Amanda gets involved in a murder investigation and meets a detective she'll be seeing a lot more of...
After six years of the original Highlander: The Series, it's time for a change, but first we have to go through the business of setting up the concept for it. Reborn manages this quite well, if fairly obviously. Because the premise is stated in such a long-winded way in the opening credits, it's barely worth watching to see how the cop (Nick Wolfe) and the thief (Amanda) actually met. It's a competent enough effort, but it could have been done in half the time.
On the positive side, Elizabeth Gracen is fabulous given the chance to get out of Duncan MacLeod's bed, with some suitably snappy one-liners. But then, she has been playing the part for six years on and off already. Paul Johanessen's Nick Wolfe is not really much more than a cypher at this point, but hopefully the character will be built upon as time goes on. The best new element has to be Lucy, Amanda's live-in chum, who acts as the thief's conscience, or at least the nearest Amanda gets to one. Amanda's dodgy collector friend (apart from having a suspect accent) is also quite fun, so maybe he'll be back.
Wolfe's partner, who is clearly going to die once it is shown that she has a husband and kids, and promises to be back later that evening, is also not given much personality, and the corrupt cop concept was old hat ages ago. The biggest problem is that the whole episode just comes across as events happening because they were necessary to set up a premise, not actually because they are realistic.
The best aspect of the episode though is the stylish way in which it is shot. Admittedly, at points it comes off as being intentionally for style rather than for a good reason, but it looks pretty cool and gives the series a distinctive visual look. The whooshy noise Amanda's cloak makes is pretty nifty too.
Oh, but the theme tune isn't half as good as Highlander's. But you can't really top Queen, can you?
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