If you don't want to know the circumstances surrounding today's entry in this slideshow, then don't read any further...
[spoiler]Today's quote:
Ep #404 (1796) - Barnabas - 'I have no desire to threaten you but I ask desperately for your help. And you MUST give it to me. I MUST speak to Josette. I MUST see her and you MUST make that possible.'
From "#0403/0404: Robservations 03/19/02: Barnabas Confronts His Witch-Wife"
Barnabas utilizes a little blackmail--he saw her with Nathan, and he brought her home VERY LATE! She's flustered, but she insists Nathan is genuinely fond of her--and besides, both of them are single. Barnabas tries to warn Millicent that the charming Nathan is too much for an innocent like her to handle, but she refuses to listen, and diverts the discussion by saying she COULD arrange for Josette and herself to be taking a walk when Naomi and Natalie are in town, and he COULD accidentally run into them--the garden gate after sundown! Don't fail him, says Barnabas soberly; this is a matter of life and death.
This ep is another during the period when they weren't all that detailed so this Robservations doesn't reference the quote (even though it does several other uses of "must" - but more on that to come). So, how the quote comes about is that after Millicent refuses to listen to any of Barnabas' warnings about Nathan, Barnabas concedes that what transpires between her and Nathan is her own business but he is asking her for help and she must give it to him. That prompts Millicent to ask if Barnabas is threatening her, and that is when Barnabas delivers the quote...
Plus:
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[spoiler]Today's quote:
Ep #1092 (1970) - Julia - 'On October 14, 1839, the original Quentin wrote: "Tonight I do what I dread-- I MUST GO and see G at the cottage." G MUST mean Gerard, and the cottage MUST mean Rose Cottage-- Gerard MUST have lived there.'
...
Again the Robservations references the quote perfectly - and it's the very first quadruple "MUST" quote. Perhaps even the only such quote we'll see...
Quite obviously it is not the only one because we have a second quadruple "MUST" quote today.
And this is the second quote from this ep. The first (Barnabas - 'If she knew the truth, Angelique would kill her. Somehow I MUST make her listen to me') was back on September 4th of 2021.
And this may be only the second "MUST" quote used from this ep, but Midnite informed me that she counted 31 uses of "must" in the ep!! There are 6 uses of "must" in just the 2 minute long teaser alone!!
Whether or not Ron Sproat, who wrote the ep, wrote all of them into the script or the actors threw in some themselves is anyone's guess without a copy of the script to check. But it doesn't really matter if they were all written on the page or in combination of some added by the actors because all that matters is that they're all delivered over the course of the ep. And it's highly unlikely there are other eps with as many instances of "must" in them, so we're awarding Ep #404 the title:
THE MUST OF ALL TIME EPISODE