Beautiful!!

Whoa.  Evan revealed his plan to summon help from the flames of netherworld, and even after Quentin watched him call somebody or some *thing* forth from the darkness of the earth, it wasn't until something actually began to happen that Quentin realized they had gone too far.  DUH.  Does this mean that Quentin went along with it because he didn't believe it would work?  Evan did indicate once or twice that it might not.  Cuz if Quentin doubted it right up to the end, it might explain why he sanctioned Jamison's participation in the ceremony.

I, for one, am glad to be rid of "The great house at Collinwood stands deserted; the living have sought refuge elsewhere," etc. in the intro.  It was really getting old.

Quentin said that he never liked playing with Judith when they were kids because she was a scaredy-cat.

judith and quentin playing as children?

What Quentin says is, "I always hated playing with you."  But that's not to say it wasn't already mentioned that Judith and Quentin were children together-- Quentin said it while making fun of her a few eps ago, something like "just like when we were children."  And if I'm not mistaken, all the sibs mention their being children together at one time or another in the storyline, including Carl.

she's about thirty years older than him.

i thought the whole point of the judith character was that she was an embittered "old maid".

IIRC, the only age provided for any of them is Quentin, who was born in 1870, making Quentin around 27 (coincidentally [??], Selby had just turned 28, not that I know his birthday by heart or anything).  So I think we're meant to forget the other actors' real ages and just go with what we're told in 1897.  You also have to toss out that Louis Edmonds is more than 10 years younger than Joan Bennett since Edward is said to be older than Judith.  I'm not even sure his son is supposed to be the same age as David.

Does anyone know what was considered an "old maid" in Victorian times?

When Beth said a while back that she was seeing her gentleman friend in town, wasn't that a lie told to cover her weekly visit to Mrs. Fillmore with the Collins cash and a care package?  If she wanted to fool around with Dirk <gag!>, she wouldn't have to go to the village to do it.  It was, as Quentin called it, "Backstairs excitement" (and its spinoff series, "Upstairs, Downstairs" ).

I've been watching Beth carefully (because I'm easily entertained ) for signs she was falling for Quentin-- that she did stay on because he might return, or that she was thrilled when he did or she wanted more from him-- you get the picture, but I noticed none of that... til now.  We see a lot of sexual tension in this ep.  There's no turning back now, girlfriend!

As for Quentin acting like a fraidy cat when he was convinced he was being haunted by a vengeful spirit, I think that if someone goes so far as to dabble in the Black Arts, then it's a given that they'd believe that death is not the end, that the veil between this and the spirit world can be lifted, and that dark nonhuman entities do exist.  So I do feel his fear was true to character.  JMO

Switching to Barnabas, I thought it odd that he was convinced Edith wouldn't rest in peace.  I mean, we've all heard the stories about ghosts sticking around because of unfinished business, but Barnabas seemed darn sure it was going to happen even before there were any signs of a haunting.  Which I guess is why Lydia and Robin wondered if he had anything to do with it.  I agree with Lydia that the writing is just not good here.

A scene that drove me nuts:  Barnabas wasted no time in starting up a conversation with Rachel about her resemblance to Josette's portrait (cuz if a pickup line works once, why not try it again?).  Anyway, all it took was her asking if Josette was a Collins for him to start telling her story, including how she ended up marrying his ancestor's uncle, which led to Barnabas dueling with Jeremiah and killing him.  Then Rachel says, "I tend to only see the things that I want to see and I ignore all of the unpleasant things in life."  Well, apparently she's not the only one, because this entire conversation takes place right in front of Jeremiah's portrait, and at one point I'm sure Rachel is even brushing up against it, yet this fact is never mentioned by Barnabas.  Hello, conversation about the past and portraits and Jeremiah, and you are practically breathing on a painting of him but let's pretend you're not.  Augh!

The Petofi box is already gone from the mantel!  And in its place, a forgettable smaller box.

Congratulations     and welcome!

It's great to see you posting, michaelhacketttodd!

A reading of the will before the funeral ceremony?  How gauche.  The "reading" is just for the purpose of drama anyway, cuz legally it means squat.  Not that it won't provide great drama.  And make Quentin sweat by moving up the deadline for him to change it.

why didn't we ever see the extravagant wife?  I decided today that she was on an extended tour of Europe, with special attention paid to Paris.

I like it.  Or perhaps she was off searching for the perfect shoes to go with a new outfit; it can take time, I know.  Or, he sacrificed her in a Black Mass?  He lost her in a game of whist?

I assume the writers threw that in to establish that although he was an attorney with at least one rich client, Evan was in desperate need of money, and then either forgot they did or hoped the viewers wouldn't remember.

Poor Jamison.  He's so lonely now that everyone is fussing about the mess left behind by Edith that he has to entertain himself with a mineral rock.  Barnabas didn't even care enough to ask about him.  (And why didn't he? Isn't he on an information-gathering mission?)  His father only talks to him when he's ordering him around.  The only person who pays attention to him... who seeks him out... who makes him feel safe (ha!)... who is at all fun is the black sheep of the family, and the boy is darn defensive about that.  It's no wonder he'll do anything Quentin asks him to do, even if it's yucky.

But we don't really know if silver was effective at all, particularly.  Not against vampires, anyway.

SPOILERS AHOY!

It's true that we didn't see silver bullets actually used on a vampire, but the intent to use them popped up at so many different times during the show's run--

In #460, Barnabas insisted that Joshua use silver bullets to end his suffering.

In #568, Barnabas had silver bullets made to stop Tom from coming after Julia.

In #608, Julia wanted to use the silver bullets to protect Joe from Angelique.

In #787, Edward carried a cross and silver bullets to use once Barnabas was found.

In #1070, the Sheriff in 1995 confronted Barnabas in his coffin with a cross and silver bullets.

In #1168, Trask handed a pistol with silver bullets to Gerard to use on Barnabas.

-- that perhaps we can assume the writers meant it to be an effective method, no?

And the script writers apparently felt the need to tell us that Barnabas' cane was not pure silver.  The only significance of this that comes to mind is that it allowed him to carry the thing around.