Discuss - Ep #0899

[Watching Project]

Robservations #899

[Lydia]

Elizabeth's dressing down of Paul was a beautiful thing to see.  It seemed to go on forever, and I didn't get tired of it.  We got an admission from Paul that his business (whatever it might be) wasn't going so well, so suddenly he looks less like a caring father, and more like somebody seeking a handout.

More information was given on the thing, or creature, without a soul.  It needs a soul in order to be real.  How is it that I never noticed that piece of information before?  The implication is that Paul Stoddard made a bargain like the one in The Devil and Daniel Webster, selling his soul for a period of worldly success, and now it's time for Paul to hand over the soul.  He needs Tony Peterson to come to the rescue.  But instead, he sat inside a pentagram the way Quentin did in 1897, and I suppose we're should be hoping that he'll have better luck with it than Quentin did, but after all that Elizabeth said today, I'm thinking maybe his soul would be no great loss.

That snake design doesn't look terrible menacing to me.  The snakes look sort of ineffectual.  But, like the Leviathan box, it impresses the characters on the show, so I suppose I need to suspend disbelief and accept it the way I accept so many other unlikely things on the show.

[MagnusTrask]

VO: Stoddard's in a "neighboring village"... not Collinsport?   He actually is paranoid at this point.   All he has to go by so far is his having been mysteriously drawn to circling a date on a calendar, and a threatening note.   It's a little early to talk about "things" out to get him and vast conspiracies.   Oh, and the tatoo.   Okay, that would weird one out just a bit.   Good thing he ran into a Leviathan expert by chance at the nearest bar.   Maggie's right, downing a few can give you a whole new perspective, wink wink, glug glug!

[spoiler]This storyline is full of frustrating anticlimaxes.... big build-ups followed by vacuum, while they try to justify the fact that nothing terrible really happened, but of course next time it will, trust us....!![/spoiler]

Paul Stoddard's scream at the end was very real.   That's uncontrolled fear.   M Wallace and D Patrick ought to have a terror competition.

[Lydia]

Oh, and the tatoo.   Okay, that would weird one out just a bit.

But it's a real beauty...A serpentine cutie...How it got here I haven't a clue.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

VO: Stoddard's in a "neighboring village"... not Collinsport?

I'm thinking they meant it as the Collinwood estate neighbors the village of Collinsport. They refer to their relationship like that from time to time. Collinwood is most probably geographically located within the boundaries of Collinsport - but at the same time it's set apart from the actual village - and in so many ways.

[Midnite]

The opener seems scripted pretty much the same as when we saw it previously, but it's interesting how the two directors (Swift and now Kaplan) interpreted differently what Paul should be doing during the scene, such as his movements and whether a line was spoken or in his thoughts.

All of Paul's declarations that he forgot he had a daughter were really ticking me off.  ("I can't lose a daughter I've just found." / "Your old new father." / "I thought I'd forgotten you.")  Grrr.

Elizabeth's dressing down of Paul was a beautiful thing to see.  It seemed to go on forever, and I didn't get tired of it.

Same here.  And Carolyn's reaction when Paul finally expressed his love for her was precious.  I really wish the writers had continued to mine these relationships (Liz/Paul/Carolyn) before the story became all about world domination.

More information was given on the thing, or creature, without a soul.  It needs a soul in order to be real.  How is it that I never noticed that piece of information before?  The implication is that Paul Stoddard made a bargain like the one in The Devil and Daniel Webster, selling his soul for a period of worldly success, and now it's time for Paul to hand over the soul.

But isn't all that about it needing a soul [spoiler]just a red herring?[/spoiler]

With the way the sailor was glaring at Paul, did he want to just buy him a drink or pick him up?

He actually is paranoid at this point.   All he has to go by so far is his having been mysteriously drawn to circling a date on a calendar, and a threatening note.   It's a little early to talk about "things" out to get him and vast conspiracies.   Oh, and the tatoo.   Okay, that would weird one out just a bit.   Good thing he ran into a Leviathan expert by chance at the nearest bar.

Definitely the tattoo.  But also, someone would have to have been watching and following him for them to have known to leave the note for him at the antique shop; presumably, he kept his trips to meet Carolyn to himself.  And being mysteriously drawn to a weird altar in the woods-- that's kinda unnerving too.

Maggie's right, downing a few can give you a whole new perspective, wink wink, glug glug!

LOL

What bothers me about the mentions of a neighboring village is that pre-1897, it seems everyone settled into calling Collinsport a town, but in switching to constantly calling it a village, the writers seem to be swiping yet another detail from The Dunwich Horror.

But it's a real beauty...A serpentine cutie...How it got here I haven't a clue.

Ha!  Nice, Lydia.  (Why am I suddenly craving a margarita?)

At the end of the ep, even the boom mic was after Paul.

The turn-of-the-century light bulbs are still in the foyer???

[IluvBarnabas]

I enjoyed Elizabeth's dressing down of Paul too...heaven knows she had every reason to distrust him.

On the other hand, I can't help but feel that she doesn't really have the right to deprive Carolyn the chance to know her father. I know she doesn't want her daughter to get hurt, but it's not like Carolyn is 8 or 9 years old...she's an adult now. Elizabeth's ordering Carolyn not to see her father again...she should know that's only going to make Carolyn all the more determined to go running to her father's side.