Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Highlander 4x11 - Timeless

 

Very good episode here. It's a tale of two women, one who'd like to be immortal and one who'd like to be mortal. And also Duncan dressed as a woman.



Here's Claudia Jardine, piano prodigy. One of the best.

Unfortunately, a creepy bearded man is all "HEE HEE" while trying to kill her as dramatically as possible by dropping stage lights on her.

Duncan arrives just in time to sense the bad guy and rush the stage, yoinking Claudia off of it.

Turns out these two go way back (not in that way, for a change) because knowing her musical talents, he paid for her entire tuition at Juilliard. Now somebody keeps trying to kill her!

Duncan tells Claudia that she can stay at his place for a bit, since this is like the third murder attempt she's dealt with.

"I never would have imagined YOU would live in a one-room place" she says.

She is SASSY. Some would probably say a little insufferable. Just criticizes everything.

Claudia has her piano delivered to the dojo so she can practice. Sure, make yourself at home!

Elsewhere, Methos meets a waitress at Joe's Bar named Alexa, and is immediately smitten.

They have a super-awkward first exchange, like what usually happens in real life.

She immediately has her interest piqued a bit when he talks about his travels. However, after he jokingly puts down Paris and Venice as being awful places, she sours on him a bit and calls him cynical.

After she walks off, Methos realizes that he messed up and he isn't sure why.

Duncan arrives at Joe's Bar himself, with Claudia in tow. It's also pouring out, which it is for most of this episode.

Next thing you know, the murderous bearded man attempts to RUN HER DOWN IN THE STREET LIKE A DOG!

"By God the woman's got a family!"

Duncan introduces her to his friends and she's handling the repeated murder attempts pretty well. She's also semi-famous and Joe already recognizes her.

Methos: "Does she know she's one of us?"

Dun dun DUNNNNNNN

Claudia and Joe do a Blues duet. Always awesome when stuff like this happens.

They get back to the dojo and Claudia is being all sassy and giving him lip, when...

...the creepy bearded man arrives! And he has an even creepier mask for some reason!

Back in the past, that mask was something he wore on stage while putting on Shakespeare performances with Duncan (seen here) and a troop of fellow oddballs.

This is Walter, whose whole thing is that he is obsessed with greatness and being as close to it as possible. He travels around, putting on Shakespeare plays and writing his own plays to try and achieve that level of ability.

Duncan is playing a female character in this play and seems to be having a legit blast with it, flicking his handkerchief and talking in a high-pitched voice.

Backstage, Duncan thinks this is all dumb and wants to rewrite Shakespeare. One of the hallmarks of Duncan's early life is his disdain for Shakespeare, who was ALL THE RAGE for like a century.

Walter: "Imagine if Shakespeare could live forever?"

Which sets the stage for...

...Walter is captivated by Claudia, who seems to not mind the attention at all.

He rants to Duncan about how they need to kill Claudia so that her greatness will be preserved.

Back in the past...

Walter reading Shakespeare: "To me, fair friend, you never can be old. For as you were, when first your eye, I eyed..."

"...such seems your beauty still."

"All I ever wanted was to touch brilliance, to at least help it live. Without that, eternal life is nothing more than eternal hell."

Methos is camped out at Joe's Bar, waiting for Alexa to show up. When she does, Joe asks her how the latest treatment went. Uh oh.

Regardless, she isn't particularly enthused by talking to Methos again, but he's waiting, so off she goes.

Methos: "You're speechless, this is a great start."
Alexa: "Start to what?"
Methos: "To....dinner, a film, a concert, a smile, a sunset, a walk, all of the above, whatever you would like."
Alexa: "Does that line ever work on women?"
Methos: "I don't know, I've never used it before."

Alexa: "Why do you want to go out with me?"
Methos: "Because the alternative is unthinkable."

One of the best lines in this entire show IMO. I used it once in real life, and it worked.

After she agrees to a date, Methos goes to gloat to Joe...only to have Joe tell him that Alexa is dying.

Elsewhere, Duncan is walking around with Claudia when Walter shows up and SHOOTS HER.

Cut to later and she's loving the fact that she's now immortal, dancing around.

Duncan, knowing that she is oblivious to all the downsides (and thinking Walter had no right to do that) is not thrilled with any of this.

She's also mad at Duncan for never telling her.

She thinks Duncan only sponsored her education because of her immortality, and he assures her it was because of her talent. She also questions whether Duncan actually ever even liked her or if it was all just because of this.

Duncan does a lot of eye-rolling as Walter tells Claudia about how the world is her oyster.

Claudia just thinks all of this is ZANY.

Duncan: "This isn't funny! He murdered you!"

Duncan wants to teach her to use a sword, and Walter says there's no need as HE will protect her forever!

She doesn't see the need to learn to fight anyway. Duncan is all exasperated.

Joe and Alexa hang out during her break, in the pouring rain.

He asks why she doesn't want to go out with him. "It's my big nose, isn't it?"

I've used that line too. It didn't accomplish much

After they discuss her sickness and imminent death and it being the reason she can't go out with him tomorrow, he says "We better make it tonight then"

Claudia is practicing piano and discovers that she no longer seems to be able to tap into her superhuman musical talents. They're just...not there, she can't feel the music. Funny thing is, she still sounds better than most people. She storms off and wants to be alone.

Walter insists on staying by her side, to the point that Duncan has to intervene physically and tell him to back off and give her space.

Methos shows up at Alexa's house. LOOK OUT, HE HAS A SWORD!

...nevermind it's flowers.

She didn't show up for their date, so he Joe-stalked her and now he's here.

She doesn't want him (or anybody) to have to witness what she's going through.

He says that she can spend her remaining few months dying, or spend it living, and offers to take her all around the world and show her all the things she didn't get to see.

She also wishes time could stand still, which looks like an emotional knife in the gut for Methos.

This is rough

Duncan brings Claudia to a monastery where she'll be safe on holy ground, at least while she figures things out.

Walter shows up and SHOOTS DUNCAN, then tries to seize Claudia. She has had enough of him and his scheming, and wants him to just let her go.

He responds by putting a sword to her throat. I think this relationship might be over.

Duncan responds by getting up off the ground and doing the same to him. I guess this is how we're gonna play this. TBH this guy kinda seems like he needs to be offed.

Walter is actually quite good, and thinks that he outmatches Duncan by a fair amount. What he isn't considering is that 300 years have gone by since they knew each other.

They BATTLE IT OUT in this gorgeous locale.

It's a good fight, if brief. Duncan is clearly on a higher level, but it isn't an easy battle for him either.

Duncan decides to spare Walter, but on the condition that he leaves Claudia alone.

I really don't think he's gonna keep his word on this, so it's surprising Duncan didn't finish this. Of all his foes, he lets this guy off the hook?

"I've watched the stars burn, bright and sure. And then with a flash, disappear. And still, I am the one who endures."

Duncan watches Claudia play, and it seems her skills have been returning. Turns out that her ability comes from her mortality and fear of death. When Walter was about to kill her, she felt mortality again for the first time in a bit, and her appreciation of life / talent returned.

Methos and Alexa pack up to go on a "Tour of the New World" in this van, then they're gonna fly to his homeland of Egypt. They bid Joe a solemn farewell and that's it for them for a few episodes.

Duncan to Joe: "Even if she lives to be 100, he'll still have the pain of losing her."

Duncan tells Joe that Claudia has vanished, totally un-protected. Don't think she even brought the sword.

Joe: "One of them trying to die, one of them trying to live."



The villain of the episode. Though really, this episode is much more about...


...this hottie. No telling what became of her, because we never see her again. Presumably things worked out, or maybe they didn't. So it goes.

Another outstanding episode.



3 comments:

  1. I think Duncan spared Walter because he hadn't really killed anyone, even if he'd made Claudia immortal. It's scummy, but he's not nearly as bad as some of the crazy-ass Immortal serial killers Duncan usually whacks.

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    1. Love this show but it's kinda bad that I'm happy when we don't end up seeing a character again because we can at least assume they're doing alright.

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