She promised him Duncan's head.
Then she ran into our Duncan,
plotted to take Blaine's head instead.
He was her man.
But her man had to go.
Act I, Scene 1. Blaine, in straightjacket, kills his guard, escapes from
the wagon taking him
Act 1, Scene 2. Tessa, Duncan and Richie attend a circus where Amanda is
walking a tightrope. Amanda meets Tessa. They hate each other. Richie
invites Amanda to the barge.
Act 1, Scene 3. Amanda shows up at the barge, invites Duncan to "watch over
her" because she thinks she's being stalked by another Immortal. Duncan
shows up at the circus, runs into Amanda and smirks. Amanda puts on an act
about how she don't need his pity. Blaine makes the scene. Duncan and
Blaine pull swords. Witnesses. End of fight.
And so it goes. We find that Amanda and Duncan have been an item, on and
off, at various and sundry times. We see Amanda set Duncan up to take the
fall for a jewelry heist. We see Duncan humiliate a guy who tries to make
Duncan see the error of his ways, but snapping at him with a riding crop.
Note: that sideways, slanty-eyed look when Duncan says "Do not do that
again" was worth the price of admission. Duncan escapes from the officer and finds that Amanda has stolen his horse.
He steals the officer's horse.
Blaine threatens to take Amanda's head and she tells him it's his own fault
he couldn't take Duncan's head, 'cause he was supposed to show up *later*
when Duncan would be drunk or drugged or somethin'. But if he'd rather make
lots of money, she'll let him in on the theft of this big heavy ugly book
in a museum.
To keep Duncan from interfering in the theft, she has him set upon by
circus clowns and roustabouts. He escapes during an exhibition of his
knife-throwing skills from horse-back.
Duncan shows up at the museum and "accidentally" sets off the alarms.
They all show up back at the circus. Duncan and Blaine fight. Amanda steps
in for the kill, robbing Duncan of the Quickening. Duncan takes the book
back.
Amanda disappears forever.
[snerk]
Questions:
1. Does it strike anyone else odd that one clown at the circus was in full
makeup while the others were *not* and they were obviously not on duty?
2. Did it seem to anyone at all that Amanda's skills on the tightrope were
somewhat short of "Amazing Amanda" billing? An Immortal with years and
years and years of perfecting her tightrope skills should have been much
*more* amazing. Yes?
3. Why would Richie exclaim about how unbelievable it was that he was at a
circus? Why would it be unbelievable? Overkill on the street kid persona?
4. Amanda has obviously never taken advantage of katana space, having to
dive for her sword when confronted by Blaine under the Big Top. Given that
she's survived The Game for centuries, how do we reconcile her blatant
disregard for Simple Immortal Precepts with the fact that she still has a
head attached to her shoulders?
5. We see Amanda overwhelm Richie's simple mind with hormone therapy
several times in the series. Her comparing him to Richard the Lionhearted
was the 1st. Why didn't her references to being a model for Rodin overwhelm
Tessa?
6. Duncan's pants play a major role in the dramatic development of this
episode. Enumerate and discuss.
7. Cutting off half that officer's mustache with a stroke of his sword was
an interesting thing to do. But didn't it come off intact rather handily
for a real mustache? Shouldn't it have had roots holding it to his face at
more than the central point under his nose?
8. Who was the lady and who was the tiger? Elucidate.