Since Season 5 is shorter than it should be, and I, you know, want to delay the last episode because, you know, S5's lifespan gets cut short in such a thoughtless way by, you know, giving it 18 episodes...... it seems like a good time to do a long-overdue episode ranking. Also, a note on Season 1's DVDs: The Watcher Chronicles spoil WAY too much. First-time series viewers would do well to stay FAR away from those. They get a lot better at only covering up to the current episode later; not sure when, though. Season 3, I think.
I'll be throwing some ratings at the end of the entries, as well, but don't put too much stock into this. While the rankings are well thought-out, the number ratings are off the top of my head, and graded on the curve of this show specifically. So a 1 isn't the worst thing ever made or anything like that. 1 is the worst tier of episodes this show has and 10 is the top tier of episodes this show has, the rarified air of the top ten or so best of the best episodes.
#22. See No Evil (Episode 11) - This episode is so bad that it was actually a struggle to get through. When it isn't outright bad, it's boring. Legend has it that the people responsible for this episode were mercilessly flogged, before the producers broke the emergency glass and turned things over to David Abramowitz just in time for him to save the show. Of course, it's still better than The Source. 1 out of 10.
#21. Deadly Medicine (Episode 8) - This is one weird episode, and the other of two Season 1 episodes that I consider to be legitimately bad. A small mad scientist type doctor is supposed to be a threat to Duncan, which is comical. Randi, the Sassy Female Reporter, gets into trouble and has to be rescued, while Duncan stumbles around all drugged up. This is like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. It's pretty impressive that anything this season managed to be worse than this episode. 2 out of 10.
#20. The Sea Witch (Episode 9) - The infamous propeller episode. The "Highlander: Life on the Streets" format was getting really old by this point. Basically nothing about this episode worked, but it's notable for giving us a glimpse into Tessa's concerns about not being able to have children with Duncan. Oh, the final battle of this episode is actually really good, with some impressive cinematography that looks straight out of Highlander (the movie). That final battle alone makes me really want to rank this higher, but everything else is so meh. 3/10.
#19. Avenging Angel (Episode 20) - The worst episode in the second half. I could barely stand this one. The villain is an insufferable, deluded wanker. A crusader with amnesia had potential but they just bungled it. Also Tessa's hot friend stays with her and Duncan, and the three of them don't end up in bed. Just dropped potential all around with this one. But hey, at least it isn't a cop show. 3/10.
#18. Free Fall (Episode 5) - It's kinda hilarious how I just bag on Joan Jett for the entire post. This was the very first episode that was filmed, and it's pretty clear that it was written for Connor Macleod. I have questions, like how Joan Jett was able to overpower that giant Roman Reigns looking guy so easily in a straight fight. Beating him on tactics, yes, but she just straight yeets the guy across the room. It makes the giant guy look incredibly weak for his size, especially since he was fighting to avenge his family. Maybe she was "more powerful" but they've never explained how that works (outside of attempting to in Endgame).
I hate how Duncan spares her at the end*. Jett's character is a child-murderer and sparing her wasn't called for (especially considering she never returns). Then again, Duncan never met the Roman guy, and didn't know the depths of her depravity. Maybe if he did meet that guy, he wouldn't have spared her. I'm sure he did because they hoped she'd come back for another episode (maybe they were still planning a Gathering later). Or maybe Jett had a clause in her contract that she could never lose or look weak, like The Rock. That would explain why she yeeted the giant guy all over the place. Man, this episode drives me nuts. Lots of people probably really like this episode though. 3.5/10.
* - Come to think of it, does Duncan EVER actually slay any female immortals in this series? Like, ever? That's a pretty glaring weakness if he won't kill women, even if they're vile pieces of shit like the one in this episode.
#17. Eyewitness (Episode 12) - This is an episode I really want to dislike, but it opens with that legitimately hilarious scene of Richie trying to park...and trying...and eventually giving up, before putting an "out of order" sign on the parking meter. Unfortunately it's downhill from there. How fitting that the final battle of Highlander: Cop Show would be the actual police chief, who has been covering up all of the immortal slayings. Another terrible eye-named episode. At least Tessa gets a lot to do in this one, while wearing some fabulous outfits. But why didn't Duncan sense the police chief during his hundred trips to the police station this season? Maybe the chief worked at the one police station that Duncan didn't have a membership card at. 4.5/10.
#16. Nowhere to Run (Episode 21) - Going back and revisiting this 10+ years later, I think I overrated it a bit by saying it was one of the season's best episodes. The whole premise of the episode is pretty flawed, with all the effort they go through to protect a rapist. Yeah, it has some fundamental issues, even if it's aesthetically very good-looking. Duncan going Horde Mode and defending a position against an invading force is something I don't think you see any other time. It's all over sheltering a rapist, though. I'm with the bad guy in this episode, I'd be doing the same thing. Well, at least it contains Rupert Giles. This is a tough one to rate because the episode is good on the surface and kind of a big head-shaking beyond that. I cared more about Garrett's military buddies being taken out by Duncan than I did about the plight of our protagonists, and that undercuts the whole episode. 5/10.
#15. Bad Day In Building A (Episode 6) - Is there a Bad Day In Building B? The guy who played Slade in this episode really should have been the same guy that came back later in season 5 as an immortal, since the actor got brought back. The several instances of an actor playing the villain in two different episodes should have all generally been the same character (see also Blackmail in S3 and Duende in S5). Anyway, this episode is pretty bad; it's a Die Hard ripoff and a super-predictable one. I liked it ten years ago but rewatching it now it's just bland. There are a couple of things that work, like Duncan having to babysit the janitor's kid, and Slade/Duncan having a shade of mutual respect at the end as former soldiers. 5/10.
#14. Innocent Man (Episode 4) - A mid episode here where Duncan has to deal with an ultra-redneck town and a nefarious sheriff. The only thing that really works in this episode are the scenes with Lucas Desiree, a guy who carries a lot of gravitas with his limited screen time. Would have liked to see more of him, he clearly had a lot of integrity and Duncan recognized it. 5/10.
#13. The Beast Below (Episode 16) - An uncharacteristic near-miss in the back half of S1, this feels more like it belongs in the first half. Credit for the cool rooftop fight, and Ursa being a really memorable immortal with his giant physique and long axe. This episode has some From Software energy. Why is it a miss? That annoying woman who functioned as the villain was lame, and Ursa himself was a dynamo of non-charisma. The actor was way too rough with Adrian Paul for real, and this lack of chemistry showed onscreen. 5/10.
#12. Family Tree (Episode 2) - The first one on this list that crosses the threshold into decent. Entirely a Richie setup and backstory episode. We needed this to get his character arc going, but it's definitely a lull in the action after the awesome Episode 1. It's the first of a bunch of episodes of "Highlander: Life on the Streets" that preceded the show mercifully getting taken over by David Abramowitz by episode 13. 5.5/10.
#11. Eye of the Beholder (Episode 19) - Richie gets into trouble with a ladies man immortal who loves life (and women) possibly even more than Richie does. I wasn't crazy about this episode because Richie just bumbled his way through it and couldn't get anything to go his way, to the point that I felt bad for him. Mostly I think I was just wondering where Darius was. Duncan's reaction to winning the fight seems a bit overwrought; it's a Brian Cullen type reaction and I don't think the bad guy here justified it. Duncan gets depressed after winning fights a lot in S1, which to the season's credit at least conveys the weight of having to go around killing. 6/10.
#10. Road Not Taken (Episode 3) - This one is ahead of its time, and feels like it would have been a much better episode in a later season. Storywise it's in line with what the show became, it just isn't produced up to that standard yet. Kiem Sun should have been revisited later. Given how many immortal villains escaped or were let off the hook in early S1, I wonder if the plan from the beginning was to have there be a smaller number of immortals and have them be recurring... instead of a lot and having them mostly last one episode. I think I would have preferred a smaller number and more recurrences, definitely.
If they were planning a 3 season Connor show leading up to the Gathering, introducing a bunch of immortals and then having them all return for the Gathering would have made a lot of sense. Maybe plan around enough immortals surviving their episodes to have a big immortal tournament in Season 3 to determine who gets The Prize. I don't know, I'm spitballing. Anyway, this episode was fine, but that's all it was. 6/10.
#9. The Lady and the Tiger (Episode 18) - Amanda's debut is another late-season sort of miss, which I'm shocked by myself. I remembered this being one of the best episodes of the season, but on a rewatch it doesn't really hold up. All the heist stuff is just not interesting and I could probably also do without the circus. Jason Isaacs as the villain was pretty solid, and his fights with Duncan are super fast-paced. Amanda stealing the kill at the end seems like a total break with immortal protocol, and that sort of thing never happens again in the series. Way to make her look kind of awful out of the gate.
What saves this episode is the incredibly hot love scene between Duncan and Amanda in a flashback. They have way more chemistry than he has with Tessa. That scene is probably what single-handedly guaranteed that she would be a recurring character. Not sure how Adrian Paul managed to stay composed with how good of a kisser Elizabeth Gracen was here; he was faced away from the camera for a lot of the scene for a reason I think. 6/10.
#8. Mountain Men (Episode 7) - Probably the funniest Highlander post. I have fond memories of this episode for that reason alone. We get some nice Pacific Northwest wilderness all throughout this episode/ Duncan has a very tough fight at the end, and it's just an episode that punches above its weight on entertainment value. Early episodes aren't supposed to be this fun/memorable. Is it GOOD? Well, no. But I like it a lot. 6/10.
#7. Revenge is Sweet (Episode 10) - I think I put it best, this is a later season episode trapped in a season 1 episode's body. Reinhart is a pretty good villain, and the fight at the end is the best fight in the first half of S1. Either this or Mountain Men, anyway. The Quickening has a bunch of exploding flower pots, which is tremendous. Factor in that gorgeous Indian woman wearing exercise clothes for most of the episode and it's a memorable ep for a few reasons. This could have been a great episode if it were in S3 instead. 6.5/10.
#6. Saving Grace (Episode 17) - An episode that was a lot better than I remembered; Grace is fetching and likeable. I think this was Werner Stocker's final (real) appearance on the show; his very brief scenes in the season finale were taken from other episodes.
It's a good final episode for Darius, and he has a heart-warming reaction to being kissed by Grace. I really liked this one. Though Richie falling for every woman he meets is getting a bit old by this point. I don't have much to say about this episode; it's just solid. 7/10.
#5. The Gathering (Episode 1) - This one is great just for giving us the rare Connor/Duncan team up. Putting aside that it's basically just an extended scene from the first movie in some ways, it's still better than Highlander 2. Fun episode, does what it needs to do, gets higher marks than it probably should mainly because of Connor being in it. The whole Gathering concept pretty much went nowhere after this season as far as the show goes. 7.5/10.
#4. For Evil's Sake (Episode 14) - Our real introduction to Paris, this is a high-quality, rain-drenched episode full of sightseeing and radness. Kuyler the mime is a great villain, and this episode single-handedly gave me a love of Absinthe that persisted for a good 7 years or so. We see how Tessa met Duncan here - and I'm only now realizing after 30 years of watching this show that Duncan kept The Barge parked on the exact spot where he met her. There are downsides, though: The cop show format was still hanging on for dear life with the frequent intrusions of Inspector Lebrun, and even worse, I don't think we got any Darius in this episode. Given how few episodes Darius is around for, any episode in that timeframe without him is unfortunate. 8/10.
#3. For Tomorrow We Die (Episode 15) - The malevolent and charming Xavier St. Cloud is introduced here, making this three episodes in a row with excellent villains. Turns out Band of Brothers didn't turn the series around by itself, it had some help. This episode has lots of Darius which is a plus, and very little cop show. What little there is is lame, with Inspector Lebrun badgering Duncan for "holding out" for the second straight episode. Regardless, this episode feels very streamlined and "relaxed" for lack of a better word, like the show was settling into the identity that began in Band. The Paris scenery is amazing here, and it's the first episode I can remember where steam plays a major factor. Yep, lots of steam here. Xavier is probably the main thing that elevates this episode, even though later episodes retcon him a bit. He really is one of the series' greatest villains. He's one of the extreme few villains to have the nerve to also use a katana. The final fight at The Barge is pretty great, how often has that ever happened? Weird that Xavier's arm never grew back. 8/10.
#2. The Hunters (Episode 22) - One of two episodes in Season 1 that I consider to be "exceptional", this episode did a lot to establish the identity of the show going forward. There are a few too many chase scenes with Horton's goons, but it's an episode that's rife with emotion and character. Fitzcairn debuts here and is pretty much instantly the show's most fun character. It's little wonder he returns in so many later episodes. We say goodbye to Darius here and meet the Watchers for the first time; too bad it's via the absolute worst of them. Oh yeah, and Richie gets an outstanding moment of saving Duncan's life when he crashes in on his motorcycle to take out a bunch of the bad guys. 8.5/10.
#1. Band of Brothers (Episode 13) - Lucky number 13 single-handedly saved the show, with David Abramowitz taking over as showrunner and steering the ship in the right direction. Apparently the show went through several showrunners in the first 12 episodes that didn't work out; rumor has it that the guy who wrote "Deadly Medicine" got executed via firing squad.
Not sure I've ever seen an episode that was such a turnaround for a show as this one was. Band of Brothers is the real beginning of Highlander The Series as we know it. Even beyond how important of an episode it is in S1, it's really above average for the whole series. Grayson, the first "ancient" immortal in the show, is one of Duncan's toughest opponents, and the final battle in the sulfur plant is awesome. Darius, and Paris itself, being introduced were also integral parts of giving the show the identity it needed. 10/10.
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