The Mirror

"The Mirror" is the eighteenth episode of Gargoyles, and the thirteenth single-part episode of the series. It aired on September 11, 1995.
==Summary==
A magical mirror is stolen by Demona, who frees the mischievous Puck from it; purposely re-interpreting Demona's wishes, he makes the Gargoyles human and the humans gargoyles. In the chaos, Goliath and the others are able to detain him and send Demona fleeing, but as a "gift" for the fun he had, Puck grants Demona the ability to painfully become human during the day instead of returning to her vulnerable stone sleep.
==Plot==
Within a local museum, Elisa, disguised as a security guard, is guarding a valuable artifact on display at the museum: Titania's Mirror. When Demona arrives to claim it, it is revealed that Goliath was also there, lying in wait to help stop her. However, Demona's presence is merely a distraction, as two thugs she hired steal the mirror while she keeps Goliath and Elisa busy. Once she's certain the mirror is secured, Demona retreats with one of her banshee shrieks as she flees.
When the thieves return to Demona's hideout, drop off the mirror, and receive their payment, before being scared off by Demona when she grows annoyed by their presence, Demona then uses the mirror to summon the trickster Puck, of the Children of Oberon, to serve her. When Puck uses the mirror to see Demona still harbors some love for Goliath, despite her hatred of humanity and Goliath's decision to protect Manhattan from evil like her, it is when Elisa appears that Demona demands that Puck get rid of her. However, being the trickster that he is, Puck grants Demona's request, but not in the way she had wanted, as he turns Elisa into a Gargoyle, to the shock of the Manhattan Clan, who bore witness to Elisa's transformation.
Because of her transformation into a Gargoyle, Elisa's memories have been altered as well, making her believe she's been a Gargoyle all her life. As Goliath takes her on a glide through the city to help her get used to her newfound wings, and begin to show some romance as well when he mentions how beautiful she looks as a Gargoyle, Demona and Puck arrive on top of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, where Puck uses the transmitters and antennae there to amplify his spell to turn all of Manhattan's human population into Gargoyles as well. However, his spell-casting is noticed by the Manhattan Clan, and they fly off to investigate, all except Elisa, who attempts to follow, but as soon as she hops up on the ledge to glide after them, can't bring herself to do so after seeing how high up she was, terrifying her.
When the Manhattan Clan confront Demona and Puck, it leads to a chase where Demona and Puck escape into the subway and get away on a subway train, while the Manhattan Clan gains control of Titania's Mirror, and take in the changes to the local populace, who seem not at all bothered by their newfound appearances as Gargoyles. A trio of young girls actually show some indication of attraction to the Trio as they pass, and the Trio show a little bit of attraction in return.
Meanwhile, in an alley, Demona is furious to see that Puck twisted her wish to get rid of the humans by giving them the gift of being Gargoyles, despite her own past intentions of wanting to rebuild the Gargoyle race, which Puck actually helped fulfill with his powers, and demands he reverse the wish. Using a nearby car's rear-view mirror, Puck casts the spell, but again, he twists Demona's wish, and turns the Manhattan Clan, sans Bronx, into humans instead when the spell emerges from Titania's Mirror, leading a now-human Goliath to nearly fall to the street before Elisa, conquering her fear, is able to glide down and save him. When Demona discovers what happened, she's still livid, but when Puck mentions that the Manhattan Clan would be vulnerable now without their Gargoyle abilities, Demona decides to use this to her advantage.
Confronting the human Manhattan Clan in a plaza, Demona and Puck engage them in battle. When several civilians notice Demona in trouble because of their altered memories and appearances, they attempt to come to Demona's aid, only to be scared off by the Trio. Meanwhile, Demona has Goliath at her mercy, before the Gargoyle Elisa comes in to fight Demona herself, putting her newfound Gargoyle strength on even terms with Demona's, holding her ground and slugging Demona when locking claws with her, and managing to dodge a blast from Demona's laser weapon to circle around and tackle her from behind, disarming her. It culminates in Elisa using Demona's own laser weapon to knock her out cold as she moved in to finish off Goliath. With Demona unconscious, Puck surrenders.
Back at the Twin Towers, Goliath asks Puck to reverse his spells. In return, he would be released from the chains Demona bound him with. Puck complies, using the Twin Towers' antennae and transmitters to once again amplify his spell to revert Manhattan's human population back into humans, before then doing it to Elisa next. After Elisa and Goliath share a moment as humans, Puck reverts the Manhattan Clan back into Gargoyles, and per their agreement, Goliath releases Puck from his chains of servitude, allowing him to take Demona and return to Demona's hideout with Titania's Mirror. Though Puck wants to cause more trouble, tired out from all of Puck's mischief, Demona just asks him to leave. Offended, Puck leaves, but not without casting one more spell on Demona to fulfill her wish to be able to walk in the sunlight instead of going into her stone sleep when the sun rises. After he leaves, Demona lets off a low growl of frustration and annoyance.
Back at the clock tower, Goliath and Elisa share a few words with each other, before Elisa cuts Goliath off on what he was about to say next before the sun rose and he and the others turned to stone for the day. As for Demona, she can't believe Puck made good on his spell and is able to enjoy the sunlight instead of going into her stone hibernation. However, as she passes a mirror, whether or not it was Titania's Mirror, Demona discovers, much to her horror, that Puck's spell has made it so she becomes human by day.
== Trivia ==
* Puck reveals Demona still has some affection for Goliath.
* With the exception of Elisa and the Manhattan Clan (who had help in remembering that they'd been transformed), anyone who is/was changed between being a gargoyle and a human has/had their memories altered to believe that they had always been such.
* Puck makes a reference to Aladdin and the Genie's lamp.
* With Puck switching everyone's species around, Elisa and Goliath are able to realize that they have feelings for each other.
* In the episode, Demona gains the power to transform into a human during the day. It's later revealed to be quite painful, due to the changes happening in quick succession.
* Ironically, this episode aired on 9/11/1995, exactly six years before the 9/11/2001 attacks, and included shots of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which Puck used to amplify his spells.
* First appearance of Puck.
==Gallery==
Manhattan Clan (Human) and Elisa (Gargoyle) - The Mirror.jpg|The Manhattan clan with their species reversed
Manhattan Clan (Gargoyles).png
Manhattan Clan (Human) - The Mirror.png|The Manhattan Clan, including Goliath, as humans
BronxDog.jpg|Bronx in the form of a dog.
HumanBrooklyn.jpg|Brooklyn in human form
File:The Mirror - Gargoyles S2.jpg
Category:Gargoyles episodes