Joe Dawson returns from wherever he disappeared to in order to inform Mac that Immortal murderer Quinten Barnes is on the loose. MacLeod ignores this fact until his old friend Michael Moore whose wife Jeanette was murdered by Barnes also appears.
It's a bit odd that Joe breaks every rule the Watchers are supposed to live by to involve MacLeod. I guess they need to justify him being a regular somehow, but by the end of this, both he and Duncan are counting the cost of getting involved. Duncan doesn't even manage to save any of Barnes' targets, adding to the human cost of all this.
Given that we never get a good look at Barnes, it's obvious there's going to be a twist. Some of what has gone before is rather disturbing once we know the answers. One oddity: Duncan finds Michael's glasses but he's wearing them when he next turns up. Did Duncan just leave them lying on the ground?
Another part of the format slots into place with the debut of the dojo, a regular feature through to Season 5. First appearance of Charlie DeSalvo (with Philip Akin added to the opening credits) and second of Joe Dawson. Charlie will be back in An Eye for an Eye, and Joe in The Zone. Tessa oddly talks as though Duncan has been doing this sort of thing all the time she's known him, forgetting his century out of the Game. Richie and Joe meet for the first time... well, sort of. They see each other from a distance and talk on the phone.
