- Story Arc: Demona and her survival
- Characters: The Manhattan Clan, Elisa Maza, Demona, Prince Malcolm, Princess Katherine, the Magus, the Archmage.
- Enemy(ies): Demona (in the present), the Archmage (in flashbacks)
Elisa, no longer on her crutches, is resting at home; she is ambushed by Demona, who shoots her with a poison dart in an attempt to kill her. Elisa is saved by the fortuitous placement of her badge, though the Manhattan Clan fear that Demona will attempt to go after her again; thus, Goliath and Hudson decide to confront her to get the antidote.
Meanwhile, in flashbacks set in Tenth century Scotland, Hudson, Goliath, and Demona must save the life of Prince Malcolm from an assassination attempt by the Archmage.
Demona returns in Reawakening. Prince Malcolm and the Archmage make their next appearance in Vows. The Magus and Princess Katharine return in Avalon.
This Episode contains the following Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Nothing is done with Demona thinking Elisa is dead. She doesn't even have any reaction to seeing Elisa alive two episodes later. She does however react during City of Stone, so it seems she didn't notice Elisa somehow during the finale. According to
Word of God, it was simply decided that it'd be too difficult to have Elisa going about her life as normal (which she'd have to, considering that the gargoyles themselves are still under The Masquerade and not known to the public, so there's no explanation her boss would accept for her changing her routine). - The Archmage: The Evil Sorcerer who formerly advised Prince Malcolm is called exactly that.
- Blow Gun: The Archmage's staff doubles as one.
- Eye Scream: The flashback reveals a blast from the Archmage cost Hudson the use of one of his eyes.
- Find the Cure!: The flashback's plot revolves around finding the Grimorum, which contains the only spell that can cure Prince Malcolm.
- Flashback: Which are told through a combination of Hudson's dreams, thoughts, and speaking with Goliath.
- Freudian Excuse: Malcolm doesn't see the harm of telling Katherine about how the Gargoyles will get her if she doesn't do as she's told, feeding her fear and mistrust of them, with consequences we already know from "Awakening." Hudson's later failure to protect him from the Archmage also enrages her.
- Genre Blindness: After Goliath is injured, Demona merely toys with her foes since there's plenty of time until dawn. By the end, she realizes her mistake, but it's too late.
- I Lied: Demona reveals that she had no sort of antidote to begin with, meaning that Goliath and Hudson's confrontation with her would have been a fool's errand with tragic consequences had Elisa actually been poisoned. Though accomplishing little, they have at least made Demona believe she succeeded in killing her, if only for a short while.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Due to the writers deciding to bring back the Archmage in Season 2.
- It's All My Fault: Hudson feels this way about his unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Archmage from poisoning Malcolm.
- Jerkass Has a Point: During the flashback sequences, Demona argues behind Hudson's back that the Wyvern Clan needs a new leader based on his advanced age. Hudson acknowledges that Demona has a point and gives the reigns of leadership to Goliath while he stays on as his mentor.
- Monster of the Week: The Archmage was intended to be this, however David Warner gave such a tremendous performance that Greg Weisman and the other creators decided to have the character return, thus subverting this trope.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Retired Badass Hudson refuses to leave behind a wounded Goliath even though Demona is after them both and Goliath tells him multiple times to do so.
- Not What It Looks Like: Katherine mistakenly thinks that Hudson attempted to harm her father at first glance.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: This episode had Hudson and an injured Goliath playing cat and mouse with a gun-toting Demona. Hudson's plan was eventually revealed to be to hide just out of sight and let her yammer on till the sun came up. Despite what it looks like, this is actually something of an inversion — Demona is really several centuries older than Hudson, thanks to magical eternal youth on her part and a case of suspended animation on his, so she has both the advantage of centuries of experience without the disadvantages of aging. Hudson's victory is instead thanks to Demona's Immortal Immaturity. Whereas Demona has spent her centuries in a vicious cycle of rage, distrust and betrayal, Hudson made peace with life and found wisdom.
- Pocket Protector: Elisa's badge prevents the poison in Demona's dart from being able to penetrate.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: The flashbacks finally reveal the circumstances of how Hudson's left eye was blinded (in addition to how Goliath succeeded him as the Clan's leader).
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: During the climax.Demona: I'm smarter, stronger and I'm younger than you! Your pride will cost you your life!
Hudson: But I know something you don't, something that only comes with age. I know how to wait.
[The sun rises] - The Starscream: Two examples occur in this episode:
- At some point prior to 984, the Archmage attempted to usurp Malcolm, but the latter learned of the former's disloyalty, dismissed him, and replaced him with the Magus.
- Defied by Goliath, who repeatedly rebuffed Demona's arguments to challenge and forcefully take from Hudson the leadership of the Wyvern Clan and only ascended to leadership when Hudson chose to appoint him as his successor.
- Taking the Bullet: Hudson tried to protect Goliath this way, with the key word being tried.
- There Is No Cure: Demona starts the episode by hitting the main casts' human friend Elisa with a poison dart, then tells Eliza to have Goliath face Demona if he wants the cure. Elisa was actually protected thanks to the dart bouncing off her badge that was under her jacket, but Goliath goes to meet Demona anyway. The entire night turns into a lethal game of cat and mouse as Demona tries to kill Goliath. The next day, frustrated by being unable to kill Goliath, Demona flees rather than continue fighting, but first screeches that there never was a cure for the poison and Elisa is dead. Goliath and company decide it's best to let Demona believe that she did actually kill Elisa.
- Trap Is the Only Option: Goliath knows Demona will be setting a trap but goes anyway, even though Elisa wasn't poisoned. As Hudson notes, not going will tip Demona off that her attempt failed.
- Xanatos Gambit: Demona attempts this (combined with a Batman Gambit) with her attempted poisoning of Elisa and subsequent baiting of the Manhattan Clan to kill them while trying to get the antidote only to learn that there's no antidote to the poison. The heroes and the audience know that the first part of her plan to poison Elisa has already failed.
