This is quite subjective, of course, but I had no trouble picking one. I have lots of favorite scenes, but there's only one scene that stands out in all my viewing memory as the best scene. Not just because it's a great scene by itself, but because it changed everything about the show and characters. Actually, this whole episode did, which is why it's also my favorite episode of the entire series. The episode is also my Most Favorite TV Episode of All Time pick. You start the episode in one place, and by the end, it's a different world. Highlander did that more than once, wrote episodes that just changed your perceptions of how everything worked. It's just one of the many things that I loved about the show, that make it one of my top five favorite TV series.
So yep, my pick for best scene ever comes from Highlander's fifth season episode "Comes a Horseman." It's the MacLeod/Methos "Did you kill all those people?" scene, sometimes called the jimmy scene by fans for the car they're standing beside. Blew my socks off when I saw it the first time, when the show was airing. Must have watched that specific scene at least fifty times since (the entire episode nearly that many times). I had a video tape that was permanently cued up to the scene.
How you know it's my favorite scene of all time? I haven't actually watched that ep in a few years now. But I can still quote it verbatim without having to put it on now. That's how often this scene got played. It's burned indelibly in my brain. Spoilers ahead! Stop now if you ever want to watch Highlander or even this episode from the beginning, cuz this will ruin it.
Methos: "I'm outta here."
Duncan: "No you're not, you're not out of here. Is what she said true?"
Methos: "The times were different, MacLeod, I was different, the whole bloody world was different, okay?"
Duncan: "Did you kill all those people?"
Methos: "Yes. Is that what you want to hear? Killing was all I knew, is that what you want to hear?"
Duncan: "It's enough."
Methos: "No, it is not enough. I killed, but I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred, I killed a thousand, I killed ten thousand. And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance. It wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it. Cassandra was nothing. Her village was nothing. Do you know who I was? I was death! Death on a horse. When mothers warned their children that the monster would get them, that monster was me. I was the nightmare that kept them awake at night. The answer is yes... oh yes."
Duncan: "We're through."
ETA: Should have thought of youtube earlier, because, of course, people have the scene posted.
1 comment:
Good scene. I only ever caught a few episodes of the Highlander series when it aired over here - mostly because it was usually on at 2am or some other ungodly hour - but I liked what I saw.
And, hey - two Brits in starring roles. Can't say fairer than that! Funnily enough, I don't think I've ever seen Adrian Paul in anything else, but he certainly was good in this.
Post a Comment