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Highlander: The Hunters

Duncan: "He was so wise. Taught me so much. He wasn't supposed to die."

The introduction of a major Highlander plotline: the Watchers.

So there is an organized group of mortals who know about immortals, and they're out to kill them. Their execution of Darius on holy ground raised a lot of questions. Was Darius's quickening totally lost? Will it matter to the Gathering if a quickening is lost completely? Did some bystander immortal a mile away get off unexpectedly? Probably not, since Fitz was yelling, "There are no immortals here! All I am will be wasted!" Maybe you have to be within the buzz boundary.

Darius had dreams of his own death approaching. Maybe he was psychic. Maybe that was why he left the MacLeod plaid on the book. According to the DVD, the clip we saw in this episode of Darius was from an earlier episode. The producers had no intention of writing Darius out, but the actor, Werner Stocker, died unexpectedly of a brain tumor.

This episode introduced Roger Daltrey as Hugh Fitzcairn, one of my absolute favorite immortals. Some of the previous guest stars were musicians, but Roger Daltrey is a Rock Star, in capital letters. And he's a wonderful actor. He and Adrian Paul have acting chemistry. The two of them immediately felt like old friends.


Flashbacks:

— 1639 Florence. Duncan and Fitz, serving the Duke of Milano. Once again with the Three Musketeers costumes, and I loved it. Here, Duncan saw a Watcher symbol, not as a purple circle on someone's wrist, but on a medallion or buckle of some kind.

— According to the Watcher Chronicles, Fitz was born in 1190.

Bits and pieces:

— There was a poignant montage of Darius to "Who wants to live forever." And Duncan threw his ashes into the Seine. I won't ask how they managed to get him cremated after they hid the body.

— Adrian Paul did a good acting job in most of this episode, but I've always felt that his reaction to finding Darius' body was just a tad over the top.

— How delightful that Richie and his motorcycle got to save Duncan's ass this time. Richie is becoming more of a friend than a charge.

— Horton tore the bandaid off Tessa's hand to see if she was an immortal. Why would an immortal even bother with a bandaid? Don't they heal too quickly to need one?

— Horton nearly killed a Who.

— Darius brewed homemade mead?

— Adrian's hair was again getting loose from his ponytail.

— Fitz: "Why can't you live in an apartment like everybody else?"

This is the only first season episode that feels like real Highlander to me. Three out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux knows that there can be only one.

2 comments:

  1. " Horton nearly killed a Who."
    Lol good one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why can't you live in an apartment like everybody else? LOL. Love Fitz. I agree that this is the first good episode. It's sad that so much of Season 1 is substandard.

    ReplyDelete

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