They can't stand each other, and it all has to do because Amanda won Kit's saloon (The Double Eagle) in a poker game back in 1888 San Francisco. Well, it has something to do with how Amanda treated Kit after winning the saloon, and how she wouldn't give him his lucky Double Eagle coin back, and how the saloon, renamed The Queen of Spades, mysteriously burned to the ground soon thereafter. Immortal Kit has had a terrible run of luck, about a hundred years' worth, if you must know. But he wins a stake in a game of Mah Jongg and decides to buy a race horse, with a little help from his friend, man of means and perpetual patsy, Duncan MacLeod. Unfortunately for them all, Amanda comes a-visting. Duncan and Richie try to keep them apart, but Amanda puts Richie under her spell, and the pair are reunited at the track.
They draw swords and they fight, behead each other and Richie and Duncan share the Double Quickening!!! No? No. Richie has worked a deal which makes Duncan half owner of the race horse (named Double Eagle, what else?), and Amanda assumes that the half-horse is a gift for her. Duncan doesn't disagree with her assumption, so Kit and Amanda are partners in ownership of the horse. They agree to see how the horse's first race comes out, and then they'll fight. Winner take all. Horse, head, and Quickening. Double Eagle (shortly to be renamed Queen of Spades if Amanda takes Kit's head) wins the race. Kit and Amanda prepare to do battle, but Duncan races to the rescue with proof that Kit could not possibly have burned down the Queen of Spades saloon. They repair to the dojo where they draw cards for ownership of the horse. Kit wins because Amanda lies about the card she drew. Amanda apologizes to Duncan for losing his half-horse.
Questions:
1. Was there anything, anything at all, that would indicate to Amanda that Duncan meant to give her half of that horse? Or did she just steal it by means of Duncan's good nature? Are we really sure she didn't steal that bracelet out of Debra Campbell's grave? After all, he would have wanted her to have it. Right?
2. Does Duncan have any friends at all who are willing to give to him instead of stealing him blind? The "right thing to do" would have been for Kit to pay Duncan for the half-horse that Amanda so graciously let him "win" in the card drawing. He didn't, though, or did he?
3. I suppose it would have taken all the fun out of the episode if Duncan had just said to Kit and Amanda "be civilized or get out", instead of resorting to all that subterfuge to keep them apart. Or was that whole routine just Duncan's way of amusing himself and his friends? Is it all just a game to relieve pressure of The Game? If this is true, does this increase the interpretations of Duncan's lifestyle exponentially or arithmetically?