So Richie returned after an extremely lengthy absence, with a lot less hair and a problem with nightmares. And he reacted to his fear of Dark Quickening Duncan by picking fights with other immortals. Clearly, Duncan stayed in Paris a little too long.
Although I have always been fond of Richie, by this point in the series I had long since realized that Richie-centered stories weren't my favorite – even when he was a sweet, smart-mouthed kid. Is it even necessary to state that killing someone who doesn't deserve it is a bad thing? Yes, immortals fight to the death, that's what they do, but good immortals never kill without a reason. Richie was acting like an evil immortal, a headhunter. An unfortunate bout of immaturity spurred by fear of Duncan was just no excuse.
I wonder if the writers felt the same way about Richie that I did and were just looking for ways to develop his character? Could be. But this wasn't it.
Duncan, a young immortal in the flashback, also experienced his own struggle with fear. Seeing the brilliant swordsman Graham Ashe beg for his life freaked Duncan out to the point where he retreated to holy ground, and stayed there. For everything there is a season, and so on. If Duncan had accepted Clay's challenge back then, he most certainly would have lost his head. I think the title of this episode wasn't really about Richie's end of innocence; it was young Duncan's. And it ended with Duncan cleaning up yet another mess of Richie's. When will Richie grow up? He won't need four hundred years, will he?
At least we had a satisfying resolution to the uncomfortable situation between Duncan and Joe. It was noble of Joe to quit the Watchers for Duncan's sake (complete with tattoo removal, and ouch). Duncan got to be just as noble by talking Joe into rejoining in order to keep the Watchers honest. So they're buddies again, and Joe can continue to slip Duncan information. It's all good.
Will Joe have to get tattooed again?
Flashbacks:
— 1657 Italy: Duncan and his mentor Graham Ashe confronted Haresh Clay and Carter Wellan. The caption said "southern Europe," but the DVD watchers' guide said "Northern Italy." Which was it? Graham mentioned Italy, so that's what I went with.
— Graham Ashe mentioned that Juan Ramirez was his student, and also talked about the Kurgan. They were both characters in the original Highlander movie, played by Sean Connery and Clancy Brown.
— There were flashbacks to "Something Wicked."
Bits and pieces:
— How did Richie, who has had only a couple of years with a sword, beat Carter Wellan, a nine-hundred-year-old immortal? Skill? Luck? Or did Haresh do all of the fighting? That makes sense.
— Haresh Clay did something close to "Here's Johnny" from The Shining on the front of door of Richie's pathetic dive of an apartment.
— Richie has a new sword: Graham Ashes'. Duncan must have a veritable shitload of old swords lying around.
— There was a brief comic bit by Gary Jones of Stargate SG-1 as a hotel guest. That's the third SG-1 alum on Highlander.
— Haresh Clay was the thirty-sixth evil immortal with a K/C name. I could add Carter Wellan, but was he evil? All we really knew about him was that he and Haresh Clay were buddies for nine hundred years. Talk about breaking up being hard to do.
Quotes:
Graham Ashe: "We fight to stay alive. Don't forget to live." That sounded like the seventeenth century version of "stop and smell the roses."
Gary Jones: "More of you with, uh, swords. So what are you guys, anyway? Shriners or something?"
Three stars?
Billie
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Billie Doux knows that there can be only one. And that's Methos.
Ritchie's attitude toward Duncan in the early conversation with Joe was absolutely absurd, from his side. He was there and knew what happened and why. Terrible attempt at Ritchie development.
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