Highlander mid-season-five 2-parter

[sholio]

Wow. That was seriously epic. This show! *catches breath*

And the Horsemen of the Apocalypse thing ... did not see that coming AT ALL. Well, okay, having seen those clips of barbarian!Methos did spoil me for that twist once the episode got underway (as soon as Cassandra brought up the horsemen, my reaction was "HOSHIT METHOS"), but yeah ... again with managing to remain unspoiled for what is probably one of the easiest spoilers to run across in the whole fandom. *g*

I'm still processing a lot of it. I love, as always, how complicated the show makes things -- it's not as simple as Methos going along with Kronos & co. out of fear, or because they're his friends, or because he's tempted by what they're offering, but perhaps a little of all three, in different measures depending on the moment. I liked seeing the less pleasant side of Duncan's moral absolutism: that it's both a strength and a failing of his. I liked the recognition that the Bronze Age Eurasian world was rough and cruel and brutal (Cassandra's fate -- captured, raped, her people killed -- was the fate of a lot of women in her time), but also that the same kind of cruelty and brutality still exists today (the Vietnam comparison -- that whole conversation with Joe and Duncan -- was brilliant).

I suspect that when I dive into the fanworks for this show that I'm going to find a lot of stories in which Methos is written as a guilt-ridden woobie, and, I don't know, I guess one of the things I really love about him is that he's not? I don't get the impression that he's sitting around being eaten up with guilt for those days. He just doesn't want to do it again; like he says at one point, it was a phase he went through, and now he's moved on. Which is not to say that he doesn't have regrets or guilt at all -- obviously he does for specific things (like what happened to Cassandra). But, again, not to the consuming level, and I don't think he hates himself for it or anything.

I don't think anything in these episodes changed my general impressions of Methos that I was talking about in the last post, but it added a lot of depth and complexity.

So, yeah ... still pondering the character stuff in the episodes, still kind of blown away by the action and the epic scope.

Comments

[sholio]

Hee! It's nice to finally know, and not have to be quite so rabidly spoiler-avoidant as I had been. I'd gotten the definite impression that there was some kind of major Thing about Methos that was going to be revealed at some point, and really did not want to know what it was beforehand. I'd actually been idly speculating that it was something to do with the origins of the Immortals, which, well, no. But still very interesting and unexpected! And I feel rather more confident about participating in Methos-related discussions now, without having to squint through my fingers for fear of having something really huge spoiled for me ... *g*

And, yeah, it's fascinating to see the contrast between Methos and the rest of the Horsemen in the modern day -- how he's gone on, learned, adapted to a very different world, but they haven't.

It does actually bother me that he manipulates his friends, even up to and including risking their lives -- I think that's one of the big hurdles to me actually liking him. (Though, yeah, in that particular case it's up in the air, whether he did it on purpose or just let events shape his response.) But on the other hand, he is who he is: a person who's survived five thousand years by not trusting any farther than he has to, not caring any more than he has to. It was interesting to see how far he'll actually go when he's pushed to the edge -- and how far he won't go. He'll join the Horsemen and help them with their plans -- then sabotage those plans behind their backs. He didn't kill Duncan at Kronos's behest (didn't even try, actually), and he wasn't able to stand by and let Silas kill Cassandra, even though the alternative was that he'd be forced to kill a friend.

[sheron]

It's tough to remember that far back, but I'm pretty sure that episode really rocked my world and made it very tough to like Methos for a good long while. I'd eventually come to accept his manipulative side, but it was a road to acceptance on my part.

And you're completely right, it's really interesting to see where he draws the line. I like the paralels of his separating Kronos and Duncan fighting by setting the place on fire, with the way he stopped Kalas and Duncan fightning the first time they met. It's intersting to see him use his mind like that to get what he wants.

[trobadora]

I like the paralels of his separating Kronos and Duncan fighting by setting the place on fire, with the way he stopped Kalas and Duncan fightning the first time they met.

Yes! and I think this is why it often doesn't matter whether things were planned in advance or not, and why everything still holds together so well - because they keep referring back to things that already happened, and tying things together that way.