the episodes start to get strange here.

in the weeks that run up to the start of the 1795 storyline there are alot of "red herrings" thrown out and plot developments that end up going nowhere.

the hastily arranged "trip to boston" essentially takes both vicki and david out of the storyline for the rest of the 1967 episodes.they don't return until the time of the sceance and then the show shifts time periods.

the scene with maggie(in a bright orange coat!)was sort of random and out-of-the-blue.the gang chez evans takes a major powder during this period.they hadn't been featured in weeks.the business with the dogs howling and maggie fearfully clutching her throat gave the viewer the false impression that maggie herself might well be again in danger.it's kind of filler i think while the writers figured out the machinations of 1795.i wonder if this scene wasn't supposed to subtly "remind" the viewer of kathryn leigh scott before she assumed the mantle as josette a few weeks later.

poor burke gets his final mentions here.after 1795 there is never one single reference to what was once a very major character.the tiresome business with julia's notebook takes over.most of the episodes that follow seem to revolve almost exclusively around barnabas,julia,carolyn and tony peterson.the general tone of the show starts to get quite odd here.

that said i absolutely love the carolyn and julia dynamic here.it's my favorite version of carolyn.she wasn't being especially well-utilized before this and her under barnabas' control makes for great fun.
there is a genius doorframe "get out!!!" moment between the two in this episode that i love. 

my personal voodoo with the show is strange...

i'm not otherwise remotely interested in vampires,witches,the occult and so on.

but something about the show caught my fancy when i stumbled upon it on the sci-fi channel about five years ago.my audio and visual sensory perceptions were stimulated and intrigued.

visually the sets,the costumes("why do these women who live in this nowhere town in maine have up-to-the-minute sixties fashions and hairstyles?" i asked myself) and something as random as how the closing credits might linger on something as ordinary as a telephone.

audio the stunning opening and closing themes and other musical cues composed by robert cobert,the silly sound effects,but what most struck(and strikes)me was the quality of the writing,the articulation of the characters,the perfect,crisp diction.with many of the actors being theater trained the way the characters express themselves often comes across as grand and even almost regal.

so to answer the question at hand watching d.s. didn't improve my vocabulary per se but the quality of the writing and the actors articulation of it are very much part of the recipe for my fondness.

the casting speculation is about to go off the charts.

how will they ever find an actress that brings the preternatural naivety to the role of victoria that alexandra did?

that's super hot news!

i will say this however.how does one go about trying to capture the breadth of the original series in just two hours?how will that translate?i've even felt that way about a twenty four episode weekly series.

will we just get "evil" barnabas?how will his guilt and reluctance be explained without the elaborate flashback to 1795?and with dozens of characters just in the "present time" part of the story i wonder who will make the cut for two hours?

i suspect some grand dame casting for liz in a small,cameo-like role.with both vicki and maggie in contention for the principle-ingenue/josette-replacement role i wonder who will show up?obviously julia and angelique factor into this tale in a major way but would depp share the spotlight with a quentin character?members of the family like roger,carolyn and david?various servants and townspeople...mrs. johnson?sam evans?sheriff patterson?oh the possibilities are endless...and i'm going to watch the development of this project with baited breath.

as much as i love the show it doesn't often have me reaching for the hanky however...

the scene here where vicki is going on about how happy she is about liz offering her and burke the west wing as a place to live with liz and mrs.johnson knowing that burke's plane had crashed did get me to tear up a bit.

there is a nice line from mrs.johnson about ships that go out on cloudy nights as doing the "widows dance".it's loaded with alot of symbolism...you know,liz,mrs.johnson and now vicki as symbolic "widows"...some of which will later prove to be untrue but it made for a powerfull scene here.

again all the pity for julia here leaves me ice-cold.true barnabas never did return her feelings but considering the horrible fates that most of the other characters on the show endured the nonstop pity-party for dr. hoffman always leaves me somewhat stupified.

my deepest sympathy sally.

not that this matters under the circumstances but i always really enjoy reading your comments here.  be well.

i agree that josette is something of a "blank check" character in her actual manifestation as opposed to someone's ideal of her.

during the 1795 storyline she's only around for a few days before she gets put under a spell and then spends the rest of the storyline under some sort of influence.

the rest of the characters are very well defined for a story that only lasted about four months.even "secondary" characters like abigail and ben are very well thought out.we actually know very little about who josette is.

p.s. i love gothick's use of the phrase "phantasmal unity".

brandon,

did this person reside at collinwood proper or just the estate?