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Starring:
Adrian Paul (Duncan MacLeod) Guests:
Kevin John Conway (Alec Hill)
Written by Scott Peters |
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There's a thunderstorm over the city. Jennifer Hill is wakened in her bed by a ghostly voice called her name. She gets up and goes out into the hall, using a flashlight because the storm has knocked out the power. After she checks the room with the parrot, she she hears music from downstairs.
Jennifer: "Alec?"
She follows the sound of the piano, and Alec's voice humming. As she reaches the piano, she sees a ghostly image of Alec Hill, with long hair and a shaggy mustache, sitting and playing. He's wearing a nightshirt and robe, not modern. The lightning flickers and he vanishes. She goes to the piano and shuts the lid, just as the storm breaks out the window behind her. She retreats from the study, and the next flash shows her Alec in the hall mirror. This is a different Alec, dressed in modern clothes and with shorter hair. As the camera returns to Jennifer, we see that there's no one behind her to be reflected. She calls for him and reaches out, but he disappears in the next flash. Jennifer turns and runs out the front door, grabbing her coat along the way. She drives to a cemetary, and, still in her nightgown, runs out to a grave and kneels down.
Jennifer: "Alec? What do you want?"
As the scene pulls back, we see "Alec Hill, beloved husband" engraved on the stone.
Jennifer: "You're pretty good."
Richie, lookin' all shy: "Uh, thanks. It looks pretty stupid unless you picture the other guy."
She asks him his name, and as he moves forward things get very weird. Alec's face replaces his for a moment, then fades slowly, and the Richie says, but in Alec's voice, "Richie Ryan." They shake, and Jennifer says she's there to see Duncan MacLeod.
Richie: "Lucky guy." He goes to get his shirt, and Jennifer notices a harmonica lying with his things.
Jennifer: "You play?"
Richie: "Just learning." He tells her Mac is upstairs, and offers to give her a lift on the elevator.
Jennifer: "I usually don't take rides from strangers."
They go upstairs, to where Duncan MacLeod is dusting an old mirror and promising someone over the phone that he'll "have it to you by Saturday." He hangs up.
Richie: "Look who I found."
Duncan stands up, and his face lights up as he sees Jennifer. He hugs her.
Duncan: "It's been two years. Where's Alec?"
Jennifer, shaking her head, tearful: "Gone, Duncan."
She says he wasn't supposed to die before her and Duncan asks when it happened.
Jennifer: "Last summer, July. After 110 years he finally found Gerard Kragen (sp?)"
Duncan: "Kragen..."
(For some reason, this heading and the next flashback's are in Gothic script. I don't know why, unless it's because it's a spooky episode, or something. Who knows. :))
Duncan and Alec are working on a house, which is just a frame at the moment. Duncan is saying that he'd never expected to see Alec west of the Mississippi, and Alec says that it was because of Genevieve.
Alec: "She wanted a fresh start, and when could I ever deny her anything?"
Duncan, seeing Genevieve arrive, says he's lucky, and Alec says it took him 150 years to find the right woman, and that he knew from the moment he met her that he and Genevieve were supposed to be together. As Genevieve comes up, Alec starts singing "Aura Lee," the song that Jennifer heard playing when she came down and saw his ghostly figure at the piano. Genevieve, seeing both of them with cigars, tells Alec that he promised he'd only smoke in the study, and Alec looks sheepish and tosses his away, but Duncan only puts his hand behind his back. Alec wants to eat, but Genevieve insists that he and Duncan go scrub first, and they go off, arms linked, stopping for an impromptu redition of the song and a little dance in front of the wagon. (Just a note: Maybe it was just me, but the interaction between Genevieve and Alec was kind of strange. The stuff with the cigars and with her insisting that he wash up could have been just fun banter, but it was played kinda serious. I wasn't sure what to make of it, or if it was really important at all.)
Alec and Duncan running down a hill to a stream.
Alec: "What is it with Women and cleanliness?"
Mac: "Beats me. What is it with women and cigars?"
Alec: "When the house is finished, you can smoke all you want." Mac laughs, they crouch by the stream and begin washing.
Mac: "She's quite a gall Alec."
Alec: "I used to worry about the difference in our ages."
Mac: "What's 150 years between friends?"
Alec: "A blink in gods eye.
Kragen: "You used to like it when I touched you."
Genevieve, curling her lip, makes a production of wiping off her hands. Kragen asks if she remembers when he first found her, wasting away, her family barely able to feed her.
Genevieve: "I was fine."
Kragen: "You were nothing."
Genevieve, her voice shaking: "I was thirteen."
Kragen: "And now my portraits of you hang in New York's finest galleries."
Genevieve: "You used me."
Kragen: "I made you. Your walk, your talk, you are who you are because of me. And you ran away."
Genevieve says Alec will be here any moment, and Kragen says they can't stay, that they have to leave to catch their ship to China. Genevieve finally tries to run, but Kragen grabs her. She screams, and Alec and Duncan come running. Kragen senses their approach, and pulls a knife on Genevieve as they run up. Kragen tells Alec not to be foolish, but Alec draws his sword and challenges him. Kragen refuses, and begins to back away, still holding her. He backs up to the edge of the drop, and Alec says there's nowhere to go.
Kragen: "Oh, yes there is."
Alec lunges at him, but Kragen is too fast. He throws himself back off the cliff, taking Genevieve with him. Alec rushes to the edge, then flings himself over after them. Duncan looks down, then hurries to find a safe way down. By the time Alec revives on the rocks, Kragen is gone and Genevieve lies dead.
Alec: "She was my life, Duncan. My life. I'm going to see that bastard dead, if I have to come back from the grave to do it. Swear to me, if I die before I can kill him, you'll finish it."
Duncan: "I swear."
Jennifer: "He was waiting for Genevieve's spirit to join mine."
Richie: "You mean, like, reincarnation."
Jennifer: "Alec believed in the eternity of the soul."
Alec: "Did you feel her?"
Duncan ignores the question, saying: "Amanda's in town. She just won Kit's saloon in a poker game, she'd love to see you."
Alec: "She was here."
Duncan: "What do you say we get you shaved and dressed and go down to the Double Eagle for some dinner?"
Alec: "I can't."
Duncan finally says he's worried about him, that he doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat. He's laid Genevieve's clothes out as if he expects her to wear them. Alec insists that she was there, listening.
Duncan: "Genevieve's dead. We buried her together two years ago."
Alec: "Only her body."
Alec gets up and starts showing Duncan books, saying they speak of the "transmigration of the soul. But when we take another immortal's head, what do you think we get?" Duncan makes a noncommital face.
Alec: "All souls are eternal, Duncan, not just ours."
He says Genevieve is out here, waiting. Duncan asks how long he can wait. Alec says as long as it takes, that she has to come back. Duncan tries to tell him it wasn't his fault, but Alec says it was his pride that drove Kragen off the cliff. Duncan tries again to get him to leave, but Alec cuts him off and begins to play again. Duncan leaves.
Duncan agrees that Alec loved her.
Jennifer: "He still does. Duncan, I think Alec is still here."
Duncan says he's gone, but Jennifer wonders if maybe he was right about the souls.
Duncan: "Alec believed what he needed to believe."
Duncan says that it was Alec's way of coping with the way his life was as an immortal.
Jennifer: "What if it was more than that? I've heard his voice, Duncan. I've seen him."
Richie: "You've seen him?"
Duncan: "Look, if Alec's spirit lives, it's in your mind, in your heart."
Jennifer: "No, he comes to me. I think there's something he wants, something he left unfinished."
Duncan: "You mean Kragen."
Jennifer: "I know your promise. Will you keep it?"
Duncan doesn't answer.
At Joe's. Richie and Jennifer are sitting at a table, talking. Richie is asking if she really believes that she had Genevieve's spirit, and Jennifer says that when Alec first told her about Genevieve, and about his immortality, she thought he was crazy. "But you're real, so why not this?"
Jen: "But You're real so why not this?"
Rich nods, "What about what Mac said, that maybe Alec believed, because he needed to believe?"
Jen: "Maybe, maybe he did..." She looks at Richie, "I don't think I could handle being one of you, the fear, the fighting...everything you care about, everyone you know dying."
Rich: "I guess I try not to think about it too much."
Jen: "Well you're very brave, all of you."
Rich: "Maybe you're the brave one, I mean...You knew what Alec's life was all about and you chose to stay with him."
Jen: "Maybe I didn't have a choice either. Sounds stupid but, our souls connected, there was no fighting it."
Jennifer: "I don't know." Looks at him. "It'd have to be someone very special, very kind. Someone..."
As she looks at Richie, she once again sees Alec's face slip over his. She jumps up and flees to the ladies' room. As she passes Joe Dawson, he gets up and goes over to Richie, who's lighting up a cigar.
Joe: "You're smoking now?"
Richie: "Yeah, a little. Joe, I need some advice."
Joe: "Tell me about it. What is this? You and Alec Hill's wife?"
Richie: "No, it's nothing like that." Says that Mac asked him to keep an eye on her, cheer her up.
Joe: "He what?!"
Richie: "He went out of town. He went to San Francisco to whack the son-of-a-bitch who killed her husband."
Joe stares: "Richie, you're the son-of-a-bitch who killed her husband." Seeing the look on Richie's face, he says quickly, "Don't freak out," and offers him a drink.
Richie follows him to the bar, saying he never even met the guy.
Joe: "No? Try San Francisco, the beginning of July. Brown hair, carrying a US cavalry saber?"
Richie: "That was Alec Hill?"
Joe: "That was Alec Hill."
Richie tosses his drink down: "I never knew his name. It was live or die. Joe, I certainly had no idea that he had a wife."
Joe: "Richie, everyone leaves somebody behind. Everyone."
Jennifer comes back, and suggest that maybe Richie should take her home. Richie, choking back, says that Joe will call her cab.
Richie: "I really gotta go."
Jennifer: "Sit down. Richie, I'm sorry."
Richie: "No, Jen, I'm sorry. Listen, there's something I have to tell you."
Jennifer: "No, you don't have to say anything. I know."
Richie: "You know?"
Jennifer: "That something happened back at that bar."
Cut to Duncan, driving a bright red convertible up to a movie lot. He gets out and asks the way to the sound stage.
Back to Richie's place.
Richie: "You totally blew me away."
Jennifer: "I knew you felt it, too, that it wasn't just me. Richie, I've only felt this way once before." Kisses him.
Richie: "Jen, this isn't a good idea."
Jennifer: "Don't you think I know that?" But she says she knows they were meant to be.
They kiss again, and this time neither of them stops.
In the studio, a man and woman are filming a love scene. Kragen, the director, calls cut, and starts berating the actress for her performance. He tells her to take off her robe, and she says nudity isn't in her contract. Kragen calls a wrap, and as the others leave he asks her to stay behind. Outside, Duncan makes his way to the stage door. Kragen sits down next to the actress to "talk about this contract," but is stopped when he gets Duncan's buzz.
Duncan: "Still shoving women around?"
Kragen tells the actress to come back in the morning.
Duncan: "Don't bother. This production's shut down."
Kragen says he remembers him.
Kragen: "You should have seen the look on your face when I jumped."
Duncan: "Really?"
They start fighting.
As the fight continues, we cut back to scenes of Richie and Jennifer making their way down the hall and into the bedroom, kissing passionately and shedding clothes. There's a faint echo of Alec's voice, saying "Kiss me, sweet Jenny," and then "Jennifer, I've always loved you."
As Richie and Jennifer reach the bed, Duncan wounds Kragen, who falls to his knees. Duncan flips his sword at rest behind his arm.
Duncan: "You should see the look on your face."
He stands beside Kragen and flips the sword up, taking his head from underneath.
After the Quickening is over, we cut back to Richie and Jennifer, lying together.
Jennifer: "I love you, Alec."
Richie's eyes open, and he looks at her uneasily.
In the studio, Duncan gets to his feet.
Duncan: "Cut, print, that's a wrap."
Richie: "Got a second?"
Duncan: "Look, can it wait a minute? I really need to take a shower."
Richie: "No, Mac, this can't wait."
Duncan turns and waits. Richie says it's about Jennifer, and when Duncan gets worried assures him that she's fine.
Richie: "She's at my place."
Duncan, smiling slightly, but puzzled: "She's at your place."
Richie: "You asked me to take care of her. I went home, she showed up. I couldn't stop myself."
Duncan, controlled: "You and Jennifer."
Richie says he knows it wasn't smart, and after a moment Duncan relaxes.
Duncan: "It's okay."
He starts to walk off again, but Richie stops him, saying there's something else.
Richie: "Uh, you see. Kragen didn't kill Alec Hill."
Duncan lets his bag fall with a crash: "Then who did?"
Richie: "I did."
Richie: "I was in no mood for hassles. Neither was he. He must have been on his way to find Kragen."
Alec's car roars up, and he tells Richie to "move the bike, kid." Richie tells him to find some other way in, but Alec says he has an appointment.
Richie: "Well, life's full of little disappointments, ain't it?"
Alec gets out, and when Richie tells him if he wants the bike moved to move it himself, pulls his sword out.
Richie, shaking his head as he goes for his own sword: "Brother."
They fight, and although Alec seems pretty good, Richie still beats him. (I was amused to note, by the way, that after all that trouble to switch the swords, they still had to use the old one for this flashback...)
Richie: "That's not true, Mac. It was a fair fight, I won. Hey, what have you been teaching me all these years? What did you honestly expect me to do, let him kill me?"
Duncan: "You slept with his wife."
Richie: "I told you. I couldn't stop myself."
Duncan: "Yeah, obviously not." Starts unpacking.
Richie: "Mac, she said it herself. Something was drawing us together, something stronger than either of us. Would you stop doing that, and listen to me?"
Duncan walks to the other end of the room.
Duncan: "Save it for the romance novels."
Richie: "You know, I want to fix this thing."
Duncan, angry: "You can't fix it."
Richie: "Well, you're the guy with all the experience. Why don't you tell me what to do?" (Great tone here, by the way, part sarcastic, part belligerent, and part honestly asking.)
Duncan throws his coat down, not replying.
Richie: "I'm just gonna tell her the truth."
Duncan: "You're not telling her the truth."
Richie: "Maybe she'll understand."
Duncan: "She's not gonna understand! You killed her husband!"
Richie, toe to toe with him now, getting in his face: "Well then what do you want me to do?"
Duncan: "I want you to get out of town for a while."
Up to this point, they've been hot, sometimes nearly shouting, but now both their voices are suddenly cold.
Richie: "Fine."
Duncan: "Now."
Richie: "What about Jennifer?"
Duncan: "I'll deal with Jennifer."
Richie: "You do that."
He walks away. When he's in the elevator, Duncan finally speaks.
Duncan: "I'll let her believe the man who killed her husband is dead."
Richie: "I'm sorry I killed your friend."
Duncan: "Yeah, so am I."
At Joe's.
Jen: "You can't know what it means to me, knowing that Alec's spirit can rest in you."
Mac: "Jen, it's not exactly like that."
Jen: "Alec told me that, when you take an immortals head you get his soul."
Mac: "Alec was wrong, it's different. You have to let this thing go, it's over."
Jen: "But it still hurts, when does it go away, when do I stop seeing him in strangers?"
Mac: "It's different for everyone. Maybe you have to give yourself a little time."
Jen: "But how much time. I don't know what I'm doing anymore."
Mac point's to her dinner, "You finished with this?" To the waitress, "Excuse me," hands her the dinner plates (with hardly any of the food eaten I must add).
Jennifer: "I know, it's insane. God, I don't know how I feel."
Duncan says when it's right, she'll not doubt it.
Jennifer: "I think of Alec, and I feel so guilty."
Duncan: "Maybe it's not the right time."
Jennifer says that he was there last night, that she saw him.
Jennifer: "What if I hurt him? What if he feels betrayed?"
Duncan: "Jen, you can't hurt Alec." Says that maybe she saw him because she's not ready to let him go. Takes her hand. "That is okay. You got plenty of time."
Jennifer thanks him for not thinking she's crazy.
Jennifer: "There's a lot of Alec in you right now, even if you don't believe it."
She thanks him and leaves. Duncan goes over the bar and sits down in front of Joe.
Duncan: "What a mess!"
Joe: "So what else can you do?"
Duncan: "I lied to her, Joe."
Joe says he's let her think that Alec's killer's been punished.
Joe: "it's a white lie."
Duncan: "So, I don't feel good about it."
Joe: "You can't make any sense of it, Mac. You just gotta go through with it."
Duncan: "Yeah, thanks, Joe."
Cut to Richie, packing up. Jennifer comes by, and asks where he's going. He says he has to go out of town for a while.
Jennifer: "Because of me."
Richie: "Kinda."
Jennifer asks him not to go. She tells him that she had a long talk with Duncan.
Richie: "Did he send you?"
Jennifer: "He helped me understand a lot of things.
Richie, confused: "Understand?"
Jennifer: "That I've been holding on to Alec's ghost, that I haven't been moving forward." She says it's time to live again. "Duncan said, when it was right I'd know it. And with you I know."
Richie: "Jen, no. No, this can't happen."
Jennifer says she knows what he feels, that she feels it, too. Richie says he has to go.
Jennifer: "I don't understand. Why can't we be together?"
Richie: Because I killed Alec."
Jennifer, after a second: "What are you talking about?"
Richie: "It wasn't Kragen, it was me. He never got to Kragen. Jen, he picked a fight with me. I did what I had to do. I had no idea who he was, I didn't know about you. Jen, I'm sorry."
Jennifer, turning away, voice shaking: "This isn't happening." Richie moves toward her, but she backs away. "You murdering bastard. How could you touch me?"
Richie: "Jen, I was just trying to help. I wanted to do the right thing. Jen, please."
Jennifer: "You killed my husband, and you made love to me. You sick son-of-a-bitch."
She grabs her bag and leaves.
Richie: "Mac was right. I should never have told her. What the hell did I think was gonna happen, she was going to rush into my arms. 'Oh, that's okay, Richie, you killed my husband but, I love you anyway?' What was I looking for?"
Joe: "Absolution. Richie, you thought you were doing the right thing."
Richie: "Yeah, I know, but did I have to sleep with his wife? It was crazy, Joe. It was like a part of me was screaming 'what the hell are you doing,' and the other part of me couldn't stop."
Joe: "Everybody makes mistakes, Richie."
Richie says it was more, says it was like something inside him was driving him, was pushing him to do it.
Joe: "Like a part of Alec Hill, maybe." He suggests that maybe it was Alec, that if they were drawn together it was because he had part of Alec inside him. "You took his Quickening. Maybe you got his love for her, too."
Richie: "Maybe."
Joe: "It's a theory."
Richie: "Yeah, well, I've got a much simpler theory: I'm an idiot."
Joe: "Well, there's always that." Asks what he's going to do.
Richie: "Exactly what I should have done in the first place. Get the hell out of Dodge. See you, Joe."
In the dojo office, Jennifer and Duncan are talking. Jennifer can't believe the Duncan isn't going to do anything.
Duncan, sounding upset: "Jen, I've thought long and hard over this. I can't get over the fact that Richie's still my friend."
Jennifer: "You vowed to avenge his death."
Duncan: "I swore to him to get Kragen. Kragen is dead."
Jennifer: "And Alec's killer is still alive."
Duncan, getting angry: "Look, when two immortals fight, one dies. That's not murder, that's the way we live. Now, I'm not going after Richie over this, okay?"
Jennifer: "Then you're worse than a liar, you're a coward." Throws open the door and walks out.
Duncan: "Jen, you're being unreasonable."
Jennifer: "Unreasonable? You have no idea how I feel."
Richie is getting ready to leave, carrying his duffel and coat to the door. When he opens it, he finds Jennifer there.
Jennifer: "Leaving so soon?"
Richie: "I don't have a choice, Jen. Look, I told you I'm sorry. I know that's not enough. Jen, please believe me, I never wanted any of this to happen."
Outside, Duncan's T-bird pulls up.
Richie: "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."
Jennifer walks a little away, her back to him.
Jennifer: "I've had some time to think, figure out what I needed to do. I have to put this behind me, to move on."
Richie: "Good."
She reaches into her jacket and turns with a gun in her hand.
Richie: "Jen, don't do this."
She shoots him twice. Outside, Duncan hears the shots and runs upstairs to find Jennifer standing over Richie, holding his sword at his neck.
Duncan: "Jennifer, don't do this. Put the sword down."
Jennifer: "Don't try to stop me."
Duncan tries to tell her that Richie isn't like that, and that killing him won't bring Alec back, but she's not listening.
Duncan: "If any part of Alec still lives, it's in Richie."
Jennifer: "No."
Duncan: "It's what Alec believed. It's what you wanted to believe."
Jennifer: "No, you don't understand. Alec is here."
She looks up, and Alec's ghostly figure forms in front her, saying, "That's right, Jennifer. I'm here." Duncan looks at where she's looking, but doesn't seem to see anything.
Jennifer: "He needs me to do it so he can rest in peace."
Alec, raising his sword: "Do it, Jennifer. Do it for me."
Jennifer raises the sword.
Duncan: "Alec, you want her to do this? You want her to know what it's like to kill? You want her to hold on to Richie's death for the rest of her life? It haunted you, is that what you want for her?"
Jennifer: "Alec?"
Alec, fading away: "Good-bye, Jennifer, good-bye. It's time to go."
Jennifer, sobbing, drops the sword. Duncan puts his arm around her.
Duncan: "It's okay."
Jennifer looks down at Richie: "Let him carry it. Let Alec haunt him forever."
Duncan: "He will."
Duncan: "She's gone."
Richie: "You stopped her."
Duncan: "Yeah. She had a choice, she could walk away. We can't."
Richie: "She gonna be okay?"
Duncan: "In time. She's dealing with her demons."
Richie: "What about us, Mac? You and me."
Duncan: "You screwed up, Rich. And it happens. To all of us."
Richie gets up and comes to beside him.
Richie: "Aw, man, I swear, if I live to be a thousand, I'm still gonna see that guy coming at me again and again, just wondering if there was something I could have done different."
Duncan: "I know. And he won't be the last. They all stay with you."
Richie: "I didn't know you believed in ghosts."
Duncan: "I believe in the kind you carry with you. Everyone you've loved and everyone you've killed. They never leave you." He starts getting a little choked. "When you stop feeling, when you stop hurting, that's when you're dead inside. And that, my friend . . ." (He hands Richie his sword.) " . . .is when I'll worry about you."
He claps him on the shoulder and walks away.
The best part about this episode was the interaction between Duncan and Richie, in my humble opinion. They seem to be working at patching things up, but in this episode it seemed to me that the dynamic had shifted from one of teacher and pupil to one of equals. They were more quick to fight, and Richie was more willing to hold his own and not back down, even when he ended up doing what Duncan told him. Lots of good scenes, which I tried to fill in as much as I could, especially the one in the loft. On another note, Richie was also a lot more relaxed in this episode than in the two previous ones. He smiled more, and when he was with Jennifer he was often a little shy, too. There wasn't as much of the bitterness that was there in "End of Innocence" and "Money No Object."
Next week, "Little Tin God"!!!
These pages are written by Jinjifore and are translated into HTML and maintained by Ian.
Disclaimer: All the dialogue, characters, situations, and darn near everything else belong to a bunch of fine and talented folks at Rysher Entertainment and Panzer/Davis, and in particular the dialogue belongs to the credited writer of this episode. Me, I just wrote the rest down in my own words, which belong to me, but the episode itself was made by the aforementioned people and is owned by them. This humble synopsis isn't meant to infringe on their rights, and I'm sure as heck not making any money from doing these.
Everything not belonging to Rysher, et al, ©Copyright 1997 by Jinjifore
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