Discuss - Ep #0401

[Watching Project]

Robservations #401

[Sunny_Collins]

How did the designers make the jug or vase or whatever it was, look like it crashed over barnabas's head and break? Obviously JF wasn't really hit with it. 

Vicki is describing last night's events in her room, and when Trask mentioned fire, she saw a fire starting to burn. Hey, I know, maybe Trask is the witch! LOL! 

I loved how the writers tied this episode in with previous episodes where we see Barnabas teaching Ben to write. It was so neatly integrated, it makes me wonder if they had planned in advance for this scene.

The suspense when Ben was writing the initial was so intense. Great performances by all!

[MagnusTrask]

What a tease Ben is, faking us out with what looked like a V.   He's the greatest showmnan of his generation.

 

[Sunny_Collins]

Another fun part of this episode is when Barnabas uses reverse psychology on Ben, putting him on the biggest guilt trip ever!

[Lydia]

We had a nice straight line of an episode today, as we watched Barnabas proceeding towards definite knowledge that Angelique is the witch.  Lots of lines for Jonathan Frid, but lots of fun for us.

I liked the way the clues came together for Barnabas.  Motive is always a tricky thing, because what will impel one person towards murder is shrugged off by another, but Barnabas has other evidence to go on.  It's lucky for him that Ben got caught stealing Abigail's hair ribbon, but even without that, he's got Vicky's unsolicited mention of the fire-and-ice business, and Angelique's lies about her whereabouts during the exorcisim.

Why is it that Naomi owned a house while Abigail was the poorest member of the family?  When we learned that Naomi owned the Old House, I decided that Joshua's father had given it to her when she married Joshua, because it was a Collins house, and would not have come from Naomi's family.  Or else there was a tradition that the wife of the head of the Collins family owned the Old House, and Joshua's mother gave it to Naomi at some point.  But if the house came to Naomi through one of Joshua's parents, why didn't they give anything to Abigail?  Did they in fact give Abigail money or property that she somehow lost?

"A for Angelique."  And the battle is joined.

[michael c]

i could be wrong about this but as the wife of the "patriarch" of the family naomi and her children would be the major beneficiaries of the collins wealth and property.

any of joshua's siblings and their children would be intitled to a lesser inheritance.

also at the time it was assumed that a woman of abigail's social status would marry of man of similar circumstances and he would support her and their children so her inheritance was probably comparatively modest.what's more knowing abigail (do we really "know" these people?) she would have probably donated what little she had to the church (i believe she once denounced worldly possessions as "sinful") and then very passive-aggressively relied on the kindness of her family for housing and other basic needs.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's explained in Ep #605 that Joshua built the Old House as a gift to Naomi. 

[Lydia]

Good heavens.  I believe you, MB, though I don't remember it - but what an extraordinary thing for Joshua to do!  One thing that I'm not clear about is who had Collinwood built - Joshua or Jeremiah.  As I remember it, earlier in the series we're that Collinwood was Jeremiah's doing, but in 1795 it appears that it's Joshua's doing, but I can't remember if it's explicitly said.  If Joshua did build both Collinwood and the Old House, I suddenly have a different idea of Joshua.

[Misty]

For the benefit of those that may not have really understood Abigail's character (like me), we learned that she was not a rich Collins. (I can't understnd that).

So convenient that there is a cell in the basement of the "new" house. Was this common in 1795? At first I wasn't sure that it WAS a cell, but the place has all the characteristics of one!! If homes had such "cells", what was the purpose?

Barnabas's use of reverse psychology to learn the witch's name from Ben was great. Good scene.

                                                                        Misty

[EmeraldRose]

This was a GREAT episode! I loved how Barnabas figured out that Angelique was the witch. Vicki's description of fire inside ice was a dead giveaway, because Barnabas heard Angelique say those words!

That was nice of Joshua to build The Old House for Naomi. 

The end, when Barnabas talked Ben into writing the "A" for Angelique was thrilling! It was exciting to watch! The way Ben wrote the "V" - and then made it into an "A" made me so excited, it brought tears to my eyes!  One of the best scenes in all of DS!

----- Sally -----

[Gothick]

I have the impression from my reading that women like Abigail Collins were a dime-a-dozen in households of the 18th and 19th centuries.  When I visited Herman Melville's homestead some years ago, the elderly but vigorous tourguide took a certain relish in relaying to us how the rooms of the house swarmed with female relations who had nowhere else to live (a common circumstance--"little women" eventually became not so little spinsters) and how Melville himself was the only person in the house with his own room--a study in which he wrote his novels.  The guide's eyes gleamed as she pointed out that the door had a lock on it and only Mr. Melville had the key (but I doubt whether he wore it round his throat on a locket).

G.

[MagnusTrask]

I noticed that the Collinwood cell was old looking, with paper peeling off the wall (?) reven when the house was brand new.

Josh builds a house as a great tribute to Naomi, then builds another and has them all move into it?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, by the time Collinwood was complete enough to move into, the Old House was almost 30 years old. Not that that's particularly old by any means, but at least it had been lived in for a few decades. Also, it was established that Barnabas and Josette were to have lived there once they were married. And beyond that, it's also quite possible that Joshua felt the family's stature had outgrown the Old House and so Collinwood was built to better reflect it.

One thing that I'm not clear about is who had Collinwood built - Joshua or Jeremiah.  As I remember it, earlier in the series we're that Collinwood was Jeremiah's doing, but in 1795 it appears that it's Joshua's doing, but I can't remember if it's explicitly said.

The original history of Collinwood is that Jeremiah built it for Josette in the early 19th century. But, of course, that whole backstory of the Collins family is tossed out the window when the 1795/96 storyline comes along. And in the new version I don't think it's explicitly explained that it was solely Joshua's idea to build Collinwood. Perhaps it was more of a family decision? (Though as I recall we'll get a few more hints about Collinwood in an episode coming up in about a month when Joshua remarks about a certain secret passage...)

[Roland]

That was definitely one of the great closing scenes in DS history.

The only thing is, though, that it brings up one of those time-travelling conundrums that it is probably best simply to leave un-analyzed, but here goes.

The V/A concept was very clever and dramatic, but unless Miss Wickes' first name also began with a V, it wouldn't have been possible for Barnabas to have derived this information out of Ben in quite this way the "first" time it happened.  Ah well, great scene anyway.

[Lydia]

Maybe Ben did the first half of the W for Wick, and then made it an A instead of completing the W.  Or maybe he did a P and then added a leg to it to make it an A - or added an extra curl to the P to make it a B for Bouchard.