HIGHLA-L Digest - 9 Jul 2005 to 11 Jul 2005 (#2005-85)
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Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:01:00 -0400
There is 1 message totalling 204 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Season Six DVDs Commentary: Unusual Suspects
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Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:03:29 -0400
From: kageorge <kageorge1@verizon.net>
Subject: Season Six DVDs Commentary: Unusual Suspects
Brought to you from a WiFi Starbucks somewhere in Texas...
The html version of the commentary, w/screen captures, can be found at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/Season6/UnusualSuspects.htm
INSIDER COMMENTARY: Adrian says that this was his favorite episode in
year six because he got to work with Roger and do comedy, and it gave
him a chance to 'lighten up'. Working with Roger was easy, and
sometimes it was hard to separate Fitzcairn from Roger Daltrey, because
there were certain character traits they had in common. They tended to
laugh more as they filmed it than when they watched the dailies or in
watching the show itself because they were having such a good time
making it.
David A. says he has enormous admiration for Roger Daltrey, "who still
sings with great chops, and who is a normal guy who happens to be a rock
star, and who happens to be a pretty damn good actor." He says he
thinks Adrian got a little jealous of Roger's gift of comic timing and
doing pratfalls, and decided he wanted to do some of that, too.
Adrian says that if there was any competition between them, it was
between the characters of MacLeod and Fitzcairn, and that's what made
the comedy work. If one of them was trying upstage the other, it was
between the characters, not the actors.
Composer Hal Beckett talks about the opening scene in the episode -
Daltrey's character entertaining his friends in a mansion. Roger played
the clarinet, so Beckett took a nursery rhyme about a bumblebee and
wrote a 1920's jazz tune for it, which they then pre-recorded with a
small combo, and that recording was played back on set for the actor's
to mime to. (Note: It sounded like he said it wasn't Roger who
actually recorded the tape they mimed to, but that wasn't totally
clear.) During the scene, as Roger mimes playing a cadenza, he
dramatically chokes and dies. Planning exactly how the music was going
to peak and then how it was going to stop as Fitz died was a lot of fun.
Adrian says he and Roger were always improvising, as he and Stan
(Kirsch) had, and that some of the best moments came out of their
improvisations. He always remembers Roger in that suit of armor, when
he falls down and MacLeod tries to pick him up again, and ends up
dragging him off - all of which was improvised. Dennis Berry, Adrian
says, had a ball directing the episode.
Dennis Berry confirms that directing the episode was a lot of fun, and
talks about how a director stages comedy inside a frame rather than
finding comedy through editing cuts.
David A. calls Roger an "imp" who played a character it was easy to love
and "was incredible in everything he did." He says that the only
comedies that really worked were the ones that Daltrey was in, and it
wasn't the writing staff, because the writing was the same - it was
Daltrey. (NOTE: I have to insert here that I disagree strongly with
the statement that none of the other comedies worked.)
OUTTAKES: None, which was a shame.
EPISODE: Prelude: England, October 1929, at Fitzcairn Manor, where a
impeccably suited butler greets Fitz arriving in a vintage luxury car in
front of a large English manor house, and gets his foot run over by an
oblivious Fitz. Inside, applause greets Fitz from a small group of
people seated in a parlor, waiting expectantly. Fitz welcomes them all
to an "annual grouse shoot and executive witch hunt." The three male
attendees are Fitz' financial partner, his solicitor, and his
accountant. Also there is his gaudily attired, obviously self-absorbed
wife Juliet.
As an entertainment, Fitz accompanies Juliet on the clarinet as she
sings a little jazz song, but it turns out that the reed on the clarinet
is infused with poison, and soon Fitz chokes and dramatically collapses
and dies, to the sound of Juliet's ear-piercing shriek.
Duncan shows up for Fitz' funeral, with only the wife and three business
partners attending. He feels Immortal presence and slips away to find
Fitz lurking about in the greenhouse, feeling sorry for himself that
more people hadn't shown up. Duncan tells him it was because not being
broke for the first time in 800 years has made him a "complete
jackass." Fitz is incensed that he was murdered, especially since all
his money is tied up in the American stock market, and he hadn't yet
gotten around to doing the paper work required to leave that money to
another identity in case of his own death.
Duncan chortles with laughter that Fitz is once again broke, but Fitz
wants Duncan to figure out who murdered him. Fitz insists that Juliet
is the reason Duncan must find who murdered him, since if Juliet dies
the money goes to his business partners, therefore she must be in
danger, and if she dies it will be Duncan's fault. That pushes Duncan's
chivalric, protective buttons and so the game is afoot.
Duncan announces to the group that he has been made Fitz' executor, and
can't read the will until two days after the funeral, and that any
beneficiary must be present to inherit. Thus ensues much nonsense as
Fitz lurks around and interferes and the wife and the partners try to
weasel information from Duncan about the will, and Duncan goes around
trying to be a detective, carefully making lists of suspects in a little
black notebook. They end up on the grouse shoot at Fitz' suggestion,
because he thinks the killer will try to shoot Duncan, but instead it's
one of the business associates who gets shot - once again to the
accompaniment of Juliet's ear-splitting scream. And then it turns out
there are also suspects among the servants, since the cook claims to be
pregnant by Fitzcairn, or the butler, or the baker (Fitz: "I don't even
have a baker!").
Duncan figures out that the poison was on the reed of the clarinet, and
announces his findings to the assembled suspects (using a poisoned dead
rat to demonstrate, at which Juliet gives her trademark scream). Then
Pierre the Butler turns up dead (Juliet screams), and since it "was a
dark and stormy night" the electricity goes out.
They put the butler's body in a meat locker in the basement, where
they've already stored the first body, and Duncan urges them all to go
to bed and lock their doors. Of course, no one does. They're all
skulking about, especially Lochsly and Juliet, who grope each other in
the hallway as Fitz looks on, disguised in a suit of armor. Fitz
decides to try to follow them, but can hardly move around in the armor,
and ends up falling down a flight of stairs with a great clattering noise.
Duncan finds him lying in the hall like a turtle on his back and drags
him out of sight just in time as a screaming Juliet runs out to find out
what the noise is. They all go back to bed and Duncan and Fitz have a
slapstick scene involving the suit of armor as Duncan tells a
disbelieving Fitz he thinks Juliet was responsible for his murder. Then
there is another of Juliet's screams.
Duncan finds Juliet in Lochsly's room (along with Tynbridge), and
Lochsly is dead. Duncan locks Juliet in her room and goes back to find
Fitz, who says he has a plan.
In the morning, Fitz shows up at the front door disguised (badly) as
Fitz' own father. (Duncan: "Funny, I don't see the resemblance.")
Duncan rolls his eyes at Fitz' overacting, and the next thing you know
we hear the maid give a long scream, and now it is Juliet who is found dead.
Fitz is beside himself and Duncan is apologetic and swears he'll find
the guilty party, although there's only one suspect - Tynbridge - left.
Tynbridge is incensed at the accusation, and Duncan ends up tying him to
a chair and going to call the police, certain he has his man. Something
bothers Duncan about the series of events, however, and when he returns
to talk to Tynbridge, he finds him dead from a poison dart. (Duncan:
"Uh, oh.")
Now there are should be five bodies in the meat locker, but when Duncan
goes there to store Tynbridge, Juliet steps out, gun in hand. (Duncan:
"You're alive!" Juliet: "Why are the cute ones always so slow?")
Duncan figures out that in addition to the curare, Juliet discovered
another poison in South America that mimicked death. She admits she
killed them all, and then shoots Duncan several times.
Fitz, in his disguise, discovers them, and blathers on about how much
his 'son' had loved her. (Juliet: "Oh, please. He loved every woman
this side of the Thames!") She prepares to kill him, but manages to
recite the convoluted story she plans to give the police to convince
them she is innocent of all the killings. Then she shoots Fitz thrice,
goes to Duncan's body and starts to give him a goodbye kiss, and he sits
up and so does Fitz, claiming that the bullets in her gun were blanks.
She throws herself at Duncan, saying she is a rich woman and needs
someone to share it with. He declines the honor and when she asks why,
he takes a small poisoned dart from her hand and says, "Because one
little prick," he looks pointedly at Fitz, "is all it takes."
The police are carting away the bodies (and a squealing Juliet, who
spots a very much alive Fitzcairn as they drive away). Fitz is feeling
smug about the whole thing, now that he has made arrangements to have
his "father" inherit all his money, so now his fortune is secure.
Duncan opens the daily paper, reading the headline about the crash in
the American stock market, and as Fitz expresses his relief by saying
"God Bless America!" Duncan agrees, says he will see him around, gives
him the newspaper and walks away.
Fitz reads the headline and goes ballistic, falling to the ground in
dismay as Duncan smirks that Fitz is once again penniless. Fitz chases
after him, saying he has an idea to make some money, but Duncan
declines, saying instead he could offer him a "position in my household
as a manservant." The two walk away sniping and arguing as they always do.
MY COMMENTS: Not my cuppa. Too cutesy. Both Roger and Adrian were
playing the comedy, not the characters, and as I have said before in my
comments about comedy - it works best when the actors play the scene and
not the comedy. There were some amusing moments, but none of them were
particularly memorable, so this episode falls into my category of so-so,
easily forgettable episodes. If this is all HL ever was it would never
have held my interest.
It was good to see them use the Fitzcairn character (the great thing
about HL is that even when the character has died, if they've lived for
awhile you have an infinite possibility for flashbacks), and the concept
for the story wasn't bad, but it was all too hackneyed. The best
moments really were (as Adrian had mentioned in his comments) the
improvised physical stuff with the suit of armor.
MacGeorge
All episode commentaries available at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 9 Jul 2005 to 11 Jul 2005 (#2005-85)
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