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Like all spin-off shows, the Methos And Joe Show (the working title by which it was forever known to cast, crew, and fans) had several challenges it needed to confront head-on. It needed to establish the universe of the show for new viewers and to introduce the characters. It needed to make a break from Highlander: The Series while at the same time reassuring fans of the old show that many things would not change. The new focus on Joe Dawson and Methos, both secondary characters in the original series, served to distract the audience from the new undertones of the series. There was no lead character such as Duncan MacLeod, who had so excellently swathed, loved, lost, and found his way through the 6 seasons of Highlander: The Series. This was a truly ensemble show. The new series delved into the history and psyche of Joe and Methos while at the same time putting a spotlight on secondary characters that the original series had not had. This is not as apparent in the pilot, which, like most spin-off pilots, is a strange mix of trying to appease old fans while still creating the new series with its own unique identity. Watcher assassin Tom Ramirez, who appears in only a cameo role here, is often mistaken for an unidentified extra even by the most dedicated fans of the show. Emanuel Donaldson, the hero of such beloved episodes as Nine Years In Seacouver and Alexander Gradin: This Is Your Life, is named only as "Watcher 1". Kim Greenwood, Methos's ever-patient head Watcher, does not even appear. Clearly, this is a show that still had a lot of work to do.
However, even in this infant stage, the pilot (which, most agree, has not aged well in view of later episodes such as Over There and A Rose For Methos) asserts several distinct points of view. Methos is never addressed by that name, in a clear break from Highlander: The Series, and only oblique mentions are made of the fact that Adam Pierson is actually Methos. Methos's diplomatic connections, which appear for the first time in the pilot, are revisited with great effect later in the season, and the fall-out from his choice in the season finale not only colors later seasons, but casts its shadow back on his work on Highlander: The Series as well. Vietnam veteran and retired Marine Joe Dawson, who has had the experience of 5 seasons on Highlander: The Series, has far more battle scars. After losing his family and what was left of his idealism to his time in the Watchers, this is now a man who has to deal with the ramifications of the many choices he has made and his past returning to haunt him in the form of his illegitimate daughter, now a decorated field agent.
While not perfect, the pilot offers several gems of its own. It is the first location episode of the series and, like all of them, makes several inadvertent errors that are later deliberately referred back to in every subsequent location episode. New fans of the show may be interested in noting that it is this episode, not Second Star To The Right, which established the long-held custom of using the "porn names" of the producers as known aliases of the villain of the week. The pilot also began the practice of filing down Methos's nails after he took a Quickening and of never allowing any two showings of Adam Pierson's birth date to match. For those keeping track at home, the Pierson of the pilot is a full five months younger than the Pierson of Without A Paddle and two and a half years older than the Pierson of Dawson Squared. Many have argued that Methos's passport would use the British dating order while his driver's license would use the American dating order. This has been contradicted several times by the show's producers, who freely admit that using only numerals in the passport was a purposeful factual error.
The pilot comes with three commentary tracks on the extended, collector's addition DVD. The viewer is encouraged to listen to them in any order while reading the finalized script. The shooting problems at the Library of Congress are legend and included several rewrites on the day. The resulting takes, while coherent enough to be stitched together for the flashbacks, nevertheless did not allow for Methos's death to be shown. Despite rumors to the contrary, several possible deaths were filmed. The reader will note that the finalized script does not include the resolution of the hostage conflict. The producers originally intended to leave it open-ended (as they later did in nearly every other Methos flashback as a further way to differentiate themselves from Highlander: The Series and to put a fine point on the fact that Methos very often lies) and revisit in a subsequent flashback later in the series, which would also further establish the relationship between Benjamin Adams and Charles "Chas" Smythe. Because of the intense pressure to resolve the storyline in this episode, the director ultimately opted to shoot several versions and to then choose which version to use after the script for Stand And Die was finished. However, the filming difficulties combined with the total rewrite of Stand And Die allowed for the original intent to see daylight. The controversy over this choice led to some of the earliest publicity for the show and convinced the powers that were to give it a chance.
Many alternative takes of the Library of Congress scenes are included on the DVDs, including the epic crane shot during which the prop sword breaks. Enjoy.
-Jem Noren, television historian, extracted from The Watcher Chronicles: A Retrospective
EXT. ALLEYWAY
A QUICKENING, the freak lightening that results when an IMMORTAL is beheaded, rages around. It makes as much mayhem as can be reasonably expected, given the age of the deceased. Then it ends, leaving only whips of smoke behind.
METHOS, the world's oldest Immortal, holds a bloody sword. It is not his. He glares at it like it holds the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and starts to clean the sword. He looks at the headless corpse of the ground of NAMELESS IMMORTAL, whose face is not seen.
METHOS:
You really know how to make an entrance.
He hears sirens in the distance and sheaths the sword in his coat. He gives the corpse one last look, then picks up a gasoline can, pours gasoline on the corpse, and lights it on fire. He pulls a busted cell phone out of his pocket as he walks away.
METHOS:
[grumble] My lucky day.
He heads off to find a payphone.
INT. JOE'S BAR
JOE DAWSON, the proprietor of the bar, is cleaning off a table. The phone rings. TOM, the bartender, answers it.
TOM:
Joe's. [pause] Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Right.
TOM hangs up. He turns to JOE. We see that the bar is empty and the open sign faces into the room. The bar has been closed for hours.
TOM:
Adam's killed another one.
EXT. ANOTHER ALLEYWAY
It is getting harder and harder to find a working payphone these days. METHOS is counting quarters. After dropping several to the ground, he curses and bends to pick them up. We see that his hands are shaking. He has just taken a QUICKENING. After scraping at the gravel to pick them up, METHOS looks around. He sees an all-night convenience store a block away.
INT. CONVENIENCE STORE
METHOS browses the front racks. The woman behind the counter glares at him openly. Now that there is an overload of florescent lighting, we see that METHOS is filthy.
CLOSE-UP of METHOS'S dirty and bloody fingernails.
CLOSE-UP of METHOS'S arms. The coat is ripped at the sleeves, with tears going both sideways and upward. The black long-sleeve shirt that METHOS is wearing underneath has several holes, some made by fingers, the larger ones made by bullets. As the CAMERA PANS, we see that he has been shot several times.
CLERK:
[hands are beneath the desk, one on the panic button, another on a gun] Need something?
METHOS:
[nods] Phone. Prepaid.
CLERK:
Someone you need to call?
METHOS:
Yeah. [rolls his eyes] My dog walker.
CLERK:
[stares at METHOS, then shakes her head. They don't pay her enough to care] Display case behind you.
METHOS pulls three phones off the hooks and puts them down on the counter. He rummages through his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He opens it and pulls out a credit card.
CLOSE-UP on the name on the credit card.
CLERK:
[off-camera] Adam Pierson?
METHOS:
That's me.
CLERK:
ID?
METHOS pulls out a driver's license from the wallet and hands it over. After a moment's thought, he pulls his passport out of another pocket and flips it open. It is a diplomatic passport and is heavily stamped.
CLERK:
[almost stammering] I can call the embassy for you. [nods to a phone behind the desk] Free of charge.
METHOS:
You get a lot of my type here?
CLERK:
[delicately] We're three blocks from the British embassy.
METHOS is speechless. CAMERA pulls out and we see the street sign says Massachusetts AV NW. CAMERA pulls out further and we see the WASHINGTON, D.C. skyline.
INT. JOE'S BAR
JOE is on the telephone.
JOE:
He's where?
CREDITS.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM, BRITISH EMBASSY
It is a medium-sized conference room, with a long table taking up most of the space. There are ten chairs around the table and is room for some more. METHOS sits in one of the chairs, his back to a side wall. From his vantage point, he can keep an eye on the door and see out of the windows. He is wearing a blue button down shirt and black suit pants. They fit him perfectly. He is ostensibly working on a crossword.
CLOSE-UP of the New York Times crossword puzzle, which is filled in with hieroglyphics.
There is a rap on the door. JOE enters. He carries himself like a man who has just taken a cross-country red-eye flight, which, in fact, he has.
JOE:
Didn't you tell me you'd gotten naturalized as an American citizen?
METHOS:
Dual-citizenship, Joe. It's a wonderful thing.
JOE sits down three chairs down from METHOS. He has also does not have his back to a window or the door. He does have his back to the security camera. We see that the security camera is turned off.
JOE:
Wanna tell me how you ended up in D.C.?
METHOS:
[dry] What, I can't take a vacation? See the sights?
JOE:
Yesterday, you were in Seacouver. Then I get a call. Wanna know what it said?
METHOS:
That reminds me.
METHOS stands up. He walks over to a pile of clothes in a corner and pulls out a sword. It still has some blood on it.
METHOS:
Found MacLeod's sword.
JOE stares at it.
METHOS:
You can touch it, you know. It's not Chekhov's gun.
JOE:
I believe you. But put that away.
METHOS:
So you've heard from MacLeod?
JOE:
[brushes it off] Here and there. You want to tell me why I got a panicked call from Greenwood telling me he lost you? [after two beats of silence, JOE slams his fist on the table] Dammit, Adam! You promised me you wouldn't do that anymore!
METHOS:
Calm down, Joe. This wasn't exactly my fault.
JOE:
Yeah?
METHOS:
Got grabbed, got shot a few times, woke up in a warehouse. Guy came after me with a sword. [gives Joe a woefully innocent look] It was self-defense, I swear.
JOE:
You know who you killed?
METHOS:
Guy who had MacLeod's sword.
JOE:
[repeating himself patiently] You know who you killed?
METHOS:
I didn't get a chance to check for ID, if that's what you mean.
JOE:
He wasn't supposed to be on your radar. He wasn't supposed to know who you were.
METHOS:
Wait, someone was hunting me, and you didn't tell me?
JOE:
You don't know who he is, he didn't know who you were. Half the Methos team was trying to figure out how the hell he knew enough to hunt you.
METHOS:
You want me to apologize for killing him before you could ID him?
JOE:
Right now, I want to implant a locator chip in your shoulder so you won't drop off the map again.
METHOS:
Aw, Joe. I didn't know you cared.
There is a long beat while they look at each other. We see that METHOS is not as well-rested as he had seemed before. He is very tense and his hands are still shaking slightly. He seems to reverberate from the effort of staying still. JOE just looks damn tired.
METHOS:
[quietly] And, anyway, he shot clean through my shoulders a few times. Even if you had, it wouldn't have worked.
JOE:
[shortly] Right. Of course he did.
METHOS:
You can't seriously be blaming me for this.
JOE:
Blaming you for killing him? No. Blame you for mutilating the body? Oh, yeah.
METHOS:
Well, if you'd told me you'd had three dozen people trying to identify him...
JOE:
You still woulda done it.
METHOS:
Yeah, but I would have let that Watcher tailing me get a good picture of him first.
JOE:
We didn't have a Watcher on you.
METHOS:
So the Watcher on him, then.
JOE:
Adam, we found out that you'd killed him when the Quickening got the attention of a guy who was off-duty half a mile away. He IDed you coming off the scene. But no one saw the fight.
METHOS:
Well, someone was there.
JOE:
Are you sure?
METHOS:
Of course not. I have survived this long because I am always completely unaware of my surroundings and never make sure people aren't staring at me when I chop somebody's head off.
There is another long beat, broken by a rap on the door. AN OFFICIAL pokes his head in.
OFFICIAL:
That's as long as we can keep the cameras off, Mr. Pierson.
METHOS:
Thanks, Bill.
METHOS stands up and offers his hand to Joe.
METHOS:
Come on. I'll buy you a drink.
COMMERCIAL BREAK.
INT. BACKROOM IN A WATCHER BAR, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
JOE and METHOS are sitting at a round table. On the table are four laptops and several piles of paper. Other WATCHERS are going in and out, giving METHOS long looks.
WATCHER 1:
[whispers] Should he even be here?
WATCHER 2:
[whispers] You wanna tell him he has to leave?
METHOS is not wearing a coat and is obviously heavily armed. He is wearing two shoulder holsters, one holding a gun and the other holding a long dagger. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows and he has knifes strapped his wrists. His watcher tattoo is barely visible beneath one of them.
METHOS:
[calmly] I can hear you, you know.
The WATCHERS almost trip over each other leaving the room. JOE barks a short laugh.
JOE:
Don't scare the children, Adam.
METHOS:
[says it like a curse] Researchers.
JOE:
And you would know.
METHOS:
I was never that green.
JOE:
Yes, but they aren't the world's oldest immortal masquerading as a Watcher. You finished with that pile?
METHOS:
[nods and hands it over] Nothing's jogging my memory. I still don't recognize the guy.
JOE:
Known aliases were Terrance Phillips and Howard Muniz. He probably liked variations of those. [under his breath] Benjamin Adams.
METHOS:
Not everyone is me, Joe.
JOE:
The greenies are working on dead baby certificates in case he's more like Connor MacLeod.
METHOS:
Can you people really only track him back a year?
JOE:
You eluded us for centuries.
METHOS:
Yes, but I'm very good at this. That guy was a terrible sword fighter.
JOE:
[hands METHOS three sheets of paper stapled together] Here. Stare at this for a while.
METHOS:
[flips through it. It's a bunch of sketches] What is it?
JOE:
Composite shots of what he might have looked like at five year intervals, starting with age twenty.
METHOS:
[takes a better look at the sketches]
CLOSE-UP of METHOS'S face as he stares at the age:20 sketch.
FLASHBACK: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1967
METHOS is standing in the middle of a crowd, all rushing to get out. He stands perfectly still. He looks upward. Above him, looking down, is an 18 year old in a Marine Corps uniform. Behind the Marine is an Immortal with a sword to his neck. The Immortal is named CHAS SMYTHE and he has been hunting METHOS.
SMYTHE:
Benjamin Adams!
METHOS:
[holds his gaze]
SMYTHE:
Come up or I kill him.
METHOS looks to the side, where there are six security guards, all with their guns out and ready.
METHOS:
[to the guards] I've never met this guy before. And my name isn't Benjamin Adams.
PRESENT DAY: WATCHER BAR, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
METHOS:
Have you checked military records?
JOE:
[looks at him sideways] Which war?
METHOS:
Yours.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INT. BACKROOM IN A WATCHER BAR, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
METHOS and JOE are still sitting at the table, but it is much later. Take-out containers are all around them.
JOE:
Well, you were right. James Larsson. First death probably ten years ago. Hard to know, he dropped off the map after his wife filed for divorce in '85.
METHOS:
And he'd know what I looked like, but not have a damned clue who I was.
JOE:
It's not that simple.
METHOS:
What I'd give for a time when it ever was.
JOE:
He was seriously injured in Vietnam, never recovered all his memories. One of the things he never got back was being held hostage by Charles Smythe.
METHOS:
So Chas found him later and renewed their acquaintance. [beat] He's dead, isn't he?
JOE:
Since '68. And I don't think Larsson wanted to kill you, Adam.
METHOS:
Really? I didn't get that impression when he was shooting me.
JOE:
I think he was having flashbacks. I think he wanted to know what happened that day. I think he knew he couldn't trust his memory.
METHOS:
Again, Joe. This is a guy who tried to kill me. If he'd wanted to talk, he wouldn't have come after me with a sword.
JOE:
Yeah? So what do you think, then?
METHOS:
I think he wanted revenge.
FLASHBACK: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1967
It is ten minutes later. CHAS SMYTHE still has his sword to JAMES LARSSON'S neck. METHOS is standing five feet away from them on the balcony. The Library of Congress is empty except for them and the security guards.
METHOS:
[clearly wishing he were anywhere else] Look. I don't know who the hell you are, but just let the kid go.
SMYTHE:
No. I think I'll keep him. He's awfully pretty, don't you think? It's been a long time since one of us took a young one along, made sure he knew what he was doing, made sure he didn't get hurt.
METHOS:
[winces. He knows exactly what SMYTHE is talking about.] Just let him go.
SMYTHE:
But then you'll run, Doctor Adams. You'll just run again.
METHOS:
My name is Adam Benjamin and I'm not a doctor.
SMYTHE:
You think I care what you're calling yourself these days?
METHOS:
I think you'll care when the snipers find an angle that won't go right through you and hit your Marine friend.
SMYTHE:
[laughs] It would do him a world of good, wouldn't it? He's at a good age for it. Certainly suited you well.
METHOS:
I turn forty next week. So just let him go.
SMYTHE:
You care so much about his life?
METHOS:
I'd rather he didn't die, yes.
SMYTHE:
True, this is a very public place. [seems to notice the location for the first time] But you always loved breaking the rules, Doctor.
METHOS:
[in Latin, subtitled] Do you know what a Quickening would do to all these books?
LARSSON:
[reacts]
METHOS:
[flicks his eyes to LARSSON, then smiles] You picked a smart one.
SMYTHE:
Nothing worse for a mind than a good education, I've always said.
METHOS:
This is too public, you understand.
SMYTHE:
Had to get your attention somehow.
METHOS:
There's an invention called a telephone. Call ahead.
SMYTHE:
But then you wouldn't have incentive to stay. [slides the blade edge of the sword along LARSSON'S neck, drawing blood] And now you do.
METHOS:
[shakes his head] Chas, you always were too stupid to live.
INT. BACKROOM IN A WATCHER BAR, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
JOE is reading the incident report from the hostage situation. He skims over still photographs of the security footage, focusing just enough to positively identify the major players.
METHOS enters the room, bearing two cups of coffee. He places one down in front of JOE and takes a gulp from his own before sitting down.
METHOS:
I still can't figure out how he got his hands on MacLeod's sword.
JOE:
[matching his tone exactly] I still can't figure out how you got out of that building alive.
METHOS:
[reacts, surprised] I didn't.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INT. HOTEL ROOM, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
METHOS is sitting on a bed. JOE is sitting on the couch in the room, staring at him. METHOS is carefully checking himself over for lumps that would indicate that there are still some stray bullets in his body.
METHOS:
You've done that math by now, I'd hope.
JOE:
Yeah.
METHOS:
I was getting too old for that identity anyway. I just had to move up the switch by a year.
JOE:
You nearly got Larsson killed.
METHOS:
[looks at him] He would have come back.
JOE:
Right in time to be sent to war.
METHOS:
What did you want me to do, Joe? Throw myself on Chas's sword? Sorry, I don't do big martyrdoms. I don't care if Larsson was one of your fellow Marines and there's some holy and sacred bond there. He was a pre-Immortal. How he died for the first time was really not something I gave two damns about.
JOE:
It was a miracle he didn't die out there.
METHOS:
I died in battle, first time around. Most of us do.
JOE:
You think I don't know that?
METHOS:
I think you're forgetting, yes.
JOE:
I think you could have saved that kid's life.
METHOS:
I'm not MacLeod. I don't feel the need to save every clueless kid who drops into my lap.
JOE:
You could have told him what he was and given him a first death.
METHOS:
Oh, now he wants me to have killed him. Yes, yes, very consistent. Pick a side, Joe.
JOE:
True or false: he could have blinked and that brain damage would have healed itself, if he'd already died once. His life never would have been ruined, if he'd already died once.
METHOS:
Ah. So this is actually about you.
JOE:
Do you feel any compulsion at all to take care of your young? I know your species isn't known for its kindness, but--
METHOS:
[cold] My species?
JOE:
You can't sell me any Saint MacLeod crap after the man killed his own student.
METHOS:
Yeah, but shit happens. Sometimes, you gotta kill your own student. It's not pretty, it's not nice, it's not something you brag about, but it happens, Joe. And it happens much more than you think.
JOE:
You could have saved that kid's life. You could have taken him in, taught him a few lessons, taught him how to survive. You didn't.
METHOS:
I'm not an orphanage, Joe. I'm not a saint. Yes, sometimes I do try, sometimes my cold stone monstrous heart does crack. But this isn't like the movies. You can't just snap your fingers and it's all fixed. Larsson still would have had to go to Vietnam and he would have died probably a hundred times over there, and for what? As it is, he got hurt and spent the rest of the war in hospital. Which is more cruel? We'd have to ask him, but none of us can undo the past. And I doubt it would have mattered. Chas certainly never thanked me for killing him young.
JOE:
I don't expect easy answers.
METHOS:
Then why are you asking for them?
They stare at each other. The phone rings. JOE answers it.
JOE:
Yeah. Yes. Yes, of course. No, spoke with him last week. No. He's right here. All right. Thanks.
He hangs up the phone, then rips the cord out of the wall.
JOE:
We know why he had MacLeod's sword.
METHOS:
Why?
JOE:
Because MacLeod is still cleaning up your messes.
METHOS:
He told Larsson where to find me?
JOE:
And gave him the sword so you'd trust him. [sighs] Pour me a drink, Adam.
CAMERA PANS out through the window as METHOS pours him a drink. We see the D.C. skyline once more. The camera lingers over the Naval Observatory, the Library of Congress, and the White House.
FADE TO BLACK
VOICE-OVER:
Coming this season:
The following flash by quickly, with the background sound of a pounding heart beat.
CLOSE-UP of Methos running through a warehouse.
CLOSE-UP of explosions and QUICKENINGS galore.
UNKNOWN V-O: No one gets out of here alive.
METHOS stands by a limousine in dress uniform with no rank insignia.
More explosions.
JOE V-O: Found you, you little bastard.
METHOS sparring in a white padded room.
WATCHER 1 V-O: [screaming] Adam!
Maternity room, newborns sleeping, one looks toward the camera. CAMERA PANS upward and rests on JOE.
Three people run through the halls of Watcher HQ.
METHOS V-O: [in recitation] Right in front of you the entire time.
A MAN strolls through the docks, a clock chimes twice.
CLOSE-UP of a knife held to a MAN'S throat. The MAN swallows against the flat of the blade.
JOE V-O: You're our god-damn expert! You tell us!
Abrupt FADE TO BLACK
SOUND ONLY of a military funeral.
SOUND ONLY of a gun salute
TITLE CARD