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Highlander: Legacy

Duncan: "Let me do this. I have a better chance."
Amanda: "But not a better reason."

A backstory for Amanda, and one that gave her more weight as a character. It was mostly serious, too. And surprisingly good.

Amanda may be a thief – and we learned here that she was always a thief and it even got her killed the first time – but she also has depth. She knew she would probably die confronting Rebecca's killer, and she wanted one last moment with Duncan. She even had no intention of letting him fight the battle for her.

How lovely that we got to see Duncan and Amanda meeting for the first time – in 1635. It took her, like, two minutes to kiss him and steal his money. I loved Amanda and Rebecca dressed as seventeenth century men, with the capes and the big hats and lace and feathers. (Duncan didn't exactly look bad, either.) I liked that Amanda's immortal sponsor was a woman, too. Rebecca was one of those immortals that I was sorry they killed off so quickly. She was smart and kind and beautiful. Too bad.

Crystals that increase an immortal's power tenfold? Duncan thought it was a fairy tale, and it could have been, since we never did see if the crystals worked. They were a little on the silly magical side for me, but ah, well. Where do immortals hide their swords? That's magical, too.

Flashbacks:

— 850 and 853, Abbey of St. Anne, which I assume was in France. (If it was France, what was with Amanda's cockney-like accent?) Rebecca rescued the newly immortal Amanda, and taught her to read as well as fight with a sword.

— 1635 Verona, Italy. Duncan met Amanda for the first time. Amanda was with Rebecca. Rebecca threw Amanda out in 853, but obviously they still hung out at times.

— Date captions! Finally! I think this was the first time.

Bits and pieces:

— This episode established that Amanda was not just hot for Duncan; she really loves him.

— Rebecca got a tombstone and a burial plot. I know it's more than time to just suspend belief, but she was a headless murder victim. Police? Investigations? Usually, the body conveniently disappears. Duncan must have a discreet lime pit somewhere.

— Luthor, Rebecca's self-flagellating homicidal former protege, was seriously into pain. I guess it helps if you're an immortal and can heal quickly and completely.

— I absolutely loved Amanda flattening one of the Luthor's thugs with a cast iron frying pan. And threatening another with a sword in the crotch.

— Maurice, who was a bit of a thief, too, refused to take money for taking care of Amanda. A little parallel with Amanda there. Thieves can have principles. Got it.

— It got dark during the quickening. That was a first.

— In this week's hair report, Amanda had chin-length hair, the longest so far, and she looked fabulous. She's incredibly beautiful, anyway, even with the very short hair that she tends to favor.

Quotes:

Maurice: (to Duncan, upon seeing Amanda for the first time) "How do you do it?"

Rebecca: "To start, a bath."
Amanda: "You mean with water?"

John: "I never thought she'd die before me."
Amanda: "I never thought she'd die."

Amanda: "Are you saying that I'm in love with MacLeod?
Maurice: "No offense, Amanda. But a blind man could see it."

At least three stars, and edging toward four. This was the best episode so far,

Billie
---
Billie Doux knows that there can be only one.

3 comments:

  1. We know the abbey was in France because near the end Amanda fought Luther among the ruins of that abbey.

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  2. John’s reaction to watching his wife give up her life for him was so oddly wooden that I thought when I first saw this episode that he was in league with Luther and had set Rebecca up. He lacked emotion during her funeral too. That was always something that struck me as off in this episode. Was it the writing? The acting? The directing? Did the writers initially intend to make John a traitor and change their minds midway through filming? Or is it just me? I kept thinking we were going to find out he had grown resentful of Rebecca’s immortality and wanted the crystal for himself. Who wouldn’t have a hard time knowing not only that their spouse can live forever but that she had access to a magic crystal that could give you the same gift but decided to break it into pieces and scatter it about?

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  3. I never thought Amanda was so much older than Duncan, almost 600 years, and still so young and reckless) Also, I am not sure Amanda and especially Rebecca are historically appropriate names in France of those age, Hebrew names were not that popular among the nobles.

    ReplyDelete

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