'Finale'

[ithildin]

Welcome to our second installment of Methos Episode discussion! You can find the first one, for 'Methos' here.

Finale Parts One & Two, Air Date: May 1995

Amanda accidentally helps Kalas escape from prison by trying to do MacLeod a favor and kill Kalas for him. After an attempt on Maurice's life thwarted by MacLeod, Kalas kidnaps Amanda to use as bait against MacLeod, but Amanda manages to escape.

Meanwhile, Christine Salzer, the widow of a Watcher killed by Kalas (in "Methos") decides to get her revenge on Immortals and Watchers alike by exposing their secret to the media. Dawson and Methos team up to try and talk Christine out of it, but she's determined to take a computer disk with the identities of all known Immortals and Watchers on it to a newspaper publisher. Dawson, desperate, tries to kill her outside the newspaper building, but is stopped by MacLeod and Methos. Christine enters the building and the Immortals and the Watchers know their lives are about to change forever.

As Christine tells her tale to the newspaper publisher, MacLeod and Amanda, knowing their world is about to end, finally admit they love each other. Kalas kills Christine and the publisher and steals the computer disk before they have a chance to spread the story. Kalas offers MacLeod a deal -- MacLeod offers up his head or the contents of the disk are made public. Dawson and the Watchers attempt to find Kalas, but this only results in more dead Watchers.

Methos tries to talk MacLeod out of it, but MacLeod agrees to fight Kalas on top of the Eiffel Tower. Kalas is defeated and the resulting Quickening, amplified by the Tower, sends a power surge that disrupts every computer in the vicinity -- including Kalas'. The information on the disk is destroyed and Immortals and Watchers maintain their anonymity. ~via tv.com

Next week, we'll move on to Season Four with Chivalry and Timeless (I love Chivalry!)

A few quotes below the curtain





Joe: What were you thinking about?
Methos: I wasn't thinking, I was improvising.
Joe: By cutting yourself open? It took you five thousand years to come up with that?
Methos: What were you expecting? Einstein? Freud? Buddha? I'm sorry, Joe, I'm just a guy.
Joe: I guess next you're gonna tell me there's no Santa Claus.
_________________

Methos: "The passion of youth."
Duncan: "Boys will be boys."
Methos: And "every cloud has a silver lining."
Duncan: What d'you mean?
Methos: If you die, Amanda will be free to date.
Duncan: That's a comfort.
___________________

Methos: I was in Rome once, ninety-three AD, Coliseum, I saw Christians facing the lions. Some of them looked almost happy to die for their faith.
Duncan: Your point or we just strolling down memory lane here?
Methos: But afterwards the only ones looking happy were the lions.
Duncan: This isn't about faith.
Methos: No, it's about sacrifice. It's a hell of a thing to be a martyr, MacLeod, and that's what Kalas wants; he's pushing all your buttons.
Duncan: Well, I'm open to suggestions; enlighten me.
Methos: Maybe Amanda's right; you fight your best fight.
Duncan: What, every man for himself and to hell with the rest?
Methos: So what if the world finds out. Life is about change, civilizations rise and fall.
Duncan: This isn't about civilizations, this is about people. Amanda, Dawson, Richie. Our world is not an ant farm.

Comments

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, fond memories... ♥

Thanks for posting these - it's great to read the little quotes again, since it's been a while since I've seen any of the episodes.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I've been enjoying it too, especially since the early eps, I wasn't online, and the later ones, I was too shy to participate in online discussions.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Okay, my first silly observation: the orange cords of alien doom. Where on earth, and why, did they find those things? Then, instead of burning them, protecting our planet from their evil, they tossed them in a storeroom somewhere where they mutated into Stephen Keane's orange pimp suit of alien doom. [shudder]

"Hi, I'm the world's oldest immortal -- how do you like my repellant orange cords? Cool, huh?"

[pattyfeidt.livejournal.com]

I am here from Pat t's lj =0)

Yeah the pants were scary. He looks better in the nice tight jeans we see later.

I love the quotes you used... especially the Amanda will be free to date. The look on Duncan's face was soooo cute.

ps I friended you if thats ok =0)

[pattyfeidt.livejournal.com]

I also just read Ghosts of Winters Past

Did you ever write more of it? I really enjoyed it and I could so see those two interacting like that. Cool story =0)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I love being friended! :) Mmmm... nice tight jeans. [sigh]

The Amanda being free to date line is a fave of mine :)

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

"Hi, I'm the world's oldest immortal -- how do you like my repellent orange cords? Cool, huh?"

*Giggles.* They're "Adam" pants. You're suppose to take one look at them and go, "No way would a 5,000 year old man's taste be so bad he'd wear those." You know, thinking about it, that may explain the fringe leather jacket in the next Highlander flick too. It's some kind of camouflage. *Ponders.*

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I have yet to see the leather fringe jacket! I had one when I was 10 :)

You're suppose to take one look at them and go, "No way would a 5,000 year old man's taste be so bad he'd wear those.

ROTFL! Sort of a riff on "Adam Pierson couldn't afford any place I would stay." (I think that's the quote)

[enchantersnight.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen these yet (working on it) but Orange cords of doom! *giggle* can't wait

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

It's the camouflage thing again - everyone'll remember the cords, not the face. A bit like a girl with big boobs :p

First Thoughts

[enchantersnight.livejournal.com]

Ok how cute are Amanda and Duncan dancing on the Eiffel Tower! and the whole dancer flashback was brilliant.

Loved the "amanda would be free to date" line *giggle* isn't he precious, btw did we see them introduced or was that time at the barge the first meeting?

Glad that Kalas is dead (quite a light show eh?) and did Mac jump from the tower he got down way quick!

The orange cords of doom -never mind that what is with the anorak! I mean even exuding sex appeal that takes the biscuit, when do we get to the tight jeans? and what is this I hear about toes? not to mention the boxer shorts!

Ok off for a cold shower

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

There is *so much* to love about these episodes! They are just packed full of good stuff, from flashbacks to Watcher stuff to Kalas. I like the quotes you've picked out. The first one I find especially intriguing, because we see again this expectation that Methos would be this brilliant guy because he has lived so long, but really all he has learned how to do is survive. (It's similar to the scene in "Methos" with him and Mac walking along the river, where Mac asks him what he makes of all of it, and he shurgs.)

It's possible that he's being disingenuous, but it's also possible that it's a comment on what Immortals *lack*. They lack the creeping knowledge of age, and of death, and the awareness that they only have a limited amount of time to do what they're going to do. They also have to worry about guys with swords coming round to hack their heads off. So they can't achieve greatness (like Freud or Einstein), they can only work on survival skills. Unless they accept possible death, but it's obvious that Methos values survival above all else.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I love that! I hadn't thought of it from that angle before, but it really does make a great deal of sense.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

So they can't achieve greatness (like Freud or Einstein), they can only work on survival skills.

They can work on things besides survival skills. One of things I like in Modern Prometheus is the little bit we get of how Methos got into being a doctor. He is very well educated. His intelligence and ability to learn aren't limited by being Immortal. I think the point to "I'm just guy," isn't that he isn't human, but that he's still human, not more or less.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

True, but then is that 'greatness' or is that just a sensible use of your time? I mean, what's the norm? Do most immies just drift through life, or do most of them have a career or two or three? Sorry, I wonder about such niggly little bits of crud :)

[(Anonymous)]

"they can't achieve greatness"

I think Joe had a line in Timeless (sorry I am bad with episode names), where he said, "Perhaps when the flame burns shorter, it burns brighter", (or some such thing).

I think he was correct. Something in being an immortal makes you unable to obtain Greatness. Whether that is due to the "lack of the creeping knowledge of age" or the need to remain in secret, it does make an impact.

I first noticed this in an earlier season. The story line about the photographer Duncan dated. The subplot had an Immortal name Gregor who was talented but self-destructive, because he could not feel the import of death, or fear. The theme came up again, with Brian Cullen and his spiral down. He could not be the "greatest" swordsman because it brought challenges from mortal and immortal alike.

Byron too, is an example. While undoubtedly he was a "great" poet, when we meet him in the first flashback, he is already immortal, and already in his self-destructive free fall. Had he already lost the edge that being truly human, with all its frailty's, gives in to path greatness?

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

Yes, Gregor is a good example, and so is Brian Cullen. And what you say about Byron is true, too. Something happened to all three that made them lose sight of the value of life.

There are lots of famous quotes about death giving meaning to life. I think it's true.

Random Bits

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Trying to fit something in between phone calls... one of the things that stood out for me in this episode was Methos' developing friendship with Joe. The relationship between Joe and Methos has always been one of the things I've enjoyed most about the series.

The bit about telling Duncan that it was Watcher business and didn't concern him always stood out for me.

The beginning of all those 'Methos' Fables' (Maybe Methos was Aesop? [g])

More later, I'm sure.

Re: Random Bits

[enchantersnight.livejournal.com]

The beginning of all those 'Methos' Fables' (Maybe Methos was Aesop? [g])

There you go feeding your own bunnies!

Watched Chivalry for 1st time today , think I could arrange for a candy gram like that?

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

I adored Finale I & II. I not only have it on the season three dvds, but the movie version they put out on dvd too. It actually has a bit more in a couple of scenes that was cut for the show version.

Methos - oh my. We thought he was gone - and there he is again. Mac is awed and completely blown away. And how often do we see that happen? And Joe? I think he was awed at first - but it didn't take long before *Adam* had irritated him. Yet you could see how fond Joe was of Adam -

I wonder how long it took before Joe was actually able to accept that Adam Pierson was Methos? I mean in his heart? Even if he accepted it in his head already.

It's not only the friendship between Methos and Joe - either. I read alot of stories where the author talks about Duncan and how he is the center of his immortal friends. That he is the focus and they are his clan or family.

But, in reality - wasn't it Methos friendship with both Joe and Duncan that brought these three men together into what turned out to be a family unit bonded by trust and friendship and love? Up until then Joe and Duncan had been on very fragile ground. They didn't always trust one another and more than once they hurt one another. It was with this show (to a large degree) where that dynamic sort of turned for these two men. And Methos was the focus that bonded them together.

Oh yeah, I remember the Amanda slip. It makes for great discussion though. Did Amanda know Methos from before? Did she already know Adam Pierson was Methos and kept it from Duncan? Had she visited with Adam when she was in Paris and never let Duncan know? What was her relationship with Methos? Their history?

Or had Duncan told Amanda and she was surprised as well? Did Methos let Duncan tell her or he just decided not to take Duncan's head?

And then there is the chemistry between Duncan and Methos. They sizzled on screen.

And could Methos have been more *Adam* then he was here: in Finale? This was Adam's show. And the last time you will ever see Adam and Adam alone. Because when he shows up in Chivalry - he puts Adam away and we meet - finally - Methos!

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

This is what I think of when I think of Finale.


Did someone say something about Adam's pants?


Three men bonded together in friendship and trust and love.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

But, in reality - wasn't it Methos friendship with both Joe and Duncan that brought these three men together into what turned out to be a family unit bonded by trust and friendship and love? Up until then Joe and Duncan had been on very fragile ground. They didn't always trust one another and more than once they hurt one another. It was with this show (to a large degree) where that dynamic sort of turned for these two men. And Methos was the focus that bonded them together.

I'm quoting that whole bit, because that's a beautiful insight. I heartily agree.

I'm just blown away by the amazing discussion over the last few days.

The Look (of love?)

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

And then there is the chemistry between Duncan and Methos. They sizzled on screen.

They sure did. Those looks Methos gives Duncan--as pictured in your first screen cap--are full of...something. Energy? Mischief? Fascination? We know Methos knew a lot about Duncan before he met him, through his work as Watcher and chronicler, so I kind of think that Methos was just as fascinated about meeting and getting to know Duncan as Duncan was about getting to know the Oldest Man Alive.

The Looks are often made mention of in D/M slash stories, and were a key part of And Then Some, the story we recently discussed in the Highlander LJ community.

The looks are hard not to notice.

This one in particular, the way Methos's eyes swoop down (to Duncan's...sword), is just...wow.

YIKES!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I check my computer one last time before leaving for the weekend and DANG! You guys have been busy this morning :) Just sorry I can't participate. Yes, I'm even enjoying your slashy comments [g]

Everyone have fun and I'll try and catch up with you chatterboxes on Monday!

Roberta!! I love that you're participating here :) It's like when you were here in CA with us last fall, just without the booze. Heh.

Re: YIKES!

[(Anonymous)]

"It's like when you were here in CA with us last fall, just without the booze. Heh. "

Think it would be hard to drink and type, this stuff. It is hard enough to get down this way, since I think faster then I type and sometimes lose my own train of thought.

Hopefully, we can continue this in person at some time.

Have a great weekend - Drink a Diablo for me.

Roberta