HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2004 to 18 Mar 2004 (#2004-52)
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Thu, 18 Mar 2004 22:00:03 -0500
There is one message totalling 355 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Season Three dvds: The Cross of St. Antoine
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Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 11:55:25 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Three dvds: The Cross of St. Antoine
COMMENTARY: Elizabeth Gracen comments that her favorite part of this
episode was that we got to see Amanda as the Aprofessional@ teaching Athe
big guy@ about stealth. Then they show the bit where Duncan does this
Aoops@ joke while practicing lifting Amanda in a harness, dropping her to
the dojo floor with a thump. EG then smiles and says, AAnd Adrian actually
dropped me,@ and notes that she was really mad at him after that. She talks
about how they (EG and AP) got to access their chemistry in improv=ing their
relationship in this episode. She recalled seeing some of the rough cuts as
they argued through the whole robbing-the-museum sequence, and she said that
they continued bickering even off-stage and it all fed into the humor of the
on-screen scenes.
She said she=s played a lot of Abad girls@ in shows and had to deal with a
lot of laser beams, including blowing the smoke to reveal the beams,
stepping over them and rolling under them, and that she and AP came up with
a lot of the physical bits just doing improv and that it was a lot of fun.
She notes that when she was first on the show in ALady and the Tiger@, she
and AP just sort of clicked and really figured out the relationship between
Duncan and Amanda, and luckily enough they asked her back, so they really
developed the relationship to the point where they could do or say almost
anything on camera, including very serious scenes or the bedroom scenes, and
they were very comfortable with each other.
The writers took advantage of that comfort, writing scenes almost on the fly
with very little rehearsal that really worked well, and they couldn=t have
done that otherwise. She said they were both allowed to really act, and
their friendship off camera created a trust factor that allowed them to go
places they might not with someone else.
F. Braun McAsh says that this was one of his very early episodes, and a lot
of his fight choreography was just about getting them from an elevated space
onto the train cars, and that a major portion of the day was getting the
stunt shot in of the two fighters jumping from a catwalk into the top of the
train cars. Then they fought along the top of the train cars, leaping from
car to car. The notion of old-time movies created by the scenario were
reflected in the shots, like showing the shadows of the fighters on the
walls, because once they moved into the cars there was no to swing the
swords. For the final cut he used a reverse grip, and said he wanted to do
a different move for each show, something the audience had never seen
before.
We go back to Elizabeth G., who comments that she always told her agent to
keep the Highlander producers in the loop about her schedule. When they
objected, saying Highlander was only for maybe three or four shows a year,
EG says it was because she really loved doing Highlander and the character
she played, with the fun cast and, doing accents and sword fighting and the
costumes, that it was an actor=s dream, and that she really hadn=t wanted it
to end.
OUTTAKES: We see the classic outtake that is on the blooper reel, where Joe
Dawson tries to break the door glass with his cane when he sees his lady
love being attacked inside. Gillian Horvath tells us that David A.
literally had to horse trade to get breakaway glass for that scene, cutting
horses from the flashback scene in order to afford it. Unfortunately, she
says, the breakaway glass broke on the truck on the way to the set and they
had to substitute real glass. They intercut Gillian=s comments with Jim
Byrnes pounding (and pounding and pounding) on the glass with his cane.
When he finally manages to break the glass, if you look carefully, you will
see that his cane has been replaced with a crow bar that had been painted
brown.
We then see another scene that I believe is also on the blooper reel, where
Duncan answers the phone very seriously, then turns to Amanda saying that
Durgan wants to meet him, while both actors peel and eat bananas. When you
hear ACut!@, Adrian and Elizabeth break into giggles. As I recall, Adrian
once said that Dennis Barry had a >thing= about not having bananas on the
set.
Then we see the dojo scene where Amanda is Atraining@ Duncan, and Adrian
can=t get the rope untangled to throw it over an overhead bar. They try the
scene again, and this time Adrian clowns around, swinging the rope like he=s
going to lasso something.
Next we see Adrian blow his lines in a scene with the museum curator, and
following that, we see a couple of cuts of Amanda and Duncan bargaining
over whether Amanda will help Duncan steel the Cross of St. Antoine, where
AP goes to one knee and kisses Amanda=s hand, saying AI am your obedient
servant,@ (for one take, I think he says, AYou are my obedient servant.@)
The actors appear to be having a very good time.
Next they show the filming of the Quickening, with smoke bombs and fireworks
going off while Adrian goes through the intense physicality of the Q.
AActing@ a Quickening looks like difficult, hard work, frankly.
EPISODE: Commentary is provided by Gillian Horvath and Donna Lettow.
Gillian is always the more chatty of the pair of writers, and she opened the
commentary by saying she thought Elizabeth Gracen was at her most beautiful
in this episode and that was saying a lot because, Ashe did a lot of
>beautiful= for us.@ She also talked about the chemistry between the actors
and how great it was, and that the hardest part to sell about the show was
when the characters were supposed to be at loggerheads, as when Joe and
Duncan were supposed to be fighting, or when Methos and Amanda were supposed
to be at odds.
As far as the plot, Duncan takes Amanda to Joe=s bar for the first time, and
we learn that Joe has gotten himself a lady love, an art historian who is
working at the Thorn Estate. Joe goes to pick her up for a date, only to
watch helplessly as some shadowy stranger attacks her, and he is unable to
break in the house to save her.
Then we see Joe playing and singing the blues alone on the stage, mourning
his lady=s murder. [NOTE: This is the first time we see AJoe@ actually play
and sing, and it is a very cool moment, which Horvath and Lettow managed to
completely talk over (even as Gillian says they should just shut up and
listen), and that=s when I turned off their commentary as just being
annoying and not adding anything.]
Joe is at Mac=s, bitter and angry, saying the intruder was not a burglar, as
the police thought, and bemoaning his inability to save her, demanding of
Mac, ADo you know what if feels like!?@ And he answers, AYes.@
Then Joe asks Mac to help him find whoever killed her. Joe, Amanda and
Duncan go to the Thorn Estate and talk to the curator, who says the woman
worked late and left alone. Joe is aggressive and angry with the man, and
Duncan serves as calming mediator. In the meantime, Amanda is acquisitively
eyeing the estate=s collection, but observes in the process that the place
is very well secured. But then Mac spots something familiar, a large,
gem-studded gold cross in a glass case:
FLASHBACK to Montana in 18l7: We see a priest baptizing a baby in a river
as an acolyte holds the same cross. They are attacked by a couple of
roughnecks trying to steal the cross, but a buckskin-clad DM chases them
off, getting shot in the process. The priest declares the disappearance of
the bullet wound a miracle from the power of the cross.
Duncan ends up in the local town, getting a bath and a shave and replacing
his ruined shirt when he feels another Immortal. It is a big, scruffy,
backwoods lout by the name of John Durgan. He is a trapper, a relatively
new Immortal (only about 90 years old at the time, according to the Watcher
chronicle) who doesn=t want to fight, and is there to trade his beaver
skins. But Durgan is completely entranced when he sees the priest carrying
the cross.
Back in the present day, we see John Durgan, now all sophisticated and
spiffy in an expensive suit, watching monitors inside the estate showrooms,
and he recognizes Mac.
Chef!Duncan is fixing what appear to be crepes in the kitchen, and he tells
Amanda (who is now working as chief of security for some rock star and who
has, according to her, Agone straight@) about John Durgan.
ANOTHER FLASHBACK: Durgan is negotiating for his pelts with the trading post
owner, and it is evident that Durgan doesn=t know how to write. The local
school teacher comes along collecting money for a new schoolhouse, and
Durgan and Mac talk about the benefits of education. Duncan tells him that
he only learned when he was about 50 years old and that it would be worth
Durgan=s while.
Durgan goes to the schoolteacher that evening, asking her to teach him, but
when she lets him inside, he just steals the money she had collected, and
kills her, but also takes the book she had offered him to help him learn to
read.
Back in the present, Amanda visits Joe at the bar where Joe has been
drowning his sorrows with booze. She asks him about Durgan, but in the
meantime, Duncan goes back to the Thorn Estate to try to talk to the
mysterious Mr. Thorn, suspecting that he had something to do with John
Durgan, but the curator says Thorn doesn=t see anyone, and that the cross is
not for sale.
A THIRD FLASHBACK: Duncan is leaving town when he learns that the priest has
gone down to the river to baptize John Durgan. Suspecting foul play, Duncan
races to the river, where Durgan has stabbed the priest and taken the cross.
Durgan gets away and the priest begs Duncan with his dying breath to swear
to find the cross and return it to the church.
Back at the loft, Amanda tells Mac that Durgan hasn=t been seen for 120
years, revealing her conversation with Dawson. AI thought I told you to
keep him out of this,@ Mac says in irritation.
ASince when do I do everything you tell me to do?@ she snaps back saucily.
Then Mac gets a call, and the museum curator wishes to set up a meeting
between Mac and Thorn. The meeting is in a church, and sure enough, it is
Durgan, who declares himself a sophisticated and urbane man who has Afound
art, found beauty@, and declares himself wealthy, powerful and intellectual.
He admits that Dawson=s friend was too good a researcher, and had traced
some of his pieces= origins, threatening the ownership of his precious
possessions, especially the cross.
He describes how he uses his wealth to protect himself from other Immortals,
and tells Mac not to try to get to him or he will kill him permanently.
AYou put a pig in crushed linen,@ Mac says tauntingly, Abut he=s still a
pig.@
ADon=t even try, MacLeod,= Durgan answers. AYou won=t even get close.@
Then, in a really great scene, Mac convinces Amanda to help him steal the
cross in order to force Durgan to come to him.
Mac goes to Joe=s, where Joe has crawled out of the bottle, and Mac tells
him about Durgan. Joe wants to go after Durgan himself, but Mac asks Joe to
let him take care of it.
In the dojo, Amanda Atrains@ Mac in stealth techniques, and then they break
into the mansion and steal the cross (and Amanda lifts a few other items).
They are giggly and excited afterwards, and they drink champagne and...
well, what they do then is left to the imagination. They are in bed asleep
in the morning, when Durgan calls. He=s pissed. Unfortunately, he=s
kidnaped Joe, and offers to trade Joe for the cross.
But Duncan comes up with a plan. Durgan comes into the church for the
trade, and feels an Immortal. He assumes it=s MacLeod, and yells at him to
come out, but it is actually Amanda that Durgan feels. Not realizing there
is more than one Immortal around and thinking he=s safe, Durgan takes the
cross and leaves Joe, after Joe almost breaks the object in a fury over his
girlfriend=s murder. In the meantime, Mac takes out Durgan=s bodyguard.
Lo and behold, once Durgan is off holy ground, he finds MacLeod waiting for
him.
The fight takes place inside a building filled with train cars, and Durgan
presents a fairly ominous villain despite the fact that the actor is hardly
has the physique of someone who works out. [F. Braun had said the actor
worked extremely hard in those scenes.] The quickening has the electricity
pinning MacLeod to the side of the train.
Back at the church, Duncan puts the cross on the altar, returning it to the
church as he had promised so long ago.
The final scene is of Joe, playing and singing his blues while Amanda and
Duncan watch. Duncan comments that Joe knows more about him than anyone,
yet he hardly knows anything about Joe. Amanda says Joe must=ve had a hell
of a life.
AProbably,@ Mac replies.
Amanda asks if Mac will ask him about it.
ANah,@ Mac says, AWhen he=s ready, he=ll tell me.@
And the episode ends with Joe singing the blues.
COMMENTARY: Well, I liked Joe singing the blues. And Amanda looked good.
And Duncan looked good, especially in the flashbacks. I loved the stealth
scenes and the comic interaction between Amanda and Duncan. As for the
rest, well, Durgan was a so-so villain and the plot was rather predictable.
The scenery was particularly good in this episode, I thought. The Montana
village and people were effective, and I think the interior of Joe=s looks
more interesting in this episode than in any other.
Joe was brought to the forefront as a character, and we saw Amanda and
Duncan interacting, and all that was good. But the episode itself was quite
average in its dramatic impact.
Hmm. That=s two so-so episodes in a row. Bummer.
MacG
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 17 Mar 2004 to 18 Mar 2004 (#2004-52)
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