Discuss - Ep #0212

Robservations - #212

Review:
Barnabas and Liz meet for the first time. Man, men look so good in suits. It makes me sad it's not a daily fashion like it was back in the day. Especially 3 piece suits. Nice. (Sorry if this is jumbled, I keep getting distracted by All that Jazz! on TV) ANYWAY.... Barnabas and Liz discuss family history, with a few mistakes. Liz seems absolutely charmed by Barnabas, and knowing the company she's been keeping lately she must be damn glad for his manners.

Vicki and David discuss Willie. Liz introduces Barnabas and Vicki. Barnabas is one smooth operator. The kiss of the hand, the bow. Vicki is  won over in an instant. I wonder if I'd have the same reaction if that happened to me. Guess it would depend on the man who did it. Barnabas leaves and the conversation switches over to Jason and Willie. Liz laments the fact she ever let him in the house. I think she slips up often about her true feelings about Jason. I think she really wants people to pressure her about the reason Jason's still in the house so she can finally spill her guts about it.

Switch over to the Old House where David is playing some realistic kid games. Do you remember playing games like that when you were a kid? Anything you did to keep yourself occupied was potential fun. Barnabas appears, hat in hand. THE PORTRAIT! Of course it's always been there! David thinks he's a ghost and Barnabas wants to know if he's really seen ghosts in the house. Of course he has!

David points out the portrait of Josette, which has actually been established way before now. I wonder how it got back down into the foyer as in 1897 it was in Josette's room, without being moved from the foyer. Maybe Magda and Sandor put it up there. Who knows? David flubs a line and Barnabas gets all wistful at the mention of the sunrise. After 150 years of darkness though, anyone would. Here's a reference to Barnabas actually being awake during his tenure in the coffin.

David leaves and Barnabas wanders through the house. He doesn't seem at all dismayed about the condition of the house, but absolutely gleeful to actually be in it.

David returns to Collinwood and pads out the episode a little bit more. Barnabas back at the Old House challenges Josette's portrait. Where was she when he needed protection? Actually she was in Portsmouth, and then took a long walk off a short cliff. Dad's not around to crowd things anymore and he's free to live his "life". Considering this speech it's kind of funny that he then attempts to recreate his old life with "Josette" with nearly disastrous consequences for everyone even remotely involved.

Favorite line of dialogue: Don't be surprised if I know Collinwood quite well.

On Jonathan Frid's website, he says that he lost his place right at the beginning of Barnabas's conversation with Elizabeth in his first episode, and Joan Bennett filled the gap.  When I read that, at least a year ago, I watched the scene again but could not see where the problem might have occurred.  Same thing today.  Frid stumbles over a word when he says the Collins bloodline is strong (or something) but that can't have been what he was talking about.  Either Frid's memory is fuzzy on this (which seems unlikely; it's the sort of thing that would be engraved on one's memory - first day on the show, and WHOOPS!) or else Bennett was far, far smoother than I ever knew she could be.

Meanwhile, there's Elizabeth, in the house she's lived in all her life, which has been like prison to her for the past 18 years - and in walks Barnabas, and tells her he's been hearing about it all his life - as if it just seeing it were some sort of over-the-rainbow dream come true.  Must have been sort of weird for Elizabeth.

That "I was a Collins" speech never fails to get to me.  Barnabas's voice is so different from when he's talking to his cousins - all pretence dropped.  Interesting, though - he says "They made me into something my own father loathed."  That gives you the reluctant vampire, who didn't choose to be one but was "made" into one - and then later on we've got Barnabas telling Julia that it was indeed his choice, and then still later it wasn't "they" who made Barnabas a vampire but a very definite "she".  Talk about fuzzy memories...

Here we have Frid's debut as Barnabas and what an outstanding performance. He plays the charming visitor from merry old England so convincingly, one is apt to accept his story as reality. And so, Liz welcomes Barnabas into her home.

Liz is so gracious. I love that. She is the consummate hostess.

One horrible thing occurs as Barnabas sits down on the sofa. A loose spring - BOING! You have to really listen for it though, because Liz is talking when it happens.

Barnabas tells Liz that he "prefers more independent quarters". I guess a coffin is about as independent as one can get, eh?

He "indulges in fanciful attitudes from time to time". Yeah, like transforming local girls into long lost lovers.

"¢â‚¬¦but at sunrise, when the water - when the ocean - when the sun comes over the ocean, everything begins to change color--right in front of your very eyes." I love how the kid just keeps going - what a trouper!

Looking at the Old House in its current state, one can truly appreciate the work that Willie ends up doing here.

Barnabas tells Josette to tell Joshua's ghost - if he's there - that he has come home and intends to live the life previously denied to him. Cobwebs and all.

I never noticed this the first time watching it, but Liz really gave Barnabas the 3rd degree. She wanted to know everything about him. I guess that's normal for family meeting each other the first time back in the day? I would have let it come out naturally. Not in the rush all at once like Liz did. I do like this scene though. I love the emotion both Joan and Jonathan gave during the performance.

Did anyone else notice how there wasn't a ring on Barnabas' left hand? When watching these episodes, I always notice how the hand that came out from the coffin had a ring on it yet when we see Barnabas he doesn't wear his ring on that hand. Just a rewind moment like they do on N@N.

(Sorry if this is jumbled,

It's not at all!

One horrible thing occurs as Barnabas sits down on the sofa. A loose spring - BOING! You have to really listen for it though, because Liz is talking when it happens.

It could have been a background noise-- an unfortunately timed noise on the set, but it doesn't sound to me like a spring.

As I've mentioned before, a fan once wrote an article suggesting that Elizabeth, as the living Keeper of the Family Secret, was perfectly aware of Barnabas' identity as a vampire.  This fan claimed that Liz's hand was trembling when she took Barnabas' hand.  I've watched the episode several times and I can never see this.  The fan theorized that Liz decided to welcome Barnabas into the family because she figured HE might get rid of Jason.  It's an interesting notion, but quite a long shot.  If it were true, then Liz certainly did have nerves of steel--and fewer scruples than widely credited.

I'm guess that when this episode was written, an outline for the plot of the Barnabas storyline had not yet been prepared for the writers, which is why Barnabas speaks to Josette more as a guardian spirit of the family than as his long-lost love in this first episode.

I know that DC was in England at this time working on the Jack Palance Jekyll/Hyde... it would be interesting to know whether Bob Costello had the de facto head writer's chair at this point in time.  I read in an interview with Art Wallace, I believe, that he did a short outline for the introduction of Barnabas storyline--he said it was the last work he did on the show, although his contract had been written such that he kept his credit as creator of the series.

Best, G.

These Into to Barnabas scenes are some of JF's best acting on the show. Despite his memory of missing lines, I found his performances to be very arresting, fascinating and complex. Cool stuff from everyone including terrific Clarice B. as the befuddled maid. Very, Very successful introduction of a new character. Writing, acting and atmosphere are top notch. It's no wonder at all that Barnabas became such a fan favorite. Frid just draws you right in and you can't take your eyes off the guy.

Be sure to check out these (hopefully  ) humorous topics related to this episode:

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Love this episode!  Barnabas appears very friendly and "courtly" as Vicki said but deep down I get the sense that he'd like to bite each and every one of these SYT he meets.  He's so menacing as he walks up behind Elizabeth and stands behind Vicki but these women do not see this.  I loved the scene between David and Barnabas.  David is full of fun and exploration in just meeting his new cousin "from England" but a little disappointed his not the ghost of the original Barnabas Collin.  How interesting that would be as a fanfic story if it was the ghost of BC.

I love the shot of the portrait fading into the real man.  Loved the effects.  The very last shot of Barnabas standing in the drawing room of the OH with the portrait of Josette behind him tells one there is so much more to come!!  "The mystery man" wonders why she didn't protect him from his "fate" but she will in the future.

This watching the episode every day and commenting is gonna be fun. I watched it again for probably the umpteenth time and jotted down some notes of my impressions. Think I'll do this for each episode.

In the introduction Vicki says the man had come from a far country. No he came from a far century lol, but he had always been here.

I liked how neat and clean Barnabas' hair looked, it was neatly cut (by Willie??) and short. I liked it much better than how he later has it all greased up.

How much time passed between his release from the coffin and this initial meeting at Collinwood? A night and day? What all did Willie have to do to prepare Barnabas? He had to get him some modern clothes and teach him a few things about how the world is now. This is one of my favorite things to speculate on.

If this story took place today the Collinsport Collinses would have known already if there was an English branch of the family because they'd have looked it up on the internet. Barnabas' story would not have held water then.

Barnabas was so courtly it's easy to see why he so easily won over Elizabeth. Vicki was also very impressed by him.

Mrs. Johnson seemed to like Willie, as did David, as she was concerned about him. I wonder if she is thinking of Harry since Willie and Harry are a lot alike, but NOT in looks lol!

Barnabas said he wouldn't surrender a syllable of Victoria, but later he called her Vicki like everyone else.

Does anyone suppose that there was anyone watching in 1967 who did not immediately make the connection between the hand coming up out of the coffin to fasten around Willie's throat and this courtly cousin from England?

Elizabeth said, "Why did I ever let that man set foot in this house?" Does she mean Jason or Willie? I think she means Jason because if Jason hadn't come, neither would Willie.

At the Old House, boy is it run down! Willie sure had his work cut out for him. Broken windows, debris everywhere, I don't envy him his task. Barnabas' chair is there, and we're to assume it's 175 years old or so, so Willie must have rebuilt the legs of it.

As Barnabas and David talked about the sunrise, David was very astute. He said "You look like you're remembering something you lost." Barnabas must certainly have missed all aspects of life in the daytime, and sunrises would be part of that. To him the sunrise is like the opposite of an alarm clock, it sends him to bed rather than gets him up.

As Barnabas walked around the run down house, he seemed so happy to be home. He knows it won't look like that for long, Willie would be doing all the work. Poor Willie.

David was disappointed that Barnabas wasn't a ghost. He said Barnabas seemed to be haunting the rooms, not just walking in them. David is a very astute kid.

Final scene with Barnabas at Josette's portrait. Definitely the storyline changed later on because otherwise Barnabas would have been lamenting over Josette and the love they lost, not talking to her the way he did.

I lightened the maroon, Alondra.  I couldn't read the text without highlighting it.

I lightened the maroon, Alondra.  I couldn't read the text without highlighting it.

Sorry about that. I thought it would end up on the gray part (I'm using the blue feature) and I see that every other post is dark and the other is light. I won't change the color from now on, though I will make it bold so it's easier to read.

I have a question. How do you use the spoiler feature?

Alondra

Sorry about that. I thought it would end up on the gray part (I'm using the blue feature) and I see that every other post is dark and the other is light. I won't change the color from now on, though I will make it bold so it's easier to read.

It's not necessary to try to guess or avoid colored text because you can Modify anything in the message within 2 minutes of the post showing up, and within another 2 minutes following each edit.

How do you use the spoiler feature?

Code: [Select]

[spoiler]spoiler text and/or image(s)[/spoiler]

Click the link to read more because the whole topic is about spoilers.  Hope that helped. 

I have a question. How do you use the spoiler feature?

Since I've had problems with this, I thought I'd give it a try in explaining it.

Type the word 'spoiler' in brackets at the beginning of your message and end like this:

Code: [Select]

[spoiler]  Text[/spoiler]