manicmyk Reviews

Reunion (2005–2006)

The Fall's Guilty Pleasure

[19 September 2005]

I checked out "Reunion" the other night and for those who haven't kept abreast of it, Here is the official synopsis followed by my opinions.

"Reunion" chronicles the lives of a group of six friends over the course of 20 years -- all in just one season. Will longs to leave his small town behind; aided by an athletic scholarship, he will be the first in his family to go to college. Craig, handsome and privileged, looks forward to the Ivy League with his girlfriend, Samantha, whose ambition is surpassed only by her looks and intelligence. The beautiful Jenna dreams of becoming an actress; behind his cynicism, Aaron dreams that his relationship with Jenna will go beyond friendship. Carla, innocent and quirky, must choose between loyalty to her father and staying near her best friends. "Reunion" opens in 2005 at the funeral of one of the friends, whose death is being investigated by Det. Marjorino. But before the identity of the deceased is revealed, we're transported back to 1986, as the group is celebrating their high school graduation. Each subsequent episode chronicles the next year in the clique's lives.

While it got off to a bit of a slow start "Reunion is very promising both from a dramatic standpoint and a historical perspective. I think it will be fascinating in the coming weeks to look at how styles and attitudes change from year to year. The murder twist is also very appealing since I imagine that we will not know til the very end who the murder or the victim are. This is definitely going to be the guilty pleasure of the season.

Highlander (1992–1998)

Season 5

[15 September 2004]

The quality of the Highlander DVD box sets is a delight through all six releases. Season Five is no exception and contains the same unique special features and great video transfer as the rest. My one major turn off that, unfortunately, seems to be an industry standard is the folding package that takes up the whole coffee table. It doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the series or the special features which were enough in the first two seasons two make me buy the rest, at a premium for my impatience, from the official site (www.highlander-official.com).

As in the previous season, Highlander season 5 begins with a tale of Duncan's childhood. Through present day events and flashbacks, ' Prophecy' shows us a whole new breed of older immortal with powers that certainly would have helped the character of Methos (Peter Wingfield) in earlier seasons, mind control over humans and younger immortals through a powerful form of hypnotic suggestion. We are introduced to the character of Casandra, the first immortal that Duncan (Adrian Paul) ever came into contact with as a child and a fabled witch in his native village. 'Prophecy' as befits its title foreshadows the entire season we later find, even to the point of making minor mention of Connor MacLeod, Duncan's distant cousin and the hero of the original Highlander movie. While some may not see the referencing of the original movie for the first time since the pilot for the series as foreshadowing, to me it stands as a statement from the producers that all bets are off.

It is easy to forget that there is now a 'chosen one' prophecy hanging over Duncan's head as you get into the season. After his failed attempt to kill Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch) during his 'Dark Quickening' (the 'good guy gone evil through no fault of his own' scenario of the previous season), Duncan must make amends with his former pupil or push him away. Relations are still strained with Joe Dawson, his former Watcher now friend and Methos shows up in enough episodes this season that the producers must have been thinking spin-off.

The penultimate season of Highlander has the usual mix of comedic episodes interspersed with the serious. Highlights of the lighter episodes include the return of Roger Daltrey as Hugh Fitzcairn in an entirely 'historical' episode entitled 'The Stone of Scone' and a 'Bonnie and Clyde' style romp with the spin-off character Amanda (Elisabeth Gracen) and her former partner Cory Raines (Nicolas Lea) making Duncan's life miserable both in present day and the past in 'Money No Object.' The Funniest moments from the season come from an episode entitled 'Dramatic License' in which a female author has published a romance novel about Duncan and an exaggerated account of some of his many exploits.

Foreshadowing plays a huge role in this season and the Prophecy that was told in the opening episode starts to come into play in the darker episodes of the season. In 'Comes a Horseman' and 'Revelation 6:8' we find that Methos has been hiding an a secret of his ancient and evil past that could end up destroying the world. 'Double Jeopardy' uses the Highlander master craft of the flashback to reintroduce us to one of the series original and deadliest villains, who may not be dead after all, Xavier St. Cloud (Roland Gift). Finally, 'Archangel', the finale, introduces the deadliest threat to immortals yet which may very well Satan himself

Highlander (1992–1998)

Highlander Season Four, A good place to start

[9 April 2004]

Season Four of Highlander is a great place for new viewers to start on this incredible series. The Characters are defined and the cast and crew are comfortable with each other in the concept they have created. Duncan MaCleod has gone through hell in the previous three seasons losing almost everything several times to both immortal and human villains. Unfortunately, for Duncan, the one enemy he hasn't faced yet is himself and the one thing he hasn't almost lost or given up is his mind. It is hard for a genre series to pull off the good guy gone bad concept but, highlander does it beautifully and the episodes are so well contained with in the one hour time frame in this season that new viewers wont be completely lost.