Not really an episode I like, but an interesting one nonetheless. This is one of the many that would have benefitted from transpiring over two parts, because you've got at least two episodes worth of interesting story here mashed together into a short runtime. At the very least, the Fake Methos could have been an intriguing recurring character for a little while.
Things begin with Richie rummaging around in dark alleyways, trying to find a store that's open at this hour. Why is it that whenever Richie is left to his own devices, he just sort of wanders around in decrepitude? It's a wonder the guy has survived at all.
Side note: Richie's Omnigear sword is such an improvement over his first sword, in my opinion anyway. It makes him look like far more of a bad-ass.
There's a great shot of it in the Season 5 box set. It's got all the style of a claymore, without the heaviness. A more agile version of it.
Another immortal appears! He claims to be Methos, the most ancient of all immortals, here with a message: There's no need for immortals to fight. Why DO they fight anyway? Nobody really knows if there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and with new immortals occasionally being born, how can one of them even be the last one anyway? What if there's another frozen in a cave somewhere, or another is born, or flies down from Zeist on a hoverboard?
"Methos" is played by the most lion-like human I've ever seen: Ron Perlman. If he put on a lion mane, he'd be able to play Simba in a live-action adaptation of The Lion King without even using any makeup.
"Methos" doesn't even carry a weapon, and relies entirely on his name and message of peace to keep him from being slain by every immortal he confronts.
This seems... unwise. Is this guy an idiot?
Georgia, 1864. Duncan was trying to run slaves away from plantations in the South, towards the Union lines where they'd technically be free. Successfully in some cases, not so successfully in others.
This...is one of the less successful times. Young Jeffrey here gets shot while they're fleeing from a Confederate patrol (shots that were meant for Duncan, but not realizing Duncan was immortal, Jeffrey pushed him out of the way). He survives, but he's going to need medical attention before gangrene sets in, and there isn't much Duncan can do except carry him now.
They then get herded into a nearby prison camp full of Union soldiers in gallows.
The Civil War is about to end at this point, but it'll be just a minute too late for a lot of these guys.
Most unfortunate part is that Duncan and his friend aren't soldiers, and shouldn't even be here, but they got lumped in.
The commander of this hellhole is Culbraith, the 856th immortal with a K-sounding name. The way the episode was going, I expected him to be a tyrannical evil dictator, but he's more just a ruthless and stone cold "order must be maintained" type of commander. He's been given a job, and he'll do it until he's told otherwise.
Duncan asks him for a doctor to help Jeffrey, and his request is denied because Culbraith has so many of his own troops who need medical assistance. It isn't even a flat denial, it's more like "I'll see if I can send the doctor in the morning, but right now there's too much going on".
He also mentions that he himself is against the institution of slavery, and that his family has never owned anyone. Even still, he implies that Jeffrey was safer on his plantation. I think Duncan is well aware that by trying to run him north, Duncan put him in this situation to begin with.
Culbraith is also missing his family, who he hasn't seen in a while.
This is noteworthy for reasons we'll see in a minute.
In the present, Culbraith and Duncan are locked in combat on a pier. Duncan is seething!
It seems like a bit too much judgmentalness, even for Duncan. The guy ran a massive prison that only had one doctor available, it isn't like he went out there and murdered Jeffrey!
This is the only full-on immortal duel we get in this episode, and it's a quick one, with Culbraith being fairly easily dispatched. However, he falls into the water and escapes when...
....Richie shows up, yelling a message of peace! "Why must we fight?" he says while Duncan furiously looks around for his opponent. Well, that was remarkably convenient timing. This episode is full of remarkably convenient timing as it rushes through enough plot points to play out over a few episodes.
Back in the past, Duncan hopes against hope that the doctor will be available in the morning, and stays up with his suffering friend as the gangrene gets worse. He asked if he could at least get a blade of some sort to try and amputate Jeffrey's leg himself, but no go. The time before antibiotics was an exceedingly brutal time.
Morning arrives, and right away Culbraith is given word that Union soldiers sacked his home, killed his family, and burned down his house. He forgets about trying to send a doctor to Jeffrey, because he's so overcome with grief that he can't even get up from his desk.
......when are we going to get to the part where we find out why Culbraith is so detestable and evil?
Culbraith is too angry to deal with anything. Matter of fact he doesn't give a shit about Duncan or his friend anymore, because he just lost his family. So with no options left and Jeffrey dying slowly and painfully, Duncan has to mercy-kill him by suffocating him.
Back in the present, Duncan responds to Richie's "why can't we all get along" message by going "Some immortals are evil, and you don't talk to evil, you kill evil"
...so said some of the worst mass-murderers in history right before they committed mass-murder.
Who decides what evil is, you?
Richie reveals that he has met Methos, who set him on the path of renouncing fighting. This is confusing for Duncan because it doesn't sound like Methos. Also, to this point, Richie and Methos don't really know each other. Well, they've met a few times, but Richie has no idea that Methos is anything beyond some random nondescript immortal named Adam Pierson.
Conveniently, Methos himself happens to be lounging around in Duncan's apartment, back from whatever adventures he's been on lately. He hasn't been talking to Richie, and immediately notes that the "fake Methos" must be around. A guy he's been aware of for a bit now, who goes around collecting followers who like his message of "come on people now people now, let's all get along now, people now"
Calling yourself "Methos" and putting a big target on your back is pretty dumb. Almost as dumb as not carrying a weapon, and trusting rando immortals to be nice enough to listen to your message of peace instead of killing you. The guy SEEMS pretty old, but I'd be shocked if he actually was, given how vulnerable he is. One bad guy shows up and he's kaput.
Duncan: "Turning the other cheek will only get you slapped harder!"
You know, Duncan is even more of a self-righteous asshole than usual. He doesn't know what Culbraith was going through himself back then, has no interest in knowing, and is ready to judge a guy for something that happened 130 years prior, something that quite frankly Duncan is more responsible for to begin with. He's the one who led Jeffrey through a dangerous area and got him shot. They happened to end up in a prison run by Culbraith, who wasn't one to give anyone special treatment. The fact that he was even willing to talk to Duncan (multiple times, no less) about the issue to begin with and explain the situation to him is more than most commanders probably would have done for some guy they didn't know. Meanwhile, Duncan took zero responsibility for any of it.
Regardless, back to the far less depressing plot of the "fake Methos", which is the more interesting of the episode's two storylines anyway.
"There are enough people out there who want me killed. If he wants to play 'Methos', then I say, let him! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
In an effort to get Richie to see that peace and love isn't the way, and that Fake Methos is a fraudster, Duncan introduces Richie to the real Methos: That Adam guy!
Richie: "You're kidding, 5000 years of wisdom, him?"
Joe: "Well, I don't know about the wisdom, but yeah."
In any case, Richie isn't having it, because the guy offered him his life. Yeah, because...the guy is an idiot?
Methos makes a good point that maybe the guy knew who he was, and knew he wouldn't take it. As in, he's scoping out good immortals to try and disarm them.
Elsewhere, Fake Methos tracks down the other notable immortal in town this week, Culbraith.
"They call me Methos. I'm looking for you, but not for the reason you think."
"Sproiiing!"
Fake Methos reveals that he knows all about William Culbraith, that he lost his wife and son to Union soldiers.
Duncan shows up, looking to end things with Culbraith, only to find their pow-wow going on.
Fake Methos (correctly) points out that the reason Culbraith hurt him was because someone else had hurt Culbraith, and the cycle of violence can end here if Duncan stops his crusade for vengeance.
Duncan says that Culbraith is a monster and has to be destroyed, and Fake Methos asks if this is what Darius taught him. WHOA WHOA WHOA. How does he know about that?
I keep waiting for a further flashback to show Culbraith actually being a monster, but nope, we already got the flashbacks for him. He was distraught about his family, and didn't send a doctor to help Duncan's friend. That's it. Other than that he treated Duncan and Jeffrey better than everyone else that was brought in, he was against slavery, he made time to listen to Duncan (several times over, no less), etc. Duncan is out here acting like Culbraith is a bloodthirsty maniac or something.
Culbraith is willing to not fight (as well he should be, considering how handily he lost their first fight), and Fake Methos makes a compelling enough case that Duncan is willing to walk away...for now.
Next, Methos tracks down Fake Methos, who spends his time in a big garden. Wait, not holy ground? If you're going to be a pacifist, you should at least live on holy ground. Darius knew that. This guy really IS an idiot!
Methos considers killing him off right here, but instead decides to play 20 Questions with him out of curiosity. Was he really friends with Socrates? Did Cleopatra's nether regions really taste like French Vanilla ice cream?
Fake Methos says that staying alive for eternity, but never taking any risks, would be pointless.
In any case, Methos heads out, unimpressed with this guy as a "delusional fraud" and moving on with his day.
He could have killed Fake Methos, but it's way too appealing to let another Methos run around, throwing people off of his scent.
Meanwhile, Joe "did some checking on this Methos flake... the other one"
lol
Turns out that a trail of dead immortals follows Fake Methos around. So he's suckering them in and killing them off? Well, not exactly. His message of peace is legitimate, but everyone who listens to it ends up dying the next time they face an immortal who isn't willing to listen. Which means that Young Richie needs to be saved from himself yet again.
Also, "peace and love are for losers" is a crazy message from a show that is normally very close to Quantum Leap with its very peacenik moral code. We all know that in the Highlander world it's too dangerous to be a pacifist, and bad guys will take advantage of you if you try, but it's still bizarre to see a whole episode based around a message of peace being a bad thing. This episode is weird in a lot of ways.
Duncan tries to convince Richie not to renounce fighting and stay on guard. Richie says "change has got to start somewhere".
Richie in the next episode: "You won't believe this, Mac! I saw this coffee mug and it changed my life. It said 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind'. Whoever made that mug was brilliant!"
Richie's new mentor wants to prove that he isn't defenseless, despite the lack of sword, telling Richie to swing at him with a staff. He then easily dispatches Richie with Judo throws, before picking up Richie's sword and telling Richie why he has no need for weapons.
Why does Richie have to get jobbed out? It isn't like we're building Fake Methos up for anything.
He isn't the bad guy of the episode and he won't be in any other episodes. Let Richie look halfway strong.
Actually, Fake Methos seems FAR more formidable than Culbraith is, so he's taking heat away from the actual antagonist too.
In other news, Richie's sword is exactly what I always imagined the Crusader Sword in Secret of Evermore to look like.
Richie officially gives up his sword, despite Duncan's pleas not to.
"You don't understand, Mac. I saw a bumper sticker earlier that said to be the change you want to see in the world!"
Meanwhile, Fake Methos gets a visit from his OTHER new student, Culbraith. The unsuspecting, gullible 5000 year old is then...
...AMBUSHED by Culbraith, who is delighted that he'll have the head of the oldest living immortal.
We're in the third act of the episode, so they need to make Culbraith actually evil really fast to justify Duncan's behavior for the whole episode. His sudden bloodthirstiness is kind of incongruous with the by-the-book, tormented-by-loss soldier we got up to now.
Fake Methos proceeds to get on his knees and just let the guy kill him.
So he's willing to believe in "the good in people" or whatever right up until the very end? Man, he really was an idiot if he thought this would work. Not even an attempt to disarm his attacker, pathetic.
I don't know how old this guy actually was, but it's a wonder he lasted ANY amount of time as an immortal.
Richie shows up and wonders where their mentor is. Probably went to the bathroom or something.
This episode is interesting, for sure, but damn if I don't have some serious issues with it. Fake Methos is so idiotic that it nearly breaks the fourth wall, and Culbraith wasn't that bad of a guy until they quickly wrote backwards in the third act to try and justify Duncan's behavior for the whole thing.
Culbraith draws on Richie, who is now defenseless. Well, that didn't take long for Richie's pacifism to get him in trouble. About 5 minutes after he put his sword down, no less.
Luckily, Duncan was following him, and EVENS THE ODDS by tossing Richie's sword to him.
Richie does a sick dive-roll to grab the sword, and...
...Culbraith stumbles into it when going for a big finishing swing. Damn, this was an opportunity to see Richie actually fight, which is a rare occasion, but nope. The guy just stumbled, like Yokozuna falling off the turnbuckle before Bret pinned him.
We don't even get to see the SHIIIIIING, as it cuts to Duncan's reaction instead. Duncan is like Hulk Hogan when Macho Man won the title at WM4, taking up all the attention. Actually Duncan has a lot in common with 80's Hulk Hogan in terms of how they're booked.
The Quickening Richie gets is an odd one. It's green-screened and has him standing in front of a spinning background while he gets the jolts.
He also goes through NUMEROUS O-Faces while this is going on.
I can actually see why Richie was never considered to take over the franchise after Adrian Paul moved away from it. He really can't do a Quickening without it being humorous.
As a kid I didn't see it that way, and really wanted a Richie spinoff (and a Methos spinoff).
Regardless, Richie got a rare moment to get a win. I wish it happened more often, and I wish he got to win actual fights more.
Richie: "I don't even know what his name was. I mean, I know he wasn't...the real Methos."
Stan Kirsch is kind of a lovable dude.
Methos is sorry to be a letdown after Richie was so impressed by the Fake Methos. ...why is he putting boots on Duncan's couch?
Richie and Duncan share a moment at the end here before Richie steps out. It's a bit of an unspoken nod to how much they both value the other, without them saying it. Richie could have easily died today, and every time he steps out, it could be the last time they see each other.
I think this is it for Richie in Seacouver this season. I'd be okay if he didn't show up in Paris later in the season, and went off and found a wife and started a family (adopted kids, of course) at a nice house out in Montana or something. He's a nice guy and he doesn't need all this shite.
Go get 'em, Richie.
Would have been interesting if it turned out that Culbraith had been tracking Fake Methos and killing his students, or something, but they didn't go that route. There are...many things they could have done differently with this episode to make it much more interesting.
Funny how the Watcher Chronicle is basically dumping on Culbraith for how weak he actually was. I definitely got the impression that he avoided anyone who might present a challenge and mostly went for people he knew he could wield power over. A trait harkening back to his days of being an authority figure over a prison, maybe.
The far more interesting part of the episode. While Culbraith felt like a villain of the week, this guy had recurring character potential.
What if this guy really WAS the real Methos, and the one we know is just a guy who wears many masks? I mean, that wasn't the case and there's no chance it was, but if this guy had stuck around for a while maybe we could have had that kind of interesting story stem out of this. We never found out who this guy actually was, what his name or history or age were, and he certainly did seem to have a lot of wisdom (not to mention way too much knowledge about our heroes and other immortals). Truly an intriguing character...that we'll never see again and will never be brought up again.
Final thoughts? This episode would have worked way better if Fake Methos stuck around for a few episodes to give us some intrigue over his motivations. He also seemed like way more of a threat than Culbraith, and him turning out to be a master manipulator would have been a really good twist (while Duncan finds it within himself to forgive Culbraith, only to find that Fake Methos has dusted Culbraith). Instead they go with the generic route in the third act by having Culbraith be the villain and just off-ing Fake Methos unceremoniously. Also Richie was way too gullible in this episode.
For what it is, the episode is okay, but not that good, especially for Season 5. On the bright side, even "okay" Highlander episodes are fine, an opportunity to spend another dose of time with these characters. I'm really wondering what Fake Methos' deal was though. Did he really believe he was the 5000 year old Methos despite being much younger and someone entirely different (i.e. was mentally ill), or was it something he used as a way to gain credibility for his worthwhile message (i.e. so people would listen)? It didn't seem like he was in the business of deception (despite being deceptive), nor was he in the business of disarming other immortals (best way to do that would be to not pretend to be Methos and just lay low).
Which brings me to the most alarming possibility, that he really WAS Methos and the guy we've known all this time is the imposter (nearly impossible given all the evidence against it). And yet another possibility is that he was very very old and actually thought that the name Methos was a reference to him, given how old he was and the lack of another one ever showing up. We'll probably never know what his deal actually was, and it might be one of the better mysteries this show ever gave us.
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