so frid's coming to the fest!?!

that certainly changes the equation doesn't it.my hopes for the two day tarrytown event were not that high before this revelation.

didn't someone say weeks ago that the hotel was already booked?there's definitely going to be some "overflow" now.i wonder if there's another hotel in the area.i'm glad i live close enough that i can just come in for the day.i usually don't attend the rubber chicken banquet but frid's presence might make me change my mind.

i was expecting a new "theme" but i still have the red and brown.

is this change still yet to come?

i guess i'll have to disagree with professor stokes being the "glue" that holds the show together.

stokes is an interesting supporting character but i just don't think he had the screen time to fill that role.

first it was victoria and eventually that role gravitated to barnabs and julia.with the exception of the final 1841pt storyline(which featured no "real time" characters)either barnabas or julia or both operated in each time period keeping something vaugely resembling continuity from one storyline/time period to the next(or as close to continuity as d.s. gets and that ain't much).

angelique and quentin were certainly both pivotal to their storylines(for instance quentin "glued" 1897 together)but they were too all over the place to tie the entire thing together from begining to end.

speaking of thayer david(as professor stokes)i wonder why when they brought him back to play ben stokes during the 1795 storyline he wasn't ben morgan since it was clearly established how closely ben resembled matthew morgan(remember vicki pressing the panic button when she first encounters ben).

it would have added another layer the the character if it was established that an ancestor would still be in the servitude of the collins family nearly 200 years later.

trapped indoors during this monsoon we're having in new york i started to think about liz.

once the show goes supernatural and barnabas,julia and angelique take over the writers faced a certain challenge in dealing with the original human characters.

eventually some were killed off(burke,sam,joe).the "ingenue" characters(vicki,carolyn,maggie)could get abducted,locked up or otherwise written into some sort of "damsel in distress" type situation.roger goes away on lots of "business trips".mrs.johnson fades into the background.david is usually good for some sort of possession.

they dealt with liz in a very specific way.joan bennett as elizabeth collins stoddard was too important a "presence" to be written out or otherwise ignored.so while after a certain point they couldn't give her a blackmail or similarly "soap opera-ish" storyline they needed to find something for her to do.this usually worked itself out by putting liz under a spell or some other influence.it happens to her more than any other character.laura puts her under a spell.the "widows" put her under a spell.cassandra puts her under a spell.the leviathans put her under a spell.gerard puts her under a spell.

whenever the storyline changes or returns to the present after another time period she's sort of regular liz for a few weeks before she's put under some kind of influence which makes her act strangely.after 1967 we hardly ever see haughty,imperious liz again.

please don't get me wrong...

in general i adore the d.s. fashions.liz usually looks lovely.i especially love her much maligned jewels-and-gown getup from episode one.

there were really only two times i thought that liz looked silly.ironically they both involve a dennis patrick character.

the first time being the episode under discusion here and the other time being...

[spoiler]during the leviathan storyline when paul stoddard dies and they attend his funeral.liz is outrageously decked out in full widow's weeds.she looks like she's attending the funeral of the pope. [/spoiler]

best wishes prof!!!


p.s. the tarrytown marriot dose stink but you better come!

this episode is an all time favorite of mine.from start to finish so many great scenes.

i love liz's declaration..."i killed paul stoddard...and that man was my accomplice!"...very soap opera but also very noir.
sadly this is liz's last great storyline before she succumbs to a series of spells and entombments during the full onset of the barnabas years.

this episode is also notable to me for featuring a trio of the ugliest dresses ever worn on a show known for some damned ugly dresses.

i suppose liz's getup is supposed to make her look "regal" but she really looks kind of ridiculous.her beehive hairdo is festooned with ribbons and her dress defies accurate description.it's sort of a white-on-white polka dot affair.a-line organza.i can't tell if it's a print or if the design is woven into the fabric.

vicki,who certainly knows her way around an ugly dress,gets a personal worst.a long sleeeved(!)floral chiffon print.knee length and again a-line.they attired vicki strangely in general.she was a young and very pretty girl but she got some super dowdy looks.

carolyn fares only slightly better in what looks like off-white crocheted lace.accessorized nicely with that cast(i forget did nancy barrett really break her wrist?)and a purse.of course we the viewer know that carolyn is "packing heat" but didn't anyone there find it odd that she was carrying a purse around in her own house?