Monday, December 30, 2013

Highlander: The Series 1x17 - Saving Grace


Closing out 2013 with one more Highlander post. This episode is a good one, mainly because Darius gets a ton of screentime.


Here's Grace, the person this episode is named after. It would have been called "Amazing Grace" but her ego isn't big enough. Plus, Duncan wanted the title to be all about him. "THIS IS MY SHOW" he said.

As you may have surmised, Grace needs saving. Her father husband, seen here, is a mortal doctor. Or WAS, because her vastly more attractive immortal ex-boyfriend just killed him. "At least marry upward next time!" he said while scampering off to admire himself in a mirror.

Meanwhile, these two are playing some kind of strategic war game with a massive board. Looks awesome. Reminds me of HeroQuest a little bit. Coolest board game EVER.

Grace shows up. Ah yes, she's immortal too. So that means we have three immortals onscreen at once. No word on if they all clutched their ears and fell to the ground as their buzzes turned into mic-squealing.

She's upset that her husband got killed, and of course, Duncan is there to console her. Luckily, since this is Season One, there's no chance of him continuing to "console" her in bed. Because that would be somewhat tasteless, ya rat bastard.

Duncan knows her ex-boyfriend, and he's on the case. Meanwhile, I suspect Darius has a crush. No! Bad Darius! Her husband just died!

She's quite the cutie, even though she doesn't seem to be in some shots. Like the very first shot. Laboratory lighting isn't very flattering. In any case, Duncan agrees to let her stay at his barge.

Speaking of cuties, here we see Duncan firmly grasping Tessa's powerful haunches.

Tess finds out that there's a woman staying here. Didn't something like that deserve a mention sooner?

"Back off, woman!" says Duncan. "You're not my wife!"

To which Richie replies "Not yet, but it'll be legal in a decade or two!"

Flashback. Our hero is minding his own business when he's accosted by ruffians. Geez, you couldn't even go outside back then. It was like modern-day Detroit.

He runs into another immortal, and it's Grace, delivering someone's baby. He's feeling awkward because he barreled in ready for battle.

Grace: "You want my head?"

Duncan: "Wellllll...no."

Not in a bad way, that is. HEY!

Duncan: "Only to admire."

What a Don Juan!

And that's how he met this woman. The amazing thing is, he NEVER HAD SEX WITH HER. That's amazing for him, because with Duncan and females, sex seems to always be something that's on the table. ...so to speak. He loves the women and they know it.

He's still a bit on the cozy side with Grace, which leads to jealousy from...

...Tess, who did NOT drop that tray after this picture. She's an adult.

Neither her nor Duncan strike me as the type to get jealous. He definitely isn't. I could understand why Tess would get pushed in that direction by Duncan, though, given the amount of attention he gets from women. Still, she's been in a relationship with him for years now, I'd think the trust factor would be built up.

Stuff happens with Inspector Lebron and MY GOD, GET OFF MY BACK! JUST... JUST GET OFF MY BACK!

While Duncan is tied up by the inspector, the women are left alone. This is the perfect time for the villain to swoop in and chat with Macleod's lady, something that is rapidly becoming a series trope.

BEHOLD! It's the nefarious ex-boyfriend, Carlos Sendaro.

And man, is this guy nefarious. He's quite the handsome lad, but don't be fooled, ladies.

He's all "plz, I need you, other women suck. They're loud and obnoxious and they listen to Flo Rida songs all the time."

She's all "it's over, plz, stop killing my husbands"

So, this isn't the first time it happened.

He's all "I shall MAKE you love me again!" and then they sense...

...well, someone's a bit irritated right now.

Duncan flashbacks to when he first met Sendaro. He didn't really trust the guy with Grace, because he knows nefarity when he sees it. ...is that a word?

He got over it, regardless.

Sendaro leaves rather than have to deal with Duncan. Now he's basically Grace's bodyguard for the time being.

More coziness.

Grace and Tessa talk about how love hurts. Specifically, losing people that mean a lot to you.

Sendaro: "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Does this guy get some kind of alert every time the women are by themselves?

He kidnaps Grace, so Tess runs back to tell Duncan. IT'S ON NOW, FOO. ...why is he such a bad bodyguard?

Duncan finds them at Grace's house, since Sendaro is getting her stuff before taking her away.

Duncan: "You were blind then and YOU STILL ARE!"

After a minute of particularly violent battle, a shrieking Grace stops the fight.

Duncan's "this isn't over" face.

With Grace saved, she decides to stay with Darius on holy ground. These two are also long-time friends, which makes sense given that they're both dedicated to helping people.

Darius: "I'll pray to the Patron Saint of Troubles for you."

Before leaving she SMOOCHES DARIUS. Awesome.

That was the jump-up-and-cheer moment of the series so far. No joke.

Stuff happens, Carlos comes after her at the church and beats up cops...

A SUBWAY CHASE~! follows as he manages to get his mitts on Grace again. Why is Duncan such an atrocious bodyguard?

Sendaro used to be quite the badass in South America, conquering tribes for decades. He gives Duncan quite a battle at this point. You know it's the final battle because Duncan's jacket is off this time.

Finally, Duncan's foot gets caught in the train track.

Well, shit.

That sound you hear is the incoming train. Sendaro is just going to let it plow into Duncan, rather than killing him. Yikes.

The only problem is, the track just became electrified. Sendaro's sword touches it, and BZZZZZT.

The other track isn't electrified (wait, shouldn't the one the incoming train is on be the one that electrifies? Eh, I'm no engineer) and Duncan manages to get free of it. I guess the train was on the other track and Sendaro didn't realize it.

Sendaro is gruesomely beheaded by the train, causing Duncan to absorb his quickening. This establishes that in the event of an immortal dying to something besides another immortal, the nearest immortal gets their quickening. If there's one nearby at all. ...actually, this was probably established in the Sea Witch episode, but it's been a while.

Duncan looks evil for a second, but it's more likely that he's just pissed-off. He almost died there.

With that problem solved, Grace leaves the country. Duncan sees her off. Wouldn't have minded seeing more of her in later episodes, but I think this is it.

At least we get these sweet Watcher Chronicles to tell us more.

Good episode. Really good. It loses some points for being redundant towards the end (Sendaro comes after her multiple times in the same way and it seems like they were killing time). But other than that, definitely one of Season One's high points.

Thus concludes the last post of 2013. Is anyone actually reading these Highlander posts? Leave a comment below!




5 comments:

  1. I've just come across them, and I enjoy them. I hope you will get to the good stuff in the later episodes eventually.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. Good summary.

    You're right about Duncan being a lousy body guard. The series depends on it.

    And you're right about the multiple abductions of Grace by Sendaro. How many time does she have to be abducted and/or accosted for people to catch on and for Duncan to realise he can't leave her alone?

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  5. Having recently discovered them, I think they're great. In the later episodes, you should get to the good stuff eventually.
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