All Things | Highlander

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Hello and welcome to Nat One Presents the Podcast. Hey Nate. How's it going, Nate? It's going fantastic.

Why is it going fantastic, Nate?

Well, because what we have to talk about today is a little thing called uh Highlander. Yeah. And I thought it was fantastic because doing my research, every single thing Highlander is on uh Amazon Prime right now.

Everything they got. It's great. Amazon Prime is this weird thing of like usually it's just trying to shovel their own [expletive] or old, old [expletive] you don't want. But sometimes it is the old [expletive] that you want. And then sometimes there's cool things like the boys or you know, uh Handmaid's Tale, all that [expletive] just is like snuck in there. But usually I don't even want to go into Prime because it's just garbage being like catapulted at my face.

Right. And I always forget to use it because I use the Netflix, the HBO Max, and Hulu. I always forget that I have the prime.

I mean, in my personal opinion, it's it really like their UX experience, like their user experience is just really bad. And it's because they want you to also buy some stuff, right? But it's like it's just too heavy-handed. Like to me, I straight up sometimes still to this day have trouble finding, like, after I bought something, where I go to find the thing I want to watch. That's so annoying. That's so crazy, you know. So it's just I think it's a bad system. Did you ever use the like Amazon Fire stick? No, I didn't. I always used uh console to stream things. I'm gonna give a free plug here.

The best thing I ever did was buy like a like a higher end Roku, and you don't even need the higher end ones, but Roku is the one [expletive] thing. Like, so right, sometimes on PlayStation, you get all the apps except blank, or on Xbox, it has everything except blank. Apple does everything except some of its main competitors, every and then the TV software is cool when you first get your TV, but those apps tend to start running real [expletive] real fast. So the best thing I ever did, Roku is the one device that has never failed me. Also crazy cheap. The like high-end ones are like maybe 80 bucks or something. That's not bad.

But you can easily get, and the other ones, it a lot of the high-end ones have features you don't even need, like voice search and [expletive] like that. And honestly, it always has every single [expletive] app that I would need, even the weird obscure ones. Like when it was presidential election time and I wanted to watch a debate because I hate myself, I get the CNN Go app. Or it has the weird stuff that I also need that your TV definitely won't have. So get a Roku. Uh anyway, yeah, I have Amazon on there. I do use it sometimes, um, and way better than a Fire Stick. [Editorial omission.]

Like the whole thing was like you have to jailbreak it to in order to use it the way that they advertise to use it, right?

Exactly. And then and that and some things are easy to jailbreak. That wasn't even easy to jailbreak, it was a [expletive] nightmare, right? I I have a Fire Stick. If somebody wants it, it's trash. I hate it, I'll mail it to you and light it on fire. Do what you want.

Leave a comment.

Yeah, I would please I'll do anything for a comment these days, guys. Um, yeah, we've been on a so how did we get on this 80s cake because let's rewind it because like we were we've been in the Mortal Kombat, yes, and that's a pretty 90s thing. Yes. Well, I mean the game 80 maybe well no game is 90s too, right?

Yes, yep, yep, yeah. So how did we get back to the eight? So this I think this was our chain of thought. We went from Mortal Kombat, yes, and then that rolled us over into shows that we like or dislike, and then the new season of Castlevania came out, and then that rolled us over into The Witcher. Yes, and The Witcher has a certain Henry, what's his last name? Super Handsome Cavill, and also Superman, and the word on the street is he's gonna be doing a Highlander series, and then me and Nate both looked at each other and we're like, we love Highlander, yeah, and that's how we're talking about Highlander today.

Here's kind of my like gay take on that whole thing. Gay take. Um so love him. He is so Henry Cavill and Witcher, oh, so good. And Witcher is so good. But here's the thing I'm not digging his long white, ugly hair in Witcher. Highlander, I'm guessing he'll get to be hot because they're usually like like they're like Scottish clansmen or something like that. So I'm excited for everything the Witcher gives me, but with sexier Henry Cavill. Okay, you know, not all right, man. That's where so gay take over. Um, but that's that's kind of where it's at. Okay. Um, or that could just be a take. I don't know how I had to call it gay, but right anyway.

Because I also think he's an extremely handsome man. And he can pull off a mustache, and I'm jealous for that.

Real talk, I think he's a an actual like Renaissance man. Like, all right, handsome, athletic, movie star, but also builds his own PC, also plays video games. He almost missed the audition to Superman because he was playing WoW [expletive] like that. Um, I think like he's a very versatile guy. Um, hopefully he hasn't done any of that like weird Me Too movement stuff. But he is a hero among the nerd people. As of us recording this right now, he's a hero. He seems like he's like a cool guy, right? You know, who knows? Who knows? I just imagine him being cool. Like there's some actors and actresses I'm like, I bet they're a [expletive] we just need to never meet them, right? But also, I'm gonna get him to get us on the show.

Get him on the show.

Um, somehow.

Will you guys listen or share this if we get Henry Cavill on our [expletive] show? Please.

Jesus. He'll come on the show eventually. Eventually.

Sixty years from now, he'll be on the show. Okay, so Henry Cavill might do a remake uh of the Highlander series. Correct. Um, probably what? As like a Netflix series, was it a movie or like a Netflix series? I don't know.

I thought it was gonna be another Netflix series.

I hope it'd be a series because this uh this show makes for a good series. Oh, yeah, for sure. Um, so let's just recap for those people who don't know Highlander, because it was kind of an 80s, maybe bled a little into the 90s thing. Yes. Um tell me, tell me what is like the premise of Highlander.

So if we're going we're gonna base this first talk just off of the original movie, the very first movie, because later on [expletive] just gets bonkers. And I'm not going into that. You guys don't deserve that because it's a mess and nobody deserves it.

We can barely tell a coherent story on this show without really confusing a lot, and it gets real weird.

When something's already confusing, we're just gonna [expletive] it up even worse. So we're we're ditching the other ones for now. For now. We'll get back to it, but for now, let's just focus core. The first one. So at some point, this guy is an immortal. And the way the story goes in the first one, he doesn't even know it yet until he gets stabbed out on a battlefield and then just wakes up. And then he gets uh a trainer of sorts, Sean Connery comes and tells him, Hey, you're an immortal, you can only die if someone chops off your head. By the way, there's a bunch of us, and we all have to try to chop off each other's heads. Okay, cool deal, you know.

Uh at the very end, we're gonna feel a surge of energy, we're all gonna gather together in one place. [Editorial omission.] And then uh we'll all just chop off each other's heads. It's awesome. Everybody knows uh sword skills because they're all immortal for the most part. They've had years and years to hone their craft, even though that first fight scene tells me otherwise.

My favorite is he like lines up his head and then goes back to swing. And then I'm like, if I was a guy, I just would have moved out of the way when he moved to the big thing.

Like sight sucker, it was so bad. And that first fight after the wrestling tournament. Did you see that guy? He's like an old man that he's fighting, and then while he's swinging a sword, he's doing like moving like an old man, which is fine. But then all of a sudden he starts doing bathing. I started cracking like a [expletive] ninja for no reason, just constant batteries.

And it wasn't one or two, it was like seven. Down the whole length of the parking garage. It blew my [expletive] mind. It was awesome. I hope to be that limber one day. All right, so Nate, uh, you got way sidetracked, and I don't think you know. They have a great summary of the purpose. So the show is called Highlander because the main central character focuses on one of these like special beings who are immortal, is a Highlander from like the Scottish, whatever. Yes, uh, whatever. So basically, yes, they're all immortal. Um, and there's this thing called the gathering where they're all basically all these immortal people, the only way to kill each other is to chop off their head and like absorb their power.

And I think only an immortal person can kill an immortal person. I think so. Uh it wasn't really clear, but whatever. And then there is a prize if you are the last one left after all these these these millennia. Uh, when you're the last one, you get the prize, which is like being connected to all life. Yes. Um, again, that's something not explained very well, at least in the first movie. Uh obviously, it's very important that a bad guy doesn't get it, right? But at the same time, we don't really cover it very much.

Right. Or exactly what it is, because at the end, he's like, I feel everything. I know what the scientist is thinking, I know what the politician's thinking. And I can help them communicate. Yeah.

But we're here in this remote place.

Yeah, on top of a mountainside. Good thing I brought this pack lunch. Yeah. It just didn't make sense.

Yeah. Um, so yeah, so that's the premise of Highlander. So here's here's my quick take on it. We're we're going to delve into the movie, um, which we already couldn't like resist doing because it's bananas. Um, but here's like my my quick take. Uh, Highlander, growing up, my dad was super into Highlander. Uh, so there is multiple movies, and then there is, I thought there was one TV series. According to you, Nate, there's two TV series. There's two after looking it up.

Apparently, we didn't know how deep this rabbit hole is that we went down that is Highlander.

It's huge. This, this, this is might be one of the biggest things we've ever dug up. I had no idea. Yeah, so um, I think there will actually be more episodes on this in the future, like where we actually sit down. Like, Nate and I actually started to watch the movies, but they are pungent. Yes. Um, they are 80s encapsulated uh between bad effects over the top effect. Like it just it's a little much that like it's it's sensory overload for me to watch these movies. Like Queen does the intro and outro for the movie. Like, it's so epic that I needed like a palette cleanser after I watched it. So I can only it's gonna take us some time to process this material. So through everything, bear with us.

But growing up, uh, it's a little nostalgic for me because my dad watched these a lot. He watched my dad was big, like Walker Texas Ranger, like [expletive] like that. And Highlander just fit right into that. All right, so he watched the TV shows. I think he had the VHS's, which maybe became DVDs, I don't know. And then of course he watched the movies a number of times. So I have I haven't watched until we we agreed to sit down and watch the first movie. It had been maybe easily 10 years since I like watched or did anything Highlander and I can agree. Possibly have been like 15. I don't know. Yeah, okay. So really nostalgia was really heavy, and I'm like, hey, let's go, let's go watch this.

Like, you know, it ties into Mortal Kombat because it's like the same actor who plays Raiden in the first movie.

Chris Lambert.

Yep, and then uh, hey, you know, we're gonna maybe get a new rendition with Heron Cavill. So like, let's go back and let's dig it up and let's kind of see what it was all about, what got us into it in the first place. I was not prepared for what I experienced, just us watching the first movie, yes, and then seeing everything that exists, like wow.

Right. There was obviously some kind of veil um in front of our memories that was keeping us from these movies because all I remember is Highlander. [expletive] yeah, it's awesome.

It was epic and badass. Yes, like those are the words, like yeah, but now going back, it was not that it was weird, yes, it was weird, even creepy at times. Um, so yeah, let's just break it down. Um, spoilers for sure in this movie. I like that we didn't give spoilers for like the last episode we did, like the movie we did movie pitches where we literally said the entire movies, but we said them so fast.

Yeah, and they're old movies. Like if you haven't seen Highlander number one, then [expletive] you.

You probably weren't going to at this point. Never, but anyway, spoiler alerts, you should know that by now. Yeah, it's gonna happen. Um, okay, so this movie starts with actually, I don't even know why it starts with a wrestling match. It really starts with a conflict in a parking garage. Yes, but they basically before that conflict for about five minutes show a wrestling match, and in attendance is the Highlander having flashbacks to like fighting.

Everybody in the crowd is super excited and probably overly excited. I've never seen a group of people where every single [expletive] person is screaming their head off or moving their arms in an oh yeah gesture. I mean, have you been there? No, I have not. So maybe it is. I don't know. But I just couldn't imagine everybody except for Highlander, who's sitting in the uh Morticia Adams spotlight where the light is only on his eyes, menacing, really brooding. You know what I'm talking about? And I don't know if you caught this, Nate, but there was an extra who seemed like he really wanted to get on screen time, and he was sitting behind him. He was a fat guy, and he's like, Yeah, come on, buddy, yeah. Hey, where are you going?

Like when he got up and left. Like he had lines. I don't think he was supposed to have [expletive] lines.

And they're like, Well, we don't have the budget or time to reshoot all that. Yeah, he's in it. He's in it. Bless his heart.

So then uh we move on, and then it goes to the part with the Wait, wait, no, we're not gonna move on.

Okay, so first of all, what here's the thing about the 80s, I think they really brush over a lot of mental health stuff. So clearly to me, there was some PTSD going on, right? Like he's having these like forcible, and like some of them were pleasant, but then some of them weren't, because it's basically how he dies. Of course, it's like setting up the antagonist, which is like someone from the past, but it's kind of I think it's more like you had a wrestling match and you're watching this battle, but he's been in the battle, like right. That's the vibe I was getting. Oh, yeah.

And to me, it was like it was very like uh like abruptly flashing between what the guy was screaming in his ear and everybody screaming around him, and then like the fight he was in. Right. And straight up to me, that's BTSD, right? Yeah, so I think like it was a very interesting way, like, yeah, they were trying to show like how hard it is to be a Highlander, because I think with like you know, they do that in vampire movies too, like we're like, oh, you live forever, that must be awesome. But they're like, No, they have this really cheesy line in the Highlander movie that's like most people are afraid to die. I did the you thing where I said the line, and I'm like, but you're afraid to live.

Yeah, the lady said it's like I think that was like the theme you're trying to see, right? Because like they talk about like loneliness for him and they go through um anyway, so I kind of cut it off, cut you off there. But basically, there's like some weird PTSD slash plot setting going on in that wrestling match, but I really wonder if all that was super necessary at that time.

I don't know. And then a side tangent too, since we're on this, being an immortal, how many memories do you actually retain? Because if you're still a human, you're only gonna remember the important things, you know. Like, I can't remember what I had for breakfast a week ago.

I don't remember what we just recorded before this. Right.

I don't, but somehow he's still gonna have these key memories throughout time, you know? Like, yeah, some of them, the memory flashbacks, didn't seem like something I would remember if I was 2,000 years old.

Yes. Yeah, like I would say, like, yeah, where he like first dies. All right, let's talk about. There's no way this episode's not gonna be tangent upon tangent upon tangent. Just get over it. I'm sorry. Get with it, get on our level and follow this like training.

This is gonna be our house.

This is absolutely what I really the first thing that stood out to me in this movie, first thing I would say after the PTSD, and not even like looking at the garage fight for a second, is when he dies and his it's his wife, right?

His wife, the [expletive] [expletive], man.

That [expletive] in the movie who's like sobbing over him dying to the point where the guy's like, all right, hey, he doesn't want to hear you like crying the whole time while he's dying. Then he doesn't die the next day. He like everybody's freaked out because he didn't die. But his wife, like, till death to his part, you think your wife, right, is gonna be like really supportive and stay with you. In a matter of like 12 hours, like, she didn't want to see him die. In a matter of 12 hours, she's like, It's the devil. She leads the charge to get him executed. And I'm just like, This [expletive] hated her, hated her, could not believe it. [expletive], man. Fairweather wife, that's what I call her.

Yeah, and then like as soon as they get outside, after claiming that he's the devil, and she's the one, like Nate said, getting everyone riled up. Hey, we're just gonna banish him and let him go. And then she is not okay with that. She wants him [expletive] dead.

Like, it's kind of what you said where like all the extras were like giving these small roles, and they just took it farther. They took it away, they went too like above and beyond what was asked of them, right? Yes, because they're like, hey, we'll just banish.

She's like, no, behead him, boom him.

It cracked me out, but it was just like, Nate, like, all right, if you died, if I like watched you die and then you showed up on Wednesday to record an episode, I'd be weirded out, yes. But to some extent, before I tried to murder you or like free your soul from whatever demonic raps was under it, I'd be happy to see you again, at least for a moment, you know, until you started like eating my brains or trying to do something weird. For like a second, there would be like you know, delight in that like there was still any kind of chance of you, and that is just out the window for oh yeah, like not an option. Murder, yeah. Done with them.

That was the first thing, aside from like some of the weird [expletive] we talked about, like PTSD, the weird fight in the garage. Uh the backflips for sure is one of them. His wife and Magnus really stuck out. Really stuck out.

[expletive] [expletive].

All right, so what's next? Now do we go back to the garage fight? Like, where are we at?

Okay, we did the I I want to talk about one more scene that I really liked. And it was before he got murdered on the field. And where the guy in the big skull outfit is like, save McLeod from me, you know, and then this guy's just running on the battlefield and he's like, Nobody will fight me. I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah, like are they how are they really gonna know what he looks like? Like, they didn't have a picture back then.

That's not how like things worked, you know, and then how McMopy he is. Like, I'm like, nobody I laughed at that part too. Nobody will fight me. And then that other guy comes and he's like, he's like, Good God, because this other the Kurgan guy comes up. Yes, but what I love is that he like lets the guy like slowly get off the horse and like slowly stab him in the chest. Like, honestly, right? Like, people on horses like the cavalry like kind of have advantages, but at the same time, like you know, you just kind of stab him while he's getting off the horse. Usually also like the cavalry kind of like surprises you, whereas this guy, nobody's fighting him, so he's just waiting.

So the first guy who actually approaches, I'd be like, Hell's yeah, and I'd immediately like you know, start swinging. He just like mopes and then gets stabbed instantly.

It's it's and then his whole group of friends all of a sudden come out of nowhere before he's about to be beheaded, and they're like, Let's push him down. And apparently, once he's pushed down, the battle's over.

I love it because then the bad guy has a line like you haven't seen the lost of me.

I'm like, you're four feet away, and like an immortal, like kill these dudes and then go [expletive] kill McLeod. Like, what happened? Did they push you off a cliff? Did they push you down and tie you to a horse and slap the horse on the butt and you ran away? Like, where's the middle part here? You know, he's just gone.

He's like, all right, bye.

You'll see me again, McLeod. Like, you're still that thing's like [expletive] Team Rocket blasting off again, but at least they usually literally jetpack away where I'm like, this guy is seven feet away, like the fight's not over yet. Like, what?

It's because there's still a battle going on, it didn't make sense.

So we had all the same thoughts. I'm glad it wasn't just me. Like, I was struggling. I was struggling with some of this stuff. Guys, this is maybe 10-15 minutes into the movie, right? Like, and already I'm like, wow, like what was I thinking? What's going on?

Okay. Okay. So we get past the garage, okay, where uh he beheads this guy. Uh he hides his samurai sword.

And right away, first instance that we keep seeing of like, so they're immortal, but there's older versions of immortal.

Yes.

What's that about? Do they just age slowly, or do you just as like you get you get locked in at a certain age, but you don't know when that triggers? Um, also the quickening thing was weird. So they reference the quickening a lot, which I think is like the transfer of power when you cut off a guy's head. Yes, I think so. But also when Sean Connery's character shows up, lightning just starts striking. He's like, That's the quickening. And I'm like, Right. Nobody died. Why is he feeling?

Or is it some kind of surge of power when two immortals are together? Is the quickening? Because that's why their swords make sparks.

In that first movie, at least, there's a lot left to the imagination for sure.

Oh, yeah. Percent. Okay. So he hides a samurai sword, he gets in the car, peels out, and then he has a run in with the cops. The cops stop him. And apparently, cops have always been just complete [expletive]. Wow. I had that thought too.

So is this is it was it really used to be like that, or is this like what a lesser class citizen experience is? But they are hostile as hell.

Oh, yeah. Like they're on par with uh today's like general feeling of police officers. No, they're worse, dude. Oh, yeah.

I thought so. Like terrible. Yeah.

Like just unnecessarily rough with the guy.

Because he basically he speeds out of the, he tries to get away the parking garage, speeds out of there, right? And then, but then immediately, let's say, like at least a dozen cop cars surround him, stop him, and they're all pointing guns at him.

How'd they [expletive] find out so fast, too? You know, it's like [expletive] Grand Theft Auto how fast they can.

I used to work at a hotel and I'd have people come in and I'd call the police, and the police station was like literally down the road, and these guys would never come. But they literally they already knew. Because and like also, by the way, when he killed that other guy, the like the the the garage unit like exploded. Right. So any like security cameras or anything would have totally I don't know how it worked, Nate. But listen, so he gets out there and he's surrounded immediately by a dozen police, and there's like two officers in each car, and still so you would think like, okay, they got him surrounded.

There's no need to necessarily like be enforced themselves to crazy.

Be like hostile, but there's these like [expletive] cops that are just like get over here, like grab it, get uh [expletive] shut up. Like, and it's like, wow, like, okay, you don't even know if this guy's guilty yet. You didn't actually see him commit a crime, except speed out of a place that just blew up, which by the way, would be my reaction of like I'm getting the [expletive] out of this parking garage.

Everything's blowing up. Do you see the cars explode in the parking garage? Oil was spraying all over. Look at my nice porch. I don't want to have that ruined by whatever's going on. Exactly. And then the cop clubs him in the back of the head immediately because apparently that's just what cops do in the 80s.

Um because he like handcuffs one hand and he's like, Give me the other hand. Yeah, and it's like just handcuff the other hand. Right, what do you think? Yeah, that guy, all right, but then it gets weird because they bring him downtown, right? Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and uh that cop who's excessively hostile, clearly they're trying to make him out to be sort of like an [expletive]. Uh, but they do it really weirdly because they immediately start laying into some weird, like, gay jokes that are just kind of odd for and maybe not odd for the time era because it's like an 80s movie, but very uh watching it now in 2021, like very aggressive.

Right, and just off-putting in general, like it seems like this whole thing's forced. Like the writers of Highlander have some kind of other agenda that they're trying to like push up.

I keep bringing it up, but in this scene, basically they're like, Why were you there, right? Asking questions that make sense, trying to make light of and since nobody actually saw him like do anything, right? They they they do actually have to ask questions of our legal system works, and so he's like, I was just leaving blah blah blah. And they're like, I think you went to buy the sword, and then the deal went south. And then he's like, No, like he basically just gives some like witty answer of like, I think you don't know what you're talking about, and then the hostile cops like I think you were there sucking [expletive]. And it's like, What? And then he goes on the like oh yeah, because yeah, he asked him, he's like, Are you gay?

Yeah, he's oh yeah, he's beforehand, yeah. What's his name, like Russell, or what's it's it's it's McLeod, but Nash. He goes by Nash as his like alias, and he's like, You gay, Nash? And he's like, Why are you looking for a piece of ass? Yeah, like it's when he comes back. He's like, I think you were there sucking his [expletive]. Yeah, and he's like, What?

And then McLeod says something else, like, no, uh, you're the only one who likes that, or something like that, to that effect. And then that's when the cop gets pissed. Like, how dare you think I'm gay?

Yeah, like you it's a lot of time spent on this, and like I get that he that maybe was the bad cop, but like a little over again, right? I think a cat, I think an extra, or like someone got cast and like maybe went a little overboard with this. This is my shot. I gotta make the most of it.

I'm uh in the closet cop number two, and I have got to make the most of this.

I added the in the closet part because that wasn't included in the role, but I think it really fleshes it out.

Makes them a whole rounded character.

It's crazy. Well, and then what I love about that, all that hostility you would think that they like usually if if they if a cop's talking to you that way, like they at you in custody, and they're like, he's like, Are you pressing charges? They're like, Not yet. Or like, am I am I what's the phrase? Like, am I free to leave or whatever? Yes, yes, yeah. And they're like, Well, technically, yeah, and he just leaves. Yeah, and it's like, oh, well, maybe you don't talk to somebody if like they're not actually, you know.

But he already assaulted some of the officers. Like, that's grounds to keep them there, enough so that everybody else waiting in the detention center started cheering like it was another wrestling match.

These officers were not great, right? And then the investigator literally gets like false for the whole like, hey, uh, I'm a coworker who wants to get lunch, I forgot my purse, and then just opens a file that he didn't secure in like a filing cabinet. Because, like, you know, who are these people? I don't even understand. So, whatever. You know, honestly, I can forgive a lot of this stuff, but let's keep going, let's dive deeper.

Okay, so then after after the cop scene, uh, let me think, the the lady comes, she goes back and finds the metal from the sword and the pillar, and that's when he was like, Hey [expletive], and then he hides, and she's like, Oh my god, someone's following me.

I don't know why, like he goes back to the crime scene for some reason.

He left his sword on top of the light up there, and he went back to go get it.

That's why that's right. I guess that's a pretty good reason, but also like probably give it some time or something, right? Straight up, like you would literally.

See, I thought that whole thought process too, because but it is the gathering right now, but he also has a bunch of other swords at his place. Like, you think you just grab one of those temporary sentimental, that's true, too.

And also very important to the plot as we find out, because we talk a lot about how many times 200 times folded steel, uh, which comes up a lot, probably too much. Yep, and very rare.

But yeah. So this lady finds it, and uh, not only is she a like uh crime scene investigator, CSI lady, but she's also the a published author. A published author and like a world-renowned leader of antique ancient swords. What are the [expletive] chances, you know, of all the places to be. And she finds these medals, and then she goes to the bar and has a drink because McLeod spooked her and the [expletive] thing. And then naturally, when a guy hits on you and it's unwelcome, you follow him. Yes, because that makes perfect sense. He says something she doesn't like in the bar, like ever been to the garden. She's like, What the [expletive] did you say? You've been following me. Yeah, and then she's like, Well, I'm gonna follow you.

Viper scare the [expletive] out of that guy, right? But no, she just follows him, follows him right back, and then that leads to the ball. And she's like, Oh my god, and then there's an even bigger, scarier guy with a sword in there. And I actually thought that guy was kind of funny at first until about three-quarters of the way through the movie. Oh, I'm surprised you made it that. Yeah, and then that's when he got [expletive] old fast. As soon as he got bald, that's when I couldn't [expletive] deal with it anymore.

First of all, like no actors should take themselves seriously and go, eh, like a lot, like you know, just a bit much. That was like his uh catchphrase, if you will. Yeah, it was uh we'll we'll get back to Kurgan. Okay, yeah. Also, they call him Kurgan, but he is a Kurgan. I guess it's the same as calling the Highlander Highlander. Yeah, but they at least they usually call him the cloud normally. Anyway, what gets me, so that let's go back because there's some more flashbacks that really uh just are supposed to like shed light, but mostly tend to just confuse me more. So one of the flashbacks is that he saves a Nazi, like a young woman from like a Nazi whatever attack.

Right.

Um, and then turns out that that woman is now his elderly, or not elderly, she's justn't like a middle-aged older woman, but she's basically his assistant, which interesting, because I guess they wanted him to have in the movie like a confidant who like knew his situation, but I thought it was kind of weird, like, so he just kept that child. Like, that's a little weird. Like, did she not have family? Like, pro like probably the Nazis murdered him, maybe. Yeah, I guess, but do you just keep a child? You know, I don't know. It feels like servitude. I felt a little weird with it.

And her being like a young girl and stuff is really off-putting.

And you know what? Like, I would have been fine if they didn't just stroke each other's face like seven times in like the two scenes. Like, what's really going on here? Yeah, like there's just like they're just like talking about like wills and the power of attorney. While rubbing each other's face, it's just it's so uncomfortable. It is really weird, it's itchy. So yeah, there's just a little weirdness. I think overall, not a big deal, but it was a little bizarre to me. Again, just with like another scene where like he raises her and she's like, I want to stay, like take me with you. Like, would have been cool, but to just play like he saved her and now she works for him. A little weird, right now.

They could have had that scene instead of when he meets up that uh I don't know what he'd be because he had a scimitar type sword, so maybe like Saudi was his origins kind of guy. But he meets him and then he has another flashback where it's just more self-hating, gay stuff going on.

Gets through and like this scene clearly is like they wanted to have a comedic thing, right? But he's drunk and he's uh like the it's like an it's like a a colonial duel type deal, right? And basically the guy can't kill him. He thinks he kills him, he stabs him, and he gets back up and he's drunk. McLeod's just like ah ha ha ha.

Right.

But what what like I think it was supposed to be a funny slapstick thing, but the joke is that the guy is like ineffective at killing McLeod, and his assistant keeps hitting him weapons and kissing him on the hand and face. Yes. Which you know, to me, there's this kind of thing where like, you know, they they tend to like you know use like homosexuality as either like back in the day, straight up old old movies, you're a villain, if you're like a feminine, kind of like Nosuratu type stuff. Yes, or and then as you later in time, then it just became more of a cru a clutch for like uh humor. Comedy, yes, the gay guy, it's it's your hairdresser best friend who says something funny. Yeah, let's make fun of him.

Yeah, or if they show any kind of affection, it's it's funny, right?

Even Mrs. Dowfire, the gay brother or whatever, where they didn't really say, but I'm pretty sure. Right.

He's like, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. So it it kind of was that kind of 80s clutch of like, here's a scene where we want it could have just been funny that he tries to kill him and McLeod's drunk and he just keeps getting back up, but they made it weird by adding in all this like gaze stuff, yeah. That you know, it's just like for me, kind of like, okay, right cool. Like even for me, it was super off-putting.

I'm like, this seems so forced right now, and especially after the whole [expletive] thing at the police.

Exactly. It just like keeps popping up and like this. We talked about this before. In 80s movies, it seemed to like they they really laid heavy in like adding these extra details that just like really contribute literally nothing to a scene or the story. And so I think that's it, that's what was off-putting about it. And like, yes, of course, I want representation in movies. I guess maybe that evolved to us having real characters in films eventually, but like it was just weird, just off-putting, and it keeps happening over and over in the movies. So we'll have to see if that's a theme in Highlander 2 and 3.

I'll try it. Yeah, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Yeah, at least one more movie, maybe.

Uh so we did skip over uh the introduction of Sean Connery coming as the peacock or the Spanish Spaniard peacock.

Spaniard who's actually Egyptian but trained with samurai. Like very ambiguous, and maybe that was intentional, but to me, it is Sean Connery with a fake tan and then like dyed mustache got a little weird for me. Yeah, yeah.

Because in my eyes, Sean Connery is always gonna be like Scottish, you know, always, no matter what.

Well, again, it made I I mean maybe that's because they drew on the source material, maybe they had to have this, like if they were pulling, maybe if this came from a novel. I don't know where it actually comes Highlander, where it originated from, but maybe the novel there is like a mentor from Spain or something like that. So maybe they felt obligated to stick to it. But like if Highlander is Scottish and Sean Connery Scottish, wouldn't he have just been like a cool other Scottish Highlander? Wouldn't that have just been a little less abrupt and weird? But anyway.

But he does bring up the points. He's like, I was born in Egypt, he said, and then uh trained and got this sword in Japan somehow.

I think the point is he's very worldly, right? Yeah, it's like all right, so whatever, fine. Uh of course it's 80s, so there's a training montage. Yep. Um, and again, it really makes me laugh at how terrible this training is.

Oh, yeah. They take the time. This was one of the biggest things that bugged me about the training montage, is they take all this time to climb up to these rocks that are just suspended up in the air. And then, like, this is where you're gonna train. Like, it seems like a terrible idea. Like, how long did it take to [expletive] hike up there? And then now you're gonna have a battle up there, and then one time the sword actually does go flying off. Like, who the [expletive]'s gonna go down there and get it now? It's the [expletive] whatever year it is, right? In Scotland, it's gonna take at least a day to get down there and get your [expletive] sword.

And then you're in the middle of a quickening, and there's bad guy, you know, there's a [expletive] bad guy lurking around that's also an immortal, and you're gonna be swordless during that whole trek down. I don't think so.

I call [expletive] shenanigans on that. I [expletive] so my favorite was in the very beginning where you know he takes him out in the boat and tries to prove to him that he's immortal, which could have been done very quickly. He makes a big thing where he uh he uh he Scottish says he can't swim, and he pushes him off the boat, and then he sinks to the bottom because people don't float, whatever. And then first of all, there's this ridiculous scene where he's like he's just yeah, he's just walking around underwater, and they do him like talking but muffled, even though like, yeah, you're immortal, but like your lungs are still gonna fill with water, but whatever, we'll get over that anyway.

So, my part I [expletive] fell in love with is he starts coming out of the water, and Sean Connie's character is on like a he's like he's like docked up a little like canoe they were in, and like is sitting just on like a log on a little island, and the Highlander character is like sneaking up on him, but like tell me getting have you ever gotten out of a pool and it was like quiet? Like, especially a guy who can't swim, right? Like, this isn't like a marine, like navy seal, right?

This guy from the bottom of the ocean car not you know, whatever, it's like a pond or stream, but like comes up and then like pretends like he's like sneaking up on him and then like swings a sword, and it's like I don't think there's any way to do it a hundred percent quiet. Not even because like the water gets on your clothes. Like, literally, think about it, like think about getting out of the pool and you're gonna hear a sound effect. Oh yeah.

You're gonna hear something.

Yeah, even if you came out slowly, like it's not gonna sound super quiet. Anyway, and then they'd love to do this thing in this movie, it happened at least four times, where someone lifts up a sword, and in that time, the person you're staring directly at disappears, like instantly. Oh, yeah, and then that person's behind you. Yeah, and it's just like in in movies with fast action, you know, like the more recent Mortal Kombat, like you know, you could believe something like that, or when magic's involved. Right. But this guy's like, they're just immortal, that's it. They don't teleport or anything. So they kept doing this thing where like they like push him over and then look over, and then he's gone, and he's already like 180 degrees behind you.

They did at least like five times. At least five times.

I'm like, that doesn't make any sense, especially the old guy in the beginning. That was the [expletive] worst. Apparently, that guy could teleport and do flips and also get discounted breakfast at IHA. Like that guy could do all those things. It's crazy.

It's crazy I and also what was that guy doing at a wrestling match?

But anyway, I don't I don't have a [expletive] business suit, no more.

It just keeps getting weird, keeps getting weirder, and then this is part, maybe I missed it because I was also working on something else while because uh towards like midway through the movie, I'm like, this is ridiculous. But did I miss the part? Like, why is the Highlander gone when Kurgan comes to attack uh Tron Connery's character and uh I actually don't know why either they do not even address while he's not there at all, right? Like they live out in the middle of [expletive] nowhere in the Scottish Highlands, like you know, he didn't like go to town.

You know what I think it was? He probably sent him to go get that [expletive] sword. So that probably took him a week to go get that [expletive] sword he knocked out of his hands, and that left Sean Connery and the dude's wife there alone at the castle.

Because basically, what happens, right, is like Sean Connery's character, it's like at night and he's having a drink with the Highlander's girlfriend, and they just are having a drink. Highlander's nowhere to be found this entire time, and also like lightning's coming out of the sky when the bad guy comes, like very obvious, especially now that we know what the quickening is and all that [expletive]. And the bad guy just comes in, gets his like throat slit by uh Sean Connery's character, but it's not enough to kill him. Yep. And then I like that they safety pin, they put safety pins down his toe.

So originally he had the scar, but then after he got ID'd from that rogue marine guy with the guns, he put the safety pins to block the scar view. That was him disguising his ID.

Maybe another group of guys were like tackled him and he was like, Oh, I'll be back again, Islander.

I just like I didn't understand. And I'm like, I must have missed a scene, right?

And he was able to live out his whole life with that in that same spot.

Right, that probably was very unsafe since the guy found him.

Right, and then the thing before that that really [expletive] bugs me too is that staircase. How the [expletive] is that staircase staying up there? Having the whole weight of him and Sean Connery up there, and then there's the beheading, and somehow the staircase is still just holding on strong throughout that whole thing.

The green screen effects and just oh my god. Oh, the lightning effects. It was it was rough watching that scene. But then what cracks me up is they live in this little hut, like right next to it down the hill, and you see like the broken staircase just in the background the entire time, like a monument to like how dumb like that's where my mentor got killed.

Yeah, then there's a love montage where they like spend the rest of their life together and they age her by putting a white wig on her and like some just like foundation on her face and calling it a day.

Yep. The biggest killer was her eyeballs because she still had like crystal clear white and blue eyes, you know, like like newborn baby eyes compared to her old [expletive] face.

Even like the way she's laying on, like, she's way too limber to even be sitting up the way she is in bed. Right now I'm like, my [expletive] pack hurts. Yeah, Nate Nate is in worse shape than that chick was.

And then in and then all of a sudden she got tired of their [expletive] conversation and she's like, Don't look at me, Connor, let me die. And then she just rolls over and [expletive] dies. Like, do you know when you're that old, be like, hold on, okay, I'm gonna die.

Wait for it, wait for it, and dead. Right? Oh my gosh. All right, so wrapping this this uh Okay, yeah, how are we looking at this? It's it's been 84 years.

Okay, and then uh turns out they still have some kind of friends or whatever going on because he meets that Saudi guy on the side.

Yeah, they all get super excited, they're like, oh, like we can the gathering's happening, we're all gonna fight the rest of each other, and but then they all die. They're super lame. Yeah, literally all his friends. Die right away.

No big deal. Um he bangs the metallologist weapon research lady somehow or pause.

Okay. So here's another thing to prove to her that he's immortal. So he definitely doesn't do the whole thing. Oh yes, that bothered me too. That bothered me too, but to prove to her that he's immortal, he he holds up a dagger, like puts his like her hand on it, and then thrusts it into his heart to pr and then he like I don't know, he just doesn't die, I guess. And a few things there. One, pretty traumatic, right? Like I know you made a point, but also like you you literally just made that girl kill you. Yes. Like, you know, when we talk about consent, probably like maybe just as bad. Like you literally could just stabbed yourself real quick, you know, like to made the point or whatever. I don't know.

Like, I don't I don't like it was weird. Maybe it was just a be central and like to touch her. I don't know, but it was just like I would have been like pretty pissed off if somebody was like, because like what if that didn't, or like, oh, this is actually a dagger that kills Highlanders? Like, well, now I'm responsible for that, you know. Now is she gonna get quick in? Like, who knows? A lot of so I was a lot of things put off by that part. What was your issue?

My thing was how quick she [expletive] believed it. Like, right after she stabbed him, she's like, Oh my god, it must be true. Like, [expletive], what if it was one of those fake daggers, you know, that like expands out to a catch-up packet or something, you know? And then he's like, Yeah, I got this in the like this ain't the first time I've got a lot of people.

Somebody who deals with antiques for like hundreds of thousands of years, like, would probably be a little more skeptical of this whole thing, you know. Like, why has this never come up in any of my studies?

Right, you know, all the times dealing with swords, and you think like this whole culture of beings who use these ancient swords to defeat each other. I would have came across that. And that's another thing.

Kurgan's sword is like a [expletive] build-a-bear sword. I'm like, that's not how swords work. No, not.

Maybe uh the the thing that bugs me the most, like, okay, the pommel and handguard that can be put on separate. Fine. But the blade itself snapping together.

And it's just this like little like piece holding it in. Yeah. And he swings it and [expletive] knocks down homie on the through a guy's neck and spine and vertebrae. Like not okay with that. No. Not okay. It's just like there's no way that blade is. It's the play school. There's no way. Anyway, back to wherever the [expletive] we were. Okay. Um weird, uncomfortable church scene. Oh, yeah. The kidnapping of the girlfriend. Yes. Another scene where I don't really understand what was trying to be accomplished here. Basically, the bad guy kidnaps his girlfriend now. I don't know why he knows. He's so weird because he goes to confront him at the church. Like he knows where Highlander is, confronts him with the church, but then again, keeps disappearing.

I guess those guys came pulling him away again.

Because even Highlander's like, okay, I'll meet you outside, yeah, where there's not holy ground. And he's like, I'll meet you when I meet you, [expletive].

He's like, No, instead, I'm gonna do this elaborate plan where I kidnap your girlfriend and allure you to some other place that I have no advantage at. Right. Instead of just fighting you right now, which would equate to the same kind of thing.

And I kid you not, at this point, this [expletive] grew a handlebar mustache and started twirling, and it was like, and then he disappeared again.

Straight up. That's literally what happened. It made no sense. But then he kidnaps the girlfriend, and there is a good three, four-minute scene where they're just he's chasing her through her apartment, and then he's scre he's brings her in a car, drives into oncoming traffic, and makes her scream, and then plays that recording for Highlander, and it's just like it's just not really necessary.

Where are the cops? Like, hold he hit like four pedestrians right?

This whole movie, there's like news releases of like people being beheaded, and they can't figure out and then they shave his head, and that's supposed to be his disguise. Right. I'm like, you still The same face. Right. Like.

And did you see that weird strip of hair that he left on? Like, what was the point of that strip of hair? Yeah, the snake tattoo and like a piece of the hair. It was like the tail.

I actually believe that the actor, and again, probably the actor didn't have to do this, but he shaved his head preemptively despite directions from the any kind of production or he had a nasty shaved head. Like it looked like a monkey. That's the pet cemetery dad. Oh. Yeah. Or the sheriff or whatever. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good thing. Yeah, disgusting ball. He wow. Like he got way too into it. Oh, yeah. Way too into it.

Um, somehow um, she takes a nap in the middle of that car ride. That bugged me a lot. Like, she's supposed to be in fear for her life, and she's like, oh, all this fear is making me exhausted. I think I'm just gonna roll over and take a little nappy poo. She wasn't, yeah, she didn't just faint. Like she got comfy, you know. Like, wow, I'm gonna be here.

Right.

She pulled out a snuggy and a pillow and [expletive] glass of warm milk out of [expletive] nowhere, and then it was like, mm-mm, mmm. Nothing makes me cozier, like [expletive] fear, you know. And she took a little nappy poo.

Oh. Anyway, they they basically the movie ends. They fight in a warehouse. Really, nothing relevant happens here for our despite the fact that this guy has killed the bad guy, has continuously, even throughout the movie, killed a bunch of people and cut off their head, gaining their powers. And the whole thing with Highlander is you gain power when you kill a head. You get more powerful when you cut off a guy's head. I don't again, this is not quantified in any way. I don't know if it's like physical strength or like speed. Until we get to the later movies later. Yeah, maybe hopefully it's covered more. But this guy is presumably killed a lot more people in Highlander because he's too busy just having drunken duels with gay guys or whatever.

Actually, I'm wondering that. I'm wondering if every time he goes to actually kill somebody, like the group of guys just shows up again, it takes him off.

He's like, I'll come back to get you, and he never gets around to it. Maybe. No, but we literally watch him kill like Trunk Honor A at least and the Saudi guy. Saudi guy, yeah. So I'm just assuming that because he's got a scimitar out there. Despite all that, pretty much with minimal effort, the Highlander kills him. And that was the last guy left. Which by the way, he's very if if if if if when his Saudi friend came, and I'm like, wow, there's a guy that like is clearly bad, and we need to make sure he doesn't win. I'd be like, either we both team up on him, right? Or you cut off my [expletive] head, or I cut off your head. To gain the power, right?

None of this factored in, and they just separated, the other guy gets killed. It just doesn't make sense. Do they have some kind of pride thing where they're like, I'm gonna go kill him, and then it'll be me and my friends. Especially if Sean Connery was just gonna like kneel down and take it. He then he should have just let him cut off his face. Oh, yeah.

Like, I've trained you, showed you all I know, I'm actually ready to die. Yeah.

And again, that's a mood. I feel that every day.

Oh, yeah. Especially if you've been alive for 2,000 years, I'll be like, I'm [expletive] ready.

Can you imagine like 30 years into my life and I'm just like, this is Jesus, take the wheel, you know?

Let alone 2,000 years. I'd be like, [expletive] any day now. I'd be doing Please kill me.

Anything. I'd be like juggling knives. I'd be like, kind of like what the girl did with the thing, but like put it like on my neck and just not my heart.

You gotta chop off my [expletive] head.

End it.

End it. End my life. Rachel. Rachel. End my life. Rachel, cut off my head. I don't want to be Alfred. He's old. I don't want to be an older mortal.

I don't know why they age. And here we are, 45 minutes later, and wow, uh, that was Highlander, the first movie. The first one. Um, and I don't know, like, I'm gonna need at least two weeks before I try to even watch another movie.

I tried watching number two immediately after. So it was first thing this morning. No, [expletive] no, Nate, because I only got 10 minutes into it, and I'm like, I am not prepared for this [expletive] [expletive] show. Like, it just gets thrown out the [expletive] window. All of a sudden they're aliens and [expletive] battling on a different planet, and then the original story, they're like, hey, we're gonna take that original story and just [expletive] [expletive] all over it. And then so that was their premise, you know. And then just like the wrestling thing, it's starting off the same [expletive] way, but he's sitting in an opera house now having flashbacks instead of a wrestling match because he's an old man now. And that's when I shut it off.

I'm like, this, I I can't deal with this right now. I gotta rest, you know, and prepare.

No, well, we'll we're gonna dig it up or at least read some more wikis about this [expletive]. Yeah, and we're gonna we're gonna get to the bottom of this. I want to know, you know, what is this scat, you know, what is the the source? Like, where does it stem from? Like who you know who set up this whole thing? Is there really aliens involved? Were they part of this from the beginning? Right. I don't know. I need answers.

Is the earth flat? This I'm sure Highlander answers it.

Yeah, this movie's [expletive] horrible, but I need to get to the bottom of what's going on.

And like we said, there's like five movies, a crossover movie, a series, uh, comic books, animated series.

The other thing we could do is just wait for Henry's Cavill thing to wreck comments. And just watch that. And just watch it. That's gotta be good. That's gotta be easier, if anything. It would probably be coherent. It's probably better than the Witcher story. Yeah, at least. It's [expletive] zigzagging all over the [expletive] place. Yeah, that took me, it took me a good three episodes. And I watched the first episode, I'm like, I don't know if I want to watch this. Right. I'm confused. I had to rewatch it. I was like, I don't know if I want to do this.

I had to rewatch the whole season. I'm like, now it's [expletive] making sense now that I've seen the whole thing already. That's how they get you.

That's how they get you get you. Okay, so if you've seen Highlander, doubt it. But go ahead, let us know what you thought. Like, was that a good recap or was that an accurate recap? Um, and then do you know maybe some of the questions we're asking? What is the source? Why is it so important? You know, they had this whole prize thing, but it didn't seem to be like that big of a deal.

It didn't seem very uh consequential to the like I can go talk to a scientist or a politician right now.

Like, what yeah, no power to exactly so whatever. So we're gonna we're gonna dig up more. Uh, you know, maybe some some Highlander themed PTSD. And oh, by the way, every time I say PSTSD, now I say PTSD and D. Like I couldn't cannot when I was writing the the thing for the wizard. Oh, yeah, you just wrote D D after. Every so many, every time I kept like saying D and D.

We'll try not to do that to someone who actually has PTSD.

That'd be bad. It'd be pretty terrible. All right, well, thank you so much for listening. Our voices are literally giving out because we had a lot to say.

Especially combined with the first episode we did afterwards.

So thank you for listening. Uh, as always, so you can find us on social media, on Patreon. It is Nat1Presents. The one is a numeral, so N-A-T-1 presents. Uh go ahead, become a patron. It's only a dollar. But if you don't want to do that, then just follow us on social media, send us a DM, comment, engage with us, please.

Refer a friend.

Refer a friend. Share the content, share your favorite episode on social media, and I will personally give you a shout-out on the episode.

He'll send you a fire stick.

All right, we'll see you next week.

Bye.