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"Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
--Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script
Note: all episodes are legally available to watch for free on YouTube courtesy of Cinedigm:
Episode 10: "Revenge is Sweet"
Another MTV alum, Vanity, arrives to stab a dummy repeatedly. This episode was inexplicably paired with "The Gathering" on VHS by Hemdale and sold as a third film in the movie series! Poor choice.
"Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
--Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script
"Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
--Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script
"Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
--Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script
An interesting side note: "See No Evil" was written by Brian Clemens, who also shared story credit on Highlander II. He'd probably prefer to be remembered for his work on The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and episodes of the British spy series "The Avengers," but if this episode is any indication, all of the story-related blame for Highlander's first sequel really does belong to the late, great Bill Panzer and not to any of the other credited writers. Peter Davis himself has confirmed as much, stating in an interview for Empire magazine, "I don’t want to speak badly of the deceased, but I think it was Bill’s idea." Anyway, "See No Evil" is easily the best of the three episodes covered in this thread, so I suppose we can take it as an unofficial apology from the screenwriter for the Zeist shenanigans.
"Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
--Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script
All of these were OK. They aren't episodes I go out of my way to rewatch. I watched the VHS Toots commented on, which was the first time I watched The Gathering. Not sure why they put Revenge on there.
"It's Rock & Roll. If you aren't breaking some sort of law, then you are doing it wrong." - me, answering a bandmate's question of what would happen if someone called the law on us for playing too loud at an outdoor show.
I recently watched Revenge Is Sweet, and decided my opinion is that it's an episode you can miss without any harm at all coming to the series. It shows absolutely no character growth for anybody in the show, even if you stretch including Richie's adventures in car salesmanship. I normally say about season one that at least watch for Tessa, because we lose her so soon, but… Not this one.
Yeah I pretty much agree with everyone else—these episodes were fine, but nothing special. The same is true of the majority of episodes from seasons 1 and 2 purely because they're standalone stories that don't show any character development, even though they often have cool character moments. I will say, however, that Eyewitness has what could possibly be the best decapitation in the whole of Season 1. It feels very powerful, perhaps equalled only by the final decapitation in Innocent Man. That's one of the few things that the early Highlander episodes have over the later ones—the beheadings have some weight behind them. A great part of the reason for this is that they had a sound effect attached to the moment of impact, whereas in later seasons it's just the sound of a sword swishing through the air. This, and the way they became visually less impressive, is probably a lot to do with them trying to tone down the violence, even though it was only implied violence.
I'm watching See no Evil right now. Actually, I find it deeply impressive. I love the flashback being in black and white. The Quickening was interesting, and blessedly short. I even enjoyed Randi's interactions with Duncan. I enjoyed the in-hindsight, Duncan worrying about Richie endangering himself. I can pretend that Richie's "I had a very interesting childhood. At the age of two I was visited by aliens," was a callback to Highlander II. Great performances, good Tessa, good Randi. Good Duncan wrestling with his conscience about not going after the mortal who is copycatting an Immortal long dead by Duncan's sword. I wasn't sold on the police woman. Also found it poor form by the writers that her superior was demanding she talk to him, when she could have sung quietly to herself or something. I get the reasoning. A way to make it harder to catch the bad guy.
I liked Christoph Ohrt as Walter Reinhardt and I felt he should have returned. The show really needed a regular villain at this point but was losing them one by one each week!
JB
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