HIGHLA-L Digest - 16 Mar 2005 to 18 Mar 2005 (#2005-28)
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Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:00:06 -0500
There are 3 messages totalling 681 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Season 6 DVD Commentary: Armageddon, pt. 1/2
2. Season 6 DVD Commentary: Armageddon, pt. 2/2 (2)
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Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:17:12 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season 6 DVD Commentary: Armageddon, pt. 1/2
Complete commentary w/screen captures at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/Season6/Armageddon.htm
COMMENTARY: Jim Byrnes says the trilogy would almost be like a movie if
you put them all together and that David A. approached Jim to ask him if
he was up for doing a ‘temptation of Christ’ scene, fearful that what
they were asking of him would be too “down and dirty” for him, but Jim
wanted to go for it. What really makes the scene work, Jim says
graciously, was Peter Hudson’s terrific acting. They talked through the
scene together and made some adjustments that, he hopes, added emotional
depth.
Jim started out in the theatre, rather than television, and he loves
theatrics and loves working with theatrically trained actors, and Peter
Horton “has it in spades.” Richard Martin was directing them on a closed
set. Everyone on the cast and crew had been working together a long time
and were trusted friends, which helped make the difficult scene less
intimidating. If you’re going to do it, Jim says, you can’t do it
halfway, and he had to imagine that this impossible dream happened and,
“What would you, in fact, do?” It’s a tough decision, and Jim says he
doesn’t know if he would have made the same decision that Joe Dawson did.
He cried real tears, but when they finished, Jim was fine because his
disability is something he lives with everyday, and to imagine for that
moment that you could have back what you lost – but the truth will out,
and it was not to be. So it was very good for Jim on a certain emotional
level, and it’s good not to hide those emotions, and to let people feel
them and, by feeling them, be washed clean.
Composer Hal Beckett says there was one sound cue that sticks out in his
mind, and it was the vocalise that he wrote with a passionate, beautiful
melodic line (during Father Beaufort’s scene with Kronos), and it was
reprised in the scene where Ahriman visits Joe and offers Joe his legs
back. The music played against the scene, in counter to the action, and
worked very well, almost giving Ahriman this god-like, omnipotent
quality to the offer he was making to Joe to make him betray MacLeod.
Adrian Paul talks philosophically about MacLeod’s need to be “in the
light”, with his mind cleansed, so he could see clearly. It was a
question of clearing away all of MacLeod’s opinions from the past, his
aggressiveness, his emotions, and the idea was that the fight happened
on a spiritual level, almost another dimension. When MacLeod was
fighting Ahriman he was fighting in his mind, so his mind had to be
clear. Through his study of martial arts, AP decided to do it based on
the Chi Gung aspect he had learned and create a form that could be used
as shadow boxing. It worked interestingly because they choreographed
moves that were fighting techniques but which were done in such a way
that it would be a constant non-combative moment that took away
Ahirman’s energy and dissipated the aggression, and be very non-emotive,
clear enough and spiritual enough to fight the demon inside him.
OUTTAKES: We see the final scene with Duncan and Joe the bar when Duncan
says that once he accepted the evil within himself, he was able to
defeat Ahriman. One take is with the camera on JB and once with the
camera on AP, when he blows a line about “all I know is… (and he shrugs
and smiles) somethin’,” and someone yells from the crew, “What do you
know?!”
Duncan and Father Beaufort are looking at papers and one of them flames
up, then the curtains behind him move as he turns to leave. The first
time, the actor playing Beaufort reacts too abruptly and the second time
when he turns, the curtains move and he says, “I think we’ll use another
door,” AP breaks up. They try it again, and now AP has the giggles and
can’t keep a straight face, but they make it all the way to the “…use
another door line,” and AP still laughs, but keeps his back to the
camera so all we hear is the sound of his snickers.
A couple of takes of the martial arts ballet is shown between AP and
Valentine Pelka. It is extremely well rehearsed and both men go through
it with the expertise of professionals who really know what they’re doing.
Finally, they show the filming of the scene between Joe and Ahriman, and
how it was put together from various shots. There was only one computer
generated shot, where the legs of a double were superimposed over Jim’s
while he was seated on the bed.
NOTE: I had hoped that the writers would have some kind of discussion
about the symbolism they used in the episode and whether they were going
for any subtle mythical or religious or spiritual meaning behind the use
of dwarves and red balls. Silly me.
Audio commentary by Richard Martin: Dudley Martin, known in England for
playing a character on “Lovejoy”, plays Father Beaufort, who’s brother
has just committed suicide. A lot of the stories in Highlander involve
moral dilemmas that play themselves out in an external way, but this one
is an internal struggle. He mentions how Duncan has given up the sword
because it was a sword that killed Richie.
He describes how North American crews have a kind of militaristic
outlook, both in their sense of scheduling priorities and drive for a
goal. In France, the outlook is very different, less concerned about
schedules, blurred boundaries between jobs, and Martin finds that
refreshing, but “because it’s French, it also has a little strangeness
to it.”
Most of Martin’s commentary is about various shots, where they were and
how they were done, which I am not going to bother transcribing.
However, at least we hear a little about some of the decisions made with
regard to the images we see in Duncan’s visions. The dwarf was
originally supposed to be a child, but that idea didn’t sit well with
the show’s French distributors because of the linkage of
child/devil/Catholicism. Martin thought the imagery of an
innocent-looking child personifying evil was more interesting than the
David Lynch image they ended up with. It was all intended to express the
“horrible internal struggle” MacLeod was going through. He says that
MacLeod finally defeating the evil in his own heart was the beginning of
the end of the show, and while Adrian was always a “pretty intense”
actor to work with, most of the season was really business as usual, and
it wasn’t until the very last show that it seemed to set in w/AP that it
was truly over.
... more in part 2
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:18:11 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season 6 DVD Commentary: Armageddon, pt. 2/2
THE EPISODE: There is a long summary of the previous two episodes,
ending with Duncan’s visit to Father Beaufort, who has taken over from
Darius at St. Julian’s. Beaufort is burying his beloved, but troubled
brother, Jackie, who had committed suicide. Duncan sympathizes and
defers asking any questions until a better day. As he leaves, Duncan is
attacked by a gardener and when Duncan throws him to the ground, the
gardener dies for no apparent reason.
At the barge, Joe has brought Duncan the artifacts, papers and research
the Watchers have found. Amid piles of books, Duncan thanks Joe and
admonishes him to warn the Watchers to be careful, that people are
dying. As Joe struggles up the stairs and out the door, Duncan tenses as
though he senses something unseen, then a snake appears, crawling over
the keys of his laptop. (NOTE: Suffice it to say that every time
Horton/Ahriman appears, he constantly and unexpected switches positions
so whoever he’s talking to is never sure where he is.)
Horton/Kronos/Ahriman taunts him (again).
In the meantime, Father B. is questioning his faith in light of his
brother’s suicide, and we get some flashback scenes that show Jackie as
a deeply troubled man. Father B. asks despairingly “Must I damn my
brother to love you?”
Next Joe encounters Horton/Ahriman in Le Blues Bar where Joe (who hides
something in his pocket during their confrontation) is cruelly reminded
that he is using the Watchers as a tool for an Immortal, which goes
against everything the Watchers believe in, then Duncan walks in and
Ahriman disappears. A shaken Joe doesn’t mention Horton’s visit to
Duncan, and initially almost lets Duncan leave without giving him the
artifact the Watchers had found and Duncan clearly is concerned that
there is something wrong with Joe.
Duncan goes to see a troubled and distracted Father Beaufort to look at
his order’s archives on the nature of evil, and on the way passes
through a park full of bizarre street entertainers, all of whom have a
slightly ominous aspect to them.
Duncan and Joe go to meet a couple of Watchers who had found some cave
drawings showing what appear to be a battle, with the initially
sword-wielding Champion defeating a great evil, but the ending drawing
shows the victor unarmed. Then Joe finds both Watchers dead.
Joe is brooding back at the bar when Horton/Ahriman appears, telling Joe
he is responsible for the Watchers’ deaths. Then Horton shows Joe a
vision of the Watchers he had sent to the cave in Iraq that Landry had
gone to, and forces him to witness their fiery demise, and then, just as
Horton predicts, Joe gets a call to tell him that the two Watchers had,
indeed, died.
Father Beaufort goes to listen to confession and Kronos/Ahriman is
there, taunting him about his brother’s death, and how God couldn’t
forgive someone who had committed suicide, how Jackie will burn in agony
forever while murderers can enter heaven if they just ask for
forgiveness and confess their sins. He also tells Beaufort that Darius
was a murderer and a rapist and “a defiler of your holy places”, but
that he became a priest and “whitewashed his evil soul, but the stain
still lies there underneath.” When Beaufort demands to know who Kronos
is, Kronos tells him to look at him, asking if he is afraid to look into
the face of evil. When Beaufort finally looks, it is himself that he
sees. “Soon priest,” Ahriman says, wearing Beaufort’s face, “you will be
mine.”
Duncan arrives at the church as Beaufort stumbles out of the
confessional, recognizing that Ahriman must have visited. He tells
Beaufort that it wasn’t a dream and shows him pictures he had taken of
the cave drawings. The pictures flare up in flames, but Beaufort says he
recognized one of the symbols and goes off to look for it.
At the barge, a meditating Duncan reports to Joe that what he found in
the archives were writings of a German mystic who believed the force of
evil could only be defeated by love. “Fine for Ghandi,” says Joe, “but
what about us?!” Duncan asks Joe what happened, pressing until Joe
admits that four Watchers had died and he was pulling the Watchers off
from doing anything further.
Duncan tells him it’s okay, but Joe insists that he is sticking with
MacLeod and their search for answers.
Father Beaufort is weeding his brother’s grave (NOTE: This is confusing
as to the passage of time, since it seemed like only a few days before
that the burial had taken place, yet now there are flowers and weeds in
abundance.) Jackie (the dead brother) comes to him, begging for his
help, saying that God had turned his back on him and he was damned, that
God wasn’t about love, but about vengeance and hate. Father B. breaks
down and falls to his knees, weeping. That night, we see Father B. in
the sanctuary, stumbling around, tormented by the voice of his dead
brother and Ahriman.
That same night, Horton/Ahriman visits Joe in his bedroom, hovering over
him while congratulating him on pulling the Watchers off the case. Joe
strikes out at him, but Horton instantly is elsewhere. Ahriman then
offers Joe a deal – he will give him brand new, real legs if he’ll just
keep his Watcher oath and not help MacLeod. Joe initially says no, but
Ahriman reminds him of what it was like to have legs and Joe weeps,
begging Horton not to do it. Then we see movement under the covers and
with a cry of anguish Joe sits up, putting his real feet on the floor,
overwhelmed at the sensation. Joe, weeping, stands as Ahriman invites
him to “take them dancing if you want… all you have to do is keep your
vow and give me MacLeod.”
“I can’t,” Joe whispers, then louder, “I won’t. You Son Of A Bitch!” he
yells, and falls to the floor, his legs gone once again.
At Le Blues Bar the next day, a still-shaken Joe tells Duncan what
Ahriman had offered, “As if,” says brokenly, “I would sell my soul for a
goddamn pair of legs.”
“Some people would have,” Duncan responds.
Joe determinedly throws off his despair and they go over the artifacts
they have gathered that consistently reference the symbol that seems to
be associated with Ahriman. Included among them is a Tibetan singing
bowl. Duncan sits on the roof of the barge and uses the bowl (creating
harmonic vibrations by rubbing a stone around its edge) to meditate. He
finds himself in an ancient stone ruin with empty arched windows going
up two stories. He demands that Ahriman show himself and a red mist
rises. A dwarf appears and taunts him, throwing a ball that turns into a
skull, appearing and disappearing at will, showing him toys representing
the people Duncan has lost, and says soon he will even have Father
Beaufort. Soon there are multiple versions of the dwarf taunting and
teasing about Richie. It starts to get to Duncan and he tells him to
stop, and the dwarf dares Duncan to stop him like he stopped Richie,
accusing him of enjoying killing Richie.
The katana appears in Duncan’s hand and the dwarf calls him “Richie
killer!” over and over again until Duncan strikes, but when it does, his
blade is met by that of Kronos. They fight, and when Duncan finally has
Kronos on the ground and stabs downward, he disappears. He hears the
dwarf’s voice calling him, then Kronos’, then a multitude of voices,
including Richie’s and Tessa’s and Fitzcairn’s, until he is seen trapped
in a stone well, frantically striking at air, hitting nothing.
Then Joe is there, calling him, finally shaking his shoulder and Duncan
comes out of his trance, falling back in confusion and exhaustion. Joe
says he’s been calling him for hours, and evidently Duncan has been in a
trance all that time. He tells Joe he was being goaded and it was as if,
“It was feeding on my anger. The more I hated, the more I was lost,” and
tells Joe that he is convinced that whatever “this is, it doesn’t have a
physical form.”
Then he suddenly remembers Ahriman’s threat to Father Beaufort, and he
dashes off to the church. Turns out Father Beaufort is being tormented
and haunted by Ahriman in the form of his dead brother Jackie, who
insists that Beaufort had promised to take care of him, and that the
only way to do that was to come with him, to commit suicide. Jackie begs
him, saying he is “so alone”, and gives him a razor to cut his wrists,
telling him that God was a lie, that he had wasted his whole life on a
lie. “We’ll be together,” Jackie assures him. “Like when we were kids.”
Beaufort opens the razor and is about to slit his wrists when Duncan
charges in yelling at him to stop.
Beaufort asks Duncan to leave, telling him he’s lost everything. Duncan
gestures to Jackie (evidently he can see him), telling Beaufort that it
isn’t Jackie, that Jackie is dead and beyond his help, and that what is
at stake is his soul. Beaufort says it doesn’t matter, that he’s lost
his faith, but Duncan tells him, “It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost your
faith in Him, because He hasn’t lost His faith in you.” Duncan gently
takes the razor away, and Jackie disappears. The priest breaks down,
weeping in Duncan’s arms.
Later, after Father Beaufort has collected himself, Duncan tells him
that the only power this “thing” has over them is the power that they
give it. Beaufort asks how they can destroy something that thrives on
destruction, and Duncan replies, “Peace, Father,” suddenly realizing the
answer. He insists that Father Beaufort leave, what he has to do must be
done alone.
In the church’s sanctuary, he prepares himself, going through his Chi
Gung cleansing/breathing exercises and at their conclusion, he finds
himself once again in the ancient stone ruin. The dwarf appears, and
urges Duncan to shoot him with the gun that is suddenly in Duncan’s
hand, but Duncan throws it down. “I become everything, therefore I
become nothing. Therefore, you are nothing.”
The dwarf tries again with the katana, with similar results. As the
dwarf screams invective at him, Duncan’s thoughts are: “I become one
with everything. I become one with you. I become everything, therefore I
become nothing. Therefore, you are nothing. Without my anger you have no
substance. Without my pride you have no form. Without my hate, you have
no being.” And the dwarf walks away into the dark.
Duncan finds himself back in the church, but now it is Kronos who comes
after him, swinging his ancient sword, but Duncan seems detached and
calm, moving through a well-known kata, and each time Kronos attacks, he
simply moves away or deflects the blow as though it were already part of
his dance and Kronos was not even there. Finally, when Kronos stabs him
through the chest, the blade passes insubstantially through his body and
Kronos fades away. Horton growls in frustration and anger, and only then
does Duncan turn and fold to the floor. “It’s time for you to leave,” he
says calmly.
“I’ve only just begun!” Ahriman whispers malevolently.
“You have no place here,” Duncan answers gently.
“I’m a part of you now!”
“You always were.”
Horton’s face distorts into that of the hideous statue that Landry had
discovered and we see flashes of all the evil Ahriman had done in
Duncan’s life, and suddenly – Ahriman is gone. Duncan returns to
himself, kneeling in the church where he has clearly always been during
the whole ‘vision’, and folds over in exhaustion.
It is sunny day at Le Blues Bar and Joe asks a rested-looking Duncan
what he had to do to beat Ahriman. “Nothing,” Duncan answers. Then he
explains that there is a thought in the Kabala that Armageddon – the
ultimate fight between good and evil – would be fought within one soul.
Joe asks if that’s why Duncan was the champion, and Duncan just shrugs a
“Maybe,” then says that evil exists in all of them, and to deny it gives
evil power. “Ahriman said it himself. His greatest trick was to convince
the world he didn’t exist.”
The two of them share a shot of Scotch, drinking “to faith” (Duncan) and
“to the champion” (Joe). Duncan gets up to leave and Joe rises, asking
Duncan to do him a favor, to take back his katana, “Just so I know
you’ll be here when I get back.”
“Come on!” Joe urges, holding out the sword. “You have avenged Richie’s
death. You have defeated Ahriman. You’re still Duncan MacLeod of the
Clan MacLeod. Take it, please.”
Duncan looks at him dubiously, but then takes it ceremoniously with both
hands, wrapping his left hand around the hilt as we hear the strains of
“Bonny Portmore” being played. The camera pans back to show the two men
standing together.
MY COMMENTS: Oy. This is obviously a seminal episode where Duncan
undergoes fundamental emotional change, and because of that there are
things about it I find interesting and even likable. There are also
story issues that I really disliked, however, and much of it made me
downright uncomfortable.
First, and foremost, I really like the general notion that Duncan could
be forced to reexamine his own life and values and sense of right and
wrong to such an intense degree that he is utterly changed. I may not be
comfortable with how they got there, but I do like the nature of
Duncan’s internal journey.
And Joe really comes to the forefront in this episode. We see more of
his struggle and innate courage and determination than we have ever seen
before. He, too, is a Champion and without his support and loyalty I
don’t know whether Duncan could have found the answer he needed.
However, you have to ask whether Joe’s unstinting loyalty to His
Immortal is, in some ways, a very Freudian display of something deep
within Joe’s psyche – that MacLeod represents to Joe what *he* always
wanted to be – the relentless, courageous hero, forever strong, forever
honorable.
The conventions they used to express the burgeoning chaos that was being
focused in a tighter and tighter circle around Duncan were sometimes
interesting, sometimes silly, but it seemed the closer Duncan came to
finding the answer to fighting evil, the less power Ahriman had over him
directly, so the best Ahriman could do was to try to chip away at his
immediate support system – Joe Dawson and Father Beaufort.
Unfortunately, I disliked the whole Father Beaufort story. I didn’t like
the actor who portrayed the character, didn’t think he looked or sounded
natural in the role, and the whole storyline didn’t seem to me to have a
whole lot to do with Duncan’s quest to defeat Ahriman. Beaufort was an
acquaintance and the church’s archivist, but hardly a central figure in
Duncan’s life, so that plotline seemed uncompelling to me.
As to how they chose to portray Ahriman during Duncan’s
meditations/visions – gah! The notion of using a child (rather than a
dwarf) was probably the right one, but the Evil Ball-Throwing Dwarf who
liked to taunt Duncan about Richie’s death never seemed particularly
threatening or in any way compelling or even creepy. The only thing that
kept those scenes anything other than laughable was how seriously Duncan
treated them and reacted to them. The final shot of him trapped in a
well, swinging his sword futilely, was among the stronger images of the
episode.
But we did have that wonderful Temptation scene with Joe. Incredible and
powerful and that alone gave us the sense of Ahriman’s power in
individual lives. The after-scene when Joe is still shaken, talking to
Duncan about it, is also wonderful (beautifully played by JB
throughout), and I liked the way Duncan was saddened and troubled and
sorrowed that Joe had to endure that, but he never reacted with pity,
only admiration. He also kept his eye on the ball (ugh, bad pun - sorry)
and didn’t allow either Joe or himself to dwell on it, showing respect
for Joe’s actions and decision. That was cool.
The final ballet/battle didn’t initially work well for me, actually, but
it has grown on me over time as I watched it over again. Duncan isn’t
just avoiding Kronos in a carefully choreographed pattern, which was my
initial impression. I realized that that while Duncan is aware of
Kronos/Ahriman, he refuses to allow that knowledge to distract him from
the established pattern of his kata. Whenever Ahriman strikes, he is
simply elsewhere. Ahriman cannot strike him a mortal wound because
whatever evil is in Ahriman, Duncan has finally fully acknowledged it as
something also within himself, therefore even when Ahriman stabs him,
the blow passes right through him and can do him no harm. “I become
everything, therefore I become nothing. Therefore, you are nothing.” He
finishes the kata and sinks to the floor in a state of complete calm.
Of course, Joe had to give Duncan his katana back and Duncan had to
accept it, but I would rather they had left that to another episode,
leaving Duncan stripped of so much of what he had been, and only
beginning a rebuilding process to what he might yet become.
As to the whole notion of Duncan being some kind of metaphysical
millennial Champion – it’s not a storyline that makes me particularly
comfortable, frankly, as I’ve previously noted. The messianic message
overreaches and takes the HL universe places I don’t think it should go.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not inherently opposed to fantasy elements and
think the whole idea of what kind of power increases that come with
massive Quickenings mean is something that is ripe with potential for
creative exploration. And such elements are hardly new. In the series,
we have Garrick’s powers of dream projection, K’oltec’s ability to take
in others’ negative emotions and neutralize them, Cassandra’s Voice and
apparent ability to change into an animal (or at least give the illusion
that she does). In the movies we have seen Immortals with the ability to
change into animals, to breathe underwater and to enter the mind of
animals, so introducing demons is not entirely outside the previously
established parameters of the HL universe.
Aside from the whole messianic element, what I probably have the biggest
problem with is that we get a plot line that purports to give what feels
like a raison d’etre for Duncan’s whole life so that when he fulfills
the prophesy and competes his task there a sense that the story is over,
that his life is now reduced to mundane ordinariness in perpetuity, and
that is probably what bothers me the most about the whole arc.
However – wading in the shallow pool for a moment – the ‘look’ of an
ascetic monk-like, thinner Duncan pared down to an essence so he can
have a laser-like focus on the task at hand, is one that I found very
appealing.
And on that note, I’m glad to be done with the AAA arc (Whew!).
NOTE: The Watcher Chronicle of one of the Watchers who died while
searching for clues to this “ancient Immortal” that Joe had them looking
for includes a memo to Joe that says, in part: “I think I’ve got a lead
here on something that could potentially be really big. I’ve been going
through some stuff Methos left behind when he disappeared, and I keep
finding reference to an ancient Immortal named “Ahriman.” Looks like
this guy could even be older than Methos! What’s more, I think he could
still be around…”
This implies, to me at least, that Methos knew a hell of a lot more than
he was saying when he denied the existence of demons.
MacGeorge
NOTE: All episode commentaries can be found at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 13:08:12 -0500
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: Season 6 DVD Commentary: Armageddon, pt. 2/2
What is the best thing I can say about Armageddon? That it's over ? <eg>
> “It was feeding on my anger. The more I hated, the more I was
> lost,” and tells Joe that he is convinced that whatever “this is, it
> doesn’t have a physical form.”
If it doesn't have a physical form, how does it do what it does? If it
is just an angry "spirit" able only to influence people to do bad things
by the use of what are, essentially, parlor tricks, then how do we
explain the deaths of the Watchers in the cave? How did it start the
fires at Landry's apartment and with Father Beaufort?
> Later, after Father Beaufort has collected himself, Duncan tells him
> that the only power this “thing” has over them is the power that they
> give it.
So...it can do whatever it wants so long as the people it is dealing
with believe it is capable of doing it? Believe it can start a fire, and
it can? Believe it can kill you and it can? Believe it is a cuddly bunny
and it is? That's too...vague.... for lack of a better word. It's both
too powerful and too powerless. What it really is is an easy way for the
writers to have Ahriman do whatever they need him to do without having
to explain the basis for the abilities.
>Duncan’s thoughts are: “I become one
> with everything. I become one with you. I become everything,
> therefore I become nothing. Therefore, you are nothing.
I tried chanting this mantra for a while and it made less sense each
time I said it. I get the "I become one with everything" bit. I get the
bit about being one with everything means being one with the evil too. I
get the "I become you" part. It's the "I become one with you, you are
nothing" part that loses me. Duncan is one with the universe and thus
one with Ahriman and Ahriman is one with the universe and also one with
Duncan. They are both the same....but that doesn't make them both
"nothing". It just makes them indistinguishable parts of the whole.
> First, and foremost, I really like the general notion that
> Duncan could be forced to reexamine his own life and values
> and sense of right and wrong to such an intense degree
> that he is utterly changed. I may not be comfortable with
> how they got there, but I do like the nature of Duncan’s
> internal journey.
But *is* he utterly changed? I would argue that by TB/NTB Duncan was
close to being what he once was. He had certainly lost that "one with
the universe" vibe he had going only a few months before. He'd just had
it driven pretty painfully home that he was the current reigning
Champion of Light upon whom the fate the world rested. Were it not for
his victory against Ahriman, the world would have been plunged into a
1000 years of not very nice times. And...he suddenly isn't sure whether
his life mattered? Whether he improved the lives of those he knew? If
the world would have been better off without him? That's some serious
back-sliding.
> However, you have to ask whether Joe’s unstinting loyalty to His
> Immortal is, in some ways, a very Freudian display of something deep
> within Joe’s psyche – that MacLeod represents to Joe what *he* always
> wanted to be – the relentless, courageous hero, forever
> strong, forever honorable.
I think it has been clear from almost the beginning that Duncan is Joe's
"avatar". Joe lives vicariously through Duncan. Duncan does all the
things that Joe can only dream about, both because he is only a mortal
and because he is handicapped. When Joe's girlfriend is killed right in
front of him in "Cross of St. Antoine", he is helpless. ..so he
immediately turns to his alter ego and asks (demands) that Duncan kill
the killer "for him". Joe has broken every rule and foresworn every oath
to stay close to Duncan. It isn't just that Joe is loyal by nature
(since his loyalty to the Watchers seems less than inviolate) it's that
he *needs* to be a part of Duncan's life because...what else has be got?
> Unfortunately, I disliked the whole Father Beaufort story. I
> didn’t like the actor who portrayed the character, didn’t think
> he looked or sounded natural in the role,
Yet another British actor slumming in Paris <eg>
> Beaufort was an acquaintance and the church’s archivist,
> but hardly a central figure in Duncan’s life, so that
> plotline seemed uncompelling to me.
Agreed. While we were asked many times in HL to care about characters we
had just met, I couldn't work up any enthusiasm for Father Beaufort.
One of the sad things about HL:TS as time went on was the total loss of
the supporting people that once lived in Duncan's world. Randi, LeBrun,
Maurice etc all disappeared until there was only Duncan and Joe with
occasional appearances by Richie, Methos and Amanda. The man split his
time between Paris and Seacouver for 20 years and didn't have a friend
or acquaintance? So we got one-timers like Father Beaufort whom we
didn't care about and whose suffering was so tangential to Duncan that
it wasn't compelling. Plus...he was just plain annoying! And so cliché-
a priest without faith, what a revelation <eg> And didn't anyone tell
him that the Church changed its stance on suicide? Read the memos,
father!
>the Evil Ball-Throwing Dwarf who liked to taunt
> Duncan about Richie’s death never
> seemed particularly threatening or in any way compelling
> or even creepy.
No, no...taunting dwarves are very creepy.
>The only thing that kept those scenes anything
>other than laughable
They were laughable. I know *I* laughed.
>was how seriously Duncan treated them and reacted to them.
He should have laughed too. I could have believed *that*.
> But we did have that wonderful Temptation scene with Joe.
> Incredible and powerful and that alone gave us the sense
> of Ahriman’s power in individual lives.
And, see, I think that whole scene with Joe and Ahriman was painfully
bad acting. JB tends to chew the scenery at the best of times and that
was over the top. (And we won't go into the question of *how* Ahriman
could give Joe real new legs since Ahriman had shown no ability to
actually *do* anything in the physical world other than be a pyromaniac.
Were the legs going to be like something from a roadrunner/coyote
cartoon- there and working fine until someone said "Joe has no legs" at
which point Joe would fall to the ground? )
> As to the whole notion of Duncan being some kind of metaphysical
> millennial Champion – it’s not a storyline that makes me particularly
> comfortable, frankly, as I’ve previously noted. The messianic message
> overreaches and takes the HL universe places I don’t think it
> should go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not inherently opposed to fantasy
> elements
I am!!!
I've come to think that one of the reasons the AAA arc bothers me so
much (beyond the often poor writing, bad acting, and nonsensical plot
twists<eg>) is that it brings an element of "religion" into play in a
way that makes me uncomfortable. Ahriman wasn't just "a demon", he is a
specific demon with a specific role in a specific religion and
"stealing" him for a HL plot with no serious explanation of
Zoroastrianism and Ahriman's place in it, seems ... wrong. I suspect
it is what bothers me about the use of the hayoka too. For a viewer to
say that the idea of Ahriman or a hayoka is ridiculous is to say that
someone's religious beliefs are ridiculous. And yet, I think both
episodes *are* ridiculous for asking us to believe in these things. (And
yes, the whole series asks me to believe in head-chopping Immortals -
that's not the point) By using a real-life religious element, the
writers ,essentially, say "Don't question this, don't look too close or
ask for logic, this is real". It attempts to add weight and legitimacy
to a plot that would otherwise be well and truly silly.
> NOTE: The Watcher Chronicle of one of the Watchers who died while
> searching for clues to this “ancient Immortal” that Joe had
> them looking for includes a memo to Joe that says, in part: “I think
I’ve
> got a lead here on something that could potentially be really big. I’
ve
> been going through some stuff Methos left behind when he
>disappeared, and I keep finding reference to an ancient Immortal
> named “Ahriman.”
And yet nothing in the actual episodes gives any indication that Ahriman
is, indeed, an Immortal (in the Duncan/Methos/Richie sense of that
word). One wonders if TPTB just decided to toss that into the Watchers
Chronicles as a bit of fun - or if they once toyed with the idea of
having Ahriman turn out to be an immortal. My guess would be the former.
> Looks like this guy could even be older than
> Methos! What’s more, I think he could still be around…”
Since Methos only claims to be the oldest living
Immortal....no.....wait....Methos doesn't even claim *that*.... the
Watchers shouldn't be too surprised if someone older appeared. The
Immortal that Darius killed at the gates of Paris was older than
Methos. Silas, Caspian and Kronos were all contemporaries of Methos. . .
the Watchers have no information of their births or first deaths...proof
that at least a few very old Immortals managed to live into the 21st
century without the Watchers being aware of how old they really were.
Why would anyone be surprised that there was another Immortal out there
somewhere whose age was unknown and who might be older than Methos?
> This implies, to me at least, that Methos knew a hell of a
> lot more than he was saying when he denied the existence of demons.
Well....if he knew that Ahriman really was an Immortal...then Methos'
statement that he didn't believe in demons rings true. But it doesn't
explain in any way how this Immortal became the
Demon-Now-Know-As-Ahriman. Nor does it shed any light n why Methos
wouldn't offer Duncan any advise on the situation. ..which leads me to
believe that the Chronicle entry is an after the fact bit of
"cleverness" that has nothing to do with the story as told on screen.
Wendy
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 16 Mar 2005 to 18 Mar 2005 (#2005-28)
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