rough trade

Thanx for the update.

I got a kick out of Bennett's & Barrett's scene when Tony was on the phone, and their conversation about Cassandra thereafter.

This entire episode seemed off-kilter to me. It never quite hit the mark. There was a lot of good stuff though. Julia's postion was very odd and interesting though quite logical in a way. It' like: We tried, we failed, let's hope he gets hit by a truck.

I got a chuckle from Barn acting like Julia was a nagging wife who's insisted on joining her husband duck hunting. I love it when the characters act "normal".

Barrett and Rodan get the acting prizes this episode, IMO.

Adam is a music snob, lol.

ate a barnadog

burned all his nag champa

Sam sits alone in his studio. Enter a gay pretty Maggie home in her ugly new coat and mod dress. Sam tells her he can’t see. Upset, Maggie starts to phone Dr. Slone but Sam stops her and asks that she get Barnabas. She tries to reason with him but he snaps at her. A hurt and confused Maggie grabs her ugly coat and leaves to fetch Barn. Sam gets up and stumbles into a stool and stops at an easel. Fade to black. It’s a long darkness and I wonder if it’s a symbolic gesture to Sam’s blindness – there was no music curtain to take us into the title. Ford plays his part well, I was very sad for Sam.

Barnabas enters the basement to find Willie making a fool of Adam with the help of the family jewels. Barn is not amused and does not believe Willie’s tale of Adam stumbling across them while playing with the wall. (Willie reminds me of Mickey Rooney here. And why the F is he wearing a tie?) Barn notices the earrings are missing and Willie tries to blame Adam. Barn’s not buying it and has Willie search for them in the cell. Rodan out-acts both Frid and Karlen without saying a word. Meanwhile, upstairs, Julia is reading when pretty Maggie comes calling for Barnabas in her ugly coat. She explains the situation to Julia and waits as Julia goes to get Barn.

B & J & M arrive at the Evans cottage. A bitter and angry Sam insists on speaking with Barn alone. Maggie leaves but Julia stays. Sam tells his story and Barn clues Julia in that Sam is speaking of Cassandra and the portrait of Ange. Julia examines Sam’s eyes but only tells him to consult a specialist. She tells Barn later that Sam will probably be permanently blind. Barn is devastated that he ruined yet another life. I liked that Sam made a snyde remark about Julia being "in on this" when Julia showed up at the cottage with Barn & Maggie. The scene with Jules and Barn is good - nicely acted and nicely written. Barn worries about what Ange might do should she find out about Adam's existence. Dear lord he should have an idea of just how bad that actually would be for him.

I agree with DarkLady that Adam's reasoning skills are developing much faster than his language skills. Willie brings Adam food and Willie tries to teach Adam to say he stole the earings but as per usual Willie goes overboard and Adam reacts badly. He escapes his bond and chases Willie down and starts strangling him. Jules and Barn walk in on this and Barn beats Adam with his cane to stop him. Willie retreats upstairs (yes, on all fours, lol, Darklady!) and Adam turns on Barnabas. Julia closes the episode with screams of despair. This is my all-time favorite Julia-ism - when she screams "NO!"

The sets could barely hold up to Karlen & Rodan's use of them in the chase scenes.