Manhunt

This week's Baseball on TV post is from Highlander.

The episode Manhunt is from the fifth season of the show. The cool intro is not from season five, (judging by Lisa Howard in the credits, my guess is season three) but it gives you a good idea of what the show is about...



The recap of this episode is aided by this web page HERE.

Carl Robinson is an Immortal. He is now pitching for generic Major League Baseball team. He is signing autographs and talking with Trey Franks, his pitching coach. You know, a normal day at the stadium. That's when he senses another Immortal...on the roof of the stadium:

Cut to Carl coming out onto the roof. The other immortal is waiting, and Carl asks what he wants.

Corman: "Your autograph, star man. Like, I just totally can't live without it."

He goes on to tell Carl that he saw him on tv the other night. "You got a problem with southpaws."

Carl: "Yeah? So?"

Corman: "So..." He whips out his sword left-handed. "I'm a southpaw."

Carl draws and faces him, telling him he's "got the wrong place and the wrong time," but Corman doesn't listen. They start to fight. Down near the field, the fans who were getting autographs earlier are checking out Carl's Lamborghini. Cut back to Corman, from waist down. He stumbles back, then the body tumbles over the edge of the roof and plummets down to the field. The fans look up from the car as the quickening starts throwing lightning to the field lights, etc. They run to the field as others come to see what the commotion is about, and everyone recoils back with noises of disgust and disbelief as they see the body.

Franks, coming onto the field, looks up and sees Carl on the roof, and so does everyone else. When the Quickening is over, Carl looks down.

Carl: "NO! You don't understand!"

He had to take his head! It is what Immortals do! Usually they do their sword fighting in empty warehouses or empty beaches. But this guy had to change the rules. Now, Carl is on the run and there is no way anyone will sign him.

Duncan McLeod, The Highlander for those of you who didn't hit the intro, is a friend of Carl's and is called in to help. But, there is a complication. Matthew McCormick, the special agent in charge of the investigation, is also an Immortal and he also has a connection to Carl.

Flashback to Louisiana, 1859:

Carl voiceover, explaining about his life as a slave as we see him pushing a cart. He says his owner was a man named Seth Hobart, and that Seth's youngest daughter had gotten knocked up, and "she had to name somebody, so she said it was me." After the daughter points out Carl, Seth [Carl's owner] goes to him and starts to beat him, but Carl gets away and runs through the field with Seth in pursuit. Seth shoots him in the back and leaves him for dead, "only thing was, I couldn't die."

Carl says he ran for days, but he was still a slave and he soon ran into two men who caught him. They were taking him to sell him or get the reward, when Carl felt for the first time the presence of another immortal. As the immortal rode nearer, Carl saw that it was Matthew, who he knew because he was married to Seth's oldest daughter. Matthew buys Carl from the two men at double the price.

Carl, voiceover: "I didn't know what to make of him, but I sure as hell thought I was dead."

Carl pleads with Matthew not to take him back, tries to explain what happen. Matthew says nothing, just turns and then whips out his sword. Carl falls on his knees, and as Matthew swings he flings up his chained hands to fend off the blow. But instead of hitting him, Matthew slices neatly through the chains. Carl looks up at him in astonishment, and Matthew smiles.

In the Highlander Universe, you must die once to become an Immortal. Typically older Immortals take in new Immortals and mentor them. The evil Immortals will take a new Immortal under his or her wings for a time, allowing the new guy or girl to gain knowledge and experience. Then, when the Quickening will be a really good one, that is when they do the head losing thing. But, that is not what this is McCormick is about:

A house sitting on the water. Carl and Matthew are talking, discussing the approaching war. Matthew says he wishes they had more time, but it's probably best for Carl to leave. Carl agrees, but says he'll miss the South, somehow. Matthew says it won't "be a whole lot easier out there."

Carl: "You're telling me. But I know what I am now. I know how to survive. You taught me that."

Matthew: "You'd have done the same."

Carl: "No, sir. See, you taught me something else: That not every white man uses a whip. You've been more than my teacher. You've been a friend."

Matthew looks uncomfortable, gets up walks to the edge of the porch. He suggest the Carl head north, for Chicago, and Carl says he will, but he has a few things to take care of.

Matthew: "Any of those things have a name?"

Carl says it's none of Matthew's business.

Matthew: "The hell it isn't! If you're talking about Seth Hobart you can just forget it." Tells Carl to stay away from him.

Carl: "The man is pure evil!"

Matthew says Carl is immortal now, it's time to put away mortal concerns. He reminds Carl that he also taught him about forgiveness, "the power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness, and decency is something else you gotta learn."

Carl: "Are you defending him?"

Matthew: "What I am, is married to his daughter." Matthew tells Carl to leave Seth be, that if he doesn't he'll hunt him down. "You have my word on that."

So much for promises. Carl goes to his former owner; scares the heck out of him, since Carl is supposed to be, you know, dead; starts beating him, and kills him and his former owner's son. This will have repercussions.

Back in the present day, Carl winds up getting arrested and Duncan tries to get McCormick to drop the case. Because once Carl goes into prison it will only be a matter of time before someone finds out the secret that he is Immortal. The problem is solved, for the moment, when Carl's pitching coach confesses to the crime.

Problem solved? Not quite. Duncan can't bear to see an innocent man go to prison. He talks Carl, beats the heck out of him really, to do the right thing. But, there is still that nasty vendetta that McCormick has going on.

Duncan and Carl meet Matthew in the bleachers. Carl says he can't take back what happened in Louisiana. Matthew says he can pay for it.

Duncan tries to convince him that Carl's changed. Carl says there was some justice in what he did, that those men were slavers. Matthew says they were his friends and that "I told you I'd come after you." Draws, and Carl follows suit.

Duncan: "Your honor won't be served by Carl's death, just your pride, and your vanity."

Matthew says he gave his word, and Carl says he doesn't hold it against him.

Carl: "You do what you have to, just like I did what I had to." He goes on to ask for one favor, if Matthew should win. He wants him to make sure Franks goes free, and he wants Matthew to promise that he'll tell him that he's not a nobody, that his life has a point. "Can I trust you to do that?"

Matthew nods. Duncan asks Matthew to listen, to ask himself if he wants to kill him. Carl tells him to get out, and Carl and Matthew square off.

Duncan to Matthew: "You can forgive him!" (quieter) "You can forgive him."

Matthew looks at Duncan, then back at Carl...

In the end, evidence is brought in to prove that Carl did the killing of the other Immortal. When the police go to arrest him at an abandoned warehouse (now, they get the abandoned warehouse), Carl refuses to go quitely. He appears outside with a gun and is ready to start firing. The police gun down Carl. McCormick clears the case.

Later, Carl wakes up in the morgue and is ready to start over again.