Discuss - Ep #0565

[Watching Project]

Robservations #565

[Lydia]

Here we go with a great subplot.  I'm looking forward to Monday!

Jeff was setting off alarms in my head today.  Getting mad at Vicky because she wanted to go see Barnabas in response to his note...and then suddenly all smiles.  I don't like the pattern.

Once again today, I was reminded of what a remarkable person Barnabas is.  He's sympathizing with Tom Jennings: "Poor Tom, he feels the craving that I know so well!"  And at the end of the episode, we see Tom smiling as he closes in for the attack on Julia.  Tom doesn't want any sympathy.  He's not the guilt-ridden vampire that Barnabas was, because Barnabas is the exception to the rule.  Although becoming a vampire did make dreadful changes in Barnabas's personality, he retained some humanity - and in a Dark Shadows vampire, any humanity at all is a miracle.  Suddenly there's an idea floating around in my head, that Angelique's curse slightly misfired.  Maybe when she gave him that potion before he died in 1795 - the one that was supposed to stop the curse but didn't - maybe that potion did have some effect after all.

[MagnusTrask]

Well, crap, then he'd have Ang to thank for not being a total monster.....

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's too bad that the writers didn't think of that angle and play it up because it could have given amazing depth to both the curse and the Barn/Ang dynamic. Oh, well...

I understand your point, Magnus, but I seriously doubt that any part of Barn would have been thankful to Ang for even inadvertently working things so he retained some humanity because that's what tortured him most. If he'd lacked any sense of humanity just as it appeared the other vamps on the show did, he wouldn't have cared one way or the other about any of his actions, so he wouldn't have been tortured in the slightest bit - which, of course, wouldn't have been nearly as interesting to watch - but there you have it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Although, it just dawned on me that Barn was also a reluctant vampire when Jeb cursed him - and that curse had nothing to do with Ang. So apparently the humanity that Barn retained and the torture he put himself through were somehow parts of his own makeup and what Ang did with the potion in 1796 probably didn't contribute all that much, if at all...

[MagnusTrask]

Good.

[Lydia]

Barn was also a reluctant vampire when Jeb cursed him

I did think of that, and figured that perhaps the potion made a permanent alteration to the cellular structure of Barnabas's blood.  But it's a clunky solution.  So how is it, then, that Barnabas felt guilty about doing what a vampire does?  I was about to suggest that what made the difference was his membership in the Collins family, but then I remembered that there was at least one other Collins vampire, although we don't know that fact until after the glory days of that other vampire are over.

[EmeraldRose]

It's interesting that Barnabas projected himself onto the other vampires - he thought they all would feel the same way he did. But he was the only reluctant vampire. Although, Angelique would be a close second because she [spoiler] wanted to be the "life force" for the Eve experiment.[/spoiler] I think Barnabas got into trouble when he tried to help other vampires only to have them turn on him and be vicious and evil.

That was nice of Barnabas to return Vicki's engagement ring to her. It's too bad Jeff was so jealous of him. 

The last scene, when Tom appeared to Julia in the lab, was really scary! He sure did have big fangs! As I was watching, I found it quite comical, though, when he opened his mouth and showed his fangs! It looked so cheesy!

----- Sally -----

[loril54]

I thought it was funny that the fangs were getting bigger and bigger. I don't remember that Barnabas fangs were that  big.

I thought it was very sad that when Barnabas said how grateful he was to Julia, she was thinking that she was helping to save Vickie her rival for Barnabas' heart.

The song that was playing on the radio was Our Love is Here to Stay, by the Gershwin.

It's very clear
Our love is here to stay
Not for a year, but ever and a day

The radio
And the telephone
And the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies and in time may go

But oh my dear
Our love is here to stay
Together we're going a long long way

In time the Rockies may crumble
Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay

Is this for shadowing of things to come. Or is this just what Julia wants.

Will Barnabas see Julia note.