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eeek eeek eeek SQUAIL ... I mean, Highlander 4x12-4x14!
Squee is back. Squee is SO VERY BACK. Come flail with me! (... assuming I haven't scared everyone away; I hope not!)
4x12 - The Blitz
Okay, up to this point, I haven't had any problem with Anne -- she's not a favorite of mine, but I like her all right. This episode, though? I hate, hate, HATE characters acting stupid to drive the plot, and I nearly skipped the whole episode because I was so annoyed with what the writers had paramedic!guy and Anne do at the beginning. If you run into an unstable structure to save people when you're the only person on the scene, then yeah, it's heroic. If you sneak into an unstable structure in the middle of a large-scale rescue operation after the person in authority tells you not to, without obtaining proper equipment or informing anyone, you're an IDIOT. Dear show, clearly you wanted to give me a scenario in which to be impressed with Anne's bravery and chutzpah, I presume, but WHY SO STUPID AAAAUGH.
I don't think it made much difference that she was pregnant -- others may disagree, but personally I don't believe that pregnant women have any less right than any other kind of person to choose to put themselves in dangerous situations or not, as long as they are in good enough physical shape not to unreasonably endanger themselves or others (though, if you're as pregnant as she obviously is/was, you might want to consider yourself less than physically fit for purposes of clambering around over rubble with things exploding overhead, I'M JUST SAYING). However, man or woman, pregnant or not, causing other people to have to put themselves in danger to rescue you while doing something that you're untrained and unequipped for, when the person in charge of the situation told you not to? That's not just dumb, but amazingly selfish. Or at least thoughtless.
One thing I will grant this episode is that they had paramedic!guy be the one to get squashed in the rubble, not Anne. And no ankle-twisting! I did appreciate that she was uninjured and given agency, er, for awhile anyway.
And I liked how you could hear Duncan's Scottish accent come out a little in the flashback where he and his girlfriend were dying in the rubble -- that wasn't my imagination, right? (Okay. Maybe it was. Not sure.)
Anyway. I'm not sure how you manage to make an episode with EXPLOSIONS and DISASTER and MORTAL PERIL and EMERGENCY CHILDBIRTH kind of dull, but, uh, they managed it somehow. *g*
The end was sweet, though, with Duncan's mother's name and then the house. And doubly so because he's not expecting to get anything back from it. I'm not sure if it's more of a paternal gesture or that of a lover -- that is, if he's doing it more on Anne's behalf or that of her child, or both -- but, oh, Duncan.
4x13 - Something Wicked
So, er ... this one started out making me think it was going to be a filler-ish episode (I seem to say that a lot) and then turned out to be a slow build into OMFG HOLY SHIT DUNCAN NOOOOOOO. The last 15 minutes had me staring at the screen with a hand over my mouth. I just. NO WORDS. The duel-to-the-(not)death with Richie, and Dawson being all cavalry-like with the gun, and the tying up, and the sword, and the trust, and Dawson is now officially the MOST AWESOME PERSON EVER, and, and, and just ... AAAAAAAA DUNCAN NOOOOOOO COME BAAAAAACK.
(I had forgotten it's about time for our regularly scheduled switch to Paris, though ... *g*)
Adrian Paul is totally rocking the evilness, I must say. And, and ... that bit! Where Duncan is tied to the thing! And Dawson's all, "Can't bring myself to kill you, can't leave you tied to the thing forever, so I'm going to untie you and trust you not to kill me because I'm (somewhat) convinced you're not 100% evil" .... eeeeeeeeek. BUTTONS. PUSHED. SO MUCH.
HOLY SHIT DUNCAN AAAAAAA *FLAIL*
*breathes*
There were a number of little adorable bits in this episode too. The scene with Richie and Joe in the bar! ("You're his Watcher, damn it. It's your job!" "Ehhh." *snerk*) The Greenwich Village flashback and greaser Duncan ... hahahahaha OMG. And I should probably have lots of thinky thoughts about how this show tries so very hard and earnestly to make the world of the Immortals a diverse one spanning many countries and continents and ethnicities, and sort of hits the mark some of the time and then misses it by a country mile now and then, but I'm still stuck on DUNCAN AAAAAAAAAAA and now I think I need to go watch the last ten minutes another few times. brb, flailing. aaaaaaaaaaa. *hyperventilates*
Well, I was planning to stop there, but that's a TERRIBLE place to stop, what with Duncan all evil-ish and tormented and on the run and stuff. SO. ONWARD TOPARIS MORE EPISODES.
4x14 - Deliverance
HOLY MOLY, SHOW.
*snaps out of squee-induced coma*
Um. Well, First of all ... oh DUNCAN. ;_; It's so hard seeing him like this, because he's such a sweet guy, so gentle in his, er, violent sort of way, and now he's all ... homicidal and cruel and manipulative and creepy. Having to live with all of this is going to kill him. DUNCAN NOOOOOOOO. *cries*
Okay, I was SO not expecting this to be a Methos ep, because I'd gotten the impression earlier that the Methos eps can more or less be watched independently of the rest of the series, and this one is sort of heavily dependent on what came earlier! I mean, surprised in a very GOOD way, but ... surprised! (And thank you ever so much, Netflix, for spoiling that particular surprise by giving me a preview screen of that bit of the guest stars when I skipped over the theme song. Oh well. 's what I get for trying to skip forward, I guess!)
For some reason it's hilariously awesome to me that Methos drives a -- what the heck is that, a station wagon?
And thinking about it, Methos is the perfect person to deal with the Duncan issue, because only the Watchers know he's in France, and among the Watchers, Methos is probably the only one who can deal with Duncan right now without instantly getting killed.
Sort of.
If only he weren't so bad at it. Come on, Methos! Even Joe knew to tie him up before he came around! And the fight at the psychotherapist's place? Made of awesome, true, and yet, WAY TO SUCK, METHOS. XD Methos's lack of battle competence will apparently never fail to make me grin and adore him, because it's not that he's bad at it and I think the show makes that clear -- it's just that he's up against people who are virtuosos at it. He's very experienced, but a little out of practice and lacking in that extra bit of talent that Duncan's got.
Duncan blowing through the stop sign in the stolen car cracked me up a lot. BECAUSE STOP SIGNS MEAN NOTHING TO ~*EVIL*~!
I spent a lot of this episode wondering how in the world they were going to fix this! Magic holy spring ... uh, not actually an option I'd realized was on the table, but whatever. Good thing Methos could still find it after all these centuries. XD And hee, that is TOTALLY the fight scene at the end of SGA's Doppelganger! Only, you know, ten years earlier, and with swords! All dressed in black, even ...
(I did feel terribly sorry for Adrian Paul in the cavern, being all wet when it was obviously below freezing! The water's steaming when he gets out, post-Quickening, but it wasn't steaming when he got in. *shivers on his behalf*)
Two scenes from this episode are among those that I remember from old vids -- the one where Methos holds out Duncan's sword wrapped in his clan colors, and a bit from the very end when Duncan's in the spring. And I'd actually thought both of those were much spoilerier than they turned out to be, because, well -- didn't expect them AT ALL in this episode until they happened, so can't be too spoilery, right? (Helpfully, at that point I could not tell Duncan and Methos apart in vids, so I had no clue who was in the water and who wasn't.)
RACHEL! Er, embarrassingly, I'd forgotten who she was until she mentioned that she's the one who brought the MacLeod Family Sword to Paris. I'd been wondering where Methos got it from so quickly. But yay! There is something very appropriate about the fact that Duncan's clan helped him out of this, even if a bit indirectly. And Duncan's hopelessly feeble attempt to thank Methos for saving his soul ... hahahahaha DORKS. *squishes them*
Bit o' squee at end: Alexa! She's still alive! Squeeeeeee! ... um, though up until that point I'd been too caught up in the action to actually remember that Methos is not working in Paris right now but traveling the world with Alexa. So he left his terminally ill girlfriend in Athens to rush off to Paris to save Duncan. Erm. Alexa being Alexa, I'm sure she was very sweet about it and all "Of course you have to go save your friend!" and is currently having a blast exploring Athens by herself. And eeeee, she's still alive, and presumably has now been able to see Egypt and more! Doomed they may be, but I adore Methos and Alexa an awful lot. And thank you so much, Show, for mentioning her even in passing, and not just leaving us to wonder about it like some other (*cough SGA cough*) shows are wont to do.
This episode! This SHOW! *clutches it to heart*
Edit: Oh! I just re-watched the end of 4x14 and something clicked -- Methos sort of sneaking up on Duncan in the pool with the katana held behind his back: he came in there prepared to kill Duncan if it wasn't good!Duncan that had won, and he knew the only way he was gonna be able to do it was if he got in a surprise shot before Duncan knew what hit him. (It's also a wonderful little Methos character bit, because that is exactly how he's lived this long: by being sneaky.) And that casts his little laugh of relief in a whole new light, because of what he'd been prepared to do a minute ago. SHOW!
4x12 - The Blitz
Okay, up to this point, I haven't had any problem with Anne -- she's not a favorite of mine, but I like her all right. This episode, though? I hate, hate, HATE characters acting stupid to drive the plot, and I nearly skipped the whole episode because I was so annoyed with what the writers had paramedic!guy and Anne do at the beginning. If you run into an unstable structure to save people when you're the only person on the scene, then yeah, it's heroic. If you sneak into an unstable structure in the middle of a large-scale rescue operation after the person in authority tells you not to, without obtaining proper equipment or informing anyone, you're an IDIOT. Dear show, clearly you wanted to give me a scenario in which to be impressed with Anne's bravery and chutzpah, I presume, but WHY SO STUPID AAAAUGH.
I don't think it made much difference that she was pregnant -- others may disagree, but personally I don't believe that pregnant women have any less right than any other kind of person to choose to put themselves in dangerous situations or not, as long as they are in good enough physical shape not to unreasonably endanger themselves or others (though, if you're as pregnant as she obviously is/was, you might want to consider yourself less than physically fit for purposes of clambering around over rubble with things exploding overhead, I'M JUST SAYING). However, man or woman, pregnant or not, causing other people to have to put themselves in danger to rescue you while doing something that you're untrained and unequipped for, when the person in charge of the situation told you not to? That's not just dumb, but amazingly selfish. Or at least thoughtless.
One thing I will grant this episode is that they had paramedic!guy be the one to get squashed in the rubble, not Anne. And no ankle-twisting! I did appreciate that she was uninjured and given agency, er, for awhile anyway.
And I liked how you could hear Duncan's Scottish accent come out a little in the flashback where he and his girlfriend were dying in the rubble -- that wasn't my imagination, right? (Okay. Maybe it was. Not sure.)
Anyway. I'm not sure how you manage to make an episode with EXPLOSIONS and DISASTER and MORTAL PERIL and EMERGENCY CHILDBIRTH kind of dull, but, uh, they managed it somehow. *g*
The end was sweet, though, with Duncan's mother's name and then the house. And doubly so because he's not expecting to get anything back from it. I'm not sure if it's more of a paternal gesture or that of a lover -- that is, if he's doing it more on Anne's behalf or that of her child, or both -- but, oh, Duncan.
4x13 - Something Wicked
So, er ... this one started out making me think it was going to be a filler-ish episode (I seem to say that a lot) and then turned out to be a slow build into OMFG HOLY SHIT DUNCAN NOOOOOOO. The last 15 minutes had me staring at the screen with a hand over my mouth. I just. NO WORDS. The duel-to-the-(not)death with Richie, and Dawson being all cavalry-like with the gun, and the tying up, and the sword, and the trust, and Dawson is now officially the MOST AWESOME PERSON EVER, and, and, and just ... AAAAAAAA DUNCAN NOOOOOOO COME BAAAAAACK.
(I had forgotten it's about time for our regularly scheduled switch to Paris, though ... *g*)
Adrian Paul is totally rocking the evilness, I must say. And, and ... that bit! Where Duncan is tied to the thing! And Dawson's all, "Can't bring myself to kill you, can't leave you tied to the thing forever, so I'm going to untie you and trust you not to kill me because I'm (somewhat) convinced you're not 100% evil" .... eeeeeeeeek. BUTTONS. PUSHED. SO MUCH.
HOLY SHIT DUNCAN AAAAAAA *FLAIL*
*breathes*
There were a number of little adorable bits in this episode too. The scene with Richie and Joe in the bar! ("You're his Watcher, damn it. It's your job!" "Ehhh." *snerk*) The Greenwich Village flashback and greaser Duncan ... hahahahaha OMG. And I should probably have lots of thinky thoughts about how this show tries so very hard and earnestly to make the world of the Immortals a diverse one spanning many countries and continents and ethnicities, and sort of hits the mark some of the time and then misses it by a country mile now and then, but I'm still stuck on DUNCAN AAAAAAAAAAA and now I think I need to go watch the last ten minutes another few times. brb, flailing. aaaaaaaaaaa. *hyperventilates*
Well, I was planning to stop there, but that's a TERRIBLE place to stop, what with Duncan all evil-ish and tormented and on the run and stuff. SO. ONWARD TO
4x14 - Deliverance
HOLY MOLY, SHOW.
*snaps out of squee-induced coma*
Um. Well, First of all ... oh DUNCAN. ;_; It's so hard seeing him like this, because he's such a sweet guy, so gentle in his, er, violent sort of way, and now he's all ... homicidal and cruel and manipulative and creepy. Having to live with all of this is going to kill him. DUNCAN NOOOOOOOO. *cries*
Okay, I was SO not expecting this to be a Methos ep, because I'd gotten the impression earlier that the Methos eps can more or less be watched independently of the rest of the series, and this one is sort of heavily dependent on what came earlier! I mean, surprised in a very GOOD way, but ... surprised! (And thank you ever so much, Netflix, for spoiling that particular surprise by giving me a preview screen of that bit of the guest stars when I skipped over the theme song. Oh well. 's what I get for trying to skip forward, I guess!)
For some reason it's hilariously awesome to me that Methos drives a -- what the heck is that, a station wagon?
And thinking about it, Methos is the perfect person to deal with the Duncan issue, because only the Watchers know he's in France, and among the Watchers, Methos is probably the only one who can deal with Duncan right now without instantly getting killed.
Sort of.
If only he weren't so bad at it. Come on, Methos! Even Joe knew to tie him up before he came around! And the fight at the psychotherapist's place? Made of awesome, true, and yet, WAY TO SUCK, METHOS. XD Methos's lack of battle competence will apparently never fail to make me grin and adore him, because it's not that he's bad at it and I think the show makes that clear -- it's just that he's up against people who are virtuosos at it. He's very experienced, but a little out of practice and lacking in that extra bit of talent that Duncan's got.
Duncan blowing through the stop sign in the stolen car cracked me up a lot. BECAUSE STOP SIGNS MEAN NOTHING TO ~*EVIL*~!
I spent a lot of this episode wondering how in the world they were going to fix this! Magic holy spring ... uh, not actually an option I'd realized was on the table, but whatever. Good thing Methos could still find it after all these centuries. XD And hee, that is TOTALLY the fight scene at the end of SGA's Doppelganger! Only, you know, ten years earlier, and with swords! All dressed in black, even ...
(I did feel terribly sorry for Adrian Paul in the cavern, being all wet when it was obviously below freezing! The water's steaming when he gets out, post-Quickening, but it wasn't steaming when he got in. *shivers on his behalf*)
Two scenes from this episode are among those that I remember from old vids -- the one where Methos holds out Duncan's sword wrapped in his clan colors, and a bit from the very end when Duncan's in the spring. And I'd actually thought both of those were much spoilerier than they turned out to be, because, well -- didn't expect them AT ALL in this episode until they happened, so can't be too spoilery, right? (Helpfully, at that point I could not tell Duncan and Methos apart in vids, so I had no clue who was in the water and who wasn't.)
RACHEL! Er, embarrassingly, I'd forgotten who she was until she mentioned that she's the one who brought the MacLeod Family Sword to Paris. I'd been wondering where Methos got it from so quickly. But yay! There is something very appropriate about the fact that Duncan's clan helped him out of this, even if a bit indirectly. And Duncan's hopelessly feeble attempt to thank Methos for saving his soul ... hahahahaha DORKS. *squishes them*
Bit o' squee at end: Alexa! She's still alive! Squeeeeeee! ... um, though up until that point I'd been too caught up in the action to actually remember that Methos is not working in Paris right now but traveling the world with Alexa. So he left his terminally ill girlfriend in Athens to rush off to Paris to save Duncan. Erm. Alexa being Alexa, I'm sure she was very sweet about it and all "Of course you have to go save your friend!" and is currently having a blast exploring Athens by herself. And eeeee, she's still alive, and presumably has now been able to see Egypt and more! Doomed they may be, but I adore Methos and Alexa an awful lot. And thank you so much, Show, for mentioning her even in passing, and not just leaving us to wonder about it like some other (*cough SGA cough*) shows are wont to do.
This episode! This SHOW! *clutches it to heart*
Edit: Oh! I just re-watched the end of 4x14 and something clicked -- Methos sort of sneaking up on Duncan in the pool with the katana held behind his back: he came in there prepared to kill Duncan if it wasn't good!Duncan that had won, and he knew the only way he was gonna be able to do it was if he got in a surprise shot before Duncan knew what hit him. (It's also a wonderful little Methos character bit, because that is exactly how he's lived this long: by being sneaky.) And that casts his little laugh of relief in a whole new light, because of what he'd been prepared to do a minute ago. SHOW!
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