Moments that made you go "WHAT?!!!!"

[IluvBarnabas]

What moments on the show made you want go "huh?!!" and shake your head in disbelief?

I know two that come to my mind:

[spoiler]When Barnabas tells Angelique she was his only true love (I can understand him being grateful for saving the day at the last moment, but come on! This was the woman who murdered his mother, sister and fiancee and caused him to kill his uncle in a duel! And if Angelique was his only love then what was the deal with him longing for Josette for all his time on the show?)

Trying to pass Amanda off as Quentin's "true love" was equally ridiculous. I could buy Quentin being attracted to her, but how could he forget Beth so callously? Beth was the one who loved him so much, she wanted to help him, she stood by him even when he didn't deserve it. Quentin barely knew Amanda for what 2 or 3 weeks and we're supposed to believe he's head over heals in love with her and has forgotten Beth completely? Please!!! [/spoiler]

[Barnabas'sBride]

Well, the first one you mentioned is without a doubt number one on my list of "what?!" moments. Your second choice is also a good one.

Another of mine:

[spoiler]Learning that Victoria is dead during the Leviathan storyline[/spoiler]

[Sandor]

The announcement that "The role of Victoria Winters will be played by Miss Betsy Durkin." That one threw me.

[stefan]

I never saw, nor will I ever, your first example re Angelique/Barnabas. I was horrified when I heard it happened and you gave all the reasons.

I really went "WHAT?!!!" when i was just getting into the 1897 Josette/Kitty reincarnation story when Barnabas gets lost in the woods and meets up with a bunch of robed, heavily madeup, strange people chanting and kneeling to him. I honestly cried "WHAT!" "ACK!" cause I was waiting for him to meet Kitty at the old house. I guess it was the Levinthian introduction but I'll never watch it due to heavy resentment that my story was so rudely interrupted and backburned. Grrr .....

[Jackie]

The end of the Leviathan storyline: [spoiler]the ghost of Peter Bradford comes back to "destroy" Jeb for killing Vicki in 1796.  Sheez, then Angelique spoils Peter's fun by making him leave for good.  She wanted the pleasure of destroying Jeb for what he did to HER marriage to Sky![/spoiler]When I saw that I wanted to put my foot through the TV set.  Didn't do it, wouldn't solve anything.  But it made my hair stand on end.

Your first "WHAT???" from the 1840 is so right on too!!  I still can't believe that one and never will.  People who believe this have tried to give "good" rational reasons this was true but no excuse ever convinced me.  It didn't and still doesn't make any sense whatsoever.[/size]

[Josette]

Well, it might not have been as much of a "WHAT?!!!!" as the ones mentioned, but the change in Jeb really got me.

[spoiler]There was the whole buildup with the "breathing" box, the series of evil children, each worse than his predecessor, until finally Jeb appears.  There's also all the hints of how horrible the "real form" is.  And, he's destined to have Carolyn.  Suddenly, because of his love for Carolyn, he renounces all that he and the whole group have been working for and he "turns good."[/spoiler]

[MagnusTrask]

Quentin acted that way toward Beth because he was Quentin.  He's not some hero.  He's something else.    Some women are attracted to the 'bad boy', and are then surprised to find him continuing to act that way.

With Barnabas and Angelique, I think they were trying to do something more complicated.    The writers didn't just wake up one morning and forget all their past history.    I can see where all the travelling in time and all the agonies that each caused for the other in some way, and all they had in common that no other two people would, would create a bizarre bond.    Barnabas himself is no simple hero.    How many terrible things did he do to people?    And if redemption is possible for her, maybe she's not all that different from him.

He didn't retroactively cancel out his feelings for Josette.   Josette can't be the love of his life if she can't be there for most of his life.    He's finally realized she just will not ever be there again.   He knew her for a couple years, out of 175.

I'm not saying he wouldn't have awakened the next day and changed his mind.  I don't know.

[Willie]

A few of them:

[spoiler]In 1897, when Rachel explained how she had been a teacher at Trask's school and how horrible it was, yet they still sent the kids there.  They must have wanted to get rid of them pretty badly.

During the Adam storyline, when Carolyn insisted on defending Adam even after he had just attacked her a few days earlier.  In fact, the whole affection she had for him never made any sense to me.  She kept talking about how he saved her life - well, he's the one who put your life in peril to start with![/spoiler]

[Barnabas'sBride]

But Quentin's character developed through the 1897 storyline - in fact, he had some of the best, most realistic character development on the show. The events of 1897 with the curse and Petofi had changed him a bit, and realistically so. Someone usually doesn't go through all of that and remain the same. Quentin didn't stay the 'rogue bad boy' that he was in the beginning of 1897. It's also the fact that they tried to turn Amanda into his "true love" that didn't make sense. They met and that was it. Beth and Quentin had development throughout the 1897 storyline. They had a rich history that the writers tossed aside for Amanda. It was poor storytelling.

The Barnabas and Angelique thing was character assassination for the sake of dramatic shock value at the end of the 1840 storyline, IMO. And the way that scene spit on not only Barnabas, but on other characters such as Josette, Naomi, Sarah, Victoria, his family....all the people that Angelique tried to/did destroy....they were probably rolling in their graves when they heard him with Angelique. It was suddenly as if those characters never mattered.

I also disagree that Josette can't be the love of his life because of her short stint in it. I've known plenty of people who consider their greatest love to be someone they weren't with that long, or hadn't been with in many years. But they hold that person closest to their heart. It isn't about the number of years.

Willie - I think it was the fact that Carolyn knew he didn't understand what he was doing. She noticed rather quickly that he was childlike, and that probably contributed to her feelings for him. I think she stayed sympathetic to him for too long, but I can understand where her feelings began.

[MagnusTrask]

Quentin evolved... but he didn't turn into a simple 'good guy' without flaws.    He was still evolving up through the time he left Collinwood, to the point where he showed much more consideration and fondness for Beth, and was torn up over his involvement in what happened to her.    But people seldom 'evolve' completely.

He was not necessarily in love with Beth.   His evolution just may have been leading him toward owning up to Beth that he didn't feel toward her all that she felt toward him, so as not to lead her on.   Either way, he didn't get a chance to move toward or away from Beth because of other events.

One thing that makes it hard to evolve 'completely', if there is such a thing, is that we can't be totally aware of the flaws in our own perceptions, because our perceptions are all we have.    If we're emotionally impulsive it's even harder.   Maybe some are hard-wired that way.     Quentin is coming to understand his own jerky tendencies more and more, but there are still aspects of his impulsive nature that he hasn't come to grips with late in the 1897 storyline.     Many people have believed in love at first sight, and that love conquers all.... and that if you feel something, that matters more than anything else.    Pretty naive and potentially hurtful to others and self-serving, but Q was still in his twenties.

[Raineypark]

[spoiler]The murder of Carl[/spoiler] was the most gratuitious, stupid, unneccesary plot twist in the entire run of the show, IMHO.

[IluvBarnabas]

[spoiler]Learning that Victoria is dead during the Leviathan storyline[/spoiler]

Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten that? That one definitely had me screaming "WHAT?!!!!!!" It really made my blood boil hearing that.

[Brandon Collins]

I'm racking my brain trying to come up with something that made me go "WHAAT!!!!?" but I can't seem to find anything. I know there's stuff in there but it just won't come out!!! Frustrating!!

I have to say that agree with all of the moments already listed, which is probably why it's becoming difficult to think of one.

OO!! I know of one:

[spoiler]I was absolutely surprised when Gregory Trask managed to convince Judith that she was insane (or whatever he did to her), in his attempt with Evan Hanley to take control of the Collins fortune. Judith seems so strong in the early part of 1897, but as soon as Trask entered she melted like butter on a hot muffin! What the heck is up with that? And to top it all off, why would Evan do something like that when he and Quentin are supposed to be "friends"? I can't remember if Quentin tried to stop him or not, maybe he was too involved with Petofi then, but c'mon people!![/spoiler]

I'm rewatching the 1897 story on DVD now so I'll probably have these questions answered soon.

[CastleBee]

He was not necessarily in love with Beth.

I've always felt this way about them too.  I think he cared for her as much as he was capable of it during that period but, I never had the feeling she was his all consuming one true love.  She was around and she was convenient.  I do think that she, on the other hand, seemed very much in love with him.  Of course, I didn't get the Amanda thing either - too much too soon - and just not enough chemistry for me.

[BuzzH]

He was not necessarily in love with Beth.

I've always felt this way about them too.  I think he cared for her as much as he was capable of it during that period but, I never had the feeling she was his all consuming one true love.  She was around and she was convenient.  I do think that she, on the other hand, seemed very much in love with him.  Of course, I didn't get the Amanda thing either - too much too soon - and just not enough chemistry for me.

ITA w/this as well.  I think the only one he REALLY loved, although it kinda came out of the blue too, was Daphne.  Too bad that [spoiler]they didn't hook them up in 1841 PT, but then we wouldn't have had the Bramwell/Catherine/Morgan/Daphne quadrangle we had would we?[/spoiler]