Discuss - Ep #0299

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #299

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0299

[Lydia]

Burke's lines out on the terrace seemed as though they were written for Mitchell Ryan's Burke, and it seemed strange to hear them coming out of Anthony George's mouth.  And then he went inside and talked to Julia about Vicky behind Vicky's back.  Once upon a time, Burke respected Vicky.  What happened?

Things are getting interesting between Barnabas and Julia.  He's starting to get a handle on her: he knows that he has more leeway with her than she lets on, because she so desperately wants to work on him.  And what's this that Julia was saying, very firmly, about how Barnabas can never be more than friends with Vicky?  If Julia's going vanquish the vampire in Barnabas, why shouldn't he be able to get involved with somebody someday?

Vicky wasn't as appalled at Julia's suggestion that Barnabas was interested in her as she was at Julia's suggestion, a while back, that Barnabas was trying to turn her into Josette.  Vicky didn't believe it - but she didn't get angry.  So there's hope for Barnabas.  Surely at some point even Vicky has to notice that Burke's a jerk.

[DarkLady]

Once again, Barnabas sounds Vicki out about living by night. He tempts her to come to the Old House to admire some new family histories he's found. They're very old and very rare, he tells her--like their owner, perhaps. But Vicki has a date with Burke.

Julia arrives and joins the other two in admiring the evening. Just before Vicki leaves to get ready for her date, she tells Barnabas, I'd still like to come to the Old House soon. Barnabas watches Vicki go inside the house. Neither of them sees Julia’s stunned and pained expression as she comes to a sudden realization. [Go, Grayson!]

Julia warns Barnabas to stay away from Vicki. Barnabas can't understand what Vicki sees in someone as "crude as Devlin." [Go, Barn!]

Next, Julia warns Vicki to stay away from Barnabas. Somehow during this conversation, they progress from "Miss Winters" and "Miss Hoffman" to "Vicki" and "Julia."

Vicki gets what is probably her first-ever kiss from Burke. Bleargh! She is blissfully unaware that Barnabas is watching them. Then Julia catches them smooching again in the foyer.

At 3:00 a.m., Collinwood is dark and silent. Barnabas sneaks into Vicki's room by simply walking down the hall and opening the door. [His powers seem wildly inconsistent.] Vicki sleeps on undisturbed as he bends over her and reaches his hand out. He can almost touch her--but once again he can’t bring himself to bite her. He regards her longingly for a moment, then goes over to the nightstand and opens Josette’s music box. As the music plays, he stands by the bed, gazing down at her a moment longer. Then he slowly and regretfully leaves. He may be a monster, but he isn't a jerk.

[IluvBarnabas]

Maybe Julia believes Barnabas will lose his interest in Vicki once he become human, which I think is wishful thinking on her part. So far Julia hasn't show any interest in Barnabas other than as a patient, so I agree it's really not fair of her to dictate to him who he should or should not be interested in.

As 'crude' as Burke has become (and I agree he is at this point), Vicki and Burke have known each other a lot longer than she and Barnabas have been acquainted. But as you said Lydia, there was a time when Burke actually treated Vicki with respect, like an adult, not like a child. How he became more demanding is any one's guess.

I'm not surprised at this point Julia agreed to keep Vicki away from the Old House and Barnabas, maybe because she sees any emotional involvement he has with anyone hindering the success of her experiment on him.

[dom]

Wow, I was thinking the exact same thing, Lydia. I kept thinking that they are still writing for Mitch Ryan. I guess maybe that is the heart of the problem with Anthony George as Burke -- the writing wasn't changed to suit a quieter gentler Burke. I don't know. I went so far as to imagine Mitch Ryan in AG's scenes and decided then and there that the only way (I think) I can get through AG's Burke is to imagine MR still in the role. But, I will admit that AG did have some believable moments as Burke, and that feels like a first for me.

I was prepared to talk about Sarah possibly being more concerned about Barnabas not doing evil and protecting him from an eventual life in (religious) hell than her protecting Maggie (discussed in a prior episode thread). But if that were the case, she should have shown up in Vicki's room and she did not. I imagine one is supposed to think that Sarah is protecting Maggie because she is the reincarnation of Josette. And that Josette must have been very good to Sarah for her to come back from the grave to protect her. But, wasn't Sarah around before Maggie's kidnapping? I don't remember off the top of my head, though I would swear that she was playing with David before Maggie's kidnapping, in which case, why did she show up at all? Was it because Barn was released? I guess I'll start going backwards in the project to familiarize myself with the sequence of events.

The comic relief in this episode for me was all the sleeveless dresses we see in Vicki's room- On the bed, in the closet, it would have been hysterical if she had them hanging from the light fixtures and the canopy. I would have picked the blue one also but I was fascinated with the groovy multi-colored number. And unfortunately, I wanted to chuckle a little during the kissing scenes between Vicki and Burke. They looked awkward and void of believable passion and tenderness.

I can understand Julia's thinking she has the upper hand with Barnabas, even though she should be smart enough to know that he could kill her and Maggie and be done with the whole thing. I guess Barn has some interest in keeping her alive and therefore putting up with her pushing her luck but I find it totally odd that he always backs down without so much as a threat, even a silent one.

I am on the fence about Burke being so controlling of Vicki behind her back. I am wondering if it were Mitch Ryan's Burke doing it if I would accept it more and even see it as protecting as opposed to controlling. I thought AG was awful in this scene and I am glad some of the shot was taken with his back to the camera.

Julia keeps repeating the line, "Not at the expense of someone's life", so I think this is the head space she is coming from with wanting to keep Vicki away from Barnabas. I do think her going to Vicki herself is a  bit much to swallow but it was done as well as possible, the exception to reality being- why should she care about Barn's feelings? At least that's what I'd be thinking if I were Vicki. I have to admit that it's a bit much to believe that Vicki has no idea that Barn is at the very least more than just very cordial towards her.

I think that Burke and Vicki are a perfect couple. So I'd never root for Vicki and Barn. To me that is ludicrous (no offense to the Barn/Vicki camp) regardless of them both being romantics. I think Vicki can smooth out Burke's rough edges in the long run, and I believe he really loves her and that he would change so far as she's concerned. I think he would learn to channel his controlling energy into his business personality and leave it at work. This harkens back to my thinking of Mitch Ryan in the role (and really wanting it to be that way).

I am just jumping into the middle of things and I know that I may not ask questions or make statements that I might have and will if I had been watching all along. I am looking for answers (and looking forward to them) as much as I am expressing my thoughts.

[Lydia]

dom, David didn't see Sarah until several weeks after Barnabas was unchained.  David met her just after playing in a swing near the Old House, and perhaps it's easy for people to become confused about the timing because that was not the first time we saw the swing footage.

Julia remarked at some point, possibly in episode 290, that Sarah seemed to have been the only person whom “the first” Barnabas Collins ever loved.  I'm not persuaded of the truth of that statement, but I think the writers probably meant it to be true at the time.  Maybe when Maggie was imprisoned in the basement of the Old House, she was desperately trying to find in Barnabas some small glimmer of humanity that could cause him to have mercy on her, and maybe by doing that, Maggie unknowingly made a connection to Sarah, who was thereby compelled to protect Maggie.

[dom]

Thanks for updating me. I like your theory re: Maggie/Sarah.

[DarkLady]

Hey, dom!  If I remember correctly, the first time any of us saw Sarah was when Maggie was in her lonely basement cell after refusing to become Josette. We--and Maggie--hear the incongruous sound of a little girl singing "London Bridge," and when Maggie looks out the little grille in the door, she--and we--see Sarah for the first time. This was before Sarah met David, I'm positive.

Hope this helps!

[DarkLady]

Almost forgot--Welcome, terrace and working fountain!  I guess they felt they had to go all out for the important proposal scene.

[dom]

Thanx, DL. I appreciate the info. It seems pretty obvious at this point that Sarah's presence is because of Maggie.

My memory is extremely faulty. Now I won't have to waste what brain cells I have left on that issue.

[dom]

BTW, it must have been a hot day in Collinsport because the during the terrace scene I couldn't help but notice that indoors, the curtains were moving, and the windows weren't open. Perhaps a fan or central air inside? It was distracting. I also can't help but wonder what room is adjacent to the terrace?

Just some post random thoughts.

[Lydia]

I was thinking about the view we see of Collinwood that we occasionally at the beginning of the episode, with wide lawns all around it, whereas scenes on the terrace often have an intruder appearing out of the woods close by.

[DarkLady]

Maybe the terrace is at the back of the house, near the path to Widows' Hill, which seems to run through some woods.

Has anyone ever made a map of the Collinwood Estate, I wonder. Let alone a floor plan of the house.

[alwaysdavid]

All I notice about Burke now is how overbearing he is. It seems that AG has focused on this one trait in his acting. Burke always seemed larger than life where you had to notice him and a force to be reckoned with. I realize that even though all the TelePrompTer reading used to annoy me, I'd take that. I can see that if people were not sympathetic to Barnabas, they soon would be over that crude Burke person.