This episode did shed a lot of light on the relationships between several of the characters, Joe and MacLeod and Methos and MacLeod. I do agree with Sean Ellis about the writing for the watchers, they always seem evil, but I guess after centuries of recording information about people who never die while you wait for your mortality to expire would bring upon some negative consequences.

every time they focus on watchers they seem like one note egomaniacal nazis

One would think the _Watchers_ would know better than to do that inside.

Always found this to be one of the more interesting relationships in t.v. A very interesting twist on the star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet, looked at through the friend relationship. If it was just them without outside interference, they would be great friends. They share interests, morals, and personalities. But these same characteristics make them practically obsessive in following their beliefs and oaths, forcing them to be enemies at points. By putting their friendship into peril, like in this episode, this show did an excellent job of examining the kind of bonds that form between guys in a platonic sense, and both the good times and bad that these bonds can potentially bring.