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:
Duncan’s friends Robert and Gina are on the verge of a divorce, after three hundred years of marriage, so Duncan enlists Methos to stage a fight with Robert to help Gina rediscover her feelings.
The plan works but Methos forces Duncan to pay him, for services rendered, with ownership of the barge.
THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:
Chateau de Valicourt
Outside of Paris, 1921
A beautiful dark haired woman senses an Immortal. Moments later, a masked man walks into the room and when she asks who he is, he answers that he has come to take what is his. They both draw swords and she removes his mask with a slice of her sword. He responds that it was a mistake for her to see his face. They duel across the chateau, however, the duel ends as they begin kissing and end up in bed together.
♫No man can be my equal.♫
Duncan enters the barge and senses another Immortal inside. He finds Methos, who tells him that his apartment is being sold and that he refuses to stay anywhere that his alias Adam Pierson could afford. Duncan tells him that it’s his own problem if he is seen at the barge.
Duncan looks at the newspaper and sees that Gine and Robert de Valicourt are getting married again. Methos is confused and says that he thought they were already married, so Duncan explains that the couple re-marries each other once each century.
Methos: I was married once, you know. Come to think of it, I was married 67, no 68 times.
Duncan: [outraged] Youv’e had 68 wives?
Methos: Yeah, never one of us, though. That would be too much of a commitment for me to make.
Methos comments that you would have to love someone a lot to be with them for 300 years, and adds that it’s tough to imagine. Duncan disagrees and says it’s not if you knew Gina. He tells Methos that he and Fitzcairn were both madly in love with her.
FLASHBACK!
Outside Paris, 1696
Duncan and Fitzcairn are walking with Gina, and they are complaining that she has agreed to attend two different events, with each of them, on the same night. She asks how she could have refused either of them and says she just mixed up the nights. Duncan’s event was dining at the Prussian Ambassador’s residence, while Fitz has plans to take Gina to the opera.
They walk with her until they arrive, to their surprise, at the Baron de Valicourt’s residence. She tells them that de Valicourt is the most notorious thief in all of Europe, and Duncan comments that he is good at it, based on the size of his estate. Fitz asks how good he could be, and Gina tells them that he swindled 20,000 Louis from her.
Duncan and Fitz then begin arguing over which of the two of them will get her fortune back. Gina solves the argument by saying that they will do it together. The three Immortals soon after break into the chateau. Inside, they look around and see a fortune in art and decorations. She comments that Valicourt has been robbing the colonies for fifty years. As they discuss robbing some of it back, they sense Robert Valicourt approaching.
Robert: Well, well, well, what have we here. Mice in the parlor and Immortal mice at that.
Duncan: I’d be careful who you’re calling a mouse, especially if you’re a rat.
{Robert and Gina lock eyes]
Robert: [to Gina] If you’re a thief, I’ve never seen a comelier one.
Duncan and Fitz begin arguing over who gets to duel Robert, while he and Gina continue staring at each other. Robert interrupts them to point out that he can only duel one of them at a time, so Duncan and Fitzcairn decide to toss a coin. Fitzcairn admits that he does not have a coin, whereupon Duncan asks how he was planning to take Gina out in the first place. Finally Robert lends them a coin.
Duncan wins the toss and begins to duel Robert. As they duel, Robert asks Duncan if they have a quarrel he has forgotten. Duncan tells him to ask the lady, as it is she he has wronged. Robert immediately turns his head toward Gina and walks transfixed toward her, saying that he has never had the pleasure of her company and that he is sure he would remember wronging so beautiful a lady.
Gina: You wronged me when you stole a shipment of gold belonging to me.
Duncan: [from across the room] Hey, we’re fighting here.
Robert: I’ve been accused of many things, fair lady, but never… never theift from such a beautiful woman.
Duncan encourages Robert to return to the fight, but Gina suggests that Robert might be willing to be reasonable. Robert asks how he could be otherwise in her presence. Fitz and Duncan return to arguing over which of them could beat Robert in a duel more quickly, but Robert tells both of them that if a wrong has been done, he will right it. Robert asks her to allow him the honor of making his peace over dinner, and then he escorts Gina away from a surprised Duncan and Fitzcairn.
Fitz: What about the opera?
Gina: Why don’t you take Duncan?
Fitz: I don’t even like him.
Duncan and Fitz exit, while arguing which of their two events they will attend together.
A few months later
Fitzcairn and Duncan run into each other again, both anticipating a rendezvous with the Lady Angelina (Gina.) They each read the other’s letter and notice that she told each of them that she has a matter of great importance to discuss with them, and that both letters have the same date and location. Fitzcairn concludes that she wants to be a bride. Duncan bristles that he is not ready for marriage, while Fitz tells him that Duncan is not the one she wants to marry. Fitz tells Duncan that she wants to break the bad news to him, while Fitz is present to protect her from Duncan’s reaction.
She arrives and is surprised to learn they have guessed she plans to be married.
Gina: I know it’s unconventional, but I cannot imagine doing anything without either of you.
Fitz: Both of us?
Duncan: What exactly do you want us to do?
Gina: Give me away.
They are both stunned. Sometime later, Fitz tells Duncan that none of this would have happened if she had accompanied him to the opera that night. Duncan argues back. Fitz says he should have asked her to marry him while he had the chance, causing Duncan to laugh at the idea.
Duncan: You couldn’t stay faithful to a woman for more than what, one hour?
Fitz: I would have given it a fair try.
They find Gina and Robert together at the wedding banquet, in the other room, with Duncan noting how she looks at him and Fitz stating that he is going to be sick.
In the present, Duncan tells Methos that both he and Fitz could not deny that their marriage was made in heaven.
Elsewhere, Gina shouts at Robert that she said she wanted pink linen, not white. Robert asks her tersely what is wrong with white and notes they used white last time. She tells him that she is sick of white and he shouts that she said she wanted classic and that he gave her classic because white is classic. Their shouting goes on until they both sense another Immortal. Duncan enters the room, smiles, and asks if he came at a bad time.
They tell him that he came in exactly the right time. Robert calls her a brat. Gina says Duncan came in time to help clean up the mess.
Robert: Oh no. Not the Ming vase.
[she throws it onto the floor and it breaks]
Gina: What do you expect from a brat.
[she leaves]
Duncan: [to Robert] So… how’s it going?
Later, Dunan asks Robert how long the fighting has been going on, and the other man tells him too long, and that the wedding is a nightmare. When Duncan says that all marriages have their ups and downs, Robert says that theirs has been down since the 60s.
Robert: It’s not just the wedding. It’s everything I say and do. It’s like living with a giant vulture who is just waiting for me to screw up so she can tear my heart out. I never thought I’d say this but I think it’s over between us.
Duncan tells the other man that nobody has ever loved him like Gina has, and that the two of them are meant for each other.
FLASHBACK!!
Chateau de Valicourt – 1796
Duncan and Fitz attend the Valicourt’s one hundred year anniversary party and get up to their usual hijinks, with Duncan causing Fitz to believe – to his horror – that an Immortal Lady Caroline intends to marry him. When Fitz is fully panicked after Duncan tells him that Gina and Robert have agreed to let them do their vows together, Caroline tells Fitz that she would rather wed a horse’s, un, end. Fitz handles it well, laughing and then insisting that she dance with him for the offence she just did to him. Duncan cannot help but be impressed that Fitz turned their prank against him, in his own favor.
Later, before the ceremony, Gina pulls both Duncan and Fitz aside and asks them to help her with her dress. While they talk, she shares that she and Robert are going to the Indies for their honeymoon. She comments that it’s very adventurous, but Duncan says that it is not as adventurous as being in Paris at the moment, where the mob is friendly with the guillotine. As they are talking, Duncan is proven prophetic, as another man enters and tells Gina that Robert has been taken by revolutionaries, to be beheaded. Duncan and FItz both insist they will go help Robert. Gina changes into a man’s clothes to take part in the rescue as well.
When they arrive to the mob, Gina attacks and steals the cart wherein Robert is held, while Duncan and Fitz distract the mob by attacking them in a different location. She is able to get away with him, and the other two are also barely able to escape themselves. As Duncan and Fitz finally catch back up to Gina and Robert, sometime later, they find the Immortal married couple kissing.
Fitzcairn: If we had been a moment later, she would have been the most attractive widow.
In the present, Duncan is still speaking with Robert, who tells him Gina has been impossible to live with.
Robert: She’s bossy. She’s opinionoated. She never listens.
Duncan: Well, that sounds like the woman we all fell in love with.
Finally, Robert agrees with Duncan and says that he will make it up to her, and that this will all pass. Just then, Gina meets the two of them outside. Robert apologizes and she replies by saying she wants a divorce. A little while later, Robert tells Duncan that she divided up the vinyl record collection. Duncan says that she is serious about this. Robert tries to think of what he might do, but his best hope is to have Duncan speak with her.
Duncan talks to her, but makes no progress. She tells him that she does not think people were meant to mate for life, and she adds that sometimes she thinks about hte old days, when she, Fitz, and Duncan knew each other before meeting Robert. She says that Fitz is gone, the old days are over, and that it’s time to start new lives.
When he returns to Robert, to share that the talk did not work, the other man tells Duncan that after being together for three hundred years, he does not know how to be anyone who is not part of a couple with her. Robert says that if something happened to her, he could not cope. Duncan asks him what would happen if something happened to him, instead. Robert immediately understands Duncan’s meaning and commends his cleverness.
Back at the barge, Methos tells Duncan that he has lost his mind. Methos refuses to participate in Duncan’s scheme. Duncan asks him to do it as a favor, to him, but is told by Methos that he is wasting his time. Methos begins to get angry at Dunan, for asking him to pretend to be after Robert’s head, but Duncan’s own anger overrides his.
Methos: Okay, I’ll do this for you. And you give me the barge.
Duncan: [laughs] Right, like you’re serious.
Methos: Yeah, I’m serious.
Duncan: …
Methos: Hey. I need a place to live. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.
Duncan begrudgingly agrees to the terms.
Sometime later, Duncan is with Gina, and tells her that Robert has been challenged by another Immortal and that he thinks the other Immortal is good.
Methos is hanging out with Robert, discussing their lives. Robert tells him about his time living among pirates. Methos replies that he does not like the sea due to an experience in a row boat with some Irish monkeys in 765. He adds that the boat had no facilities. Just then, they sense another Immortal and start their fake duel. Gina runs toward them, sword in hand, as Duncan shouts at her that she cannot interfere. As per their choreography, Methos runs Robert through with his sword, but Gina interferes, causing Methos to run away. She returns to Robert, crying over him.
Instead of running away, Methos stays to watch. Duncan has to insist that he run away while Gina is distracted. Duncan interrupts Gina telling Robert that she’s sorry, and that she’ll never leave him, to tell them both that the other Immortal is gone. Gina then vows, to Duncan’s discomfort, that she will find the other man and take his head if it’s the last thing she does.
Later, on the barge, Duncan tells a furious Methos that she wants his head. He tells Duncan that getting between a married couple is a rule he has not broken in two thousand years.
Methos: Great. So I lose my head after 5,000 years so that you can play marriage guidance counselor
Duncan insists that she will cool off, and an unconvinced Methos wants Duncan to give him the keys to the barge, per their agreement. Duncan tries to laugh it off, but Methos is having none of it. He says that if he is going to die, Duncan is going to pay him for it.
Duncan: With friends like you, who needs enemies.
Methos: I was just thinking the same thing.
Methos goes to sit in Duncan’s chair, puts his feet on the table, and tells MacLeod that he knows where the door is.
Duncan meets up with Robert, later, and learns that the plan worked. Robert is so happy that he says that they might have to try this again sometime. Duncan learns that Robert and Gina had an argument about whether Duncan would be the best man at their pending wedding, or whether he would give her away again, and Robert tells Duncan that Gina went to look for him, to discuss it. She went to the barge. Panicked, Duncan pulls Robert to his feet and runs out.
Methos is complaining about Duncan’s CD colletion, on the barge, when he senses Gina arrive.
Outside, Robert is worried that Adam Pierson would hurt her, if forced to, and Duncan is worried that she will actually try to go for his head. They see Gina emerge from the barge and she tells them that she killed him. Duncan freaks out, as he does, Methos emerges from the barge He and Gina smile together. Everyone is relieved, and Gina asks him if he will give her away. Duncan agrees.
Later, as Duncan is packing his things on the barge, he shows Methos the rare vase he is giving the couple for their wedding. Methos tells Duncan that he is giving them the barge.
Duncan: You can’t give them the barge!
Methos: Why not? It’s my boat, I can do what I like with it.
Methos then adds that he changed his mind and decided to get them a toaster. The shock causes Duncan to drop the vase, and it shatters. Methos gives him a broom to clean up.
REACTION:
This episode is a lot better than it deserves to be. The comedic interactions between Duncan and Fitz, and Duncan and Methos, make this otherwise thin episode very good. This is probably the best comedy episode of the series so far.
I was extremely happy to see Roger Daltry’s Hugh Fitzcairn featured so heavily in this episode. As best as we can tell, Fitz is – historically – Duncan’s best friend. Adrian Paul and Roger Daltry have amazing acting chemistry. They feel like great friends together on screen. Their interactions had slapstick, one-liners, mutual confusion, and it was all great.
Duncan and Methos on the barge was arguably somehow funnier. Adrian Paul’s comedy chops really come out when someone is getting the best of Duncan, and Methos was definitely doing that in this episode. If Fitz and Duncan have a relationship that feels like best-friendship, then Methos feels like Duncan’s irritable older brother. The comedy with these two was a little more biting, but it worked.
Gina and Robert’s marriage felt like a fun concept for the show to explore. What would it be like to be married for three hundred years? It would be difficult. I think – and the show did a great job exploring this. It was a good choice for them to become very co-dependent. Gina was bored, and taking Robert for granted, so the way that Duncan saved their marriage was to spark a fear in her that she could never go back to him. Once done, her co-dependency returned in full force. Gina’s fury at learning someone tried to kill Robert worked really well for the episode.
I wonder though how Immortal marriage works from the fighting side of things. She and Robert can practice dueling, a lot, but does she ever take any heads? Does Robert? Do other Immortals avoid targeting them due to the idea that 2 against 1 is too dangerous? It seems likely that both of them would be legitimately vulnerable on their own, for a long while while adjusting to being solo ago.
Notes:
- The guy who played Robert (Jeremy Brudenell) was also in Season 2’s “The Vampire.”
- Methos says he crossed the Atlantic, in a rowboat, with Irish monks, in 765. The wiki article on Iceland’s initial settlement says the following:
The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from Western Europe, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar according to sagas, may have settled Iceland earlier.
So maybe Methos was telling the truth.
Great episode. We’re almost to the end of the season, and don’t have a really obvious big bad to square off against in the finale, so I’m looking forward to seeing how Season 4 winds down.
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