DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '11 I => Topic started by: Watching Project on April 22, 2011, 12:00:38 AM
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Robservations #1199
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PARALLEL TIME 1841 BEGINS.
Unless it's still 1840... And I'd thought they'd mentioned 1841 once in RT, but no.
They think dying Justin killed Lamar? The PT Trasks ran a bakery! Did they say those Trasks left town? Too bad. Just one scene with the rosie-cheeked Trasks baking their precious cupcakes etc. with friendly twinkles in their eyes would have been priceless.
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Yes, I'd like to see Jerry Lacy covered in flour.
Tons of riveting scenes today. How can anybody not love this? Yes, I know that's what some people said about some episodes that left me cold at best in the 1840 storyline.
Lara Parker is doing a nice job as Catherine. I see her with Bramwell, and I believe that however much she fights it, she does love him. Then I see her with Morgan, and I believe that she loves him. Meanwhile, Bramwell calls Morgan a spoiled brat, and Morgan sure looks like one - but we've just heard him talking to Julia about the room, and how he believes he will be the one to go in there and have his life either snuffed out or merely ruined. That doesn't sound like a spoiled brat - though perhaps an imperious one, just as Bramwell is imperious. And really, isn't Bramwell spoiled in his own way? He may not have money, but he says and does whatever he wants.
And then we have Julia Collins - Aunt Julia - so kind to her family and so cold to Catherine, who is still an outsider - and yet Julia's coldness is actually a kindness. The further she can keep Catherine from anything to do with the Room, the better off Catherine will be.
We get another wonderful scene between Joan Bennett and Grayson Hall, both of them distraught because obviously the killer of the unknown man is Justin. When Barnabas said he had committed the perfect crime in killing Trask, he had no idea of what grief he was causing these two nice women. He wanted to help the people of parallel time, and instead he added to their burdens. Not really all that surprising, is it?
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When Barnabas said he had committed the perfect crime in killing Trask, he had no idea of what grief he was causing these two nice women. He wanted to help the people of parallel time, and instead he added to their burdens. Not really all that surprising, is it?
No, it's not. One might even say that Barnabas is a disaster of somewhat epic proportions because, as is obvious in this instance, even when he isn't physically present in a time band, his actions can still add to its misery and suffering. What a guy! [easter_cheesy]
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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. [easter_wink] 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?
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Yes, I'd like to see Jerry Lacy covered in flour.
LOL!
I don't want to dwell on what I have not liked about thisstoryline. I want to see more in it, and to like it. So short version, I've always thought Morgan wasa cardboard blusterer (though I think the directors made many DS actors shout too much), and I've never accepted Bramwell, or JF as Bramwell. Before I knew Wuthering Heights, he just seemed violent, pushy, and demanding. I'd have said he was incapable of love. I probably wondered back then if he was supposed to be the villain.
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One thing that's interesting is that back in the day Frid said that Bramwell was his favorite DS role.
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Interesting indeed--he certainly seems to be enjoying himself.
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I probably wondered back then if [Bramwell] was supposed to be the villain.
Aha, I think you're right on target! What makes him so interesting and attractive is that he is a diamond in the very, very rough.
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Interesting indeed--he certainly seems to be enjoying himself.
All my instinctive reactions are different. I think I've partly interpreted the non-stop anger as JF's anger at the role. Also, while JF as a middle-aged, mature romantic lead works beautifully, at this point JF as a brash, young firebrand romantic lead seems like a strange miscasting to me. It didn't seem fair, and I feel bad while he works so hard at it. Somehow, he youthed himself in 1795, but not here. But then, I'm doing what Lydia sometimes does; I'm voicing impressions, then saying I might very well be wrong. Maybe my head's too filled with Barnabas. Maybe it's not my kind of character. I wasn't crazy about Olivier either.
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I think I've partly interpreted the non-stop anger as JF's anger at the role.
No, Frid relished playing Bramwell - it was something he'd been longing to do. Also, Lara Parker loved playing Catherine because for all the time she'd been on DS she'd longed to be able to play the suffering, weepy heroine (something which Angelique certainly wasn't [easter_grin]). This whole storyline came about in good measure because Frid and Parker wanted to play these types of characters.
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Lara Parker loved playing Catherine because for all the time she'd been on DS she'd longed to be able to play the suffering, weepy heroine (something which Angelique certainly wasn't [easter_grin]).
But don't you think Lara often played A that way, and that Angelique herself thought of herself as the weeping heroine? She often has this "cry" in her voice, even when threatening or casting spells... It adds believability, probably. Of course she feels "righteous" and betrayed...
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I like PT. It's a nice change of pace. This is the third time I have watched it and I seem to enjoy the piece more and more with each viewing. It would have been great to see a present storyline follow 1841! [spoiler]And it would have been nice to see this peroid played out longer[/spoiler]. [spoiler] When they wrapped it up it was done somewhat hastily in my opinon! Although, Grayson Hall is in like 10 eps straight so that is great!![/spoiler]
I really love Julia Collins. She is a fun, acid tongue spinster committed to family pride and honor. It is fun to see Grayson play this role! Although I wish they had changed the name. Perhaps though Barnabas and Julia being in 1840 somehow caused there to be a "Julia Collins." Well now I have a headache. It's an intersting though, however. [easter_wink]
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Although I wish they had changed the name. Perhaps though Barnabas and Julia being in 1840 somehow caused there to be a "Julia Collins." Well now I have a headache. It's an intersting though, however. [easter_wink]
LOL, and I agree about the name. I'd have liked to see David Selby play some non-Quentins, too.
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I find Bramwell in PT 1841 and Quentin in PT 1970 almost equally one-note. They're both epically self-absorbed men. In PT 1970 Quentin's case, the emotional cause of his personal dysfunction isn't revealed till nearly the end of the story, but with Bramwell, it's obvious from the get-go--he is the poor relation, a male version of Balzac's Cousin Bette, scheming to revenge himself against his uppity relatives in the Big House.
I think Melanie, Kendrick, and Julia are my favorite characters in this story. Melanie's story is based on the real-life story of Mary Lamb (Charles Lamb's sister), and Nancy plays the role with such such poignant clarity and a tragic air that contrasts painfully with Melanie's girlishness. Flora is always a pleasure but doesn't get that much to do apart from looking stately in Mary McKinley's beautiful gowns. My main problems with Morgan are the character's arrogant sense of entitlement and the fact that Keith Prentice needed more coaching with his diction and line-readings. His speech patterns just don't fit in with a Collinwood inhabited by Bennett, Selby, Pennock et al.
G.
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Wow, I didn't know that about Mary Lamb--do you know more, Gothick? I do love how Nancy Barrett's portrayal of Melanie. One my favorite Melanie lines is in this episode. Catherine asks Melanie, You want Morgan and me to get married, don’t you? I want anyone to be happy who can, Melanie replies. It's so poignantly obvious she doesn't include herself in that category.
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A fairly decent entry on Mary Lamb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lamb
I honestly can't recall whether I read somewhere that the character of Melanie and her situation was based upon Mary Lamb, or whether I just assumed that the writers made use of this well-known episode of English literary history in constructing the PT 1841 storyline.
G.
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Thanks, Gothick. I knew about Tales from Shakespeare, but had no idea Mary had such a sad story.
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Lara Parker definitely considered Angelique to be the victim (My God - one can't get through reading Angelique's Descent without being hammered over the head with that notion over and over again!!), though one would be hard pressed to say that Angelique was ever the true heroine of any of the storiylines she appeared in. Well, except perhaps in Ang's and Parker's own minds. [ghost_cheesy] But with Catherine, Parker really and truly got to play the heroine of the storyline.
And as for Bramwell possibly being one-note, I wouldn't say that. Yes, he can certainly be angry and self-absorbed, and he's both of those things much of the time - but there's also the side to him that he displays whenever he's around Melanie. He does see Melanie as a fellow outcast in the Collins family, but there's more to it than that because he also feels deeply sympathetic toward Melanie because of the way she gets treated by her "brothers". And whereas he tends to strike out at the other members of the family, his empathy for Melanie's plight brings out in him a need to support and comfort her. Though of course,[spoiler]there's much more to their relationship than meets the eye - and neither of them are even aware of it at this point -and to get into that now would be very premature.[/spoiler]
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Wow. I guess they really did find the right actress to throw herself into the part of Angelique and make us believe it, since she seems to have identified!
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I know it is OT to this thread, but I have been re-visiting Parallel Time and I personally think Parker was never better in the series than as Angelique Stokes Collins--totally out-of-control, round-the-twist, borderline-psychotic eee-vil for evil's sake. Let us just say that there's a real sense of commitment from the actress in this role, and a full-blooded relish in how she enacts each crazed scene the scripts demand of her. There's something inspiring about such unbridled lust for all-out pandemonium.
I do have to wonder just how Parker thought she could get away with saying she thought Grayson won the prize for extreme acting in the series... perhaps she had simply forgotten about large stretches of her own work on DS at that point (1986)?
cheers. G.
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Thank you Gothick! I adore Melanie and think that NB once again knocks it out of the park! :) Love her in this time. The actors did give it all they had.
I agree that Keith was a bit wooden and when he needed to be over the top, he went OVER THE TOP!
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I've noticed that when Morgan shouts, he does it with no emotion in his voice. It's just volume.
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Great point Magnus! That is exactly how I would describe him! ;)
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Thanks much Seven, I mean Taeylor!