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Onwards we go
Of the two episodes under review this time, I have no memory of ever watching the first before and a very clear memory of the second. Possibly I never did watch this first one...
Zirkusluft
Circus air... circus atmosphere? Feeling of circus? None of those are the greatest titles, I have to say. Not that the English one of 'The Lady and the Tiger' is any better though since the tigers are purely set-dressing and hardly integral to the plot!
Anyway, it is Amanda's first appearance which I nearly forgot to be excited about because I was so excited about the bonus Jason Isaacs as the bad guy. There I was at the start thinking, 'hm, Mr Escaping Prisoner looks a bit familiar... OMG, it's Jason Isaacs! Hi Jason Isaacs!' Clearly he got his career in playing villains off to a nice early start. (I think he looks taller as Lucius Malfoy though. Maybe it's the hair.) He seemed to be rather handy with a sword too - it certainly looked like he was doing a fair amount of his own fast fencing moves
Amanda's introduction was... interesting. If it wasn't for the fact that Duncan is clearly fond of her I'm not sure she would be very likeable as yet, considering she spent most of the episode ostensibly setting Duncan up to be killed. And I certainly can't blame Tessa for being very dubious.
I was startled to have Amanda steal Blaine's quickening from Duncan and for Duncan not to react by more than a Look - while it was nice for a female immortal to hace a sword and be prepared to defend herself (Grace Chandel's apparent lack of weaponry/willingness to fight bothered me a little) it would have been even nicer if she had actually fought rather than just interfered when Duncan had already won. Not particularly honourable which... Gah, trying to think what I mean here. I have nothing against characters being expedient/pragmatic/whatever in the interests of survival but I don't see any point to what Amanda did here. She wasn't in danger, neither was Duncan, it was just unnecessary. Actually, I think it would have bothered me less if Duncan had complained about it afterwards! It surely can't just be fanon that the duels are meant to be one-on-one?
I did like Duncan's scene with the circus guys where he argued his circus-folk credentials and the horseriding bit was cool. And I loved his interruption of the robbery by tossing a coin and setting the alarm off. And the flashback was fun! Always nice to see historical!Duncan with his kit off and enjoying himself (um, enjoying himself fighting, I should add).
Das Geheimnis des Modeschoepfers
*giggles* The Secret of the Fashion Designer! Oh, German titles, I love you and your literalness. Also known as 'Eye of the Beholder'.
And I think this is the very first appearance of the 'Duncan beheads an old friend due to the friend's moral turpitude' plot! Ah, that old favourite...
For some reason, I remembered loads of scenes from this episode. I don't think I've seen it more than once so I'm not quite sure why because there was nothing amazingly standout about it. But I remembered the fashion show and the fruits de mer scene in the cafe very clearly. And the drunken dancing by historical!Duncan, who may as well have been hysterical!Duncan for his effect on me. What was that outfit?!
I think the whole 'oh, mortals will die anyway so who cares if I kill them' attitude from bad Immortals is getting a little boring now, but at least Piton had a vaguely interesting obsession behind his actions. It would have been good to get some kind of reason for why he went bad - or was it just that he always had that attitude and Duncan never picked up on it before? Hmm.
It would have been a much better episode if the girl playing Maya had been able to make any facial expressions denoting emotion rather than general vacantness. And I was not impressed with her attempt at escaping - the stabbing with scissors was rather good but she ruined it all afterwards by jogging gently down the stairs towards a corner instead of sprinting to the door like a sensible person. And how did Duncan get in? Richie entered from ground level and came up the stairs, Duncan appeared on the gallery... Oh, also not impressed with Richie falling for the most obvious trap in creation! But I did like the little scene of beating Tessa at chess, that was nice touch.
Only three episodes to go and then series one is over. If I remember rightly, the Watchers should be entering soon, stage left... I'm looking forward to Joe's arrival but less so to Darius' departure, sigh.
Zirkusluft
Circus air... circus atmosphere? Feeling of circus? None of those are the greatest titles, I have to say. Not that the English one of 'The Lady and the Tiger' is any better though since the tigers are purely set-dressing and hardly integral to the plot!
Anyway, it is Amanda's first appearance which I nearly forgot to be excited about because I was so excited about the bonus Jason Isaacs as the bad guy. There I was at the start thinking, 'hm, Mr Escaping Prisoner looks a bit familiar... OMG, it's Jason Isaacs! Hi Jason Isaacs!' Clearly he got his career in playing villains off to a nice early start. (I think he looks taller as Lucius Malfoy though. Maybe it's the hair.) He seemed to be rather handy with a sword too - it certainly looked like he was doing a fair amount of his own fast fencing moves
Amanda's introduction was... interesting. If it wasn't for the fact that Duncan is clearly fond of her I'm not sure she would be very likeable as yet, considering she spent most of the episode ostensibly setting Duncan up to be killed. And I certainly can't blame Tessa for being very dubious.
I was startled to have Amanda steal Blaine's quickening from Duncan and for Duncan not to react by more than a Look - while it was nice for a female immortal to hace a sword and be prepared to defend herself (Grace Chandel's apparent lack of weaponry/willingness to fight bothered me a little) it would have been even nicer if she had actually fought rather than just interfered when Duncan had already won. Not particularly honourable which... Gah, trying to think what I mean here. I have nothing against characters being expedient/pragmatic/whatever in the interests of survival but I don't see any point to what Amanda did here. She wasn't in danger, neither was Duncan, it was just unnecessary. Actually, I think it would have bothered me less if Duncan had complained about it afterwards! It surely can't just be fanon that the duels are meant to be one-on-one?
I did like Duncan's scene with the circus guys where he argued his circus-folk credentials and the horseriding bit was cool. And I loved his interruption of the robbery by tossing a coin and setting the alarm off. And the flashback was fun! Always nice to see historical!Duncan with his kit off and enjoying himself (um, enjoying himself fighting, I should add).
Das Geheimnis des Modeschoepfers
*giggles* The Secret of the Fashion Designer! Oh, German titles, I love you and your literalness. Also known as 'Eye of the Beholder'.
And I think this is the very first appearance of the 'Duncan beheads an old friend due to the friend's moral turpitude' plot! Ah, that old favourite...
For some reason, I remembered loads of scenes from this episode. I don't think I've seen it more than once so I'm not quite sure why because there was nothing amazingly standout about it. But I remembered the fashion show and the fruits de mer scene in the cafe very clearly. And the drunken dancing by historical!Duncan, who may as well have been hysterical!Duncan for his effect on me. What was that outfit?!
I think the whole 'oh, mortals will die anyway so who cares if I kill them' attitude from bad Immortals is getting a little boring now, but at least Piton had a vaguely interesting obsession behind his actions. It would have been good to get some kind of reason for why he went bad - or was it just that he always had that attitude and Duncan never picked up on it before? Hmm.
It would have been a much better episode if the girl playing Maya had been able to make any facial expressions denoting emotion rather than general vacantness. And I was not impressed with her attempt at escaping - the stabbing with scissors was rather good but she ruined it all afterwards by jogging gently down the stairs towards a corner instead of sprinting to the door like a sensible person. And how did Duncan get in? Richie entered from ground level and came up the stairs, Duncan appeared on the gallery... Oh, also not impressed with Richie falling for the most obvious trap in creation! But I did like the little scene of beating Tessa at chess, that was nice touch.
Only three episodes to go and then series one is over. If I remember rightly, the Watchers should be entering soon, stage left... I'm looking forward to Joe's arrival but less so to Darius' departure, sigh.
no subject
And I don't know what was up with the stolen quickening either - as you say, that was just completely unnecessary and doesn't make any sense.
(Also, true thing: I didn't even realise it was Jason Isaacs. I'll have to pay more attention next time ...)
Still: Amanda! For the very first time! ♥
no subject
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten that bit. I did find that annoying too.
she has reason to be confident he'll find his way out of whatever she throws at him
Yeah, but at this point we the audience don't know that she does! Or how much of a relationship they have beyond that one encounter in the flashback. I'll give them that it keeps her mostly in-line with the character's later appearances in the series, but I don't think it was the most sympathetic way to introduce her. Maybe they weren't planning on her being around that much?
no subject
But as you say, at least they kept that part consistent, which is something. And I sort of like that she got a less-than-completely sympathetic introduction and then grew into what she became. ♥