From: driskill%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Hank Driskill, GSH3D)
Subject: Highlander "The Innocent Man"
Date: 6 Oct 92 11:55:40 MDT
Keywords: SPOILERS
Organization: Grad Student From Hell (in 3D)
Distribution: usa

Yesterday, I posted that I got the second episode here in Salt Lake City.
I talked to the programming chief here for Channel 5, and it turns out that
the company who ships them the tapes is just gonna keep shipping them a week
ahead, so next Sunday I'll see the third episode while everyone else is getting
the second!  Also, Channel 5 will air the first episode sometime this week,
so I will end up a week ahead of y'all (this makes up for ST:TNG, which we get
a week behind everyone else...)

Since I enjoy the reviews of ST:TNG (which I always get long before I get a
chance to see it), I figured I'd do the same for Highlander, since I find
myself in this unusual position... so, to make a long story short (TOO LATE
FOR THAT!) here's my comments on Episode 2, "The Innocent Man"...



(My newsreader occasionally eats Ctl-L's -- like the one on the previous line,
 so spaces follow)






















Synopsis:

Since I have yet to see episode 1, this one left a lot of questions... which
is good, because it assumes you know something instead of explaining it all
again.  The episode begins with Vincent Schiavelli (from Ghost) as a bum
wandering a rural road.  The bum (named Leo) comes upon a cabin, and sees
lightning and light flashing inside.  When it subsides, he enters, and finds a
body with a sword next to it... he picks up the sword just in time for a
policeman to come walking in -- he of course gets arrested for killing the man
in the cabin.

Meanwhile, Duncan and his girlfriend are going out to visit Lucas Desiree, a
fellow immortal.  Duncan feels it when his friend is killed...

Duncan decides to investigate.  He takes his girlfriend back to the city, and
collects his sidekick instead... the two head out to the town Leo is being 
held in, and Duncan's sidekick gets himself arrested so that Duncan can get
close to Leo while bailing the sidekick out... Duncan realizes that Leo isn't
an immortal, and isn't the killer.

A city cop (I assume he was in the first episode) comes out to see if there is
a connection between a headless body they found in town and Leo.  This city
cop helps the Sheriff (who arrested Leo) with the interrogation, and decides
that Leo didn't hurt anyone... Leo's just a harmless 'Nam vet with a lot of
problems.

A woman reporter (Amanda Wyss of "To Die For") shows up at Duncan's shop and
interviews Duncan's girlfriend about some sword battle, then heads out to the
small town to get to Leo.  She interviews the city cop...

Over the course of the episode, we meet Lucas Desiree through Duncan's eyes.
With nicely done flashbacks, Duncan remembers the civil war... Duncan as an
abolitionist, Lucas as a Confederate Captain.  Lucas watches as Duncan is 
hanged, then goes and digs him up and lets him go... Duncan comments that it
would have been a good time to chop off his head, and the fact that Lucas
didn't starts their friendship.

Duncan and his sidekick get something to eat, run into some hassles with the
locals, and the Sheriff shows up... Duncan and the Sheriff lock eyes, and 
Duncan has found his friend's killer.  The Sheriff talks the locals into
stopping the city cop (who is taking Leo back to the city for a psychiatric
evaluation)... of course, Duncan shows up before things get nasty and scares
the locals into going home.

Duncan and the Sheriff meet out at Lucas's cabin, and Duncan handily defeats
him... and (of course) beheads him.  He goes back to his shop, where the
city cop shows up with Leo (he's taking Leo to the bus stop).  Leo tries to
sell Duncan his purple heart from 'Nam, Duncan gives him a LOT of cash for it
and then slips it back into Leo's army bag...

Opinions:

I really liked the episode.  Like I said, it didn't waste time on introducing
people I should know already, but at the same time the character interactions
were really well done... Duncan and the city cop, the cop and the reporter,
Duncan and his sidekick... all very nice.  The scene with Duncan and one of
the locals in the restaurant was very nicely done...

I also liked how Duncan remembered Lucas... although the accents were a little
lame.  I liked how Duncan handled himself in this episode, with a similar
combination of arrogance and confidence to that of Connor in the first movie.

I bought the first movie on video (one of the very few I've bought, I always
tape from cable), I have the poster to the first movie hanging up in my living
room (to my wife's chagrin), so I guess I'm a Highlander nut.  I like this
series a lot... which, after one episode, is a bit of a stretch.  I was just
very scared after Highlander II and the announcement of a series, and I was
VERY pleasantly surprised.  If they keep up the quality of this episode, I'll
definitely keep watching.

Hank.

PS: I really liked the theory from yesterday (sorry, don't remember who sent
it) that the series would end with the Kurgan killing Duncan.  Completion is a
good thing...
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