'The Modern Prometheus'

[ithildin]

Welcome to the sixteenth installment of Methos Episode Discussion. You can find the last one, for Forgive Us Our Trespasses here. All prior episode discussion links can be found over on the sidebar.

The Modern Prometheus, Air Date: May 1997

Lord Byron, the brilliant Romantic poet, is alive and well and living the decadent life of a rock star. He lives life way over the edge and has taken some promising young musicians over the edge with him. When following in Byron's footsteps tragically ends the life of Dawson's protege, MacLeod is faced with a decision -- is the beauty and genius that is Byron worth the cost? ~ recap and quotes via tv.com

Quotes below the curtain





Duncan: Duncan: Cut the crap - Mike is dead because of him.
Methos: No, Mike is dead because of Mike.
Duncan: The kid idolized him. Maybe he didn't pull the trigger but he sure as hell put the gun in his hand. "To live like me you have to be like me." Come on, Methos, Mike couldn't do that, he wasn't Immortal.
Methos: And that is not Byron's fault
________________________

Byron: My task is done. My song has ceased. My theme has died into an echo...it is fit.
________________________

Byron: Would you rather have a tombstone that says "he lived for centuries', or one that says 'for centuries, he was alive"?
Methos: You're not listening to me - I don't want a tombstone.
________________________






Next up will be Indiscretions aka The Methos & Joe Show 'Archangel'.

Comments

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

About halfway through ... Byron: "so speaks the hero". Right there, that's where the gauntlet was dropped. when Duncan warns Byron off, Methos just looks at Byron with resignation, he falls in with Duncan. Then they're quoting poetry and comparing lists of genius that were or were not nuts. Almost like Methos is trying to convince himself, not Duncan.

And on a totally shallow note: Methos during the flashback. How could I have forgotten the sprawl? Pretty hands, pretty eyelashes and pretty hair. And he's so kind and caring of Mary.

Okay, I'm done for now. Back to the episode.

I think the absinthe poster icon is fitting :)

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

The scene between Byron and Methos when Methos tells him to leave the country. How heartbreaking is that?

"You know what I've become"

"I know."

He hopes against hope that he might get through to him. But it isn't to be. In the end, all he can do is step back and let it play out.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Methos trying to convince Duncan. Damn it, that always gets me. Byron wanted to die. Otherwise he could have had his security kick Duncan out, and kept him away. But he wasn't going to go out without a fight -- shooting Duncan in the leg.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

The body language in that last scene, Methos is turned away from Duncan. Joe? I think Joe has a better grasp of Duncan and Methos than they do sometimes. I think he knew what the inevitable was and was standing back to see how Methos and Duncan worked it out.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[macgeorge1.livejournal.com]

The corruption and degineration of such a genius is sad, true, but even sadder is that Byron was taking those around him down with him. Methos was prepared to step back and just let him do it, over and over again without a thought to any of those other lives, because he cared about Byron and didn't care how many people's lives he destroyed.

Methos' dual standard rears its rather ugly head once again.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'd find it sad in anyone, genius aside. I think we tend to give people like Byron more of a pass than they deserve. What if he'd been a hat maker from York? Sorry, just random post episode thoughts :)

Way up there somewhere I was responding to the Brian Cullen example, and all I have is that like Duncan, Methos is human. We make allowances for people we care about even when we shouldn't.

What makes this episode stand out, I think, is that we've had so many episodes where we've seen Duncan's past, Duncan's friends, but this time, we're seeing that of Methos, and a guy that isn't a Horseman of the Apocolypse. And Duncan and Byron really are matter and anti matter. Methos' past and his present once more collide.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Methos' dual standard rears its rather ugly head once again.

I find Methos completely consistent. There is a tiny group of people he cares about, that he will go to great lengths to help and protect.

Then there is the rest of humanity, which he ... may do something for, if it isn't too much out of his way. He feels no real need to take responsibility for them, the way MacLeod does. People die. Shit happens. Civilizations rise and fall. *shrug*

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Wolf pack Methos.

And then when it's two people he cares about, as in this case...

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

yes. It really is two very different philosophies. I"m not sure either one is "better" than the other, or more moral. I'm sure others will disagree with me.

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[mackiedockie.livejournal.com]

I may be in the minority, but that scene with Byron, Methos and the insensate Mary Shelley was kind of creepy, in a vaguely necrophilic way. Byron is clearly playing the instigator again. It's one of the most telling clues to the fact that Methos *has* changed, as he resists Byron's seduction.

And it makes me wonder if just a little of Byron was incorporated into Mary Shelley's Monster beyond the Quickening lightning scene--heavy limp, sociopathic tendencies (; )

Re: It's a Rotten Job...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

It's one of the most telling clues to the fact that Methos *has* changed, as he resists Byron's seduction.

Yep, I 100% agree.

But he was still very pretty [g]