did she lead him on?

[michael c]

i've been watching the summer of 1967 episodes.

here the whole barnabas/vicki/burke triangle really heats up.love it!

but not having seen these episodes in some time i'm noticing things i didn't the first time i saw them.

now i know that we are supposed to believe that vicki is just this guileless ingenue who would never do something as duplicitous as encourage a man whom she didn't have any intentions of ever becoming seriously involved with but in a way that's exactly what she does.

she practically coos to barnabas' musings on the past and i can certainly see how he might have gotten the "wrong idea".there was a signifigant age difference between the two so are we supposed to think that she just sees him as a kindly older gentleman?

in a few scenes she outright flirts with him!now burke certainly acted like a possessive jerk during this storyline but he was right in that barnabas had designs on vicki...and for some reason nobodby else picked up on this.

for his part barnabas' shameless pursuit of her in burke's presence is something else.it made for great storytelling but it's so bad.

[IluvBarnabas]

I never got the impression Vicki intentionally led Barnabas on. Sure she found him and his stories of the past fascinating, she considered him a friendly, polite gentleman (if she only knew, lol) but on her part she only saw him as one thing: a friend.

I think if Vicki had been aware of Barnabas' real feelings towards her, I think she would have [spoiler]taken Julia's advice more seriously and kept her distance from him.[/spoiler]

Not that that would have stopped Barnabas. I think that even if Vicki had put the breaks on their friendship, Barnabas would still have gone full steam ahead in his plan to [spoiler]turn her into Josette and steal her from Burke.[/spoiler] He certainly would have had a more uphill battle with it though.

[Alondra]

I don't think she deliberately led him on. He may have gotten that impression though because he was an 18th century man who may have found a 20th century woman a bit more bold than he was used to. Not that Vicki was in any way bold but she wasn't quite as demure as the women of the 18th century. I think she thought of him as a friend. If she was anything at all, she was naive. I don't think it ever occurred to her that Barnabas was having romantic feelings about her. Remember the time [spoiler]Julia came to her room to talk to her before a date with Burke. She told Vicki that Barnabas did have romantic feelings for her and Vicki told her she was mistaken. Then you have both Julia and Burke telling her to stay away from Barnabas. This must have confused her because she saw Barnabas only as a friend with whom she shared a few interests like a fascination for the past.[/spoiler]

Alondra

[loril54]

I just think that in Barnabas viewpoint she was showing interest and she was just being the person that she was friendly.  In his days people wouldn't accept valuable gifts like she did. 

[Gothick]

I love the scene where Julia tries to "tactfully" set Vicki straight about Barn's interest in her.  Vicki's display of naivete in this scene is practically beyond belief.

Either Vicki was being disingenuous in a way that practically defies description, or this is a little beyond the thin end of the wedge of Vicki Winters being turned into Little Miss I-Don't-Understand.

You're right, this is great storytelling, but the thought of witnessing some of this stuff in a real-life contacts is enough to make one writhe in embarrassment for the parties involved.

G.

[michael c]

is one allowed to answer one's own question?

i definitely think that,as written,vicki was supposed to be too much the guileless waif to deliberately lead on barnabas.

but had these been "real" people the fact that she didn't pick up on his obvious attraction to her was naive in the extreme.

the fact that no one besides burke,willie and julia didn't catch this either is pretty ridiculous.again i think that,as written,vicki,liz,carolyn and the rest were supposed to see barnabas as a charming older gentlman with a harmless affection for a young girl(practically a family member)with a similar interest in local history,old houses,antique gowns,music boxes,embroidered handkerchiefs and so on.

b.t.w. gothick i just adore the scene you mention where julia tries to let vicki know barnabs' interest in her went beyong simple friendship.this was in one of the first color episodes and i remember finding the sight of vicki in her orange sleeveless to be just dizzying.

[Alondra]

this was in one of the first color episodes and i remember finding the sight of vicki in her orange sleeveless to be just dizzying.

I hate hate hate hate that dress! Not only is the color atrocious, but the whole style is as unbecoming as you can get. It has no shape at all. Why did such a dress ever become popular? She has quite a few of this kind of dress and I hate them all even the blue one.

Alondra

[Janet the Wicked]

I feel certain that Vicki didn't lead Barnabas on, but...
If a handsome man came to your home offering books...
I think that Barn was indeed infatuated with Miss Winters. She didn't reciprocate the way he expected, which drives me mental, but I think there was a love story there. Vicky wasn't all that dim as she thought. Or was she?