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A Kind of Magic Print
Written by Karen L. Scott   
Friday, 01 October 1999
Page 2 of 2

Season Four

This season the storylines really begin to improve and show a greater depth to not only Duncan, but to the whole cast. Season Four starts out with the episode “Homeland” which sees Duncan return to the place of his birth in Glenfinnan, Scotland. This episode is interesting for a couple of reasons: it was the first to be directed by the series’ leading man Adrian Paul and it was actually filmed on location in Glenfinnan.
The last three years have shown Duncan MacLeod to be a man with a very strong moral code. From this point on he is forced to face several dilemmas that put a lot of strain on his morals.

The dilemmas he comes across have many faces. In “The Innocent” he and Ritchie must decide what to do with an immortal named Mikey (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who is a man of limited mental development. In “Reunion” Duncan is reunited with Kenny (Miles Ferguson) an evil 800 year old immortal who looks ten years old. “Chivalry” sees him confronted with former lover Kristin (Ann Turkel) who, when she is jilted by a lover, ends up killing either them or the person they have left her for.

The biggest battle he faces is with himself, when in the two-part episode “Something Wicked” and “Deliverance”, he takes the head of Jim Coltec (Byron Chief Moon), which results in a dark quickening. When in “Deliverance” Methos tries to help him, the now evil Duncan taunts Methos (when Methos tells him “And I may have to kill you”): “If you kill me, you become me. You’ll kill a friend, a lover. You will go mad. Do you know what evil is? Dark, soulless evil.”

During this season the world’s oldest immortal will fall in love with a young woman who is dying. Methos meets Alexa (Ocean Hellman) in the episode “Timeless” and their touching love story will follow through several episodes. As Alexa’s time begins to run out Methos becomes desperate, even going so far in “Methuselah’s Gift” to try and steal the Methuselah Stone, which supposedly brings eternal life and invulnerability to the wearer. But the Methuselah Stone is doomed to end up on the muddy bottom of the river Seine, leaving Methos to mourn Alexa in “Through A Glass Darkly”.
Season Four also shows the fracturing of friendships between Duncan and Ritchie in “Something Wicked” and between Duncan, Joe and Methos in the two-part “Judgement Day” and “One Minute To Midnight”. This occurs when Joe is put on trial by the Watchers Tribunal for breaking their rules and letting an immortal know about their existence. With Watchers and immortals pitted against each other it becomes a no-win situation. Methos is forced to decide what he is, a Watcher or an immortal, and from this point on Adam Pierson is never heard of again. Duncan tells Joe that their friendship is over.

Season Five

This season shows further growth and development in all characters, some of which shock and upset Duncan. “End of Innocence” sees the return of Ritchie Ryan, but this is a very different Ritchie. No longer the “golly gee” wide-eyed kid that we first knew, this one is full of hurt and anger after his last meeting with Duncan, which saw Duncan try to take his head soon after the dark quickening. Bitter and angry, Ritchie had left town and had began a spree of beheadings.

This anger is turned around in the episode “The Messenger” which will see Ritchie come across an immortal (Ron Pearlman) claiming to be Methos, who goes around spreading his message of peace and non violence among immortals, believing “The Game” can be stopped.

In the two-parter “Comes A Horseman” and “Revelation 6.8” we learn about the darker side of Methos – a very dark side. He is revealed as being one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and he was Death. Their friendship is now on very shaky ground and remains that way for the rest of the season.

The relationship with Joe also continues to twist and turn. At the beginning of “End of Innocence” Duncan is still fairly hostile towards Joe, making it clear that while Joe is still a Watcher they can never be friends. And yet when Joe makes up his mind to leave the Watchers because he feels his friendship with Duncan is more important, Duncan does an about face. Telling Joe “For thousands of years immortals have fought and Watchers have observed. One day there’ll only be one of us left, and some day maybe none at all. Somebody has to record that we’ve lived, somebody has to record the history we’ve seen and the lessons we’ve learned. I know what I said, but our lives, our story has to be recorded. Not by some petty clerk, but someone who feels, someone who does, someone who has honour. Like you.”

Season Five does have a few lighter episodes as they try to lift the mood with a few hilarious scenarios. “Dramatic Licence” sees Duncan’s life being published as part of a steamy romantic novel. “The Ransome of Richard Redstone” will see Ritchie being kidnapped by a couple who believe he is a multi-millionaire and “Stone of Scone” shows how Duncan, Amanda and Fitz stole the famous Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey and returned it to Scotland.

Season Five finishes with the episode “Archangel”. An episode which caused quite a bit of controversy. Why? Because it would see the killing off of one of the shows favourite characters Ritchie Ryan. So upset were some fans that they set up a group called Clan Denial, claiming that they never saw it (“Archangel”) therefore it never happened.

Season Six

This is the final series and is notable for several reasons. At the end of Season Five Rysher, the company behind Highlander, changed hands and the change in ownership soon became apparent. It is no secret that the powers-that-be considered ending the series with “Archangel”. Adrian Paul wanted to move on and new owners didn’t quite understand the concept of the series, but then decided they were interested in keeping it on if the lead character was female. A deal was finally worked out and Highlander kept its current lead. But the final season would only contain 13 episodes, with the possibility of a spin-off series with a female lead.

Higlander: The SeriesSeason Six started off following on from “Archangel”. It is a year later and Duncan has returned from his self-imposed exile in Malaysia. The first two episodes are called “Avatar” and “Armageddon”, together with “Archangel” they are known as the triple-A storyline.

Because the new owners were looking for a possible new female lead, four of the episodes included very strong female characters. Unortunately this last season fails to feel right. The stories are still good, but there is something lacking.

In the episode “Two of Hearts” none of the regular cast appear, although it is apparent that this episode is a showcase for former Babylon 5 star Claudia Christian, who was one possible lead for the new series.

The last three episodes are by far the saving grace of this season. “Indiscretions” sees Joe and Methos team up while Duncan is out of town. Joe asks Methos to help him when Watcher Amy Thomas (Louise Taylor) – who turns out to be Joe’s daughter – is taken hostage by immortal Morgan Walker (Benedict Blyth). Walker is willing to exchange Amy for Doctor Benjamin Adams (aka Methos). Joe agrees to set Methos up, but feels more and more uncomfortable as Methos merrily chatters away about what good friends they are – “We could actually make a really good team, like Scully and Mulder.” It’s a shame that the makers of the series took until now to realise how well these two characters bounced off each other.

The season ends with the sentimental two-part episode “To Be” and “Not to Be”. All familiar faces old and new are back as Highlander does its own version of “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Which leaves you with a good feeling as you say farewell to Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

Spin Offs

Highlander’s stories started out all right, but as the years went by the storylines progressively got better and better. They drew the audience into the fascinating world that surrounded these immortals. And this would continue with the spin off series Highlander: The Raven. For all their attempts to find a new female immortal, Rysher finally went with the one that the fans wanted. And what the fans wanted was Amanda – Elizabeth Gracen was well-known and liked by the fans. The character of Amanda is over 1200 years old, but the original series only scratched the surface. Now here was an opportunity to find out more about her.

Amanda is teamed up with ex-cop Nick Wolfe (Paul Johansson), Rysher’s idea was to team them up and have a Moonlighting feel to the series. However as the series progressed it reverted back to the regular Highlander format, which didn’t sit well with the powers-that-be. Consequently it looks unlikely that there will be a second season. Although Rysher seem intent on keeping the hopes of fans around the world alive with talk of the possibility of another Highlander spin off in 2000. But we will just have to wait and see.

Until then at least we will have the next instalment of Highlander on the big screen. The film, now being called Highlander: World Without End, is set to start filming later this year. So far Adrian Paul, Christopher Lambert and Peter Wingfield have signed on to play their movie/tv personas.

Conventions

One aspect of Highlander that does appear to still be very popular is the various conventions that are held around the world. Chronicles in England, The Gathering in Denver and The Highlander Cruise, which for the last few years has gone from Miami to the Bahamas. This year it’s going from Los Angeles to Ensenada in Mexico. I will be attending this particular convention as well as the Wolf 359 Highlander Legacy convention in London the following weekend. I’m really looking forward to them, these will be the first overseas conventions I have ever attended. And not to be forgotten, the excellent Highlander Downunder conventions which are held in Brisbane.     

For more information on Highlander, write to: Highlander Downunder, The Official Highlander Fan Club of Australia, P.O. Box 198, Brisbane Albert Street QLD 4002, Australia. Or visit their web site at http://www.hldu.org/

This article first appeared in the October 1999 issue of Frontier

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