Great point about Barn, Lydia. Like you, I am falling in love with PT1840 all over again. A fabulous scene with Bramwell and Catherine, then it only gets better when Morgan barges in as if he's the lord of the manor. Bramwell has changed his good suit for a wonderful working costume--how can you not love those boots! And in today's ep., he even sports a five-o'clock shadow!
I also agree with Lydia that both Morgan and Bramwell are spoiled--and imperious--in different ways. Morgan can act as he pleases because he is after all the oldest (although the shortest) son and the heir of Collinwood. Bramwell seems to feel that because he is so poor he has nothing to lose, so he might as well act as he pleases.
But happily for us, the writers haven't made Morgan into a blustering cardboard foil for Bramwell. Undoubtedly he's been aware all his life that he might have to risk his sanity if not his life by entering The Room. Maybe that also makes him imperious, because if he might possibly have only a short time of sanity, let alone life, he might as well act as he pleases. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that he is a well-drawn character, even if it seems the writers have forgotten his artistic bent. But he's certainly not as weak as Bramwell scornfully describes him. As for Bramwell's faults, I won't say anything for now.
The battle lines are certainly drawn right from the start.
Barnabas being an epic disaster is a result of Angelique's curse--remember she said that anyone who loved him would die. Although PT Flora and Julia (wonderful scene!) don't know him, he's still managed to bring them a world of sorrow.
And don't forget that Angelique herself was the first--and last--victim of her own curse.
I don't see Miss Julia Collins (whom none of the younger generation addresses as "Aunt," for some reason) as being warm toward anyone. Maybe it's all relative.
A flour-covered Lamar Trask would certainly be hilarious, but baking is an interesting occupation for the PT Trasks, simply because they have to be just as concerned with the earthly fires they bake with as their RT counterparts are with the fires of the next life. Clever thinking by the writers or just a coincidence, I wonder?