Discuss - Ep #0289

[Lydia]

Robservations - #289

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0289

[Lydia]

Julia now knows what Barnabas intended for Maggie.  She doesn't know the whole story, but she knows that Maggie was Barnabas’s first target, and that he is now aiming for Vicky.  Vicky doesn't like it when Julia suggests to her what Barnabas has planned, which is an interesting reaction, because Vicky has seemed interested in turning into Josette.  But she says no.  The music box still has some work to do.  It seems inexhaustible, however, so we can be sure it will complete its task.

What fun Julia is having!  Yesterday she saw that Barnabas had no reflection in her mirror, and today she saw Barnabas in his coffin!  So, what does she do now?  I'm thinking of the Lucy-staking scene in Dead and Loving it.

[IluvBarnabas]

I found Vicki's reaction strange and quite frankly very rude. Julia merely suggested, not stating for a fact that Barnabas is trying to recreate Josette somehow (stopping short of saying he wants to recreate her in a new woman). Julia was merely making an observation, a true one as we the audience know, she wasn't insulting Barnabas, yet Vicki gets all defensive. As you said Lydia, Vicki seems absolutely enthralled with Josette at this point.

I mean Barnabas Josette's room restored, gave Vicki Josette's music box and had Vicki wear Josette's dress....if Vicki had really stopped to think about it, she might have realized Julia had a point without dismissing it as nonsense.

Julia asked if Vicki has some connection to the supernatural and Carolyn agrees that strange things do seem to happen to her. Wondered if Vicki would agree with that if she heard it or just dismiss it with a "I don't believe it" or perhaps more appropriately "I don't understand!"

[DarkLady]

Best line in this episode is from Carolyn: "Just call me Miss Jitters of 1967." 

This time, Barnabas visits Vicki in her own room at Collinwood--but he still can't bring himself to bite her. Instead he settles for the long haul and sets the music box playing.

Julia is now an officially established houseguest at Collinwood. While Carolyn goes to the kitchen for coffee, Julia quizzes Vicki on Barnabas. Vicki plays the music box and praises the music's "tinkling" quality. Once again, Julia is instantly alert. But Vicki departs in a huff when Julia insinuates that Barnabas is trying to recreate Josette.

The music box, Vicki's mention of Josette's jasmine perfume and even Vicki's huffy departure have enabled Julia to put everything together. Now she knows beyond a doubt what Barnabas was trying to do to Maggie--and what he plans for Vicki. She needs just one more piece of evidence to have the complete picture. Still fully dressed past 1:30 a.m., she puts on her raincoat and leaves for the Old House without even a thermos of coffee to sustain her.

With massive understatement, Barnabas tells Willie, And now it's time for me to go downstairs. Conveniently for Julia, Willie has to go to Bangor for supplies.

 I love Julia's determination to wait for as long as necessary to gather the final evidence. I also love, love LOVE her climbing in a window! At least she is smart enough to close it behind her.

For the first time, Julia descends the stairs to the basement. Downstairs, she finds the coffin resting on its plinth. Even though she told Vicki that she is afraid of nothing, she takes a deep breath before she opens it. With a mixture of fear and triumph, she gazes into the coffin. Her eyes widen as she sees-- exactly what she expected to see....

What fun to watch a smart, older woman applying her keen intelligence in the successful solution of a major mystery! I've always thought Julia Hoffman was a character ahead of her time.

[Lydia]

Conveniently for Julia, Willie has to go to Bangor for supplies.

Actually, he's going all the way to Portland.  Super convenient for Julia!

Downstairs, she finds the coffin resting on its plinth.

Plinth.  Cool word.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Even though I've owned the DVD version of this ep for years, I never watched it until today. It's really stunning how different the kinescope version on DVD is from the version that was broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel! The syndicated version was extremely murky whenever things got either too dark or too light (as in when the lights suddenly come back on at Collinwood):

Syndicated:


DVD:


Syndicated:


DVD:

[Josette]

Wow!!  The first example clearly shows some improvement, but the second one is amazing.

[DarkLady]

Wow, those changes are amazing! How did you get those frame grabs? 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to the Sci-Fi eps, I have hardware that connects to my computer and a VCR (yes, I still own a DVD/VCR combo player  ) and software for it that will automatically take captures at a set interval as the tape plays - and over the years I've used it on all of the DS eps. And when it comes to the DVD, I have Blu-ray/DVD playing software on my computer that has a manual feature to take captures from DVDs. All of it comes in very handy in situations like this.    (Though the hardware/software can also be used to automatically take captures from the DVDs if I play them in the DVD/VCR combo player - but I've never done that.  )

[DarkLady]

*bows low in awe* Wow, MB! I also have a VCR-DVD player, but neither the software nor the smarts to do frame grabs!

[alwaysdavid]

I wonder if Vickie isn't so defensive because of Burkes domination of her and she transferring any criticism as abusive behavior towards her.

[DarkLady]

Burke is particularly obnoxious, isn't he. He couldn't do more to drive Vicki into Barnabas's arms if he was doing it on purpose.