Discuss - Ep #0372

Robservations - #372

I almost wish that Vickie was  smarter not to open her mouth.  But also that she might  have known more about what went on with Barnabas Collins and Angelique.  She might have been able to put together the  soldier and the hankerchief.  Again it was pushing it that Angelique left our the soldier and the hankerchief.

I liked the way that  Vickie stood up for Ben, but she should have known that it didn't do any good with Joshua.   Vickie was good to apologize with the error but then Ben said that Joshua would have found something to be upset about.  Barnabas did come from a disfunctional family. Jerrimiah probobly helped him grow up, and covered for him so that he wouldn't get on Joshua bad side as much.

Bens reaction to Angeliques call was  very prodictable and the fact that he would dring the drink without knowing what it was. What a pretty face can do.   Good show.

Oh gosh, would somebody please send Alexandra Moltke off on vacation?  By now Vicky should be expecting to see familiar faces in every nook and cranny.  I daresay she's seen lookalikes around and about for Willie Loomis, Jason McGuire, Bill Malloy, Susie from the coffeeshop, and Aunt Katherine from Boston, and yet she still feels obliged to throw a fit when she sees Matthew Morgan's doppelganger.  When she was talking to Angelique, I was wondering: does it bother Vicky that Angelique has no counterpart in the future?  Then I remembered Riggs, and decided that it was halfway understandable that Vicky's thumbs didn't prick when she saw a completely unknown face.  It was slightly weird for me, though, hearing Lara Parker doing the voiceover - it was no longer as though a friend from 1967 was taking us by the hand and guiding us into 1795.  Perhaps that's a little bit of how Vicky-enthusiasts felt when Nancy Barrett did that first non-Alexandra-Moltke voiceover.

Looking at how Angelique worked her wiles with Ben Stokes even before she had any idea of enslaving him, I have absolutely no doubt that she made the first move with Barnabas.  How did she manage to call Ben to her out of the blue later on, by the way?  It doesn't seem like the sort of the sort of thing she'd be able to do at that point.  Even in a later storyline, when she was more powerful (I think), when she wanted to call somebody to become her slave, she used his cigarette lighter to make the connection.

Does deadly nightshade grow in trees?  I always imagine it to be a ground plant, and yet there Angelique was, reaching up to pick it.

Having never seen the pre-Barnabas episodes, I was confused by Vicki's screaming about Ben's resemblance to a man named Matthew Morgan, but then realized he must have been someone from those episodes.

Joshua sure loves being king of the castle doesn't he?

Spoiler:

I'm glad we finally get to see Ben, a servant Barnabas actually holds in high regard and affection. If everyone would have been as observant as Ben, maybe Angelique would have been caught performing witchcraft. She lured him in with flattery, giving him false hopes of a relationship, when her only intentions were to use him. 

I wonder who she was intending to poison with the nightshade. We never saw her use it to my knowledge, unless she used a smaller amount in a potion that wouldn't be deadly.

Looking at how Angelique worked her wiles with Ben Stokes even before she had any idea of enslaving him, I have absolutely no doubt that she made the first move with Barnabas.

An idea I'd never thought of just occurred to me. Is it possible Angelique, upon barnabas's arrival in Martinique, saw him and wanting to improve her status in society, and perhaps a little smitten with him, decided that the only way to get him was to bewitch him with a spell or potion? Might she have already enslaved him in Martinique before we ever saw her doing anything at Collinwood? I realize barnabas turned to Josette after a time, claiming he loved her, but Angelique, as we have already witnessed isn't a very skilled witch. maybe the effects of the spell gradually wore off without her knowing , and by the time she realized what had happened, Barnabas had already returned home before she could renew it. Just a thought...

An idea I'd never thought of just occurred to me. Is it possible Angelique, upon barnabas's arrival in Martinique, saw him and wanting to improve her status in society, and perhaps a little smitten with him, decided that the only way to get him was to bewitch him with a spell or potion? Might she have already enslaved him in Martinique before we ever saw her doing anything at Collinwood? I realize barnabas turned to Josette after a time, claiming he loved her, but Angelique, as we have already witnessed isn't a very skilled witch. maybe the effects of the spell gradually wore off without her knowing , and by the time she realized what had happened, Barnabas had already returned home before she could renew it. Just a thought...

That's an interesting theory, Sunny. It may have happened that way.

I also had a thought:  Why didn't Angelique bewitch Barnabas to love her (possibly again) instead of making Josette and Jeremiah lovers? That would have made it a lot simpler, and... WARNING - SPOILER AHEAD! ...she wouldn't have have had to cause Barnabas to die and turn into a vampire! END OF  SPOILER But that would have been way too easy, and there wouldn't be this wonderful show! I guess maybe Angelique wanted Barnabas to come to her of his own free will?

Yes, they are really dumbing down Vicki now!  I hate it! She should have been able to figure out that Angelique was a witch.

----- Sally -----

Frankly, I really despise the conceit of having most of the characters resemble someone from the present.  It's very distracting and actually insults the intelligence of the audience.  I mean, we understand that this is an ensemble cast and that the actors are playing different characters in a different time period.  Luckily, the writers did drop this concept in all future trips to the past (though not, of course, when dealing with parallel time stories, but at least in those instances there was a plausible reason for people to look like other people).

though not, of course, when dealing with parallel time stories

Imagine Vicky in parallel time:  "Good heavens, Roger!  You look just like...Roger!"