Chapter Text
Because I'm not going to finish this, so, here's what there is of the WIP.
Episode 1.04: Rite of Passage
I have 18 pages of 1.04 and I don't really like what I have. Essentially, it's a newbie-POV-episode, which gets lantered in the opening bit.
(yes, it is revealed in subsequent episodes just why Ruth March was involved in that fight)
And that's kind of the entire episode. Emanuel being the new-audience's stand in, the Exposition Excuse. And to do that, he's being really cringingly new and stuff. That kind of stuff, uh, doesn't really interest me.
Here's what I have of the episode, with some parts taken out, and notes on what would happen next.
--
We were all young once. We were all once the lowest in the pecking order. We all once tried to peer into the world of the adults and the experts, wondering when it would be our time to join them.
Welcome to Rite of Passage, also known as the first point-of-view episode. This episode ushered in Emanuel Donaldson as the audience's entrée into the world of the Watchers. The fact that it happened four episodes into the series doesn't really matter. Whenever the series needed to show something that it felt needed to be explained to the audience, enter Emanuel, stage left.
Children and newbies have always been used in this manner. It's an excuse for a lot of exposition. What sets this apart is that this is not the pilot episode; the audience is already expected to know a lot about the Watchers. The majority of the audience this early on the series were holdovers from Highlander: The Series, and the ones that weren't had already had three episodes to get them situated into this world. By this point, the show runners hoped that the new audience was getting settled and was willing to stay. It was time to explain things.
Remember, until this point, there was no reason for the new audience to know what a Quickening was. They didn't know how Immortals died. It was still murky on just what Adam's relationship to the Watchers was. Adam and the Watchers become much clearer in All Quiet, which was filmed concurrently with Rite of Passage, but that theme enters into Rite of Passage as well. Even as Tom and Methos are having a (presumably off-the-record) conversation, they are being watched.
But keeping with a constrained point of view brings its own problems. Because Emanuel is so far down on the totem pole, there are many things to which he is not privy. It therefore happens that the first true sword fight of the series is with an opponent who Emanuel, and the audience, does not know, and occurs for a reason that Emanuel, and the audience, does not understand. Emanuel sees only snippets of the real world, the world that field agents live and breathe. As a researcher, it's his job to collect and analyze data, not record it. In the end, he is simply joy-riding and nearly gets killed in the aftermath of a situation he doesn't understand.
There's a reason Emanuel never passes his field agent exam. And, it turns out, that's for good reason.
-Zack Liu, television historian, extracted from The Watcher Chronicles: A Retrospective
INT. RESEARCH LIBRARY, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER
EMANUEL DONALDSON sits hunched over a large tome, which is a centuries-old chronicle. He has three more books spread out in front of him, one of which is a dictionary. He is looking back and forth between the chronicle and his reference material. He has some minor cuts and bruises on his face, arms, and hands. He has one of those flex bandages on his nose. He looks like he got into a fight with some inanimate objects and lost.
The bell tower starts to chime the hour. EMANUEL slams his reference books shut, and then carefully closes the chronicle. He grabs his jacket and bag and sprints out of the room.
At the door, he is joined by two other researchers. They are NATE PARKER and MARIE DRAKE. He pauses only to fall in step with them. They run through the halls of Watcher HQ, backlit by the setting sun through the large windows in the hall. They come to a halt outside what appears to be a door to a broom closet.
MARIE opens the door and we see that it is a lounge. The decor looks very cheap and second-hand, nothing at all like the tasteful and expensive furniture seen elsewhere in the HQ building. This room is more dorm room than sitting room.
Three other junior researchers are there already. EMANUEL takes off his bag and puts it on the floor. He rummages through it, then pulls out a much-cherished camcorder.
NATE:
Okay, meeting called to order.
MARIE:
Whatcha got, Manny?
EMANUEL opens the viewfinder on the camcorder and starts to play back what he had recorded. The junior researchers all gather around it.
EMANUEL:
[deepening his voice to sound like the guy from the movie trailers] Ladies and gentlemen. I give you, taking a Quickening.
CREDITS.
TITLE CARD: 48 HOURS EARLIER
INT. SECOND FLOOR, TOM RAMIREZ'S HOUSE
CAMERA PANS across a cookie-cutter middle-class street in a cookie-cutter middle-class neighborhood. There are stop signs and street lights and lawns that could do with professional care. Some houses have porches with swing seats. Others have the detritus that comes from having young children. There are more than a few bikes leaning against concrete steps.
CAMERA FOCUSES on one house, as cookie-cutter as the next, with an appropriately messy lawn and an appropriately chipped paint job. CAMERA PUSHES through a window on the second floor.
We enter through a darkened bedroom. The house is owned by TOM RAMIREZ and serves as the informal headquarters of special projects when the project involves anyone based out of Seacouver HQ. It is also the temporary home of EMANUEL DONALDSON, who moved in a month ago.
EMANUEL creeps out of his room and leaves the door slightly ajar behind him. He crouches at the top of the stairs and peers through the stairwell at the two men sitting at the dining room table, eating take out. They are TOM RAMIREZ and METHOS.
We hold on EMANUEL'S point of view.
TOM:
Well?
METHOS:
It's good enough.
METHOS hands TOM back a photo-copy. It is how the Harris Incident has been reported in the Methos Chronicle.
METHOS:
They'll stay away from Joe now?
TOM:
They should.
METHOS:
But that's not all. [pause] I mean, you could have just slipped this to me.
TOM:
I'd like your expert opinion.
METHOS:
[amused] My what now?
TOM:
Hypothetically...
METHOS:
All right.
TOM:
There's a pre-Immortal Watcher. A researcher, never done any field work. We know he's pre-Immortal because he's attracted an Immortal to him and the Immortal has taken him under his wing. And it's become a situation we can't ignore anymore.
METHOS:
This sounds familiar.
TOM:
It's not just you covering your ass this time.
METHOS:
So what happened?
TOM:
Security breach of the greatest kind. We've contained it and the researcher is sitting in a cell in Geneva right now. But it's a problem.
METHOS:
Are they debating cutting his head off?
TOM:
No. But it's a serious concern considering what he did.
METHOS:
I don't get details?
TOM:
[hands him a thick file folder] Here's what he was charged with.
METHOS:
[skims it, looking impressed at the audacity] How'd he get that far without someone noticing?
TOM:
He's good. So good that the internal affairs investigator "accidentally" cut his arm with a pocket knife during preliminary questioning to ease her mind.
METHOS:
Still human.
TOM:
If we just let him rot in that cell, he won't become Immortal?
METHOS:
Hard to know for sure. No one's ever been able to get enough reliable data.
TOM:
Hypothetically speaking only--
METHOS:
If you used a sword?
TOM:
Yes.
METHOS:
Even harder to know. Reports are mixed, and it's not something I could witness myself for obvious reasons.
TOM:
I had hoped we would have something in the archives from a reliable source, but even Horton left absolutely no notes.
METHOS:
Another reason he should have been taken out and shot. He did shitty research.
TOM:
What do you suggest we do?
METHOS:
You could always execute him. That would have been the punishment, right?
TOM:
Yeah. Even this Tribunal wouldn't have blinked. A couple of them want to do it themselves. They're mad as hell about this.
METHOS:
So, kill him, he jumps back up, voila.
TOM:
And then becomes another Watcher-hating Immortal.
METHOS:
Why? You'll be doing him a favor.
TOM:
He doesn't know he's pre-Immortal.
METHOS:
The fact that he's still breathing after pulling a scheme like this hasn't tipped him off?
TOM:
He thinks he's wrapped up in appeals.
METHOS:
You don't appeal betraying the Watchers to Interpol.
TOM:
He's in research, not legal. It keeps him distracted while we figure out what the hell to do with him.
METHOS:
Well, your two choices are killing him or letting him go. Killing him would seem the safest option.
TOM:
[surprised] You're suggesting we use a sword on him?
METHOS:
If I weren't in the picture, if you knew for certain that I would never find out, you wouldn't have thought twice.
TOM:
Probably not.
METHOS:
Then what's the problem? One law for mortals and Immortals alike. You would have killed a mortal. Kill the Immortal.
TOM:
That's--
METHOS:
He's been tried and found wanting.
TOM:
Adam, are you high?
METHOS looks over his shoulder at EMANUEL. EMANUEL jumps up in surprise and scurries up the stairs. We hear METHOS laughing as EMANEUL closes the door quickly behind himself. He leans back against the door, resting his head.
Muffled sounds come through the door, as we FADE TO BLACK.
INT. BUS
FADE IN
It is the next morning. EMANUEL DONALDSON is standing up, one arm hooked around a pole as the bus moves through traffic. He is wearing black jeans and a royal blue Oxford shirt and has a brown messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He has a crossword puzzle in his left hand. It is partially filled in. Another rider looks over his shoulder at the puzzle.
RIDER:
It's trapeze.
EMANUEL:
What?
RIDER:
5 down. Trapeze.
EMANUEL:
Oh, thanks.
EMANUEL fills it in with a pencil. The bus stops. It is EMANUEL'S stop. He gets off, jostling with the crowd. He walks away from the bus stop, then slips the crossword into his back pocket. He looks up at an imposing building across the street. He takes a deep breath, then crosses the street.
INT. SEACOUVER HISTORY MUSEUM, MAIN ENTRANCE
EMANUEL DONALDSON walks through the main doors. He heads to the main desk. He pulls out a photo ID and a membership card. He takes a tag and ties it through the straps of his bag. He heads back towards the exhibits.
INT. SEACOUVER HISTORY MUSEUM, SPECIAL EXHIBIT AREA
This is a large, impressive exhibit space. It is currently filled with a special exhibit on ancient Egyptian history. Because it is a weekday morning and too early for school groups, there are very few people there.
METHOS and RUTH MARCH are walking through the exhibit area and pausing at various displays as they talk. RUTH has a pad of paper in front of her, she is ostensibly taking notes. The tone of the conversation is light and, at times, mocking.
RUTH:
What made you decide to become an Egyptologist?
METHOS:
I used to visit my great-uncle on digs when I was a kid. It was fascinating.
RUTH:
But you're not an archaeologist.
METHOS:
I'm easily sunburned.
RUTH:
Sunblock, Dr. Pierson.
METHOS:
Why bother? I'd have to blow the entire budget on it.
RUTH:
I'm sure the financial backers would be thrilled.
METHOS:
Great-uncle Ben never had this problem. Between you and me, I blame my mother's side of the family.
RUTH:
Why?
METHOS:
They're all pasty Norwegians.
RUTH:
[stops in front of a display and seems to be studying it intently] One day I will find out where you're actually from, and you will never hear the end of it.
METHOS:
Good luck with that one.
RUTH:
Like you'd tell me if I ever got it right. But you're certainly an honorary Egyptian by now.
METHOS:
It's a nice vacation spot.
RUTH:
[agreeing] Giza's a good touch stone. The pyramids aren't going anywhere.
METHOS:
Well, the pyramids aren't. But imagine my surprise when I first saw that the Sphinx's nose was gone.
RUTH:
You mean you weren't the one to take it?
METHOS:
I like the keep my souvenirs portable.
RUTH:
You never did send me that postcard from Tokyo.
METHOS:
Time and tide wait for no postcard.
RUTH:
How true.
METHOS:
You never sent me one from Shanghai.
RUTH:
And let my husband know there was another man in my life?
METHOS:
[surprised] Husband?
RUTH and METHOS walk between two columns into another room of the exhibit. AMY THOMAS follows at a distance, admiring many of the artifacts. Once they are all gone from the room, EMANUEL DONALDSON stands up from where he had been sitting in a corner, appearing as just another anonymous art student sketching the displays. He stretches, then finds another spot, one that lets him see into the other room, and goes back to pretending to sketch.
INT. BUS
We see through the bus windows that the sun is setting. EMANUEL DONALDSON is sitting on a bench. He is one of the few people in the bus. He is traveling in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic. He pulls out the sketchbook and flips through it. Only the top few pages have drawings. The rest have detailed notes crammed together.
He looks around the bus and makes sure no one is looking at him. He pulls a pocket-sized book out of his bag. The battered cover reads FIELD MANUAL and the spine is well-broken. EMANUEL opens it to a spot near the front and starts to read.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INT. JOE'S BAR
EMANUEL DONALDSON sits at a booth with MARIE DRAKE and NATE PARKER. They have enough bar food in front of them to feed six people and are working their way through it systematically. EMANUEL has his sketchbook open on the table and it is covered with twenty or so tic-tac-toe games. Whenever a Watcher enters the bar, one of the three lifts the page up and writes down their name in the sketchbook.
We hold on their point of view.
AMY THOMAS breezes in. She is wearing a business suit and has just come from classes at the law school. She walks up to the bar and settles down in front of TOM RAMIREZ. TOM leans down, putting his forearms on the bar. They talk in low voices for a moment, then TOM straightens up and brings her a drink and half a sandwich. Someone calls from the other end of the bar and TOM heads down there.
JOE:
Hey, Amy.
AMY:
Hey, Joe. How are things?
JOE:
Pretty good.
TOM heads back over to them and JOE goes to chat with another regular.
TOM:
How've you been?
AMY:
My feet are killing me. I've been running all over the city all day.
TOM:
Support's always looking for good people.
AMY:
[gives him a dirty look] Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
TOM:
I thought your reports said that Ruth was working on a major project now. Why is she leading you on wild goose chases?
AMY:
She's working on it with our ex-Watcher friend.
TOM:
[pats her on the shoulder] Consider it a rite of passage. You, too, have been run ragged by Adam.
AMY:
Do I get to learn the super secret handshake now?
TOM:
No handshake, but you can buy Joe a drink sometime and commiserate.
AMY:
What about you? Can I buy you a drink?
TOM:
Sure, but how 'bout a movie ticket instead?
AMY:
[pause] I'd love to.
JOE:
[coming up from behind him] Flirt later, Tom. You're on duty now.
TOM:
Yes, sir.
AMY:
Sorry, Joe.
AMY takes her sandwich and her drink and moves to sit at a table. The traffic in the bar resumes as normal. Our three intrepid junior researchers keep to themselves in the corner.
The bar door opens and a woman comes in. She is of above average height and wearing a long black duster. Her hair is braided in a long ponytail. She walks up to the bar. Her name is TINA ROLLA.
TOM and JOE clearly know her. TOM nods at her and JOE pulls a bottle of beer from behind the bar and hands it to her.
JOE:
Hey, Tina. How was the flight?
TINA:
Crowded and with crying toddles. I'm going to need more than one drink.
JOE:
We'll keep 'em coming.
TOM:
Which hotel did he end up choosing?
TINA:
Holiday Inn on Grant Street.
TOM:
[jots it down on a bar napkin] I'll get a guy on it.
TINA:
No rush. We just crossed ten time zones. Even they need to crash sometimes.
JOE:
What about you?
TINA:
I sleep fine on planes. It's one of the perks of air travel being perfectly normal for all of my lifetime.
JOE:
[sympathetically] He grip the arm rests a lot?
TINA:
It's better than the times he's tried sleeping pills. He once overdosed on them over the Atlantic. Not a pretty sight.
TOM:
Was he the one who tried horse tranquilizers once?
TINA:
That's my boy. I'd feel all proud and maternal, but I can still hear those screaming kids.
TOM:
Invest in ear plugs.
TINA:
I did.
TOM:
[scribbles something else down on the napkin] I've got you down as checking in, Tina. Now, if you'll excuse me.
TOM heads over to one of the tables that had recently been vacated to clean up.
TINA:
Busy tonight?
JOE:
Lots of traffic in and out. If you saw the sign on the door, we're closed to the public today, private party.
TINA:
Is your special project stirring things up?
JOE:
[shakes his head] No, not Adam. He's been quiet as a mouse this week. But there are a bunch of major events going on in the city to celebrate its birthday and if I didn't know better, I'd bet their main demographic are Immortals.
TINA:
Were you around for that time in London?
JOE:
I couldn't get away from Paris at the time. But, yeah. We're counting ourselves lucky we don't need to set up a booth at the airport.
TINA:
Any interesting attractions I should check out before I go?
JOE:
Well, speaking of Adam, he put together an exhibit for the history museum on Ancient Egypt. Exhibit's really good, too. It's got Kim Greenwood running in circles trying to prove that Adam was there during the period he chose to focus the exhibit on.
TINA:
Egypt's never been my style. Is there anything more modern?
JOE:
Sure. But I bet you don't mean the modern art gallery.
(scene keeps going)
The door opens. Another Watcher comes in and EMANUEL starts to turn around.
A hand comes down and grabs his sketchpad.
TOM:
Gimme that.
TOM rips out a couple pages.
TOM:
Enough.
EXT. STREET CORNER
EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking home. The street is lit by lamps. He wanders around, kicking stones absently as he goes. As he comes up to TOM RAMIREZ'S house, he stops. He checks the license plate numbers on the cars parked near the house. Visibly disappointed, he pulls out his key and goes inside.
INT. JOE'S BAR
It is the next morning, bright and early. The bar is not yet open. EMANUEL DONALDSON is standing behind the bar. He is wearing a brown t-shirt with a faded Queen logo and blue jeans. JOE DAWSON is standing next to him. There are various implements and ingredients of the trade spread out before them.
JOE is teaching EMANUEL how to mix drinks. The action continues through the dialogue, improvisation is encouraged.
JOE:
You begin with the basics. Watchers aren't hard drinkers, but every so often someone comes in off the street and wants something fancy. But it's nothing too hard. Everything has the same basic process. Not that hard to learn.
EMANUEL:
How'd you learn how to do it, Joe?
JOE:
Guy in the bed next to mine bartended his way through high school. It was useful, something to do with your hands.
EMANUEL:
Oh.
JOE:
When your legs are gone, you'll take any distractions you can get. I got real good at poker, too.
EMANUEL:
I can't really see you as a poker shark.
JOE:
Who, me? I'm harmless. [grins, showing a lot of teeth] Way back when, I used to clean Kim Greenwood out of half his salary. Adam would take the other half.
EMANUEL:
Wow.
JOE:
Kim got back at us by charging us under the table for sword consultations. It all evened out in the end. These days, I guess he could write it off as expenses for the Methos project.
EMANUEL:
Do you guys, uh, still play poker with, uh, Adam?
JOE:
Not often. Kim lets Adam poke him with swords few times a month to make sure he's not getting rusty now that he's back in the game. That blows off enough steam for both of them, I guess.
EMANUEL:
Yeah, guess it would.
JOE:
Once upon a time, before you'd start a Watcher poker tournament, you'd flip a coin if you'd even let Adam buy in. He's that good. These days, he's got a regular Immortal game going.
EMANUEL:
Ruth March is part of that, right?
JOE:
[bluntly, but still kindly, almost fatherly-though-still-disapproving] I read reports, kid.
EMANUEL:
[blushes] She's...I mean, she's hot, like, really hot. And I know Tom says I need to stop focusing on older women, because I need to date people my own age, but it wasn't like that--
JOE:
[holds up hand] Relax, Manny. It's okay. You're not a field agent, we know you weren't trying anything. Tom chewed you out, it's over. But you need to learn to stay away from Immortals. It's not safe.
EMANUEL:
Tom ask you to talk to me about that?
JOE:
Yeah. [hands EMANUEL a lime and a knife] He's worried about you. But chop this first. And then we'll start talking more complicated drinks.
EMANUEL:
And you taught Tom how to do this?
JOE:
Yeah, of course. Two, three years ago. Why?
EMANEUL:
Nothing. I just thought, you know, in college.
JOE:
What?
EMANUEL:
[blushing] I was six!
JOE:
[laughing] Tom may have worked at a bar in college, I don't know, and he's probably tapped a few kegs in his life, but he definitely wasn't tending bar in his apartment at Berkley. Your mom would've driven up and dragged him home.
EMANUEL:
He always seemed so cool. Like he knew everything.
JOE:
He's an older brother. It comes with the territory.
EMANUEL:
Yeah, I guess. You an older brother, Joe?
JOE:
Mm-hmm.
EMANUEL:
Do they ever get over, you know, treating us like we're still six?
JOE:
Nope.
EMANUEL:
Damn.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INT. THE RAMIREZ-DONALDSON HOUSEHOLD
EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking through the hall, dressed in hideous polka dot beach shorts and a loose tie-dyed shirt with MIT screen printed on it. There is a knock at the door.
EMANUEL opens the door. AMY THOMAS is standing on the other side.
EMANUEL:
Hi. Tom's not here right now.
AMY:
I know. Can I come in?
EMANUEL:
Yeah, of course.
EMANUEL stands aside. AMY walks in. She looks pointedly at EMANUEL'S clothes. He blushes.
EMANUEL:
What? I'm doing laundry. I wasn't expecting visitors.
(scene continues)
EXT. DESERTED STREET - NIGHT
EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking through an old residential area. It is cold and drizzling. His hands are pressed deep into his coat.
Suddenly, EMNAUEL stops. From somewhere in the distance is the sound of a swordfight. EMANUEL breaks out into a run towards the direction of the noise, then skids to a halt, looks around, and starts walking towards the right, doing his best to stay in the shadows.
EXT. OUTSIDE OF AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING
The building is boarded up and derelict. The swordfight it taking place inside what was a gym. It is on the ground floor, and there are holes in an exterior wall. EMANUEL DONALDSON settles down on a pile of bricks and leans forward, watching. After a moment, he pulls his camcorder out of his messenger bag and holds it very low down, filming as carefully as he can without taking his eyes off the action.
INT. AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING
Swordfight. RUTH MARCH is fighting a MALE IMMORTAL who is a few inches taller than her. It is a well-matched fight. As much as you can discover things about someone from how they swordfight, this is what we can tell about RUTH: she is capable, underhanded, and willing to press and use every advantage. She is fast on her feet, but doesn't waste any blows or any power. She is not showy. She'll do what she came here to do and then go home.
She wins the fight. She stands over her opponent.
QUICKENING. It is loud and big and turns the derelict building even more derelict.
EXT. OUTSIDE OF AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING
There is a pile of rubble and rubbish. EMANUEL DONALDSON is partially covered by it.
AMY THOMAS enters the frame and grabs EMANUEL by the arm and pulls him up.
AMY:
Manny, what the hell are you doing here?
EMANUEL moans.
AMY:
Jesus Christ. Let's get you home.
(end scene)
COMMERCIAL BREAK
INT. JUNIOR RESEARCHERS'S LOUNGE, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER
We are back to where we started.
(tag scene goes on)
--
Essentially, the point of this episode is Exposition. A lot of Exposition. Oh, and character embarrassment. Hmm, no wonder I didn't finish it. Also, you can tell that I'm not sure what I'm doing with Amy and Emanuel's interactions this early on. Amy humors Emanuel because she likes Tom, Emanuel sees Amy as his potential sister-in-law. I don't really understand their rhythm until Amy finds out that Emanuel's pre-Immortal, at which point she becomes older-sister protective of him, but also holding-herself-back and wary, because she knows she'll be Watching him eventually and is already starting to figure out how that would work. But they get along much better after that.