What a menacing title. This episode is the debut of Xavier St. Cloud, one of the most memorable bad guys in this series. Though admittedly, he's a lot more interesting in his later episodes; between that and various inconsistencies in this episode, it seems like he was intended to be a one-off and got brought back due to fan demand.
Xavier is the only villain to appear in seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4... as far as I know.
Xavier, looking spry in a 30's mobster outfit, is greeted in a jewelry store by a sexy French woman.
Xavier: "I'm looking for a pendant. Something you would like."
The terror of Morocco is very well-mannered and polite.
He then GASSES EVERYONE TO DEATH
...and wakes up a minute later to rob the place. Wow, that's new.
He even gasses his own accomplice. Said accomplice sputters that he'll see Xavier in Hell, to which Xavier replies... "Probably."
Meanwhile, in Darius' church...
...is it legal to sit in a confessional like this?
Darius: "It is no sin for your mother to take your ex-boyfriend."
The unseen presumed-hottie disappears, replaced by Xavier. He isn't Darius' favorite person. They have a discussion that amounts to Xavier taunting Darius and Darius wondering if Xavier has a soul.
Duncan visits Darius for a game of chess. They play a lot of chess.
Darius is much happier to see Duncan than he was to see Xavier.
Duncan knows something is bothering him, but Darius can't talk about it because Xavier literally confessed to him.
Inspector Lebron shows up, because he believes the culprit came here after he robbed the store. I like the way he refers to Xavier as "a handsome black man". Inspector Lebron is HILARIOUS.
When Duncan hears that the villain kills people with gas, he has a flashback to World War I. He was a medic there, having renounced combat in war.
Trench Warfare Sucks, as someone throws a mine into Duncan's camp.
Yellow gas then proceeds to kill everyone.
Here's Xavier. For some reason when he senses people, he doesn't get the usual buzz sound. He hears some sort of demonic noise that sounds like dogs laughing. Bizarre.
He goes to kill Duncan, but too many soldiers are converging on their position and he bails.
Xavier pulls a Grayson and visits Tessa. This is why immortals shouldn't have significant others.
He means no harm, however. Matter of fact, he gives her an antique sculpture, and she's elated about it. She has no idea who that Handsome Black Man was.
Out in the countryside, Duncan encounters a guy that he used to fight beside. They were in the French insurgency when the Germans occupied the country. Obviously Duncan can't let on who he is, and claims to be Duncan's son. The guy is shocked at the physical similarity.
Meanwhile, Richie brings home his hot new woman-friend.
Tess is unhappy with this development. Why? Because she knows the woman, and knows that she's married. As a result, Richie's new romance is doomed to go nowhere. Course, Tess doesn't say anything, but she knows Richie is going to end up getting hurt whenever he finds out the truth.
She explains the situation to Duncan and says he should talk to Richie. He's all "Me??"
Duncan figures out that Xavier is indeed in Paris, and decides to go after him.
Darius: "Be careful, he's ruthless."
Duncan: "He better be!"
Xavier is having coffee when Duncan finds him. Can a man enjoy his breakfast in peace?
A high-speed foot chase ensues!
Xavier escapes, and stuff happens with Lebron. He knows that Duncan knows stuff! And By God he won't rest until he gets to the bottom of this!
JUST BUGGER OFF, DUDE
Darius believes that he should have stopped Xavier himself, and regrets that he hasn't yet. Wow, Grayson wasn't evil enough for Darius to take up arms again, but Xavier might be.
Actually, Grayson may have identified himself as an emissary of war and destruction, but he was pretty honorable. Xavier has no scruples whatsoever.
Xavier returns to the church and finds both of them. "This is more than I could have hoped for!"
Duncan: "I'll be seeing you real soon, Xavier."
...why is it so smoky?
Duncan heads home, where he has a MAN-TALK with young Richie about his "new woman" being...uh...married. Richie is undeterred, thinking she'll probably leave her husband to be with him. Duncan knows better; it's a fling and nothing more, despite whatever feelings Richie may have. Ouch.
Richie decides to be a greeter at the door to Tessa's party, knowing that his lady and her father husband will show up. Oh, he knows, lady. Richie wasn't born yesterday!
...yeow, she's quite gorgeous. Her grandpa husband must be rich or something. I HOPE IT'S WORTH IT, LADY! YOU COULD HAVE HAD RICHIE! YOU COULD HAVE HAD HIS HEART, DAMMIT!
Richie breaks up with her. He doesn't want to carry on with a married woman who is devoted to someone else. He's kinda crushed about this, while she's all "well, okay" and probably goes off to bang the coat check guy or something.
Sorry, Richie. She wasn't that into you.
Speaking of gorgeous... yeow
Duncan realizes that there's a bomb inside the statue (the one Xavier gave her) JUST IN TIME.
He unplugs it with one second to spare, and it doesn't go off. Duncan Bauer, bitch!
BEEP-KOOM
BEEP-KOOM
BEEP-KOOM
And now it's ON. Xavier is so ballsy that he brought a katana to this fight. Why should the Clan Macleod be the only ones with katanas?
Xavier: "I'm just trying to earn a few francs. A man's gotta live!"
Duncan: "Not necessarily."
The sword-sparks return for this fight. Awesome.
Xavier is one of Duncan's biggest challenges yet, though Grayson and the Mountain Man both whooped Duncan to a greater degree. We get some sweet shadow-fighting as they battle all around the waterfront.
Duncan wins the fight, CHOPPING OFF XAVIER'S ARM. Good Lord. Xavier screeches and leaps into the river.
The next morning, Duncan crawls out of the river. He searched all over for Xavier, but all he has to show for it is pneumonia.
Adrian Paul definitely could have played James Bond.
He knows Xavier will be back, and that concludes this episode. Good to finally have a villain survive the end of a single episode.
As a series fan, I have a big problem with this episode. Normally the series is really good about continuity within itself, but this episode has a huge error on that front. Duncan acts like he doesn't really know Xavier here; their meeting with WWI is treated as their first encounter. In later episodes it's established that they've known each other for much longer than that.
This version of Xavier seems like a one-off villain, and this episode doesn't jive with later Xavier episodes. I get that bringing him back was a later decision, but I wish the continuity had been a bit stronger. As it is, it's very distracting, and it hurts this episode as well as later Xavier episodes.
There's something about this episode that drives me crazy, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
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