L'immortelle

I just bought The Raven, and haven't exactly got through it all yet, but I am really enjoying it so far. I know that many Highlander fans are going to start watching it with a closed mind. "No Duncan and too much Amanda", some might say. I find it refreshing to see through the eyes of another immortal more than once, (although I'd prefer Methos). But still, if you start watching The Raven, knowing that it's a different perspective with different scenarios because of different lifestyles, instead of expecting the same immortal business that we got from Duncan, then you'll find it enjoyable. Yea, the show has got some rough edges, and a couple questionable moments, but if you can look past them, then you'll have a good time watching The Raven.

Being a huge fan of the original series, it's pretty much required that I watch this one as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to it's predecessor's quality. Elizabeth Gracen reprises her role of Amanda, the 1200 y/o immortal. Gracen is one of those actresses you either absolutely love, or absolutely hate. I happen to be one of the former, so it's a shame to see her going to waste like this.

The storylines are thin at best. Basically they consist of, "Bad thing happens. Bad immortal from Amanda's past behind it. Amanda runs around for an hour, then kills said immortal." Not exactly groundbreaking stuff. To make up for the stories, you'd expect them to at least play up the action and have some fun with it (a la V.I.P.). However, they go in just the opposite direction and take it too seriously.

Paul Johansson plays Nick Wolfe, who is just as benign as his character's name. He's one of those cookie cutter sydie-action actors: about 6' tall, overly athletic, abnormally above average looks, abnormally below average acting ability. When Amanda is on the screen you want the scenes to last forever. When Nick is the lead, you cringe and hope for a quick death.

The show could use a major rewrite, possibly putting the focus more on Amanda's past. A character who has seen the last 1200 years gives you lots of potential settings. As for a quick & dirty rating using imdb's 10 star system, I'd give this a 5 for now.

> Mostly the weakness of the show as it stands is a given. > Amanda, Ms. Gracen, makes the whole thing watchable for those that have a > thing for her. Which isn't hard... . > Her white hair, criticised by another reviewer, gives her, in my opinion, an > exotic sexiness which she carries well. And which on someone over 1,000 > thousand years old should be expected. Just kidding. > Some more exciting characters for her to play opposite, who generate some > real sparks, would definitely help. >

First I must say that I love Elizabeth Gracen acting in general and the way she portrays Amanda is great. But after watching this series I must say she should get an Oscar for holding this show afloat. First the writing is not even close to the standard of the original and I think that she just had more on screen chemistry with Adrian Paul. One of the things people loved to see the sparks fly between Amanda and Duncan. Not Amanda and Nick.

Paul Johansson plays a cop turned sort of renegade after his female partner is killed trying to save Amanda. Then in such he loses his job and now works with Amanda tracking down bad guys.

While Elizabeth Gracen still performs well with what limited talent around her this show is not that good. In all truth it borders on being simply bad. Nick (Paul) is not a eye drawing character and you spend most of your time trying to wait until he leaves. The story lines don't make a lot of sense and the only thing that is semi decent is the flashbacks dealing with Amanda (Elizabeth)

What the producers of the show should have done is when the new series of movies are made Elizabeth should be written into those. Hopefully Paul will be taken out of the show and the writers can try and take this show in a new direction. Concentrating more on the character Amanda.

Highlander the Raven was a bad show but I wouldn't blame the character of Amanda for it. First the name was bad because A) there was no Highlander in it) and b) since when was she known as The Raven? then yes Amanda was a character of questionable morals who wasn't as powerful a fighter as most of the imortals but she's survived. The question is "Why?" and the answer is not that she ran to Duncan for help. finding out how she survived all these years on her own would have made a good show. The problem was the lame hook her up with a mortal cop story line. That was what made the show bad. Notice the same thing is killing Birds of Prey right now ironically a female driven show with a woman who reminds us of Catwoman in the lead role. Anyone ever notice that Buffy is a hit show and she doesn't need to run to a big strong man to defeat her enemies.