Monday, September 23, 2019

Highlander: The Series 3x11 - Vendetta

 A fairly average episode and an uncharacteristic dip in S3's momentum, even if the cover-lady has beautiful lips. Keep in mind that Anne is on the cover of like NO EPISODES.

Honestly, I feel like Anne would only make it onto one if she died in that episode. Which I don't think ever happens, but my point stands.




 Spot The Watcher! I might make this a thing. Some of the episode bonus materials tell you who the watchers were in that episode, if any. I'm gonna keep an eye out for you, "Sarah Panzer".

 We start with short, puny immortal Benny the Bookie getting roughed up by mobsters. This guy is a loanshark, swindler, and general mafioso going back many decades.

 He's run afoul of Willie Nelson's Angry Twin (angry because he took a different path and does not partake of the plants).

The bad guys decide that Benny has to sleep with the fishes, and put his feet in a cement block. Unbeknownst to them but sorta-assumed to us... Benny is immortal. Which means getting thrown into the ocean with a cement block around your feet is pretty bad. He asks if they can just shoot him instead, then offers them... Macleod. It seems Macleod did something to Angry Willie Nelson like 60 years ago. Benny plays this off as it being Macleod's grandson, who "knows everything that happened". He swears to take care of this if they let him go.

 Next thing we know, he's visiting Duncan, who is less than enthused by his presence. Apparently every time Duncan sees the guy, Benny is trying to pull one over on him.

After Total Recall, I'll never trust anybody named Benny.

 Richie, however, IS enthused, especially when he finds out that Benny knew Al Capone. "Mac! This guy knew Al Capone!"

 Duncan is like "My God, please, not now" at all of this.

 He then turns around and walks right into...ANNE! She looks both lonely and supple.

 Duncan is lonely too, so this works out great. Come on in, Anne!

 Benny very obviously checks out Anne's majestic rack while Richie physically walks him out of the room. What an impolite buffoon. If you must know, they're real, and they're spectacular.

 Duncan drops an "I miss you" and she melts a little. That usually goes well for me too. They both kinda want to get back together, but DO THEY REALLY? I don't know why it's so difficult for people to agree to just spend time together and have fun. All this breaking up and getting back together and deliberating over whether or not they should like, hang out.

I see what Benny was on about, as Anne's nipples are distractingly erect for this entire scene.

He then invites her to stay over and give it another go. "There'll be drinking, fighting, fucking. Wear whatever you want, it's just the two of us."

...is what he'd say if this were a modern show on HBO or something.

 They then passionately smooch in what might be the first time we've seen any kind of physical contact between them. Already, Duncan/Anne 2.0 is way better than the first run!

 Duncan hangs out with Richie and Benny. They talk about mobsters and stuff. After Richie takes off, Benny predictably stiffs Duncan with the bill.

 Outside, Duncan and Richie's Stunt Doubles accost Benny with bats. It seems he owes them money...LOTS of money.

 Duncan comes out and beats them up with some really good bat-disarming moves. Benny suggests they go to a poker game.

 That poker game is down by a darkened pier. Not suspicious at all! Let's do it!

 Nefarious Willie and his goons are waiting here. ...this isn't a poker game is it

 "Benny...what is this?"

Evil Willie says that Duncan looks "just like his grandfather" and then Benny clocks Duncan with a bottle.

 The goons toss Duncan off the pier, though they don't seal his feet in cement first. They didn't even shoot him! What kind of incompetent mobsters are these guys?

 Benny asks if they're square now that he's given them a dead Duncan Macleod's "Grandson". The guy's all "yeh"

 Benny, to his credit, waits for Duncan to crawl out of the ocean. He brings a blanket and everything! See, he isn't a bad guy, see.

 Duncan just spent the morning drowning, and he's NOT happy.

 He demands to know what the hell all of this is about, so Benny explains. The guy that wanted Duncan's "Grandson" dead is...

::Doo-doo-doo! Doo-doo-doo!::

 The seedy Coconut Lounge, 1938 Chicago, see. Where the morals are loose and the dames are looser, see.

 Duncan is taking in the high life when he senses another immortal. Every time this happens, it's a mix of a few feelings. There's some fear that it might be someone who is really bad news. There's a little hope that it's someone he knows. And there's some inquisitiveness at maybe making a new friend.

 Benny tries to look tough and trips down the stairs, immediately letting Duncan know that the answer is C and not much of a threat.

 And that's how they began their long and storied friendship of occasionally running into each other and Benny annoying Duncan half to death.

 The singer at the Coconut Lounge is Peggy, a statuesque blonde with a golden voice, see.

 Duncan is enamored with her, and Benny is like "whoa there, that's the boss' girl, see"

 The boss in question is this douchebag over here. He flirts with other women every chance he gets, while also being jealous as hell every time Peggy says hi to another guy. I've met a few people like this guy, and they're always scum.

 His brother is his bookkeeper, the creepy Sid. He's completely infatuated with Peggy, and jealous that his brother has her even though his brother is a cheating scoundrel.

 Peggy continues to sing, and makes eye contact with...

 ...our hero, who is going to go ahead and introduce himself against the advice of counsel.

 Duncan gives her the ol' hand-kiss and intense eye contact combo.

 Benny is like "my new friend is a loon" and drinks his drink. Then he drinks Duncan's drink too, and orders more drinks on Duncan's tab.

 Duncan proceeds to dance with Peggy, who is trying to get The Boss to notice so he'll stop hitting on the waitresses. Duncan has already figured this out, but he plays along.

 We get a great dip that would have a home in the intro credits for a while after this, maybe the entire rest of the series. Peggy? More like Leggy, am I right fellas!

 The Boss comes over like "dafuq is THIS" and Duncan is immediately all "Watch it, kid."

Well, nothing happened. Duncan said no offense was meant and left. So where's the rest of the story? We'll get back to that later.

 Duncan suits up for Anne Time. Richie is starting to get annoyed by Benny's continued presence too.

 Duncan and Anne go out to a black-tie event held by the hospital she works at, and who's there but...

 ...Peggy, who is shocked to see the doppleganger of Mr. Macleod from the Coconut Lounge.

As the dance continues, I... I think Anne's been working out.

 Evil Willie is here too, and he's Peggy's husband. Wait, so she stayed with that douchey guy for 56 YEARS??

"killll" rasps John Bolton in his ear.

 Duncan pretends not to know the old guy yelling at him, and they leave the party. These two 100% look like a couple who can't get each other home fast enough. Sometimes a breakup is just what the doctor ordered to make things exciting again, weirdly enough.

 Evil Willie orders his goons, Uday and Qusay, to make sure that Duncan Macleod's Grandson is dead for real this time. And kill Benny too!

 Meanwhile, Duncan massages Anne's scalp as they do naughty, nasty things.

 We finally get the rest of the story. So, as Duncan was leaving, Sid waddles up and tells him that Peggy wants to see him after the show. Duncan had to think about it, but he agreed. You're playing with fire, laddie!

 Peggy, seen here being comically attractive, didn't actually do that.

Sid then tells The Boss that Duncan came back looking for Peggy, so The Boss heads out to deal with this.

 Peggy is not liking this one bit. Her boyfriend is about to get into a fight with her beautiful man-friend. Sid is all like "don't worry, I'll take care of everything". That scheming bastard!

 Stuff happens, culminating with Sid shooting both guys and making it look like they shot each other. And that was the end of Duncan's time in Chicago. Sid took over The Business, and...

 ...eventually married the distraught Peggy by being there for her and manipulating her into relying on him.

So Evil Willie is SID, not The Boss. What a tweest!

 Back in the present, one of the goons shows up at Duncan's place and confronts Duncan and Anne as they're leaving.

 He asks Duncan if he's Duncan Macleod's grandson, then wonders aloud why they're both surrounded by the aroma of latex.

 Duncan kicks him in the throat! "There's nothing wrong with practicing safe sex!"

 Duncan can handle mobster goons throwing him into the sea, but an armed guy trying to cap him in front of Anne (thereby putting Anne in a lot of crossfire danger) is going too far. He drives over to Sid's mansion in his sweet convertible.

 Here's Peggy. He plays it cool about being his own grandson.

 Peggy looks at the two of them in the mirror, and seeing Duncan exactly as she remembers has the side-effect of making her feel...not as she remembers. If you think about this too much, it's actually one of the saddest episodes. This gorgeous and ridiculously loyal woman just spent Actual Decades with somebody who manipulated her, and life passed her by.

 Meanwhile, elsewhere on the grounds, Benny is catching a beatdown from the goons.

 Duncan shows up to interrupt the proceedings, beating up the goons. I don't know how much Uday and Qusay are being paid, but it isn't enough.

 Sid shoots at Duncan, who dodges his bullets. As Sid gets more infuriated, he belts out the whole crooked plan: Since Duncan's "grandson" somehow knows what really happened in that room 56 years ago, he must die. Nobody can ever find out that he killed The Boss himself!

 Peggy is of course listening around the corner, and freaks out. She says The Boss was "the best thing that ever happened to me". Uhh, I guess.

 She then SHOOTS SID.

 Duncan responds to this by getting her prints off the gun and making it look like something else happened. And that's pretty much it for this episode.

 Benny is still alive, of course, and says something about how Peggy is now a super-wealthy widow. Duncan tells him to leave her alone.

 Duncan then escorts Benny out physically and gives him a bus ticket to go to Chicago, far enough away to hopefully not see him again.

Duncan then ruminates on this episode and Peggy giving her life to someone who lied to her, and that's a wrap.

This guy...didn't get killed by Duncan! It's a miracle! Hopefully he doesn't come back, though. He's probably the weakest immortal in the entire series. I'd bet on Young Kenneth in a one-on-one fight with him. And he's just...smarmy. I could do without his presence.

Spot the Watcher Results: I did not find Sarah Panzer.


3 comments:

  1. The mustache on 30s Duncan, oh my God.

    Pouty Richie with his hands on his hips is hilarious.

    When does Anne find the time to work out? Well, we know she jogs.

    Oh yeah, Kenny could totally take this guy.

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  2. Benny'd be better off raising baby dinosaurs, it's probably safer.

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