Discuss - Ep #0721

[Watching Project]

Robservations #721

(Now with screen caps.)

[Midnite]

GREAT scene in the Collinwood basement as the details of Jenny's adventure unfold oh so slowly to Beth.  I enjoyed it so much tonight that I had to watch it twice.  Both women performed wonderfully.  It's so touching when Jenny says, "Poor, poor Beth."

So, Barnabas promised Dirk that if he reveals whom he was searching for, the information would be kept to the strictest secrecy.  Minutes later, he blurted to Beth (to no apparent purpose except to show off that he knows many things ), "You found Jenny."  What a blabbermouth.

I suspect that JF went up on his line when he told Beth, "Go back to Collinwood and tell them you've seen nothing here."  He even looked a little disappointed as soon as it came out of his mouth.  Not only did it make no sense for her to say this since no one knew she had even gone there, but it's almost the same line he spoke to Dirk earlier in the ep in the infamous "Tell them that you saw no one here" blooper scene.

I'm guessing that Barnabas' explanation for wanting Quentin resurrected wasn't just for Angelique's benefit, but also to make sure the viewers could follow along with it too.  <sigh>

[alwaysdavid]

Well, It's no surprise that I don't care for Dirk and found the whole exchange between he and Barnabas to be excruciating to watch and hear.

[Pansity]

Playing more catch up here.....

Is it me (been a few days since I saw ep#20), but did Quentin's corpse change position in the teaser vs the original scene at the end of the earlier episode?  Admittedly the beginning of the ep seems darker than it should be, but it looks like the body was on its side and Dirk rolled it over.  And didn't the knife move too?  I could have sworn it was lower, like at liver level, before, but in this scene its planted high in his chest.

Hmm, and Dirk blurts out "I can't tell you" too quickly for me --  Barnabas isn't his employer, he could just tell him it's none of his business.  And note how Dirk talks about Jenny like Barnabas would know who she was.  Now we have the reveal -- the red herring that Barnabas also took, thinking she was Edward's wife.

Pretty ironic that  if Barnabas only knew, if he'd left Quentin dead, most of the problems would have been resolved.  And oh LOL Barnabas of all people worrying about changing the course of history!  And good for Beth telling Barnabas that he's been very curious and inquisitive. She's quite forthright later, too, telling Barnabas flat out she doesn't trust him, yet she is doing what he asks -- and finds it disturbing that she is.

Jeannie

[Lydia]

It's been six busy weeks since I watched the previous episode, so the continuity thread has been pretty much broken for me.  That had its pleasant aspects: each character was fresh and new to me.  I kept thinking: "Great episode!  Or is it just that it's heavenly to be watching Dark Shadows again after so long?"

How did Barnabas know that Quentin's death occurred in his room?  It was a reasonable conjecture, but I don't remember it ever being confirmed.  Dark Shadows ghosts don't stick to the place where they died.  And anyway, if Barnabas's plan is to find out all the secrets of 1897, leave 1897 unchanged, and then return to 1969 prepared to vanquish Quentin - well, how can he be sure he'd beat Quentin in a showdown?  Barnabas can be heartstoppingly impressive when he cares to be (good old jf!) but I wouldn't want to assume that impressiveness would carry the day.  Oh, wait, what was I thinking?  My assumptions don't matter; of course Barnabas assumes he can succeed where Stokes failed.

I liked Dirk today.  He was just trying to hang onto his job.  Don't worry, I'll come to my senses again next time I see him, I'm sure.

[Pansity]

How did Barnabas know that Quentin's death occurred in his room?  It was a reasonable conjecture, but I don't remember it ever being confirmed.  Dark Shadows ghosts don't stick to the place where they died.  And anyway, if Barnabas's plan is to find out all the secrets of 1897, leave 1897 unchanged, and then return to 1969 prepared to vanquish Quentin - well, how can he be sure he'd beat Quentin in a showdown?  Barnabas can be heartstoppingly impressive when he cares to be (good old jf!) but I wouldn't want to assume that impressiveness would carry the day.  Oh, wait, what was I thinking?  My assumptions don't matter; of course Barnabas assumes he can succeed where Stokes failed.

I liked Dirk today.  He was just trying to hang onto his job.  Don't worry, I'll come to my senses again next time I see him, I'm sure.

I don't think Barnabas and company ever had any external information that proved that Quentin died there.  After all, the kids had taken the skeleton away.  One can assume he died there, but as you say, it doesn't HAVE to be.  And I just thought of another open question --  how to explain Beth's presence there?  The room was sealed and they only provided the audience with one skeleton to form assumptions on, so you can't even work backwards by working on how and when SHE died and why she and Quentin were doing the Bobbsey twins haunting.

Barnabas has the most interesting assumptions about his own ability to do things better than experts in those fields.  He comes up with lame cover stories, and just expects to be believed, unquestioned, because he's HIM. He really had the thing with Quentin and the sword in the first episode coming to him.  He really needs to think up cover stories that can survive at least a MODICUM of scrutiny.

As to Dirk, you WILL get over it. 

Jeannie

[EmeraldRose]

This was the episode when Angelique made Quentin "rise" as a zombie. I always get a kick out of watching Angelique appear in that red light!

I enjoyed the following scene between Barnabas and Dirk: Barnabas instructed Dirk, "Tell them that you saw no one here." Dirk replied, "Oh, that's fine, but what am I going to tell them?" Barnabas responded, "That you saw no one here." That really made me laugh! It's hard to tell who screwed up. The way the scene ended up playing out, it made it seem like Dirk wasn't really listening to Barnabas. It was almost like Barnabas was instructing a child. I'm sure that wasn't the original intention of the writers. 

I agree with others who posted here that the scenes between Jenny and Beth were fabulous. It was fun to watch Jenny giving Beth clues as to what happened to Quentin, and Beth taking a while to figure it out and take Jenny seriously. Jenny was coming in and out of sanity. Marie did a great job, as usual. Terry, too.

David Selby "played dead" very well. I think he did it the best of all the actors.

----- Sally -----

[IluvBarnabas]

Barnabas struck me as rather naive as he was talking to Angelique, and one thing he is NOT is naive. He says he has tried not to change history....come on, did he really think his presence wouldn't cause even the most slightest change? His presence alone has altered things already, intentionally or unintentionally. As much as I hate to say it, Angelique is right...the longer he stays in 1897 the more he's going to continue to change the original order of things as they happened before.

Dirk couldn't afford to tell Barnabas to mind his own business as somebody suggested seeing as Barnabas found him standing over Quentin's body and threatened to name him as a suspect to the police. Not to mention he couldn't afford to have the police find out about Jenny lest he lose his job.

Loved Angelique rising Quentin as a zombie. Now she has a servant, a mindless, unfeeling servant who won't talk back to her like Ben Stokes did back in 1795 and will do exactly what she wants without questioning her.

Good scenes between Jenny and Beth too. Jenny went from disliking Beth for an instance when she believed her to be in love with Quentin to being her friend again by warning her not to go looking for Quentin because Beth is a nice girl as opposed to Quentin, the mean womanizer. Again, Marie Wallace excels as Jenny.