(no subject)
I GOT IT.
Ok. I have been dancing on the edge of this epiphany for an hour and a half at least, if not all day, if not for the past four years.
Richie.
I just watched the episode Archangel ::spit::, at the end of which, Duncan MacLeod takes the head of Richie Ryan.
This is really a very crucial point in the series for a lot of reasons. This is the crux of all things. This is where the road forks.
Richie needed to die. There are a lot of reasons. The most pertinant being these:
The character had outgrown his role in the show. We were tired of the same old Richie storylines that we'd been seeing since season one, and frankly, so was he. He was too strong to be MacLeod's sidekick anymore.
The series, and MacLeod himself, needed something jarring, something shocking like killing off a main character to end the season so that they could come back with a bang in the next season. (Which they didn't, but that's another story.) And the Scot needed it so that he could morph. He hadn't had a reason to change since Tessa died in season 2.
So that's the road The Powers That Be took. And they failed, alienated their fanbase, and the series ended after a shortened season _.
BUT. This is the true glory of fanfiction.
Read it this way -
Richie had grown strong enough to support his own stories. Highlander couldn't have that - the main character was, after all, MacLeod.
But the same old MacLeod stories were wearing thin as well. Coming back with more "go kill the bad guys" episodes can't go on forever. MacLeod was rigid, always the Cheiftain's Son, always the hero, always the one who saw right from wrong and always the one who came out on top.
Richie - ironically enough Richie was more the man who has "seen both darkness and light", as Cassandra says in her prophecy. He has no such clear-cut good and evil views, he has more to explore and learn and develop, which makes him in many ways a more interesting character. 400 was a bad age to put a main character - he's not new, he's old and set in his ways, but he's not *old* like Methos, who has been, done, and seen anything and everything, and thus you can never predict who you'll see next time he walks into the room.
So here is the fork that AC and the Clan Denial take on this road of Highlander. Make RICHIE the focus, and see where he leads you. Make Richie and METHOS the focus - both the young and fresh and the old and protean. And *there*. THAT is where you have your recipe for greatness. THAT is where you can find your heroes.
But they couldn't do that. TPTB couldn't make the Brat the focus. They were too hung up on their precious Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.
The series in its form had run its course. Davis-Panzer had given us what they could. It was our turn. And we are not bound by such trifles as required episode length or what the public would swallow or how much money we could foist into this project. The opportunities in Highlander are *endless* once you get past the "We must follow our stilted, stunted Boy Scout to the death" philosophy.
Right. I need to go read Ouroboros now. Please collect your Stone Chicken at the door.
PS: I do like MacLeod. I'm just a little bitter right now. Just because I have it all reasoned out as to why Richie has to die doesn't mean I have to like it.
Ok. I have been dancing on the edge of this epiphany for an hour and a half at least, if not all day, if not for the past four years.
Richie.
I just watched the episode Archangel ::spit::, at the end of which, Duncan MacLeod takes the head of Richie Ryan.
This is really a very crucial point in the series for a lot of reasons. This is the crux of all things. This is where the road forks.
Richie needed to die. There are a lot of reasons. The most pertinant being these:
The character had outgrown his role in the show. We were tired of the same old Richie storylines that we'd been seeing since season one, and frankly, so was he. He was too strong to be MacLeod's sidekick anymore.
The series, and MacLeod himself, needed something jarring, something shocking like killing off a main character to end the season so that they could come back with a bang in the next season. (Which they didn't, but that's another story.) And the Scot needed it so that he could morph. He hadn't had a reason to change since Tessa died in season 2.
So that's the road The Powers That Be took. And they failed, alienated their fanbase, and the series ended after a shortened season _.
BUT. This is the true glory of fanfiction.
Read it this way -
Richie had grown strong enough to support his own stories. Highlander couldn't have that - the main character was, after all, MacLeod.
But the same old MacLeod stories were wearing thin as well. Coming back with more "go kill the bad guys" episodes can't go on forever. MacLeod was rigid, always the Cheiftain's Son, always the hero, always the one who saw right from wrong and always the one who came out on top.
Richie - ironically enough Richie was more the man who has "seen both darkness and light", as Cassandra says in her prophecy. He has no such clear-cut good and evil views, he has more to explore and learn and develop, which makes him in many ways a more interesting character. 400 was a bad age to put a main character - he's not new, he's old and set in his ways, but he's not *old* like Methos, who has been, done, and seen anything and everything, and thus you can never predict who you'll see next time he walks into the room.
So here is the fork that AC and the Clan Denial take on this road of Highlander. Make RICHIE the focus, and see where he leads you. Make Richie and METHOS the focus - both the young and fresh and the old and protean. And *there*. THAT is where you have your recipe for greatness. THAT is where you can find your heroes.
But they couldn't do that. TPTB couldn't make the Brat the focus. They were too hung up on their precious Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.
The series in its form had run its course. Davis-Panzer had given us what they could. It was our turn. And we are not bound by such trifles as required episode length or what the public would swallow or how much money we could foist into this project. The opportunities in Highlander are *endless* once you get past the "We must follow our stilted, stunted Boy Scout to the death" philosophy.
Right. I need to go read Ouroboros now. Please collect your Stone Chicken at the door.
PS: I do like MacLeod. I'm just a little bitter right now. Just because I have it all reasoned out as to why Richie has to die doesn't mean I have to like it.