Episode Rewatch: 5.14 Duende
Jul. 17th, 2016 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
killabeez5.14 Duende
Original air date: Feb. 24, 1997
Director: Richard Martin
Writer: Jan Hartman
Synopsis: In 1971, Otavio Consone killed Ana's fiancé and the father of her unborn child. In modern day, Consone is pursuing Ana's grown daughter, and Duncan is suspicious of Consone's motives.
Episode Transcript: is here.
Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments. The master post for all discussion posts is here.
Original air date: Feb. 24, 1997
Director: Richard Martin
Writer: Jan Hartman
Synopsis: In 1971, Otavio Consone killed Ana's fiancé and the father of her unborn child. In modern day, Consone is pursuing Ana's grown daughter, and Duncan is suspicious of Consone's motives.
Episode Transcript: is here.
Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments. The master post for all discussion posts is here.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-19 10:15 am (UTC)I like the style of this episode, though the plot is not one of my favourites.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-19 06:12 pm (UTC)One of the big challenges for immortals seems to be to hold onto their humanity---continuing to view themselves as human and identify with humans, engage with them as peers. When they lose that, they don't usually come back. Methos (and Darius, though his case was even more special) is an exception; we have seen a few, and Duncan has trouble believing it can happen, that an immortal can keep changing. But most people, mortals, have trouble changing, it's unusual.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-21 12:12 am (UTC)On to episode comments:
Smug men being dimwitted and arrogant in public and the consequences thereof is the major theme of this episode, really. Also, young people often don't know what they're talking about.
Who else loves the chaperone? Because she's awesome.
I love that Anna is clearly strong and competent, despite being so trapped by the lies she's fed by those who are supposed to be on her side. And however young and ignorant Louisa is, she's also intelligent and has enough common sense to allow the possibility that Duncan might be right.
The villain is such a smug, smooth operator. Duncan, in the present and flashbacks, is flaunting and self-assured. Ritchie is that youthful blend of arrogance and ignorance. He's really the intersection of the major episode themes and audience POV character here, and he's perfect for it.
I really do like Ritchie more now than I used to. He's so clearly a young, ignorant, arrogant twerp - and when I was a young, ignorant, arrogant twerp I couldn't stand him. The (hopefully) farther away I move from that stage, the more kindly I can look at my past self, and by extension him.
Poor flashback love-interest. 'I know what I feel when you touch me', etc. She's 100% in lust and doesn't realize it. :( She thinks it's love.
The mysticism around the fighting and dancing was boring and irritating, but it did give a great way to showcase what a jerk the villain was so there's that? He's such a proudly blatant racist and misogynist.
Ritche is absolutely right about how wrong-headed Duncan is being on the face of it, but then he uses it to trap the villain into a bad fighting position, so there was some reasoning behind the choice. Or at least, at some point Duncan decided to think this encounter through (which may or may not be when he decided to have this fight).
TL;DR
I think this episode really does get at a bunch of the major themes of Highlander and works well because of that despite some inconsistencies and digressions in boring weirdness.
ETA: I love, love the scene where Ritchie is dealing with Anna after the meeting with villain-dude (Cloisonne? no. Con Solo? Also no). The drinks! Him tossing a shot back before bring them over! No idea what to say but gamely trying! Perfect, perfect Ritchie.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-21 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-21 04:04 pm (UTC)~ I wonder at Consone agreeing to take on a student like Duncan. It seems rather atypical for a man so possessive. It's like a stud letting in another stud into his herd, so to speak. I can't imagine that it would ever end well. However, he does seem the sort of man who needs to prop him self up by always being the best, and showing that he was better than a young, handsome immortal fed his ego. It adds a little dimension to him, since otherwise he's rather a 2 dimensional villain. Also, De Longis, while a bit of a ott in his teeth-nashing style of acting, does give some weight to the performance.
~ Never notice before that when Consone is training Duncan in the flashback he asks whether Duncan would let being stabbed stop him from winning. And then of course that's what he does literally and figuratively. I think I was always distracted by Duncan in his white shirt haha.
~ They do such a good job with Chelita. Both the actress and the makeup and hair people. Especially how she looked when she told Duncan Theresa was dead. So spanish! She was always made to look dowdy, but then you can visually see how much older she got in just 2 years. This whole episode is full of characters that could have been taken from my family lol.
~ Nice parallel with the red apples falling down the stairs and the bouquet of red roses on the street. Theresa = Anna and her daughter
~ Richie is great in this. I'm beginning to brace myself for what's coming...... /o\
~ Fascinating that the actress that plays Theresa is another Chaplin granddaughter.
~ Duncan looks amazing in the flashbacks! I love the steam room flashback. :D And of course the dancing.
~ Never noticed that in the scene where Consone is teaching Duncan he asks him if he would let a sword to his ribs stop him, which is of course foretelling the ending fight scene between them. I think I was always distracted by Duncan's white shirt before haha.