'Judgement Day' & 'One Minute to Midnight'

[ithildin]

Welcome to the ninth & tenth installment of Methos Episode discussion. You can find the last one, for 'Till Death'here. All episode discussion links can be found over on the sidebar.

Since this is a two parter, this will be for both Judgement Day & One Minute to Midnight.

Judgement Day/One Minute to Midnight, Air Date: May 1996/Sept. 1996

Dawson's life is on the line when the Watchers try him on the charge of treason for his friendship with MacLeod. Watcher deaths have risen dramatically since Dawson first told MacLeod about the Watchers and the Tribunal is determined to punish Joe and stop the killing. MacLeod and Dawson argue his case, but even as the trial goes on, the Watcher killings continue.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Immortals and Watchers are poised at the brink of war. On the orders of the Watcher Tribunal, every Watcher in Europe is hunting for MacLeod, to bring him in dead or alive. MacLeod discovers that the real killer is Jacob Galati, a Gypsy MacLeod once traveled with, who has vowed to destroy all the mortals who wear the Watcher tattoo, convinced they are all out to destroy Immortals. ~ via tv.com

Next up: The Messenger. Look for it on Thursday.

Quotes below the curtain





Methos: We've got to quit meeting like this - people will talk.
___________________________

Duncan is holding a blue teddy bear: "I'm not your enemy, *your prescene only proves how dangerous it is for Immortals to know we exist*" Duncan punches the bear and throws it down.
___________________________

Methos: I spent years losing my conscience, for him to go and find it again.
___________________________

(Duncan knocks out a guard and walks into a giant playroom where Dawson's being held prisoner.)
Duncan: Eew, did it come like this or did they throw it together for you?
___________________________

Executioner: On your knees.
Joe: Not in this lifetime.
___________________________

Jack: Last request?
Joe: Yeah, I'd like to die of old age.
___________________________

Joe: They're gonna blow my brains out tomorrow. Tradition. You gotta love it.

Comments

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

I have to say to say, I love the playroom they keep Joe in. So surreal. I also really enjoyed Methos playing Adam Pierson, all hestitant and nervous, in his own attempt to save Joe. And Duncan's own willingness to put his life on the line for Dawson and his helpness at the end of "Judgement Day" is always heartbreaking.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I would dearly love to see the missing scenes between Duncan finding Joe and Methos checking his bandages, during which Methos learned Joe was alive but wounded, and had to go into physician mode to save him.

The playroom was a masterful touch. It reminded me of the similarly surreal playroom in some of the last episodes of The Prisoner.

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

The playroom is truly weird.

Also weird is the fact that it's so cold in there that they're blowing smoke whenever they talk. Seriously, couldn't they afford space heaters or something? I find it distracting, especially since the characters never mention the cold.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

*g* I forgot about that! The Watchers don't believe in heaters?

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite scenes is in "One Minute to Midnight," the very first scene, in which Head Watcher Guy (is it Shapiro? I forget) is addressing a room full of Watchers, and telling them they've got to root out Duncan and Joe and anyone who's helping them, because they are evil and they must be stopped.

The camera pans to Adam Pierson, who somehow manages to look tiny, and whose eyes move all the way right and all the way left, almost like a cartoon version of himself. You can almost hear him gulp. It's a comical moment in an otherwise very serious episode.

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

**rubbing hands together**

"Ve haf vays of making you talk.
Ve vill make you very very cold."

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that in lots of HL eps. I'm always thinking, damn, the actors must have been popsicles! I think it's in Forgive Us Our Trespasses, on the barge, Amanda is in a slinky white silk robe, and the camera just cathes her feet which have big thick white socks on.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

*giggles* And keep you in surreal playrooms until you break!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

At least they didn't play them tapes of "Barney"!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that Barney was the next step!

[mackiedockie.livejournal.com]

I agree, the missing days or weeks of Joe's convalescence are an intriguing time.
And I find the cellar in "Shakespeare and Co." an even more intriguing place for them to hide, after reading about the stellar literary history of the original Parisian shop. (It was started by a remarkable young woman, Sylvia Beach, after World War I. Frequented by dozens of authors in the twenties and thirties, from Hemingway to Joyce, and barely survived the perils of the Nazi occupation. )

I wonder what literary gems and discussions the bibliophiles Joe and Methos shared down in that historic basement...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I would dearly love to see the missing scenes between Duncan finding Joe and Methos checking his bandages, during which Methos learned Joe was alive but wounded, and had to go into physician mode to save him.

Yes! I would have loved that as well. Methos being a doctor has one of the aspects of his character that I've always found fascinating.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Cleaning out that basement would actually be fun. Though you'd keep getting distracted by each new discovery and never get any real work done!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Methos at the end of OMtM. Now that was interesting. When he freaks at Joe that he doesn't know who he is anymore. Makes you wonder how stressful keeping the 'Adam Pierson mask' on is for him on a day to day basis when there's other things intererfering and he has to be 'Methos' as well?

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

and it's funny because to me that is the one thing that sets this episode arc out - that's the one thing that is new. Duncan coming up against old friends isn't new. Having to fight the Watchers who think he is evil isn't new.

But Methos having to finally come to terms that being Adam and being Methos isn't just a matter of what name he introduces himself by....

That Adam is a person - with a life and responsibilities - the the Watchers.

And how that person is not Methos who is an Immortal. ANd not just any immortal but the OLDEST Immortal. Finally...finally the worlds collide and both personnas cannot hold up. Who is he? Methos or Adam? Even more compelling once we have more pieces of his history and who Methos really is (Horseman).

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

You always manage to put it all much better than I ever can. I suck at comments. So, yeah, exactly what you said.

Methos isn't just playing at being a Watcher, he really takes it seriously. He has a real life, one that isn't just a cover. If you think about all the day to day things we do at work, he does that. Has coffee, eats in the lunch room, weddings, births, divorces, shooting the breeze. And every time Duncan asks for a favour of some sort, he's one step closer to losing all that, I think. I think that's part of why he's so resistant, and it isn't merely just looking out for his own self interest. I think he genuinely likes his life as it is, and isn't ready to move on to the next one.

Thanks so much, Pat for all your thoughtful comments over the last few weeks. You're like my online lightbulb :)

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

oddly, I don't remember even seeing any fic about this. Mmm.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

Yes. In the one with Warren Cochran (sorry, blanking on titles today) he even refers to the Watchers as "we"... he truely identifies with them.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I've never come across any, but that doesn't mean there isn't any. I'm usually 'out of the loop' girl :) I'd certainly be interested in reading something along those lines.

LOL on the icon! Nocturnal Plot Bunnies, I have them and dust bunnies under the bed. I think they breed and turn into some sort of Holy Grailish killer bunnies!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yes! Through a Glass, Darkly. [nods]

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

That is fascinating info re: "Shakespeare and Co." What a perfect setting!

I wonder what literary gems and discussions the bibliophiles Joe and Methos shared down in that historic basement...

Mmmm, excellent point. Joe no doubt was rather immobile while he was healing, and they had nothing but time to talk and read and think.

[enchantersnight.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure about this one but in the end rather enjoyed it, it had a bit of everything didn't it.

Sorry am still rather tired atm passed my Advanced open water diving at the weekend so still knackered, very much enjoying reading your thoughts though, hopefully will be able to get mine in order sometime :)

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

I would dearly love to see the missing scenes between Duncan finding Joe and Methos checking his bandages, during which Methos learned Joe was alive but wounded, and had to go into physician mode to save him.

My re-telling of these 2 episodes (including that missing scene) from Joe's POV is 3rd in the trilogy I'm writing that started with "The Price of Interference" (http://keerawa.livejournal.com/492.html). I'm half-way through the 2nd story now. Hold that thought for 6 months?

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

I find not just the playroom but also the Tribunal "courtroom" very surreal indeed. It definitely adds to the tension for me.

I love Joe in these episodes. He's been walking the razor-wire between Watchers and Immortals for years now. This is what happens when he falls, and he's not even vaguely surprised.

Galati is an interesting character. MacLeod has an fascinating history with him and Irena. I imagine that Horton's attacks on Immortals reminded Galati of the way the Nazis had tried to wipe out the gypsies (Rom). So the Watchers got a doubled response.

The other thing that fascinates me about OMTM is how close it came to an all-out war between the Watchers and Immortals. Galati kills Watchers. Watchers think it's MacLeod, and send every available agent after Mac. And then Mac goes for Shapiro. MacLeod makes one hell of an assasin, by the way. If he HAD killed Shapuiro, I'm sure it wouldn't have ended there. The AU potential is staggering.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Ah hah! Yes, I'll hold for six months :) Impatiently, but I will. But now to run off and read the first one!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, considering how much I loved The Price of Interference, I know this will be worth waiting for! I look forward to it! *gets all excited*

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

*grins*

Now that's the kind of response that keeps a gal slaving away at her keyboard.

[mackiedockie.livejournal.com]

Another interesting point about Methos--once Joe was taken, he knew that Joe still had one "get out of jail free" card, if he chose to use it. Joe knew Adam Pierson was Methos, and information in the Watchers is powerful currency--at any time he could have traded on that fact.

I find it interesting that Methos didn't book 5 seconds after he heard Joe was compromised, long before Mac wheedled him into helping him get into the chateau. It certainly argues that Methos held a great deal of faith in Joe's friendship. Of course, from a pragmatic perspective, Methos' secret identity was certainly safer with Joe dead than alive... .

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

You know, that never even occured to me. [rethinks entire episode]