Well it looks as if HODS is winding up somewhat since Daniel and Roger is coming back
As I'd indicated in the "1970PT Watching Project Addendum" topic, by the time this particular week's worth of eps were shooting, with the exception of Frid, Karlen and KLS, all the others actors had either already wrapped their parts in hoDS or were wrapping. Frid, Karlen, KLS (and RD) were the only hoDS actors to move to the Lockwood-Mathews mansion for another week of shooting the finale.
It's unfortunate that Yaeger came across as clownish. However, Eis managed to make Buffie's desperation and dismay feel real to me, but I think in order for viewers to sense that connection between them, both characters needed to be believable, and sadly that just wasn't the case.
Yes, as I've said before, I think Eis is wonderful in as Buffie and conveys all of Buffie's complicated emotions.
As for Pennock, well, I enjoy him infinitely more here in PT than I ever did in Leviathans. And, of course, that has as much to do with him having left the cheap, insufferable pig behind as anything else. But by his own admission Pennock was still leaning and growing as an actor at this point and he did have a bit of a problem with Cyrus/Yaeger. I remember one anecdote in which he explained that on the day he first played Cyrus, Lela Swift reprimanded him during rehearsals because he was initially making Cyrus too much like Jeb (heaven forbid!) - but at least in that respect he was able to make Cyrus as different from Jeb as was possible.
If you ask me, Pennock truly comes into his own when he plays the two Gabiels. But that's still quite ways down the line storlinewise...