The Checklist: The Immortal (S1 Ep10) “The Hunted”
It was early last year when I first learned of the existence of a post-Renegade Lorenzo Lamas series titled The Immortal. Once I knew the show existed, it wasn’t long before I put a randomly selected episode to The Checklist test, hoping to get a feel for why a show about an immortal and his quest to send demons to hell with his mighty sword only lasted one season.
After watching one episode, I really didn’t have a clearer understanding and my conclusion at that time was that more research would be required. So here I am revisiting The Immortal and putting another episode of the short-lived series to The Checklist test…
#1. Were there any notable guest stars?
Last year when I covered The Immortal I reviewed a randomly selected episode and it featured The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be… Bret “Hitman” Hart as a special (and notable) guest star. At that time I noticed that Bret returned for a second episode.
Instead of going with another random episode for this edition of The Checklist, I decided to go with Bret’s second appearance in “The Hunted”. This immediately answered the notable guest star question I always ask and it was fitting that Bret’s character, Randall the Collector, appears almost immediately too.
Randall and two of his fellow demons, Oniko and Roman, are hanging out in Hell’s break room and the terrible trio agree to friendly wager as to who can kill Rafe (Lorenzo Lamas’ character) first. 1/1
#2. Did Rafe get to use his sword?
Raphael “Rafe” Cain is not feeling like himself as the episode begins. Rafe decides he needs some alone time to get his head right. Rafe tells his squire Goodwin (Steve Braun) to keep the third member of their team, Dr. Sara Beckman (April Telek), occupied and then Rafe sets off on his own.
The demons obviously did not get the memo that Rafe needed some “me time” and it isn’t long before he finds Roman disguised as an ice cream man telling a little girl her parents don’t love her. The two soon battle it out on a playground before Rafe sends Roman back to hell via his sword, but not before Roman spills the beans that there are more demons coming after him. 2/2
#3. Did Rafe have any flashbacks?
One of the byproducts of being immortal and being around for centuries, there are a lot of memories in Rafe’s head, so it is not unusual for him to have flashbacks. When Oniko shows up to confront Rafe, she takes a different approach than Roman… she pretends to be Rafe’s friend and this is where we get flashbacks to the first time Rafe and Oniko met in the 1680s and Oniko’s first appearance on the show (Episode 6 if you are curious). 3/3
#4. Did Goodwin and Sara have something to do?
With Rafe flying solo, Goodwin finds himself humoring Sara’s idea that instead of the team living on a bus, they have an actual home base to live in and work out of. What they don’t realize is that the real estate agent they are dealing with is a demon! And this demon realtor was no coincidence, is was all a part of the demonic plan to prevent Rafe from having any backup! 4/4
#5. Did we get a Rafe vs. Randall rematch?
One thing I vividly remembered from the first episode of The Immortal that I watched, was that the confrontation between Rafe and the ax wielding Randall the Collector ended abruptly without a conclusive winner and loser.
So with Randall the Collector back and his focus being on taking out Rafe, a rematch was inevitable and it happens… at a power plant! The final confrontation was worth the wait and was the perfect way to end this episode… and to his credit, Randall did not welch on the bet that he made when he arrives back in Hell. 5/5
- Final Score = 5/5 (100%) Despite the perfect score, I think I may have figured out where things went wrong from The Immortal. Episode 10 seemed to turn the goofiness way up. It was an awkward shift in tone. Was this an action adventure series or a bad comedy show? Unless my memory is failing me… Episode 10 felt like a much different show than Episode 3. A shift in a show’s direction like this is usually the result of bad ratings and it is the type of move that could backfire. Instead of attracting a broader audience and increasing ratings, the changes could chase off what viewers the show did have and actually decrease ratings… and that’s how a show gets canceled after one season.
