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annavereA satisfying way to turn things around and completely upend the board in time for the second half of the show. I don't have much to offer that's insightful, it's pretty much verbose variations on "that was cool."
I like all the flashback sets and costume design, but I have never been more appreciative of the hair and makeup department on Highlander than I am when Cole takes extended holidays in the past. Cassie buys him a razor for Christmas. Cole, your wife (I assume they're married by this point) thinks you look like a hobo. Fix it.
Happy domestic scenes plus nightmarish pockets of frozen time, plus another insane asylum to visit, and the gorgeous Madeleine Stowe. This is all extremely well done, and puts Cole back in my good graces. I can't dislike any of these characters for very long anyway, they all suffer too much.
The red tea offering a way to mentally travel through one's own timeline provides a cheat code that feels plausible (and unlikely to be easily accessible now that the Red Forest has been driven back, preserving dramatic tension). As for Stowe's madwoman, surely there's more going on with her than meets the eye, right? I have no theories for who she is, but she was interesting.
Then there's a brief 'I Will Remember You' plot, although this is one case where I'm gonna say Angel actually did time travel shenanigans better than the expert. I wish Cassie had been alerted to Cole's choice, or had woken up in time to see the words now written on the wall and to at least realize what was about to happen. That would have been more poignant, and would have offered her some agency (this episode is not good for Cassie's agency).
Katarina returns! I was so happy to see her again, and her survival montage was perfect. And forget about the madwoman, what is up with that dog? It looks like the exact same dog that came to Cole and Ramse pre-West VII while they were starving, and whom they fed from their meager rations. If so, this cannot be an ordinary canine, it must be some type of spirit testing their characters. If there's a story where it visits all the main players at different low points in their timelines (I'm sure there's plenty to pick from) I'd read it in a heartbeat.
Nice use of the Titan coordinates Adler programmed, picking up a dropped detail very nicely. And Katarina's staggered response to finally taking her own medicine was hilarious.
So Jennifer doesn't quite save the world like I was hoping, but she does get the Daughters to follow her, without which everyone would have died at Titan, so that's a win. In which case, what happened when the first Jennifer refused to go to Titan?
During Jennifer's big speech I was thinking to myself 'this is kind of lame - no, this is really lame, what happened to the writing, I'm getting embarrassed here' and then I recognized some of the lines from Braveheart and I felt better. Jennifer's "screw you, I'll do it myself" reaction saved the scene.
Then we revisit the bullshit execution sequence from last episode, and it's just as dumb this time. But, along come the Daughters using actual battle tactics (snipers up high, flanking maneuvers, all that good stuff which is known to work) and they totally kick ass. Then our quartet redeem themselves by remembering that they have assault weapons in their hands and are up against a bunch of Witness acolytes armed only with knives. The battle is joined. Hannah slices through the crowd. Katarina power walks with the best of them - in fact, I'll make it official: She is the best power walker on this show.
Cole gets an adorable million dollar smile when he saves Ramse. And for about thirty seconds, Ramse is happy in return. Then his unquenchable rage reignites, he kills a bunch of captives, nearly attacks Cassie and convinces the group to split up on a Witness hunt (which might as well be a snipe hunt at this point).
Bad things happen.
Deacon gets killed again, gruesomely, but he saves Jennifer - he's been given a vanishingly small plotline of being sorry he killed elderly Jennifer, so I guess he wanted to go out that way. It's noble and all, but I'm fairly certain he's still a cast regular, so I'm more puzzled than saddened.
Meanwhile, Jennifer very soon gets accidentally splintered to 1917 (not good!). Ramse gets lured out to Olivia's new group, and I both love his momentary exasperation with her and dread what his reunion with Sam might turn out to be like. Poor kid (if he's still a kid). Cassie gets captured, Hannah and the Daughters are left in the fields to travel home on foot and Cole and Katarina go back to Raritan. Cole willing Cassie's tether to work is so sad, as is the reveal of what's happened to her.
Gotta say, they knocked the sci fi visuals out of the park with this one. The frozen streets, the red tree, the battle sequence: All excellent. And Titan being a traveling time machine is a spectacular twist, which looks great. The far future is deeply scary. Unfortunately, there is now an antichrist baby plot incoming. Bloody hell, I thought those went out with the 90s-00s. Poor, poor Cassie. See above, re: Suffering too much.
So I am now officially halfway done with this series and rustled up an icon to commemorate.
I like all the flashback sets and costume design, but I have never been more appreciative of the hair and makeup department on Highlander than I am when Cole takes extended holidays in the past. Cassie buys him a razor for Christmas. Cole, your wife (I assume they're married by this point) thinks you look like a hobo. Fix it.
Happy domestic scenes plus nightmarish pockets of frozen time, plus another insane asylum to visit, and the gorgeous Madeleine Stowe. This is all extremely well done, and puts Cole back in my good graces. I can't dislike any of these characters for very long anyway, they all suffer too much.
The red tea offering a way to mentally travel through one's own timeline provides a cheat code that feels plausible (and unlikely to be easily accessible now that the Red Forest has been driven back, preserving dramatic tension). As for Stowe's madwoman, surely there's more going on with her than meets the eye, right? I have no theories for who she is, but she was interesting.
Then there's a brief 'I Will Remember You' plot, although this is one case where I'm gonna say Angel actually did time travel shenanigans better than the expert. I wish Cassie had been alerted to Cole's choice, or had woken up in time to see the words now written on the wall and to at least realize what was about to happen. That would have been more poignant, and would have offered her some agency (this episode is not good for Cassie's agency).
Katarina returns! I was so happy to see her again, and her survival montage was perfect. And forget about the madwoman, what is up with that dog? It looks like the exact same dog that came to Cole and Ramse pre-West VII while they were starving, and whom they fed from their meager rations. If so, this cannot be an ordinary canine, it must be some type of spirit testing their characters. If there's a story where it visits all the main players at different low points in their timelines (I'm sure there's plenty to pick from) I'd read it in a heartbeat.
Nice use of the Titan coordinates Adler programmed, picking up a dropped detail very nicely. And Katarina's staggered response to finally taking her own medicine was hilarious.
So Jennifer doesn't quite save the world like I was hoping, but she does get the Daughters to follow her, without which everyone would have died at Titan, so that's a win. In which case, what happened when the first Jennifer refused to go to Titan?
During Jennifer's big speech I was thinking to myself 'this is kind of lame - no, this is really lame, what happened to the writing, I'm getting embarrassed here' and then I recognized some of the lines from Braveheart and I felt better. Jennifer's "screw you, I'll do it myself" reaction saved the scene.
Then we revisit the bullshit execution sequence from last episode, and it's just as dumb this time. But, along come the Daughters using actual battle tactics (snipers up high, flanking maneuvers, all that good stuff which is known to work) and they totally kick ass. Then our quartet redeem themselves by remembering that they have assault weapons in their hands and are up against a bunch of Witness acolytes armed only with knives. The battle is joined. Hannah slices through the crowd. Katarina power walks with the best of them - in fact, I'll make it official: She is the best power walker on this show.
Cole gets an adorable million dollar smile when he saves Ramse. And for about thirty seconds, Ramse is happy in return. Then his unquenchable rage reignites, he kills a bunch of captives, nearly attacks Cassie and convinces the group to split up on a Witness hunt (which might as well be a snipe hunt at this point).
Bad things happen.
Deacon gets killed again, gruesomely, but he saves Jennifer - he's been given a vanishingly small plotline of being sorry he killed elderly Jennifer, so I guess he wanted to go out that way. It's noble and all, but I'm fairly certain he's still a cast regular, so I'm more puzzled than saddened.
Meanwhile, Jennifer very soon gets accidentally splintered to 1917 (not good!). Ramse gets lured out to Olivia's new group, and I both love his momentary exasperation with her and dread what his reunion with Sam might turn out to be like. Poor kid (if he's still a kid). Cassie gets captured, Hannah and the Daughters are left in the fields to travel home on foot and Cole and Katarina go back to Raritan. Cole willing Cassie's tether to work is so sad, as is the reveal of what's happened to her.
Gotta say, they knocked the sci fi visuals out of the park with this one. The frozen streets, the red tree, the battle sequence: All excellent. And Titan being a traveling time machine is a spectacular twist, which looks great. The far future is deeply scary. Unfortunately, there is now an antichrist baby plot incoming. Bloody hell, I thought those went out with the 90s-00s. Poor, poor Cassie. See above, re: Suffering too much.
So I am now officially halfway done with this series and rustled up an icon to commemorate.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 04:34 am (UTC)Yes, it is the same dog. And yes, I agree, he needs fic.
The question about Jennifer I is interesting. At first, I couldn't figure out how she could have made one decision and then the other, but still ended up where she did in the timestream. It's one of the few time puzzles in the show that actually hurt my brain a little. I have two possible explanations, but no spoilers!
no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 11:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 02:48 pm (UTC)I forgot to mention about Madeleine Stowe: in case you didn't know already, she played Dr. Railly in the original 12 Monkeys film. (Her name was Kathryn, not Cassandra, but she was Bruce Willis's love interest.)
no subject
Date: 2023-01-15 03:28 am (UTC)