HIGHLA-L Digest - 3 Mar 2004 to 5 Mar 2004 (#2004-46)
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Fri, 5 Mar 2004 22:00:05 -0500
There is one message totalling 342 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Seasons Two dvds: Counterfeit I
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Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 14:43:02 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Seasons Two dvds: Counterfeit I
COMMENTARY: BP tells us that after all the debate over the first one (I
think he means the first two-parter), the audience seemed to like two part
episodes [I wasn't aware of any debate, myself (shrug).] They wanted to find
a way to bring Tessa back because she was so popular. It seemed like "an
eternity" since she had been gone, even though it had only been something
like four months. It's amusing that Adrian's wife, Melanie, played Tessa
before her makeover. Sometimes an episode works so well and production runs
so smoothly, BP says, there was nothing really to elaborate on. BP's only
contribution to the production was that when Adrian was shooting the rifle
in the flashback, he was originally shooting a boar. However, a French boar
was smaller than an American boar, and seemed kind of puny as an object of a
hunt, so BP wanted a bear, which seemed like a more fitting opponent. But
every time someone said "boar", they had to re-voice it to have them saying
"bear."
OUTTAKES: We see the boar BP was talking about and he was right. It is a
fuzzy, big-eared, kind of cute little creature, sort of a boar with Bambi
ambitions. Then we see Duncan escaping from the ropes in the flashback,
taken from the view of the camera that is on his wrists. AP struggles so
much with the ropes, he can't get the lines out very well, then starts to
laugh and they end up bleeping his words.
We hear Gillian Horvath say that because Peter Hudson had been injured and
was in the hospital, they had to use a double for him during some of the
episode. For the turnarounds with Lisa/Tessa, we hear Adrian deliver
Horton's off-camera lines in an imitation of Horton's "evil" English voice,
which cracks up Alexandra Vandernoot.
Then we see Duncan and Richie walking down the street, talking about Peter
and the scar on his wrist, ending with Mac saying the line, "The truth is
the truth, Richie..." and Adrian ends it completely in character with, "Even
though I can't say the line." (It had come out more like "the tooth is the
tooth.") Then they walk back to their mark, stopping to let a little white
haired old lady come out of a doorway past them, someone who is clearly not
a part of the scene. Not sure what that outtake tells us other than that
they were on a real street with real people passing by.
NOTE: Because there are so very many scene cuts in this episode, I have put
delimiters in when the scene changes significantly.
EPISODE: In a strange, large space with a weird black and white wall-sized
painting in the back, we see a young man being paid off by the evil villain,
Peter Horton. His flunky takes a hot poker out of a stove [Why would there
be a Franklin-type stove in what appeared to be a conference room?] and men
hold the young man down as they burn the his wrist, then Horton instructs
him to ine"Go out and be a hero."
~~
We see Richie at a carnival at a target-shooting booth. We recognize the
young man who is standing next to him as the one who was talking to Horton.
The two guys strike up a conversation and when Richie spots two Watchers (he
sees the wrist tattoo on a bald guy) closing in on him Richie gets
suspicious and moves away. Someone has slashed the tires of his motorcycle
and the bad guys close in. Richie runs out of the carnival past a church as
its bells are ringing. The gunmen are about to get Richie when he is saved
by his buddy from the shooting gallery, and they ride off on his motorcycle.
~~
Back at the barge, Mac is treating a shallow bullet graze on "Pete's" arm as
Richie extols his new friend's bravery. Mac says Pete can stay there for the
night, but also notices the scar on Pete's arm. Mac pulls Richie outside and
explains his suspicions about the scar - that it looked like it might be
from getting a tattoo removed, with the implication that Pete might be a
Watcher. Richie doesn't believe it, but suggests they go talk to the guys at
the carnival.
Richie spots the bald guy and, against Mac's suggestion that they "play this
smart", attacks the man. The man denies ever shooting at him and when Mac
asks about a tattoo, he shows him a wrist tattoo, but it isn't that of a
Watcher. Mac drags Richie away, apologizing for the misunderstanding. Mac
thinks that Richie might be wrong about the tattoo, or that somebody is
"playing with us", again expressing his doubts about Pete. Richie objects,
dismissively saying he didn't know Immortals were psychic. "We're not
psychic, tough guy," Mac responds. "But we are cautious." Richie rolls his
eyes.
~~
The next scene is in a women's prison, where we see a young, belligerent
woman being put in a van for transport. An accident is faked to stop the
van, the guard is killed and the woman is freed (she clearly doesn't know
who they are) and taken away. It is Pete who is driving the car.
~~
Back at the barge, Pete has disappeared. Richie assures Mac that Pete is
"just another guy on the road" when they hear Pete drive up on his
motorcycle. Pete tells them that he spotted people hanging around, watching
the barge. He followed them when they took off, saying they went back to the
carnival. The three of them go back there as Pete tells a story that sounds
similar Richie's history of abandonment, and the two seem to be bonding.
Pete leads them to a trailer at the carnival, where pictures of Duncan on
the barge are posted on the wall. Duncan urges Pete to leave Paris, but Pete
says he wants to help them and he can take care of himself, but if they
don't want his help, then fine.
Richie is pissed off at Mac for not trusting Pete, but Mac says it's "too
neat", that Pete had been in the right place at the right time too often.
Richie accuses Mac of being a cynic, and Mac can't really articulate why he
has a bad feeling about Pete.
~~
FLASHBACK: Duncan is caught shooting a bear by a sheriff in Merry Olde
England. Duncan tells him he did it to feed the people in the village, that
they're starving. "So?" asks the sheriff. "Soooo," says Duncan in a Scottish
burr, "no people no taxes, no taxes no money, no money, no sheriff. D'ya
understand?" But the sheriff and his men are not understanding at all, and
are about to expedite justice by cutting off Duncan's head, while he tries
to convince them that he ought to be hanged instead. "No rope," says the
sheriff.
Duncan feels the presence of an Immortal, a shot rings out and the axeman
goes down, and Duncan barely ducks out of the way in time. Duncan has
managed to untie his hands and chases off the sheriff and his men, assisted
by a big, ftlinejolly bear of an Immortal, Charles Browning of York. They
end up in an inn, where Duncan gets seriously drunk, carousing and enjoying
the company of the serving women and of Charles Browning, who orders more
wine. Duncan tries to pay for it saying a little sloppily that he owes
Browning his life. "That is a debt we'll settle some other time," Browning
says, his expressing turning serious.
"No, I insist!" Duncan says.
"No!" answers Browning. "Is a life not more important than a jug of wine?"
"Aye, much, much more," Duncan answers.
"How much?" Browning asks softly.
Duncan looks a little confused and bleary for a moment, then a broad grin
spreads over his face. "Ahhh," he says, "Two jugs! Two jugs of wine!" he
shouts, drunkenly starting to rise, but he loses his balance and falls over.
That night, everyone is gone and Duncan is snoring gently, asleep on a
table, when Browning comes in, his sword at the ready. As the blade comes
down, Duncan wakes and rolls away just in time. Duncan, still reeling from
too much to drink, finds his sword, asking why, telling him that he had
called him "friend."
"Friend?" Browning repeats darkly. "I have no friends!"
~~
Back in the present day, Richie declares Pete to be his friend, but Mac says
Pete is a liar, but he understands why Richie would like him. Mac has a
police report on Pete, saying that Pete is on the run, having broken parole
after a couple of armed robbery attempts. Richie insists that Pete saved his
life, and Mac says he still wants to know why.
~~
Change of scene to the young woman, chained to a table, being examined by a
doctor. Horton tells her she is lucky, that she will get a new face and new
identity and a great deal of money. "Who do I have to kill?" she says
jokingly.
"All in good time, my dear," Horton replies.
~~
Richie confronts Pete back at some hostel, who explains he was trying to
make a new start and that's why he lied. He explains the wrist scar as a
burn from his motorcycle, and Richie easily understands and forgives the
lies.
~~
Mac is back at the church, near where Richie was attacked. He finds some
empty gun casings and goes inside to talk to the priest, asking whether he
saw anything when he rang the bells the day before. The priest did witness
the guys chasing Richie. Turns out the priest loves classic cars, and had
noted a 1966 silver Astin Martin parked there, showing Mac his extensive
miniature car collection.
"Are you a police officer?" the priest asks.
"No," Duncan says as he leaves, and says casually back over his shoulder,
"I'm an Immortal."
[SIDEBAR: Is Duncan just feeling playful, having met a priest with an \pard
*obsession for sports cars? This left me a little mystified.]
~~
Then we see the "training" of the woman who has now undergone plastic
surgery and is wrapped in gauze. They give her the history of a Parisian
woman named "Lisa Millon". They also train her vocal style and accent.
Horton, in observing her progress, says, "Even MacLeod has a weakness. I've
found the right weapon. Now it must function perfectly."
~~
MacLeod and Richie enter a high-toned car dealership as Mac reports that he
found shells but no bullet holes or bullet fragments, that the whole thing
was a setup, that the tattoos were fake and bullets were blanks. But Richie
wants to know how Pete got shot if the bullets were blanks, insisting the
guy is exactly who he says he is.
Mac asks the salesman about a silver Astin Martin, trying to find out if one
has been sold recently, giving the man his card with a bribe.
~~
We go back to the woman in gauze, with Horton grilling her on art history,
with her insisting she is ready now, but Horton is unrelenting.
~~
Mac and Richie drive into an alley and park. "Stay in the car," Mac orders.
"All right," Richie answers. "Everybody who's an Immortal raise their hand."
He raises his hand. "Guess it's just the two of us."
They argue for a minute, with Richie insisting Mac is better off with him
than without him. Mac thinks about it for a second, starts to smile but
stops himself. "Come on," he says.
~~
Horton is on the phone, announcing that the car had been found at it is
"showtime."
~~
Richie and Mac take out two bad guys coming out of the door of a
warehouse-type space. Inside they find Pete, semi-conscious. He says lain
"they" had interrogated him about Duncan and the barge, that he was sure
they were going to kill him.
"Well, do you believe him now?" Richie asks Mac angrily. "Or is he going to
have to take a bullet in the head to prove it to you?"
Mac has Richie take Pete to a hotel and register him under an assumed name,
and announces that they will clear out the barge and be gone by morning.
~~
Next we see a scene with Horton and Lisa Millon, where Horton declares that
he is going to do something that "many have tried, none have ever achieved,
but that only a handful of people will ever even know about. I'm going to
destroy Duncan MacLeod and every day for the rest of my life I'm going to
remember and relish it. Whatever else I do," he adds, "It shall never equal
this."
~~
Back at the barge Duncan is examining a chess setup and listening to jazz.
Richie returns, saying Pete is all set in the hotel, asking why Mac isn't
packing. Mac tells him they aren't running, and that if he is right, they
will be coming for them first thing in the morning, that he had said they
were leaving only for Pete's benefit, that Pete will tell the bad guys their
plans about leaving tomorrow.
Richie gets pissed off, saying they almost killed Pete, but Mac says the
bruises were absolutely fresh, there was no congealed blood, and that they
wouldn't have "left their mistakes behind." "He was left there for a
reason!" Mac insists. Richie says Mac doesn't know that, that Pete is just a
regular guy, but Duncan grabs Richie by the coat insisting, "Listen to me!
He's one of them! Do you want to say alive or not?"
Back at the original peculiar location that opened the show, Pete tells
Horton that he won over Richie, but MacLeod never trusted him, but Horton
says MacLeod was never intended to trust him. "Divide and conquer," he says.
He gives Pete a gun, saying it's time for Pete to be a hero again.
~~
The next morning, Mac and Richie are waiting under the bridge when Pete
drives up on the motorcycle. Pete goes onto the barge, with Richie insisting
that they should warn Pete to get the hell away, but Mac stops him. A car
drives up, Pete goes out to it after having checked to see if anyone was on
the barge, and Richie gets nervous that Pete is in danger.
"They're not going to hurt him, Richie. He's one of them," Mac insists.
Then we see the window roll down. Richie says, "If you're wrong he doesn't
stand a chance!"
"I'm not wrong!" Mac says.
Pete is shot by the person in the car, and the car drives away. Pete
staggers and falls, and by the time Richie and Mac get to him, he's dead.
Mac looks stunned and disbelieving. Richie is incensed. "You just couldn't
be wrong, could you?" he asks before he stalks away. We see Horton watching
from the street above, a satisfied look on his face as Mac kneels by Pete's
body.
~~
Back with Lisa Millon, Horton tells her, "The minor actors have played their
roles, Lisa. Now it's up to the star." We see the gauze slowly removed from
her face and what is revealed is an exact duplicate of Tessa Noel.
MY VIEWS: Whew! A lot of stuff happens in this episode, as we see the
further development of the relationship between Duncan and Richie when they
are deliberately manipulated to take opposing positions. The important
aspects of all this are that Duncan and Richie are good friends at the
beginning, far more of a big brother/little brother relationship than the
father/son that we saw before. Richie still comes to Mac for help whenever
there's any hint of trouble, but whenever Mac starts to treat Richie like a
kid (which he really only did once when he told him to stay in the car),
Richie calls him on it, and Mac relents.s20
For an episode with a *lot* of short, intense scenes, it hangs together
pretty well dramatically and unlike the last episode (Prodigal Son), the
small scenes each create an atmosphere and tell a part of the tale that goes
beyond just the dialogue being spoken. Horton is the master puppeteer here,
and as each aspect of the drama he has choreographed is played out, the
nature of his madness and his obsession becomes more clear.
I felt the increasing tension between Duncan and Richie was extremely well
done. Richie wanted to trust and believe Pete, but also wanted to trust and
believe Duncan. Duncan was acting on instincts and knowledge and experience
gained over 400 years, plus a justifiably suspicious nature about
serendipitous coincidences.
The flashback was terrific. The atmosphere felt very real, and the younger,
more foolish and naive Duncan was true to his character at the time, as it
was in his nature to trust and to like people, rather than to be suspicious
of them. Warring against that trusting nature now is a hard-learned caution
as well as instincts about people's character he has developed over several
centuries. All that was very believable.
The killing of Pete was a masterstroke by Horton. Duncan is left doubting
his own instincts, questioning his own conclusions, and at the same time a
huge wedge of distrust has been driven into his barely-reconstituted
relationship with Richie, leaving him isolated in his uncertainty.
MacG
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 3 Mar 2004 to 5 Mar 2004 (#2004-46)
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