escape by gliding off Cleopatra’s Needle no less. The episode’s climax takes place at Rockefeller Center’s Lower Plaza, and Puck casts his spell over the city from one of the Twin Towers. As I remarked last week, it’s always poignant seeing the old World Trade Center in the show, and it’s strange to remember that they were destroyed just six years after this aired. Stranger still, is how this episode was repeated without fanfare, unlike what happened with The Simpsons‘ “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson.” Anyway, I do love seeing the show use the real world Gotham to its fullest.
4. If You Were a Girl, I Would’ve Married You
Demona’s hatred of Elisa is rooted first and foremost in jealousy, so it’s appropriate that Elisa’s transformation prompts Goliath to finally recognize how beautiful she is. Always sharp, Elisa quips back as to why he didn’t notice before, which leads to him deflecting by noticing an updraft. (He’s a smooth one, that Goliath.) Isn’t it just fascinating how this show took the notion of an interspecies romance so seriously? It’s probably a good thing no adults were watching in 1995. By the end of the episode, Goliath and Elisa are a little shaken by their experiences as each other’s species, but as usual, the Sun rises before they can really talk about it, leaving the tension of their unlikely romance a little longer to simmer.
Continued below5. Transformation Central
Let’s talk about the transformation designs for our cast. Human Goliath is Conan the Barbarian, by which I mean Robert E. Howard’s tanned creation, not Arnold Schwarzenegger: there’s a fun moment where he picks up a sword and shield from a smashed costume shop, almost like this has become fantasy cosplay.
The rest of the Gargoyles become white humans, which I imagine was an attempt to be consistent with their voice actors’ appearances. More interesting to me is that Broadway and Lexington sprout hair, when their Gargoyles forms are bald. Also, Bronx isn’t affected by Puck’s initial spell, confirming he isn’t a Gargoyle but a closely related species. When Puck casts his magic on him, Bronx turns into a terrier, which is a nice nod to the clan’s Scottish origins.
Can’t dwell too much on the humans-turned-Gargoyles, as there are so many, but they all look really fun, like the cast of Jim Henson’s Dinosaurs. Going back to Gargoyles-turned-humans, the episode concludes with Puck departing with a gift for Demona, the ability to not turn to stone during the day. However, that means turning her into a human, which leaves us with this wonderful, almost Munchian, reaction as our parting shot:
I have only one question on seeing Demona’s human reflection: was her hair always that ’80s looking?
Bonus thoughts:
– Does Xanatos have guards placed at Demona’s home during the day? It’s not like she could wake up when there’s an intruder.
– Come to think of it, I’m just grateful Puck didn’t turn everyone into donkeys like the play.
– Going back to the locations for a moment, I have to say, the Temple of Dendur‘s room looked a bit cramped compared to the real thing.
– All the New Yorkers will remember of this day is that they lost their shoes on reverting to human form. So the papers all reported a mass shoe theft? That’s hilarious.
Join me next week for “The Silver Falcon,” and more episodes if possible.
