Discuss - Ep #0361

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #361

[loril54]

This was a great show. Grayson did fantastic, the first time I saw it I was blown away.

I guess witih only  Grayson in this episode only one person to deal with, they could spend more time on the effects.  I read in some places that people think that  she over acts,  but I have done so dumb things like get upset with myself, when I am home alone.  There is no one around to watch you react.  It like did the tree really fall in the woods? If no one is there to watch it did it happen.

We all asume that it is Barnabas doing this. I kept wondering how he can be so cruel. I wanted to stick him in a coffin with a cross right at his face.

This is a great week of shows so much is going to happen

[Sunny_Collins]

you have a good point, Lori, when you're alone by yourself and hear a strange noise your imagination can run wild, although we know that none of this was in Julia's mind. Or perhaps it might be. I wonder if Dave's ghost is really appearing to her, or if it's some sort of fiction barnabas has planted in her subconscious? Whatever the case may be, it's all too real to poor Julia.

The thing I really noticed about this episode is that GH portrayed Julia's revulsion of the blood seeping from the wall very realistically.

[MagnusTrask]

I think it turned out when I watched recently that Julia was only being terrorized for two episodes or so... I'd thought it was weeks! 

I agree that we lose dignity in real life if we're traumatized enough.    It still seems like over-acting to me, or something.... I was mad at the makers of DS for wallowing in her terror for so long.    I must have felt as if I was intruding.   Let Julia have some dignity, why don't you.....

[Lydia]

I think it turned out when I watched recently that Julia was only being terrorized for two episodes or so... I'd thought it was weeks! 

When Maggie was at the Old House in Josette's dress, it seemed as though we saw her for weeks, wandering all over the house, but on this watching, I realized that it was really just a few times.  Some things just take up bigger parts of one's memory than others.  And Julia's total meltdown definitely carves out a large space for itself.

This episode always reminds me of the end of the Itsy-Bitsy Teeny Weeny YPD Bikini song - "From the locker to the blanket, from the blanket to the shore, from the shore to the water, now there isn't any more!"  And now we've got Julia going from the mausoleum to the drawing room to her bedroom, and then there isn't any more.

The body of the piano in the drawing room had been opened up, presumable so that it would be crystal clear to Julia that nobody was inside it.  But in the world of Collinwood, why was it opened up?  Was there an afternoon musicale at Collinwood while Julia was wandering around looking for Sarah?

I noticed that the notes that the piano played didn't exactly match the notes that we heard.  Unfortunate.  Never mind, I still like this episode better and better every time I see it.  I just wish I knew: did Grayson Hall set out the cards backwards when she played solitaire in real life?

[EmeraldRose]

This was the famous Julia- centric episode! I loved it! It was so frightening. I remember when I was 18, I was home alone at night for the first time, and I was terrified! I kept hearing noises and imagining all sorts of things. I wonder if this episode influenced my feelings on that night? I still can't stand for it to be quiet for very long. 

Grayson Hall did a fabulous job! I agree, her acting was a little over the top at times. But, as was mentioned before, in real life, when a person is alone, often he/she says and does dumb things because nobody is watching. I also wonder if it was Barnabas or it was really Dr. Woodard. I tend to think it was Barnabas, with his Black Magic.

By the way, I love that outfit she was wearing. 

----- Sally -----

[Roland]

I hate to be the one naysayer in the group, but I find this to be probably the single most insufferable episode in the history of "Dark Shadows."  It is like 20 minutes of nails being scraped across a chalkboard for me (or at least it would have had I not found myself fast-forwarding through certain parts of it)

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE Grayson Hall as Julia and I think she gave a truly great performance in "Night of the Iguana,"  which I saw again recently.  But the one thing I think Grayson couldn't do was play "frightened" and, unfortunately that is all she is called upon to do in this episode.  It simply magnifies her one weakness as an actress and I wind up feeling embarrassed for her while watching it.

I guess for some it's an acting tour-de-force.  For me, I'm just glad the episode is behind us and we can move on to bigger and better things from hereon out.

[Lydia]

Roland, it is not true that Grayson Hall could not play “frightened”.  Try watching the movie That Darn Cat.  I tried, and failed, but I did manage to fast-forward to all the Grayson Hall scenes.  Her character is a kidnap victim, and she is so scared that it seems like an invasion of privacy to look at her.  No dramatics – just fear.

As for this episode, my reaction was like yours on the first watching, but here's a story for you.  When I broke my foot this summer, I didn't know I had broken it.  I just used crutches for a day and a half before I got around to going to the doctor and asking, “What's wrong with my foot?”  At one point during this day and a half, I was getting dressed in my bedroom, which is on the second floor, and I had to go to the bathroom.  Badly.  Very badly.  The bathroom is on the first floor.  I ended up dropping my crutches and dashing downstairs on the broken foot.  Oh, my God, did it ever hurt.  And I still didn't make it to the bathroom in time.  I sat on the toilet crying.  Very undignified.  That's what I thought of when I was watching this episode in August.  So I didn't have a problem with Grayson Hall's performance this time around.

[MagnusTrask]

Thanks very much for telling us about that, Lydia.    I value it very much when someone shows vulnerability, whether it's you with that story, or Julia.   I think everybody here is right.    My impression was always that BC's terrorizing of Julia was improvised to stall for time, while 1795 was being readied.    Everyone's different and I don't know how realistic or unrealistic the acting was, really.     I've always thought the writers were wallowing in Julia's terror.    I did feel as if I was intruding, and it didn't seem to be going anywhere, especially knowing 1795 is about to start.    I felt as if they were forcing me to be a voyeur of her indignity.  

[michael c]

i agree that this week or so of shows was something of a "red herring" while the groundwork for 1795 was being laid out.

it doesn't really affect continuity one way or the other and most of the cast is not involved.

the entire cast(with the exception of alexandra)was about to be asked to portray totally different characters from what they had been playing for over a year(for the most part).that must have required some preparation in terms of readings and rehearsals and direction(not to mention hair and make-up tests and costume fittings)to ensure that everyone knew what these new characters were all about before they went on camera.

so it was mostly jonathan,grayson and nancy that carried this brief period before they were rejoined by the rest of the cast with the commencement of the 1795 storyline.