ithildin | HLS4: 'Methuselah's Gift'

Highlander Season Four

Methuselah's Gift, Air Date: April 1996

When masked thugs try to take Amanda's head in her sleep and steal the crystal given to her long ago by Rebecca, Amanda and MacLeod investigate. They discover the crystal may be part of the Methuselah Stone, a mystic talisman said to impart eternal life and invulnerability to the wearer and that the person willing to kill Amanda to get it may be -- Methos?

Next week: Through a Glass, Darkly

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I always liked this episode because we get to see Methos cry.

I always thought this was fascinating... seeing Methos' desperation and how far he was willing to go to try and save Alexa, and yes, the crying is wonderful.

It was a good episode, but I was horrified by (and remain horrified to this day by) Amanda's short, white hair. What the hell was that woman thinking? (And as I understand it, Elizabeth Gracen did that on her own initiative and just showed up to film the ep that way, necessitating the use of the rather obvious wig in the first scene....)

That scene with Amanda in the railyard has got to be one of the most heart-wrenching and powerful ever. Everytime I watch it, it still makes me sniffle.

As others have already pointed out, it's all about the railyard scene. Such a great performance by Peter and such a great character moment for Methos.

The thing I found most intriguing about this episode is that it flirts with the source of Immortality. Even the Immortals have no idea why they are the way they are. This story draws legend (which was introduced in a previous episode) and magic back to the fore and shows that Immortals are, in some ways, as clueless and superstitious as their mortal counterparts. The Methuselah Stone is a legend which even Methos lends a certain amount of credence -- enough to leave his dying lover and pursue in the hope of saving her life.

Methos isn't the only Immortal who believes in the possibility of the power of the stone. Luther believed. Amanda seems to believe. Rebecca may have believed. The Watcher who was doing his best to get the rest of the stone together certainly belived -- or at least felt there was little to loose in finding out. The question is, does the legend have any basis in truth and, if so, what does it mean about the possible source of Immortality? Ultimately, that question is not addressed but the issue underlies the entire premise of the episode and continues to rear its head in Highlander over and over again.

Overall, it was an interesting piece of writing which pulled threads from previous episodes together into an interesting stand-alone story. Methos continues to be developed as a character and to change from the somewhat mousey Adam Pierson into a powerful Immortal with complex motivations and even more mysterious ways. What does Methos believe in? He seems cynical and a realist but yet will pursue this strange mystical resolution for Alexa -- just as he pursued a mystical resolution to Duncan's Dark Quickening in "Deliverance." Is it a matter of him thinking there is something to sympathetic magic or has he lived so long that he knows some legends are real? (After all, we find out later that he is a legend himself.) The interaction between Methos and Amanda is also of interest. Amanda seems to have some previous knowledge or experience of Methos and to feel he is far more capable of duplicity and deviousness than Duncan gives him credit for. On the flip side, the meeting between Methos and Duncan in the park where Duncan wants to know if Methos was after Amanda -- and Methos' apparent disappointment and disgust with the fact that Duncan would even think such a thing of him -- was also telling. The complexities of the interrelationships, of who knows whom better, are quite intriguing.

Given later events, this is one of the episodes which rewatches with even deeper layers. Knowing what happens in "Comes a Horseman" and "Rev 6:8" lends far more weight to Amanda's suspicions, makes Methos' search for the stone and actions seem a bit more sinister, and makes Duncan seem somewhat naive in his trust of an Immortal he barely knows. Additionally, Adrian did a wonderful job pulling meaningful, strong performances from the players and (as usual) shot a very visually pretty episode. Solid work all the way around.

Yeah, I dunno what was up with her hair. I admit, I was more concerned about the crying Methos. Hey, I'm shallow like that.

Wow,

ithidrial, I'm really contributing to your discussion here. Lemme try to be cerebral: Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I'm English!

Completely OT....your icon is priceless.

Haha Thanks...I love me some Tim Gunn.

I keep looking for him and Andre when I go to Red Lobster, but alas.

Cerebral is hot, you know [g]

Okay, my fave moment? When Methos is at Watcher HQ, and the head guy shows up and Methos is Methos and snarks at the guy.

'And you are?'

'Your boss.'

And... voila! Instant Adam Pierson! Just like Sanka, but without water. Yeah, that makes no sense....

I also loved the cat burglar (pun intended) scenes with him and Amanda.

Yes, the crying was good too :)

And I'm just noticing that 'Methuselah' and 'Methos' are really similar... How did I never see that before?!?!

[nods] He really did love her.

It really was heart wrenching.

It really was a bravura performance.

The thing I found most intriguing about this episode is that it flirts with the source of Immortality.

Something that the episode handled a 100 times better than the The Source.

i love the white hair.

also, the crying.

nice analysis.

I like your point about Amanda - I've always felt they knew each other previous to the series - in "Finale" or whatever ep they first appear together, there's no mention of who he is - they seem to know each other. Of course, canon doesn't really address this; but combined with her knowing Methos far better than Duncan does (ie his deviousness) in this episode, I'm convinced.

And the scene between Duncan and Methos that you mention is very powerful, in that it says so much about their relationship in such a minimalist way. Because canonically, they haven't known one another very long at this point; but there has been a great deal between them - most recently the Dark Quickening. So yeah, I can see Methos reacting that way. But I can also see that a)Duncan didn't intend what Methos interpreted and b)ultimately he's worried for both his friends, but Methos only sees his worry for Amanda. Interpret that how you will:)

ps editing comments RULES.

yeah, that's a great bit of acting - almost all in the body language.

adding my 2 cents; one of my favorite things, that cracks me up every time, is on the bridge, when the watchers are holding Methos (at different times, a sword to his neck and a gun to his head) Methos leans waaaay back, as far away from the weapon as he can get his neck. I don't know why I find that amusing, but I do. IT's such a little thing, but it's a nice touch.

Yeah. I think there's something about innocence and mortality that affects him strongly. He wouldn't give up any of his life willingly (except in rare cases) and to see someone so young dying without really living seems to cause particular pain.

Yeah, it took me a while to see that too.

And so's Mythos and I'm sure that was probably intentional by the HL peeps, but even so... BTW, have you read The Blood that Binds at http://slcross.livejournal.com/? That plays on the similarity of the names too.

Yeah, the Mythos thing was immediate, but all these years later, I'm just noticing this one. Go figure!

No, I haven't read it. D/M is a pairing I can't abide, so if it's a fic that has that match up, I haven't read it :) But thank you for passing on the link!

Funny how all these years later, there are new things for me to discover in the fandom. Very cool!

I'd heard, back when the show was on the air, that Amanda knowing Methos' name was a continuity error that they didn't catch till it was too late. Later, they decided to go with it, and had actually written some backstory for the two knowing each other previously, but the scene was cut.

awww. I wanna know.

Also, one man's continuity error is another man's fanfic fodder:)

Yet when he spars with Duncan, he always leans into the blade. Now what does that mean?

That he trusts Duncan but not the, what did Amanda call him? The moron? Idiot? Can't recall the term off the top of my head.

I absolutely love this episode. One of the things I noticed was how well Amanda seemed to know Methos - the familiarity when she talked about him.

They were quite clear that whatever the stone meant, if Methuselah lived longer because of it - it had nothing to do with their own immortality. Duncan said it to Methos and he agreed. I remember David A talking in the outtakes about how it was when an atheist had someone they loved dying. And even though they didn't believe, they might pray because what if they were wrong. And he likened that to Methos that even though he didn't believe in the stone, what if he was wrong? and he had to do whatever he could - give Alexa any chance that he could to save her.

Oh yeah, the idiot.

And Methos loves Duncan and it is so much foreplay. *snicker*

And Methos loves Duncan and it is so much foreplay.

Only in my most frightening nightmares [g]

One girl's nightmare is another girl's fantasy *g*

If you don't read any further than part 3 (or the first half of part 4) you won't have to deal with any overt D/M and the early part is the one that has the Methuselah/Methos thing. Funnily enough I'm not a big D/M fan either, though I do read the odd one.

I was always fascinated with the Myth/Mythos/Methos/Methuselah thing but its only recently that my Highlander obsession has started to flower again, thanks to Torchwood and Captain Jack Harkness... Managing to obtain all 6 series in a watchable format has helped too as I haven't had a VHS player to watch my vids for a long time.

I'm rambling, and not about the episode either.

Yeah, well, The Source never really addressed the source of immortality (just Immortal baby making) so I'd say an episode of Three's Company would have done a better job than that mess. *growl*

Yeah.

The Watcher Info implies that Methos and Rebecca were lovers (and, therefore, he had met Amanda in the past). They ended up going with that as an underlying idea but we never got the flashback to prove it. I'd have loved to see them have a Methos and Rebecca episode (or an Amanda and Methos do a caper episode). What fun that would have been!

And yes, the moment in the park is the one I remember from this episode for exactly the reasons mentioned. So much is "said" without a word. It's one of the reasons I continue to enjoy HL episodes all these years later.

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HLS4: 'Methuselah's Gift'

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