'Courage'

[ithildin]

Highlander Season Three

Courage, Air Date: November 1994

Cullen, an old friend of MacLeod's, is burnt out from centuries of playing The Game and has turned to drugs and alcohol to get the courage to keep on playing. Cullen had a run-in with Richie and now he's coming for Richie's head. While playing "chicken" with Richie on a mountain road, Cullen crashes head-on into a bus full of passengers, killing many. MacLeod tries to convince Cullen, who he once knew as the greatest of the warriors, to stop using the drugs, but a paranoid Cullen believes MacLeod is just trying to render him helpless. Finally, MacLeod has no choice but to confront his former comrade and defeat him. ~ recap via tv.com

Next week: The Lamb

Comments

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

What?

No one has commented on this yet? How utterly bizarre.

I have a rather strange perspective on this episode. I've seen it once normally, and watched it through 3 times in fast-forward, silently, to pull out clips for my vid "Crown of Thorns."

Brian Cullen is one of my top 3 contenders for "Male Immortals MacLeod has been involved with". There is a strong connection between them in this episode. They are very touchy. And Mac is so very, very pissed off at Brian, and utterly devastated after killing him. I can just see his tear-streaked face before me now.

Richie can't see why Mac would give a shit about this asshole. And, yeah, substance abuse can DO that to a person. They turn into this totally fucked up, nearly unrecognizable version of themselves. But in this case, it's more than just the drugs - it's the fear.

The constant assault of kill or be killed that was Brian's life when he got a rep as Europe's greatest swordsman is a fair match for Duncan MacLeod's life these days. Is it the Gathering? His reputation from taking out Grayson? Or just the needs of weekly television? Whatever it is, MacLeod seems to understand where Brian is coming from with that, to some extent.

And that makes me wonder. Late at night, when there's no one to see, and nothing to take his mind off it ... is Duncan MacLeod afraid of the Challenges?

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Nope, you're the first :) I think interest in the discussions is waning, so I'm thinking of postponing them for a while.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm. That's an interesting thought. I've never gotten the impression that Duncan was afraid of the challenges. He seems to feel that it's his job, his responsibility to face challenges and deal with the consequences. He'd MUCH rather NOT fight, but given no other option he faces it head on. Now, if it were someone else, I think they'd head down Cullen's drug-filled path to oblivion. But, not Duncan. I don't think that he's capable of doing much escapist activities, whether it's drugs or alcohol. Maybe he hides his head in the sand, but he's just too responsible to avoid the battles.

I remember how hard it was on him, too when he fought Cullen. He really cried after Cullen and, whatsis name, the guy with the models from Season 1 or 2. After awhile, though, it seemed like Duncan became inurred to the idea that he was going to take out some people that he had once befriended or loved. A part of him seemed to harden after the third season, I think. Plus, plenty happened to make him more cynical. (Maybe it was because he'd taken such a long break from challenges while he was with Tessa.)

I'm glad that you responded. I didn't really know what to say to initiate the conversation. I like to respond to someone else's response. (Doesn't make sense, I know!)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me :) I always feel I suck at episode discussion.

[mamamia1964.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (Sorry for the anonymous posting, too!) I'm glad that others are lemurs like me, waiting for someone else to make the first headlong dive into the discussion. (or do I mean penguins?) Anyway, please don't stop the discussions. I enjoy reading them, even if I don't always have something to add. I just don't think this is one of the best episodes. Brian Cullen always seemed like someone DM admired in his younger days, when he was consciously looking for fun and someone to admire/learn from. I don't know why it's not obvious for the other Immortal characters, but HL was very successful in showing how Duncan changed and grew over the years. It wasn't always the best written show, but it's rare to see characters change and grow over the years. Even in an excellent show like the X-Files, the characters tended to be somewhat static. (Please don't throw anything at me. Maybe it's because HL seems to be the one series that I've followed so closely and loved so much. With so much attention focused on HL, I've certainly noticed more about the show than others that I love and watch now.)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I'll probably start them up again next week :)

[mamamia1964.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Forgive me, tho if I don't ALWAYS respond. It's not too long until mandated state testing occurs in our school. Grrrrr....NCLB makes life difficult for teachers and even more so for the kids!