Dr Anne is with us, very much with us, and she's carrying a small dividend gained from seeking the comfort of a friend after Duncan died. They could have called this episode "Mood Swings". Would have had the same initials. Wouldn't have had to change a thing. Anne is in a really foul mood and a mystified Duncan seeks the answer. Turns out she's pregnant and she doesn't know how he'll take the news. He has to think about it, but he decides Okay Fine. Let's be a family. But then fate steps in.
Nazi Immortal Ernst Daimler was killed and sunk to the bottom of the Seine back in WWII. 50 years later he's on dry ground and looking for revenge on the folk who sank him.
Revenge in particular upon the person of Bernard, a kid who worked with the French Resistance during the war, who grew up to be a priest. Father Bernard. Daimler kills Bernard's old Resistance cohort Georges. It's time for Duncan to get involved. He worked with the French Resistance, too, and Bernard witnessed his being killed and reviving, so Bernard has an inkling of what's going on.
Anne tries to convince Father Bernard to stay on Holy Ground, knowing that Daimler can do them no harm there; but Bernard flees and gets whacked by the wily Nazi. Duncan whacks Daimler with Anne cheering him on. Anne decides she must leave Duncan because she hates the fact that she wanted Daimler to die.
Questions:
1. Given that Duncan seems doomed by fate to remain unmarried forever, did Dr Anne really have a choice about leaving him? Was she truly waffling over their relationship or just accepting reality?
2. I am interested that the kid Bernard showed such courage in the face of the Nazis, but as an adult and a priest, broke and ran to his death when assured that there was safety on Holy Ground. Anyone else see problems with this? In at least a philosophical "what happened to faith?" kind of way?
3. This episode demonstrates the circle of fate philosophy that is a large part of Highlander. Immortals meet. If they both survive the initial meeting, they must meet again and again until one dies. This is true for friends as well as enemies. Makes Immortality seem a depressing sort of business, doesn't it? But isn't the life of a mortal controlled by that same circle of fate?
4. Duncan always looks around 35 years old. He looked around 35 when Bernard was a kid. He looked around 35 when Bernard was an old man. 35 is a pretty good age to be. But doesn't it prove that Duncan has broken the same rules he has impressed upon other Immortals? That if you die, you leave so mortals can't guess your Immortal secret. People recognize him all over Paris, it seems.