Discuss - Ep #0303

[Lydia]

Robservations - #303

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0303

[Lydia]

OK, Burke thinks Barnabas is the villain, and he's smart enough to know that the evidence he's got isn't enough to convince anybody.  But what does he actually think has been going on?  I don't think it has occurred to him that Barnabas is a vampire.  In some interview or other one of the writers said that they first wrote the Barnabas story as though nobody had ever heard of a vampire: as though Dracula and all the other vampire stories had never been written or filmed.  I imagine that a vampire would be an esoteric concept that Julia Hoffman had come across in an obscure medical tome when she got interested in the threshold between life and death.

So now we've got Burke, with various odd pieces that he's putting together - but what is he coming up with?  He knows that the only Niall Bradford who is listed in London records lived there 130 years ago.  (I find it astounding that Our Man In London could establish that fact with certainty after just a few days of investigation, but let it pass.)  He knows that Barnabas just happened to visit Maggie after she came home.  He knows that Maggie's got a tune in her head whose description makes it sound like the music that comes out of the box that Barnabas gave Vicky.  He knows about the puncture wounds on Maggie's neck.  Does he know anything else?  I do not know how you can put this information together and come up with “vampire” when you've never even heard of a vampire.  So what is Burke's idea?

Here's another question: if Burke, for whatever reason, listened to the music box long enough, would he turn into Josette?

[IluvBarnabas]

I imagine that Burke might be thinking that Barnabas could be a psychopath, sociopath, or at the very least a fraud. Or maybe all three.

I'm surprised that Burke never thought to at least point out to Elizabeth the Niall Bradford detail...but as you say Lydia, he doesn't really have enough evidence to prove anything incriminating as of yet. And I don't imagine Elizabeth would have liked Burke questioning the character of a member of her own family, even if she has only known Barnabas for a short time. It might tear apart her and Burke's newfound understanding of each other.

Love the scenes between Joe and Maggie. They add a little bit of the normal around the supernatural plots that have started to drive the show. I do love the supernatural angle of the show, but I have now grown to appreciate the bits of ordinary people doing ordinary things the show allows us to see once in awhile.

[DarkLady]

We've already seen how huffy Elizabeth can get when anyone even thinks of besmirching the Collins family name. But yes, I think Burke (1) doesn't have enough solid data yet to form a hypothesis;  (2) probably has begun to consider Elizabeth his future virtual mother-in-law; and (3) still wants to buy Seaview.

If Niall Bradford lived 130 years before 1968, he would have been alive during the 1830s--when Barnabas presumably was still trapped in his coffin an ocean away. I sort of wonder how Barnabas learned of his existence--but then there's that old reliable family album. He must have picked Niall because he was so conveniently dead and so conveniently English.

Lydia, thanks for the story about how the writers conceived of the Barnabas story--very interesting to know!

I also love all the scenes between Maggie and Joe. They are adorably down to earth, and KLS and JC play them so well.

We get a nice moment at the end when Vicki tells Burke about the spontaneously playing music box and its light, tinkling music--the same kind of music that Maggie just told him about….

[dom]

Lydia, IlB & DL, you three collect and express your thoughts beautifully.

Odd name or not, there’s been only one Niall Bradford in all of London in the past 130 years?

Burke has a bone to pick with Barn to begin with so it is easy to believe how rapidly Burke puts things together and suspects Barn of Maggie’s kidnapping. I have to believe that his possessiveness and concern for Vicki getss him there, because he didn’t see any of this before now and Burke didn’t get where he is in life by being sensitive or stupid. So, the tension builds and I’m inching closer to the edge of my seat. Dr. Woodard has the right idea to go to the sheriff but Burke has too much at stake to not be sure first. The last thing he wants to do is re-alienate the Collins family, and upset Vicki (as stated earlier in the thread). And, it’s just the ‘soap’ way of doing things. I don’t think Burke thinks Barn is a vampire either, Lydia. As a matter of fact he’s having trouble thinking of Maggie’s bite and captivity as related. I don’t know if it’s because he trying to fit Barn into the equation or because linking the two events would mean Barn is more of a villain than even Burke could wrap his mind around.

Maggie’s getting cabin fever and who can blame her? Joe persuades her to temporarily forget about daytime employment at the diner and to stay put and do as she’s told. (Dear sweet simple 'black & white' Joe, the voice of reason.) Joe doesn’t understand women but luckily for him, Maggie understands men. Maggie voices her uneasiness re: Dr. Hoffman-- an interesting development that brings me a few inches more toward the edge of my seat. I also really enjoy the normalcy here, IlB & DL. I really liked Joe’s initial objection to Burke questioning Maggie; it was realistic. They could have had him just stand there like a dummy. Thank goodness DC didn’t pay his actors by the word.

Burke stops by and questions Maggie, and gets nowhere. And learning of Barn’s visit to Maggie since her return home really bursts his bubble. All he really manages to get out of Maggie is an afterthought about an unidentifiable piece of music stuck in the back of her mind, a light playful tune; a soft tinkling sound. Is this a new revelation or do we already know that Maggie remembers? I've just scooted another inch forward.

Despite the setback, Burke doesn’t give up. As luck would have it, before the credits roll, Burke, courtesy of Vicki, trips over Josette’s music box and hears what he recounts Maggie describing as a light almost playful kind of music. At first I thought no way – but why not? Like I said, Burke’s no dummy. Another inch and I'd be on the floor.

Afterthoughts: Anyone else think that AG & R. Gerringer are both wearing hairpieces?
Robert Gerringer does an excellent job as Dr. Woodard. I thought the scene between him and AG was well written.
KLS’ hair looked really red (auburn?). Is this a new development or am I just noticing this for the first time? I am also wondering if she is wearing a wig?
I suppose there is no connection between Niall Bradford and Peter Bradford?
It was a pretty exciting episode overall, with Burke getting closer and closer to the truth.

'My life' DS Moment of the week: I figured Niall was spelled Nile (as in Niles) and thanks to a fellow Forum member I was spared that embarrassment. So I am thinking about how interesting the spelling is and how I've never seen or 'heard' of it before. I looked it up; the whole shebang. So yesterday I am at a stop light and I look over at the school building on my right (which I've seen a million and one times) and noticed for the first time that it is the Nial Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School. I don't know if it is spelled with one L or if the second L fell off. DS synchronicity at it's best.

[DarkLady]

Thanks for your kind words, dom. I love your synchronicity moment. And "the 'soap' way of doing things" is priceless!  Sometimes DS is just a soap opera.

I think Joe is written in black and white, but JC's performance gives him some interesting layers. I love it that in those dear dim days before Netflix and World of Warcraft (or whatever), Maggie and Joe settle down for yet another game of gin.

I don't know about hairpieces, but Robert Gerringer has always been my favorite Dr. Woodard. He gives the doc both intensity and integrity beneath his "simple country doctor"-type persona.

I've always wondered whether there was a connection between Niall Bradford and Peter Bradford. Sometimes the writers have fun with the few surnames they use. For instance, one of Burke's minions is a Mr. Blair.  Maybe Niall is part of the genuine English branch of the Bradford family and is a distant relation of Peter who went to America. Or maybe the writers are just messing with our heads.

[Lydia]

dom, thanks for the kind words!

DarkLady, at this point the story is still that Barnabas lived during the early 1800s, which is why the pants that Louis Edmonds wears at Barnabas’s costume party are different from the ones he wears in the 1795 storyline.  I don't think there's any way to reconcile the dates, given that the tombstone we saw for Josette a few weeks ago read 1800-1822, unlike the tombstone that we'll see for her in the 1795 storyline.

I'm therefore figuring that Niall Bradford was somebody whom Barnabas knew personally - maybe a relative, maybe a business connection.  And maybe Niall was related to Peter Bradford, but if so, then surely the relationship was a distant one, because Peter was poor, and I doubt that Niall was.

[IluvBarnabas]

Ditto from me....thanks, dom for your kind words!

[alwaysdavid]

Just for the fun of it. There are two Niall Bradfords and one Nial on Facebook. The fact that there were no other in London of all places seems implausible. Of course, how good is Burkes investigator is another question.
Now Burke suddenly has some theory about Barnabas about Maggie and tries to get her to remember

[Lydia]

Just for the fun of it. There are two Niall Bradfords and one Nial on Facebook.

Good idea, alwaysdavid!