The Best Episodes Written By David Tynan

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.

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.

In the 1600s, MacLeod sought refuge for a time in a monastery founded by Paul, another Immortal. There he encountered Kalas, an Immortal monk with a heavenly singing voice. When MacLeod discovered that Kalas was routinely taking the heads of Immortals as they left the sanctuary, MacLeod and Paul expelled Kalas from the monastery, separating him from the music that was his life. Now in the present, Paul and his choir have been lured out of their monastery for a concert tour. When Paul disappears after a concert, MacLeod discovers that Kalas is after his revenge. Meanwhile, two mysterious deaths at the hospital seem to be linked to negligence on Anne's part. Later, when drugs are found in Joe's bar, it becomes obvious that Kalas is trying to destroy MacLeod's friends before coming for him. MacLeod confronts Kalas and finds that Kalas is a strong and skillful fighter, better than MacLeod has faced before, and is nearly the victor. To save himself, MacLeod throws himself off the concert ha

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.

Thirty years ago, evil Immortal Quenten Barnes was executed in the electric chair, and promised he'd be back. Escaping the tomb that he has been captive to for the last several decades, Barnes begins hunting down the people involved in his execution. Joe Dawson learns that he has returned and tries to get MacLeod involved in Barnes' apprehension. Mac declines to get involved unless Barnes gets in his way, but when his old friend Michael Moore comes to town, a flashback shows us that Barnes killed Michael's wife and has a long-standing grudge against Michael. Now Mac is involved. He convinces Dawson to share the Watchers' surveillance file on Barnes with him. However, the file isn't much help. As the prosecutor and priest who were at Barnes' execution are killed off one by one, it becomes clear that Barnes will come after Michael next. The story ends with an interesting twist as MacLeod must make a decision that will affect the ""lives"" of two different personalities.

Amanda, the beautiful Immortal cat-burglar returns to town, telling MacLeod she's retired from her life of crime. He doesn't believe her -- especially when two guys start shooting at them. Mac thinks the guys might be Watchers, but in fact they are FBI Agents. Amanda is in possession of some plates for counterfeit money, stolen in Germany before the War. She's looking for an engraver to change the dates, figuring since she's sworn to give up stealing money, she'll have to print some up. Palance, one of the FBI Agents, sets MacLeod and Amanda up to take the fall for his partner's murder, and demands that they turn the plates over. Mac and Amanda are forced to ""die"" on videotape to catch Palance.

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.

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.

MacLeod is tormented by visions of his own death, beheaded by a mysterious dark-hooded figure. Anne tries to convince him to seek medical help, but instead he turns to his old friend Garrick, who has spent centuries studying the mind. MacLeod saw Garrick in the 17th Century, when MacLeod barely escaped being burned as a witch. What MacLeod didn't know was that Garrick was not able to escape as well. Garrick convinces MacLeod that the dark-hooded figure is a racial memory that haunts all Immortals and that the way to defeat it is to not fight it, to accept it for what it is. When MacLeod, haggard and exhausted, faces the specter for the last time, puts down his sword and refuses to fight it, the figure goes for MacLeod's head -- until at the last moment MacLeod realizes the figure is Garrick, seeking his revenge after all these years. In the Tag, Anne, frustrated that MacLeod won't open up to her despite their intimate relationship, leaves him.

MacLeod decides to tell Anne the truth about his Immortality and she flies to Paris to be with him. En route, Anne helps save the life of a young woman, Tasha, who turns out to be smuggling drugs for the Russian Mafia. Tasha is the lover of Kristov, the head of the Russian gang and formerly the leader of the band of Cossacks MacLeod encountered on his way to the Orient in 1750. Concerned about Tasha, Anne tries to convince her to testify against Kristov, while Kristov is determined to make sure Tasha dies before she can testify. Richie is kidnapped by Kristov as a pawn in this game. MacLeod must choose between taking down Kristov or saving Richie and Richie finds he must grow as an Immortal -- or die.

Police at her heels, killers on her trail, Kyra is on the run, with no memory of who -- or what -- she is. In the streets of Paris, she runs into Duncan MacLeod, who spins a wild story: that he and Kyra were lovers once, some three hundred years ago. That she is a soldier, a warrior. That she is Immortal. Kyra doesn't believe a word of it... but if it isn't true, then why is someone after her head?

Tessa witnesses the murder of a painter, Anne Wheeler, but the absence of a body leads everyone but MacLeod to doubt her story. MacLeod supports Tessa in her quest to obtain justice for Anne. It develops that Anne was killed by her Immortal ex-lover, to keep her from revealing his secret. After Tessa is taken to a police safe house, MacLeod realizes that the killer is in fact the Chief of Detectives, and he must rescue Tessa and bring justice to Anne's killer.

Richie Ryan tries to protect an old girlfriend, Nikki, from a band of drug dealers. This puts them both in jeopardy from an Immortal, Voshin, whom MacLeod knows from an adventure during the Second World War when he was trying to smuggle Jewish refugees out of occupied Eastern Europe. Nikki complicates the story by withholding drug money she has stolen from the gang, thinking she can use it to make a better life for her small daughter. Tessa, meanwhile, becomes enamored of the child, raising issues for her and MacLeod.

Donna, a girl Richie dated briefly several years ago, returns with her 18-month-old son -- who she claims is Richie's! While MacLeod reminds him that it's impossible, that Immortals are unable to have children, Richie sees this as an opportunity to have the family he never had and never will be able to again. When Kern, an evil Immortal, rides into town, MacLeod is reminded of his own foster son, Kahani. Kahani and his Sioux Indian mother, Little Deer, were massacred over a hundred years ago by U.S. soldiers led by Kern, then a mercenary scout. MacLeod is eager to even the score. When Donna finds Richie's sword and demands to know what it's for, Richie is at a loss to tell her. MacLeod advises Richie that it would be safer and kinder to Donna and the baby to leave them. When his new-found family is threatened by Kern, Richie realizes MacLeod is right. While MacLeod rids the world of the evil Kern, Richie lets go of the only family he'll ever have.