Countess & Vicki: I am warming up to Grayson as Natalie but I am not there yet. I want to sigh in desperation regarding Vicki’s constant blundering (throughout the episode) but I wonder how different I might act under the circumstances other than getting out of Dodge and I seriously doubt I’d do that without any cash or anywhere to go. And it is one thing to try and avoid suspicion but another to have suspicion thrust upon you. The witch-hunt has begun. The opening scene (perhaps the longest in DS history?) had good content as far as Vicki holding her own against the Countess, otherwise it was a little kooky and somewhat boring for me. Even the Countesses funny quips seemed a bit forced, out of place & wasted. Their second scene in the study was good too, very disturbing to watch, with Vicki playing into Natalie’s hands.
Nathan & Vicki: I may be warming up to Forbes as well: The character - not the portrayal, though Crothers seems to be getting better at it. A good scene; I like the repartee between the characters, at times funny (Nathan) and at times intense & crucial in an intangible way. Perhaps it’s a seed of hope that Nathan will be there for Vicki when things start going south or maybe it was just the music, lol. I like how the writers have Vicki handle Nathan’s advances and Nathan in general, and AM was fab.
Barn & Countess: I would like to have seen him tell her that the only person in the house that was overly desperate to stop Jeremiah from leaving was Josette (to his knowledge anyway). Barn bolsters Natalie’s suspicions and confidence by mentioning Abigail’s opinions of cats as pets of the devil or something similar. Natalie says they are the devils laughter after the fact or something to that effect. Barn confesses he is open to the possibility of witchcraft as an answer to Joshua’s disappearance and perhaps the problems plaguing the family. You have to wonder if Barn now has Angelique in mind. The problem there is that to point a finger her way is to open the can of worms regarding their affair in Martinique.
Random thoughts: Well, DarkLady, we do get to see the Old House study. It’s warm, woody & wonderful. We also get to see the top of a stagehand’s head during the Barn & Countess scene in the Old House drawing room. It must have been the cat-handler. Hall has many quotable funny lines in this episode. This was a good episode for content IMO.
