Highlander: The Element of Fire - Season One

Season One

Duncan MacLeod and Tessa Noel have been living in a city in the Pacific North West for several years, where they run an antiques store. One night, a young street punk called Richie Ryan breaks in to the shop whilst they are celebrating Tessa's birthday, but is caught by MacLeod, who threatens to cut off his head with a sword. Stunned by MacLeod's seeming over-reaction, Richie watches in disbelief as another man jumps in through the skylight and challenges the antiques dealer, only to be disconcerted by the appearance of a third man with a japanese sword, who is in turn hunting him. The intruder is Slan Quince, who is hunting Duncan, unaware that he is himself the target of Duncan's kinsman, Connor MacLeod. Intrigued, the kid follows the MacLeods, only to see first Connor, then Duncan fight Slan. He sees Connor defeated, but escape, leaving Duncan to behead Quince. Amazed, he watches Duncan caught at the centre of lightning and explosions as he witnesses, for the first time, a Quickening. Before he leaves, Connor tells Duncan that he must watch Richie, which Duncan does by taking in the boy, who has no family, and employing him in the antiques store. After what he has seen, MacLeod also tells Richie the truth about himself and the others - that he is 400 years old and he, like them, is Immortal. As the series progressed, Macleod encountered Immortals like Howard Crowley whom he killed in revenge for killing an Immortal friend of his and framing an innocent man for it, Kiem Sun and taking in an Immortal student Felice Martens. He even saves Tessa from Immortals like survivalist Caleb Cole(For the first and only time in the series, Tessa sees Duncan caught in the power of a Quickening) and Andrew Ballin who wanted to kill her after she witnessed him killing his former lover. Alexei Voshin, with whom he has an old score to settle, and Walter Reinhardt, another immortal he had crossed paths with before.

The idyllic life of Duncan and Tessa was to be shattered forever by the arrival of a message from one of Mac's teacher, the priest Darius, in "Band Of Brothers" Darius' most powerful enemy, Grayson, was coming to Seacouver, to eliminate a mortal peacemaker and disciple of Darius, Viktor Paulus. Grayson was a lieutenant of Darius when they led an army across Europe in the 5th century, but turned against him when Darius killed the then oldest living Immortal at the gates of Paris and became a man of peace. Determined to protect Tessa and Richie, but uncertain of his ability to handle Grayson, he sends them to Darius for protection, then sets out to face Grayson. Grayson, a fellow Scot, offers MacLeod a position at his right hand, but Duncan refuses. In what is probably the best fight in the series, Grayson takes MacLeod to the limit before the younger Highlander prevails. MacLeod follows his friends to Paris, where he and Tessa decide to stay, living on Duncan's barge; Tessa takes up a post as a curator, Duncan takes up the role of a kept man and Richie that of a fish out of water, in his role as a kept man, Duncan does the shopping, but as he is returning to the barge one morning, he sees a clown dressed as a mime kill an elderly man, ("For Evil's Sake"). Helping the police, he tells them that he could identify the man. The police inspector, LeBrun, is convinced he has seen Duncan before. Later, mysterious men with guns stake out the barge and, when Duncan fells one, he finds that he is a policeman. LeBrun has remembered Duncan - when he was a young gendarme, they were chasing the assassin Kuyler and he saw Duncan then. LeBrun's assistant is in Kuyler's pay, but Duncan silences the mime forever and LeBrun arrests his assistant. Duncan hasn't finished with LeBrun, for when his old enemy Xavier St Cloud crosses his path again, Duncan throws one of Xavier's gas grenades into a cement mixer and LeBrun fishes it out, ("For Tomorrow We Die"). Convinced MacLeod is the gas poisoner, LeBrun tries to run him in whilst, in a race against time, Duncan has to stop Xavier from gassing an exhibition Tessa is organising. Frustrated, Xavier comes for Duncan, but in the fight, Duncan cuts off Xavier's hand and he disappears into the Seine. The series also introduced two old Immortal lovers of Duncan’s. to test Tessa's restraint. Grace Chandel, on the run both from the police, who want to arrest her for killing her husband, and the Immortal ex-lover who was the real killer, the possessive Carlo Sendaro, ("Saving Grace"), was welcomed by Tessa, when Duncan and Darius help her escape, Duncan making sure that Carlo will not trouble her again. The same was not true of Amanda, described by Duncan as "a bad habit". It was in "The Lady & The Tiger" that we first met the unprincipled cat-burglar with a passion for circuses, robbery and 400-year old Scotsmen, here trying to set up MacLeod so that the Immortal thief she had double crossed, Zachary Blaine, would not take her head. In the end, she takes Zachary's, but not before Duncan has done all the hard work. Which pretty much set the pattern for all of the Amanda stories to come.

In the season finale Duncan's old friend, Hugh Fitzcairn, comes to see him, with news that Immortals are disappearing. When they go to see Darius, they find him decapitated inside the church. Returning to Fitz's hotel, they are attacked and Fitz is spirited away, whilst Duncan returns to the church, finding a book hidden by Darius. It is a history of Immortals written by a secret society of mortals. When these mortals come for Duncan, he is ready and follows them back to their hideout, rescuing Fitz, who is about to be guillotined and confronting their leader, a wild eyed fanatic who wants to destroy all Immortals. He gets away, leaving a shattered MacLeod to mourn his friend and teacher. The series ends with MacLeod vowing revenge on the men and pouring Darius' ashes into the Seine, to flow out to the sea.