1. There are several immortals featured in this episode The End of innocence. Richie, who was almost beheaded by Duncan after Duncan's Dark Quickening has become somewhat disillusioned and tired of The Game of immortals. Hotheaded and reckless he goes about picking fights and picks one with immortal Carter Wellan, the student of Haresh Clay for 900 years. I personally think Wellan should have won this battle because of his centuries of training under Haresh Clay, and because Wellan remained calm and collected, but Richie, running purely on adrenaline and anger, manages to defeat Wellan.
2. Flashback to 1657 Europe, Duncan learning from his teacher Graham Ashe. I think that Ashe was the quintessential example of what every immortal should be. He strove to make full use of his long life to learn , to see, to seek out ways to experience life to the fullest, all while following the rules of The Game. But where Ashe excelled in his knowledge of art and cultures, he was apparently lacking somewhat in his skills with the sword. This became painfully obvious when is challenged by Haresh Clay.
In this flashback we also get a glimpse of Clay's relationship with his student Wellan. Clay is teaching his student how to get along with people in a meaningful way. Clay seems almost admirable and worthy of respect, yet he is primarily in my opinion a headhunter.
3. In the year 1996 Duncan, who was shamed by Clay after Duncan watched his teacher Ashe beg for his life only to die by Clays's sword, finally gets to give Clay what's been coming to him for 339 years. In what is probably one of the most impressive battle scenes in the TV series, Duncan kills Clay, using not only his Katana but Clay's own sword as well. I was puzzled though when Duncan offered Clay a chance to walk away.
4. I like this episode because it provided a broad view of the existence of immortals.
2 Reviews
Not on Mac's or Richie's side. Both of them had weak motivations for their killings. Clay actually had the best motivation for wanting to kill. Joe helping Mac is cheating.
reb-warrior27 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Richie is back after the events in 'Something Wicked.' He picks a fight and ends up killing immortal Carter Wellan for pretty much no reason. Unfortunately, Carter's best friend, Haresh Clay, also an immortal, is now after Richie. In the meantime, Joe is back and is warning Duncan about Richie. They are both still dealing with the fallout from 'One Minute to Midnight.' Duncan says they can't be friends because Joe is a Watcher.
So Richie has pretty much become a grade A a**hole, picking fights and being a bully. He blames Duncan for trying to kill him despite knowing that Duncan had a dark quickening. "No, Joe. The reason doesn't matter." Yeah, it kinda does. It really wasn't Mac's fault, and you know that Richie.
I felt like Graham Ashe was exaggerating or lying about his accomplishments. Notice he name drops Ramirez's name aka Sean Connery from the Highlander movie. I mean It's like when someone name drops a famous person's name and then says they taught them everything they know when really that isn't the case. This is just an interpretation on my part based on the way the conversation went.
So Duncan wanted revenge against Haresh Clay after more than 300 years? Because Clay kill Ashe in a fair fight? Because Duncan was shamed by him? Pretty weak motivation Mac. What happened to your zen mode and not seeking revenge? Oh, I forgot that's only for mortals. One could argue the fight between Mac and Clay was blatantly unfair. Clay was at the funeral for the love of his life of 900 years when both Richie and Duncan showed up there to kill him. I mean the guy probably wasn't as focused as he would have been otherwise.
I think Mac taking Clay out was especially a turn-off given that Clay shared a deep personal moment about his grief with Mac. Mac offered to let him go. Clay says "it what we do," but after having lost his best friend, lover, a man he was with for 900 years, I'm guessing Clay may have been suicidal. Not that I think he'd kill himself, but Mac did give him a way out and he didn't take it.
Joe helped Mac. Again. Too bad Clay didn't have that kind of advantage. Seems like I'm picking on Mac and Richie. But the fact is, Clay had the most justified motivation for wanting to kill someone. I always felt Joe helping Mac was like cheating.
Duncan once again goes on about how much it's needed that the Watchers record immortal's history. Why did they write Mac so stupid? No, it's not needed. The Watcher organization is evil despite having a few good members such as Joe. Mac went 400 years blissfully unaware of them, and uncaring about his history being recorded. It was Watchers that killed Tessa, Darius, and others. Yet Mac thinks they're great. Oh please.
Why did Richie think he could grab-up that lady bartender's arm like that? And bully her? She wasn't "in-on-it' with Clay. Total jerk mode. Terrible writing for this character who has been mostly friendly throughout the series.
I usually skip this episode. I just find that all three, Mac, Richie, and Joe, were a turn-off. I related more to Clay's sentiment. Not that I wanted him to kill Richie or Mac. I didn't. But I just felt like it was unfair and uncompassionate towards Clay. I blame the writers. They didn't do enough to get the viewers on the main characters' side. I want to root for the leads, not the guest of the week. The other turn-off is I don't want to hear about Watcher stuff anymore and Mac sounding like a stupid broken record about how they record history. 5/10
So Richie has pretty much become a grade A a**hole, picking fights and being a bully. He blames Duncan for trying to kill him despite knowing that Duncan had a dark quickening. "No, Joe. The reason doesn't matter." Yeah, it kinda does. It really wasn't Mac's fault, and you know that Richie.
I felt like Graham Ashe was exaggerating or lying about his accomplishments. Notice he name drops Ramirez's name aka Sean Connery from the Highlander movie. I mean It's like when someone name drops a famous person's name and then says they taught them everything they know when really that isn't the case. This is just an interpretation on my part based on the way the conversation went.
So Duncan wanted revenge against Haresh Clay after more than 300 years? Because Clay kill Ashe in a fair fight? Because Duncan was shamed by him? Pretty weak motivation Mac. What happened to your zen mode and not seeking revenge? Oh, I forgot that's only for mortals. One could argue the fight between Mac and Clay was blatantly unfair. Clay was at the funeral for the love of his life of 900 years when both Richie and Duncan showed up there to kill him. I mean the guy probably wasn't as focused as he would have been otherwise.
I think Mac taking Clay out was especially a turn-off given that Clay shared a deep personal moment about his grief with Mac. Mac offered to let him go. Clay says "it what we do," but after having lost his best friend, lover, a man he was with for 900 years, I'm guessing Clay may have been suicidal. Not that I think he'd kill himself, but Mac did give him a way out and he didn't take it.
Joe helped Mac. Again. Too bad Clay didn't have that kind of advantage. Seems like I'm picking on Mac and Richie. But the fact is, Clay had the most justified motivation for wanting to kill someone. I always felt Joe helping Mac was like cheating.
Duncan once again goes on about how much it's needed that the Watchers record immortal's history. Why did they write Mac so stupid? No, it's not needed. The Watcher organization is evil despite having a few good members such as Joe. Mac went 400 years blissfully unaware of them, and uncaring about his history being recorded. It was Watchers that killed Tessa, Darius, and others. Yet Mac thinks they're great. Oh please.
Why did Richie think he could grab-up that lady bartender's arm like that? And bully her? She wasn't "in-on-it' with Clay. Total jerk mode. Terrible writing for this character who has been mostly friendly throughout the series.
I usually skip this episode. I just find that all three, Mac, Richie, and Joe, were a turn-off. I related more to Clay's sentiment. Not that I wanted him to kill Richie or Mac. I didn't. But I just felt like it was unfair and uncompassionate towards Clay. I blame the writers. They didn't do enough to get the viewers on the main characters' side. I want to root for the leads, not the guest of the week. The other turn-off is I don't want to hear about Watcher stuff anymore and Mac sounding like a stupid broken record about how they record history. 5/10
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