HIGHLA-L Digest - 5 Jun 2004 to 6 Jun 2004 (#2004-103)
Automatic digest processor (LISTSERV@lists.psu.edu)
Sun, 6 Jun 2004 22:00:03 -0400
There is one message totalling 319 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Season Four dvds: Brothers in Arms
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 17:22:56 -0400
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Four dvds: Brothers in Arms
COMMENTARY: Charles Wilkinson was the director for this episode, and he
talks about the confluence of good writing and good casting, plus a great
crew adding up to some great scenes in the flashbacks to Vietnam. It was,
however, the most challenging, stressful day he had ever spent on
Highlander, and for all of the pressure, there was not one misstep.
Stephan Geaghan, the production designer, talked about the difficulties in
shooting, which was an area of grassland south of Vancouver. Jim Byrnes
tells us there was no shortage of information or research on the Vietnam
era. Both he and F. Braun had served over there, and Jim thought they really
got "things right".
Wilkinson said they had three cameras going, racing the entire day. They
needed paddy boats, so they went to the local Indian tribe and rented their
dugout canoes, and pieced together all the elements to make up the village.
Wilkinson says the acting was about as intense as it gets (they show the
scene where Cord tries to calm the Vietnamese girl who had been raped by one
of his men as an example), and was emotionally draining for everyone. Then
they had to "blow stuff up for hours and hours on end," with lots of
opportunity for problems and injury, and it was all done in one day.
Jim B. says he talked to the actor who played the young Joe Dawson about the
emotions you go through and what it feels like to lose your legs. He says
that you go into your own emotional life in order to make it real, and that
this was an episode where he really got to "dig deep and do some work, as
opposed to just being exposition in the story." He says he's not a technical
actor, although, just as in playing a guitar, you need technique. He uses
music as a metaphor, telling us that he was once told that the trick to
improvisation is to know the song, to know the music just as it's written
exactly, then you can improvise anything off of it. So technique is
necessary, but shouldn't be "seen."
OUTTAKES: An excellent scene between Joe and Cord is shown, where Cord is
insisting that Joe send MacLeod to Cord's warehouse and Joe refuses, saying,
"I am not your *boy*, Sergeant!"
Cord sweeps an arm and the bottles on the bar go flying, and he screams in
rage. "I want him on my turf, and I want him now!"
And still Joe refuses. It's a shame it wasn't used. It was an intense scene.
VIDEO COMMENTARY: Wilkinson does the commentary, and he is one of the most
oddly inarticulate directors I've ever encountered. Most good directors are
excellent communicators - they have to be to convey their vision of the
story to so many diverse collaborators - designers, actors, cameramen,
costumers, etc.. This guy's explanation of what the story is about is: "What
this story is about, is it's about friendship. And it's about the terrible
dilemma that happens when your friend... the friend of your friend is not
the friend of your friend." (Sounds vaguely like something Donald Rumsfeld
would say.)
He does mention that he won an award for direction based on this episode,
and says that, as in all such awards, he didn't really earn it, that this
was the Highlander team operating and peak capacity.
He relates that the actor who played Cord had decided that the reason he
treated Mara so badly was because of unrequited love, and Wilkinson let him
use that emotional context (NOTE: I didn't get that out of the scene,
myself.). He also tells us that the actor who played young Joe took the role
very seriously, that it was the largest speaking role he had ever had, at
the time, and that he studied Jim Byrnes speaking style to try to get it
just right. He also says all the performances throughout are quite
remarkable, especially since everything is shot out of sequence, and the
actor has to remember and maintain whatever emotional context is appropriate
to each individual scene even though it is shot completely out of context.
He says of Charlie's death scene, it could have degenerated into something
really maudlin, but he finds it a good example of the terrible dilemma
Duncan MacLeod finds himself in. "How many times has he played out this
scene, where he has to say goodbye to somebody he cares about?"
He says the idea of the Quickening was that the building was coming down, so
they decided to just blow it up for the Q.
The final scene is "one of the favorite scenes in all the Highlander
episodes" he worked on. He said despite both Joe and MacLeod's desire that
there "could be a happy ending" (meaning, I'm sure, that someone their
friendship could be salvaged), it was "just not to be."
THE EPISODE: Joe and Duncan have landed back in Seacouver, having returned
from Paris after the Kalas debacle, the final episode of the previous
season. We see an anonymous gunman first target MacLeod in the parking lot,
then we see MacLeod react to the presence of another Immortal, but the
gunman shoots down the other Immortal, a handsome black man. Mac tells Joe
to "get him out of here" (meaning the other Immortal), and chases after the
gunman - who turns out to be Charlie deSalvo.
Seems that Andy Cord, the temporarily deceased Immortal, was an arms dealer
who sold Charlie and his lady-love Mara faulty weapons, then killed Mara
when she challenged him about it. Of course, Charlie doesn't know that
shooting Cord didn't permanently kill him, and insists to MacLeod that it
was a "righteous action."
In the Highlander world of unlikely coincidences, we also learn that Andy
Cord was Joe Dawson's sergeant back in Vietnam, and in a vivid flashback we
learn that Cord was a harsh leader, who upon learning that one of his men
raped a local girl, first tries to pay her off, then ends up killing her.
Joe objects, saying, "We supposed to be trying to help these people!"
Cord yells back, "We supposed to stay alive! And the only way to do that is
to take care of your own, no matter what!... All we got is each other."
Then there a violent firefight in which Cord is killed and Joe ends up
stepping on a landmine, getting blown into the water. He is rescued by Cord
("Sweet Jesus! You're dead!"), who carries him 16 miles through enemy lines
to a field hospital.
Back in the present, Cord comes back to life in the van with Joe, who makes
it clear that he knows what Cord is. Cord almost immediately brings up the
Immortal Joe was with when they first spotted each other in the parking lot.
Joe tells him Duncan MacLeod is "a very good friend, Andy. The best," and
assures Cord he knows how to keep a secret.
Joe talks to Duncan later, trying to get reassurance from him that he won't
fight Cord, telling him that he owed Cord his life. Duncan says he has no
intention of looking for a fight with the guy, and then lies to Joe about
the sniper, just saying he got away.
Charlie visits Duncan at the dojo, asking why there had been no report of a
shooting at the airport. Duncan urges him to forget about Cord, but Charlie
is confused and certainly shows no signs of letting it go, so Duncan is
concerned this whole this is far from over.
Duncan goes to Joe, asking him to arrange a meeting with Cord. Joe is
reluctant, fearful they will fight one another, but Duncan says he just
wants to talk, that he knows Cord saved Joe's life, and that they still
"have an understanding" that Duncan won't fight Cord. We get a flashback
back to Vietnam, when Joe woke up in the field hospital, realizing he had
lost his legs. Joe is distraught and considering suicide when he is
approached by Ian Bancroft, who tells him Andy Cord did bring him in, and
that he did die. He shows him his Watcher tattoo, and tells him about
Immortals. His story intrigues Joe, and that is how Joe gets recruited into
the Watchers.
Duncan muses that Joe knows more about him than anyone, but he knows very
little about Joe. "You never asked, and even if you had, I don't know that I
would have told you," Joe answers, and Duncan sympathizes with him about
carrying secrets and not easily opening up, then tells Joe about what
happened with Charlie, and that he wants to talk to Cord for Charlie's sake.
Cord runs a warehouse where yuppies play at war games with paintball guns.
Cord easily defeats them. "It's poetry, Joe. The poetry of war." When Joe
asks him to meet with MacLeod and that it has something to do with the guy
who shot at him, that they are both friends, Cord says, "Got a lot of
friends, Joe. Regular Sesame Street over here." Joe says MacLeod just wants
to work something out, and Cord agrees, saying, "A friend of yours is a
friend of mine."
Joe and Duncan are sitting in the bar waiting for Cord. Joe is nervous,
regretting not setting the meeting up on holy ground, when Charlie deSalvo
drops in, much to their dismay. Duncan tells him it isn't a good time and
urges him to leave, then feels Cord approach. Cord and Charlie face off,
Charlie draws a knife but Duncan steps between them, forcing Charlie out the
door. Charlie is in a complete rage, but Duncan says Cord will kill him if
he keeps going after him, that he has to stay away from him. Charlie doesn't
want to hear it, but reluctantly agrees to back off just for the moment.
Cord is back at his own little war zone playhouse, shooting everything in
sight. He wants to set up another meeting with MacLeod, and now he's after
MacLeod's head. Joe is upset, telling Cord, "He is my friend!"
"And what am I?" Cord asks. "I saved your life. I carried you sixteen
freakin' miles on my back. I OWN your ass!"
"I owe you my life," Joe says. "Not his."
Back at the loft, Duncan is carefully cleaning and repairing an antique
clock while Joe paces back and forth, worrying about Cord going after
Duncan. He asks Duncan to go away for a few days, but Duncan says he won't
hide, that "it doesn't work that way for me."
But Joe is desperate, saying both of them are his friends and he needs to
find a way to work it out. Duncan tells him they (Immortals) work it out for
themselves.
"Don't do this to me!" Joe yells in frustration.
"I'm not doing this to you!" Duncan yells back, then stands as he feels the
approach of an Immortal. He tells Joe to stay in the loft and with Joe's
pleas ringing in his ears, meets Cord in the dojo. He tells Cord that Joe
thinks he owes him.
"Good old Boy Scout," Cord responds. "He does!"
Duncan urges him to walk away, but Cord admits that he went to a lot of
trouble to flush out Charlie, that it was deliberate. Duncan says he can let
Charlie go, but Cord (who has been a little manic and hyper-competitive from
the first) says, "He's a lot like us. We don't walk away."
The two duel and Duncan looks to be enjoying the fight. He eventually knocks
Cord on his ass and puts the sword to his throat. "Let it go!" he instructs
Cord, and leans down to snarl in his face. "Joe Dawson just saved your life.
You're even, so long as you stay away from Charlie."
Cord looks angry, but he chuckles. "For the boy scout," he acknowledges.
Charlie visits Joe at the bar, asking about the history Joe had with Cord.
Joe talks about soldiers looking out for each other in war. "Somebody covers
for you, he's your brother, no matter who he is. That's forever." He asks
Charlie to leave Cord alone, that Cord will kill him, but Charlie says he
can't.
Cord is toying with a knife, waiting for Charlie outside the bar ("Everybody
comes to Joe's," he grins.) He lures him onto a nearby rooftop, and the two
men face off in a knife fight. Charlie's good, but Cord is better, and he
kills Charlie with an evil casualness ("Say goodbye to MacLeod for me. Oh,
yeah. Say hello to Mara.") Then he savagely kicks him off the roof.
Duncan arrives at the bar, and feels Cord. He heads outside and finds
Charlie, dying in the alley. He holds him in his arms, gripping his hands as
Charlie says he doesn't understand Cord even being alive after he shot him.
Duncan tells him Charlie could never have killed kill Cord, that he's
Immortal. Duncan tells him he'd promised to tell him the truth one day, that
Cord is Immortal, and so is he..
"I always knew there was something weird about you, MacLeod," Charlie gasps,
finally realizing that there was no way he could have killed "that son of a
bitch."
"No," Duncan says as Charlie dies in his arms. "But I can."
Duncan arrives at Joe's (having changed his clothes into some very
impressive black leather), demanding to know where Cord is. When Joe doesn't
answer, he gets in his face, yelling that Duncan let him go and he killed
Charlie, slamming his fist on the table and spilling beer over the floor.
Next we see Duncan arrive at Cord's warehouse. "Watch your step," Cord
warns. "You're in my camp now." He disappears in the camouflage he has set
up saying he scouted the place especially for this fight. Cord is a gorgeous
man and impressive athlete, but in relatively short order, Duncan has
speared him with the katana, then has the sword at his throat.
"Damn!" Cord acknowledges breathlessly. "Outstanding!"
"I'm not done yet," Duncan tells him grimly, and takes his head. The
painful-looking quickening doesn't last long, but the energy seems to shoot
through the walls, crashing through the metal panels and they peel away with
a dramatic crash.
In the final scene, Duncan in is the dojo, dressed all in black, looking
sadly at a photo of himself and Charlie, when Joe comes in wearing a suit.
(I assume they've come from Charlie's funeral.) Joe is at a loss for words,
saying it never should have happened, and that he is responsible. But Duncan
grimly insists that Charlie died because he let Joe get in the middle of
what was Immortal business, and that he shouldn't have done that. His voice
shakes as he states, "You and I, we're different. We got too close."
"We're different," Duncan insists again, then turns away, staring out the
window. "There's a reason we stay apart. We crossed the line."
"So that's it, uh?" Joe asks, near tears. "We just walk away?"
Duncan nods slowly, still staring sightlessly out an opaque window. "I am...
Immortal."
Joe finally, reluctantly, turns and walks away.
MY COMMENTS: This was a powerful episode in a lot of ways. Andy Cord is a
charismatic character, and one can certainly understand why a young Joe
Dawson would consider what Cord did to have created an unpayble debt. But in
his heart, Joe also knew that Cord wasn't a good man, just a good military
leader, who called Joe a "Boy Scout" as a pejorative term - which is,
interestingly enough, what Methos calls Duncan. Joe objects when Cord kills
the Vietnamese girl, and he also had access to Cord's chronicles in the
intervening years, as well as a good reason to keep track of the man since,
so he knew he was far from a saint. There was also good reason to believe
that he knew exactly what had happened to Mara since Watcher Sister Mary
Ignatius (who had been Duncan's watcher in Cambodia in the 1970's) recorded
that event.
But the bond of soldiers in war, protecting each other in horrific
situations, putting their lives on the line for one another, was something
Joe felt in his very soul. Being in Vietnam was emotionally charged enough,
but having his legs blown off and Cord saving him had been the most
singularly traumatic of his life. It changed him forever and Joe found it
impossible to do what a Watcher is supposed to do - nothing.
Out of friendship and obligation, Joe, intervened in an Immortal battle and,
out of friendship, Duncan let him, and it cost the life of Charlie deSalvo.
Were they wrong? I don't think either of them were "wrong" in the sense of
moral or ethical standards, but Duncan's judgment, instincts and 400 years
of experience all pointed towards doing what Immortals did as a matter of
course - primarily because Cord had murdered mortals without compunction or
regret - Duncan's most immutable rule for Immortal behavior. He didn't act
because a mortal friend asked him not to, and another mortal friend paid
with his life. That puts an unacceptably high price on friendship, and that
was what made Duncan turn away from the only real mortal friend he had -
whom Duncan would see as the next in line to die if their friendship
continued.
"I Am... Immortal." In those three words, the weight in those words tells
Joe everything that Duncan feels about the vast gulf between himself and
everyone else, something that no one but another Immortal who deals with the
Game and all its consequences can understand, not even a Watcher.
I've heard complaints about how "mean" Duncan was to Joe, but that, IMO, is
bulls**t that really misses the point of the whole episode. Duncan acted to
protect Joe. He did it harshly so there could be no doubt about his
sincerity, and no room for discussion. It hurt them both, and while Joe
looked close to tears and Duncan looked hard as stone, does anyone really
think Duncan didn't feel that pain at *least* as much as Joe?
Excellent acting. Good story. Great drama.
MacGeorge
All episode commentaries available at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
------------------------------
End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 5 Jun 2004 to 6 Jun 2004 (#2004-103)
*************************************************************