Discuss - Ep #0522

[Watching Project]

Robservations #522

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0522

[dom]

Never realized HHA wore a wig as Blair. Not as charming as I thought I should expect. He is all out there with Barn & Jules. No mystery. Before Blair laid out the plot to come I thought that the faded pic was a sign that Cass/Ang was not totally gone. Of course, now, I am sure of it. I don't remember if she comes back as Cass or Ang though. Blair is a bit fun to watch, the cryptic statements, etc. Love that Jules and Barn know right off the bat that troubles a-brewin' and that they're running to Stokes - the expert.

Poor abused Willie.
So Blair hasn't had contact with Ang yet. Interesting.
HHA was very good in the Old House scene with Karlen. Did need the teleprompter though.
I would't hand out any awards but today's episode was very interesting and very watchable.

[alwaysdavid]

Nicolas has some nice lines, "I don't have little vices."
The show seems to be into surprise people watching through the window lately. I expected Adam to show up and here it is Joe doing the Willie watching.
The picture sends out the music that I always associated with Angelique in later years, but it was used with others also in prior times.

[dom]

Glad you mentioned the music, that was the lamest part of the episode. How I forgot that is beyond me.

[MagnusTrask]

Blair had the kinds of moments I loved and craved as a kid in the 60s, those where someone incredibly hip and "knowing" strolls into a situation that stresses out and befuddles the locals, without being the least bit thrown or intimidated, proving to be smarter and cooler than all those around him, handling the unhandleable dilemmas smoothly and with wit.   It doesn't really matter whether it's a "good guy" (the DW Tom Baker Doctor, say) or a villain, either will do me.   Which would be a good straight line, were I of a different persuasion...   Or maybe it just requires that Nick is.... He doesn't strike me as someone who asks permission to do anything...!

DS gets more interesting the second Blair turns up.   Like Stokes, he's good whether the episode is or not, again making me wonder if the actor is "writing" lines.  Or Violet.   I look into Blair's face, and always in the back of my mind I'm wondering "What has he seen?!   Where has he been?!  What the hell is he?  Where was he the day before Collinsport, talking possibly to....?!!   Was he ever born as a human being?!"

I'm absolutely certain I commented disparagingly on this last time around...  very weird and I suppose lame, that Nicholas can actually hear Angelique's music, as an ethereal clue that she's around somewhere.   Last time on the WP, I remember not being sure if I was really seeing this, or whether I was somehow hallucinating!   A character hearing the background music?  That sounds like some Carol Burnett show parody or something....

I love how Nick breezes in and orders Willie around.  Everything about Nick is not so dramatic as one might expect from such a seemingly cliche evil character, but more... easy.   They've built up (unsuccessfully) such a sense of tension, in this storyline, then Blair lets the air out of it in nanoseconds, like a balloon.   It's great.

Willie relaxes totally and instantly because Blair tells him to, with "Smoke 'em if you got 'em" being clearly implied, apparently!   I wonder if Willie took up smoking for the first time on the spot, finding the smokes in his pocket thanks to Nick!

Blair bullies Trask, nice, but that's for next time...

[DarkLady]

Nicholas Blair is one of the best characters on the show, certainly the best villain, and much less tiresome than Angelique with her limited bag of tricks.

I love Nicholas's dueling conversation with Barnabas. Roger introduces the visitor to Barnabas and Julia. Barnabas is barely polite, nearly silent and extremely wary. He hesitates just the slightest bit before shaking hands; somehow he and Nicholas are already antagonists.

While Roger escorts his guest upstairs to a guest room, Barnabas and Julia have a quick conference. Do you think he’s really Cassandra’s brother? Julia wonders, sharing Barnabas’s suspicions. She has no blood brother--I think he’s her brother devil, Barnabas replies wryly, and Julia is inclined to agree.

I take back my post in Ep. 523--when Nicholas goes to the Old House basement to summon Trask, this is the first time he uses his expressive hand gestures.

Just as the devil gets the best tunes, so does Nicholas get the best lines in the show.