If Barnabas had met Roxanne shortly after Josette had died, would he have been as smitten as he is now? I was sort of shocked by him today, while thinking at the same time that Roxanne is looking like the real thing for him. After all, he's taken an interest in her in three different times. Meanwhile, it was pleasing to see how concerned 1970 Barnabas was about Julia. Not that it means anything. She's just not his type.
We're getting deeper into 1840: Julia's troubles didn't take up much of our time today when we were in 1840. Instead we focused on Roxanne. Julia may have thought that 1840 Roxanne was different from 1970 Roxanne, but I thought they were quite similar. Roxanne had just as much fun taunting Trask as she will have taunting Sebastian Shaw 130 years later. The only difference is that Trask deserved it. He thinks that being an undertaker is about being tasteful and reverent. No mention of sympathy for the recently bereaved.
It's tough to figure 1840 Trask as 1795 Trask's son, given that 1795 Trask said something or other about not knowing physical love, and that there was no artificial insemination back in the 1790s. I think I suggested somewhere that 1840 Trask was the son of 1795 Trask's identical twin brother, who died tragically in an accident, whereupon 1795 Trask, out of the goodness of his Almighty-fearing heart, adopted 1840 Trask. But my impression of 1840 Trask is that we would have heard about it if he were adopted. Another possibility is that 1795 Trask just lied, but that doesn't strike me as the sort of lie that 1795 Trask would tell. 1897 Trask would tell such a lie in a heartbeat, but not 1795 Trask.
Julia's gravestone was right next to Minerva Trask's - or rather, Mrs. Trask's was right next to Julia's, since Julia would have been buried first. As Barnabas and Stokes looked down at Julia's gravestone, I thought about digging up her coffin and opening it. Logic says Julia's remains should be there, but I can't help feeling that the coffin would be empty. Maybe that's why Barnabas and Stokes didn't dig up Julia: the writers simply couldn't decide what they would find.