Discuss - Ep #0223

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #223

[arashi]

Okay, I skipped ahead an episode. I must be freaking tired. Sorry! Real review to follow.

Mods feel free to delete the above. Sorry! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Mods feel free to delete the above.

We'll save it and repost it tomorrow. 

[Lydia]

This episode featured two myths that I don't believe in: First there was the child who is extra-sensitive to atmosphere.  I was never in any way sensitive as a child (pretty obtuse, as a matter of fact), so I don't buy it when children are portrayed that way.  And I get the feeling that David Henesy doesn't buy it either.  Second there was Burke's assertion that strong people like being stood up to.  Why should they?  If you want your way, why shouldn't you want it without hassle?

Never mind; there was lots to like in the episode.  Today was the day that I realized that Sy Tomashoff sure knew his stuff.  Yes, I know, all the rest of you figured it out long ago.  But today was the day that I thought about the fact that Collinwood looks beautiful in black and white, and realized what everybody else has known for 40 years:  that black and white beauty was no accident.

And Joan Bennett was also noteworthy.  My memory of this era is of Elizabeth falling all over herself being miserable.  It's nice to see that my memory was wrong.  Meanwhile, I hadn't noticed before that the buyer of her piece of property was Hackett, who, according to Burke, was going to ruin it.  So is Buzz Hackett the son of this buyer, rebelling against his money-grubbing father?

Good scary ending to the episode.  I don't understand about the front doors to the Old House, and I don't think they ever get explained logically (oh, well, why should they?  This is Dark Shadows) but I'd sure have been scared if I were David.  I had the feeling the dogs might come crashing right through the door.

[IluvBarnabas]

[spoiler]In a later episode Barnabas does offer an explanation to the doors and windows of the Old House....that they're stuck together one moment then fly open the next and it's all because of the warped wood.[/spoiler]

Don't know if I buy that, but I suppose it could be possible, unless someone who's had more experience with wood can say otherwise.

I love the interaction between Burke and Elizabeth. Even though they were enemies for quite a long time, I felt nevertheless they had a deep respect and admiration for each other in spite of it all. I have a feeling Burke would have loved to have rid Elizabeth and the other ladyfolks of the unwelcome houseguests that have so recently plagued the household, if she'd only ask....

[loril54]

I really liked this episode.  

Couple things come to mind. The enevidable why doesn't Barn and Willie lock the door. (But that is an old one)

At the end when David is in the old house By the windows there is a llght ?? a reflection ??

Maybe children can be more sensitive to things going on around them because they haven't learned how to ignore things yet.  Adults seem to tune some thing out and ignore them. Like Maggie and someone following her  and then Barn shows up. She doesn't think it is strange and she lets him in.

We really know what Willie is doing all the time cleaning. Where is Willie?? I wonder how the show could have been different if the shows were not limited to 4 or 5 charactoros a day  

[Alondra]

Episode #223 NO WILLIE I MISS HIM! And his absence was felt all over this episode.

Vicki and Liz are in the drawing room of Collinwood and Vicki informs Liz that she has seen Willie. It takes a little bit of conversation before it all comes out, Willie is at the Old House, he's living there now because he is working for Barnabas. Liz was livid to find out that he's still around, she paid 500 smackers to get rid of him and he's still around? Nothing doing, she will tell Barnabas to get rid of him. I guess that she thinks she can lord it over him like she can Roger. She has another think coming lol!

She does seem to give Barnabas credit for having more brains than to hire the likes of Willie Loomis to work for him. But he will soon see what kind of a man Willie is and send him packing. She doesn't want to wait that long so she decides to mosey over there herself to tell him to get rid of Willie.

David enters the room, he's been waiting upstairs for Vicki to begin his lessons and she's on her way now. When David learns that his aunt is going to the Old House he wants to tag along. He wants to see if there are any changes made in the house yet. Liz says it's time for his lessons and David gripes that he can't go to the Old House alone and now he can't go with someone else either. It's funny how I remembered when I was a kid having the same kind of complaint so I could sympathize with him.

After Liz leaves David asks Vicki if his aunt is mad at Barnabas, she seems to be, Vicki says she isn't. David says he's mad at Barnabas because he just knows that Barnabas is gonna change the Old House and it won't be as David remembers it. Vicki tells him that Barnabas has to change it, it was a mess, he has to clean it up to make it livable.

Liz knocks on the door of the Old House and I expected Willie to answer. Now wouldn't that be nice, he answers and in his now very respectful attitude he'd be polite but she'd be rude telling him she was there to tell Barnabas to fire him! But alas, Willie did not answer, (Where was he?) and she entered the unlocked door. (we've all questioned this unlocked door business and it really makes no sense!) She looks around some, sees Sam's portrait of Barnabas in progress. David enters and she rags on him a bit for just coming over since he was supposed to be at his lessons. He notices the changes right away and Liz comments that it's been cleaned up. I wonder if she is making the connection that Willie has done this work, see he's good for something! David says it seems like a new house, the smell is different, absent is the scent of jasmine, Josette's perfume. He notices that Josette's portrait is missing from over the mantel and Liz tells him that Barnabas is planning to put his own portrait up. David is very distressed at this. The house won't be the same now, Josette isn't here anymore!

My heart went out to him, after all this is a kid with no mother, whose mother [spoiler]was some weirdo who burned up in a fishing shack a few weeks ago.[/spoiler] He needs a mother's touch, and while he has Liz and Vicki it's not the same. Maybe he saw Josette sort of in this way and he loved her in his way. Now he thinks he will never see her again. He wants to go upstairs and find Josette's portrait but Liz tells him he can't just wander around like he used to, it's Barnabas' house now. He goes on about the missing portrait.

At Collinwood Burke is looking at Barn's portrait and Vicki tells him Barnabas looks like his ancestor's portrait (I guess Burke hasn't met him yet) but Burke isn't interested in that as much as he wants to know why he hired Willie Loomis to work for him. He's angry about that, wanted Willie out of town blah blah blah. Barnabas can't be too bright if he hired Willie!

He's there to see Liz but lied to Vicki to get in the house, said he had an appointment with Liz, only Liz didn't know about it. He says Liz likes him because he stands up to her (really??) Vicki comments that she isn't herself, and he ascertains that the change took place since Jason McGuire moved in (bingo!) She has done something very unlike her, but he won't tell Vicki what it is.

Later he and Liz are in the study and he demands to know why she sold some seafront land to Hackett (Buzz's daddy?) instead of selling it to him. He'd have given her cash if she needed it. Hackett will ruin that land! (So go buy it from Hackett, Burke!) He asks about her need for money, if she hadn't needed money badly she would never have sold land to Hackett. It's bad business and she's too good a businesswoman for that. He suspects who forced her hand in this (and I believe it's in the next episode what she needed that money for) Burke says if anyone does you in I want it to be me! which I think he will say a few times and I find it rather amusing. I think he likes her and this is sort of a tease on his part, since eventually [spoiler]they become friends[/spoiler] If she has more land to sell he wants to be the one she sells it to.

Now he mentions that her cousin hired Willie Loomis to work for him and they are in agreement that they want Barn to get rid of Willie. Burke offers his help if Barn needs help in ejecting Willie but Liz feels that Barnabas can handle it himself after all he is a Collins (so what? That means he has some special powers or something? Hardly! His special powers arise from another source!)

David is sitting on the stairs pouting and Burke comes to talk to him. David tells him about his disappointment over Barnabas changing the Old House, removing Josette's portrait. He feels that Josette herself is gone, she made him feel safe. Burke suggests that David ask Barnabas to give him the portrait of Josette and David thinks that's a great idea and he will do that. He leaves to go to the Old House.

He enters the house, again no Willie, calls for Barnabas and the dogs start to howl. Poor David, this frightens him and no wonder, they are so loud it sounds like they are right in the room with him! He calls for Josette but feels she is gone now. He runs for the door but he can't get it open, it's stuck. Poor David!

Alondra

[Jackie]

During Vicki's voiceover, I had trouble knowing who she was talking about "he"...was it Barnabas or Willie?  I'm going to guess she's talking about Willie, this time.

Poor David, has to study and is told he can't go to the old house with Aunt Elizabeth.  When did that ever stop David from doing what he wants! LOL

So Liz sold property to someone Burke doesn't approve of.  I don't see where it's any of his business why she sold it to this other person.  Burke's instincts maybe right though.  Liz may be getting ready cash for something coming up very soon.  We can only wait and see what it is.  And little Davy, being upset about the Old House changes especially the removal of Josette's portrait.  Change is hard for most people, especially kids.  I believe there are people who are sensitive to certain elements around our world, other worldly things, and David seems to be overly sensitive.  [spoiler]Could it be because he is a produce of a supernatural being, Laura, a phoenix?[/spoiler]

That portrait of Barnabas has a great deal of work done to it.  The sketch has been completed and now half of it is painted.  Did Sam do that all in one night?  Or are we suppose to believe these details were done over several nights?  One of those techniques to show the passage of time on shows.

David does a great scared scene when the dogs start to howl and the doors to the Old House shut tight!  What made the door slam shut?  The wind?  The person who lives by night and sleeps by day?  Those dogs sound like they are IN the house!  That is very scary.[/color]

[Gothick]

I think Vicki's voiceover referred to Willie, esp. since the action of this show revolved around how Liz was irate that thanks to Barnabas, she was still stuck with having Willie skulking around the grounds.  Just my two drachmae.

Is this the first time we see Burke sorta-kinda positioning himself as the protector of Liz--and Collinwood?  I thought it seemed like a real switch from Burke's original determination to buy the house right out from under Liz.

Presumably, Willie was out purchasing hardware supplies at the time of Liz's visit.  It is decidedly odd that they don't lock that door!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I think Vicki's voiceover referred to Willie, esp. since the action of this show revolved around how Liz was irate that thanks to Barnabas, she was still stuck with having Willie skulking around the grounds.  Just my two drachmae.

And doesn't it also make reference to the "he" in the voiceover still being around even though people thought he was gone? That would pertain directly to what's been happening with Willie.

[Alondra]

Presumably, Willie was out purchasing hardware supplies at the time of Liz's visit.  It is decidedly odd that they don't lock that door!

This may be so, he had to go to town sometime to purchase supplies, food and stuff. But not locking that door is ridiculous. We can only hope that the door to the cellar is locked, otherwise Liz or David could have gone down there and found Barn's coffin, opened it and voila, his secret is out!

Alondra

[loril54]

not locking that door is ridiculous. We can only hope that the door to the cellar is locked, otherwise Liz or David could have gone down there and found Barn's coffin, opened it and voila, his secret is out!

It is probobly locked but we don't know we haven't seen the basement yet. [spoiler]But there is another entrance a few, like the beach  [/spoiler]

[CT!_CTP/FITBs]

Be sure to check out these (hopefully  ) humorous topics related to this episode:

From "Caption This!":

From "Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s)":
(none yet)

[Sunny_Collins]

I enjoyed very much the interaction between Burke and David. Burke doesn't impatiently brush David's concerns aside, as Roger seems to constantly be doing. Yet another child/adult scene that was great! 

[Jackie]

I enjoyed very much the interaction between Burke and David. Burke doesn't impatiently brush David's concerns aside, as Roger seems to constantly be doing. Yet another child/adult scene that was great! 

I believe this is one reason where the writers were trying to imply that [spoiler]in the earlier episodes, Burke might be David's father instead of Roger.  Burke dated Laura about the same time she was dating Roger.  Because Roger was rich and Burke was not, she chose Roger.  There was a comment in the show by a character that David looked a little like Burke.  I don't remember who said it.  Then Burke's kindness to the boy, where his own father avoided him, and Burke's interest to be with and go on a trip with David, where Roger wanted to send him away.[/spoiler][/color]