HLS4: 'Through A Glass, Darkly'

[ithildin]

Highlander Season Four

Through A Glass, Darkly, Air Date: May 1996

MacLeod's old friend Warren Cochrane is hiding a horrible secret he can't bear to remember. Realizing that an Immortal who won't remember what he is is soon a dead Immortal, MacLeod tries to help Warren by reminding him of the history they shared together, of their battles for Scotland's freedom, and of their mission to return Bonnie Prince Charlie to the throne. But MacLeod might have helped his friend more by letting the past stay buried. ~ recap via TV.com

Next week: Till Death

Comments

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

This episode is great because of all the funny hats.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I have a very similar hat! Amethyst velvet with a purple feather [g]

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

I too have such a hat.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Hat sisters!

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

I guess we have to go start a revolution then...

BRB.

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

One of the things I liked about this episode is that they blew a hole in the myth that all Immortal's memories were perfect. Up until then we had seen everything from Duncan's perspective - his memory and we just assumed that was the way it was. But what if it wasn't? It put a whole new spin on things.

And, of course, we had Methos with his words of wisdom - take his head, problem solved! Not to mention those famous canon/fandom words "boyscout".

And Warren taking his student's head and Duncan having such a hard time understanding is quite telling - especially now that we know the rest of the story.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I never thought immortals had perfect memories, so this episode didn't do anything to how I saw them. I always assumed Duncan's memories were as fallible as anyone's. As subject to his own perception of events as to what the reality might have been. Though in this case, knowing the history, I'd say Duncan's memories were probably the most accurate.

I loved Methos in this episode, and it always makes me cold watching it [g]

Also love the music. 'Will Ye No' Come Back Again?' as been one of my favourite Scots songs for many many years.

Bonnie Chairlie's noo awa',
Safely ower the friendly main;
Mony a heart will break in twa',
Should he ne'er come back again.

Chorus:
Will ye no come back again?
Will ye no come back again?
Better lo'ed ye canna be,
Will ye no come back again?

Ye trusted in your Hielan' men,
They trusted you dear Chairlie.
They kent your hidin' in the glen,
Death or exile bravin'.
Chorus

We watched thee in the gloamin' hour,
We watched thee in the mornin' grey.
Tho' thirty thousand pounds they gie,
O there is nane that wad betray.
Chorus

Sweet the laverock' s note and lang,
Liltin' wildly up the glen.
But aye tae me he sings ae sang,
Will ye no' come back again?
Chorus

There's a rather nice version of it here (http://donaldson.margaret.users.btopenworld.com/page4.html).

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I love the beginning of this ep even if it is sad, but it gives the story of Alexa closure and as for the bit at the end where Methos tells MacLeod he's got things in his past he wishes he hadn't done... brrrrr (with hindsight and not just because of the weather).

It's an ep that does make you think about how immortals remember their lives - especially the older ones. Methos had probably forgotten more than MacLeod has ever experienced for a start.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, in hindsight, it makes it all that more powerful.

[bittersweet325.livejournal.com]

This episode was the first Highlander episode I ever saw...I think in some ways it was a good one to start with because it was slightly non-traditional(the Roshomon references aside) storytelling that it got me into the episode without knowing much of anything about the show (I was just flipping past channels--had no idea who Methos was, Alexa, Duncan etc...). So it gets some automatic props from me for being the episode that got me into the show...

I also enjoy the episodes that deal with the psychological trauma that Immortals can undergo and how (or how not) to deal with that (similiar to the Dark Quickening etc..)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I had a similar experience with Forever Knight. Came into it mid episode, mid S2 while channel surfing at 2am.

[amberleewriter.livejournal.com]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the reasons I continue to rewatch Highlander all these years later has to do with the fact that episodes take on additional depth as the seasons progress. "Through A Glass Darkly" is one of those episodes.

I know that David thinks this episode folds in on itself -- caves under its own weight -- and there is a certain amount of truth to this. Rashomon, the classic by Kurosawa, has been rehashed in various ways over the years. The problem with the POV change based story is that you must always wonder which view is "truth." There is a tension which must be maintained for the method to play properly. This tension is absent for me in "Darkly." With Highlander we always assume that Duncan's position is the one of right (even when this is sometimes not the case) because he is our main character and hero. Also, the fact that they introduce Cochrane as "damaged" mentally -- having amnesia and possibly unstable -- does nothing to make us question Duncan's recollection of events. Putting Warren's recollections on an even par with Duncan's might have given this episode an added layer of tension to an otherwise dark and somewhat slow and repetitive episode.

The interesting things, for me, about this story come in the form of implications. Methos has lost Alexa and has returned to Paris to inter her body and grieve -- an interesting location choice. He is still a part of the Watchers and has access to files. He has free run of Shakespeare and Company and chooses to spend time there in spite of the fact that Don was killed at that location. Duncan and Methos both agree that whatever is wrong with Warren must be psychological -- that Immortal healing precluded it being a physical injury (which I found interesting). Methos implies that while Warren clearly has issues that his memories of the situation might not be entirely out of order because people have differing points of view. Methos, in a clearcut bit of black and white cynicism, tells Duncan to simply kill Warren instead of helping him. Heck of a suggestion and telling of how "Methos" may "play the game."

Then we learn Warren killed his student.

Yet again, Highlander writers set up something that becomes laden later. MacLeod can't fathom the idea of a teacher taking a student's head. He chooses to force Warren to live with his action instead of "putting him out of his misery." How much more filled with meaning are the scenes between that pair after the events of the Ahriman arc?

Overall, the real story was about different ways individual Immortals deal with grief and death; how they cope with disappointment, disillusionment, and inability to achieve their dreams. I had always hoped they would revisit Warren as a character post-Ahriman. I thought it would have given the writers another opportunity to examine these issues from a fresh perspective. A further Warren story might have delved deeper into Duncan's healing process and focused on the idea of redemption and atonement. Sadly, however, we never got to see such an episode. Instead, we get to play with the possibility in fiction.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Methos, in a clearcut bit of black and white cynicism, tells Duncan to simply kill Warren instead of helping him.

One of my favourite Methos moments.