Idle Thoughts--Yours, Mine and Mine (Episodes 782-791)

Fashion notes first . . .

Woohoo! Mostoller picked an outfit that reflected Charity's descent into darkness. Charity begins in the fluffy pink peignoir so particularly unsuitable for long midnight strolls on unlighted stretches of beach. Still somewhat virginal attire appropriate for a young lady. But then as her health worsens and she comes close to dying of the vampire bites, Charity is garbed in a tighter-fitting lower cut yellow dress with a black shawl. It's not the most revealing thing I've ever seen, but it does the job.

Finally, a male actor who looks decent in a hat. Gregory's topper was appropriate and actually fit the actor's head. Bravo!

Onto the show . . .

Let's assume that Barnabas was actually buried in the Old House cellar (which I still don't think is correct). But we'll go with that. I can think of few receptacles less suited to transporting dirt than a purse, particularly a cloth and bead bag (with fringe no less!)

In the category of lame ass excuses: I got up in the middle of the night and went for a walk on the beach in my peignoir--sure, Charity. Edward's a pompous ass, but he's not that dumb. I mean, I am right on this, no? I go out to the beach in broad daylight wearing sneakers and I still come home with shoes full of sand.

Charity spent a lot of time going on and on about humiliation. So like are we talking sex? or are we talking she feels like a slut, but without actual cause? I notice she's pretty speedy with the dropping to her knees, praying for redemption. Methinks Sweet Charity has learned this is a pretty good tactic when dealing with Daddy.

I got bored with all this God crap so I started noticing set details again. Can I just say that I loved the tiles around the fireplace in Charity's room? Those were really quite cool (for those of you who are less distracted, they were grey and white figured tiles--almost like a toile pattern).

I must have missed a bunch of episodes again, because excuse me? since when did the kiddies care about Miss Priss or her general health and welfare? Last time I checked Jamison was looking at her like she was a walking two-dollar Bible-toting bill and Nora has never displayed anything remotely approaching affection toward Charity.

Maybe it's just me. I'm sure it is. But bear with me. He's got his dirt, but he pushes it further. The jig, as they say, is up. His cover is blown. The wolves (both literally and figuratively) are at the door. Barnabas is being hunted and pursued. He's got the one cousin with the lycanthropy/curse problem, Angelique, who the hell knows what else and yet, he makes the absolutely friggin' brilliant decision in the middle of all of this to call Charity (whose cover is also blown, which he damn well knows), summon her to him even though she's clearly close to dying.

Anyone here want to come up with a possible explanation as to why anyone could see this as a good idea?

In addition to muddled thought processes, we also have the fluctuating powers of Barnabas. All he could (or would) do to Carl was kill him (after terrorizing him), but he can hypnotize Nora 1-2-3.

Presumably these kids are pretty starved for affection when they can get all emotional about the repressed fanatical schoolteacher.

The other day the Hand was "gypsy nonsense." Now Barnabas is afraid of it. This kind of crap annoys me. I mean, we're not even talking about a period of months here so blaming lack of continuity on there being no staff person to check facts won't fly.

Now we're saving Charity by making a woman in a weakened condition go traipsing through the woods in the middle of the damp night. Not sure why? To accomplish what exactly? Again, hello? Charity wouldn't be in this condition in the first place if he'd kept his teeth out of her jugular.

I do believe inspiration for the Hand of Count Petofi comes from a cheesy B-movie with Robert Alda and Peter Lorre called The Beast with Five Fingers. Not a very good film and not much resemblance to anything DS did with the plot (which was less than memorable).

Evan was pretty calm considering that there was a severed hand floating around. I mean, I don't know about you, but I tend to freak if there's a mice or spider in the house, let alone a severed body part that moves of its own volition. Speaking of hands, I've got to give one to Evan (pause while you all groan), but even though he's not very competent, he does keep trying.

It's pretty amazing how generally acceptable and knowledgable everyone seems to be about vampires in 1897. In 1967, nobody could even accept the concept, let alone figure out how to kill a vampire. In 1897, everyone's an expert.

Greg moves in fast, man. He's really pretty slick. Notice how he starts out his proposal: tells Judith he's got to leave his life's work, blames her for it, in fact. Then he moves in for the kill, liberally sprinkled with biblical verses.

Post-nuptials the soundtrack swung into the music from the 1966 episodes they used to play for people like Burke and Vicki. Seemed a bit incongruous.

Heh, I have to say post-Hand Evan got what he deserved. Although the make-up people did go just a tad overboard (did his eyeball need to be halfway down his face?)

Nice little scene with Judith, Edward and Quentin. I admit I get a kick out of these familial quarrels.

Egad, "Mrs. Trask," well, that was a charming little sketch, lol, rendered with what? Crayolas?

Ah, Greg quickly dumps the school and I see Charity has no qualms about setting her cap for Quentin, although considering he's got no cash and no prospects, I'm amazed Greg's pushing her toward him.

And the gaslighting begins! Money, money, money . . . I must admit that Clarice Blackburn just sitting there is kind of creepy and the plot is sound psychologically. Trask plays Judith like a fiddle. He's expert at manipulating all her weaknesses, i.e. her guilt, her evangelical beliefes, her buying into the notion that a good woman should be dutiful and submissive to her husband, her feelings of inadequacy as a woman, etc.