Discuss - Ep #0222

Robservations - #222

Barnabas doesn't seem to be having much luck victimizing girls.  Two attempts, zero success.  He's not inexperienced in the matter, so what's the problem?  I'm going the psychological route, and saying it's his conscience, weak but not dead.  Months ago I suggested he was draining the cows because he was trying to be good and avoid killing, but I've changed my mind.  He just drained the cows because they gave him the volume he needed after all the time chained in the coffin.  The conscience is there, but at this point it's just barely flickering - enough to throw him off-balance when he's attacking, but not enough to keep him from trying.

It's good to see David Ford.  He's a big favorite of mine.  He always seems casual and unforced.

I'm always bothered by the idea of commissioning a portrait of oneself: it seems so self-centered.  It occurred to me today, though, that it was different in the 18th century.  There was no photography, so if you wanted an image of yourself, a portrait was the only way to go.  And although Barnabas was surely aware now of the existence of photographs, a portrait would still have seemed to him a natural thing to have done.  So I'm reconciled.

OH BROTHER - here we go... there is a vampire living in the house [or is he yet?] and the door is unlocked?   If the lock is broken why don't they fix it!?  You can tell Willie is trying to ignore the perpetual knocking.  Nervous as he is, it's worse when Vicki actually walks in!

Willie trying to convince Vicki to leave will make her more suspicious.  Of course she has more right to be at the Old House then he does, from her vantage point.  Liz ordered him gone and that is her house.  They just don't know he is working for Barnabas, yet.

Vicki talks like she hadn't been at the Old House for a while since there's been changes, fixed up and furnished.  How long has it been?  One day?  If so Willie works fast! But Vicki at least compliments Willie's work and that's very thoughtful of her. Willie throws Vicki out of the house as soon as he hears the sun is setting but not fast enough for Barnabas NOT to see him do it.

Barnabas should be grateful that Willie got Vicki out of the house before he arrived since Willie told her Barnabas wasn't home.  Would have seemed strange for Barnabas to walk in just as Willie said he wasn't around.  I'm sure Barnabas would have made up some excuse like "I walked in the back door."  She'd say "I didn't hear a car drive up." and he'd say something like "I walked from the main gate."  And then that conversation would be over.

Did Barnabas follow Maggie home, in the shadows, to scare her to death?  Now we hear about girls being attacked.  Is it Barnabas or the job he has Willie doing?  I can't imagine him sending Willie to attack the girls.  Sam's concern for Maggie's welfare is very touching.  She could have been the next one attacked by that stalker.  Because Barnabas was use to feeding on hookers who came to him, struck up a conversation and were in isolated areas [shipping docks or alleys], he isn't use to picking girl at random, in the night where others can come around.  That's why he hasn't been "lucky" in finding a food source, IMO.  But it is lucky for the girls!  Commissioning Sam Evans to paint Barnabas' portrait for $1000 is high for that time.   Sam must be desperate for work to agree to all these conditions that are contrary to an artist's needs for natural light.

Loved the scene there Sam checks his watch and hears the cock crow.  Barnabas says they are finished for the night but Sam sees something more he can add to the portrait.  After he adds it, he notices that Barnabas is gone... without a goodbye.  Poof.  I wonder if he goes back to the cemetery or if his coffin has been moved to the Old House.

Don't you just love Willie's newfound concern for the womenfolk in Collinsport? First Maggie, now it's Vicki he's afraid for.....even though Vicki can't understand why Willie is so anxious to give her the bum's rush, we the viewers certainly can.

I love the new, thoughtful, sensitive Willie.

1 Maggie running to the door was great, and then Barnabas coming to the door. (I guess it is Barnabas the stalker) I still don't know why Maggie let him in. (Maybe it was just because he was a Collins. But they don't have the best reputation.) I think a bit of good Barn showed up but not much.

2 There was a scene when Vickie was still smart. Also determined to find answers before she was made stupid.

3  Willie has really changed. I have never really looked at the earlier eps.

4  Barnabas disappearing and Willie showing up that must have been planned.

5  I guess they didn't have CSI then and people trying to solve problems not putting the pieces together.
 

There was no photography, so if you wanted an image of yourself, a portrait was the only way to go.

Here's a question for the ages. Can vampires even be photographed? I remember this coming up in fanfiction once, Barnabas trying to get around being photographed, and then trying to come up with a way to show up on film, but cannot for the life of me recall who wrote it.

Episode #222

Darn I hit a wrong key somewhere I was nearly done and my whole post disappeared!!! I really hate to have to start over!!

Willie is in the drawing room of the old house lighting the candles. He must have been working hard all day and now it's almost time for Barnabas to arise.

Where to begin when you have so much to do? In one fan fic I read Barnabas ordered him to start with the drawing room but Willie started with his own room since he had to have somewhere to sleep. He hauled a mattress in there so he'd have somewhere comfortable to sleep, after all with that much work to do one must sleep sometimes and sleeping on the floor wouldn't give him much rest. Of course when Barnabas found out he caned Willie for disobedience!

There's a knock on the door and Willie hides rather than just answering the door. Why didn't he go to the door and answer it? He hasn't done anything to be ashamed of. He hides behind a pillar and Vicki comes in. Why isn't the door locked? You'd think a man with a secret of such magnitude, who is willing to kill to protect that secret would keep his doors locked! He'd order Willie to be sure to keep them locked at all times.

Vicki comes in and notices Willie hiding and rags on him, why are you hiding? Why are you here? What are you doing? Sure it probably looked to her like he was sneaking around where he didn't belong looking for something to steal but even after finding out that he was working for Barnabas and now living there she was still rude and demanding. It wasn't her house. But after finding out he's working there and fixing up the house she changes her manner some and notices how much better the house looks and that he must have been working hard. She looks out the now clean windows from which the curtains are pulled back and says what a lovely sunset. This word freaks out Willie of course, it's a sign his master is fixing to arise any minute. So he tries to rush her out. She tells him she's there to invite Barnabas to dinner. He says he'll give Barnabas the message, and she asks how he met Barnabas. He says he changed a flat for him as he was coming to town and Barn hired him. This raised a question. Where is Barnabas' car? He must be driving it back and forth to Bangor every day, but no one has seen it. Willie has a car of his own.

Willie practically orders her out, sounding very rude, we know it's to protect her from Barnabas, that if she leaves now she can save herself the trouble of two puncture wounds on the throat. She leaves saying she'll never understand him. (She's already getting into her favorite line!)

Just as she leaves, Barnabas appears and tells Willie very sarcastically that he was very considerate in sending Vicki away, since he was clearly afraid for her! His voice held a very thinly veiled threat.

Maggie has run home and gets inside, out of breath and obviously very afraid. There's a knock on the door, it's Barnabas (who we know was the one following her!) She lets him in but is very clearly nervous and afraid. She tells him she felt someone was following her. He looks out the door and sees no one, naturally. She tells him about a girl being attacked the other night who had gotten away. With all the animals dying everyone is on edge. But he didn't come to talk about the local crime rate. He came to see her father's paintings. She begins to show them to him and he compliments them.

Sam enters and is happy to see Maggie at home. She introduces Barnabas. Sam says another girl was attacked, this one got away too. Looks like Barnabas may need to improve his technique, he did much better in 1795! Neither girl could identify him of course.

Maggie tells him she was followed and that makes him nervous, he tells her from now on she is to drive the station wagon to and from work. Since she works til after dark and there is no one at the restaurant with her when she closes up this isn't really good enough. I think Sam should drive her to work and come get her.

She tells Sam that Barnabas is here to see his paintings and Barnabas asks Sam to do a portrait of him. Rather than dicker over the price Barn offers $1000. Of course Sam accepts. It's the least Barnabas can do since [spoiler]it won't be long before he is making it impossible for Maggie to work and make any money so they will need the money Barn pays Sam[/spoiler]

Barnabas wants to begin tonight, he wants the portrait painted at the Old House and only at night. Sam questions this, thinks he needs the north lights to paint by but Barn manipulatively says, "An artist with your skill can paint in any condition," and of course Sam has to agree to it.

Later at the Old House, Sam sets up his equipment and Maggie fixes to leave. At first she is planning to come back later to get him but Barnabas says he'll see that Sam gets home safely. So Maggie leaves. Barnabas says for the first of umpteen times, "Your daughter is an attractive girl!" and Sam agrees of course. He says, "She's a nice kid." Like this. Are you listening, Barnabas, KID! Very young! Which we know is just the way Barn likes 'em! Barn chooses his pose with his hands on his cane (that's a great pose) and Sam begins. He needs more light so moves a candelabra over close.

Maggie knocks on the door of Collinwood and Vicki answers. Maggie tells her that her father is painting Barn's portrait and Vicki shows her the portrait of the "original" Barnabas. They agree that he is friendly and polite, though Maggie points out that the eyes in the portrait are penetrating.

Later at the Old House, Sam is groggy, having painted all night. As the cock crows Barnabas says it's time to finish, but just then Sam notices a line in Barn's face he wants to paint in. He runs to do that and when he turns around Barnabas has disappeared. Sam calls for him wondering where he disappeared to so fast but Willie appears and tells him he's taking him home. Again he has to explain that he's working for Barnabas. When Sam says he has to ask about the next sitting Willie says after sundown. They leave the house.

I think (in answer to Lydia's question) that since the vampire can't show up in a mirror he probably can't be photographed. That's just a guess but it makes sense.

Alondra[/b]

Darn I hit a wrong key somewhere I was nearly done and my whole post disappeared!!! I really hate to have to start over!!

Frequently posts can be recovered by hitting your browser's "back" button. Possibly try that next time. 

Quick Review

So Vicki just barges into the house. If Willie hadn't been startled her I wonder how much exploring she would have done to see the restoration work. I know Barnabas didn't want to draw suspicion to himself by telling people to stay away from the house, but really.... to tell people they could come over anytime they wanted is just asking for trouble.

I love the intereaction between JK & JF in these episodes. They're both in top form.

Barnabas comissions Sam to paint a portrait of him for $1,000. I converted that into today's value, it hits just under $7,000. Wow! What a comission fee! That's half the price of a new car at the time! (I think Tate was paid the same in 1897, that's $118,000!)

Frequently posts can be recovered by hitting your browser's "back" button. Possibly try that next time. 

Of course that was the first thing I did. One thing I'm grateful for on this board is that usually when you do that your post is still intact and is not erased like Yahoo does! But this time it had gone poof!

Alondra

So Vicki just barges into the house. If Willie hadn't been startled her I wonder how much exploring she would have done to see the restoration work. I know Barnabas didn't want to draw suspicion to himself by telling people to stay away from the house, but really.... to tell people they could come over anytime they wanted is just asking for trouble.

There's alot of "just barging in" on this show.

Of course that was the first thing I did. One thing I'm grateful for on this board is that usually when you do that your post is still intact and is not erased like Yahoo does! But this time it had gone poof!

My Idea was do it as a word or text doc and then do a copy past. That might work also. 

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It's good to see Sam Evans again! Watching DS again starting with Barnabas' arrival reminds me of when I was a kid and ORIGINALLY started watching DS.  I finally watched the pre-Barnabas episodes for the first time in 2004 & 2005 (I bought the videos), so now I know what happened on DS BEFORE Barnabas arrived.  Sam was a much bigger part of DS in the pre-Barnabas episodes.  When I first saw DS, this episode would have been the first time I saw Sam, and I would have been clueless about what had happened to him before.  It's too bad that Sam's role got to be progressively smaller when Barnabas came along.  

Gee, Maggie was pretty dumb!  It didn't dawn on her at all that maybe Barnabas was the one who was following her?!  

This is the first time Barnabas disappeared suddenly.  I think at this point, his coffin would have been in the Old House, so that's where he went.  I agree that Barnabas and Willie must have planned this ahead of time, since there was no time for Barnabas to talk to Willie before dawn.

I like the change in Willie.  However, I DO remember when I FINALLY saw the pre-Barnabas episodes, the change in Willie was much more noticeable.  There were hardly any opportunities to see the "old Willie" by the time Episode #210 came around - only in THAT episode.

I don't think vampires can be photographed.  Barnabas naturally would want a new portrait painted of him so he could see himself and know what he looked like. 

I know from watching "Angel" that vampires must ask permission before entering a house for the first time.  I remember he had to ask to enter Collinwood and Maggie's house when he first arrived.  I guess the diner doesn't apply, though - he was able to appear there without asking permission. 

----- Sally -----

I don't think vampires can be photographed.  Barnabas naturally would want a new portrait painted of him so he could see himself and know what he looked like.

It didn't occur to me until you put it that way....the portrait would be a way of telling the world that Barnabas was a real, ordinary human being.  Another one of Barnabas's lies.

I know from watching "Angel" that vampires must ask permission before entering a house for the first time. 

That's the case in the book Dracula as well, but I don't think you can assume that what's true in one fictional world is also true in another.  Dark Shadows ignores a lot of the usual vampire stuff.