Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Highlander: Deadly Exposure

Duncan: "You're a madwoman. First you seduce me, then you betray me, and now you rescue me."
Reagan: "All part of a day's work."

Immortal babe audition episode number four: Sandra Hess as bounty hunter Reagan Cole.

Here's where the casting went awry. Reagan Cole could have been a pretty cool character. Workaholic bounty hunter obsessed with bringing down bad guys – and mortal bad guys, not immortals. Sexy enough to pull off a gig as an undercover stripper.

But the word that kept popping into my head was "lightweight." She didn't project the necessary authority for an immortal bounty hunter; I just didn't believe her. It's a shame, too, because with the right actress, this character might have worked. (I'm not saying that this was what I wanted for a Highlander spin-off, though. You all know what I wanted.)

I particularly liked the role reversal in this one, with Reagan rescuing the half-dressed male model in distress. Except that she blew it, and he died. Bummer.

On with the criteria.

1. Charisma? Reagan was truly beautiful, as were all of the candidates. But she just couldn't hold my attention.

2. Acting ability? See above re: lightweight.

3. Athleticism, especially with a sword? She did pretty darned well in the flashback swordfight, even while holding her voluminous nun's habit up with one hand so she could maneuver. But she wasn't convincing in a fistfight.

4. Compelling immortal flashbacks? The 1833 flashback was the best part of the episode, but it was mostly a great big sex tease with Duncan. We did learn that she was a bounty hunter even back then, though. And that she was honest enough to admit she'd made a mistake as she dashed to Duncan's rescue.

5. Well, she did have great hair.

Flashbacks:

— 1833 London. Duncan and Reagan met, and a minute later they were ripping clothes off each other. That scene was a lot of fun to watch, although I found it hard to believe that Duncan would let a female immortal he'd just met tie him to a bed. He was often rowdy, but by the 1800s he wasn't quite that gullible.

— The rescue scene with Reagan undercover as a nun was fun. In fact, I liked that she got to play a nun and a stripper in the same episode.

— According to the Watcher Chronicles, Reagan Cole born 1504 Switzerland, and Amanda was her teacher. Reagan had brown hair in the flashback.

Bits and pieces:

— The detective that was constantly eating was really familiar. I couldn't place where I'd seen him before. And why a British cop in France?

— I don't usually catalog bloopers, but in one scene, Reagan walked off with a white sweater tied around her neck. In the next scene, she arrived and the sweater was gone.

— We saw the actual date not once but twice, on a newspaper and on Murphy's pager: Thursday, August 14, 1997.

— This plot wouldn't have worked today. Digital photos. All over the world in a minute.

— The bad guy Kendall had a K name, but he wasn't immortal. Too bad I can't add him to the list. I don't think we're going to make 50 by the end of the series.

Quotes:

Duncan: "Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod."
Reagan: "Countess Ludmilla Albertina Katoushka Francheka of Hungary."
Duncan: "That is an exotic-sounding name."
Reagan: "Did you say exotic or erotic?"

Two stars?

Billie
---
Billie Doux knows that there can be only one. And that's Methos.

2 comments:

  1. Reagan Cole: Immortal Bounty Hunter?

    Bored now.

    This was bad, really bad. At times the direction was really shoddy, like someone let the work experience kids take over for the day. The story feels like a really bad version of The Saint, all that’s missing is Rodger Moore’s arched eyebrow.

    Actually, give the script a quick rewrite and it could’ve easily been an Amanda episode (although Duncan would never let her tie him up). I don’t think it would of made this a better episode but I might’ve been more invested if it was centred around a character I liked and cared about. Plus, Amanda as a nun would’ve been a whole lot funnier.

    Duncan’s entire role was just a glorified cameo and he was still the best thing in it. His romp with Reagan was hilarious.

    Watching Highlander I’m often amazed how many Parisian residents seem to be English rather that French. But I think that cop was an Interpol agent which might explain it. And that actor is familiar, he’s in a lot of British shows but I can’t think of a name. Might need to check IMBD later.

    And yeah, Billie, we all know what you wanted for the spin-off. I wanted it too :(. And after checking out the DVD extras it seemed even Peter Wingfield wanted it as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of the immortal babes so far, I found her to be the most attractive and looked good both as a blonde and a brunette. They've all been attractive, but she also seemed to have the most likable personality of the babes. She laughed and smiled more and had a bit of an Amanda vibe to her. Unlike the others, she didn't have an overly angsty flashback or current dilemma. I'm sure many a fan boy would have watched her series considering that her standard operating procedure was to strip and tie up her targets.

    However, her acting was indeed lightweight and her action scenes weren't all that impressive either. She didn't quite pull off the hand to hand or the gun skills. I'm also not sure how much of the sword fight was actually her and how much was a stuntwoman in a habit. Holding the sword in one hand and the habit in the other did look kind of cool though.

    And we'll just ignore the stunning coincidence of accidentally running into the bad guy in both Miami and Paris in the same week.

    And Duncan, Duncan, Duncan... the immortal babe you just met wants to tie you up - you're lucky she wasn't after your head (everything I tried to type here felt like innuendo, but none was intended).

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.