'Forgive Us Our Trespasses'

[ithildin]

Welcome to the fifteenth installment of Methos Episode Discussion. You can find the last one, for CaH & R6:8 here. All prior episode discussion links can be found over on the sidebar.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Air Date: May 1997

After the Scottish massacre at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Duncan MacLeod was a man possessed, obsessed, with killing the English bastards who had destroyed his people. Now Immortal Steven Keane has come to make MacLeod pay for his murderous crimes. Amanda urges MacLeod to take Keane's head and be done with it, but in his heart MacLeod knows that Keane is right -- he is a murderer -- and that Keane is judging him just like MacLeod has judged so many others. ~ recap and quotes via tv.com

Quotes below the curtain





Duncan: You should write fortune cookies.
Methos: Yeah? Maybe I should, just so long as I'm not writing your epitaph.
________________________

Methos: I just came by to watch the perfect Immortal die.
Duncan: I'm not!
Methos: Not what? Not the perfect Immortal or not gonna die?
________________________

Amanda: Duncan, you're the best man I know. You make people better, you know - people like me, people who didn't give a damn about anything in their whole lives until you came along with your big brown eyes and your boyscout rules.
________________________

Amanda: Methos. Open the door. I know you're there. Methos! Methos, it's Amanda!
Methos: Do you want to knock a bit louder? I don't think they heard you in Philadelphia!
________________________

Methos: (to Duncan) You wanted to kill; you killed them. You know, Keane is just like you; he wants to divide the world up into good and bad. Well, it's not that simple. We are all both, good and evil. We have rage and compassion. We have love and hate. Murder and forgiveness. Why don't you try forgiving yourself for once.
________________________

Duncan It's Tuesday. He doesn't take heads on Tuesdays.






Next up will be The Modern Prometheus. Look for it next week.

Comments

Re: Why?

[mischief5.livejournal.com]

Maybe we need MacGeorge to interpret this one for us. VBEG She always seems to be the last word on Methos. Oh, MacG???

Re: Why?

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Well it isn't the first time I'm totally marching to the beat of my own drum, nor will it be the last [g]

Re: Why?

[macgeorge1.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I don't have the last word on anything, particularly Methos. :) I do think it's a valid question. Yes, Methos thought Duncan was too important to lose, but he also knew that when Duncan was fighting well, there weren't too many fighters he couldn't beat, including Keane. So, why did he shot Duncan and take on the fight himself?

IMO, he must've thought that Duncan (as Amanda argued) just might be looking for an excuse to lose. It seems clear that for a long time Duncan believed strongly in retribution and penance for past bad deeds, which was what (in part) drove his inability to fathom how Methos could just walk away from what he had done without evident guilt or any obvious attempt to redeem himself, even in his own mind.

I think FUOT is a seminal episode in that it shows that both Methos and Amanda *misread* Duncan's feelings and motivations. They thought he might, either consciously or subconsciously, deliberately lose. But ultimately Duncan's feelings were more complicated than that. In part, those motivational subtleties were generated by his experience with Methos and the Horsemen and Methos demand that Duncan accept his past - not forgive it, because it wasn't Duncan's to forgive.

We see Duncan change over time, and this episode is a clear demonstration of that transition in progress. Yes, Duncan felt guilt and remorse, both for what had happened after Culloden, and even moreso for Sean's death. But he also knew he had a choice - he could live with it, learn from it, and use it to strengthen his own inner sense of self; or he could give up and let himself be overwhelmed by his own past. He chose to live as best he could, to fight as best he could, and to (when he could) let others live as well, and let that be the legacy of Culloden and of Sean Burns.

Methos, for his part, intervened because he wanted to give Duncan more time and opportunity to grow up, not realizing that Duncan had grown up far more than he had expected. Duncan was really, really (justifiably) pissed off at Methos for interference because Duncan truly didn't want Keane to die, and if Methos had killed him, Duncan would have felt totally responsible for another needless death, only adding to the problem.

Sheesh. Now I've said too much. Sorry for rambling and blathering on and on, but FUOT is one of my very favorite episodes because of all the fascinating character issues.

This is all JMO, of course. Other interpretations are equally valid.

Re: Why?

[mischief5.livejournal.com]

ThanKs, MacGeorge! You really got to the heart of it. More of the "Why?" and less of the "How?". I think I need to go back and reread your episode commentaries. Have you ever considered doing any character commentaries? Those would be very interesting to read.

Re: Why?

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Sheesh. Now I've said too much. Sorry for rambling and blathering on and on, but FUOT is one of my very favorite episodes because of all the fascinating character issues.

No, no! You can never go on and on too much around here :) And I feel I go on an on too, but FUOT is one my my favourites as well. It just gets me all wound up!

Thank you for your thoughts. It's given me a lot more to think about. Drat! [g]