Discuss - Ep #0190

[Lydia]

Robservations #190

[Lydia]

It looks as if there is no particular explanation for Laura's appearing and disappearing acts.  If she disappeared from the bus in broad daylight, than vanishing is just something she can do, and we are not to worry about the details.  I considered the possibility that, just as a vampire has a human form and a bat form, so, accordingly, a Dark Shadows phoenix has a human form and a bird form, but I can't make that stick.  I find this very unsatisfactory in a way that I don't remember finding any of the other supernatural phenomena on Dark Shadows to be unsatisfactory - but maybe my memory is, not for the first time, leading me astray.  It does seem to me, however, that the writers were still feeling their way, working on finding the right method for presenting the supernatural to the viewers, and despite all the praise I read for the Laura storyline, they had not yet hit on a winning formula.

What a proud maternal smile Laura gave David when he dropped the lantern!

[Watching Project]

The Robservations caps for this ep have been posted. 

[DarkLady]

I agree, Lydia. This was the first time, as far as I know, that anything like this had ever been attempted in what was essentially still a daytime soap opera. But I have to say that this episode is incredibly repetitive. I suppose it aired on a Friday.

Burke and Joe's initial search of the fishing shack seemed a bit cursory.

The writers also seemed to be feeling their way with Josette's attempts to communicate with Vicki. Someone put Vaseline on the camera lens to give us a sense of what Josette's POV must be like when she's looking at Vicki. But other than that, the whole burden is on AM to convince us that Josette is communicating with her. It's almost like an episode of Lassie, but without Lassie, but AM does a good job.

[MysticScribe]

Good thing Burke and Joe aren't in law enforcement, because that was one lousy search of the fishing shack. I mean, it's David they're looking for, after all.

I suppose the men searching, the women fretting and Vicki communicating with Josette was meant to heighten the tension/suspense, but it kind of misfired (no pun intended). I've never been keen on this story line, I'm glad it's winding down.

It's almost like an episode of Lassie, but without Lassie

"What? What's that, Josie? Davey's stuck in a burning shack?"

[DarkLady]

I have to say that the Robservation had the same comment! But I read my own very sketchy synopsis first! Poor AM had to do everything but interpretive dance to get the point across.

[alwaysdavid]

Mrs j. If David went wirh his mother I'm afraid for him. Always the optimist and of course she lost him in the first place.  In watching these episodes, it seemed that they reused a lot of this material to the better in the upcoming storyline. I guess this was like the trial run.

[MagnusTrask]

I'm surprised at people's disappointment.  I first saw this whole storyline over the holidays (2011), and was very glad watching all this unfold.   There was an actual very good storyline I'd missed till now, and I thought it actually didn't have many of the problems a lot of later storylines had.   

Lydia, I think the concept of the Phoenix as a human being was a blank slate, to be filled in by the writers as they saw fit, within reason.  It's such a vague idea that it's almost impossible to deny that this or that is possible, or that this or that power is far-fetched.  Still, I think they're managing to be far more conservative and "realistic" about what traits/powers they assign to the Phoenix than they were in later DS.

You won't be surprised to hear that I think Laura's ability to materialize and dematerialize at will was established the moment she popped into someone's bedroom for the first time.   I think the viewers are supposed to have known this about this power for a long time, now.  The clever thing was that she did it in such a way that her victims never seriously suspected that she hadn't just crept in, in the usual way.   So when it came time for Laura to pull her bus trick, no one was expecting it, not even Vicki, whose room had been popped into.

I think the Phoenix's powers are narrowly defined enough.   For instance, I'd thought she could create fire at will.  Now I'm not sure she can.  It seems more as if she can just disorient people with the image of fire.  That still makes Sam Evans' fire confusing.   Teleportation, however, is just part of the deal.   Phoenixes can fly... maybe this is the human-Phoenix equivalent.

Vicki to bus guy: "But... I don't understand!"  First time?

LOL-- David wants his mother to come because it's so cold... please come... Yes, he's right, she'll solve that problem!   Laura pops into the shack with the lit lantern already in her hands...  Is the Shack on the estate, or close to town, or both?

What's the decorative thing screwed into the top of a lamp called?   They have us looking at one for awhile.   She smells what coming from the sea?  Ten minutes to midnight....

Sproat-written.

[Josette]

For instance, I'd thought she could create fire at will.  Now I'm not sure she can.  It seems more as if she can just disorient people with the image of fire.  That still makes Sam Evans' fire confusing.

It's been a long while, so I forget the details, but in one story (it was probably the 1897 one), [spoiler]she was very weak.  It must have been Edward who was warned not to start a fire in her room, no matter what she said.  But, she was acting very sweet and complained that she was cold, and he finally did it.  Anyway, it was something like that, but that would certainly seem to indicate that she couldn't create fire herself.  Although, I  forget the exact circumstances as to why she was so weak.  I think Quentin had destroyed the container in which she kept a flame.  So, I suppose it's possible that under normal conditions she could do it.[/spoiler]

[MagnusTrask]

Thanks, Josette.  Josette helps everybody out!   (In this storyline, anyway.)   That's true, and even when she was well and strong, I doubt it makes sense for her to be able to create magically the thing that seems to give her strength and power.   When I think of her creating fire, I think of another 1897 moment, [spoiler]when Laura seems to conjure up fire to block Angelique's way on the stairs up from the Old House basement.   Laura wanted to intimidate and frighten Angelique, so an image of fire might have been enough for this.   Wouldn't A have instinctively sensed it wasn't real, though?   This scene seemed to indicate that Laura was more powerful, but now I think it was a total bluff.   Laura, in the storyline we're in now at least, takes a lot of time and effort to work her limited "spells", and A seems a lot better and faster at this sort of thing...[/spoiler]

[Lydia]

You won't be surprised to hear that I think Laura's ability to materialize and dematerialize at will was established the moment she popped into someone's bedroom for the first time.

I felt that Laura's disappearance from the bus was different from what she had done before.  Previously I could imagine Laura sitting by the fire at the cottage, and somehow using the fire to propel herself, or an image of herself, into David's bedroom, or wherever it was that she was going, and then popping back into the cottage.  (I don't think you imagined it that way, Magnus, but I did.)  But when Laura disappeared from the bus, it was clear that she couldn't pop back into a self in the cottage, because Roger would have picked her up at the cottage and escorted her to the bus station.  And there doesn't seem to have been any fire to power the disappearance, unless you count what was going on inside the motor of the bus.  Or maybe Laura lit a match.  But however it worked, it was different from before.

[MagnusTrask]

I felt that Laura's disappearance from the bus was different from what she had done before.  Previously I could imagine Laura sitting by the fire at the cottage, and somehow using the fire to propel herself, or an image of herself, into David's bedroom, or wherever it was that she was going, and then popping back into the cottage.  (I don't think you imagined it that way, Magnus, but I did.)  But when Laura disappeared from the bus, it was clear that she couldn't pop back into a self in the cottage, because Roger would have picked her up at the cottage and escorted her to the bus station.  And there doesn't seem to have been any fire to power the disappearance, unless you count what was going on inside the motor of the bus.  Or maybe Laura lit a match.  But however it worked, it was different from before.

This was a good point, well explained.   I never thought of the apparent fact that she needs the fire to "power" whatever it is, whether it's teleportation or the projection of an image.   If an image can be "solid" and touchable, then your idea of things is better than mine.   Now I see why the bus popping seemed implausible to you.

The fire at the cottage was still going, though that may be the next episode.   Perhaps Laura projected an image outside the cottage, bags packed, waiting for Roger, while her real self was by the fire making it happen.

[MysticScribe]

[spoiler]I  forget the exact circumstances as to why she was so weak.  I think Quentin had destroyed the container in which she kept a flame.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]If I recall correctly, Dirk got the urn back at some point. A bit later, Barnabas had Magda steal the Egyptian scarab from the cottage and that's when Laura grew very weak. Barnabas then instructed Edward to extinguish every fire in Collinwood in the hopes of killing her.[/spoiler]

[Lydia]

Perhaps Laura projected an image outside the cottage, bags packed, waiting for Roger, while her real self was by the fire making it happen.

Oh, clever solution!  I'm quite sure the writers didn't intend it, but that doesn't matter.

[MagnusTrask]

Perhaps Laura projected an image outside the cottage, bags packed, waiting for Roger, while her real self was by the fire making it happen.

Oh, clever solution!  I'm quite sure the writers didn't intend it, but that doesn't matter.

I suppose they probably didn't, but somehow I can imagine the writers at times like this deciding what they wanted to do, then looking for a barely plausible way of making it happen, then writing it that way, without feeling any need to connect the dots for viewers.  It's enough for them that they figured out how to get away with it.  DS has the habit, starting here, possibly, of unexplained justifications... that is, often there's a viable reason for an event if you look for it yourself.   Laura on the bus was a projection! someone blurts out at a staff meeting... we could even have her cottage fire still going later!   Fine, okay....  Phew...