Julia and Dave?? What was their past. ?

[MsCriseyde]

If Julia and Dave was number 1  and 2 how did they end up in Maine, not saying that Maine is a bad place, but isn't it out of the way.

Just because someone is at the top of his/her class in whatever field, that certainly does not mean that s/he is required to work in the biggest, best, most famous, etc. place and is somehow a disappointment if s/he doesn't. People make life/career choices every day that often place them in what could be considered a lower tier position, and there are a variety of personal and professional reasons for that. Some people like the challenge of working in an environment where they feel they are in a position to improve things rather than a place where everything is shiny, new, and wonderful.  Thank goodness some of the "best and brightest" opt for these sorts of challenges. 

[Miss_Winthrop]

I like the comment about Dr Hoffman opting for a smaller, less prestigous shall we say, hospital where she probably was given more leeway to do the type of research that she wanted.  Dave did comment that she was brilliant in research. The type of research that she was doing probably didn't make big waves and was only of interest to a small group of researchers.  I really think that they were very good friends over the years and then she felt like she betrayed that friendship when Barnabas killed him.