Watchers get attached to their immortals. Of course they do.
Rita the Watcher crossed the line and took up permanent residence on the other side, using her inside knowledge to help Christian take heads for twenty years. And Joe has also gotten too close to Duncan; Joe gives Duncan information about other immortals, too, all the time. Yes, there's a difference, because Duncan has never used the information for evil purposes and has even saved lives with it, but isn't it just a matter of degree? Joe has indeed crossed the line, and broken his vow.
I loved the Watchers poker game, and the way they talked about "their" immortals like managers about their prize fighters. It was amusing, interesting, and it made sense. This episode also had a lot of discussion of immortals from earlier in the series: Grayson, Darius, Kiem Sun, Xavier St. Cloud. A fun trip down memory lane, with clips.
Joe got outed; Ian saw Joe with Duncan. I don't think Ian passed the information on to Watcher Central (whatever) in time, though, so Joe's secret is still safe. But for how long? If Watchers hang out at Joe's bar, how long before they notice that immortals hang out there, too?
Flashbacks:
— 1780 Outer Mongolia. Duncan sought out May Ling Shen in order to learn from her, and they became lovers. And there were flashbacks within the flashbacks again, when Duncan told May Ling about Hideo Koto.
Bits and pieces:
— Rita had a son that died, and she was using Christian, who never aged, as a substitute. Their relationship felt almost incestuous.
— Leaving aside the idiocy of Duncan leaving his sword behind in Seacouver, I loved Richie racing to Duncan's rescue. Although Duncan managed to defeat Christian without a sword, anyway.
— We never did see Trent the immortal, who was writing historical romances under a pseudonym.
— Ian the Watcher, who died in this episode, watched Darius for thirty years. That was sad.
— It just occurred to me that we've never seen Richie's Watcher. Does Joe pull double duty because Richie is usually around Duncan?
— Michael Christian was the seventeenth evil immortal with a K/C name.
I liked this one. Three out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux knows that there can be only one.
The beginning of this episode with its plot contrivance of an immortal just standing there letting her own head get cut off was egregiously lazy writing. Mae is shown in the flashback as highly skilled, especially unarmed combat. So swim to another side fast, whatever end he runs around to get there first, turn and swim to the far end; she'd then have outmaneuvered and could get out. Then he's at her mercy for sure, even sans sword.
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This is maybe my favorite episode with no Amanda/Fitz/Methos. Michael Christian was a fun bad guy to root against. And I liked Mae Lin. But it was the Watcher office culture that really made it fun. I wish the show had given more of that instead of so much of the over the top whacko Watchers.
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