Discuss - Ep #0708

[Watching Project]

Robservations #708

[Lydia]

I love the will subplot.  It's just so perfect for those four squabbling siblings.

Is there anything I don't love about 1897 so far?  Nothing.  I have one small quibble in advance, which is a sort of weak spoiler: we never get to see Evan's extravagant wife.  I was wondering today who would have played her.  After all, most of our principle women are spoken for at this point.  Were they thinking that perhaps Alexandra Moltke would come back?  It doesn't seem likely: an extravagant wife would not have been a sympathetic character, and Dan Curtis didn't think the audience would accept her as an unsympathetic character - or something like that.  Maybe it was supposed to be a surprise incarnation of Angelique.  That would have been fun, because this Humbert Allen Astredo character is so much wimpier than Nicholas Blair was.  Instead of Nicholas one-upping Angelique, we would have seen Angelique with the upper hand over Evan.  Alas, it was not to be.  Well, then, how about Cavada Humphrey in the role?  Golly, it would have been fun to have her back.  Next question: why didn't we ever see the extravagant wife?  I decided today that she was on an extended tour of Europe, with special attention paid to Paris.

What was with the green waistcoat on Edward today?  Very chipper for a man mourning the death of his grandmother.

[MagnusTrask]

Evan Hanley was married?!

[IluvBarnabas]

Yep, they mentioned Evan's wife once....then she's totally forgotten. Now either she left Evan, or something happened to her because I got the impression he was no longer married around this time the more 1897 passes on.

Jamison really idolizes Quentin, doesn't he? He screams at Barnabas for not liking Quentin rather childishly (of course he IS a child after all) when Barnabas never actually said he didn't like Quentin. Then he agrees to get QUENTIN's letter (without knowing it was actually Edith's will) despite the fact the boy is terrified to go in there all alone with his dead great-grandmother's body in there. Quentin has the child wrapped around his little finger.

I do think it was rather selfish of Quentin to make Jamison go in there all alone knowing how frightened the boy was. Why he didn't go in there along with him to look for the will, I don't know. He still could have had Jamison believing Edith's will was really a message for him.

[Lydia]

I think Quentin's idea was that since he was never alone with Edith's coffin, he couldn't be accused of stealing the will.

(of course he IS a child after all)

Yes, I was noticing that Jamison seemed distinctly more childish than David.

[MagnusTrask]

I do think it was rather selfish of Quentin to make Jamison go in there all alone knowing how frightened the boy was. Why he didn't go in there along with him to look for the will, I don't know.

Besides what Lydia said, Quentin IS selfish, period!

[Midnite]

A reading of the will before the funeral ceremony?  How gauche.  The "reading" is just for the purpose of drama anyway, cuz legally it means squat.  Not that it won't provide great drama.  And make Quentin sweat by moving up the deadline for him to change it.

why didn't we ever see the extravagant wife?  I decided today that she was on an extended tour of Europe, with special attention paid to Paris.

I like it.  Or perhaps she was off searching for the perfect shoes to go with a new outfit; it can take time, I know.  Or, he sacrificed her in a Black Mass?  He lost her in a game of whist?

I assume the writers threw that in to establish that although he was an attorney with at least one rich client, Evan was in desperate need of money, and then either forgot they did or hoped the viewers wouldn't remember.

Poor Jamison.  He's so lonely now that everyone is fussing about the mess left behind by Edith that he has to entertain himself with a mineral rock.  Barnabas didn't even care enough to ask about him.  (And why didn't he? Isn't he on an information-gathering mission?)  His father only talks to him when he's ordering him around.  The only person who pays attention to him... who seeks him out... who makes him feel safe (ha!)... who is at all fun is the black sheep of the family, and the boy is darn defensive about that.  It's no wonder he'll do anything Quentin asks him to do, even if it's yucky.

[Lydia]

Or perhaps she was off searching for the perfect shoes to go with a new outfit; it can take time, I know.

I doubt it was that.  Knowing that she could wear only low heels would take all the fun out of a shoe search.

[MagnusTrask]

I assume the writers threw that in to establish that although he was an attorney with at least one rich client, Evan was in desperate need of money...

That's what I thought it must be.   Evan is a very agitated and desperate man, and if he's making a comfortable living, why?   A scheming, manipulative, sophisticated wife who spends like the wind that drove him on could have been a grerat character.  The writers must have panicked often over the number of plates (characters) they had spinning at one time, though.

[Midnite]

Knowing that she could wear only low heels would take all the fun out of a shoe search.

 

A scheming, manipulative, sophisticated wife who spends like the wind that drove him on could have been a grerat character.

Maybe Donna McKechnie wasn't available yet.  <snicker!>

Since KLS did such a believable job with her next character, it's too bad she was already cast as the governess, especially since Rachel is so dull that in every scene she's had so far I kept forgetting she was there.

[Lydia]

Ooh, I like that.  Given the hint we got in present-day 1969 that the KLS character was carrying on with Quentin, if she had been Mrs. Hanley we could have had a beautifully tangled situation.

[michael c]

alexandra as evan's "extravagant wife" would have been fun but since d.c. thought she could only play vicki...

besides by this point she was probably on her third trimester.

was 1897 already on the drawing boards when she left?was she supposed to play rachel?

i agree with midnite that under kls she was a dull character.

vicki wouldn't have made sense in the time period.they would have had to find something for alexandra to do.

[alwaysdavid]

Barnabas has in a sense replaced Vickie as the heroine/savior of the Collins family.  How about Lara Parker as Evan's wife now that would have been fun.

[EmeraldRose]

This was the first episode for Evan Hanley, who was the second character that HAA played on DS.

Yes, indeed, Jamison idolized Quentin, which is understandable since Quentin was the only family member who paid any attention to him, and he was fun.  Quentin sure knew how to manipulate him to take the will out of the coffin. I don't blame Jamison for being afraid to be alone with a dead person. I went to my first funeral when I was 12, and I remember being quite scared when I viewed the body, even though there were many other people around. 

I noticed that the will was in the lining on the left side instead of the right. I think it was described inaccurately. It seems to me that Edith's index finger on her right hand was pointing towards the will, on the other side of the coffin. It made perfect sense to me. It's rather creepy to think that her finger was pointing to the will, though. 

I was surprised to hear that Evan Hanley was married, too! It's another one of those inconsistencies on DS that she was never mentioned again. 

----- Sally -----

[Pansity]

Interesting how when Edward is asking Barnabas about the secret, he points out that the eldest male is always the one who is told.  Makes you wonder just how Gabriel found out..... Or just how fouled up the timeline became.

The scene with Quentin and Jamison is cute.  The "alms for the poor" thing and the fake beggar voice. And notice how Quentins eyes lit up when Jamison tells him about being scared to see the body.  Sad thing is that when Quentin asked why he was scared and tried to reason him out of it -- that's something his FATHER should have cared enough to ask.

Jeannie