Discuss - Ep #0235

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #235

[Midnite]

I had a mini marathon last night to catch up to the project.  That's a lot of creepiness for one sitting, so it's a wonder I didn't have nightmares... which of course let Lydia off the hook.

In this ep, Vicki mastered the art of understatement when she told the good doc:  "I heard some dogs outside her window."

In situations like this where there's been massive blood loss, was it not until the '91 series that someone finally thought to ask where all the blood went?

Frances Helm did a great job playing the nurse.  But that he didn't tear into her after she ignored not one but two of his clear and direct orders speaks to the awesomeness that is Dr. Woodard #2.

[loril54]

Great Show, It must be really hard to not move with everyone looking at you. But her hair always looks good. (just my own pet peeve) Dr Woodard is now starting to think  about an animal, (A very big one) Missing a lot of blood, is he comparing in his mind ?

This time Barn was a sloppy drinker, He must have been in a big hurry. (They must have wanted everyone to see it, those people who had to run out of the room.) Didn't clean the area, did he do this to get evidence? Also Sam not wanting a drink, he was really upset. Burke just was standing around, doing nothing.

Some people did a lot, some just stood around did nothing.

[Alondra]

Episode #235 A tearjerking episode!!

The dogs howl frantically and very loudly as Vicki continues to beat on Maggie's door, calling to her to answer, open the door! There's a knock on the door and she opens the door to Burke. She tells him there is something in the room with Maggie! Burke bangs on the door and then says he has to break into the room. He does and enters first, tries to stop Vicki from entering because of the sight that meets his eyes, but he's too late, she follows him into the room and screams.

Barnabas has been back and done a real job on Maggie. She is laying prostrate on her back and the neck wounds have reopened. The doors to the outside are wide open again.

They call Dr. Woodard and he comes. He says that Maggie's lost a tremendous amoount of blood (where is it? The neck wounds were bad but if she'd lost all that blood it would be on the bed and her gown. So he has to conclude that whatever got her drank her blood! He doesn't say this though) He thinks the marks were done by some large animal. Ok, so here's what I'd be thinking if I was Vicki. She heard SEVERAL very angry dogs outside. If they got to Maggie as was indicated by the open doors, she would have been ripped to shreds! NOT just a couple marks on her throat. This wasn't the work of some mad dogs. Dr. Woodard says she must go to the hospital and he goes to the living room to phone for an ambulance. I'm still wondering what happened to the phone beside Maggie's bed that she used to call Joe that night she had the bad dream.

Burke and Sam come in, Burke went to the Old House to get Sam and told him everything. Sam feels terrible that he left her at all. Poor Vicki must feel terrible that she wasn't able to protect Maggie. Sam is terribly distraught. He tries to get Maggie to respond but she is out. Dr. Woodard asks Sam to go to the living room so that he can work with Maggie.

In the living room, Burke gets Sam a drink and he refuses it. This is probably a first for Sam and he says it wouldn't help. He's right. Sam asks Vicki what happened and she tells him in detail all that happened. Sam can't understand who would want to hurt Maggie?

The doctor comes in and Sam asks him to level with him, how bad is it? Dr. Woodard says she needs another transfusion. He doesn't understand why there are no wounds other than the neck wounds, how did they reopen? (He does not ask where the blood went!) Sam wants to know Maggie's chances and the doctor says if she survives tonight she should live. The ambulance arrives. Dr. Woodard promises that they will do all they can for Maggie.

At the hospital, Dr. Woodard takes Maggie's heartbeat and says she's stronger. The nurse stands by (Nurse NIT as I call her!) Sam and Joe are also there. (7 people in today's episode!) Maggie comes to and is happy to see them, asks where she is? At the hospital. They promise to stay. Sam asks the doctor to leave them with Maggie for a minute and he goes. Sam asks her if she remembers what happened and she says that she and Vicki were talking and then she fell asleep and had a terrible nightmare, the worst she'd ever had. She gets agitated and Sam tries to calm her down. Maggie can't remember the dream only that it scared her. Maggie apologizes to Joe for picking the fights with him, she didn't mean the things she said. She tells Sam not to drink so much. It sounds to me as if she is saying goodbye, knowing she'll die. Does she know that if she dies now she will rise as a vampire? Sam promises to go on the wagon if Maggie will just get well. She feels she is going to die and Sam and Joe protest this. Dr. Woodard comes back and tells them they need to leave so Maggie can rest. Joe tells Maggie to get well and she asks if that's an order. He says yes. Sam and Joe will go to a waiting room, but they will not leave the hospital.

Dr. Woodard gives Nurse Nit some strict orders, do NOT leave her for a second. If you must leave, get someone else to stay with her. And do NOT open this window for any reason. (I wonder if he has some notion about the dogs or something, otherwise why give this order?) The nurse asks why and he won't say, I sort of wish he had, she might have taken the order more seriously. He says if there is any change page me at once! I'll be here all night. He leaves and the nurse stays with her. Maggie has a huge bandage on her neck but it wasn't taped very well, the tape wasn't sticking to her neck.

Sam and Joe in the waiting room, it's 2:00 AM. Sam recalls being in that same hospital the night Maggie was born. He even sat in the same spot. Now he wonders if she is going to die, and he begins to cry. Aww this was so sad!  Joe encourages him to go home and rest, but he won't leave, and neither will Joe.

At 3:20, Maggie stirs and tells the nurse she's having trouble breathing and to open the window so she can get some fresh air. (I think the vampire told her to do this but why did he need the window open? Other times he appeared and disappeared and didn't have to have the window or door open) At first the nurse says no, it's against doctor's orders but as Maggie begs, she relents and opens the window a few inches. (should have paged the doctor like he said!) She sits back down.

Sam and Joe both despair over Maggie's condition. Joe keeps saying she'll be alright but it's clear he doesn't really believe that, he leans forward and puts his head in his hands.

Maggie stirs, gasps and falls back and the nurse goes to check her pulse and heartbeat. Seemed to have trouble finding her heart. Then she leaves the room, shutting the door behind her (DIPNIT!) and starts to call Dr. Woodard on the phone on the desk outside. He exits another room and comes to her. She tells him Maggie has no heartbeat or pulse, and he runs into the room. I counted 15 seconds from the time the nurse left the room and the time the doctor entered it. They look and Maggie is gone. The window is now open wide and it appears Maggie escaped. The dogs are howling again.

I was so ticked at this nurse for not obeying a couple simple instructions. She could have paged the doctor or if she had to leave the room, just open the door and holler for him. I'm not sure how far away Sam and Joe were, they may have heard her and come running too, but she was told not to leave Maggie and not to open the window.

One other question and I'll shut up, why didn't Barnabas just take her when he visited her room back at home? 

Alondra

[Midnite]

In the living room, Burke gets Sam a drink and he refuses it. This is probably a first for Sam

Yes.  He also walked out recently on a perfectly good drink at the Blue Whale, that time because he put Maggie's well-being ahead of his need for a drink.  The writers seem to be trying hard to make Sam as sympathetic a father as possible.  Unfortunately...

Sam promises to go on the wagon if Maggie will just get well.

We all know how that turned out.   :-

I'm not at all a David Ford fan, but I was also touched by Sam's emotional breakdown in the waiting room.

The nurse asks why and he won't say, I sort of wish he had, she might have taken the order more seriously.

Exactly.  I think Nurse No Name's guilt on the window issue is kind of iffy because she did it to help make an agitated Maggie breathe more comfortably.  Her first obligation was, after all, to her patient.  On the other hand, oxygen trumps fresh air, and the doc made sure it was standing by, so I believe that's where she made her mistake.

And since she would have to leave the room to page a doctor, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to tell a nurse to never leave a critically ill patient's side, even for a moment, and at the same time expect her to page you if you're needed.  But he did not, btw, tell her that he was going to be within shouting distance.

Seemed to have trouble finding her heart.

I'd have to rewatch, but IIRC her stethoscope was placed over a lung before it was placed above the heart.

[Lydia]

... which of course let Lydia off the hook.

Phew!

Ooh, great tableau at the beginning of the episode - Maggie with the bleeding neck, stretched across the bed.  I sat there imagining Barnabas arriving like a whirlwind, and - in the words of the story he told at Collinwood - pressing his lips to her throat, and then leaving as fast as he came, replete and exalted because he has nourished himself with the blood of his Josette.

Nurse No-Name's guilt or innocence has already been discussed, and I have nothing further to add to that subject.  I will say, however, that I wouldn't have liked her much even if she had obeyed Dr. Woodard's instructions to the letter.  She just seemed so unfriendly, despite the fact that she opened the window at Maggie's request.  When I go in for the zillion preventive procedures that modern medicine requires, I'm always impressed by how nice the nurses are.  This one flunked the niceness course in nursing school.

I liked the curtains fluttering in the breeze during the closing credits.

[IluvBarnabas]

The scenes with Sam and Joe at Maggie's bed, and Sam and Joe outside her room were so heartbreaking!

Poor Sam and Joe, fearing, actually more likely feeling Maggie is gonna die at any moment, helpless to do anything about it....I think even Maggie, as sick as she was, felt she was gonna die. A tragic situation for everyone....

Kathryn, Joel and David Ford were just great today. They really made you feel for their characters.

[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)":

[Jackie]

Haven't these people heard of Dracula?  I know they wouldn't believe such a think existed but they must have heard of the stories, books, movies, etc.  Oh well.

Sam drilled Dave for information about Maggie's condition.  I found it bizarre that Dave told Maggie's father that she lost a great deal of blood and then Sam asked "What's wrong with my daughter?"  Duh, she lost a great deal of blood, didn't you just hear the doctor?  LOL

In the hospital, Maggie says "goodbye" to her dad and boyfriend like she isn't going to see them ever again.  She thinks she's going to die.  She isn't far off!  I wonder why she doesn't know what's happening to her.  All the other victims knew at least during the time they were attacked and controlled by the vampire.  Maggie seems to know instinctively but not consciously.  In the other storylines we can tell the victim knows, pretends to not know when questioned about the marks on their neck but not Maggie.  This make the story so much more interesting and mysterious.

The doctor asked the nurse not to open the window for any reason.  Why would he make such a demand?  The only thing I can think of is that he remembered her leaving from the window at the cottage and didn't want her to escape the hospital.  But the doctor knew how weak she was and that she wouldn't be able to do that.  But the nurse opened it a crack to help Maggie get fresh air.  Later Maggie appeared to have died, all her vital signs proved it to the nurse, so the nurse went to get the doctor.  Nothing wrong there.  But Maggie was gone when the nurse and doctor returned to the room.  Did she die and turn into a vampire, and then leave through the window?  Or did her attacker come to get her, carry her away half dead?

[loril54]

Haven't these people heard of Dracula?  I know they wouldn't believe such a think existed but they must have heard of the stories, books, movies, etc.  Oh well.

"What's wrong with my daughter?"  Duh, she lost a great deal of blood, didn't you just hear the doctor?  LOL[/b]

Maybe he thought it was something else ?? ??

All the other victims knew at least during the time they were attacked and controlled by the vampire.  Maggie seems to know instinctively but not consciously.  In the other storylines we can tell the victim knows, pretends to not know when questioned about the marks on their neck but not Maggie.  This make the story so much more interesting and mysterious.

Maybe that was started with the writer that did the cows?? 

[EmeraldRose]

Those were heartbreaking scenes of Sam and Joe's concern about Maggie and the "goodbye" scene between Maggie, Sam, and Joe.  I was very touched by those scenes.  Great acting by all.

That dumb "No Name" nurse!  I wanted to yell at her and knock her silly!  She should have followed the doctor's orders.   

I think the window had to be open as an "invitation" for Barnabas. 

Another great show! 

----- Sally -----

[Sunny_Collins]

In the hospital, Maggie gets Sam to promise to take care of himself, and apologizes to Joe for fighting with him, she didn't mean any of it. It sounds like she's saying goodbye to them, quite heartbreaking! 

A very emotional and touching scene between Sam and Joe. Sam was waiting in this same hospital when Maggie was born, now he's waiting here once again, this time for her to die.  Joe tries to lift his spirits, but is not very convinced of his own reassurances. Wonderful acting by all!