Richie: "Well, I know who I'd be if I hadn't met you. I'd be dead."
And we have another old immortal friend of Duncan's who just couldn't handle it any more.
Brian Cullen was once the best swordsman in Europe, but had to defend his title so many times that he finally lost his nerve. He became a murderous coward, a drug addict who actually ran down other immortals with his car in order to take their heads. Way to go down, buddy.
Even though Cullen was despicable, you could kind of see the good guy that he used to be under that slovenly exterior. Fear was crippling him to the extent that he was literally shoving handfuls of dope into his mouth. The thing is, immortals aren't paranoid – someone really is out to get them. What does it take to deal with the certain knowledge that there's a scary guy with a sword around every corner?
Duncan's reaction to Cullen was, there but for the grace of god. Connor was there for Duncan. Duncan was there for Richie. Apparently, no one was there for Brian Cullen. At least Duncan didn't have to decide to go after him, since Cullen was stupid enough to run Duncan down. That was an interesting duel in the garage, with both of them staggering around, seriously injured or post death from the van wreck, and Duncan with only a tire iron.
So Duncan and Anne have started dating. They make an attractive couple. And it's nice to see that he likes her because he sees her worth as a person. This was a transparent contrast to the type of person Cullen had become. Cullen was causing accidents and injuring innocent bystanders, and Anne was patching them up.
Flashbacks:
— 1810 Switzerland. Cullen was challenged by some poor fool as he and Duncan were traveling to France over the Alps.
— 1854 San Francisco. If Cullen was already an addict by this time, how much dope could he have absorbed in, like, 140 years? Immortal drug addicts would just get worse and worse, because their bodies would never fail them. There should be an immortal AA or something.
Bits and pieces:
— Excellent performance by John Pyper Ferguson as Cullen. Adrian Paul did really well, too.
— Another immortal detail. Duncan was within buzz range of Cullen when Cullen was temporarily dead, and "felt" him only when he woke up. So the buzz only works when an immortal is breathing. Does that conflict with earlier stuff?
— Richie is managing the dojo now that Charlie is gone. Managing apparently includes physical labor.
— Cullen kept screwing up both the tune and the words to "Danny Boy."
— Brian Cullen was the twelfth evil immortal with a name beginning with K/C.
— Duncan in a modern black suit for his date with Ann. Yum. Even he couldn't pull off muttonchop sideburns, though.
Duncan: "Funny how we keep running into each other."
Anne: "Maybe you should get collision insurance."
Way too cute, considering all the car wrecks in this episode.
Good episode. Three out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux knows that there can be only one.
I really thought the Cullen guy was a really good actor, one of half a dozen or so that really stood out in the series.
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