SEASON THREE
Episode 17: Take Back the Night

Scenes from the DVD set's "Final Shooting Script"
that do not appear in the episode.

 

SCENE ONE

EXT. ALLEY BY RESTAURANT - NIGHT

[Five toughs in their twenties are loitering in the dimly lit alley, looking for trouble. The leader of the gang is Gaston, an arrogant hot-head. Louis, tall and gangly, has a biker jacket on and long blond hair in a tousled rock-star mane. Raoul is big and broad, with a shaved head and a dark mustache. Mario and Laurent, a little younger than the others, scruffy and underfed, pass a cigarette back and forth. Mario's brother, Paolo, a wiry little 13-year-old street urchin, is hanging around on the edge of the group.]

GASTON - [re his new boots] Twelve hundred francs he wanted for these.

MARIO - What'd you give him?

GASTON - What do you think?

[He lifts his shirt up enough to show a gun butt protruding from the waistband of his pants. Paolo gasps involuntarily, his eyes wide. This draws Gaston's attention to him. The leader smiles at him -- it's like a shark's smile.]
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE TWO

 
[Gaston moves along the line of parked cars, drawing his fingers along the shiny trunk of one.]

GASTON - This your car?

STEVEN - Look, you wanted my wallet -- you got it... Now, piss off.

[Gaston grabs his pistol from his belt and backhands Steven across the face with the barrel. Steven falls back.]

GASTON - [explosively] I said, is this your car?

[Gaston and Steven grapple over the gun. Gaston knocks Steven back and fires his weapon. Steven's body crumples to the ground, Gaston standing above him, the other young men clustered-about.]
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE THREE

 
MacLEOD - "Life of crime?" [beat] You've been watching too many movies.

 

EXT. MACLEOD'S CAR - CONTINUOUS

[As it pulls away.]

PAOLO - [O.S.] [smug] Hey, it worked.
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE FOUR

EXT. CELTIC VILLAGE - ENGLAND - 60 A.D. - DAY

[Woad being painted on another arm, in another time, as Celtic warriors, male and female, prepare for battle. Ceirdwyn, her own woading complete, traces patterns on the upper arms of her comrade-in-arms, a big, bear-like warrior named Callum. Like many of the men, Callum wears no shirt and his chest and back are covered in the ritualistic blue designs. He has a bushy mustache reaching below his mouth but no beard, and his short hair has been spiked up with lime to make him appear more fierce. Ceirdwyn's hair hangs loose and she wears a long, sleeveless dress pinned at the shoulders.]

CALLUM - I repaired your shield with some of the leather we took in Londinium. It should hold together for at least one more battle.

CEIRDWYN - One more is all we'll need. [She sets down her woad pot and hefts the shield, admiring the repairs.] We burn the Temple of Claudius to ash and where is the Mighty Callum? Looting the Street of Leatherworkers.

CALLUM - You can never have enough fine leather.

[A horn sounds and out of the round house behind them comes Neva, Callum's obviously very pregnant wife, carrying an armful of furs and personal effects.]
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE FIVE

In the shooting script, this scene takes place on the streets, after DM finds Gaston's body in the warehouse. (See SCENE SEVEN)

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE SIX

 
PAOLO - [in fascinated horror] What could cut him like that?

MacLEOD - A sword.
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE SEVEN
(This scene was moved inside the warehouse, before DM finds Gaston - see SCENE FIVE.)

EXT. DESERTED STREET NEAR FOUNDRY - NIGHT

[In the shadowy street, Ceirdwyn waits, her eyes scanning the traffic. She comes alert as she spots a tall blond man, his long hair worn in a rock-star mane, tumbling over a biker jacket. It looks like Louis, one of the punks from the teaser. Ceirdwyn steps from her hiding place and moves down the street after the Blond Man. The man senses that someone is behind him. He stops and turns, looks behind him.]

[His POV: The street is empty. No one in sight.]

[RESUME: With a little shiver, the man resumes walking. As he does, Ceirdwyn emerges from a darkened doorway and moves up behind him, quietly and quickly. She reaches his side as he stops at a corner, under a streetlight. She puts a hand on his arm. Her other hand is under her jacket, ready to bring her sword out. The Blond Man turns to her. He's not Louis. Ceirdwyn releases his arm, her guard relaxing a touch.]

CEIRDWYN - Sorry. Thought you were someone else.

[The man's eyes rake over her, taking in her lithe body, her waist-length hair. He turns on the charm.]

BLOND MAN - Honey -- I can be anyone you want me to be.

[Ceirdwyn's cold look wipes the leer from his face.]

CEIRDWYN - You don't want to be the guy I'm looking for.

[She turns her back on him, moves back toward the alley she was waiting in before. As she approaches it, she gets THE BUZZ. Wary, she moves closer, hand on her sword. She steps around the corner to find--]
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE EIGHT

 
[Charlie looks at MacLeod a beat. He takes off a ring and puts it in MacLeod's hand.]

MacLEOD - [re ring] There's no need...

[Charlie silences him with a wave.]

BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE - [with feeling] Scotland needs hearts like yours. I won't fail her next time... Be here when I return.

MacLEOD - You may count on it.

[Charlie nods. He pauses at the door, musters his dignity.]
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE NINE

 
PAOLO - [desperately] She was dead. They killed her -- but she didn't stay dead. She came back.

MacLEOD - She killed Gaston.

PAOLO - And Laurent.
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE TEN

 
MacLEOD - You've killed two already. How much is enough?
 

BACK to transcript.

 

SCENE ELEVEN

 
[He moves to the hanging Scot. It's a young man. MacLeod looks at him a beat, his face going cold. He raises his sword to cut him down.]

 

EXT. CEIRDWYN'S TAVERN - SCOTLAND - 1746 - NIGHT

[MacLeod's horse is tethered outside.]

 

INT. CEIRDWYN'S TAVERN - SCOTLAND - 1746 - NIGHT

[MacLeod, at a table, downing a tankard of ale. He's cold-drunk -- the booze numbs, but won't kill the pain. There are others in the bar -- rough men, one huge man built like an oak tree. As Ceirdwyn passes with a tray of ale, MacLeod slams his empty tankard on the table.]

CEIRDWYN - I think you've had enough.

MacLEOD - Enough for what?

[Good question. He holds her eyes a beat -- then plucks a tankard off her tray and drains it. Ceirdwyn shakes her head and moves on.]

[MacLeod slams the empty tankard down. Whatever he needs, it's not at the bottom of the jar. He looks around the room, sees the huge man. MacLeod walks (only a little unsteadily) over to him. Taps the man on the shoulder. Cameron turns. Tough, huge, a real ox, but not mean.]

MacLEOD - [deliberately] You... are a coward.

CAMERON - [stares a beat -- then chuckles] And you're drunk.

[He turns back to the bar. MacLeod taps him harder. Cameron turns again, less amused this time.]

MacLEOD - A gutless, spineless coward only a mother could love...

[Beat -- Cameron still holding it in, not wanting to fight.]

CAMERON - Careful...

MacLEOD - ...and only then if she was a pig.

[That's it. Cameron turns, hammers MacLeod with a haymaker. MacLeod lands on a table, sends tankards flying. The men at the table push him back towards the seething Cameron.]

MacLEOD - [laying it on] An... English... pig.

[Cameron growls and hits him again. MacLeod reels against a post, props himself up. He can barely stand now, but gives it one more try, goading Cameron:]

MacLEOD - Is that all ye have? Hit me! Come on... [with real fury] COME ON!

[He's cut off as with a loud thunk a heavy metal tankard clobbers him from behind. MacLeod's eyes roll up, he falls to the floor, in front of -- Ceirdwyn. She looks from a dented tankard to the prone MacLeod, and sighs.]

CEIRDWYN - Help me get him upstairs.

 

INT. CEIRDWYN'S TAVERN - BEDROOM - SCOTLAND - 1746 - LATER - NIGHT

[MacLeod lies in bed, under the covers. A fire in the fireplace. MacLeod comes to, starts to sit up -- A beat - he realizes he's naked under the covers.]

CEIRDWYN - [O.S.] They're getting cleaned... before they walk off by themselves. [sits on the bed beside him, holding the dented tankard. A smile.] A body like that, you should take better care of it.

[MacLeod sits up to protest. Big mistake. He grabs his head as a stab of pain shoots through it.]

MacLEOD - I can't have drunk that much.

CEIRDWYN - You had enough all right... [waves the tankard] But it was this did you in.

MacLEOD - What kind of cowardly bastard would hit me with that?

CEIRDWYN - Me. [off his look] You want to beat yourself up, don't take it out on my place.

MacLEOD - I'll pay for it if that's your damn problem.

[She holds his eyes. She knows his anger just covers his guilt.]

CEIRDWYN - Isn't that what you're doing?
 

BACK to transcript.

 

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