The BEST episodes of Highlander: The Series
Every episode of Highlander: The Series ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Highlander: The Series!
Inspired by the film of the same name, this follows the life of Duncan MacLeod, clansman of Connor. Here in the modern day, Duncan must fend off old foes and make new friends. Some of the people of his past are still around, some are long dead, and some don't yet know their end is near. Duncan must choose his alliances carefully, because around every corner there is someone looking to take the head of the "Highlander".
#1 - Homeland
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/1995
McLoud bought a Celtic bracelet once given to the love of his mortal life and after her tragic death he buried it with her. He returns to Glen Finnin to return the bracelet to her grave and learns of several gruesome ritualistic killings based around the one immortal who killed Mac's father. Naturally Mac must get to the bottom of the killings and keep his head in the process.
#2 - Revenge is Sweet
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/12/1992
Seeking revenge for the apparent death of her lover, Walter Reinhardt, Rebecca Lord toys with MacLeod before she attempts to kill him with Reinhardt's sword. Rebecca knows nothing of Immortals or their combat, and she believes MacLeod murdered Reinhardt. Unbeknownst to her, Reinhardt is still alive, and is using Rebecca in a cat and mouse game to draw out MacLeod for their final confrontation.
#3 - Methos
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/11/1995
When two Watchers end up dead by Kalas' hand, Joe realizes that Kalas is looking for Methos, the mythical ""oldest Immortal."" MacLeod knows that, with Methos' quickening, Kalas would finally be strong enough to defeat him. Kalas and MacLeod race to be the first to find Methos. Meanwhile, Richie muscles his way onto a top level motorcycle racing team and the champion, Basil, starts to get nervous. Flashbacks are to Paris in the 1920s, when Kalas, then known as Antonio Neri, was the toast of the opera world. When Kalas threatens a young girl in MacLeod's protection, they fight. Kalas escapes, but not before MacLeod inflicts a throat wound that destroys Kalas' vocal chords and the singing that has been his life since the Middle Ages. Kalas nearly takes Methos in battle and, realizing that he will not be able to defeat Kalas, Methos offers his own head to MacLeod. MacLeod refuses and challenges Kalas on his own, nearly defeating him when the police arrive to send Kalas to prison for the dea
#4 - The Hunters
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/22/1993
MacLeod's old compatriot Hugh Fitzcairn comes to town bearing a mystery -- some of their other Immortal friends have disappeared suspiciously. MacLeod realizes that someone may be following Fitz, and realizes too late that Fitz has put Darius in danger by visiting him. Finding Darius dead in his chapel and Fitzcairn kidnaped, MacLeod won't rest until he finds the men responsible. Tracking the killers of his old friend, MacLeod discovers that there is a band of mortals hunting Immortals, and even holy ground is no protection from them. MacLeod finds the renegades in time to save Fitzcairn and confront James Horton, leader of the Hunters, but Horton eludes his grasp.
#5 - Unholy Alliance (1)
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/19/1994
Xavier St. Cloud returns, killing Immortals with the help of mortal mercenaries who shoot his prey, making his kill easy. His next target is MacLeod but, warned by Dawson, Mac and Charlie just manage to escape death -- though the dojo is all but destroyed in the gunfight. Renee Delaney, a CID agent investigating the mercenary angle, gets on the case. MacLeod goes after Xavier himself, and Charlie insists on coming along. During his battle with St. Cloud, MacLeod spots James Horton, the Hunter who killed Darius. Distracted, Mac is 'killed' and falls down an elevator shaft out of beheading range, and Charlie is badly wounded and lies near death. Blaming Dawson for helping Horton escape alive, MacLeod warns him not to cross his path again.
#6 - Counterfeit (2)
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/28/1994
Joe Dawson arrives in Paris to let MacLeod know that Horton may still be alive and coming after him. However, when MacLeod meets ""Lisa Milon,"" a dead-ringer for Tessa (Lisa Halle after plastic surgery), all thoughts of Horton and the Watchers go out of his head. Richie, unsure if Mac is thinking clearly, goes to Dawson for help and winds up taking a bullet for him when Horton tries a hit. Lisa is kidnapped, and MacLeod insists on going after her even though his friends warn him it may be a setup. He can't take a chance on burying her again. When Lisa finally tries to kill MacLeod, he turns the tables on her and Horton at long last gets what's coming to him.
#7 - The Gathering
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/3/1992
Duncan McLeod is roused from his peaceful existence with the love of this life, Tessa Noel, when he is challenged to Immortal combat by Slan Quince, an Evil Immortal. An old friend and Clansman, Connor MacLeod, comes to try and convince Duncan to once more join the fray in the battle of Good versus Evil. This episode also introduces Richie Ryan, a kid from the streets whom Duncan befriends after catching him breaking into his antique store.
#9 - The Darkness
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/1993
In a gypsy cafe, small-time psychic, Greta, tells Tessa to leave the city because she is in danger. Then Tessa is kidnapped by Pallin Wolf, a Hunter who uses mortals as a bait to kill Immortals. MacLeod enlists Greta's help and finally locates Wolf's house. MacLeod kills Wolf and frees Tessa with Richie and tells them to go out while he searches Wolf's house; there Tessa and Richie are shot by a drug addict mugging for money.
#10 - Studies in Light
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/9/1993
Duncan, Tessa, and Richie attend a photographic exhibit featuring Immortal Gregor, and Duncan discovers that the other exhibitor is someone he loved decades earlier, who had sent him away in order to focus on her work. She recognizes him, but he doesn't know how to tell her that he is the same man she loved. Meanwhile, Gregor appears to have changed since Duncan knew him, as he appears to have become disillusioned and can no longer feel emotion.
#11 - Road Not Taken
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/1992
A deadly herbal drug takes the life of Richie's friend, and MacLeod suspects the source of the drug is another Immortal, Kiem Sun, who has long sought to perfect such a drug and remove its lethal side effects for the betterment of mankind. But a disciple of Kiem Sun's is using the drug for his own gain, and MacLeod and his old friend must track him down. When it becomes clear that Kiem Sun plans to continue his experiments, MacLeod destroys the remaining sample of the drug.
#12 - Legacy
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/7/1994
When her mentor Rebecca is killed, Amanda is determined to avenge the death, even though it means going up against the formidable Immortal Luther, and very possibly losing her head. She comes to Mac for a final fling before her likely death, and when he discovers that she's after Luther, he tries to take the battle on himself, feeling he has a better chance of survival. Together they discover that Luther is hunting the pieces of an ancient crystal that Rebecca divided among her students, believing that the whole crystal will make him invulnerable and ensure that he is the Last Immortal. In the final confrontation, both Amanda and MacLeod take their turns battling the ascetic Luther.
#13 - Revelation 6:8 (2)
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/15/1997
One by one, Kronos is putting the Four Horsemen back together. Once they struck fear in the hearts of men with sword and axe. Today, their weapons of destruction are different, but their goal is the same: to bring mankind what it fears most, the Apocalypse. Only Duncan MacLeod stands between them and the end of the world.
#14 - Unholy Alliance (2)
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/26/1994
As Charlie regains strength, MacLeod accepts help from Dawson one last time, and barely misses catching Xavier and Horton. He then follows their trail to Paris -- accompanied by the persistent Renee Delaney. They track down Horton, and when he almost escapes, he is shot by Joe Dawson. MacLeod, with the help of his humorous new neighbor Maurice, then tracks down Xavier and finally takes his head. In a coda, however, we learn that Horton still lives.
#15 - Comes a Horseman (1)
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/8/1997
MacLeod knew him as Melvin Koren, a desperado who left a trail of death and fire across the Old West, but Cassandra remembers him as an evil far older. He is Kronos, leader of the Four Horsemen, mounted Bronze Age raiders who murdered, raped, and pillaged their way across two continents. Never was a band of Immortals more cruel or more feared. He destroyed Cassandra's people and she's been hunting him across the millenia. But Kronos has a different target now -- Methos.
#16 - Finale (2)
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 6/3/1995
As Christine tells her tale to the newspaper publisher, MacLeod and Amanda, knowing their world is about to end, finally admit they love each other. Kalas kills Christine and the publisher and steals the computer disk before they have a chance to spread the story. Kalas offers MacLeod a deal -- MacLeod offers up his head or the contents of the disk are made public. Dawson and the Watchers attempt to find Kalas, but this only results in more dead Watchers. Methos tries to talk MacLeod out of it, but MacLeod agrees to fight Kalas on top of the Eiffel Tower. Kalas is defeated and the resulting Quickening, amplified by the Tower, sends a power surge that disrupts every computer in the vicinity -- including Kalas'. The information on the disk is destroyed and Immortals and Watchers maintain their anonymity.
#17 - One Minute to Midnight
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1996
The Watchers believe Duncan has been killing Watchers, with Joe's help. They are trying to kill both men, while Duncan tries to identify the real killer, another Immortal. In flashback to 1847 Europe, Duncan's Immortal gypsy friend Jacob Galati kills a mortal who raped Jacob's Immortal wife Irina, and he is promptly hanged by the gypsy-hating townspeople. In modern day, Jacob saves Duncan from a Watcher and tells him Horton's renegade Watchers killed Irina. Can Duncan and Methos stop the feuding before anyone else is killed?
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#18 - Song of the Executioner
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/25/1995
In the 1600s, MacLeod sought refuge in a monastery founded by Paul, another Immortal. There he encountered Kalas, an Immortal monk with a heavenly singing voice. When it was discovered that Kalas was routinely taking the heads of Immortals as they left the sanctuary, he was expelled from the monastery and the music that was his life. Now, Paul and his choir have been lured out of their monastery for a concert tour and MacLeod discovers that Kalas is after revenge. Meanwhile, mysterious deaths at the hospital seem linked to negligence on Anne's part. It becomes obvious that Kalas is trying to destroy MacLeod's friends before coming for him.
#19 - Judgment Day
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/26/1996
Dawson's life is on the line when the Watchers try him on the charge of treason for his friendship with MacLeod. Watcher deaths have risen dramatically since Dawson first told MacLeod about the Watchers and the Tribunal is determined to punish Joe and stop the killing. MacLeod and Dawson argue his case, but even as the trial goes on, the Watcher killings continue.
#20 - Chivalry
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/1995
Nearly 350 years ago, MacLeod was the devoted lover of Kristin Gilles, a beautiful Immortal who taught him to be a gentleman. When he found another love, Kristin refused to let him go, killing his new lover. Now Kristin is sharing her bed with another new Immortal full of potential -- Richie. Methos, who knows MacLeod has never been able to kill Kristin because of his strict code of honor, has arrived in town to watch the fireworks as MacLeod tries to convince Richie that his new-found love is dangerous.
#21 - The Samurai
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/1994
After Midori Koto sees her husband, rich industrialist Michael Kent, murder her lover, she kills Kent and runs to MacLeod for protection. She reminds MacLeod of a vow of protection his "ancestor" (MacLeod himself) made 200 years before. Flashbacks tell the story of MacLeod coming to the aid of the samurai Hideo Koto after MacLeod is shipwrecked in Japan. He vows to Hideo he will always protect the Koto family and is bequeathed the dragon head katana sword he uses to this day. Back in the present, MacLeod discovers that Kent is an Immortal and he's still alive.
#22 - Family Tree
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/10/1992
Richie falls for a con man's ploy when he attempts to find out more about his parents, whom he has never known. The con uses Richie for a place to crash and anything else he can get out of him by pretending to be his father. MacLeod also relives his past in the memories of first becoming immortal and being cast out of his clan by his father.
#23 - Brothers in Arms
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/8/1995
Friends become enemies and the past is revealed when Immortal Andrew Cord in gunned down and MacLeod discovers the sniper is Charlie DeSalvo, his good friend who used to run the dojo. Charlie, who left MacLeod to fight the good fight in the Balkans with his love, Maria, is after Cord, who murdered her. Dawson knows Cord as the man who saved his life in Vietnam after a mine explosion took his legs and he begs MacLeod not to fight him. MacLeod agrees -- until Cord turns the tables and sets his sights on Charlie.
#24 - The Messenger
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1996
Richie's found a new teacher, an Immortal who preaches a message of peace. An Immortal who believes that all Immortals can lay down their swords and live together as brothers. An Immortal who claims to be the oldest of their kind still alive -- Methos. Will laying down his sword in the name of peace mean Richie will lose his head? And what does this mean for the friend MacLeod already calls Methos?
#25 - Band of Brothers
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/13/1993
Warning comes from MacLeod's old friend Darius, a monk over 2000 years old, that Grayson, Darius' one-time protege, is now stalking Darius' other students -- among them, possibly, MacLeod. Grayson, disillusioned that his former comrade-in-arms has become a man of peace, is killing Darius' mortal students in order to draw the monk off holy ground and into combat. MacLeod must protect peace activist Victor Paulus, another of Darius' students, from Grayson's plot to assassinate him. Later he joins Richie and Tessa in France where they will live while Tessa takes up her new job as curator of a traveling collection.