History Recap / GargoylesS1DeadlyForce

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Even if Broadway shouldn't have been playing Elisa's gun [[spoiler:when he accidentally shot her, she rightfully tells him it is her fault for not keeping her gun locked up. The sad fact is not keeping a gun locked up in a safe place can have disastrous, even fatal, consequences]].

* AudienceSurrogate: Broadway fulfills this role for this episode. He has a naïve fascination with guns (much like many of Gargoyles younger viewers), but then learns in a horrific fashion that ''firearms are not toys.''

* DeclarationOfProtection: Goliath is seen stroking Elisa's hair briefly when he vows to hunt down her attacker, showing that he already feels strong affection for her. Creator/GregWeisman says that [[WordOfGod gargoyles kiss by stroking hair.]]
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of theoretical laser guns. In many Children's programming, lasers are frequently used as a substitute for real firearms and portrayed typically as having only stunning or knocking down those on the receiving end. As shown when Dracon and his men were testing out their newly acquired laser guns by blowing up rocks and shooting gaping holes through trees, you would definitely not want to be on the receiving end of a shot from these "family friendly" laser guns. Especially if you're a gargoyle who ''turns into'' rock at day.

* ItsAllMyFault: Both Broadway and Elisa feel at the episode [[spoiler:Broadway blames himself for playing with Elisa's gun and wishes he never picked it up in the place but Elisa makes clear she is to blame as well because she should have known better and kept her gun locked in a safe place.]]

* KindHeartedCatLover: Elisa is revealed to own a cat named Cagney.
* MistakenForMurderer: Mistaken for Attempted Murder in this particular case. Goliath [[{{Misblamed}} mistakenly believes]] Tony Dracon or one of his subordinates to be responsible for the shooting of Elisa Maza. Broadway eventually explains what happened just as Goliath was about to enact his own form of justice on [[AssholeVictim Dracon]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Even if Broadway shouldn't have been playing Elisa's gun [[spoiler:when he accidentally shot her, she rightfully tells him it is her fault for not keeping her gun locked up. The sad fact is not keeping a gun locked up in a safe place can have disastrous, even fatal, consequences.]]

* WhatEverHappenedToTheMouse: Despite the very serious nature of the episode and it's mature handling, a minor point of humor among the fandom is speculating who turned off the oven Elisa was cooking steaks on when she was shot. [[ShrugOfGod Even a famously talkative God doesn't have a great answer.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Broadway finds a real gun and treats it like the ones he's seen on TV and in the Movies. The episode goes out of the way to make what happens next as horrific as possible [[spoiler:without actually killing Elisa]].

* TearsOfRemorse: After flying the wounded Elisa to the hospital, Broadway sits alone on a building and sobs.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* ItsAllMyFault: Both Broadway and Elisa feel at the episode [[spoiler:Broadway blames himself for playing with Elisa's gun and wishes he never picked it up in the place but Elisa makes clear she is to blame as well because she should known better and kept her gun locked in a safe place.]]

* AdultFear: Before Elisa is shot, Hudson musing that television and movies make it hard to tell what is real and what is fantasy in the modern world. It's hard not to watch this as an adult and see Broadway as not a large monster, but the small child watching the show for the first time.

* RealityEnsues: Broadway finds a real gun and treats it like the ones he's seen on TV and in the Movies. The episode goes out of the way to make what happens next as horrific as possible [[spoiler:without actually killing Elisa]].

* StatusQuoIsGod: Notably Averted. Elisa is on crutches for several episodes following this one and the next time Broadway visits at her place, she's seen unloading her service weapon and properly storing it in a gun safe.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: A huge aversion of {{Anvilicious}}. Edits to remove the blood aside, it still kept in Elisa's {{Flatline}} and refused to pull its punches. It helped that it didn't come down against guns as a good or bad, but rather elected to hammer home to kids that it's never okay to play with a gun and never to assume a gun is unloaded.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: After Broadway accidentally shoots Elisa, we subsequently see Elisa unconscious and lying in a puddle of her own blood. The radar actually caught up to this episode and pulled it from rotation for a while, but they later re-aired it, albeit after [[BloodlessCarnage digitally removing Elisa's blood]].

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Although early internet fansites would often discuss the episode being pulled after MoralGuardian outrage, typically from either pro-gun and anti-gun wings in ''UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics'' this was not the case. In fact, the majority of both factions praised the episode for it's brutally honest SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped approach, as even Pro-Gun lobbies tend to be very vocal critics of RecklessGunUsage portrayals in Media. It's a very rare thing to find something these two camps will agree on.

** Two equally reasonable possibilities: The burning steaks could have set off a smoke alarm and alerted the other residents to check the apartment and turn off the stove. Or, the police (who must have searched the apartment in order to find Elisa's gun and dust it for prints, as Captain Chavez confirms to Sergeant Maza) could have turned it off if it was still on.

** Two equally reasonable possibilities: The burning steaks could have set off a smoke alarm and alerted the other residents to check the apartment and turn off the stove. Or, the police (who must have searched the apartment in order to find Elisa's gun and dust it for prints, as Chavez confirms to Sgt. Maza) could have turned it off if it was still on.

* RealityEnsues: Broadway finds a real gun and treats it like the ones he's seen on TV and in the Movies. The episode goes out of the way to make what happens next as horrific as possible.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Edits to remove the blood aside, it still kept in Elisa's {{Flatline}} and refused to pull its punches. It helped that it didn't come down against guns as a good or bad, but rather elected to hammer home to kids that it's never okay to play with a gun and never to assume a gun is unloaded.

This Episode Contains the Following Tropes:

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Although early internet fansites would often discuss the episode being pulled after MoralGuardian outrage, typically from either pro-gun and anti-gun wings in ''UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics'' this was not the case. In fact, the majority of both factions praised the episode for it's brutally honest SomeAnvilsNeededToBeDropped approach, as even Pro-Gun lobbies tend to be very vocal critics of RecklessGunUsage portrayals in Media. It's a very rare thing to find something these two camps will agree on.

* SomeAnvilsNeededToBeDropped: Edits to remove the blood aside, it still kept in Elisa's {{Flatline}} and refused to pull its punches. It helped that it didn't come down against guns as a good or bad, but rather elected to hammer home to kids that it's never okay to play with a gun and never to assume a gun is unloaded.