Monday, February 3, 2014

Highlander: The Series 1x22 - The Hunters


The finale of season one is here. TAKE ME TO THE FUTURE OF YOUR WORLD!

This is a particularly good episode, steeped in real-world feelings and featuring the debut of one of the show's most memorable immortals.

Highlander. Drink responsibly.


Duncan and Tessa have completely wrecked this room. My God.

He senses an immortal while they're doing it. Don't you hate when that happens?

Luckily, this time around it's the kindly Fitzcairn. He and Duncan go back...way back. To when they both learned how to read. As adults. The education system wasn't what it is today, you see.

Duncan and Fitz have tea. Unfortunately, Fitz brings ill tidings. It seems that a lot of immortals have been going missing as of late.

He can't understand how Darius can be a priest. "Religion? Sure. But giving up women? Is he mad?"

Enter the Horton, as one of Highlander's worst villains makes his first appearance. He's also the only human villain on the show. No immortality here. ...well, some later episodes may call that into question, but I get ahead of myself.

He's a renegade watcher who believes that immortals are evil abominations and must be exterminated. Sieg Heil!

We get some footage of Darius from an earlier episode, and it's implied that Horton and crew went in and killed him. Not seen, just implied.

They had to do this, because the actor who played Darius, Werner Stocker, was dying of cancer at this point. "Saving Grace" was his last real episode.

Darius isn't answering his phone. This is odd indeed.

Duncan goes to the church and finds the place wrecked.

...but most importantly, Darius is dead. Duncan flies into a rage at this.

He has no idea who was behind this.

Richie bounds in like a jolly lad, and gets the bad news.

Stuff happens, as the Fitz and Macleod Connection chase a bunch of guys in suits around.

Duncan is in full-on "beat people up" mode, but these guys aren't talking. Too bad Duncan doesn't know to check their wrist yet.

Flashback. Check out the matching facial hair. These guys are awesome in flashback.

A back-alley brawl transpires, and Fitz is a badass. Not as much so as Duncan, allowing Duncan to mock him for not winning his fight as quickly.

Back in the present Duncan is pretty much losing his mind, telling Tessa that she should be scared.

Meanwhile, Horton catches Tessa on the street and subtly checks her for wounds. She has a cut on her hand, so he knows she isn't immortal.

Now the renegade watchers are following Richie around. Duncan is actually looking for them, so acting nondescript isn't as effective as it used to be...

Duncan turns the tables, being obnoxious and speaking in an Eastern European accent while he stalks the stalkers. "We get brewski!" he says.

This ends with a BURLY BRAWL as more goons leap over the hedges and rush at our hero.

There's SO MANY OF THEM. It's like the final battle of that one Matrix movie.

They get Duncan on the ground, and it looks like the end for our hero when...

...RICHIE of all people motorcycle-slides onto the scene, bowling over the goon squad. AWESOME.

The bad guys disperse. That's right, Richie saved Duncan for once.

Meanwhile, Fitz has been kidnapped. In other news, he rocks a scarf like nobody's business.

Horton and goons torture Fitz to see if he's immortal, and when he heals quickly from their attacks, they know he is. This show has had some villains, but Horton absolutely blows them all away in vileness.

Duncan can't think about anything besides his fury over Darius.

"He was on holy ground. He should have been safe. He should have been SAFE."

Duncan (w/ bandana) goes on offense, beating up goons until he finds out where their lair is.

There's no time, as they're about to put Fitz to the guillotine. NO! NOT FITZ!

Fitz: "Do I get a last request?"

Horton: "No."

Duncan arrives with seconds to spare and beats everyone up... until Horton tasers him.

He cuts the cord on the taser, and now he's even more pissed at Darius' presumed killer.

"I'm unarmed!" sneers Horton, expecting mercy from the vile immortal scum.

Duncan tells Horton that the immortals mean no harm and don't deserve to be exterminated.

Seems like Horton is afraid that an evil immortal will someday be the last one and cast a dark shadow over the Earth. It's a bit of a point, but his Nazi-like beliefs and complete lack of ethics pretty much negate him as any kind of a force for righteousness.

Fitz is saved. "The women of the world thank you" he says.

Horton escaped, though. For now. Yep, the show finally has a major recurring villain.

The episode ends with our heroes dumping Darius' ashes into the Seine.

Duncan says some good words, and that's it. Apparently these were actually Werner Stocker's ashes, and our heroes weren't acting in this scene. Much like his character, he was a good-hearted guy, and you can tell.

Pretty sad ending for the first season. I'll be doing season two at some point sooner or later. If you'd like it to be sooner, leave a comment below. Or leave a comment for any other reason. Comments are welcome.





5 comments:

  1. Wait a minute, I completely forgot that Fitz also first appeared in this episode... He is so very much at the heart of the series, in spite of not appearing very often, that I just somehow assumed he had always been there... silly me.

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  2. "He was on holy ground. He should have been safe. He should have been SAFE."

    This was totally me while watching Endgame.

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  3. Fitz is saved. "The women of the world thank you" he says.

    Best "thanks for saving me" line EVER,

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  4. Those couldn't have been Werner Stocker's ashes when they filmed that scene. Stocker was very ill but still alive at the time. He is interred in Flintsbach, Germany.

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