Discuss - Ep #0483

[Watching Project]

Robservations #483

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0483

[dom]

Nice calm demeanor during Barn & Jules conversation during the intro scene. (Hall looks great.) Barn wants Willie released. Julia asks why and Barn gives his conscience as the reason. (Julia isn’t buying it, but isn’t getting it either. It’s a fascinating conversation and Hall’s dialogue is wonderfully written and performed.) They go to see Willie. Barn chats Willie up and it appears Willie has no bad memories of ‘working’ for Barn. Willie is eager to return to Barn’s employ and Barn is taking advantage of the situation. (In this episode - Barnabas is so unlikable.)

Willie is released and is staying at the Old House (interesting development). Julia is anxious. (It appears as though the writers are setting up a very tense scenario. I am imagining all kinds of contrived circumstances – time will tell.)

(Lol) Willie zombies his way upstairs after warnings from Barnabas about staying indoors, etc. and as Julia and Barn discuss his ‘fragile’ state of mind; Willie bolts out the back door (our first glimpse of the Old House’s back door?) and heads straight to the Evans cottage. Maggie opens the door expecting Joe but finds an overeager Willie standing there, and understandably, she freaks. Willie barges in and follows a fleeing Maggie around the studio trying to convince her that he is not a danger to her and that he needs to explain that he was not trying to hurt her all those months ago when he was shot and captured as her tormentor. Joe arrives before Willie can exonerate himself and he runs out as Joe rushes to protect Maggie. (Dang, nothing contrived about that. I am glad I was wrong. They got that ‘discovery’ over with real quick. Yeah, I know I almost always say this; KLS looks great and I like the short dress on her. Did you notice she had to pull it down when Joe grabbed her? Nobody wears a short skirt like KLS. Could it be considered a miniskirt?)

On the Old House porch, rifle in hand, Willie listens in as Joe admonishes Barnabas about Willie showing up at Maggie’s. Joe demands to confront Willie but Barn does some fast-talking and Joe acquiesces, but threatens Willie’s life should he ever catch him near Maggie again. (You can’t argue with that. Except I think I would have gone to the police anyway had I been Joe. And of course the best part of all this is that Willie made a fool out of Barn. A new Willie? Oh, wait, perhaps a new crazy Willie.) Willie watches as Joe leaves the Old House, raises the rifle and mock-shoots Joe. Willie’s maniacal laugh closes the episode. (I’d say all is not well in Willie land. Barn deserves this headache, but will probably blame it all on Julia.)

Afterthoughts: Not too bad of an episode. Frid turned in the weakest performance today. Looks like Joe has started wearing suits. Perhaps because of the job promotion Liz gave him all those months (years) ago? Maybe he is dressed for a date with Maggie. When I noticed that Jeff was wearing a tie and jacket I was going to mention that the only regularly casually dressed guy left was Joe. Who’s going to show up in a tie and jacket next? Harry Johnson? An Old House location still under the closing credits – not typical.

[DarkLady]

Yes, dom, that's definitely a miniskirt. No doubt about it. Oh yeah.

For the first time, Barnabas asks Julia, How are you? But it's not from the goodness of his heart--he just wants her to spring Willie from Wyndcliffe.

Barnabas's cure doesn't make him any more willing to take orders from a woman. He disregards Julia and asks Willie all kinds of leading questions.

Barnabas’s new-found optimism is reflected in the decor of the Old House. A mirror hangs on the side wall by the staircase, and the wall sconces have reflective backs. An arrangement of flowers sits on a side table.

Joe comes to visit Barnabas, who addresses him as "Mr. Haskell" for the first time--maybe because Joe is wearing a jacket and tie and a nice raincoat!

[MagnusTrask]

I was impressed with how quickly Willie gets down to business.... crazy business that is, rushing off to the Evans abode before he has a chance to unpack his stuff and put it in drawers.

Thinking a little about new crazy Willie, I realize that Wyndcliffe and Barnabas made him crazy.  Maybe the combination of the two.  Willie was sane when we last saw him.  The only thing that had happened to his mind was a sort of self-protective memory loss.

What happened then?  Okay, presumably he went crazy after we saw him last.  Maybe it came with the memory loss.   What I'm afraid of is that a simply amnesiac Willie was sent to an institution for the criminally insane (only Wydcliffe isn't...), started to remember, talked about vampires, was pressured to think it was all a fantasy, and snapped because he wasn't even permitted to believe in the experience traumatizing him.

Considering what Willie is thought to have done, keeping Maggie a prisoner for weeks or months, driving her almost out of her mind, Joe should have gone straight to the police, who would have surrounded the Old House and/or nabbed Willie on his way there.   Joe's threats are a pretty feeble under-reaction.   Her abduction is still recent.  The whole town would have heard, and would have come down on Julia and Barnabas, hard, for springing him.

[spoiler]Later, Willie is sent to Collinwood with a written message for Liz.   Jeez.   Liz would have evicted Barnabas from the estate immediately for that.[/spoiler]

[alwaysdavid]

Julia says she will do anything for Barnabas, but apparently getting Willie out wasn't what she had in mind. Barnabas says he wants to clear things up with Willie. I suppose that Willie was declared insane and not fit to stand trial, but it seems he would be in some state facility under lockdown, but its  the sixties in Maine so windcliffe is probably it.  Willie seems simple minded now.  He sneaks out and heads over to Maggie's and later has a rifle. Good call dr. Hoffman.

[Roland]

I appreciated all the underplaying (especially in the scene with Barn, Julia and Willie at the hospital), especially after all the over-the-top histrionics of the recent batch of episodes (how nice to have a bit of a respite from Dr. Lang).

It does seem strange that Barnabas and Julia would just bring Willie home like that. Isn't the only reason he was never put on trial for attempted murder because he was determined to be insane? Would he just be allowed to rejoin society, no questions asked from the authorities?

[dom]

Only in Collinsport, Roland, only in Collinsport.

[Roland]

Only in Collinsport, Roland, only in Collinsport.

LOL yea. With that constant parade of ghosts, vampires, phoenixes, werewolves, witches, etc. to deal with, a mere kidnapper/murderer would seem to be the least of their worries! 

[MagnusTrask]

Inbetween hitting "Reply" and getting the posting screen (I have dial up, so there was time), I changed my mind on the police letting Willie live there.  First, you have to let him live someplace.  It's poor taste to let him live in Collinsport, and a sensible person knows it's dangerous, but are the residents of some other town somewhere, where he could choose to live instead, of more value?  Any town would need protecting from a violent Willie.

If his violence was officially attributed to insanity though, and he's officially sane now, he's part of the legal category of sane people with rights, who get to live where they want. 

In reality of course, we know it's all a lot messier than that.  So we give judges latitude to do a lot of sometimes crazy stuff to people to allow for these messy areas.  I don't know if they can say "Don't live anywhere near Collinsport, sane citizen Willie", but they probably can.  Whether it's fair I don't know.