Discuss - Ep #0386

[Watching Project]

Robservations #386

[Lydia]

Was Trask's costume expressly designed so that he would look like the Wicked Witch of the West out there in the woods?

I have trouble believing that the Tree Test was ever actually used determine whether a person was a witch.  It would have been so rarely successful!  The famous test is to throw the person into the water.  If the subject floats, the water has rejected her because she's a witch.  If the subject drowns, she's innocent.  I know that I would be judged a witch because I float easily, and at the other end of the spectrum there was a guy named Horace in my life-saving class 35 years ago who sank easily.  (Whenever we needed a victim to rescue, the teacher would call out, "Horace, sink!" and he would dutifully go under.)  So I know that the water test could get you a witch occasionally, but not so often that people would say it was a set-up.  But the tree test seems to be almost invariably doomed to failure, especially when you've got a witchhunter as slovenly as Trask was.  So what did Trask do when, morning after morning, he found tree after tree alive and kicking and asking what's for breakfast?  No wonder he had to go to the wilds of Maine to find a witch; he must have been a laughing-stock in Salem.

I have never understood why Vicky didn't tell Barnabas and Nathan just to leave her tied to the tree so that Trask would be clearly foiled and discredited in the morning.  Heaven only knows what Angelique would have done to her - but the assumption of Barnabas, Nathan, and Vicky at this point was that there was no witch, so the possible actions of the real witch were not an issue.  And why did they hide her in the drawing room at the new house?  Just the other day, Barnabas and Josette had ridden over to look at the new house, and apparently it was being actively worked on.  They should have taken Vicky to some far-off room in the West Wing - or else she should just "happen" to have chosen her own room from 1967, where she knew there was an escape route if somebody approached the room.

I loved the closing credits, with the bucket of dry ice steaming away behind the dead tree.

[MagnusTrask]

I know that I would be judged a witch because I float easily

WITCH!!!!   

[EmeraldRose]

JF said his famous blooper today, "...innocent until proved innocent!"   Now that was funny!  

Trask is such a charlatan!  Too bad they didn't think to keep Vicki tied to the tree!    LOL, Lydia - Trask's hat did look like the Wicked Witch of the West's hat!  Even though I hate Angelique for what she did, I did think it was really cool when she set the little tree on fire to make the big one catch on fire too.

----- Sally -----

[loril54]

Here is my question? Where did she get the little tree that seamed to fit in clay.  I don't think there was an arts and crafts store in Collinwood.

As to Barnabas' line, who knows the line could have been writen that way. Don't people say strange things when they are under duress.  I have a question Rev Trask calls Abigail by her first name isn't that rather familiar?

By the way the reason why people didn't float when you threw them in the water was all the heavy stays that the ladies needed to wear. Speaking of clothes, Natalie went out of the house without a cloak, wasn't it cold?

[Sunny_Collins]

you know, Reverend Trask does have a point, Vicki is a complete stranger, she appeared out of nowhere without any references, and yet Barnabas and Nathan are so eager to defend her?

Natalie with her taro cards should have been under as much suspicion but Trask seemed to simply ignore that fact.

I have trouble believing that the Tree Test was ever actually used determine whether a person was a witch.

I found the idea of using the tree for the "Witch Test" to be quite original, even if it isn't the way they used to perform the test back then.

I have never understood why Vicky didn't tell Barnabas and Nathan just to leave her tied to the tree so that Trask would be clearly foiled and discredited in the morning.

Trask had already proved himself to be violent, Vicki was most likely terrified of what he might do to her when he returned and found the tree still living. Besides, when a person is under that much strain and trauma, they're not thinking very rationally.

[Lydia]

Here is my question? Where did she get the little tree that seamed to fit in clay.  I don't think there was an arts and crafts store in Collinwood.

Over the years, Angelique proved herself to be remarkably good at insta-crafts.  Ceramic cats, miniature trees, yarn dolls - all whipped up in double-quick time.  Imagine the glowing reports she would get if she were ever committed to an insane asylum!

[IluvBarnabas]

you know, Reverend Trask does have a point, Vicki is a complete stranger, she appeared out of nowhere without any references, and yet Barnabas and Nathan are so eager to defend her?

The reason Barnabas and Nathan stood up for Vicki despite the fact they don't know anything about her was that neither of them believed in witchcraft.

[MagnusTrask]

...and they were wrong!