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4-6: Methuselah's Gift, The Immortal Cimoli, Through a Glass Darkly

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  • 4-6: Methuselah's Gift, The Immortal Cimoli, Through a Glass Darkly

    Discuss these Season 4 episodes:

    Methuselah's Gift
    The Immortal Cimoli
    Through A Glass, Darkly
    __________________________________________________

    "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

  • #2
    I like them all, although "The Immortal Cimoli" clearly is the weakest of the bunch. However, it does have a villain who's interesting in how he plays the Game and how he views it and his existence within it. For Damon Case alone, and the lovely Quickening at the end, I'd rank and rate it better than I'd otherwise would.

    That said, the other two are great episodes, even if filled with their own probs. The first is a little too firm with its magical proponents, and the latter is too literal in its Rashomon-like tribute/homage/rip-off. But they both work, and that's what matters at the end. The most noteworthy aspect of any of those episodes being Wingfield and Gracen's fight and talk in the abandoned (of course!) railway station.

    Comment


    • #3
      Episodes provided by Cinedigm.



      Episode 82: "Methuselah's Gift"

      The Methuselah Stone is handled far better here than it was in Legacy. Since the Watchers are interested in it, there's more reason to care whether or not it falls into the wrong hands. The Methos subplot nearly justified the decision to introduce this ridiculous plot device in the first place.
      __________________________________________________

      "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

      Comment


      • #4


        Episode 83: "The Immortal Cimoli"

        The episode was pretty dull until near the end. The Quickening was decent, and the last scenes with the Annoying Cimoli were kinda fun. The final scene was moronic, though.
        __________________________________________________

        "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

        Comment


        • #5


          Episode 84: "Through a Glass, Darkly"

          Someone was obviously watching Rashomon. Ultimately, it's just another "Duncan fights an old friend" tale. I wanted more of Methos dealing with his loss. Surely one of the redundant flashbacks could have been cut to make room for such a subplot. The comic highlight of the episode was when Cochrane was telling the Quickening to leave him alone!
          __________________________________________________

          "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

          Comment


          • #6
            I like all three episodes. The use made of Rebecca's crystal in "Methusaleh's Gift" justifies that otherwise silly bit of magic. Methos's grief over Alexa is heartbreaking, and Adrian does his usual great job in directing.

            "The Immortal Cimoli" is a nice change of pace.

            And "Through a Glass, Darkly" is terrific. I know some who are critical of MacLeod have argued that it might have been his memories that were wrong; but I'm sure the writers didn't intend any such thing. And some claim it was wrong for MacLeod to make the other Immortal realize he'd killed his student - and he got his comeuppance when he killed Richie. But there was no similarity in those situations! If MacLeod had allowed an Immortal to run around with amnesia, the man might have betrayed their existence to the world.

            Comment


            • #7
              I'm watching all the eps for the first time and I got up to Immortal Cimoli last night.

              Cimoli gets hit by a truck in the intro. We then go to Duncan and Amanda, who go to the circus and we see that Cimoli has since built his new-found immortality into a magic act. Duncan and Amanda explain the deal, which Cimoli had no idea about until now. So here's my question...what kind of maniac comes back from the dead after a traffic accident and decides to kill themself again? How did he know he wouldn't just die? A normal person would be thankful for the miracle and then live each day like it was a gift. Unless he somehow had a few more deadly accidents, it's just really hard to believe someone would take a bullet to the chest based on so little evidence.

              Still, the ep had some funny bits. And I always enjoy it when Duncan and Amanda are together.
              Last edited by Russell Nash; 04-19-2018, 01:50 AM.

              Comment


              • #8
                You know what bothers ME most about Immortal Cimoli? How so many young kids are in the audience watching his act. Where someone shoots him in the chest and he gets back up, unhurt. And NOBODY had a problem with that back then?? Hey, kids, don't try this at home... (Maybe it's just because I'm an American, several decades later?)

                Comment


                • #9
                  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?


                  4x16:Methuselah’s Gift
                  The only cut that I approve ofin this episode is the extra flashback to “Legacy”, where Amanda confronts Luther and then Duncan fights and beheads him. I have no problems losing that, but everything else should stay...


                  Winner: DVD/European cut!


                  4x17:The Immortal Cimoli
                  The domestic cut of this episode loses Amanda & Duncan watching a clown act before Marco introduces the Immortal Cimoli, Danny’s mom joining them in his trailer after they tell him about his immortality and the Game (introducing her character to Duncan and Amanda), a bit extra of Duncan going to meet Case in the arena (the first time), the scenes where Danny’s mom throws him a surprise celebration in the cafe, Amanda venting to Duncan about how Danny got his dream come true but it turned into a nightmare, and a little bit of Marco’s introduction of their act in that very ridiculous tag. Honestly, why didn’t they just cut the whole tag and keep some of the other stuff? Although the way they cut the clown act makes the confetti trick look like “movie magic” rather than the actual clown gag that it is. Still, overall, I prefer the longer version of this episode.

                  Winner: DVD/European cut!


                  4x18: Through a Glass, Darkly
                  Only one scene is edited out of the domestic version of this episode: the flashback to Normandy, 1786, where Duncan meets up with Cochrane and his mortal family, who are subsequently killed by the English because of cocky Cochrane’s campfire smoke. The scene itself is decent, but my bigger issue is that the attempt to smooth the gap that removing it causes falls flat, aswe jump from Cochrane staring at his healed hand to suddenly screaming “No! No more!”

                  Winner: DVD/European cut!


                  Updated tally:
                  Domestic = 27
                  DVD/European = 31

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The rather silly magically morphing crystal aside - an effect we could have done without, and it would have made a stronger tale - Gift is all about Methos' and Wingfield's performance. One of his strongest, especially when he broke when talking to Amanda. Good stuff, real character fodder.
                    Cimoli was okay, but Case coming after a guy who'd been immortal a month made no real sense, what does he have a timetable in his pocket? And seriously, if you were Cimoli, and you sucked at the game, wouldn't you invest in a pistol and running shoes?
                    Glass...seems that a bad ass like Cochrane would not have retreated into hysterical amnesia when an ally proved false. His reaction was far more a Duncany thing than a professional soldier and lost cause banner carrier guy thing. It also rates an okay.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Holy Shimoli the immortal Cimoli!!!!
                      Jb

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I thought Cimoli was a bit of a coward how he tried to kill Duncan after MacLeod had saved him from Damon Case! Karma got him in the end or should I say a character acted by T C Holmes!!!
                        JB

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by johnnybear View Post
                          I thought Cimoli was a bit of a coward how he tried to kill Duncan after MacLeod had saved him from Damon Case! Karma got him in the end or should I say a character acted by T C Holmes!!!
                          JB
                          A confused kind of coward. Duncan wished he hadn't taken Case's head for this twerp.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I know. Duncan was at odds over the rules of the game and being bound not to interfere with Case's quest for Danny Cimoli's head but in the end he killed Case and nearly lost his own head for his bother! There's a lesson in there somewhere!
                            JB
                            Last edited by johnnybear; 04-21-2021, 11:49 AM.

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