The Gathering Part One

For other uses of the name, see The Gathering.

"The Gathering" Part One is the fifty-seventh televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the forty-fourth episode of Season 2. It originally aired on April 29, 1996.

• Story Editor: Brynne Chandler Reaves
• Writers: Lydia Marano
• Director: Bob Kline

Continuity

The Gathering is well underway, after Oberon began proceedings in "Ill Met By Moonlight". The returning Children of Oberon at the beginning of this episode include a number of familiar faces from the Avalon World Tour: Grandmother, Raven, Anubis, Anansi, the Lady of the Lake, Odin, and Coyote the Trickster, all of whom have formed a long line in the great hall, each one in turn doing homage to Oberon anew. The assembly also includes a few new figures: a couple of giants, a winged horse, a centaur, a gorgon-like being, and a figure dressed in dapper-looking clothes (this last, according to Greg Weisman, goes by the name of Nought).

Oberon comments on the events of "Eye of the Storm" when he sees that Odin has recovered his eye.

Banshee, having expressed her desire not to return to Avalon in "The Hound of Ulster", is dragged back by the Weird Sisters. She is permanently gagged, essentially removing her powers, until she learns humility.

Puck also does not return to the Gathering, having revealed in "Future Tense" that he did not want to.

Fox gives birth to a son, Alexander Fox Xanatos. She learned she was pregnant in "Outfoxed".

Titania is revealed to be Anastasia Renard, Fox's mother.

This is also a good episode for familiar faces among the human population of Manhattan; we see once more the Jogger, Travis Marshall, Officer Morgan, and Brendan and Margot, all in brief roles. Travis Marshall now plays the part, not of a reporter on the street as in his past scenes, but of an anchorman as he reports Alex's birth (and in the process, mentions Xanatos and Fox's police records); evidently he must have gotten a promotion.

Goliath, Elisa, Angela and Bronx return to Manhattan at last, ending the Avalon World Tour that began way back in "Avalon Part Three".

Tidbits

Oberon engages in a Star Wars homage when he uses his powers to get past Xanatos's security guard in the lobby in a manner evocative of Obi Wan Kenobi using the Force to get past some Storm Troopers in the first Star Wars movie.

"The Gathering" was originally intended as a one-parter, but turned into a two-parter when it became clear that a single half-hour episode was not enough to tell its story.

Links

• Greg's Ramble
• Extensive Synopsis and Review

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