'Run For Your Life'

[ithildin]

Highlander Season Two

Run For Your Life, Air Date: November 1993

Carl Robinson is an Immortal who MacLeod first met in 1929 when he rescued him from a KKK lynch mob. Back then, Carl was full of plans -- to be a Major League Ballplayer, to be President. But today Carl has given up hope. He and MacLeod meet up again when Carl steals Charlie's car. Mac tries to rekindle Carl's belief in himself, but Carl doesn't want to listen. When a white cop named Carter tries to kill him, Carl attributes the incident to racism, until MacLeod explains about the Watchers who are hunting them. After Carter's partner (also white) helps Carl and MacLeod bring Carter down, Carl decides to give the world another chance. ~ recap via tv.com

Next week's ep will be: Epitaph For Tommy

Comments

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

I thought it was funny that Carl suspects racism, only to find that evil is much more diverse than that - which kind of cheers him up. *g* Well, okay, but seriously speaking, this one had some nice touches and suggests rather than shows the complexity of Carl's own life.

More than that, however, the episode laid a base for Carl's second appearance, which really explored the ideas of racism, of discarding people, and of, well, laziness in a multilayered fashion. And that alone is worth something. :-)

[macgeorge1.livejournal.com]

As I commented when I first posted a description and review of the episode at: http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/Season2/Run.htm:

This is a good episode, although I'm not as enamored of it as David Abramowitz was. The Carl Robinson character is powerfully portrayed by Bruce Young, and the flashbacks really did look good and have a nice resonance. And let's face it, Bruce Young is a fine, fine looking man and watching him stride along in that dark duster is enough to give any red-blooded woman a tingle.

My problems with the episode come primarily in the writing and plotting. I thought the subplot about the racist/Watcher/cop was lame and didn't hang together well, and the guy they got to play the part had all the screen presence of my house slippers. Charlie DeSalvo was also kind of annoying (they write him that way) in being utterly, unremittingly belligerent towards Carl (who admittedly had stolen his car and was bigger and blacker and obviously meaner than Charlie). I was amused by the eye rolling and sighing done by DM as the two big guys went chest-to-chest in an "I'm blacker than you" contest, although DM ended up sounding pretty preachy in this episode.

It is interesting that in virtually all these 2nd season episodes so far, the Watchers are not at all benign witnesses to Immortal lives. They are the bad guys, weirdos and nutcases out to kill Immortals just because they don't think they "deserve" the gift of Immortality. In this case, the Watcher was a racist, so as a Black Immortal, Carl had two strikes against him.

As for character revelation and development, the most interesting aspect of it was to watch DM face off with a man who was larger and clearly more physically powerful than himself. He was not the slightest bit intimidated, and I thought that was well done and well played, since that is what would come of being 400 years old and very, very secure in your ability to defend yourself physically and intellectually under any circumstance.

The other important "message" of the episode is one that is a sub-theme of everything to do with DMotCM, that he believes that Immortality is a privilege and a gift and that Immortals have an obligation to use it for a good purpose.

[(Anonymous)]

I thought the subplot about the racist/Watcher/cop was lame and didn't hang together well, and the guy they got to play the part had all the screen presence of my house slippers.

Hear, hear! Very well put a truth!

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

oops *apologetic smile* that was me just now