Highlander: Ten unfavorite episodes

[annavere]

Here's the promised other half of my listmaking. Again, there's no order and I didn't select based on any criteria other than my heart sinking as I eyeballed the list or a frequent skip reflex. However, I will say one nice thing about each unfavorite, because I love this show. There is no episode of Highlander wholly lacking in redeeming features. I never engage in those thought exercises about "if you could make a perfect 12 episode season, which ones do you keep?" I keep them all, for cumulative effect.

The Fighter (season 2)

I don't like Sully's cartoonish ways with women. I don't like watching Duncan get punched in the face forty times. The Old Friend Gone Evil plot is by numbers, as is whatever is going on with the corrupt sports bar. This isn't even fun to mock, it's just there and it's tired and it makes me tired. But it does have Charlie in it, the historical set dressing is cool and the ending swordfight is pretty decent, if memory holds.

Deadly Exposure (season 6)

Features the dumbest criminal on three continents. The flashback where Duncan meets an Immortal woman and lets her tie him to a bed is stupid and I refuse to accept it as canon. My favorite part is the cutely dimwitted male model, but he gets killed. Every aspect of this episode seems designed to irritate me, including the title, which I flail around trying to remember. "Indecent Exposure? Oh, that's so wrong for this show. Unusual Exposure? No, that was Suspects. Double Exposure, that was it! No, that's Jeopardy/Eagle. Dramatic... Exposure? There's a D in it... Dammit, what was this stupid thing called??"

Obsession (season 3)

This wouldn't make the list if Jill survived. It also wouldn't make the list if Keogh lost his head. But neither of those things happen, so even though this is a good episode in many ways it viscerally upsets me. I have managed to headcanon that MacLeod sparing Keogh is not about over-identifying with his behavior and is instead about having been forced to kill Brian two weeks previously and now he has another old friend on the ground and he just... can't. And I don't blame him for that. But I also don't like this episode at all. Something positive: The core flashback and how it builds on Duncan's relationship with Little Deer and his trauma is all very thoughtful. Also, Anne.

Free Fall (season 1)

A lot of the musician casting on this show worked out remarkably well, but not so much here. Felicia is SO evil she's not even fun to watch and there's no catharsis at the end. The swordfight-turned-music-video is weird and overlong, Richie manages to annoy me (how? how is this even possible?) and Claude Devereux and his violin of tragedy are completely wasted. It does have one of my favorite Tessa scenes ever, though!

Black Tower (season 6)

I like 'Bad Day in Building A.' Redoing it, with a fake damsel in distress, a goofy set design, an unlovable nerd and making this the mediocre catalyst for Duncan's disavowal of pacifism after Richie dies? In an earlier season, it could have made a fun episode, but post-Richie it just makes me grit my teeth. But there is some good action and I do like young flashback Duncan trying to make Merrick understand his new reality and getting nowhere.

The Beast Below (season 1)

Great location footage, absolutely. However, The Hunchback of the Opera is not my favorite Highlander plot and I always groan a bit when this one surfaces. A lot of season one episodes are redeemed by large amounts of Tessa or interesting side characters but the majority of this episode really does little for me. It's just too focused on its recombined plotline. But it does feature Darius, so all is forgiven.

Dramatic License (season 5)

I know. My Highlander fan status is now in jeopardy. I can't help it. It's a comedy episode that doesn't make me laugh. I don't like Terence or the angry author taking revenge for her own insecurity. I've seen it twice, years apart, shrugged both times, and skipped it on every other watch. This means it is possibly my least viewed Highlander episode ever. It appears to have nigh-universal popularity and I conclude there must be something wrong with my brain. However, I am very fond of the scene where Duncan sweeps Amanda off her feet, and smile whenever it shows up in fanvids.

The Innocent (season 4)

I feel bad for including this episode here, because it's well done, but it's another one I skip more often than not. It's just sad and pointless and kicks Richie for caring. He's had enough hardship in his young life. Did he really need a Newbery Medal moment on top of everything? The bright side is Callum Keith Rennie, who deserved a way better role on this show. I liked Tyler King more than he deserved before I ever saw Hard Core Logo and now? But alas, he loses his head. Duncan, stop killing hot guys. You can withstand the competition.

Archangel & Armageddon (seasons 5 & 6)

And again with these. Look, there are a lot of characters you can kill on a show. Love interests, mentors, close friends can die and the show can live on and build from it. But you can't kill the child. Richie was the surrogate son, learning and growing and maturing, adopted by MacLeod. Killing him killed the symbolic future, it rendered five seasons of character work meaningless and it destroyed Duncan, because he's not getting over that in a century, let alone a season. It was a terrible decision, in a plotline which already felt out of place and which did not have a payoff worthy of the pain. The basic theme and concept ARE interesting, and fandom alchemy has done good things with addressing and redeeming it, but as episodes, I must protest. A good thing: Joe's scene getting tempted by the devil and telling it to go to hell.

I achieved a good balance once more, with all seasons being represented. It wasn't deliberate. I guess Highlander is consistent in its inconsistencies.

And again with some honorable mentions! These however, are episodes which used to rank on this list proper and have risen above. Basically: Episodes I used to dislike, and are now favored memories of mine, for reasons which have nothing whatever to do with the episodes' quality.

Haunted (season 5)

There is some intriguing quickening lore here, but the first time David and I watched Highlander, we were annoyed by this episode and found it pretty terrible. On rewatch, knowing it was going to suck, we went in guns blazing, riffing on the idiocy (and there was so much to go round). We spared no one, laughing more and more as the episode progressed and I'm giggling at the memory as I type this. By this act of impromptu levity, 'Haunted' transformed into an insane black comedy (not at all Highlander's specialty) and an experience I cherish.

The Zone (season 2)

When people dismiss TV acting and writing, stuff like this is what gives them ammunition for their snobbery. It's got 'The Zone Theme.' Kane... Cain... *goes to the internet* ...Canaan is cardboard. Duncan goes feral and swings chains around like "you want a piece of this?" But I like Asia, and it has a lot of Charlie, and we had fun with it. Every time something in real life got labeled "the zone" by a news anchor, David and I would giggle at a joke absolutely no non-Highlander fan would get, and that's what separates these two from the above list for me.

The right mood with the right company, and the stars align so even a bad episode can shine a little brighter.

Comments

[argentum_ls]

I will join you in the club of disliking “Dramatic License.” The plot was better when the writers did it on Forever Knight, but it’s still not one of my favorites.

[annavere]

Hurray! I feel less weird about it now. :)

I just went over to YouTube to look up Forever Knight (as it has been referenced from a Highlander context before) and it looks like most of season one is available to watch, so I bookmarked it. Maybe it's a good autumnal show.

[brightknightie]

FK is an excellent autumnal show! Although, on that specific note, I'm amused to note that it was a mid-season replacement show and its first season actually starts in late winter / early spring, confirmed by the fairly early episode with background visual cues at a church indicating late Lent, setting up for Easter.

FK's first season is far and away my favorite of its seasons. I recommend it.

You'll see some familiar HL guest-star faces, on the old "only thirty actors in Canada" theory.

[annavere]

It sounds very promising. I love Canadian shows, in part due to that comforting small scale vibe.

[teratornis]

Ooh I've been looking forward to this.

For the most part, I once again agree with these. A lot of these are pretty weak episodes, with characters or plots that annoy me as much as they seem to you. I don't usually skip any episodes (except one, which I have seen one time and never will again*), because so much of my watching is done as background noise, but many of these are definitely some of the ones I'm most 'meh' on.

I do enjoy Dramatic License, though it's far from a favorite. It definitely could have been handled way better than it was.

I do also have a soft spot for Beast Below, though I think it's really more of a soft spot for Ursa. I would have liked it much better if they'd kept the character concept and made it part of a better episode.

*My least favorite episode is The Innocent. In part for the reasons you detailed here, but I also cannot adequately express how pissed off it makes me to see a narrative that calls for the death - especially with the willing, voluntary death - of a mentally ill or neurodivergent person because they're 'a danger to themselves and others'. That is a vile trope, and what angers me the most about it is that they had already navigated it once, much more kindly, with Ursa. There's no reason things couldn't have ended better, both for Mikey and for Richie.

. . . Anyway.

I like your stories about your honorable mentions. It's always fun when some sort of event or context rewires how you think about a certain episode, especially if you didn't care for it originally.

[annavere]

It was a toss up between 'The Beast Below' and 'Counterfeit Part Two' for me, but the Richie and Joe stuff tipped the scale in favor of the latter.

I definitely see where you're coming from with regard to Mikey, especially as compared to Ursa. Totally understandable. There was no reason for Mikey's story to end the way it did. They even handled the "too dangerous to live" concept better in season one, with Alfred Cahill being mentally ill but also a serial killer.

Although this leads toward my private exasperation with Sean "what the hell were you doing all that time?" Burns - which I am aware is an unfair criticism because he didn't actually exist in the narrative until season four, by which point there were dozens of Immortals who could have benefited from him but obviously didn't. I have a draft of him discussing the topic with Darius, but that's a hard concept to get right and I've never been able to finish it.

This is why I want my next rewatch to coincide with the energy for long-form blogging. Lots of potential for discussion and different perspectives.

[teratornis]

That's reasonable, Counterfeit does have some great Joe and Richie moments.

Yeah, that is definitely a problem with not just HL, but a lot of per-season TV. Sean would have been such a great recurring character early on in the series (and, y'know, later, if they'd thought about it and not completely fridged him). Exploring the effects his presence would have on earlier periods in canon would be really fascinating. I'd definitely be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Definitely understand wanting a bit more energy to tackle that though. There is a lot of great discussion potential.

[annavere]

So many characters who would have been a boon to this show died in their introductory episodes. I would have loved more Sean. The dialogue I have between him and Darius is mostly a testament to the idea that he did try to help. But Immortals are complicated tenfold, and they have to be willing to stick with the program, and they have forever to relapse, so really it's an unenviable task for Sean to set himself. I can picture Byron showing up, when psychoanalysis was at its most trendy, and bailing when Sean actually hit a nerve. And there's no way he didn't know Garrick.

But I'd also like to think he had genuine successes other than Keane, and am not sure which characters could be a natural fit for the distinction.

Yep, an HL rewatch is a project for another year. I used to have a lot of energy for DW, and I am just working on rebuilding that these days.

[teratornis]

Man, tell me about it, there are so many that would've been fascinating if they'd lasted longer/made reappearances. I've read stories here and there speculating that Gregor went to Sean, and I've long thought Michael Moore/Quenten Barnes had to have known Sean. Even if not as a patient, then as an associate, since he was also what amounted to a mental health professional for a while.

Yeah, Sean should've lived, definitely. The potential there is just too good, even outside of him being just a neat character. I would definitely be fascinated to know about his other students and the other immortals he's helped successfully.

That is completely understandable. I wish you the best of luck and much energy to that end. ❤️

[annavere]

Ooh, hadn't thought of Michael Moore! Yes, they ought to have known each other back in the day, at least on a professional basis. *Makes note*

[teratornis]

Moore is another character who absolutely shouldn't have died the way he did, both for the same reasons I have beef with Mikey's death, and because despite his own history and mental health difficulties, he's also an immortal psychologist. Some sort of background story of him getting help and going on to help others would've been magnificent, especially with Sean's involvement.

[killabeez]

I'd have liked that so much better than what happened in that episode. That would have been terrific.

(I had never seen Geraint Wyn Davies in anything before this, but I gather he was a fan favorite? I still don't know him outside this role, but I remember there being buzz about him at the time. It would have been nice to see him do something besides cartoon maniac guy.)

[annavere]

In addition to your and Tornis' excellent points, I submit that giving Michael a hopeful ending would have paired this episode very nicely with Studies in Light and offered a two episode buffer of hope and healing for the audience between the losses of Darius and Tessa. Which would have been very nice, considering!

[killabeez]

Absolutely, it really would have.

[teratornis]

Right? I for one found Moore to be a genuinely wonderful character, with a lot of potential for some really great continuing plot. Quenten Barnes aside, he seems like such a good and frankly very grounded guy, and the show could have used some of that.

I've seen him pop up in a couple other things. I tried very hard to get into Forever Knight, watched the first couple episodes, but I bounced off it pretty hard no matter how delightful an actor he is. Maybe I'll dig around for some other stuff he's in at some point, considering how much I liked his HL performance.

[annavere]

Forever Knight has been recommended to me more than once and I'll be trying it out sometime this autumn. I'm curious why you bounced off it, if you wish to elaborate.

[teratornis]

I hope you enjoy! I know it's much enjoyed by a lot of people who also enjoy HL.

I think part of it for me was that I just really struggle with the whole 'tortured creature of the night' trope. I get really fed up really fast with the angst-ridden vampire character archetype. There were other reasons, but it was a while ago, and I don't remember all that well what else specifically I disliked about it.

[annavere]

I can see how that would be a dealbreaker! One has to enjoy the archetype and I basically do, so I might have better luck with it. I guess I'll find out!

[teratornis]

I hope so! I know a lot of folks are very fond of it, so I hope it's a fun experience for you!

[killabeez]

Is it The Fighter, or The Zone that has the Eurominutes at the beginning where Duncan is jogging (with Charlie? Or Richie?) and talks about Connor? I never liked either of those episodes, but I remember being delighted when I discovered that missing scene.

ETA: It's The Fighter, but it's not at the beginning. (I always misremember that.) Link to transcript for anyone who hasn't seen the scene: https://www.zzickle.com/tv/episodes/highlander/211-fighter.html

(Scene starts with the words "Empty lot")

[annavere]

See, any given episode of this show is likely to have individual scenes I'll happily sing the praises of, but which get lost in the shuffle of plot. That is such a nice little moment, demonstrating friendship with Charlie, showing Connor's influence and building Duncan's character. It does a lot with a little and I love how that's just thrown in there to fill space.

[killabeez]

Obsession (season 3)

This wouldn't make the list if Jill survived. It also wouldn't make the list if Keogh lost his head. But neither of those things happen, so even though this is a good episode in many ways it viscerally upsets me.

Oh, man, THIS. I never rewatch this one. In fact, I'm remiss in that I don't think I've killed David Keogh in fic enough. (Maybe once? I can't remember for sure.)

For me, Dramatic License is all about Amanda and her sass. "Yippee kay-yay, the rodeo's in town!" "I was NEVER cheap." Etc. And I do like the tongue-in-cheek sendup of Duncan as the romantic hero. I also like the flashback with Duncan and Terence where they end up sharing a horse. Not all of it works for me, and I've never been a fan of SB, but it has enough good stuff for me to enjoy—and yes, the ending is lovely.

[annavere]

Listen, you can kill Keogh whenever you like. I'd read it. :)

I keep threatening to do a full Highlander rewatch and blog about it. Obviously, that means giving Dramatic License another chance - and it's probably time since I don't even remember any of your highlight reel. I think the annoying romance novel parody must have overshadowed anything else that was going on.

[killabeez]

You don't have to like it! But I look forward to any and all HL thoughts you care to share. :)

[killabeez]

Funny bit about "The Beast Below" (an episode I've only seen once, I think)—a few years ago, my wife and I were in New Orleans off season, and happened into the Royal Sonesta lounge one night to find that the headliner was Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is stunning, and incredibly talented and skilled (not to mention hilarious, and a pretty awesome person). Definitely wasted on "The Beast Below."

[annavere]

That's a lovely story. I will confess to never having looked her up until just now, and it's clear this lackluster episode steered me wrong. I guess I've got a nice musical research project ahead of me.

[killabeez]

I don't think she's ever been widely known in the American mainstream (despite Grammys), but she is/was—humor intended—big in Japan. She was probably one of the music artists that the Japanese HL investors got excited about in S1.