HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 May 2004 to 22 May 2004 (#2004-94)
Automatic digest processor (LISTSERV@lists.psu.edu)
Sat, 22 May 2004 22:00:02 -0400
There are 2 messages totalling 310 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Season Three dvds: Reasonable Doubt
2. PWFC Roadtrip
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 23:35:55 -0400
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Three dvds: Reasonable Doubt
COMMENTARY: Bill Panzer talks about the way Immortals live in secret, and
for MacLeod to step outside the game and take action because he believes it
is good for society is one of his great strengths, but it is not a great
strength as an Immortal. He says they thought that every once in a while
MacLeod should step out of the shadows, to take that chance, and not just
let life go on because it's none of his business. They did set up some past
history with the guy, they had a lot of fun shooting up the streets of Paris
with machine guns, and now the guy is bad, he's treating Maurice's niece
badly, and he decides enough is enough.
Gillian says that Dennis Berry was always entertaining in that they never
knew when he was going to take what seemed like a simple scene (in the
whorehouse scene, for instance which is a wildly colorful few seconds of
film) and add to it "these levels of carnival" that made it look more like a
feature film than a television show.
OUTTAKES: None provided.
EPISODE: In the opening scene, a beautiful girl with her car blocking the
road flags down an ambulance. It turns out that the ambulance was a disguise
for a courier carrying an extremely valuable da Vinci sketch. Her
accomplice/lover pulls a gun on them, and while the girl gets the drawing
and goes to get their motorcycle, he shoots both the guards in cold blood.
She is upset, insisting no one was supposed to get hurt, but he claims they
tried to kill him and he was only defending himself.
It turns out that the sketch belongs to Frank, an art dealer friend of
Duncan's. Frank tells Duncan that he wasn't insured, the guards were killed
and now the thieves want to sell the painting back to him. Duncan volunteers
to make the exchange. Later, when he goes to Maurice's restaurant for
dinner, and Maurice introduces him to his niece, Simone, we see it is the
same girl who helped steal the drawing. Simone makes excuses and leaves and
Maurice expresses his concern that something is bothering her, and asks
MacLeod to talk to her, insisting over Duncan's protests that, "You have a
special way with women. Women love you. They trust you, and more important,
I trust you." Duncan agrees to take her out to lunch.
The next day, Duncan delivers Frank's money to the thieves, but recognizes
Simone's voice when she sticks a gun in his back and tells him to leave the
cash. He easily takes the gun from her, pulls her up and tells her they are
going to talk to her boss. He marches her back the way he came, but stops
when he feels an Immortal. There on a motorcycle is her accomplice, and we
get a flashback to...
Paris, 1930. Duncan is checking on money he says was deposited by his
great-great grandfather 93 years before. The 10,000 francs has earned over a
million francs, and Duncan moves it into a checking account.
In the meantime, we see Kagan and an older-looking Immortal (Richard Tarsis)
enter the bank. The two Immortals shoot up the bank with machine guns, line
everyone up and Kagan demands that everyone give up their valuables. There
is a quiet confrontation between Duncan and Tarsis, who smugly tells Duncan
he taught Kagan everything he knows. "You must be very proud," Duncan says
sardonically, but tells him that, so long as nobody gets hurt, he won't
interfere. Tarsis says Duncan has a deal, but Duncan tell him grimly that it
isn't a deal, it's a warning. Unfortunately, things start to get violent,
shots are fired as they escape, and a bystander is killed.
Next comes a rather fantastical scene where Tarsis and Kagan are "relaxing"
in an exotic whorehouse. Duncan enters, smoothly picking up a cane from the
umbrella stand near the entrance. Kagan holds a knife threateningly, but
Duncan casually whirls around smacking him with the cane, and he goes down
like a ton of bricks. "I warned you," he tells Tarsis. They go outside in a
garden, and the victor is never in doubt. The Quickening explodes around him
while the denizens of the whorehouse obliviously continue their
pleasure-seeking activities. Kagan, looking scared and awkward holding his
sword, approaches while Duncan is still reeling from the Q. Duncan lets him
go.
In the present, Kagan shoots at Duncan, forcing him to duck while Simone
gets on the motorcycle and they ride away. Of course, art dealer Frank doesn
't have his sketch back, but Duncan tells him the thieves still want their
money and they'll call again. Frank protests that it's too dangerous, but
Duncan is adamant.
Duncan gets Simone's address from Maurice, and spots her leaving her
apartment building. He follows her to a high-class bordello. We learn that
the Madame distrusts Kagan, warning Simone against him, but she goes to him
anyway, and Kagan tells Simone that MacLeod won't go to the police and they
don't have to run.
A few minutes later Duncan strides in, and as scantily clad women
provocatively sidle up to him, he realizes exactly what kind of
establishment it is. When the Madame tells him Simone is "otherwise engaged"
he says, "Well, in that case, it's the guy she's with that I'm interested
in." In a wonderfully awkward moment the madame responds archly, "Monsieur,
I think you're in the wrong place."
Just then Duncan feels Kagan's presence, and Kagan appears, tucking his
shirt into his pants. Kagan looks surprised, and takes off. "I don't think
so," Duncan replies to the Madame, and then when she gives him a narrow
look, Duncan realizes what she's assuming and starts to correct her, but
quickly gives up in favor of chasing after Kagan. (NOTE: If Duncan could
feel Kagan (and they must've been fairly close to each other), why didn't
Kagan feel Duncan? Is this one of those stealth canon indications that the
more powerful an Immortal is, the greater his sensitivity to the presence of
another Immortal?)
Kagan ends up cornered in a closed garden and when Duncan approaches, his
katana at the ready, Kagan drops his sword. Duncan orders him to pick it up.
"What for? We both know where this is going to lead." Kagan says the world
won't miss him, and "If I"m not a prince it's because I wasn't raised by a
king. Maybe if you'd found me instead of Tarsis..."
And we get a flashback to Ireland in 1913, where Kagan is a young orphan
being bullied by another ruffian, but who, despite being smaller, can
obviously take care of himself. The flashback segues to Paris in 1923, right
after Tarsis and Kagan had robbed the bank. The two fight after Tarsis
refuses him half the proceeds, and Kagan wins, which makes Tarsis laugh. He
pulls out a gun, and tells Kagan that it's a great day for him because,
"Today, you become Immortal," and shoots him dead. After he revives, Tarsis
tells him what he is and announces that he killed him when he was at his
strongest and fastest, and that "We're gonna be raising hell, forever."
Duncan accuses Kagan murdering the guards, but Kagan insists they were going
to shoot Simone and he was only defending her. Simone interferes, bringing
Duncan the sketch they had stolen, begging him to leave Kagan alone. Duncan
lets Kagan know that he finds out he's lying, there will be dire
consequences.
Duncan returns the sketch to Frank, meeting Kagan outside afterwards. Kagan
nervously asks him how it went, asking, "So everything's cool, right?" and
puts a friendly arm over Duncan's shoulder as they walk along.
"Just because I let you live doesn't mean we're friends," Duncan shakes his
arm off coldly, and tells him to stay away from Simone.
Later, Simone visits Duncan at the barge, telling Duncan a story of sexual
abuse as a child, and how Maurice was oblivious, lost in a bottle after his
wife's death. In the meantime, Maurice has gone to Simone's apartment, but
is intercepted there by Kagan, who assumes Maurice is one of Simone's
"clients" and chases him away by roughing him up and stabbing him in the
hand. Maurice arrives at the barge, his hand bandaged, saying he cut his
hand a work. Simone leaves, and Duncan follows her out, and asks her how the
two men died in the robbery. "How would I know?" she replies flippantly, and
walks away.
Maurice and Duncan sit his table, drinking wine, and Maurice sighs. "So, we'
ve talked about the weather, the wine - when are we going to talk about
Simone?" he asks, giving Duncan a hard look. Duncan obfuscates a little
until Maurice tells him he knows what Simone is, and that he had suspected
all along. Then Maurice tells Duncan he was attacked at her apartment by one
of her "clients", whose description matches Kagan. Duncan, looking grim,
immediately heads out, with Maurice trotting behind.
Simone arrives back at her apartment, where Kagan is waiting for her. They
make love, and Kagan says he's going to get her out of her life of
prostitution, but in return he wants her to call MacLeod, to lead him into a
trap, where he plans to shoot him (and then take his head, of course). She
says no, and he hits her, accusing her of "doing him" (Duncan) and "doing
the old man who I stuck tonight". She realizes it must have been Maurice,
and demands that Kagan leave, but he ends up stabbing her to death. Duncan
and Maurice arrive to find Simone's body, and now Duncan is truly pissed.
The bordello Madame tells Duncan he might find Kagan, and Duncan tracks him
down the next morning. Kagan greets him as though nothing has happened, but
Duncan almost casually beats the crap out of him, picks him up off the
ground and hits him a few more times. Kagan continuously denies killing
Simone, saying he had warned her to get out of the "business", saying
convincingly that he was with a friend, swearing he'd stayed away from
Simone just as Duncan had ordered.
Duncan pauses, appears to reconsider, then says he owes Kagan an apology and
offers his hand. Kagan takes it, and Duncan kicks him in the gut, and slams
him to the ground. Kagan finally draws a sword, then tries to get away.
"Go ahead. Run, little boy," Duncan taunts him. "I'll find you."
Kagan runs, and Duncan follows, pacing him effortlessly as Kagan runs along
the canal. Duncan finds a way to cut him off, and at last they meet in a
field.
"I didn't kill anyone!" Kagan still insists. "I have an alibi."
"This isn't a court of law," Duncan answers.
"You're crazy! You're going to kill an innocent man. I never meant to harm
anyone," Kagan pleads as he backpedals.
"I don't care what you meant."
Again, the outcome is never in doubt, except when Kagan reaches for a hidden
dagger, and Duncan pulls it out of his own pocket. "Looking for this?" he
asks. Kagan attacks, Duncan turns his blade away and stabs him with his own
dagger. "I've seen that one before," he tells Kagan softly.
Kagan collapses to his knees. "This is an execution," he gasps. "I never had
a chance!"
"You had more of a chance than Simone did." And we see a montage of Kagan's
violent and perverse upbringing.
"It's not my fault. He made me what I am."
"I know," Duncan says calmly, takes his head.
At the tag, Duncan is walking with Maurice, consoling him, telling him it
wasn't his fault, as Maurice berates himself for not seeing what was going
on with Simone. "Looking back it's always easy seeing what you should have
done," Duncan comments. When Maurice asks about the man who killed Simone,
he answers, "The man who did this is dead."
MY COMMENTARY: This was an interesting episode, although not enormously
compelling. I think it would have been stronger with better casting of both
Tarsis and Kagen. If Tarsis had been more of a real Svengali and Kagan just
a little more magnetic on screen, it would have really pulled the episode up
to another emotional level.
This was about two major ideas: First, much of who we are is formed by those
we meet and learn from, yet there is always a core of values that are
uniquely our own. We saw that in Kagan from the start. He was, by
circumstance or by nature - we don't really know which - a mean, underhanded
bully who was taken in and taught by an Immortal with similar
characteristics. Kagan says, "If I'm not a prince maybe it's because I wasn'
t raised by a king." That's partially true. Perhaps at one time Kagan was
salvageable, but Tarsis taught him nothing but how to use other people, to
take the easy way, to lie and cheat and weasel is way through life. Duncan
had to chose what to do about Kagan, and the first two times he encountered
him, despite knowing Kagan was violating mortal laws, he gave Kagan the
benefit of the doubt, and refused to intervene.
The second important aspect of the episode is that we see a direct
demonstration of Duncan's moral code, specifically when it comes to judging
other Immortals. Immortals truly live outside mortal law and among
themselves have only their Rules about the Game to regulate behavior. There
are no prisons that can effectively hold them for more than a small fraction
of their lives, there are no death sentences that can stop them, there is no
punishment that mortals can offer than is truly meaningful. When Duncan sees
Tarsis and Kagan robbing a bank, he does nothing to stop them until they
kill an innocent bystander. Similarly, Amanda and Cory Raines robbed banks
all over the midwest in the 1930's, (not long after the incident in Paris),
and Duncan never moves to stop them. Indeed, he follows them around, digging
them up each time they get themselves killed. No doubt, Fitzcairn was
involved in many a questionable scheme over the centuries, but Duncan never
actively did anything to stop him that we know about.
But because there *is* a point at which Duncan will act, just based on
another Immortals' behavior, and take his head for no reason other than
that, does that make Duncan judgmental? Even when Kagan killed two guards in
the course of a robbery, so long as he was defending the life of a mortal,
again Duncan refused to act. Does it, instead, mean the opposite, that
Duncan is not judgmental enough, that he should have acted sooner?
One of the best part sof the episode (for me) was seeing Duncan in that
wonderfully panther-like stalking/hunting mode, the killer incarnate,
utterly in control of his environment, and he is one violent, scary dude.
Kagan was right, it was an execution, and the outcome was preordained from
the moment Duncan saw Simone's body.
I was also glad to see more of Maurice and to learn more about his history.
I like his character and wish they had used him more, and in more serious
ways.
As for Simone... blah actress. Pretty, but fairly vacuous, and they
obviously did a voice over for her, which sometimes didn't work as smoothly
as it should.
All in all, and interesting episode, but certainly not in my top twenty, or
even top thirty.
MacGeorge
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 02:49:20 EDT
From: Ashton7@aol.com
Subject: PWFC Roadtrip
I'm really really snowed under getting ready for our trip up to MediaWest (we
leave in only a few days (on Tuesday). I've got hundreds of zines left to
bind, photos yet to get printed and matted, new calendars yet to design and
print, and yikes, so much more to do!
But I just wanted to say how much fun it was seeing everyone who attended the
Roadtrip here in our city of Orlando. The convention was great fun! Peter and
Jim and David were awesome.
I took several *hundred* photos over the weekend and at first glance they
look pretty good. For those who haven't seen them already, I posted just a teaser
few at:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/ourstargate/messages/?msg=4823.1
I'm hoping to get a preliminary few ready for showing off over the weekend
and have a page up before we leave for MediaWest. It won't be the final page
with the complete convention report and all the photos. But it will at least be a
little assortment. I hope you'll all enjoy seeing them.
Annie
"I'm back!" -- Dr. Daniel Jackson
****************
Our Stargate Discussion Forum:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/ourstargate/start
Ashton Press: http://ashtonpress.net/
Gateway, A Stargate Slash Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gateway/join
SDJ: http://www.savedanieljackson.com/
------------------------------
End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 May 2004 to 22 May 2004 (#2004-94)
**************************************************************