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Highlander! I'm done!
I am done with season 6! (Well, for certain values of "done".) Which means you don't have to deal with Psycho Spoiler Lady anymore, and I'm sure we're all glad of that. *g*
I watched the first four eps of the season, and then the ones selected on this poll. I'll go back and watch the others at my leisure -- it's nice to have a few unseen eps to look forward to! -- but I figure I've pretty much seen the good stuff at this point, so I'm not terribly worried about spoilers and such. No, really. I mean it this time.
Anyway -- season 6!
That ... was an extremely anticlimactic Armageddon. I like the general idea -- defeating the enemy by not fighting him -- but the execution ... meh. There was some really neat stuff with Joe, and with Duncan and Joe, but I ended up frustrated that a lot of the demon's potential was squandered; for a being as powerful and evil as it appeared to be, it certainly couldn't pull off an evil plan to save its life.
"Sins of the Fathers" was a fun episode, though I missed the ensemble (what, not even one of Duncan's recurring friends in this one?). I loved the turnabout of expectation in this episode, with the supposed bad guys turning out to be the good guys and vice versa. I like Alex Raven a lot (I am such a sucker for secretly sweet bad girls/guys), and she and Max are neat together; she and Duncan are fun, too. I'm glad Duncan's made a new friend. (Though I peeked at IMDB and saw she wasn't in any more episodes; that's too bad. I like to think she keeps turning up in Duncan's life later on, though, as his Immortal friends tend to do.)
Duncan's shift in persona this season is so fascinating, especially since it's built slowly over the last couple of seasons. I'm really intrigued to see him lay down the sword and try not to play the judge-jury-executioner role anymore. Again, I really love how nothing is static on this show -- things change, people change, and the echoes of last season are still being felt.
"Unusual Suspects" - hahahahahaha, oh, show. "I loved him like a butler! ... uh, a brother!" made me laugh so hard I had to stop the DVD for a minute. And Fitz falling down the stairs in a suit of armor, and Duncan's "oh for pete's sake, I'M REALLY GONNA KILL HIM THIS TIME" expression -- *snorfls* Oh Fitz. You can come back anytime.
"Indiscretions" - eeeeee, JOE AND METHOS ROAD TRIP OF AWESOME. Okay, that episode rocked EVERYTHING. I can see why it topped the poll. *squee* They're just ... adorable. I love how Methos is completely, obviously playing Joe to get the truth out of him (come on, Joe, obvious Methos is obvious) but Joe eventually does the right thing -- and Methos came along anyway, even knowing it was a trap.
And now ... series finale!
"To Be" and "Not To Be" - OH SHOW. OH SHOW, SHOW, SHOWWWWWW. ♥ ♥ ♥ HEARTS. HEARTS IN MY EYES.
I don't know if I'd quite go so far as to say that was my favorite series finale of anything ever -- but, damn, it's right up there. It was just such an amazing love letter to the characters, to the show, to the fans. That is the kind of series finale that you get from a show when the writers and producers and everyone who works on the show are every bit as invested in the show as any single creator of a book ever was -- or any fan ever was. It's just ... HEARTS. IN MY EYES.
And this is one of the reasons why I love so much being unspoiled for things (thank you, flist, for not spoiling me for this! ♥). Because I was terrified going into this that they were going to kill characters. This show does, after all. Actually, given the way the episode began, I couldn't think of any way they were going to fill another hour and a half EXCEPT by killing characters and then having Duncan have to come back from it. I watched the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the episode with my hand clamped over my mouth, making little squeaky noises and occasionally whimpering "Don't die!"
And then! AND THEN! AN HOUR AND A HALF OF PURE DISTILLED AWESOME! Character moments? This was a nonstop montage of character moments. I don't think there was a single part of it I didn't love. Oh, who cares if they were ripping off "It's a Wonderful Life". Everybody does anyway, and I don't care because ... CANON DYSTOPIC AU! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH and I never dreamed we'd actually get one on the show. (And FIIIIIITZ!) And it was all woven together with Duncan, and what his friends mean to him and what he means to them. The "Stand By Me" scene with Joe made me cry. The Tessa parts made me cry -- not just because of Duncan (oh Duncan) but also because her personal dystopia was so ... common, so everyday. While everyone else was having spectacular meltdowns of EVIL, Tessa's life was just quietly empty and unhappy, because she traded beauty and passion for safety and security. The rest of it ... ahahahaha, AWESOME (in a vaguely heartbreaking yet heartwarming kind of way). I love how they put so much thought into figuring out how everyone's lives would have gone wrong in different, vaguely plausible ways. I don't care if it's sappy and over-the-top, because of the aforementioned AWESOME. (Plus, the actors all got to play alt-versions of themselves, which is always fun for everyone. Well, Horton and Kronos are evil in any universe; that's a given. *g* But it was fun to see them again.)
And then, after everything, after everyone is safe (YAY FOR EVERYONE BEING SAFE), there's that gorgeous montage of the Highlands and all the past seasons -- the people he's known and loved and lost and sometimes kept, the places he's been, the things he's done. And those little moments where he finally, finally tells Methos and Joe and Amanda what they mean to him. Yes, all of this made me cry too, and I'm not really a crying-at-TV-shows kind of person! In fact, it's making me tear up again just thinking about it.
OH SHOW. ♥ LOVE LETTER, YOU GUYS. TOTAL LOVE LETTER. This, this is how you end a show. This is how you pay back your viewers for six seasons of investing themselves in your characters. THIS RIGHT HERE. I really can't tell you how much I was, in some ways, dreading the finale because I was so afraid it was going to leave me sad and depressed. Instead I'm full of warm fuzzy love for the show and the characters and everybody who worked on this. Dear show: I forgive you for killing Richie, because this? TOTAL LOVE LETTER. ♥
Okay - I am READY for fanstuff recs! I'm most interested in vids right now, actually - know any good ones? As far as fic goes, I will read any pairing, but I'm mostly interested in ensemble gen or mostly-gen stories: action, plotty stuff, character pieces, episode tags? Where are the archives, the rec lists, and so on and so forth? Guide me, please!
I'm not *that* interested in the Duncan/Methos pairing right now, not because I hate the idea but rather because I suspect that's the vast majority of what's out there, and I'd like to start my time in the fandom with a wider sampling. I'm also not that interested in AUs quite yet. But, seriously, if you have some brilliant fanworks in either one of these categories, don't let this stop you from reccing them (especially if it's an ensemble story with a little Duncan/Methos in the background; I'd be all over that -- or Duncan/Methos/Amanda, OMG, *want*). I mean, even if you rec me something I'm not quite ready for, I can always come back later, right?
I watched the first four eps of the season, and then the ones selected on this poll. I'll go back and watch the others at my leisure -- it's nice to have a few unseen eps to look forward to! -- but I figure I've pretty much seen the good stuff at this point, so I'm not terribly worried about spoilers and such. No, really. I mean it this time.
Anyway -- season 6!
That ... was an extremely anticlimactic Armageddon. I like the general idea -- defeating the enemy by not fighting him -- but the execution ... meh. There was some really neat stuff with Joe, and with Duncan and Joe, but I ended up frustrated that a lot of the demon's potential was squandered; for a being as powerful and evil as it appeared to be, it certainly couldn't pull off an evil plan to save its life.
"Sins of the Fathers" was a fun episode, though I missed the ensemble (what, not even one of Duncan's recurring friends in this one?). I loved the turnabout of expectation in this episode, with the supposed bad guys turning out to be the good guys and vice versa. I like Alex Raven a lot (I am such a sucker for secretly sweet bad girls/guys), and she and Max are neat together; she and Duncan are fun, too. I'm glad Duncan's made a new friend. (Though I peeked at IMDB and saw she wasn't in any more episodes; that's too bad. I like to think she keeps turning up in Duncan's life later on, though, as his Immortal friends tend to do.)
Duncan's shift in persona this season is so fascinating, especially since it's built slowly over the last couple of seasons. I'm really intrigued to see him lay down the sword and try not to play the judge-jury-executioner role anymore. Again, I really love how nothing is static on this show -- things change, people change, and the echoes of last season are still being felt.
"Unusual Suspects" - hahahahahaha, oh, show. "I loved him like a butler! ... uh, a brother!" made me laugh so hard I had to stop the DVD for a minute. And Fitz falling down the stairs in a suit of armor, and Duncan's "oh for pete's sake, I'M REALLY GONNA KILL HIM THIS TIME" expression -- *snorfls* Oh Fitz. You can come back anytime.
"Indiscretions" - eeeeee, JOE AND METHOS ROAD TRIP OF AWESOME. Okay, that episode rocked EVERYTHING. I can see why it topped the poll. *squee* They're just ... adorable. I love how Methos is completely, obviously playing Joe to get the truth out of him (come on, Joe, obvious Methos is obvious) but Joe eventually does the right thing -- and Methos came along anyway, even knowing it was a trap.
And now ... series finale!
"To Be" and "Not To Be" - OH SHOW. OH SHOW, SHOW, SHOWWWWWW. ♥ ♥ ♥ HEARTS. HEARTS IN MY EYES.
I don't know if I'd quite go so far as to say that was my favorite series finale of anything ever -- but, damn, it's right up there. It was just such an amazing love letter to the characters, to the show, to the fans. That is the kind of series finale that you get from a show when the writers and producers and everyone who works on the show are every bit as invested in the show as any single creator of a book ever was -- or any fan ever was. It's just ... HEARTS. IN MY EYES.
And this is one of the reasons why I love so much being unspoiled for things (thank you, flist, for not spoiling me for this! ♥). Because I was terrified going into this that they were going to kill characters. This show does, after all. Actually, given the way the episode began, I couldn't think of any way they were going to fill another hour and a half EXCEPT by killing characters and then having Duncan have to come back from it. I watched the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the episode with my hand clamped over my mouth, making little squeaky noises and occasionally whimpering "Don't die!"
And then! AND THEN! AN HOUR AND A HALF OF PURE DISTILLED AWESOME! Character moments? This was a nonstop montage of character moments. I don't think there was a single part of it I didn't love. Oh, who cares if they were ripping off "It's a Wonderful Life". Everybody does anyway, and I don't care because ... CANON DYSTOPIC AU! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH and I never dreamed we'd actually get one on the show. (And FIIIIIITZ!) And it was all woven together with Duncan, and what his friends mean to him and what he means to them. The "Stand By Me" scene with Joe made me cry. The Tessa parts made me cry -- not just because of Duncan (oh Duncan) but also because her personal dystopia was so ... common, so everyday. While everyone else was having spectacular meltdowns of EVIL, Tessa's life was just quietly empty and unhappy, because she traded beauty and passion for safety and security. The rest of it ... ahahahaha, AWESOME (in a vaguely heartbreaking yet heartwarming kind of way). I love how they put so much thought into figuring out how everyone's lives would have gone wrong in different, vaguely plausible ways. I don't care if it's sappy and over-the-top, because of the aforementioned AWESOME. (Plus, the actors all got to play alt-versions of themselves, which is always fun for everyone. Well, Horton and Kronos are evil in any universe; that's a given. *g* But it was fun to see them again.)
And then, after everything, after everyone is safe (YAY FOR EVERYONE BEING SAFE), there's that gorgeous montage of the Highlands and all the past seasons -- the people he's known and loved and lost and sometimes kept, the places he's been, the things he's done. And those little moments where he finally, finally tells Methos and Joe and Amanda what they mean to him. Yes, all of this made me cry too, and I'm not really a crying-at-TV-shows kind of person! In fact, it's making me tear up again just thinking about it.
OH SHOW. ♥ LOVE LETTER, YOU GUYS. TOTAL LOVE LETTER. This, this is how you end a show. This is how you pay back your viewers for six seasons of investing themselves in your characters. THIS RIGHT HERE. I really can't tell you how much I was, in some ways, dreading the finale because I was so afraid it was going to leave me sad and depressed. Instead I'm full of warm fuzzy love for the show and the characters and everybody who worked on this. Dear show: I forgive you for killing Richie, because this? TOTAL LOVE LETTER. ♥
Okay - I am READY for fanstuff recs! I'm most interested in vids right now, actually - know any good ones? As far as fic goes, I will read any pairing, but I'm mostly interested in ensemble gen or mostly-gen stories: action, plotty stuff, character pieces, episode tags? Where are the archives, the rec lists, and so on and so forth? Guide me, please!
I'm not *that* interested in the Duncan/Methos pairing right now, not because I hate the idea but rather because I suspect that's the vast majority of what's out there, and I'd like to start my time in the fandom with a wider sampling. I'm also not that interested in AUs quite yet. But, seriously, if you have some brilliant fanworks in either one of these categories, don't let this stop you from reccing them (especially if it's an ensemble story with a little Duncan/Methos in the background; I'd be all over that -- or Duncan/Methos/Amanda, OMG, *want*). I mean, even if you rec me something I'm not quite ready for, I can always come back later, right?
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I agree, it really was, as was the wonderful Indiscretions, which again gives us the whole Joe/Methos friendship in far more juicy detail than we've seen before. And I enjoyed some of the female episodes, Sins of the Father and the one with Katherine in particular.
I'll have to check at home and see what the best recs I have are.
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a little bita lot. :)Indiscretions had so much wonderful Joe and Methos interaction. OH CHARACTERS. I just love them all so much, in all combinations.
And let me know if you find anything that's worth sharing. I'm not quite to a fanfic-reading place yet (like I said over on the LJ side, this wasn't the sort of finale that made me want to run out and read fic, but rather the kind that made me want to wallow in the sheer joy of canon for a while yet) but I'm sure any recs will be appreciated when I get there! :)
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For vids, definitely
Check out
One fic that I suspect will be recced all over the place is
And now that you've seen "Indiscretions", I can use this icon! Yes, I ship Methos/Amy. Shockingly there is not a lot of fic for this pairing!! (I know, you can hardly believe it.)
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Also, I don't know how you feel about Rebecca-centric fic, but there's a lovely little HL/SG-1 AU crossover that I adore, and its sequel: Antiquities (Rebecca Horne, Jack O'Neill) and Signal (Rebecca, General Hammond) by
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Anyway, thank you so much for all the recs. :D I've already gotten started on the vids! "Opportunities" is awesome. Also, you'd mentioned awhile back that there was a fic out there where Cassandra and Methos have to work together -- do you have a link for that?
Yes, I ship Methos/Amy. Shockingly there is not a lot of fic for this pairing!!
*laughs* Actually, it's funny you should, because when the episode first began, my mind went to an immediate Amy/Methos place as soon as she showed up -- before I knew she was Joe's daughter, at least. I think she just struck me immediately as his "type"; whereas Duncan generally goes for tough or career-minded women, Methos seems have a thing for women who are waiflike or gamine (Alexa, Charlotte, Mary) and my first thought about Amy was that the episode was going to aim for a Methos/Amy pairing by the end.
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Incubus (the title doesn't have anything to do with the actual plot) by
my first thought about Amy was that the episode was going to aim for a Methos/Amy pairing by the end.
If we'd gotten the Joe & Methos spin-off, I wouldn't have been surprised if they played with Methos/Amy. She's definitely his type, yes! If you like, here are a couple of Methos & Amy fics (gen, not shippy) that I have bookmarked:
Relics by Maya Aranya is a crossover with Relic Hunters. It's Methos being Adam Pierson, and Amy along for the ride.
Generations by Cameron Dial, a Methos & Amy fic with Joe and OCs. It's actually part of a series, but can be read alone; the rest of the series is a bit long and overblown, and some of it spoils HL: The Raven.
Here's another Cameron Dial fic you might like, which I remembered as I was digging up links: A Gift of the Magi, Richie's first Christmas with Duncan and Tessa. Adorableness! :D
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I can see that I'll be returning over and over again to this post (both the LJ and DW versions) as I work my way through all the recs. SO MUCH FIC OMG. I have to sleep sometime ...
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Some of those early sites are gone, now (lamentably including the JoeStories archive.)
The two most active current HL archival sources are A03 and HLfiction.net. HLfiction has some starred reviews.
An older archiveSeventh Dimension is still accessible, but no longer updated--still, it holds a lot of early stories not archived elsewhere. All three archives are pretty well tagged with pairings, genres and warnings and have search engines.
A perusal of the Highlander section of crack_van will give you a wide spread of tastes and recommendations. And the yearly Gathering of HLH_shortcuts writers come up with some awesome fic every yule season--(also on LJ).
For up-to-date releases of new fic, I rss the lj community HLFlash on my DW reading page.
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And I blame you not at all. :D I love them all so much, and though I'm just starting to dabble in the fic, I'm really having a blast. There is so much good fic out there! It's wonderful! :)
Thank you very much for the links!
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I've already seconded you on Clean (one of my favorite HL vids, too - I never get tired of watching it), but will second Luminosity and Eunice as well; good stuff. Lum's vids are here.
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"Forever Young" - *wails*. I wasn't too broken up about Richie's death because I knew it was coming, but that look back at the early seasons, when everything was still so fresh and new, and he had his whole life (such as it was ;_;) ahead of him - oh. *wibbles* It is a very good vid, though!
And thank you very much for the offer about the vids. I've dl'd a couple of hers from
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First off the bat, I second Sylvia Volk, if you're looking for excellent gen. Mackiedockie's comment has a very good list of resources.
Jinxed_wood, for example, writes good gen too.
My Highlander bookmarks are here : http://www.delicious.com/calime/highlander - but they're not to be taken as all recs, just everything HL I have read, also, some older links are probably dead.
Will try to come back later for some better reccing *eyeballs clock in horror, runs*
Re: vid recs!
vid recs!
Watch everything listed under
Also check out the vids listed under Highlander at Triptych Vids, which is an archive for several vidders' work. You need to make an account to see things, but it's free and fast. There's some Duncan/Methos in there, but again there's other stuff as well (including a Duncan'n'Fitz vid of pure yay, "You've Got a Friend in Me").
Also go to pteropus.com (password protected, but it's on an auto-responder and the password arrives instantly), and look through the list for Highlander vids. My fav of their HL vids is "Clean".
Re: vid recs!
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http://users.erols.com/darkpanther/HL%20Stories/quicken.htm
Makes me laugh. Great Joe and Methos interaction. Short, but funny.
and for some reason I really love this story:
http://www.seventh-dimension.org/stories/Amand-r/OhToBeLikeaGod.txt
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http://hlh-shortcuts.livejournal.com/
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gen rec
(Anonymous) 2011-04-22 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)I don't even know how many times I've read this author's gen seriers of Highlander fics. All I know is ten years after the fact, it's the only gen link I still have saved.
Melikes and Cassandra is not portrayed as a complete ass in it.
Re: gen rec