Brothers in Arms

Duncan and Joe arrive back in the States just in time to witness an immortal being shot by a masked gunman. Things gets complicated when the immortal turns out to be a man who saved Joe's life thirty years earlier and the gunman turns out to be Charlie DeSalvo.

This has an interesting concept at its heart. The viewer can see this is heading towards a tragedy even if the characters can't. And that's probably its biggest weakness, neither Duncan nor Joe can see this won't end well. Charlie and Cord aren't just going to let things drop. And Joe witnessed Cord murder an innocent woman to cover up her being raped, so he should be aware he's not a good person.

We also have Duncan still refusing to tell Charlie about immortals until it's too late. Duncan arranges to meet Cord and then nothing happens after Charlie interrupts until Cord rocks up at the dojo with a sword. And a sadly weak conclusion where Cord makes a big deal about setting up a situation where he has the home advantage over Duncan...and then seconds later, they're fighting in the open anyway. But the funereal atmosphere about it, with no-one happy at the end, elevates it.

The actor playing the young Joe in flashback looks the part at times but doesn't have Jim Byrne's diction. The young Ian Bancroft has an accent that sounds like no-one ever. Did Bancroft really speak like that?

Last appearances of Charlie and Mara, both last seen in Season 3's The Revolutionary. We see a young version of Ian Bancroft in flashback: The present day version appeared in Season 3's They Also Serve. The flashback montage for Charlie has clips from Turnabout, The Zone, Unholy Alliance and The Revolutionary. Joe says he's never asked anything of Duncan before, which seems a bit slanted. (The Zone springs to mind.)