4-7: Till Death, Judgment Day, One Minute to Midnight

[johnnybear]

I think Graham McTavish would have been best served with a solid role in Highlander rather than as Charlie a member of the Watchers! This guy can do mean and evil and was wasted to be honest!
JB

[Zzickle]

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?


4x20:Till Death
Granted, the reception hall flashback scene doesn’t really add anything of substance to the main plot, but I like that we get to see Sean Burns again here, and their joke at Fitz’s expense is amusing, so the fact that this scene is cut from the domestic version is disappointing to me. Therefore...

Winner: DVD/European cut!


4x21:Judgment Day
It’s a clip show. Most of the cuts are clips from previous episodes. ‘Nuff said.

Winner: Domestic cut!


4x22: One Minute to Midnight
Amongst the scenes cut from the domestic version of this episode are: Joe/Duncan/Methos banter in the wine cellar, Jacob bequeathing Duncan his wagon and wondering where his missing boot is (which is a bit of a dangling plot point otherwise), more Joe/Methos banter outside the funeral home, and the other Watchers letting Duncan go after he shuts Shapiro in the coffin. Some of the deleted stuff is useful to the plot, and a lot of the banter is just plain entertaining:

Methos: Give me one good reason.
Joe: Revenge.
Methos: Gave it up.
Joe: Well, then save my ass.
Methos: We’re not that close.

Therefore...

Winner: DVD/European cut!


Updated tally:
Domestic = 28
DVD/European = 33

[dubiousbystander]

Watching One Minute to Midnight now, and I've come to what I came to the first time I saw it. Irena Galati, mentored by Jacob Galati, finally chose to marry him after 65 years. Apparently none of his mentoring included friggin' self-defense, or apparently common sense as she follows a strange man with a sob story and gets raped. Also, apparently she also has some psychic connection with Jacob, or her screams are loud enough. And then, of course, they remind us what an awful time that was for women, Gypsies, etc. I wish I could be impressed that Jacob stabbed that guy in his gonads, but since he couldn't be bothered to teach Irena to fight, I lose any sense of being impressed.

[Wilusa]

I don't care much about the series' comic episodes. I was interested to learn (somewhere) that "Till Death" was originally intended to be a serious episode, in which, after MacLeod had killed another male Immortal, the female Immortal would "see" the man he'd killed in him. An idea they ultimately used with Richie, in "Haunted"!

Personally, I love "Judgment Day" and "One Minute to Midnight." For me, one of the most appealing features of the series is the characters' struggles with conflicting loyalties.

[Tootsie Bee]

Episode 87: "One Minute to Midnight"

I really have to question the writers for killing off Horton so quickly. His appearance in this episode is a delight, and I love how the Watchers are still paying for the trouble that he caused several years earlier. Of course, it was Horton's fault that Duncan learned about the Watchers in the first place, so I guess that everything comes back directly to him. The biggest plus of this episode is the exploration of the thin line between the Watchers and the Hunters. Once anyone starts interfering, it's just a matter of time before the Watchers and the Immortals start killing each other. Any Watcher can become a Horton, and any Immortal can become a Kalas. Whereas the previous episode exposed what doesn't work about the Watchers concept, this one exemplifies what works so well about it.

[Tootsie Bee]

Episode 86: "Judgment Day"

A clip show! With a hokey plot! And cliches galore! This episode shows why it's so silly that the Watchers keep themselves a secret.

[Tootsie Bee]

Episodes courtesy of Cinedigm.

Episode 85: "Till Death"

This episode could be used as a torture device. As usual, the comedy is painfully broad and unfunny. Fitz has really lost all the credibility, and charm that he once had and is now just an annoyance. The show is watchable only when Methos is around, as he gets some pretty good quips. Sean Burns is dug up for a pointless cameo in one of the flashbacks.

[Aleander]

I like "Till Death" a great deal, and the finale two-parter is pretty good, even if bogged down by it being a clip-show. However, I feel like those clips serve an actual purpose for the story as they do help motivate the storyline and the characters involved and even retroactively apply sense to those said scenes. The latter episode might be a tad overstuffed, though. Still, not bad, if not quite as spectacular as season 3's Eiffel Tower extravaganza.

[Tootsie Bee]

Discuss the end of Season 4 and the premiere of Season 5:

Till Death
Judgment Day
One Minute to Midnight