'Deliverance'

[ithildin]

Welcome to the fifth installment of Methos Episode discussion. You can find the last one, for 'Timeless' here.

Deliverance, Air Date: Feb. 1996

MacLeod arrives in France, leaving a trail of hate and destruction in his wake. Methos finds him and discovers just how evil MacLeod has become when he tries to take Methos' head on holy ground. After MacLeod kills another good friend, Methos realizes that the only way to save MacLeod may be to kill him. ~ via tv.com

Next up will be Methuselah's Gift . Look for it on Thursday.

Comments

[kethali.livejournal.com]

Does nobody but me find evil!Duncan almost laughable? I mean, how do we know he's evil? He's wearing an earring, that's how! Okay, the thing with the woman was distrubing and killing Sean Burns was sad, but the rest of it seems more like teenage hijinks than anything else. He's certainly not up to Horsemen-levels of terror.

He wore the earing in 'Duende', too.

Myself, I found it pretty damn hilarious that one of the measures of Duncan's terrible evilness had been his grabbing someone's car and driving it in circles all over the church's nicely tended lawn. For that matter, even the ordeal with Dominique wasn't... all that, either. So he lies to her and he seduces her--which is different from what 90% of the male population try to do on a regular basis how, exactly? I attribue the mildness of evil!Duncan to the times when the show was filmed; TV got so much more gritty in the last decade (think 24, for example). I'll bet if those two episodes were being filmed nowadays, he'd be raping that woman rather than romancing her with wine and glibe jokes, and she'd probably be sporting quite a few bruises afterward.

Having said that, I did like those episodes--mostly because I adore the evil!Duncan look and mannerisms. And yeah, the vivid slashiness didn't hurt any.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Myself, I found it pretty damn hilarious that one of the measures of Duncan's terrible evilness had been his grabbing someone's car and driving it in circles all over the church's nicely tended lawn.

Me and my friend Toni, who I had been rewatching the Methos episodes with, broke down in giggles at that point. And again when he didn't stop at the stop sign, though I suppose it would have been even funnier if he had stopped.

I'll bet if those two episodes were being filmed nowadays, he'd be raping that woman rather than romancing her with wine and glibe jokes, and she'd probably be sporting quite a few bruises afterward.

*nods* You're most likely right. And I think the episode was trying to suggest that he would have moved on to rape and violence if Methos hadn't shown up when he did.

Having said that, I did like those episodes--mostly because I adore the evil!Duncan look and mannerisms. And yeah, the vivid slashiness didn't hurt any.

Oh, me too. And slashiness doesn't hurt anything. I mean, please, Methos left his *dying girlfriend* to come to the rescue, and risked his own life in the process. It's pretty easy to read slash into it (though possible not to) and we got great Methos facial expressions and lines out of it, ranging from fear in the church to amusement when Duncan steals the car. *grins*

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

I think that the writers were unsure of how far they could go in making Duncan evil! while still keeping him heroic. I'm not sure the audience would have stayed with Duncan if he'd actually raped the woman.

The writers took more risks with evil!Methos the following season, but then again he wasn't really heroic, or the hero of the show, to begin with.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure the audience would have stayed with Duncan if he'd actually raped the woman.

That's true - after all Duncan is set up to be quite the hero, and it isn't until later seasons that we get more of a taste of his "dark side".

The writers took more risks with evil!Methos the following season, but then again he wasn't really heroic, or the hero of the show, to begin with.

And his darkness was mostly in the past - Methos is set up as more of amibivalent in those two episodes. Plus, as you pointed out, he is not the main character.

Evil Duncan

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure the audience would have stayed with Duncan ...

Actually I always wondered why they did not make the "evil' Duncan arc longer. It would have opened up a lot more story lines and probably been more interesting for the actors. I found evil Duncan interesting, mostly because he was not purely evil, but rather battling evil within himself - almost as if he was two people - at least that is how I interpreted the red eye thing they did to indicate evil Duncan had arrived.

Yes, as evil goes his actions were tame, hence they should have done longer.

Never liked the water thing - lame way out IMO.

Roberta