Thanks from me too. This is a lovely tribute that takes the show and its influences seriously--for a change.

Yes, MB! I'm sure it's true of the Collinses in all time bands! 

Kendrick Young seemed to be a complete stranger to everything Collins

And wouldn't Julia like to keep him that way too!

Nice little bit by JF: As Bramwell turns away from Daphne and toward us, we can see the desolation in his eyes at the news she has brought him.

PT Gerard seems just as unsavory as his RT counterpart. I'll bet he got fired from Collinwood, and I'm sure it was for something far more sinister than trying to make off with the family's silver.

I've always liked parallel Josette. I especially love this scene with her and Melanie, and the one with the two women and Barnabas. I've always thought that the Locked Room, time and an apparently long widowhood have left their mark on her--not to mention being a single mother bringing up a son like Bramwell.

Great fun with a fistfight opener and a duel as the finale! But this time around (unlike with "our" Barnabas and Jeremiah), Barnabas, as the challenged party, should have chosen the weapons. I also enjoyed seeing Josette stand up to the formidable Julia.

True, Julia was born a Collins but if she looked anything like the young Grayson Hall she surely must have had at least one or two offers of marriage, and then she would have left Collinwood. Apparently preserving the family honor was more important to her.

We start off with another great voice over by JF.

Wonderful scene with Bramwell and Catherine! He hardly has to do anything to seduce her, does he. Too bad he doesn't get her into the bedroom, since Morgan is busy burying poor Stella. Best quote from Catherine to Bramwell: You know me so well, better than I know myself! You are a demon, and the demons in me are in league with you!

Very sweet scene with Kendrick and Melanie. It's almost certainly her first kiss ever, let alone probably only her second conversation with a man who is not a relative. Awww.... Too bad she may have murdered Kendrick's sister. Then she runs back to Collinwood to have a good cry in that most private of places, the drawing room. Luckily the only person who finds her is Bramwell, who treats her with a gentleness he shows to no one else, not even Catherine.

Morgan is so mean, first to poor little Melanie, then to Bramwell. He makes a very, very bad winner.

Great cliffhanger ending!

I've often wondered about that myself, Lydia. I suppose that for the Collinses, the laws of inheritance and the preservation of the family's wealth trump the curse of the Locked Room. After all, only one person in every generation has to spend the night there. And yes, it's a cruel predicament, but actually the more children the Collinses have, the less likely it is that any one individual will be chosen.

That is indeed some robe Morgan is wearing! I suppose that even in parallel time, the real curse may be that men have to wear long and cumbersome dressing gowns. But he does a nice job all the same with his story of how Melanie dared the Locked Room for her father's sake.

Julia offers the crazed Melanie some hot cocoa. I'm surprised that Julia doesn't have a stash of laudanum somewhere. Poor Melanie is the most innocent creature in the whole house and yet she has this terrible burden. I feel much sorrier for her than for Catherine, who is headstrong enough to declare, I’m going to come to this house, marry Morgan, live here, and do everything in my power to make this a happy, _sane_ place to live!

Meanwhile, Quentin covers up--what?--with an attitude of detached irony and even ruthlessness when he suggests putting Melanie away somewhere, a rather unsympathetic attitude, considering that he was locked up for far worse cause himself. Apparently they can't just lock Melanie up in the Tower Room, since it is already occupied....

Right, Lydia--who could resist being called the "fairest"?

There's a nice detail in the final scene, when we first see Catherine sleeping.  She has her arm stretched out, and her hand is in the same half-clenched position that we saw as Bramwell was getting dressed.

Oooooooooooohhhh!!! And what is she dreaming about, we wondersss, yesss, we wondersss?

And thanks for the tip about the Complete This Phrase/Fill in the Blanks thread.

*falls down laughing*