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Highlander: Testimony

Anne: "I've tried it with you, I've tried it without you. And I'll take it with you, any day."

So we had the standard Highlander plot: an evil immortal that Duncan met once before blew into town and wreaked havoc until he was stopped.

But there was a bit more to this one. Having it turn into a rite of passage for Richie was unexpected, and showed that he wasn't just Duncan's little buddy any more. We didn't see who won the Richie/Kristov duel; all we saw were the flickering lightning bolts in Duncan's eyes. Duncan thought Richie was dead. So did we, for a moment.

The Anne plot didn't turn out as expected, either. I thought Duncan would indeed decide that being in his life was too dangerous for her and put her on a plane. Although, come to think of it, Duncan had nothing to do with the Russian Mafia and the drug courier, so Anne would have gotten in trouble even if she hadn't been with Duncan. It had nothing to do with Duncan's immortality... except that the bad guy was immortal. There goes that extreme coincidence factor again.

Richie left Paris, and it felt like he was leaving for good. Will he be back? What do you think?

Flashbacks:

— 1750 Russia. Duncan met Kristov in a Kossack camp. This was only four years after the previous episode's flashback to post-Culloden. Duncan was still exhausted by war and had no heart for fighting for the Kossacks, especially since it involved slaughtering innocent civilians.


— Duncan impressed the Kossacks by doing trick riding with his horse. Consistent with the mention in "Lady and the Tiger" that he did trick-riding in the circus. We also had a dance scene, with Duncan dancing like a Kossack by the fire before passing out, stupified by vodka.

— Duncan's costume in the flashback, red tunic and leather vest, was simple and dirty, but looked fabulous on him.

Bits and pieces:

— In an opening scene, Richie's version of undercover was sunglasses and a hat.

— Like Anne with Duncan, Tasha the courier was risking her life to be with her man. A little obvious parallel there.

— Duncan has a lot of old things in storage, like boxes and suitcases, plaids and swords. Much like Connor MacLeod in the first movie.

— Anne brought up the obvious: doing medical research on Duncan to find out what immortals really are.

— Cool-looking hospital. Everything looks better in Paris.

— Kristov was a frustrated artist. His stuff was like cartoon homicide, childish with red splatters of blood. He was also the twentieth evil immortal with a K/C name.

Quotes:

Anne: "I think I ruined your shirt."
Duncan: "That's okay. It already had a hole in it."

Anne: "Marie Antoinette."
Duncan: "Incredibly sexy. (She looks at him) Well, she was."

Duncan: "I can catch cold. I just can't die from it."
Really? We've never seen an immortal sick, though. Do they have allergies? Shingles? The heartbreak of psoriasis?

Richie: "Thanks, Mac."
Duncan: "What for?"
Richie: "For not letting Kristov use me."
Duncan: "He thought you were a kid. He was wrong."

Three stars?

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

1 comment:

  1. This episode has possibly my favorite Richie moment. "There's only thing one thing I hate more than being called a boy. And that's your stupid paintings." I liked that Richie was the one to dispatch the bad guy instead of Duncan. I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to say I was disappointed that later shows didn't build on this break through moment for Richie.

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