More on the Summer of 1970-
I finally made it to this part of the series in the boxsets, and was pleasantly surprised (so far) that my previous recollection of this storyline was wrong. So far I find it pretty damn engrossing. There's a current of terror running through the house that Julia and Barnabas are trying to find, but is already affecting David, Hallie and Quentin. Julia and Barnabas know something is up and keep finding out about the "clues" after the fact, which must be pretty damn frustrating. This however is disguised by a pleasant day-to-day atmosphere in the house when something ghostly isn't going on. It's been a long time since we've seen the family sitting around reading, sewing, having tea or going on picnics.
Quentin is again an interesting character here. He's been heavily forewarned about Daphne and what the future holds for both him and the family. He knows she's going to lead to the destruction of everyone around him, but one meeting and he's almost completely under her sway. He doesn't disclose to Julia or Barnabas that he has in fact seen her, he questions the children in a round-about way if they've seen her themselves, and then lies about his actions when caught searching for more information about her. He's already obsessed.
Daphne I love. She's so beautiful! I wonder if the scene in the graveyard was a turning point for her. (Anyone else notice that Gerard's grave was missing and replaced with Thomas Jennings?) It'd been 130 years since anyone had shown her any genuine affection, and I imagine Gerard has been feeding her hate all this time. After she drops the knife she looks startled and confused. I barely remember 1840 so I can't comment on the dynamics of character relationships there vs. the present. For example, is it known prior to the trip to 1840 that Daphne & Quentin were an item? Or were they? (Don't answer that! I want to see for myself).
The playroom itself I see in a different light, now having seen some of the episodes aagin. It's not that David and Hallie want to hang out there. At first they go to look for it as a lark, something teenagers would do, searching out sealed rooms and family secrets. (Although you think David would have learned his lesson the first time!) But once they find it they are compelled to return to it by forces outside their control. As for Tad and Carrie, they seemingly grew up in that room together, so with the house in turmoil after Tad's return from sea, they may have used it as a refuge from the family and a reminder of calmer and happier times. Even though they probably weren't calmer or happier times, but they have the filter of childhood to look back through.
I still don't understand how the playroom and the closet seemingly exist in the same space. Perhaps the door on the closet was once the door to the playroom. If they took the door off the playroom before they sealed it up and put it on another doorframe, maybe sometimes when that door was opened it would act as a portal to the other room it once guarded.
I ended disc 2 last night with the return of Roxanne. I have a feeling things are about to take a different swing, but I'll see as I go along.
