HIGHLA-L Digest - 5 Mar 2004 to 8 Mar 2004 (#2004-47)
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Mon, 8 Mar 2004 22:00:04 -0500
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Topics of the day:
1. Seasons Two dvds: Counterfeit II
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Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 09:05:57 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Seasons Two dvds: Counterfeit II
COMMENTARY: BP says the episode went very smoothly, but that a couple of
interesting things happened behind the camera. First, Melanie Paul, who
played the villainess Lisa Hale, spoke in her own voice in the first
episode, but the surgery turned her into Tessa, and there was a controversy
over whether it would be confusing if Tessa's voice was used for the
Tessa-clone. The decision was to use Melanie when she was playing Lisa Hale,
and Tessa's voice when she was playing at being the Tessa clone. "Just
because Michael Jackson wants a different nose and a lot of people want to
have J-Lo's butt doesn't mean that all this stuff is possible," BP says,
referencing the suspension of disbelief required to accept the
transformation of the Tessa-clone character.
A second interesting aspect was that in the original script, Horton was to
kill Duncan on the barge. The writing staff and BP thought that it was
appropriately symbolic, but when Adrian got the draft, he said it wasn't
powerful enough, that the scene where she tries to kill MacLeod should take
place at Tessa's grave. He was right, BP says. It made for a much more
dramatic scene.
Then they show some outtakes of the commentary, and a final discussion
between Panzer and Abramowitz, where DA says he wish the series could have
kept going. They drink to each other, clink glasses then look to the camera
and BP says, "You know, if it weren't for you (meaning the viewing
audience), there wouldn't be us."
OUTTAKES: We see the full scene where Duncan wakes up to find that the fake
Tessa has gotten out of bed and is looking at pictures of the real Tessa.
Essentially, it is a longer view of DM in his "tighty whities". That's the
only reason I can think they chose this particular outtake.
They then show the discussion, then the actual scene of where Richie gets
shot. Not particularly revelatory.
EPISODE: We have had the setup of the previous episode, where Duncan is
wracked with self-doubt about his own judgment, and he and Richie are at
odds. In my opinion, this episode is showing Duncan's weaknesses as well as
his underlying strengths. Horton is masterful at emotional manipulation, but
ultimately, he is up against someone who is over 400 years old, and has the
experience and observational abilities, and sufficient self-knowledge to
cope with even the most devastating of emotional trials.
The episode opens at the cemetery, where Pete, Richie's friend, is being
buried. Richie and Duncan exchange bitter words and Duncan goes to visit
Tessa's grave, expressing his doubts about his own judgment, and saying how
much he misses her. He sees a figure in the fog that looks just like Tessa
and tries to follow her, but loses her in the mist.
As Horton watches from a distance, Joe Dawson meets with Richie and MacLeod,
telling him that someone has been tinkering with the Watcher databases, and
that Horton is the only one who knew how to do that. Mac believes that it
could have been Horton that was using Pete to manipulate them. Richie just
gets pissed off, insisting that Horton had nothing to do with it.
In the process of still trying to track down the owner of the silver Astin
Martin, DM "accidentally" runs into the Tessa-clone. It is a fascinating
scene, we see DM uncertain, confused, vaguely distrusting but wanting so
desperately to find that warmth and closeness and happiness he had had with
Tessa, as he had had with no other in all his long life. The Tessa-clone
plays him like a violin, and after Duncan checks for a Watcher tattoo, he
finds out her name is Lisa Millon. They engage in, for Duncan, an awkward,
hesitant and somewhat distrustful flirtation. (There is a flashback in here
of Duncan telling Tessa that he is Immortal, demonstrating the fact by
shooting himself in the heart.) In sort of an apology to Lisa, Duncan sends
her flowers. Lisa comes to the barge and they end up going to dinner
together. [SIDENOTE: Duncan changes clothes while Lisa watches with an
interesting, slightly lascivious look on her face. He's wearing boxers, by
the way. It appears DM swings both ways as far as his underwear choices are
concerned. In retrospect, it occurs to me that he wears tighty whities when
he is wearing jeans and boxers when he is wearing slacks. Hey, it may seem
unimportant, but these things matter! <g>]
On the way to dinner, Richie intercepts Duncan at the car, trying to talk to
him about the whole affair with Pete. It is clear that he, too, has been
rethinking all the chaotic events and is having his own doubts about how
they are all being manipulated. But one look at the new Tessa, and Richie
knows that it is no longer he that is the target of manipulation, but
Duncan.
During dinner, Duncan watches Lisa with a wistful smile, remembering fun and
loving moments with Tessa.
The next morning, Richie goes to the barge, finding Mac doing chores,
whistling happily. Richie says Mac may have been right about Pete, but Mac
doesn't want to hear Richie's warnings about Lisa Millon.
Richie goes to Joe Dawson, asking him to check out Lisa Millon since Mac
appears to be blind to the threat. A car drives up with Horton inside, and
someone shoots at Dawson. Richie steps in the line of fire and saves
Dawson's life.
DM and Lisa walk in a sculpture garden, with the conversation revealing a
little about the paucity of Lisa's art knowledge, as well as DM's ease of
confusion between Tessa and Lisa. They go back to the barge and end up
making love. Duncan is desperate and a little frantic with her and she is a
little predatory with him. It is as intense a love scene as HL does, but as
Duncan is gently stroking her hair afterwards, he sees a surgical scar
behind her ear. The next morning, Duncan wakes to find Lisa dressing to
leave. She finds pictures of Tessa and becomes upset, accusing him of making
love to a dead woman, but Duncan says it's different. She rushes out with
Duncan chasing after her, pulling on jeans.
However, outside the barge, Lisa is kidnapped and pulled into a car as
Duncan helplessly chases after. Joe and Richie arrive, talking about how
Richie saved Joe's life. A call comes in from Horton, making it clear he has
Lisa. Richie warns Mac that Horton is using Lisa, but Mac says that's not
going to stop him from killing her. "This is Horton's game and Horton's
rules," he says. "All I can do is play it out. Alone!" he adds sternly.
[SIDEBAR: Sound familiar? We hear the same words when Joe and Amanda are
taken by O'Rourke.] Horton goes to the car dealership, leaving a trail for
Duncan to follow, and it works (except that Joe and Richie follow). He
"saves" Lisa, neatly taking out several bad guys, but rather than going to
the barge, she insists on going to the cemetery, where she points out that
she is alive, but Tessa is dead.
Then Duncan asks her what her face was like before the surgery. She is
forced to admit she lied, but insists Horton is holding her son hostage. She
reaches in her coat to pull out a picture of her "son", but instead she
pulls out a gun. Duncan hardly reacts, saying he had always known, he just
hadn't wanted to believe it. He realizes she is a sociopath, and wants to
know why she brought him to the cemetery. She says it was Horton's idea, but
when she shoots, the gun is empty since Duncan has taken the bullets away.
He tells her Horton will only let her live as long as he can use her.
We see Horton sitting in a car in the parking lot and hear a gunshot. He
goes into the cemetery, finding Lisa standing over Duncan's body. He takes
out a big carving knife (!) and starts to take "a trophy" when Duncan rises
and kicks the knife away. Horton kills Lisa, throwing her at him, and she
dies in Duncan's arms, lying on Tessa's gravestone. Horton prepares to shoot
MacLeod, but Joe Dawson shoots first and Horton dodges, giving MacLeod a
chance to get to cover.
A gunfight and pursuit ensues, but Horton runs out of bullets. He tries to
get away but Dawson stops him, prepared to shoot, but MacLeod says, "No!
He's mine." Horton runs and Duncan follows, taunting him until Horton
finally turns, drawing a knife. "You have one chance," Duncan says, pointing
to his heart. "Right here." Horton lunges, Duncan grabs his arm and turns
it, stabbing Horton deep in the belly. Horton dies, at last, and Duncan
walks away.
He goes back to the cemetery, finding Joe and Richie with Lisa's body. "I'm
sorry, Mac," Richie says.
"She's not Tessa," Mac says softly. "She never was."
The final scene is on the quay, where Duncan hands over the keys to the
barge and a man takes it away down the river. Richie is standing by,
watching. "I know you're going to miss it," Richie says.
"It's just a boat," Mac replies.
"But it was home. Why are you giving it up?"
"I mourned Tessa too long. It's time to move on," Mac answers.
"Where to?"
"Oh, I don't know. Somewhere." He picks up his duffle and walks away, then
turns back. "You coming?" he asks Richie, who grins, pick up his own bag,
and follows.
MY COMMENTS: With the introduction of Methos' character, and all the
upheaval in Duncan's life that occurred after Tessa died, it is easy to
forget just how much Tessa meant to Duncan. She was truly the great love of
his life, and the model for what he considered an ideal woman and an ideal
relationship. She was independent, spirited, beautiful, willful and
intelligent. She was also someone he could care and provide for, allowing
her the freedom to be an artist and be fulfilled in ways she could probably
never have achieved if she had lived in a more conventional relationship or
had to worry about supporting herself. He felt loved and accepted and was
able to love completely and feel fulfilled in his caring for her, since that
seems to be a fundamental part of his personality. He feels happiest when he
is providing for others, and she allowed him to do that, but never allowed
him to dominate her.
We also see a very insecure Duncan in this episode, confused by both the
possibility that he had utterly misjudged the situation with "Pete", and
confounded by the strength of his emotional reaction to Lisa Millon. We
watch as he works through that, and it is the primary interest of this
episode. That he *had* been successfully manipulated irked him, and we see
him at the end, having killed Horton at last, his face rather hard and
closed, regretting Lisa's death, but determined not to expose himself
emotionally like that again (at least that's my read of it).
ENDNOTE: This is the last episode of Season Two, and it was a powerful one.
I have begun posting commentary on Season Three episodes, and will post
those here, too (as if you weren't already sick of them <g>), but those
posts will be less frequent as I am only on the third episode and these take
a little longer to write since the extras and commentaries are quite
extensive on the Season Three dvds.
MacGeorge
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 5 Mar 2004 to 8 Mar 2004 (#2004-47)
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