Discuss - Ep #1064

[Watching Project]

Robservations #1064

[Lydia]

Yesterday I felt that the mystery was becoming deeper and deeper, and today I feel that things are starting to become clearer.  I'm imagining the writers having a conference and deciding, "OK, three days of getting nowhere is the limit, and after that we start losing viewers."  In an alternate universe, one in which Dark Shadows is not subject to commercial calculations, Barnabas and Julia realize there's nothing they can do, so they go to Bangor and live together sadly ever after.

I said yesterday that Julia was uncharacteristically frightened, and now I see that the uncharacteristicness is the point.  I wish there hadn't been a sound problem when she was talking in the Old House living room; I wanted to hear all she had to say about germs of evil being nourished inside her - or whatever it was that she said.  (I'm quite sure that it wasn't grains of sand being nourished inside her.  That would have been very uncomfortable.)  I once read that in Hell all the goodness in you was eliminated because goodness comes from God and God is not in Hell, so that all that is left is your bad thoughts.  That was the scariest description of Hell that I've ever read.

According to Mrs. Johnson, there was a spirit of joy and love at Collinwood just before the bad thing came on the scene.  Somehow I doubt that Barnabas and Julia will get the message that everybody's happier when they're not around.

Once again a Clarice Blackburn character is found dead in the woods.  I wonder if Mrs. Johnson was leaning against the same tree that Abigail leaned against 200 years ago.

[MagnusTrask]

I was thinking something probably vaguely similar Lydia, about wanting 1995 [spoiler]to go on much longer, even with things appearing hopeless.[/spoiler]   I wouldn't have them live in Bangor, or maybe I would... I also thought about opening the story up to show bits of the rest of the world in 1995, especially if what happened at Collinwood has any effects elsewhere, though it probably didn't.   This is more appropriate for PT, but I'd rather see it here.

Julia was credibly frightened at first in 1995, and that was well done.   She spoke hesitantly, in a sort of low dry whisper.  Then she reverted, I think, to standard scare Julia, and I think we've seen a lot of that in the past.   She gasps, says why o why is this happening, when will we know, etc., a la Amanda Harris in limboland.   My image of Julia from childhood does not include any of this-- it's more of a combination of Julia's steely, daring early days, without the callousness, with later good-guy heroine Julia.

We see a photo of those wonderful rosy days of summer 1970, where Quentin and Maggie show off with glee their new thermos container in a b&w photograph.   Aren't these people supposed to be rich?!  

Ditto Lydia on Collinwood's perfect summer w/o Barnjulia!

Did we see Mrs. Johnson make a silent decision to sacrifice her life, while talking to Barnabas and Julia, in order tell them the story so they could correct the time-line?   I know she was soon spooked out of it, but seeing what's-his-name at the window could have changed anyone's mind.  

One of DS's best moments:  Carolyn desperately begging Mrs. J not to hurt her by being dead.  This time I didn't even see the edit they did, that extended the time Clarice sat there without blinking.  Unfortunately, we catch a blink in a longer shot.

Cool Batman angle.   It works.  I'm used to not thinking of DS as being actually scary, as more of an occult-based drama or (melodrama sometimes).   Then I see this, and realize it was scary sometiumes.

[Lydia]

I was thinking something probably vaguely similar Lydia

Hmm...I'm not sure I want 1995 to go on longer.  I absolutely love it, but if it were tampered with, it might well lose something.  I'm just grateful that I can watch it as much as I want.

Did we see Mrs. Johnson make a silent decision to sacrifice her life, while talking to Barnabas and Julia, in order tell them the story so they could correct the time-line?

My impression is that she was hoping she could get away with it, or at any rate pay a smaller price than her life.

[Midnite]

The opening scene is a replay-- a tact that will become more common in future eps.  And honestly, I don't know why they didn't do it more often before this point in the series, especially when the reshot material is identical to what came before.

Carolyn to Mrs. Johnson (brushing her own hair):  "When I was a young girl, you used to brush it for me."
A faulty memory borne out of madness?

Barnabas to Julia:  "I don't ever remember seeing this room."
I think that's very creepy-- the idea of a secret or perhaps even ghostly room.  But does it fit with Mrs. J's recollection:  "I was walking down the corridor outside of the room that the children called the playroom"?  Since it wasn't a room before Barnabas vanished into PT, then wouldn't Mrs. J find it odd that the children had nicknamed a [spoiler]linen closet?[/spoiler]

I'm imagining the writers having a conference and deciding, "OK, three days of getting nowhere is the limit, and after that we start losing viewers."

You may be right, because while I can't imagine it would have been easy to turn away from the show without knowing what occured in the summer in 1970, TPTB at DS weren't always perceptive at knowing what the audience needed or wanted.  And actually, I thought the revelations of 1995 started coming a little too fast for me after this ep.

I said yesterday that Julia was uncharacteristically frightened, and now I see that the uncharacteristicness is the point.  I wish there hadn't been a sound problem when she was talking in the Old House living room; I wanted to hear all she had to say about germs of evil being nourished inside her - or whatever it was that she said

All I could make out was that the evil entity, with just the one look, was capable of making a grain of evil that existed in her nature grow and grow.  Or something.

According to Mrs. Johnson, there was a spirit of joy and love at Collinwood just before the bad thing came on the scene.  Somehow I doubt that Barnabas and Julia will get the message that everybody's happier when they're not around.

LOL  Shouldn't the happiness and joyness that was felt throughout the house have been cause enough for suspicion? 

Cool Batman angle.   It works.

I like it too.  And as a side benefit, it almost disguises the fact that the hallway will have had a remodel the next time we see it (after this scene is replayed).

[Lydia]

Carolyn to Mrs. Johnson (brushing her own hair):  "When I was a young girl, you used to brush it for me."
A faulty memory borne out of madness?

Not necessarily.  The first time I saw this scene, I thought maybe Carolyn had made a habit of going to Bill Malloy's house as a child, and that Mrs. Johnson brushed Carolyn's hair there.  Back in the pre-Barnabas days, when the question of hiring Mrs. Johnson as a housekeeper arose, Carolyn told her mother that Mrs. Johnson was a great cook.  It may be that being fed treats by Mrs. Johnson at Bill Malloy's house and having her hair brushed by Mrs. Johnson were happy childhood memories.  (As for the weird statement that Mrs. Johnson was a great cook, well, maybe any non-Collinwood food tasted good to Carolyn.)

On this watching, I thought that maybe the hair-brushing took place at Collinwood after Mrs. Johnson was hired, in the late 1960s and in 1970.  When my mother says, "When I was a girl," she doesn't mean her childhood - that's "When I was a child" - but her late teens, before she married my father.

[Taeylor Collins]

Lydia before I had seen your post I surmised that Carolyn used to visit Bill as well and that is what she is talking about. Great minds think alike!  I am gonna go ahead and leave it in my post to compare.  I wrote these many months ago when I rented these episodes. I was on a DS roll so I just went ahead and reviewed it all in advance.

Great thoughts everyone. I am glad to be back and will try to get caught up with the current ep this weekend.

7/23/70

There is something seemingly different about DS as far as the look.  Everything seems brighter, crisper, and clearer.  I surmise that the cameras probably are getting better with time. I guess that technology was just advancing before our very eyes?  
“Music is seldom used to frighten!”  Barnabas  Uh…hmmm where did you get that from Barnabas?

As JF lights the candle a huge burst of smoke comes toward him. Perhaps Grayson was enjoying a cigarette?

I love how Grayson mouths her words before delivering her lines.  “It was hatred and it was even more than hatred! It was the very essence of evil!”  Julia I love that line and the way Grayson delivers those lines and the range of emotion she shows.
Nancy is a actress who seems too often use her voice to differentiate between characters.  Crazy Carolyn sounds has a very nasally sound!  Also Nancy's old age makeup looks much better today.  I think I remember an interview where she said was either allergic to the makeup or it just wasn't working right?  Can anyone confirm this??
“When I was a young girl you used to brush it for me—remember?” Carolyn referring to her hair and talking to Miss Johnson!  I personally don't recall Mrs. J ever combing Carolyn's hair. As for the young girl comment perhaps she Mrs. J meant a “young girl” to be 17 which I think was Carolyn's age when the show started.  However, I guess we could choke it up to the fact that she is crazy?
“A shadow that fell on all our lives!” Carolyn
“And fierce and penetrating eyes!” Julia
The dress that Carolyn is wearing it terribly hideous and I think it's possibly the ugliest dress I have ever seen on DS!
I would so love to see Crazy Carolyn and Crazy Jenny in a scene together!
There seems to be so many cool shots in this sequence and I love how they are experimenting with them.  I love the shot of the three standing @ the fireplace!
“Try” says  Julia with GH conveying such emotion! The look on GH’s face is heartbreaking as is Clarice Blackburn’s! Bravo to these two wonderful actresses of days gone by. I don't know how close GH and CB were in real life but some sort of “spark” seems to shine through their acting or they are just damn great actresses!
The monologue that CB delivers is beautiful and she is simply marvelous!  I love when GH JF’s arm! It probably wasn't something that was scripted but effective.  “Please take me and hold me like you did when I was a little girl!” Carolyn says.  This all got me to thinking that perhaps Carolyn used to spend time with Bill Malloy and that is when Mrs. J held her and combed her hair.  It's a thought?  
Who in the heck could hold their eyes open with a wind machine blowing into them??  
LOL JF knocked a glass over. Love the camera angle when C, J and B enter the hall!
Amazing episode!


Excuse this post. I can't seem to get the space between everything. Weird! Actually the whole site has been acting up on me today.  I am running bug programs to see if that it!