Tessa's simple trip to the mountains to do some sketching ends with her being abducted by three mountain men, whose ringleader has decided she's going to be his bride. Tessa isn't keen on her new role and neither is Duncan, who heads off into the mountains in search of her.
It's Richie's turn to be left behind while the others have an adventure, only appearing in the opening scenes of the episode. This provides a larger role for Tess that many episodes, even if it does consist of being kidnapped again.
The first half of this episode is surprisingly decent. Caleb manages to rise above the cliched gravelly-voiced villain.he might have been by being quite genuine in his insistence that Tessa is under his protection and he aims to charm her into accepting her new role willingly. He and Joshua give different recollections of how they ended up together and it's curious to know where the truth lies. It's a shame this aspect fades towards the end of the episode as he starts roughing Tessa up.
The flashback of Duncan encountering a (possibly Immortal?) hermit doesn't really achieve that much except explaining how Duncan knows which way to go and giving him a dead mentor to avenge, a trope that will be used quite often throughout the series.
But then Duncan enters the A-plot and we get the badass scene of Joshua and Eddie trying to force him off a cliff only for him to casually dive off it, because he knows he can survive it. And then the magical scene when Caleb sees Duncan's sword and his eyes light up at the significance of it, and then Tessa sees Caleb's axe and realises the same. As she says, "You're one of them." It's one of the few times that the reveal of an Immortal has genuinely surprised me and suddenly the stakes are raised and this becomes a personal conflict for Duncan. (Incidentally, I believe this marks the first time the series mentions that Immortals can't have children.)
After the slaughter of the previous episode, it's nice Duncan simply leaves Joshua tied up for the sheriff: Only Cole is considered fair game here. Tessa does a good job getting in Caleb's ear about Eddie but doesn't think through the consequences, although no-one will mourn him. The final fight between Duncan and Caleb is an interesting one, with them using each other's weapons...but it takes more than a good sword to beat Duncan MacLeod!
It's Richie's turn to be left behind while the others have an adventure, only appearing in the opening scenes of the episode. This provides a larger role for Tess that many episodes, even if it does consist of being kidnapped again.
The first half of this episode is surprisingly decent. Caleb manages to rise above the cliched gravelly-voiced villain.he might have been by being quite genuine in his insistence that Tessa is under his protection and he aims to charm her into accepting her new role willingly. He and Joshua give different recollections of how they ended up together and it's curious to know where the truth lies. It's a shame this aspect fades towards the end of the episode as he starts roughing Tessa up.
The flashback of Duncan encountering a (possibly Immortal?) hermit doesn't really achieve that much except explaining how Duncan knows which way to go and giving him a dead mentor to avenge, a trope that will be used quite often throughout the series.
But then Duncan enters the A-plot and we get the badass scene of Joshua and Eddie trying to force him off a cliff only for him to casually dive off it, because he knows he can survive it. And then the magical scene when Caleb sees Duncan's sword and his eyes light up at the significance of it, and then Tessa sees Caleb's axe and realises the same. As she says, "You're one of them." It's one of the few times that the reveal of an Immortal has genuinely surprised me and suddenly the stakes are raised and this becomes a personal conflict for Duncan. (Incidentally, I believe this marks the first time the series mentions that Immortals can't have children.)
After the slaughter of the previous episode, it's nice Duncan simply leaves Joshua tied up for the sheriff: Only Cole is considered fair game here. Tessa does a good job getting in Caleb's ear about Eddie but doesn't think through the consequences, although no-one will mourn him. The final fight between Duncan and Caleb is an interesting one, with them using each other's weapons...but it takes more than a good sword to beat Duncan MacLeod!