Stan Kirsch (RIP) must hold a bizarre record amongst TV actors, that of the most number of episodes where he appears in the main titles without his character appearing in the episode. Notwithstanding the strangeness of trying to correct a thirty-year-old TV series, I think making Richie an Immortal was a terrible mistake. I suspect that the writers didn't really know what to do with two series-regular Immortal characters, and that is why we only saw Richie take a couple of heads throughout his run on the show. As I binged the show with my wife in 2021, we ultimately concluded that Richie would have worked much better as a Watcher assigned to observe Duncan MacLeod. Now, this doesn't send off Joe Dawson, however, whom I really liked in the first run of the series and again as I rewatched it. On the one hand, Richie could have been assigned to MacLeod from the beginning, with Joe as his boss-they did show the Western European HQ of the Watchers; why not the Pacific Northwest USA office? On the other hand, Richie could have been in the dark about Immortals the whole time he worked for Duncan and Tessa, only learning the truth when he sees Duncan come back to life sometime. They could even have kept the plot of 2.4 The Darkness largely intact, but instead kept Richie back in the house and have Duncan and Tessa get shot by the mugger. Richie comes out to find them dead, and just in time to see Duncan come back. Then Richie is drinking away his experience and, of all the gin joints in all the world, he's gone into Joe's place. Joe: "What's the problem, kid?" Richie: "I saw the strangest thing." Joe : "Yeah, I know..."
Then, we come to the end of Season 5, and probably the worst way I've ever seen a character written off a TV show, especially since there was already plenty of opportunity to do so. For example, when Richie killed Mako, Duncan told him he had to leave. Bye bye Richie; maybe you can come back sometime later as a heel and get a proper sendoff. Richie even suggested a possible heel turn a couple of times. Alternatively, in one of the many times Duncan went back to France, Richie could have just gone to "Mandyland." Another more logical way to get Richie out is have him go on a long journey of self-discovery after he had his motorcycle accident. They also could have used a bizarre event that happened to Duncan to get Richie away; after his Dark Quickening, Duncan tries to kill Richie; maybe Richie just can't get over that and runs away. No problem. Yet again, Richie could simply have been killed off by any of the other evil Immortals he and Duncan met along the way.
Any of those would have been much better than Duncan killing Richie in a surprise. Blech. This was such a cheap way out of an old mistake.
Then, we come to the end of Season 5, and probably the worst way I've ever seen a character written off a TV show, especially since there was already plenty of opportunity to do so. For example, when Richie killed Mako, Duncan told him he had to leave. Bye bye Richie; maybe you can come back sometime later as a heel and get a proper sendoff. Richie even suggested a possible heel turn a couple of times. Alternatively, in one of the many times Duncan went back to France, Richie could have just gone to "Mandyland." Another more logical way to get Richie out is have him go on a long journey of self-discovery after he had his motorcycle accident. They also could have used a bizarre event that happened to Duncan to get Richie away; after his Dark Quickening, Duncan tries to kill Richie; maybe Richie just can't get over that and runs away. No problem. Yet again, Richie could simply have been killed off by any of the other evil Immortals he and Duncan met along the way.
Any of those would have been much better than Duncan killing Richie in a surprise. Blech. This was such a cheap way out of an old mistake.