Today on Highlander: Emotional episode with a nice epitaph. We finally find out what Duncan has been restoring that house for over the whole season. And more Richie! Enjoy it while it lasts because he's about to disappear for like ten episodes. Also featuring the greatest Sassy Female Reporter in this entire series.
We start with a bang, as some sort of gas pipeline explosion has caused part of the subway to collapse.
Anne is on the scene and wants to help, but unfortunately the guy in charge is this very Leslie Nielsen firefighter who is more concerned with putting up yellow tape than actually getting in there to find more survivors. He's all "ey, toots, nobody's goin' in there!"
"Nothing to see here! Move along!"
Anne decides she isn't going to just let The Patriarchy walk all over her, and sneaks into the subway.
....only to have the place fall apart while she's in there. Seems super irresponsible to do this while about to have a baby, but it'd also be irresponsible to be a doctor on the scene and not be doing something, I guess. Still very ill-advised.
Sure enough, the place caves in and she's basically trapped down here with a couple of people.
Elsewhere, Richie is trying to talk Duncan into giving him the new house (or at least his old loft) when they hear about the subway on the radio. When the radio mentions how Anne showed up and ran in, they swing into action.
They arrive at the scene and it's a full-on circus, with nobody in charge. Nobody except...
"Ey! Toots! I can't let you go in there! Stay behind the line!"
"Yeah that's it! Get ta steppin!"
They proceed to sneak past The Gatekeeper and into the decimated subway. Duncan says he's been in a situation like this before, and Richie asks him about it. He says it was 1940 in London.
Here's his girlfriend at that time, and the real star of the episode. This is...
...Diane, literally the Sassiest Female Reporter in this entire series.
She has a TON of chemistry with Duncan and I wouldn't be surprised at all if these two dated in real life. Not even a little bit. So she's a reporter, and he's a British intelligence officer, but he can't officially tell her that, so he says stuff about being a horse-breeder or whatever while she rolls her eyes.
Their date is interrupted by air raid sirens, as everyone runs for cover.
This guy is the radio operator for this floor. Diane wants to get on the radio and report on the bombing raid, while the guy and Duncan both just want to get to a safe place. Diane then BRIMS WITH SASS until she gets her way.
"You're outta your bleedin' mind!" he says before scampering off.
Duncan's just kinda like "well she's the boss you see"
They borrow the radio and drag it up to the roof while having INCREDIBLE CHEMISTRY.
German bombers arrive and pummel London.
Our heroes go up to the roof of the building, where she broadcasts a live report of what's going on, complete with an inspirational speech to everyone to hang in there.
More shots of destruction and the general mess.
Diane finishes the inspirational speech, and...
...well, this guy is quite smitten, about as smitten as he ever gets.
They go ahead and have a furious makeout sesh right there on the roof!
The air raid ends, so they go back to the currently-deserted ballroom and have a dance.
The radio operator guy returns from the bomb shelter and tells them that everyone heard her broadcast and it was inspiring. "God bless you both" he says.
I really want to see more of these two. That's impossible though, and we all know how it's gonna go.
Diane is so incredibly feminine, and they rub against each other like flirtatious cats.
Duncan thinks her rooftop shenanigans were incredibly stupid because she could get hurt.
She points out that he takes risks all the time, why can't she?
Well...you see...
Editor's Note: My GOD this woman is intensely desirable.
These two are like melted candle wax melting all over each other here.
Finally, we're back in (ugh) the present. Man, this whole episode could be flashback and I'd be cool with that. They rescue an unconscious kid and Richie carries him to safety. That leaves Duncan in here by himself.
Elsewhere, Anne is suddenly having a bout of Giving Birth.
Back in the past, we get lots of old footage.
Diane wonders if London is still going to exist when it's all said and done. Duncan points out that no one thought London would survive back when the Bubonic Plague was killing 90% of the population, but it did.
She says he should consider being a teacher or a writer since he can make the past come alive, like he was there.
Funny thing is, he wasn't there for the Bubonic Plague. Point taken though.
She also wants to know if they have a future after all of this chaos is over. He responds by making out with her, then she stops him and says it isn't an answer. Totally no-sold the question-avoiding make-out strategy!
The damn sirens go off, and once again she wants to go climb onto a roof and broadcast. Duncan insists that she go to the shelter instead, to the point that they butt heads about it because she thinks he's going to drag her away.
Eventually she gives in and they go.
...only to have a bomb hit right after they get there, sealing them in a small corridor.
Duncan looks for a way out, and has a palpable sense of dread when he can't find one.
He stops her from lighting up, because air.
She is so adorable here, it boggles the mind.
Back in the present, Anne is on the verge of giving birth. Luckily this random woman is here and she knows how to midwife.
"I've had four of me own!" she grunts. "Them babies are good eatin!"
Richie delivers the injured kid to paramedics, only to be confronted by the gruff firefighter.
"I thought I told you to scram!" he says. "I sed GIT!"
Eventually he reluctantly agrees to let Richie go back in to try and find Duncan and Anne.
Back in the past, Duncan does everything he can to dig them out, but it isn't happening.
Things get real as she realizes this might be it if they run out of air.
Duncan blames himself because if he'd let her go up onto the roof this wouldn't have happened. She notes that the roof might have been the very thing that got hit.
They talk about their future. She wants to have some kids, and hasn't talked about it with him yet.
He goes along with it, looking increasingly miserable and dejected that there's nothing he can do for her.
Back in the present, he finds Anne, just in time to presumably get his hand crushed.
"THE BABY'S COMIN" grunts the lady. "It's a meaty one! Plump for the cookin!"
In the past, Duncan tells Diane about fields of flowers and other nice places he's going to take her to, as they both fade out.
This scene goes on for a while, and juxtaposes him being there for a death versus him being there for a life.
The baby emerges!
"I am free!" he says in a Stewie accent.
Rescue workers find Duncan, and he wakes up as oxygen re-enters the chamber. Diane does not.
I joke during this episode because it's actually crushing. Stop and really think about it and it's just... a lot to deal with, and a bitter reminder of how often we're powerless to fix things.
Rescue workers (and Richie) find our heroes, so their ordeal is over. Somebody get Anne some painkillers!
She's naming her daughter after Duncan's mom, Mary. He's touched by this.
They go and stop by the house that is now finished. That's right, the house that was basically a character in the first half of this season. It looks MUCH nicer now.
...and it's hers! That's right, this whole time he was renovating the place to give to Anne so that her and the kid would have a place to live and not have to worry about things like rent.
Well, he's officially ruined any future boyfriends she might have, because nobody's gonna stack up now.
She reluctantly accepts, and that's basically their goodbye because this is her last appearance.
Richie is trying to figure out Duncan's thought process. Does Duncan want to move in with Anne at some point? What's his plan here?
Well, there is none, he and Anne were over a while ago.
He explains to Richie that all the work he did was just to see Anne's reaction when she found out. Getting to see that moment of happiness is its own reward.
Well, my goodness. Another great episode, and feels like the end of an arc.
End of an arc indeed. "Is it depressing? Let me show you how!" Highlander says.
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