Was there ever a brat as bratty as that Michelle Webster? Oh yeah, prob'ly,
but she seems the ultimate brat as she screams away from her parents, into
her car, down the road and into a fatal accident. But we have to think
Silly, silly Duncan! Michelle wants his bod and she wants to try all the
stuff that was off-limits to a mortal teen. Why not? she reasons. It can't
hurt her. But there's the inevitable fly in the ointment, and that fly is
attached to the pants of one Axel Whittaker. Axel, handsome devil that he
is, has made a career of taking in newly Immortal young women and putting
them out as bait. Duncan had run into Axel and one of his shills in 1896
Boston. The young woman asks for Duncan's help, then tries to seduce him. If
Duncan had fallen for it, and fallen into her bed, Duncan would have shortly
been ... uh ... shorter. But Duncan is too noble to take advantage of a
woman down on her luck, so he's able to meet Axel with sword in hand.
Axel survives the encounter, but kills the shill.
Michelle discovers her parents really loved her all this time, but it's too
late. They're in her past now. She watches them bury an empty coffin.
Axel wants Michelle, and he promises her everything Duncan says is
forbidden. Michelle goes for the deal, until Axel gets so brazen that even
she figures out that Axel was using her for bait. Duncan goes to Axel's boat
to rescue Michelle. Michelle decides that Duncan isn't quite the
stick-in-the-mud he appears. After Duncan beheads Axel and has a nice
Quickening, he turns Michelle over to Amanda so Amanda can train her in
proper behavior for a young Immortal woman.
Questions:
1. Is there a particular point to burying that empty coffin? Seems a
needless expense. The coffin, the plot, the service. Seems they might have
wanted to save the pomp and circumstance until a bit later just in case they
really did find a body some day. I understand the need for closure, but this
seems wrong.
2. It would have been wrong, wrong, wrong for Duncan to make whoopee with
Michelle, wouldn't it? Explain why this is so. If you can. I don't promise
not to laugh. But try.
3. As much overnight company as Duncan gets, wouldn't you think he might
consider building a real bedroom in that loft?
4. Axel was pretty studly, quite handsome. If you were Michelle Webster,
newly Immortal and freed from all the strictures of mortal teendom, would
you pick Axel or Duncan? Take hair and pants into consideration, especially
the factoid that Duncan's pants were likely to remain fully zipped in her
presence.
5. Didn't you just love the song that girl sang on stage during the
flashback?