Comments | hmpf: Oddly touching, oddly disturbing...

hmpf

Oddly touching, oddly disturbing...

Feb 10, 2006 02:19

I'm still in the grip of the Evil Real Life Monster, but occasionally I watch bits and pieces of HL in between. Today I watched the scene in Rev. 6:8 where Kronos and Methos meet Silas in the woods ( Read more... )

methos, horsemen

Comments 10

steelvictory February 10 2006, 02:25:14 UTC

And that's why we love him!!

amonitrate February 10 2006, 04:21:41 UTC

Dunno, I would go with 2 over 1. I think he's probably not thinking of betraying Silas at that point. I never believed he was acting out of a well-thought-out plan at that time. He seemed to be reacting, instead, trying to stay one step ahead of Kronos, and mostly failing. So not manipulating as much as playing damage control. He seemed to look at Silas differently than the other two - yes, I think he genuinely *liked* Silas. Kronos he admired and feared, and Caspian he just felt distain towards. My interpretation is that he probably wasn't counting on MacLeod at that point, but hoped MacLeod would be a way out.

Though the master-manipulator theory has just as much evidence, I'm sure. That's the fun thing about Methos.

sylviavolk2000 February 10 2006, 05:35:16 UTC

And in the episode "Methos" he seemed to be reacting on the fly to everything. Improvising. Of course, what he does in one episode may not be symptomatic of the way he'd behave at another time.

I'm kind of reluctant to consider the early Methos eps 'canon'... hmpf February 10 2006, 12:44:05 UTC

I mean, yeah, they obviously are, but rather too often I get the impression the writers didn't really know what they wanted to do with the character yet, and so some of his actions seem to be a bit 'off' - at least to me. (And possibly also to the writers, in retrospect - Methos' remark in 'The Messenger', about the false Methos offering Richie his head because "he knew you wouldn't take it" seems a bit like the writer(s) offering us another explanation for Methos offering his head to Duncan more in keeping with 'later Methos', kind of a very subtle bit of retcon ( ... )

lannamichaels February 10 2006, 19:16:58 UTC

I'm not so sure that even Methos could plot that much in advance. I think telling Kronos about the other horsemen at the end of CAH was his Plan X. Don't think he realized he'd need to kill Silas until the monkey scene.

Well, I don't think he was plotting ahead in the sense of... hmpf February 10 2006, 20:27:54 UTC

'having a definitive, step-by-step plan on how to proceed'. But I can't imagine that he didn't think about possible outcomes of his actions at all. Outcomes, plural. That probably includes ones that wouldn't harm Silas as well as ones in which he gets killed. I'm not saying Methos deliberately planned for the latter, but he must have been aware that it would be a possible, even likely, outcome once he dragged MacLeod into it all. And he's beginning to leave a trail for MacLeod by the time they're in Romania to break Caspian out of the loony bin, which, I assume, is only a short time after they've collected Silas. And I really can't see him offering to lead Kronos to Silas and Caspian in the first place without having *any* kind of idea what he's going to do next. I'm not saying there was a definitive plan at the time, but certainly, beginnings of plans must have been brewing in his mind. I see him as pretty much playing it by ear, but even if you're playing it by ear you have to be aware of the options. And one of Methos' options at ( ... )

Trying to phrase what I *really* mean more clearly... hmpf February 10 2006, 20:47:00 UTC

(*g*)

I think what bothers me is that I *think* Methos is ready to betray pretty much anyone at the drop of a hat if the stakes are high enough. Which, on the one hand, is a very sensible 'skill'... but on the other hand makes him a frelling unpredictable, unreliable friend.

Re: Trying to phrase what I *really* mean more clearly... amonitrate February 11 2006, 01:14:02 UTC

hmm. I see why this bothers you. I just can't see him that way, I guess. It's a totally valid view of the character, though. I tend to see him as consistently saying one thing but doing another. I think he's pragmatic enough to do things we might think are morally over the line (standing by while Caspian kills the doctor), but I've never been convinced he would have become the Horseman again. Sins of omission, perhaps, rather than commission.

If Silas hadn't been sent to kill Cassandra, I'm not sure Methos would have fought him. And until the moment Kronos saw him fighting Silas it seemed to me that Methos was mostly on the defense, holding Silas off rather than actively trying to kill him.

Anyhow, maybe I'm choosing to view him through rose-coloured glasses.

Thread 6