Highlander (Season 4, Ep 78): The Blitz

Welcome back to Highlander: the Series. I am doing an episode-by-episode watch, recap, and reaction and blogging about it here. There will be no spoilers for the series beyond the current episode. You can find my prior recaps HERE.

For those of you that don’t want to read the long plot recap, I provide a quick episode summary here at the top. You can also just scroll down to the “REACTION” heading below.

THE QUICK AND CLEAN SUMMARY:

A very pregnant Anne is trapped underground while trying to provide help after a subway gas explosion. Duncan and RIchie rescue her. She gives birth underground after Duncan finds her.

The experience causes Duncan to think about a time when he was trapped underground after a gas explosion in London during the Blitz of World War 2.

THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:

The episode opens with a news report on a subway explosion in Seacouver. A very pregnant Dr. Anne Lindsey is attempting to help on the scene, but she is being told to stay away by emergency personnel, due to the still unsecured environment near the explosion site.

Duncan is listening to the news report while he works on his new house. Richie is helping, and asks Duncan for the loft above the dojo, now that the house is finihsed. MacLeod tells him no and says that he is not moving.

Back on the scene if the accident, Anne evades the police barricade to go help the injured underground.

At the house, Richie asks Duncan if he plans to sell the house, curious that the entire remodel is just a business venture. Duncan tells him that it’s not and that he is not selling it.

Richie: Well, if you’re not gonna sell, and you’re not gonna live here, can I live here?
Duncan: Hahahaaha.

Anne and a male colleague/accomplice are underground. They find a body and she feels for a pulse, but determines the person is dead. They go a little farther and hear a woman calling out for help. As Anne talks to the woman, a portion of the underground collapses, blocking her and her colleague from exiting in the way that they entered.

Duncan and Richie, listening to the news on the radio, hear that a second major blast has rocked the subway, making access to the lower levels almost impossible. Duncan hears an unconfirmed report that a medical team, led by Dr. Anne Lindsey, has been trapped inside. Duncan and Richie look at each other and race off to the scene.

♫I am Immortal.♫

Duncan and Richie arrive on the scene. It’s a madhouse. They look for the person in charge and the camera pans over to two men talking, as one of them tells the other that it could blow anytime. Someone in a hardhat is ordering all of his men to be pulled out. Duncan asks him about Anne, and he says she went in without his permission. Duncan asks where she went in, and he replies that the last thing he needs is another hero.

Duncan and Richie walk off, with Richie noting that they are still going down, and Duncan agreeing. Finally, MacLeod spots an entry point they can use.

Below ground, a large piece of concrete falls on Anne’s male colleague, Mike, pinning him to the ground and injuring him. He tells her that she needs to get out, while there is still time, but she refuses to leave him.

Duncan and Richie climb down under the ground, and as Richie says it looks like a bomb exploded, MacLeod replies that it was a gas explosion and he says he has seen this type of thing before. He says he was in England during the Blitz of World War 2.

FLASHBACK!

London – 1940

A group of people, including MacLeod, discuss Montgomery and Rommel. A woman peels away from the group and Duncan follows her. He greets her familiarly, telling her that she looks beautiful. She tells him that she hates admitting that she misses him, and states it is unfair that British Intelligence has a stronger hold over him than she does. We can hear from her accent that she is an American.

Duncan: Who said anything about British intelligence?
Woman: Please. You have MI5 written all over you.
Duncan: You’re fishing in the wrong pond.

When she asks Duncan why she doesn’t believe him, he replies that she is a reporter and thus interminably suspicious. He tells her he is interested in some horses at Somerset, just as the Air Raid sirens begin to sound. The party ends abruptly and people begin filing out quickly toward bunkers. The reporter asks a man at the exiting party for help setting up a radio signal at the top of the building. He declines and suggests that she is out of her mind. She replies that the world need sto hear about the attack. Duncan helps her, causing her to ask whether he learned to operate this equipment in cloak or dagger school. He says that it’s just a radio.

As the bombs are falling, Duncan gets the reporter, Diane Taron, on the roof and on the air. Diane gives a stirring bit of journalistic defiance as the bombs drop and until the all clear sirens begin to sound. After the raid ends, Diane says to the American audience back at home that England needs America’s help in this fight. After she finishes, Duncan tells her that she was good. Then the two begin to show a lot of, um, “rooftop affection” for each other.

Later, Duncan and Diane return to the location of their earlier party. She asks where everyone went and he says that all of the sane people are still in the shelter. She grabs some abandoned champagne, drinks it, and requests that Duncan dance with her. He says there is no music, but she says that she can hear it. They dance, and she asks Duncan about fate. She suggests, not seriously, that the whole war happened just so that the two of them could meet. They are interrupted by Harry, the man who refused to help her take the equipment onto the roof earlier. He shares that everyone in the shelter heard every word she said and that there was not a dry eye in the place.

Later, in a hotel room, Dunan tells her that what they did tonight was stupid. She says, with her arms wrapped around him, that she has heard that before. She says he took the same risk, causing him to reply that it’s different for him. She answers that he better not mean that it is different because she is a woman. He says that is not the reason but does not explain further. He goes on to say that he wishes they would have met before the war, so that he could show her some of London’s more magical locations. She suggests that they go that night, as there is no longer a bomber in the sky.

Back in the present, Duncan calls out for Anne. They find an injured man. Duncan helps him, and hands him to Richie, before continuing alone to search for Anne.

Anne is trying to treat her friend while he is pinned beneath the concrete. He is dizzy and losing vision, as another woman finds them. They both yell for Mike to stay with them. The other woman pronounces Mike dead.

FLASHBACK!!

We hear Churchill give a speech, concluding that England will never surrender. Diane asks if he is right about there always being an England. Duncan tells her that some places don’t know how to die, and shares that when the city was decimated by the Plague, nobody thought the city would recover. He says the city was thriving again six years later. Diane comments that he has a gift for making the past come alive. She suggests that he teach or write when he retires from being a spy. Duncan again denies that he is a spy, and makes his point again.

Diane: Where does all this admiration for the English come from? I thought you Scots hated the English?
Duncan: Well, courage is a hard thing to deny. They rebuilt this city after the Great Fire, they’ll do the same thing after Hitler.

She asks what will become of them after Hitler, and Duncan kisses her. She points out that is not an answer. Just then, the Air Raid sirens sound again. She makes as if to rush off and witness the bombing, again arguing that she needs to witness it. He argues back that she will not be on the air this time and that she should go to the bunker. MacLeod’s argument wins out. The stairs explode behind them as they descend.

They are both unharmed, but they are now trapped underground. Duncan notices a gas leap and narrowly manages to keep Diane from lighting a cigarette.

In the present, Anne goes into labor. The woman with her asks how early she is, and Anne replies eight weeks early. The woman, Karen, assures Anne that she has had four children of her own and that they do not get to pick the time or place. Anne asks Karen how she feels about natural childbirth.

Anne: This isn’t how I pictured it.
Karen: Yeah. She’ll be okay.

Richie takes the injured boy he found with Duncan above ground. He is stopped by the man in charge of the scene, and when confronted, Richie tells him that he just saved the boy’s life. The man refuses to let him go back down, but Richie counters that he has already been down there and can lead the rescue workers directly to the injured, rather than forcing them to search blindly later. He relents but makes Richie put on safety gear first.

Anne hears Duncan call out her name from a distance.

FLASHBACK!!!

Diane notes that there must be three stories of debris on them. Duncan is trying to dig them out, or to an air pocket, but she says that there is no use and bemoans the fact that the people who said she as going to get herself killed in London will be proven right. She admits she does not want to die. Duncan embraces her and says that they will not die.

In the present, Duncan is now close enough to Anne that she recognizes his voice and calls out to him in relief. He breaks his way through a woden barrier and gets to her. She tells him that the baby is coming.

FLASHBACK!!!!

Diane tells Duncan that she fantasized about the two of them dying together, growing old, and raising grandchildren. She explains that this is not what she had in mind. Duncan asks how they skipped to grandchildren, and she laughs, admitting that children come first.

Duncan: You can’t even fantasize in moderation, can you?

She tells him that she is scared, and thath despite doing a lot of crazy things in her life, she always believed that she would be okay. She says she has never been so close to death. They run out of air as she talks about her life, and how she has no regrets over what she has done, only what she has not been able to do yet.

In the present again, Karen is helpin Anne through her contractions and Duncan holds her.

FLASHBACK!!!!!

Diane tells Duncan about a place in Colorado she always wanted to visit called Gothic. Her aunt told her about it and said it was beautiful. Duncan confirms to her that it is beautiful, as he has been, and he describes that it has only two entry points. They begin to pass out.

Duncan asks Karen f she has done this before. She says he has had them, but has never caught one before. Duncan offers to deliver, but Anne refuses and wants him to hold her instead. Karen tells Anne to push.

FLASHBACK!!!!!!

Duncan describes Gothic, Colorado, and its beauty. With little energy remaining, Diane jokes that he is making it up, but adds that it doesn’t matter.

In the present, the baby is born. We hear her cry.

FLASHBACK!!!!!!!

Diane passes out, but Duncan continues telling her about Gothic.

As we see the baby, and the two scenes cut back and forth, we hear “We’ll Meet Again” in the background. Duncan is rescued as Diane lies lifeless on his chest. Duncan, Anne, Karen, and the baby are rescued in the present, all alive. Duncan lets Richie know that Anne had her baby, and Richie runs off to get blankets. Anne tells Duncan that she is naming the baby Mary. After he pauses, he tells her that Mary was his mother’s name.

Anne: Yeah, I know. I asked Joe.

At the renovated house, later, Richie tells Anne that Duncan picked all of the colors himself. She says he did a terrific job, to Duncan’s delight and Richie’s surprise. After Richie goes, Duncan gives Anne the house.

Anne: Well, Duncan, that’s an incredible gesture…
Duncan: Anne, it’s okay, I put it in Mary’s name.

He says he wants them to have the house and adds that he does not want her to have to worry about anything. She is overwhelmed, but eventually accepts.

Later on, Richie comments on the size of Duncan’s gesture.

Richie: I used to think a dozen roses was a nice gift. Or a sweater. Maybe even an ankle bracelet.

Duncan asks Richie if he thinks Anne liked it, and he says she definitely did. Richie asks him why, and if Duncan wants to move in someday. Duncan tells him no. We see flashbacks of their relationship, and why they broke up. Duncan asks Richie if he saw the look on Anne’s face when he gave her the keys, and he says yeah, and that Anne was glowing. Duncan says that’s the reason he did this, just to see the look on her face.

REACTION:

Great episode, with a terrific extended and painful flashback.

We finally learn that Duncan has been renovating this house all season for Anne and her baby. That was an awesome and well-executed long term set up and then surprise reveal. In giving her the house, he kind of completes the transition of his relationship with Anne from romantic into something like a “guardian angel” one. The show won’t last that long, but Duncan might spend the next century quietly taking care of Anne and her new daughter Mary, perhaps without their knowledge. He’ll always be with them in the house, too. This is as close as it gets for him, to having a real family, without his direct presence putting them into genuine danger.

I never liked Anne as Duncan’s romantic interest but I completely dig her as an “at a distance” post break up star-crossed Doctor relationship. Imagine checking in on them again, in three decades, and she’s helped him out of a few tight spots in the hospital, while he’s done the same for her. That dynamic would be an incredibly entertaining book.

I don’t know if this is the official send-off for Lisa Howard’s Dr. Anne Lindsey (I think it is, since she got a montage), but if so, they did a great job with it.

I really dug the lengthy flashback sequence, too, though maybe the female American journalist character, Diane, might have injected a little too much 90s feminism to be entirely realistic. It was good anyway. She was brave, fun, and filled with hopes and dreams. Duncan stayed with her while she died, and tried to make it easier. He let her believe that they would die together, knowing that he would outlive her. Being an Immortal with a heart is relentlessly heartbreaking. Maybe that’s why so many Immortals eventually go evil.

The juxtaposition of Duncan holding Diane in his arms while she died, with Duncan holding Anne while she gave birth, was really well done. The overlay of “We’ll Meet Again” ended up feeling haunting and pleasant simultaneously. For Duncan, there is nothing new under the sun, and he finds himself constantly reminded by his present of people he has known previously who are now gone. Diane shared a lot of spirit and courage with Anne. Maybe Mary will be like them, or like someone else Duncan has known (perhaps even his mother.) There was something both sad and hopeful in that scene that’s hard to define.

Overall, this is one of the best episodes so far this season and of the series.