I also am very partial to PT 1840. I've always liked JF's work as Bramwell, and Kate Jackson's work too.

And yes, the whole Adam story got tiresome very quickly, but there are some nice scenes with him and Carolyn. And of course I wouldn't have missed Nicholas for anything!

I always thought that since Ben was so kind to Daniel in 1795, Daniel repaid the favor by inviting Ben to live in the Great House, where he would be well taken care of. I thought it was very touching that they let him have the portrait of Barnabas, which is in the place of honor above his mantel--another nice touch, because a servant normally might not get a room with a fireplace. [spoiler]The way he is dispatched is pretty awful, though, and pretty gratuitous.[/spoiler]

Daniel isn't only senile [spoiler]but also pretty thoroughly insane. It was sad that the little boy who wanted so desperately to go home to New York with his sister well again would end up decrepit and mad in a house he must have hated. I agree that when he murdered his wife it must have made his insanity even worse, but somewhere it's implied that he originally started losing his mind when Joshua told him about the thing sleeping in the coffin in the secret room.[/spoiler]

It's true that although 1840 isn't the best of the storylines, it's still entertaining to watch Gabriel and Gerard and Quentin and Samantha too.

I suppose hospitals stopped using glass bottles because of breakage, but they are recyclable as well as non-reactive.

All very true, guys. I was going on my very hazy memories of Bram Stoker when I posted.

The girls are fretting about the power outage, but Barnabas makes light of it. He says, Electricity [pronouncing it carefully] is something I don’t have a problem with. Then he rhapsodizes about how beautiful the Old House looks by candlelight--as it was meant to be seen, he adds.

The girls listen raptly as Barnabas tells them his story--and so do I, every time I see it. This is one of the best scenes in the whole series, I think.

The end of the story doesn't seem too happy to me, at least not for Barnabas. He does note that Josette's face is serene in death--but he adds bitterly, "As if this was the best possible ending to her life."

Carolyn promptly goes to her room so she can be scared all by herself. Vicki lingers to wonder about the cows and Maggie. She observes, I don’t think we’ll find out what happened to Maggie by any logical process. Barnabas answers gravely, You’re a very clever girl, Miss Winters. Please take care that what happened to her doesn’t happen to you. It could happen to anyone.

It's almost comical to watch Jason blustering as if he's still the boss of Willie. I don't think Barnabas knows anything about the hold Jason has over Elizabeth, because I don't think Jason ever told Willie. He might not be so indifferent if he knew, because he does depend on Elizabeth's hospitality in letting him have the Old House. If Jason were in charge, he'd want Barnabas gone.

Barnabas returns to the Old House. The interior looks a little nicer each time we see it, but Barnabas is indifferent to Willie’s hard work as he screams for Willie and brandishes the cane.

Yes, indeed, Joeytrom. 

My goodness, MT, you do express that (in the spoiler) so delicately!

And I'll bet that [spoiler]Jason will insist on ALL the fringe benefits that go with being married.[/spoiler]