"You're a widow." - Duncan MacLeod

Several actors have been "recycled" through the life of "Highlander", whether as bit part players, (the old French guy who's nearly run off the road twice in "Richard Redstone" having previously been murdered by Kuyler's sidekick in the teaser of "For Evil's Sake"), or as main parts. Anthony DeLongis enjoyed his appearance in "Blackmail", as he returns here for "Duende", although his character doesn't fare any better than before. DeLongis, a skilled swordsman, came up with the idea of weaving "The Mysterious Circle" into an episode himself. All opinions expressed here are my own, as is the retelling of the storyline.

Written by Jan Hartman

Cast

Duncan takes Richie for a night out at the Club Hidalgo, run by his friend Anna Hidalgo. Anna was one of the leading Flamenco dancers of her generation until she was crippled in a hit and run accident. Now, her daughter Luisa leads the dance troupe at the Club. Luisa never knew her father, Rafael, who was murdered in a fit of jealous rage by the owner of the troupe that he and Anna danced for. As Luisa finishes her dance, Anna asks Richie to try and, when he declines, asks Duncan, who surprises both Luisa and Richie with a skill in flamenco, although Richie is less surprised that MacLeod has done this before. As they leave the club, they see Anna and Luisa arguing. Luisa rides away in a limousine and Anna tells Duncan that she is worried about Luisa's new admirer, as she has not seen him and Luisa will not tell her his name. Duncan is worried about him for a different reason. Both he and Richie clearly sensed the Immortal in the limousine.

The following morning, a distraught Anna arrives at the barge and tells them that Luisa never came home, but as they talk, Richie and Duncan sense another Immortal. Leaving Anna with Richie, Duncan goes out onto the Quai to find Otavio Consone waiting by the same limousine that had spirited Luisa away the night before. There is no love lost between the two men, but their conversation is interrupted by Anna, who has seen Consone through the windows of the barge. She is appalled to see him, as he was the man who killed Rafael all those years ago. As she is restrained by Richie and Duncan, Luisa gets out of the limousine. Seeing her daughter with Consone is almost too much for Anna, who cannot understand why Consone has not grown old through the years. Duncan tells Richie to take Anna home and warns Consone that they will meet soon.

Duncan has his own score to settle with Consone. After his travels with Irena and Jacob Galati, Duncan wound up in Madrid in the middle of the nineteenth century, where Otavio Consone taught him the swordsmanship of the Mysterious Circle, a duelling form which takes place inside a prescribed circle, both fighters using a rapier and a dagger at close quarters. Relationships between the two men soured when Duncan fell in love with Theresa Diego. She loved him and wanted him to propose marriage, but Consone desired her as well and mocked the idea of a Highland barbarian marrying the daughter of a noble house of Spain. When Duncan went to see Theresa's father, he found that Consone had got there first. The two men fought and Duncan faltered before Consone's skill, but was saved when Theresa gave the Spaniard an ultimatum. If he killed Duncan, she would flee to a convent. If he spared him, she would never speak to the Highlander again and would marry Consone. Duncan left Madrid, but was unable to forget Theresa and returned two years later, only to find that she had died in a mysterious accident and Consone was gone.

Richie returns to the barge to find Duncan looking at a matched rapier and dagger. Richie had tried to explain to Anna that sometimes, you have to accept that things are way they, however impossible, as there are no answers. Despite Richie's belief that he is giving Consone an edge, Duncan is determined to face the Spaniard in the circle and to conquer him within it, to face the spectre of his loss in Madrid. But he has to find Consone first and he goes to see Anna, who has no idea where Consone lives. The other dancers might know, but they won't tell her, as she is the boss, and they won't tell Duncan, as he is her friend. Richie is drafted in as an unknown face and, under the pretext of wanting to hire the dancers for his hotel, gets the girls to give him an address where he can contact Luisa.

Duncan goes to the address, which is Consone's house. The housekeeper is leaving and tells him that Consone has given her the week off, as he and Luisa got married that afternoon. She leaves Duncan waiting for Consone to return, but it is Luisa who comes back first. Duncan tries to persuade her to leave with him, but she thinks that he is there to argue for her mother and won't listen. Duncan senses Consone approaching and sends Luisa into the house. Consone has been taunting Anna, for not only is he her now son-in-law, but it was he who drove the car that crippled her a decade ago. Now, he taunts Duncan, warning that Luisa can no more escape him than Theresa could. He tells MacLeod that he murdered Theresa when he could no longer stand the fact that she still loved the Highlander and not him. Luisa hears all this and runs out of the house. Consone is mildly annoyed, but watches as Duncan sends Luisa away.

With no one else around, the two Immortals go to settle their differences. Behind Consone's house there is a Circle and they fight in the style that Consone taught Duncan. But the pupil has a new trick for the master. Duncan holds off Consone for a long time, but as the fight reaches its climax, the Spaniard runs him through. But what works for mortals doesn't always work with Immortals. Inside Consone's defences, Duncan pulls his opponent's rapier deeper into himself, bringing Consone within reach of his dagger. Prising Consone's dagger from his startled grip, Duncan uses both blades to take the Spaniard's head before sinking to his knees as the combined effects of the wound and the Quickening take their toll of him. Later, he goes to see Anna and Luisa and tells them that they need worry about Consone any more. Luisa is a widow. Luisa wants to know what happened, but Anna remembers what Richie was trying to tell her and tells her daughter that they will ask no questions.