Discuss - Ep #0356

Robservations - #356

I really liked this show.  I loved how Carolyn was so Covertly Hostile when Elizabeth was there and  then just Hostile with Julia.

I liked how each Vampire victim acts differently.  Maggie, Willie, and Carolyn.  I think that maybe Carolyn hostility might have saved Julia from trusting her. If Carolyn would have been different, friendly on the outside and bad on the inside could this have been Julia's downfall. ?  Julia trusting her and maybe telling her things that she shouldn't.

I was thinking that they were making Barnabas bad so that when we see him in his Pre Vampire days. We will like Barnabas more.

PS. I liked Barnabas' hair when there was not the big spikes. I like it when the hair falls naturaly, just drops of hair . There was a picture like that just recently on the front page.  The one in the parlor at the old house with Magda.

I think they honestly had no clue Baranabas was going to be so popular...and initially wrote him as a villain with no intention of doing a complete 180 with him (I think this is confirmed in DVD's where Curtis said that the storyline was initially going to be short involving Barnabas.

Carolyn is only making Liz suspicious and worried about her when she behaved so rudely towards Julia.

It was great how Julia confronted Barnabas, even going so far as to say they need not be enemies. Too bad he didn't see things her way.

When Barnabas tells Julia he wants Vicki and that's all he cares about, he sounds quite childish.

I like how Liz forced Carolyn to apologize to Julia, even if the apology was insincere.

This episode ends on a really great cliffhanger!

Dan Curtis didn't have anything to do with the casting of Barnabas or how the character was written in those initiial scripts.  He was off in Europe and left the casting of the character to Bob Costello and the writers ran with it, trying to figure out how to make the character more interesting for the 13 projected weeks he was to be on.   They even had a conference with Frid prior to his first appearance to ask him for ideas on the character.

nancy

I think they honestly had no clue Baranabas was going to be so popular...and initially wrote him as a villain with no intention of doing a complete 180 with him (I think this is confirmed in DVD's where Curtis said that the storyline was initially going to be short involving Barnabas.

I watched this episode immediately after watching episode 35, in which Carolyn whined to Vicky about how she was crazy just like the rest of her family. What a difference now! Carolyn no longer worries about being crazy. She has a purpose in life!

I remember watching this episode before, and when Carolyn said to her mother, "Miss Hoffman acts is though it's her house, not ours," I shouted at the TV, "It's not your house!" When Elizabeth said, "It's my house," it was tremendously satisfying.

Later, when Carolyn apologized to Julia in front of Elizabeth, it was a pleasure to see how Carolyn's and Julia's expressions changed after Elizabeth left the room.

I love the ending to this episode. So simple: why is the clock not striking?  Sunny_Collins, as a very small response to your request for descriptions...I hope you're familiar with how the grandfather clock looks: very ornate, with lots of carving.  I've always loved it.

Sunny_Collins, as a very small response to your request for descriptions...I hope you're familiar with how the grandfather clock looks: very ornate, with lots of carving.  I've always loved it.

Thanks so much for the description, Lydia! I really appreciate it. 

I thought it was great that Elizabeth made Carolyn apologize to Julia! It's refreshing to know that even though Barnabas had a lot of influence on her, her mother still had some, too.

It was wonderful to see how Julia and Carolyn acted cordial to each other when Elizabeth was in the room,  and then the opposite when they were alone with each other.

Oh, oh! The clock isn't striking! That was a thrilling ending to the show!

----- Sally -----

What a lot of episodes you've commented on in the past couple of days, ER!  I've had fun revisiting them.

What a lot of episodes you've commented on in the past couple of days, ER!  I've had fun revisiting them.

Well, Lydia, I have a lot of catching up to do!        I'm glad you are enjoying my posts.   

----- Sally -----

I thought it was great that Elizabeth made Carolyn apologize to Julia! It's refreshing to know that even though Barnabas had a lot of influence on her, her mother still had some, too.

Actually, Carolyn was backed into a corner, I'm sure, and had to apologize just to get rid of Mother fast, and not break her "character" as Normal Carolyn.    It was interesting (back when I saw this last) watching the apology when both she and Julia knew she didn't mean it, knew why she was doing it, and neither could let on.  It was like a very compact little play put on for Liz.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the first - and, perhaps, only - time in which a character actually gets wet in one of Collinwood's numerous, but notoriously dry thunderstorms?

When Julia arrives at the Old House (with umbrella, also a rarity on the show), her back is noticeably wet.  I wonder what possessed them to indulge in this unusual piece of verisimilitude.

BTW, Carolyn looked great in her buttoned-up coat pacing around the drawing room (Carolyn, of course, not the coat).

is this the first - and, perhaps, only - time in which a character actually gets wet in one of Collinwood's numerous, but notoriously dry thunderstorms?

When Julia arrives at the Old House (with umbrella, also a rarity on the show), her back is noticeably wet.  I wonder what possessed them to indulge in this unusual piece of verisimilitude.

Even weirder, a year later we see Chris Jennings with rain falling on his head, his hair still sopping wet for the rest of the episode.

I just pictured them arranging something to make sure actors are wet when the front door is opened, and there's supposed to be rain... a bucket above the door on the outside filled with water, like in practical jokes, which drenches the actor just as he/she reaches the door.  The nice part is that even though the front door isn't open yet and we can't see the drenching as it happens, we can hear the swiveling of the bucket and the impact of the water.... so we'd hear that and know that a furious and very wet actor is about to ring the doorbell!

even better spoiler...

they really go for broke in an episode shortly after the storyline returns to the present after 1795.

there is,of course,a storm raging outside.when carolyn gazes outside the drawing room window it's being pounded by sheets of rain.i'm not sure if this is the only episode that used this effect.
later on julia and vicki go the the mausoleum and arrive in wool coats and bone dry...yet jeff clark,whom they encounter there,has on a raincoat that looks like it's coated with fake drops of water and his face is covered with similar fake droplets.

they employed this device to simulate "tears" on vicki a few times when she just had these hard glycerin drops stuck to her face.