Discuss - Ep #0186

[Lydia]

Robservations #186

[Lydia]

How did David Radcliff make it to the séance?  And what was message was he trying to deliver?  I think maybe Josette cleared the way for him, so that he could tell the living what fate awaits David Collins.  Here's what I was looking for that I didn't see: an indication that David Radcliff regretted being in the flames.

Joe knew enough to let David take him on a tour of the Old House when Burke suddenly suggested it, even though he (Joe) probably was just about as well acquainted with it as David was, since (as he mentioned a few episodes ago) he and Carolyn used to play there.  When will David be told that Dr. Guthrie is dead?  I suppose it was right to delay it until the grownups had had a chance to absorb it, but I got a weird feeling about it.  It was probably related to my annoyance with Vicky earlier in the episode when she told David that it would be more appropriate for him to sit quietly until the séance began - as if they were in church.

[Watching Project]

FAREWELL, JOHN LASELL!

John Lasell makes his final appearance as Dr. Peter Guthrie in this ep...

[MagnusTrask]

Farewell, Dr. Guthrie.

I agree, Lydia, David Radcliffe was disappointing.   This is all we get to hear from him, even though the ep seems to end just partway through his testimony.   What we can read into all this is that DR didn't go off to wonderful Phoenixland as a result of the flames, or he probably wouldn't have been a ghost obsessing on the burning.    I know it's such torture that you'd want to warn someone even if a happy ending lay on the other side, but after a happy life in paradise then years of death, it would all seem less urgent.   My guess is that DR knows that the boy involved in Laura's rebirths just burns.

How can DR, a ghost from elsewhere, appear at a seance designed for Josette, occupant of the house, to communicate better?   Does DR's ghost hang around with Josette, did she take him under her wing?  Did she run into him at the Stockbridge crypt or Radcliffe grave?

Perhaps we're hearing from the soul of old, human, untransferred David Radcliffe, who died in flames, who was then recreated as a new David Radcliffe, like a sort of clone.   Old DR haunted, while new DR went off with Laura to the other world.  In that case, the meaning of the warning is ambiguous, if it was a warning.  Maybe he was pulled in by the seance, and forced to re-experience the event they were interested in, and that's it.   If all this is right, could there be a soul of Laura Murdoch Radcliffe hanging around too, and a Laura Murdoch Stockbridge, whom they could talk to?

[Lydia]

I agree, Lydia, David Radcliffe was disappointing.

Oh, dear me, no, I didn't say David Radcliff (if I remember correctly, the 1867 Laura Murdoch's gravestone said Radcliff, not Radcliffe) was disappointing.  More like intriguing.  Less is more, you know.

As for the farewell to Dr. Guthrie, sorry, I can't get interested in that.  There's a close-up of Barnabas in today's House of Dark Shadows capture, and I'm thinking: "Under thirty episodes to go!" and jumping up and down for joy.  I ought to be ashamed of myself: one should live in the moment when watching Dark Shadows...but I can't wait.

[MysticScribe]

Here's what I was looking for that I didn't see: an indication that David Radcliff regretted being in the flames.

Same here. Although one could suppose that Laura's mystical hold over DR was so strong that, even in the afterlife, her son was incapable of escaping it. However, as Magnus points out:

What we can read into all this is that DR didn't go off to wonderful Phoenixland as a result of the flames, or he probably wouldn't have been a ghost obsessing on the burning.

I agree. Which to me, frankly, makes Laura an even more wretched piece of work. Despite the outward appearance of maternal love, she's merely concerned with achieving her goal, which benefits her alone. I think there was a missed opportunity in explaining why taking her children with her was so important. On the one hand, if she was pure evil, were the children a sacrifice to ensure her continued supernatural existence? If, however, the children end up in a fabulous paradise, it would have been interesting to see some internal conflict on Laura's part, knowing the immolation was a horrible end, but peace was ensured on the other side. That being said, I know she was meant to be a villain, so villain it is. I save myself a headache by avoiding the "what ifs?"

How can DR, a ghost from elsewhere, appear at a seance designed for Josette, occupant of the house, to communicate better?

I wondered the same thing; he has no attachment to the house. Perhaps because Laura was in the general vicinity and had previously been in the Old House, he was able to make a brief appearance? 

[Watching Project]

The Robservations caps for this ep have been posted. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

MysticScribe, it's so nice to see you jumping in and posting.    And I hope you'll continue to do so...

[DarkLady]

Kudos to David Henesy for a stellar performance as David Radcliff! DR calmly recalls resting happily in his mother's arms in the flames and calmly predicts that there will be another fire and death in a small house by the sea. Finally he becomes frantic when he sees his mother in the distance.

Joe's innate kindness shines through when he doesn't tell David that he and Carolyn explored the Old House as kids.

Farewell, John Lasell!

As far as I remember, if someone told David Collins about Dr. Guthrie's death, it happened off camera.

[MagnusTrask]

Despite the outward appearance of maternal love, she's merely concerned with achieving her goal, which benefits her alone. I think there was a missed opportunity in explaining why taking her children with her was so important. On the one hand, if she was pure evil, were the children a sacrifice to ensure her continued supernatural existence? If, however, the children end up in a fabulous paradise, it would have been interesting to see some internal conflict on Laura's part, knowing the immolation was a horrible end, but peace was ensured on the other side. That being said, I know she was meant to be a villain, so villain it is. I save myself a headache by avoiding the "what ifs?"

Hello, MysticScribe, welcome from me also, good post, and I hope you'll kerep posting here.   When I saw this storyline for the first time over last christmas, I started a thread with all my questions about it, which MB disabled until the WP was done with it.   Maybe everyone might be interesting in commenting, when the thread's reopened...

Diana Millay in the DVD interview certainly thought Laura cared very much about David, and said she played him that way.  If the Davids just die and don't go to paradise with her, and she still loves them, and knowingly puts them through this anyway, that makes her dangerously crazy as well as supernatural.   That would also make her something other than a simple cliche villain.

[MysticScribe]

Thanks MB and Magnus for the welcome. I've read some interesting, insightful and entertaining posts and have wanted to jump in for a while.

Laura is difficult to figure out. She engages in such harmful, destructive actions to whomever gets in her way, but there could be so much more beneath the surface. Although a great concept, I didn't care much for the Phoenix story line, in any century, but Diana Millay is quite good. It's interesting that Laura, with such an intimate relationship to fire, can be so icy.

[DarkLady]

Welcome from me too, MS! I look forward to seeing more of your insightful and interesting comments.

[Lydia]

Welcome, MysticScribe!

Laura is difficult to figure out. She engages in such harmful, destructive actions to whomever gets in her way, but there could be so much more beneath the surface.

Yes, I don't think we ever hear Laura talking seriously with anybody else about the conditions of her existence.  Why should she care about human beings, when there's another world that is far more important to her?

[Joeytrom]

It's too bad we never got to see what the human Laura was like.  She probably was unaware of what she really was. 

Interesting that every century, some unsuspecting couple in the Murdoch family had a daughter, who they had no idea was really a Phoenix!  Perhaps they are another cursed family.

[DarkLady]

It's too bad we never got to see what the human Laura was like.  She probably was unaware of what she really was. 

Interesting that every century, some unsuspecting couple in the Murdoch family had a daughter, who they had no idea was really a Phoenix!  Perhaps they are another cursed family.

Interesting thoughts! Maybe Phoenix-ism kicks in at puberty or something. And what a great idea for a DS spinoff, this one exploring the lives of the cursed Murdoch family. *cue spooky music*