I tend to see the Cassandra thing as the beginning of the end of the Horsemen myself, so I'm not sure how well it works as an example of their dynamic during Methos's worst days.
I had wondered this myself when I first watched the episode -- if the Cassandra thing was part of the catalyst for his transition to the Methos we know now. But I don't think the timeline works out at all. He refers to having been with the Horsemen as recently as 2000 years ago, doesn't he? Even allowing for a fudge factor of a few hundred years, if this is the Bronze Age, he'd still have several centuries with the Horsemen ahead of him. This would have been more like the middle of it. It may still have been a catalyzing factor, but I don't think it was an immediate one; based on timeline I'd figured that it was probably one of other, similar scenes that took place throughout his time with the Horsemen and eventually led to him finding a different path from theirs.
Ironically for how little we know about him, Methos's timeline is actually harder for me to sync up in my head than Duncan's, because some of the references from earlier in the series don't seem to fit with his whole "barbarian raider" persona at all ... like having kept a journal "since writing began", learning hieroglyphics and Greek along the way.... On the other hand, since even the other Horsemen seem to think of him as a scholarly, bookish person, presumably he was that way when he was with them as well, which is a delightfully complicated picture: Methos, seeking knowledge as well as destruction, relaxing at the end of a hard day of pillaging and raping by writing in his journal, or forcing captives to teach him their languages .... (Kronos: "You were supposed to take slaves, not books!")
But he didn't really want to - part of him still loved Kronos even while he was afraid of him.
Oh, yes, certainly. Well, he basically told Duncan that at the end of the last episode, didn't he? He didn't kill Kronos in part because Kronos was still his family. But he's also scared shitless of him ...
I like the dark complexity of Methos's relationship with the Horsemen; he can recognize what they are, but he still feels the bond with them -- they haven't stopped being his friends simply because he's changed and they haven't. And they aren't the ones who reject him -- they're quite willing to take him back again. I'm not entirely sure of all of his motivations for helping Kronos get the band back together -- surely four of them would be infinitely more dangerous to the world, and to Duncan and Methos's other friends, than two of them -- but I do think part of it, maybe most of it, was just that he wanted to see his friends again, and have the camaraderie back that they shared in the old days. As isolated as Methos generally is these days, and as long as he's lived, it's possible that his time with the Horsemen was the last time he really felt like he was a full-fledged part of a group and not an outsider.
Btw, I find it really interesting that you weren't sure Methos wouldn't actively turn against Duncan - it's something that never really occurred to me.
No, I wasn't sure. I was actually a bit surprised that he drew his line there. But then, I was still feeling out my view of the character. I don't think Methos is completely unwilling to betray or attempt to harm a friend -- he turned against Silas, after all, though only when Silas really forced his hand. But it does seem like loyalty is one of his overriding traits, to the few people that he gives his loyalty to. (... oh hell, that's another bulletproof fiction kink of mine too. *g*) Which was actually one of the reasons why I'd emotionally distanced myself from the character earlier in season five -- I'd been getting the impression that he was putting on a show of camaraderie that wasn't really there. But, no, not really: I think in some ways he's a more loyal person than Duncan is (much as I adore Duncan ...) because Duncan will act against his friends' interests if he has to for the greater good. It tears him apart, but he'll do it. Methos is more of a "screw the world, my friends all the way" kind of person -- like in these episodes with the Horsemen, actually.
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I had wondered this myself when I first watched the episode -- if the Cassandra thing was part of the catalyst for his transition to the Methos we know now. But I don't think the timeline works out at all. He refers to having been with the Horsemen as recently as 2000 years ago, doesn't he? Even allowing for a fudge factor of a few hundred years, if this is the Bronze Age, he'd still have several centuries with the Horsemen ahead of him. This would have been more like the middle of it. It may still have been a catalyzing factor, but I don't think it was an immediate one; based on timeline I'd figured that it was probably one of other, similar scenes that took place throughout his time with the Horsemen and eventually led to him finding a different path from theirs.
Ironically for how little we know about him, Methos's timeline is actually harder for me to sync up in my head than Duncan's, because some of the references from earlier in the series don't seem to fit with his whole "barbarian raider" persona at all ... like having kept a journal "since writing began", learning hieroglyphics and Greek along the way.... On the other hand, since even the other Horsemen seem to think of him as a scholarly, bookish person, presumably he was that way when he was with them as well, which is a delightfully complicated picture: Methos, seeking knowledge as well as destruction, relaxing at the end of a hard day of pillaging and raping by writing in his journal, or forcing captives to teach him their languages .... (Kronos: "You were supposed to take slaves, not books!")
But he didn't really want to - part of him still loved Kronos even while he was afraid of him.
Oh, yes, certainly. Well, he basically told Duncan that at the end of the last episode, didn't he? He didn't kill Kronos in part because Kronos was still his family. But he's also scared shitless of him ...
I like the dark complexity of Methos's relationship with the Horsemen; he can recognize what they are, but he still feels the bond with them -- they haven't stopped being his friends simply because he's changed and they haven't. And they aren't the ones who reject him -- they're quite willing to take him back again. I'm not entirely sure of all of his motivations for helping Kronos get the band back together -- surely four of them would be infinitely more dangerous to the world, and to Duncan and Methos's other friends, than two of them -- but I do think part of it, maybe most of it, was just that he wanted to see his friends again, and have the camaraderie back that they shared in the old days. As isolated as Methos generally is these days, and as long as he's lived, it's possible that his time with the Horsemen was the last time he really felt like he was a full-fledged part of a group and not an outsider.
Btw, I find it really interesting that you weren't sure Methos wouldn't actively turn against Duncan - it's something that never really occurred to me.
No, I wasn't sure. I was actually a bit surprised that he drew his line there. But then, I was still feeling out my view of the character. I don't think Methos is completely unwilling to betray or attempt to harm a friend -- he turned against Silas, after all, though only when Silas really forced his hand. But it does seem like loyalty is one of his overriding traits, to the few people that he gives his loyalty to. (... oh hell, that's another bulletproof fiction kink of mine too. *g*) Which was actually one of the reasons why I'd emotionally distanced myself from the character earlier in season five -- I'd been getting the impression that he was putting on a show of camaraderie that wasn't really there. But, no, not really: I think in some ways he's a more loyal person than Duncan is (much as I adore Duncan ...) because Duncan will act against his friends' interests if he has to for the greater good. It tears him apart, but he'll do it. Methos is more of a "screw the world, my friends all the way" kind of person -- like in these episodes with the Horsemen, actually.