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Discuss these Season 4 episodes:
Leader of the Pack
Double Eagle
Reunion
Leader of the Pack
Double Eagle
Reunion
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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 -
The first has a solid B-story with Richie, and a horrendously forgettable A-story. Seriously, those two don't gel well together, at all. But at the very least, Richie's story is nicely done.
The second is a light episode that many fans love, but it grates me a little. Still, lots of fun, even if forgettable, at the end.
"Reunion" is, like the other Kenny episode, a great idea on paper that's not so well translated into an episode. The mutiny flashback is embarrassing, and the villain himself is another forgettable one for the books. Nevertheless, the creepiness of the Kenny/Amanda story pays off at the end, and makes this a step above other episodes. -
"Leader of the Pack" is one of my favorites. And I loved remembering, when I was going through some old papers recently, something I'd learned at a convention: that the idea of Richie's seeing Tessa's killer again had been brought to the writers by the actor who'd played that bit part!Comment
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If I remember correctly, Travis' spin was that his character shot Tessa as part of a gang initiation and in the intervening years he had moved up to top dog and was super evil and Duncan and Richie would have to take him out. I may not be remembering the details exactly right, but it definitely WASN'T that he didn't even remember doing it and was now married with a pregnant wife. LOL. Oh, and another little bit of trivia: the 'Mohawk' jacket was Travis' own jacket... and the image on the back was not an Indian at all. It was actually Kiefer Sutherland from "The Lost Boys"! [http://www.zzickle.com/tv/highlander...uver2x04.html]
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Episodes provided by Cinedigm on YouTube.
Episode 70: "Leader of the Pack"
This episode is cheese-tastic! Any episode that can make me laugh from start to finish deserves some sort of weird praise! The villain is about as credible as Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys, and I find the dog gimmick to be delightfully silly. The flip-in-the-air decap was lovably absurd, and the house-raising Quickening was the icing on this cake of fantastic nonsense. Even the story with Richie's killer comes off as laughably awful, especially when Richie goes all Batman on him. I never thought that a montage of Tessa to WWTLF could make me chuckle, but Dunkie's slo-mo run did the trick! And let's not forget the decision to make Duncan a professor for a single episode; this sort of randomness surely can't be intended as serious.
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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 scriptComment
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Episode 71: "Double Eagle"
A mixed bag. Amanda is quite entertaining in the present...not so much in the flashback. Kit is an annoying character in the present...but decent enough in the flashback. Duncan is his normal dumb lug self, while Richie is loads of fun in his scenes with Amanda. Some of the humor works, but the episode goes too broad with the comedy, leading to as many groans as laughs. It's so precious that it has no bite. It's pure farce, and hence it lacks any tension whatsoever.__________________________________________________
"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 scriptComment
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Episode 72: "Reunion"
Mac's two most evil recurring villains return in this episode: Kenny and Dr. Anne. Amanda's tolerance for Kenny is amazing, but those flashbacks were great. The villain sucks, and the flashback had me laughing. The idea of dying constantly from starvation is neat, but the character himself is boring. Duncan proves that he can beat the bad guy with his eyes closed. I was rooting for Kenny at the end. Liz Gracen singlehandedly carries this episode. What does it say when Anne has better chemistry with Amanda than with Duncan?__________________________________________________
"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 scriptComment
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I consider "Leader of the Pack" a very intelligent chapter...Comment
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Just finished going over the official domestic cut of these three episodes, kindly provided by the wonderful Gillian Horvath. I have converted them from their VHS tapes to mpg (m4v) format if anyone is interested in them. Also, the official 'Eurominutes' are now marked out on my transcript pages. [www.zzickle.com/tv/transcripts.html]
And now for the showdown: DVD/European cut vs Domestic cut - who wins?
4X04:Leader of the Pack
This episode is definitely cheesy. I kinda love it. I mean, how on the nose is a K’immie named KANIS who uses dogs to hunt Immortals? Meanwhile, the domestic cut loses out on such gems as Duncan choosing to skip out on a faculty meeting about life insurance, and Kanis in the flashback, sitting up covered in dirt and sporting the epitome of Bad Hair Days after reviving in his shallow grave. Plus it loses a few additional moments of Duncan wandering around the loft in his tighty-whities. Honestly, how can I *not* choose...
Winner: DVD/European cut!
4x05:Double Eagle
The domestic version of this episode is yet another with a lot of small cuts. The initial reveal of the racehorse’s name is cut, so we have to wait until Duncan is watching her training later for that,but there’s not really anything else in the cut scenes or dialogue of major importance (mostly just extraneous small talk). There’s nothing that I absolutely hate to see cut, but there’s also not really anything that I’m super glad to see cut, either. I really can’t decide which version I prefer, so I guess this one will have to be another...
Winner: Tie!
4x06: Reunion
Only 6 distinct cuts in the domestic version of this episode. 1) A bit of Kenny running from Kincaid at the start of the episode, 2) the sailors walking along the beach -- and 3) later returning along the beach -- 4) Kenny following after the soldiers drag Amanda away to hang her, 5) a couple of the flashbacks to “The Lamb” that Kenny thinks about while lying awake on Duncan’s couch, and lastly, 6) a rather touching 2:38 middle-of-the-night scene where Amanda wakes Duncan up to ask him if he thinks she is “nurturing” and worrying about whether she would have made a good mother. 1-4 are take-it-or-leave-it and flashbacks are almost always worth cutting, but if I have to choose between keeping all of those vs losing 6...
Winner: DVD/European cut!
Updated tally:
Domestic = 23.5
DVD/European = 22.5Comment
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Boy did Nicholas Campbell get himself some big bushy eyebrows in his middle age!!!
JBComment
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