It's another one of those convoluted episodes, which has some very high points and hits a few sour notes.
Duncan was an actor who looked quite nice in that dress as he played in fellow Immortal Walter Graham's traveling Shakespeare show. Forwarding to present time, we see Duncan playing host to the famous and pretentious pianist Claudia Jardine, whose career he has aided through the years. Claudia is pre-Immortal and Walter shows up on the scene and wants to shove her off her mortal coil, so her Immortality will protect all her talent at its peak of freshness. Duncan objects to this plan, of course.
Methos(AKA Adam Pierson) is also on the scene, sniffing after Joe's waitress Alexa, who tragically enough, is dying. Alexa refuses Methos' advances until he convinces her that she can spend the rest of her life dying or living. She chooses to go on the road with Methos, no doubt because the alternative is unthinkable.
Walter succeeds in killing Claudine, and her initial elation at becoming Immortal is somewhat offset by the fact that her musical talent seems to have taken a hike with her mortality. She gets really pissed at Walter, who thinks it can be overcome if she'll just try harder.
Duncan thinks Claudine should start learning to fight. Claudine figures out that a fear of death is a healthy thing for a musician to have, so she refuses, and her playing improves somewhat. Duncan and Walter do a little duel, and Walter decides 'tis the better part of valor to let Claudine go her own way.
Questions:
1. The obvious high point in this episode is Duncan in a dress, acting all girly. Is there an obvious low point?
2. Duncan seems to have a slight case of unrequited lust for Claudine. What did he see in her?
3. Walter is an Immortal With A Problem. He wants so badly to be talented that he's spent centuries shepherding those who are talented and basking in their glory. In Claudia he has found a talented Immortal and she refuses to be the sunshine of his life. A "possible" answer to his problem may have been to gain a small, recurring role on an action adventure series and spend the twilight years of that series attending conventions where he would be worshipped in his own right. Any other suggestions for Walter's Life Problem?
4. The female audience seems to take a collective shudder when Methos utters "because the alternative is unthinkable." If he had uttered those words while wearing blue boxer shorts and little else, would the effect have been any stronger? What if he had uttered those words while wearing blue boxer shorts and little else, while reclining invitationally on a couch or bed? What if he had uttered those words while wearing blue boxer shorts and little else, while reclining invitationally on a couch or bed, and the only other person in the room was Amanda? Duncan? Joe? Renee Delaney? Kronos?