Highlander: The Raven thoughts
Jul. 21st, 2025 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereI just finished the show and oh man. It was flawed. It had its problems and limitations, and some stuff I just tilted my head over, but there was always something to enjoy in even the weakest episodes and some interesting ideas and character work. Cut for more, positive and negative.
Two of my favorite episodes were comedies. They felt closer to Highlander in spirit, and they were also the chief relief from what might be my biggest complaint about this show: Really boring cartoon villains. Season six of the main show had the same problem, so maybe the writers were just tapped out, but Highlander had a gift for posing questions through its villains and that's a distant memory by this point. However, 'The Frame' gave us Jade, saving the cartoon evildoing for Discount Alan Rickman. Jade was a delight. Jade was a natural foil to Amanda, a kid sister, a hungry rival. She was a really fun addition to Amanda's story.
In general, I liked the idea of getting a closer look at Amanda's usual associates, naturally being other thieves. Duncan was an outlier. This didn't always work - I thought she was wildly out of character in the flashback with her kidnapping-murder husband guy - but it was fun during 'Thick as Thieves.' I kept waiting for her erstwhile partner (played by Vampire Jack! From Ultraviolet! And later, another Ultraviolet vampire played an evil magician!) to reveal his psychotic evilness, but this never happened and instead we got a story where everyone had actual reasons for what they were doing, and it was all conflict of interest and collateral damage propelling the plot. Like the best of Highlander. And the Interpol agent from 'The Valkyrie' showed up, as a different character, but that actor is still dynamite with a monologue.
My other favorite episode was 'War and Peace.' Same reason, the focus on what made Highlander so special, the long histories and the conflicts of human nature magnified.
I was of two minds on 'Inferno,' but Talia showed the most potential of the villain Immortals to be a strong recurring enemy for Amanda to face. That didn't last, alas (a recurring problem on Highlander, for that matter), but this was another high quality guest star with Michelle Gomez.
Even if some of the episodes were weak, and none reached the heights of the best of the parent show, I enjoyed The Raven. I liked seeing more of Amanda, and I liked the secondary characters Lucy, Liam and Myers. I did struggle with some of Amanda's characterization, particularly in flashback, because it felt like the writers weren't comfortable with Amanda being an opportunist, a seductress or someone who runs from problems. It's like they weren't willing to commit to the character they had established.
I liked Nick, and his prickly temperament. I did not always like how he was used in the narrative, being the action movie hero. To me he worked best when he was allowed to be more introspective, struggling to adapt to a realm outside the law, maybe even his own worst enemy.
The ending was a downer, but it also created an interesting situation we haven't seen before by having Amanda trigger Nick's immortality. She's responsible for him from now on. I'm a bit confused by poison not qualifying as a violent death, though. Like, if someone died from mustard gas in WWI or an explosion in a chemical lab, that should qualify and Nick was murdered. Maybe Amanda was covering her bases just in case?
Anyway, their subsequent falling out hinged on the philosophical difference between how Amanda sees immortality and how Nick does. Hell of a place to leave it. I can't really regret the show's cancellation, since everyone hated working on it and were presumably relieved to move on to other things, but at the same time... there was potential here. I hope there's some good fic.
Two of my favorite episodes were comedies. They felt closer to Highlander in spirit, and they were also the chief relief from what might be my biggest complaint about this show: Really boring cartoon villains. Season six of the main show had the same problem, so maybe the writers were just tapped out, but Highlander had a gift for posing questions through its villains and that's a distant memory by this point. However, 'The Frame' gave us Jade, saving the cartoon evildoing for Discount Alan Rickman. Jade was a delight. Jade was a natural foil to Amanda, a kid sister, a hungry rival. She was a really fun addition to Amanda's story.
In general, I liked the idea of getting a closer look at Amanda's usual associates, naturally being other thieves. Duncan was an outlier. This didn't always work - I thought she was wildly out of character in the flashback with her kidnapping-murder husband guy - but it was fun during 'Thick as Thieves.' I kept waiting for her erstwhile partner (played by Vampire Jack! From Ultraviolet! And later, another Ultraviolet vampire played an evil magician!) to reveal his psychotic evilness, but this never happened and instead we got a story where everyone had actual reasons for what they were doing, and it was all conflict of interest and collateral damage propelling the plot. Like the best of Highlander. And the Interpol agent from 'The Valkyrie' showed up, as a different character, but that actor is still dynamite with a monologue.
My other favorite episode was 'War and Peace.' Same reason, the focus on what made Highlander so special, the long histories and the conflicts of human nature magnified.
I was of two minds on 'Inferno,' but Talia showed the most potential of the villain Immortals to be a strong recurring enemy for Amanda to face. That didn't last, alas (a recurring problem on Highlander, for that matter), but this was another high quality guest star with Michelle Gomez.
Even if some of the episodes were weak, and none reached the heights of the best of the parent show, I enjoyed The Raven. I liked seeing more of Amanda, and I liked the secondary characters Lucy, Liam and Myers. I did struggle with some of Amanda's characterization, particularly in flashback, because it felt like the writers weren't comfortable with Amanda being an opportunist, a seductress or someone who runs from problems. It's like they weren't willing to commit to the character they had established.
I liked Nick, and his prickly temperament. I did not always like how he was used in the narrative, being the action movie hero. To me he worked best when he was allowed to be more introspective, struggling to adapt to a realm outside the law, maybe even his own worst enemy.
The ending was a downer, but it also created an interesting situation we haven't seen before by having Amanda trigger Nick's immortality. She's responsible for him from now on. I'm a bit confused by poison not qualifying as a violent death, though. Like, if someone died from mustard gas in WWI or an explosion in a chemical lab, that should qualify and Nick was murdered. Maybe Amanda was covering her bases just in case?
Anyway, their subsequent falling out hinged on the philosophical difference between how Amanda sees immortality and how Nick does. Hell of a place to leave it. I can't really regret the show's cancellation, since everyone hated working on it and were presumably relieved to move on to other things, but at the same time... there was potential here. I hope there's some good fic.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-22 02:25 pm (UTC)Not having finished the series, I didn't know that The Raven had attempted to make canon the previous fanon that an immortal's first death must necessarily be a violent one, not from illness or accident, or they will not revive. Huh. I dislike that construction very, very much. I posted a long rant about it back in the day, tearing apart the philosophical and theological violence that I felt that it did to the immortality metaphor.
Luckily, I do not care nearly as much anymore. :-) I will just let myself assume that Amanda was misled in her understanding here.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-23 01:35 am (UTC)I think it would be quite easy to headcanon Amanda as having certainty without being correct. It's not like there's an Immortal rulebook she can consult. I prefer we have no real idea of how Immortals are created or what their purpose might be, only endless theorizing from those involved and their Watchers. It's too much like a recipe card if death HAS to be violent to trigger Immortality. It also leads to problems like death from poisoning. What qualifies as "violent enough?"
My headcanon has always been a vague "death before their time" and that works for me. :)
no subject
Date: 2025-07-23 06:06 am (UTC)Definitely agree with you over all, here. Getting to see more of Amanda and the people around her is great, but it felt like the show sometimes forgot who their main character was. Or, like you said, they weren't comfortable depicting who their main character was, and how she might realistically behave.
The ensemble are generally a lot of fun, though, and Nick has some great aspects and moments. There was definitely a lot of potential that they really didn't do a great job of utilizing, but at least it was some fun times.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-23 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-23 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-24 10:55 am (UTC)Immortal origins
Date: 2026-03-25 11:10 pm (UTC)gee that sounded sensitive and caring. Not.
*sigh* I am not backtrack reading your journal because of a just because. I am honestly interested and feel as if you've given me permission. And I thank you for the permission.
I haven't chosen to start responding before now because, dear holy gods, you've been through insane hell since January of this year 2025--and I do not want to bring back up any of the profound and appropriate grief you have gone through.
But seemingly, I'm bloody always ready to have an opinion about HL and Immortals. Well, one would hope since it's basically all I ever think about--which is obviously not true. Hmm.I just asked Roy how often I think about HL. He said, "All the time. Every day. Every hour." Well, I guess if anyone would know, he would.
I've never seen any of "The Raven" btw. Lissa has told me that I don't really have to. And she will be the first to tell you that I always do as I'm told (picturing her right now, rolling on floor screaming with laughter). And I just realized I chose my Duncan looking at Methos icon because that's kinda how I think of Lissa and me--She's a Duncan girl (her own description) and I'm totally into Methos. And we both see Duncan with heart eyes in that shot.
Re: Immortal origins
Date: 2026-03-26 01:10 am (UTC)Your theories on Immortal origins and legends track with my own. There are a few established facts, and a lot of myths which are treated as fact by Immortals and Watchers alike, but which I personally have my doubts about. "There can be only one...trust me." I think not!
Killa is correct. You don't have to watch The Raven. It's a lot like bonus tracks on an album rerelease.
I'm very happy you've found so much of interest in my (fairly random) collection of posts over the months. And that is indeed a lovely icon!