Discuss - Ep #0918

[Watching Project]

Robservations #918

[Lydia]

Elizabeth seemed very contented when she announced she was going to kill Julia, and David was happy, too.  And then she couldn't go through with it!  I enjoyed the scene when David told her the Book contained the answers to all their problems.
　
It makes sense  that Leviathans would fear the spirits of the humans they killed.  After all, Leviathans are energy, intelligence, and power, and once humans lose their bodies they're probably on a more equal footing with the Leviathans.  But we know that David is wrong in believing that Elizabeth is a true Leviathan, because the enforcer Leviathan said that Barnabas and company weren't true Leviathans.  Barnabas is going to know this when David reports to him, but he doesn't want Julia to be killed, so he'll surely accept David's explanation.  But Michael knows better.  Meanwhile Elizabeth is feeling guilty because she couldn't bring herself to commit murder.  It's all very interesting.
　
They did a nice job with Tate's head.  It's obvious how they did the whole thing, but they still did a nice job, I thought.

[MagnusTrask]

It makes sense  that Leviathans would fear the spirits of the humans they killed.  After all, Leviathans are energy, intelligence, and power, and once humans lose their bodies they're probably on a more equal footing with the Leviathans.

Good point, hadn't thought of it that way.  Human ghosts would even be superior, since the Leviathans are flesh at this point.

I want to see David as Liz's Leviathan boss threaten her with a spanking when she's bad.   Julia's back in the Nehru-ish grey suit she was in when she updated suddenly from 1967 helmet-head Julia into cooler 1968 short-haired Julia, right after Vicki returned from 1795.   She got a lot of use out of that, which is okay, it's a good suit.  Why am I going on about DS clothes more?   Peer pressure?

Liz locked and loaded!   I forgot that she was going to fill Julia with lead, and right there in the Drawing Room!   The Leviathan master plan, such as it is, would have come crashing down around them though, had Liz done it.   No planning to avoid being caught, not even a silencer.   They lose Liz, they lose their access to money and influence.  Then again, if Carolyn inherits...  The Leviathans' control of humans is fine up until they're ordered to do something bad, at which point it fails, so that's like no control at all.   And fine David, why don't you shoot her?   Maybe they really did want to get Liz off to prison after all...

Red herring... it turns out 20th century Q comes in home in rags no matter what, no lycanthropy required.   ***  The Book says they must trick normals into killing each other, so the ghosts won't know Leviathans are responsible and retaliate?   Ghosts can't be fooled in that way.

Leviathan pecking order, characters seen so far:

Star Wars emperor
Oberon/Haza
Barnabas
Michael
David
Megan
ECS
Philip
Amy

Am I wrong?

Tate is also consumed by his inadequecy as an artist without Petofi, not just by missing immortality... both these things might be bound up together, for him.   Great ending!   Once again, D Briscoe has to come up with a reaction to a bizarre circumstance for which no standard emotional response applies (as with finding Petofi's hand reattached).

[Taeylor Collins]

Barnabas is going to know this when David reports to him, but he doesn't want Julia to be killed, so he'll surely accept David's explanation.  But Michael knows better.  Meanwhile Elizabeth is feeling guilty because she couldn't bring herself to commit murder.  It's all very interesting.

Thanks Lydia! LOL! I just almost spit out my drink with the "it's all very intersting!" That struck me very funny to say the least. It is all very interesting to say the least!  I know sometimes you guys think I am a nut when certain things just tickle me.  Overlook me.

It's 1970 ya'll! Happy New Year! HA!  

I love how JB plays evil on can surely tell she enjoys it!  Grayson has on one of my favorite “Julia” outfits!  
Hey Liz I think I would find a less sloppy way to kill off poor Julia!  It's gonna be messy with her bleeding all over the Drawing Room. What the heck are you thinking?

It's cool to see that Liz's memories are coming through. It's a nice reminder that the humans will never be true Leviathans and will have to constantly be in check!

There are several jumps/cuts or is it just my DVD?  

Why hello yummy, tattered and torn Grant or whoever you are!  David is so yummy when he is all messed up.  Did anyone catch the “woo” Selby shouted out! HA! Watch as RD says “you are not Quentin Collins” you can see someone walking behind the set!  

Well that was craziness…a dummy eh?  What an impressive dummy!

[Midnite]

DS does Monty Python, as David and Liz disagree about her reason for not killing Julia.  Their exchanges basically went like this (really!!):
L:  The past stopped me.
D:  Get over it.  Read a book.  
L:  I don't understand.
D:  You're wrong.  You were thinking like a Leviathan.  The book says so.
L:  Was TOO thinking about the past.  So YOU'RE wrong.
D:  Am not.

Why couldn't they just leave it that Liz couldn't murder Julia out of friendship and gratitude instead of the writers throwing prophesies at us from the book that conflict with what we've already been told?  I mean, since it was Michael who ordered the hit on Julia, and he IS a true Leviathan, shouldn't he be fearful of a dead Julia?

Magnus, Alexander was under Barnabas in the pecking order, but Michael seems to strongly believe otherwise.

Any bets on how long it will take for the end credit to catch up to the correct year?  And will it stay there once it does?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

instead of the writers throwing prophesies at us from the book that conflict with what we've already been told?  I mean, since it was Michael who ordered the hit on Julia, and he IS a true Leviathan, shouldn't he be fearful of a dead Julia?

Very sadly, this is but the beginning of such inconsistencies within this storyline.    

[Midnite]

I guess Magnus was pointing out the same thing when he talked about ghosts not being fooled so easily.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, Violet Welles wrote both the ep in which Michael orders Barnabas to kill Julia and this one that informs that Leviathans are very wary of vengeful ghosts, so you'd think she would have seen it as a plot hole same as we are, because even if Julia's death were to be caused by somebody at Collinwood, her suspicions are already focused on the antique shop and the weird succession of kids.

[Lydia]

But one of Michael's defining characteristics is his belief that he makes the rules.  If he doesn't like a rule, then it doesn't apply.

It may be an irrelevant consideration, but something about this conversation prompted me to wonder if the Book is not hard copy, but instead fluid and changeable, so that the ink on the page moves around to form whatever words are necessary for the current situation.

Magnus, Alexander was under Barnabas in the pecking order, but Michael seems to strongly believe otherwise.

I'm trying to remember on whose authority we have it that Barnabas was over Alexander.  Barnabas may have been told that he was to be over the Joseph-Alexander-Michael entity while it was a child, but I'm not sure that we can take on faith anything that a true Leviathan says.

[Taeylor Collins]

Very cool theory about the book Lydia!

[MagnusTrask]

Michael's a kid, he's a jerk, and he doesn't think.   I doubt he even knows what's in the Book.   He needs to be guided by others, whether they're "true Leviathans" or not... that's Barnabas's main role, overseeing his development, which is why I think Barnabas is meant to be above Alex/Michael.   Overhaza never meant for a kid to be in charge I feel sure.  Their plan is too important to them.

[Midnite]

Barnabas may have been told that he was to be over the Joseph-Alexander-Michael entity while it was a child,

Yes, and to you and me, Michael is childlike, and Barnabas referred to him a child, but all I said in the part you quoted was that Michael believes he's in charge.  Based on his future behavior toward Carolyn and his insistence that Barnabas kill Julia, I'd say he doesn't see himself as a child at all.  Ah, adolescence.  I'd swear that my kids woke up suddenly possessed on their 13th birthdays, lol, believing they knew everything while adults knew nothing, so that's my frame of reference.

We all seem to agree that Michael's demand was foolhardy, but it's interesting that when Barnabas performed the ritual to explain his reasons for disobeying it to the Leviathans, Adlar, who should know best of all, showed up and instead of agreeing that it was a bad idea, told Barnabas in no uncertain terms that he had to follow the order.

[loril54]

Is it just me, but doesn't "The Book" look like the Collins family history? 

Maybe they needs to blame it on the book, just because they can't admit to themselves that
they just couldn't do it.

[MagnusTrask]

Adlar

Was this the name of the Star Wars Emperor, as I've been forced to refer to him?

[Midnite]

Yes, outside sources (i.e., DS Program Guide, DS Almanac) list him as Adlar.

[MagnusTrask]

Thank you M.