The Highlander series was a spin-off from the Highlander movies. Starring a different MacLeod, Duncan. There's something about Adrian Paul that gives off an old worldly persona that made it believable that he really was a guy that was 400 years old. Duncan was humble, charming, romantic, and principled. The flashbacks over the seasons told his story. He was a phenomenal character. Adrian Paul was made for this role. He played the part to perfection. In many ways, since this is in series form, it gives it many advantages over the movie, such as character development, relationship longevity & development, and the development of the mythology about the immortals.
The action and sword fights were top notched. Season one had him with Tessa, his girlfriend, and Richie. Tessa was classy, cultured, sophisticated, and complimented Duncan well. I love that he had an established relationship and the viewers didn't have to put up with a parade of love interest pairings. Later Joe, Amanda, and Methos are recurring characters in the show. They were excellent additions.
The show is set in America and France. Usually half in each country per season. Unfortunately, the dubbing for the French actors was awful. It sounded like they were reading rather than performing a part.
Seasons 2-4 were the best. Season 5 is a mixture. Season 6 is garbage. I also loved season one because of the group of three with Duncan, Tessa, & Richie. There are some lemons, Adrian Paul's acting starts out a little weak but gradually improves. Keep watching the series, it gets better. There's a warmth to the show. You care about the characters. There are actually many touching episodes. Homeland is my favorite.
The stories are really good. But something starts happening later on. In one or two episodes in season 4, then in many in season 5, Duncan starts becoming more "zen." Zen isn't necessarily a bad thing but for an action show, it didn't play out well for the lead character. It leads to him becoming self-righteous, judgmental, and hypocritical. I mean you understand where he's coming from, but then he does things that are contrary to his own judgments. Let me put it this way, it's not okay for other immortals to seek revenge, but it's okay for him to seek revenge.
Season 6 is garbage. I'd advise not to watch it. You'd have to also skip the last episode of season 5 because it was a cliffhanger. From what I understand season 5 was supposed to be the last season, but at the last minute, they renewed it for a 6th season. Unfortunately, many of the actors weren't available since they thought the series was over and moved on to other projects. Adrian couldn't always be there due to shooting the Highlander Endgame movie. In fact, he's not in two episodes out of the 13 they had. The cliffhanger ending from season 5 is continued in the first 2 episodes of season 6. They were boring and stinky. Many of the other episodes barely had Duncan in it, as they were trying to spin this off, so they brought in female immortals and told their stories, to see which would be a good spin-off. They should have done the spin-off thing earlier in the series. Look at Xena. She appeared in three episodes in season one of Hercules and they realized they she would make a great spin-off show. Though, I think it would have been a mistake to do all those test episodes, especially with next to nothing of Duncan.
Warning: there's a lot of sexism and misogynistic things in the series. Pretty much no female immortal can fight. Mac has to fight for them. This was a major turn-off such as with the character of Amanda. There is also a huge amount of abuse towards women. Tessa is constantly victimized. A lazy writing set-up so Mac can come rescue her all the time. The character of Anne, one of Duncan's love interest later on is written as a busy body and frankly dumb as she put herself in harms way also endangering other people. The love scenes at times seem very exploitive of women, over-long and the cameras angling at certain areas of women. There are rapey situations that are brushed over and not talked about. The series is still great despite all this, but one definitely notices and it may turn-off some people. I managed to get through, but I also commented on these things on my episode reviews.
If you are a huge fan of the Highlander movie and a purist, then you may not like this. However, if you are more open-minded, loved the Highlander movie, and want something in that same universe, then you may love this series. I'd also recommend for people that liked Hercules and Xena, love action, fantasy, and the historical genre. I gave it a 7/10
The action and sword fights were top notched. Season one had him with Tessa, his girlfriend, and Richie. Tessa was classy, cultured, sophisticated, and complimented Duncan well. I love that he had an established relationship and the viewers didn't have to put up with a parade of love interest pairings. Later Joe, Amanda, and Methos are recurring characters in the show. They were excellent additions.
The show is set in America and France. Usually half in each country per season. Unfortunately, the dubbing for the French actors was awful. It sounded like they were reading rather than performing a part.
Seasons 2-4 were the best. Season 5 is a mixture. Season 6 is garbage. I also loved season one because of the group of three with Duncan, Tessa, & Richie. There are some lemons, Adrian Paul's acting starts out a little weak but gradually improves. Keep watching the series, it gets better. There's a warmth to the show. You care about the characters. There are actually many touching episodes. Homeland is my favorite.
The stories are really good. But something starts happening later on. In one or two episodes in season 4, then in many in season 5, Duncan starts becoming more "zen." Zen isn't necessarily a bad thing but for an action show, it didn't play out well for the lead character. It leads to him becoming self-righteous, judgmental, and hypocritical. I mean you understand where he's coming from, but then he does things that are contrary to his own judgments. Let me put it this way, it's not okay for other immortals to seek revenge, but it's okay for him to seek revenge.
Season 6 is garbage. I'd advise not to watch it. You'd have to also skip the last episode of season 5 because it was a cliffhanger. From what I understand season 5 was supposed to be the last season, but at the last minute, they renewed it for a 6th season. Unfortunately, many of the actors weren't available since they thought the series was over and moved on to other projects. Adrian couldn't always be there due to shooting the Highlander Endgame movie. In fact, he's not in two episodes out of the 13 they had. The cliffhanger ending from season 5 is continued in the first 2 episodes of season 6. They were boring and stinky. Many of the other episodes barely had Duncan in it, as they were trying to spin this off, so they brought in female immortals and told their stories, to see which would be a good spin-off. They should have done the spin-off thing earlier in the series. Look at Xena. She appeared in three episodes in season one of Hercules and they realized they she would make a great spin-off show. Though, I think it would have been a mistake to do all those test episodes, especially with next to nothing of Duncan.
Warning: there's a lot of sexism and misogynistic things in the series. Pretty much no female immortal can fight. Mac has to fight for them. This was a major turn-off such as with the character of Amanda. There is also a huge amount of abuse towards women. Tessa is constantly victimized. A lazy writing set-up so Mac can come rescue her all the time. The character of Anne, one of Duncan's love interest later on is written as a busy body and frankly dumb as she put herself in harms way also endangering other people. The love scenes at times seem very exploitive of women, over-long and the cameras angling at certain areas of women. There are rapey situations that are brushed over and not talked about. The series is still great despite all this, but one definitely notices and it may turn-off some people. I managed to get through, but I also commented on these things on my episode reviews.
If you are a huge fan of the Highlander movie and a purist, then you may not like this. However, if you are more open-minded, loved the Highlander movie, and want something in that same universe, then you may love this series. I'd also recommend for people that liked Hercules and Xena, love action, fantasy, and the historical genre. I gave it a 7/10