Ask not for whom the bell tolls ...
It tolls for the ponytail, which gets short shrift after Mac spends a year in a monastery, mourning for Richie and girding his loins to do battle with Ahriman. Thus shorn, Mac heads for Paris and happens on to Joe Dawson at Richie's grave. Joe is understandably upset that everyone had disappeared as soon as Mac whacked Richie, and he was left to bury Richie alone.
Mac explains about the millennial appearance of Ahriman, the Zoroastrian demon, and how he is the appointed Champion and will need the help of the Watchers in order to carry out his function. Joe, being Joe and being Mac's friend, agrees.
Mac rescues the drowning Sophie Baines from the river, not knowing that Sophie is already dead and under orders from Ahriman to kill Mac. Her reward for killing Mac would be staying alive, or returning to life, actually. Sophie was Jason Landry's assistant and knows what Ahriman is all about. She chooses to return to death rather than allowing herself to be used as Ahriman's instrument or allowing her brother to kill Mac. Before she leaves Mac, she tells him what she knows about his forthcoming battle, which was that he must defeat the evil in his own way.
Questions:
1. Ahriman's color is red. Red smoke, red eyes, a red rose. Mac has retreated into shades of pale clothing instead of his more normal rich silk colors, and the barge is a study in the concept of "less is less". Mac is ascetic to the bone during this period. What is the virtue in this? Must he truly strip himself of all outside concerns in order to fight this battle?
2. Ahriman takes on the shape and form of Mac's enemies, uses the shades of the dead to accomplish his will. Mac studies and meditates, preparing for a battle of which he knows not the time or place. His strength must come from within, which suggests that the battle to come will be within him. He has had to do battle within himself before in the Holy Hot Tub. Is it possible that the Dark Quickening was actually the first major strike of Ahriman against Duncan MacLeod? Is it possible that many of Mac's interior battles have been precursors to what he must endure from Ahriman?
3. Sophie seems to be a cipher in this episode, a place-holder, a vessel upon which Ahriman works his will and who is expected to do his bidding; but she chooses to take the side of the Champion instead of obeying her nominal master. Is her choice a sign to Mac that the battle can be won, regardless of the odds, even if at great cost?
4. We speak not of hair, nor of pants. We merely stand in silent grief at Mac's loss of style and studliness by his choice of hairdo and wardrobe. We blame Ahriman, who now has a heavy karmic debt to pay, even if his other demonic acts were deemed acceptable by the Dark Powers.