Episode
Highlander: The Series: The Watchers
Overview
Determined to investigate the death of his old friend Darius, MacLeod follows a lead back to his old stomping grounds in the Pacific Northwest. He meets Joe Dawson, a bookstore owner with a secret; he soon learns that Dawson is a high-ranking member of an ancient secret organization known as The Watchers, who observe and record the lives of the Immortals, passing their archives down from generation to generation. Unbeknownst to Dawson, his brother-in-law, James Horton (the man who killed Darius), has been recruiting Watchers to kill Immortals. We are left with the knowledge that other renegade Watchers may be waiting to try for MacLeod's head.
Details
- Series
- Highlander: The Series
- Season
- Season 2
- Episode
- Episode 1
- Air date
- 1993-10-02
- Runtime
- 48 min
Episode context
The Watchers is Episode 1 in Season 2 of Highlander: The Series. It aired on 1993-10-02. The runtime is 48 min.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Turnabout
Thirty years ago, evil Immortal Quenten Barnes was executed in the electric chair, and promised he'd be back. Escaping the tomb that he has been captive to for the last several decades, Barnes begins hunting down the people involved in his execution. Joe Dawson learns that he has returned and tries to get MacLeod involved in Barnes' apprehension. Mac declines to get involved unless Barnes gets in his way, but when his old friend Michael Moore comes to town, a flashback shows us that Barnes killed Michael's wife and has a long-standing grudge against Michael. Now Mac is involved. He convinces Dawson to share the Watchers' surveillance file on Barnes with him. However, the file isn't much help. As the prosecutor and priest who were at Barnes' execution are killed off one by one, it becomes clear that Barnes will come after Michael next. The story ends with an interesting twist as MacLeod must make a decision that will affect the ""lives"" of two different personalities.
Episode 4: The Darkness
A mortal named Pallin Wolf, one of the renegade Watchers who believes the Immortals must be eliminated, lures an Immortal to his house and kills him, getting the advantage by tricking him into a sealed room that is completely dark, then stalking him with night vision goggles. Meanwhile, a Gypsy fortuneteller they meet in a restaurant, Greta, warns Tessa that she is in danger. When Tessa is kidnapped by Wolf, MacLeod returns to Greta, asking for her help. But she's mostly a hustler, and not accustomed to getting actual visions, so the clues she is able to provide are meager. Finally, Mac finds Wolf's house, where Wolf is waiting for him. He meets Wolf in the dark room and all seems hopeless until he remembers a matchbook Greta gave him with her phone number in it. Lighting the matches, he regains the advantage and kills Wolf. However, as Tessa and Richie are heading for the car, a young junkie accosts them for money, and in an act of senseless violence, shoots them both. As Mac mourns,
Episode 5: Eye for an Eye
When MacLeod and Richie are witness to a terrorist attack on an Ambassador, Richie dives in like a Superhero, cocky with Immortality. In the resulting confusion, one of the terrorists is killed, and another, Annie Devlin, an Immortal, is captured. She swears revenge on Richie, and when she escapes from custody, MacLeod takes on the task of educating Richie so that he will have a chance in combat against her. Meanwhile, Flashbacks reveal an earlier friendship between MacLeod and Annie. Mac renews the friendship, and the two Immortals who have both recently lost their lovers find solace in one another. In the end, Richie defeats Annie but can't bring himself to kill her, and MacLeod convinces her to pursue the blood debt no further.
Episode 6: The Zone
The Zone is a burned-out urban wasteland, abandoned by the police, who figure it's easier to just 'let the animals kill each other.' Now the Zone is being taken over by Canaan, a charismatic leader who urges his followers to take the material possessions that have been denied to them. Joe Dawson comes to MacLeod for help -- one of his men, who was observing Canaan, has been killed. Charlie accompanies MacLeod down to his old neighborhood in the Zone and introduces him to Asia, a nurse at the local clinic, one of few people who haven't given up on the neighborhood. After MacLeod learns that Canaan is not an Immortal, Dawson is ready to drop it. But MacLeod has seen the misery in the Zone, and is determined to break Canaan's hold. He convinces Asia that it's time to stand up for their rights, and he and Charlie arrange a meeting of neighborhood residents who want to take back their streets. But Asia is involved with Canaan, and she's used as bait to lure Mac to his apparent death. Canaan
Episode 7: The Return of Amanda
Amanda, the beautiful Immortal cat-burglar returns to town, telling MacLeod she's retired from her life of crime. He doesn't believe her -- especially when two guys start shooting at them. Mac thinks the guys might be Watchers, but in fact they are FBI Agents. Amanda is in possession of some plates for counterfeit money, stolen in Germany before the War. She's looking for an engraver to change the dates, figuring since she's sworn to give up stealing money, she'll have to print some up. Palance, one of the FBI Agents, sets MacLeod and Amanda up to take the fall for his partner's murder, and demands that they turn the plates over. Mac and Amanda are forced to ""die"" on videotape to catch Palance.
Episode 8: Revenge of the Sword
Jimmy Sang, a former student of Charlie's, is an up-and-coming martial arts movie star. His latest movie is filming some scenes in the dojo. When a stuntman is ""accidentally"" killed, MacLeod is the first to realize that Jimmy's life is in danger. It turns out that the movie is based on Jimmy's youthful experiences as an enforcer for a powerful gang, and now his former boss wants to see him dead.
Episode 9: Run for Your Life
Carl Robinson is an Immortal who MacLeod first met in 1929 when he rescued him from a KKK lynch mob. Back then, Carl was full of plans -- to be a Major League Ballplayer, to be President. But today Carl has given up hope. He and MacLeod meet up again when Carl steals Charlie's car. Mac tries to rekindle Carl's belief in himself, but Carl doesn't want to listen. When a white cop named Carter tries to kill him, Carl attributes the incident to racism, until MacLeod explains about the Watchers who are hunting them. After Carter's partner (also white) helps Carl and MacLeod bring Carter down, Carl decides to give the world another chance.
Episode 10: Epitaph for Tommy
Tommy is an innorcent bystander who's accidentally killed during a swordfight between MacLeod and the Immortal Gallen. Haunted by the unnecessary death, MacLeod tries to find out more about the dead man -- and discovers he isn't exactly the innocent bystander he appeared.
Episode 11: The Fighter
MacLeod's old friend Tommy Sullivan is a scrappy little Irishman, a one-time boxer turned trainer, who can charm anyone into anything. He charms MacLeod into backing his current boxer and charms Charlie into playing Cyrano to help him woo a shy waitress. But when a rival manager who was trying to steal Sully's fighter turns up dead, MacLeod's opinion of his old friend begins to be altered forever.
Episode 12: Under Color of Authority
Richie wants to protect Laura Daniels, a young woman who's on the run from an Immortal bounty hunter, Mako. MacLeod has met Mako before and doesn't like his methods, but he knows the other man is lawful. He questions whether Laura is necessarily innocent. Richie doesn't care, he wants to help her anyway, no matter what it takes. MacLeod is torn between doing what's right and helping his friend. Richie defeats Mako and receives his first Quickening, and he and MacLeod realize it's time for him to move on.