Discuss - Ep #0472

[Watching Project]

Robservations #471

[Lydia]

If I had a nickel for every time I admired Louis Edmonds's acting, I could quit my job and spend the rest of my life watching Dark Shadows 24x7.
 
The scene between Roger and Dr. Lang was really interesting.  Roger was so very distant, and Lang was uncharacteristically subdued.  And of course I wondered if the harpoons were real, because I'm just finishing up on reading Moby Dick.
 
This was a milestone episode.  EmeraldRose, are you standing by with the icon?  It's the first time we've seen Barnabas and Julia working together to help somebody else.  And I loved the look of impatience that Barnabas gave Julia when she didn't immediately grasp that Lang's life was in danger.

[EmeraldRose]

This was a milestone episode.  EmeraldRose, are you standing by with the icon?  It's the first time we've seen Barnabas and Julia working together to help somebody else.

Yes, indeed, Lydia! Here it is! Another milestone: This episode was when Julia found out about Angelique from Barnabas - that Angelique was a witch who was married to him. I'm sure Julia was shocked to hear that Barnabas had been married!

Roger definitely did a fabulous job in that scene with Dr. Lang. He was pretty creepy and was acting crazy.    However, there was a mistake made, either by the writers or by Addison Powell, when Dr. Lang asked Roger if he had any trouble with his heart before, but Roger had told him that he feared getting a stroke, which has nothing to do with the heart. 

----- Sally -----

[Lydia]

Yes, indeed, Lydia! Here it is!

Thanks, EmmyRose!  I knew I could count on you!

However, there was a mistake made, either by the writers or by Addison Powell, when Dr. Lang asked Roger if he had any trouble with his heart before, but Roger had told him that he feared getting a stroke, which has nothing to do with the heart. 

It pains me to say it, but the I think the mistake must have been Louis Edmonds's.  Everything in the scene was about the heart, except for Roger's initial mention of the stroke.  I'll bet poor Louie (if I may be so bold as to call him that) nearly had a stroke when he heard himself saying "stroke".  It makes me wonder if he had a fear of strokes that made the word pop into his head - but that's pure speculation.

[EmeraldRose]

It pains me to say it, but the I think the mistake must have been Louis Edmonds's.  Everything in the scene was about the heart, except for Roger's initial mention of the stroke.

I think you're right, Lydia. Even brilliant actors get it wrong some of the time!

----- Sally -----

[IluvBarnabas]

Well, Angelique's spirit refuses to allow her portrait to be anywhere but Collinwood.

It was great seeing Barnabas and Julia team up for the first time. His threatening her and throttling her almost every episode before the 1795 saga, while amusing, got tedious after a while.

Roger was acting pretty freaky. I agree that Louis Edmonds really did a great job in this episode....the last few episodes as a matter of fact. From being enchanted with the portrait of Angelique to believing he was Joshua, to unwittingly ready to kill a total stranger on Angelique's orders. He was just superb.

Dr. Lang's reluctance to believe Angelique's ghost was responsible for all the recent mischief is puzzling. If vampires can exist, why can't a witch reach across centuries to possess someone?

Cool episode.

[Roland]

I agree.  I love when Dr. Lang blurts out, "I'm a man of science," as justification for not believing in witchcraft and black magic.  This from a man who just "cured" a vampire and is getting ready to create a live human being out of sewn-together body parts!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But in Lang's view vamprism is a disease that can be put into remission, and creating life is simply a process of combining some chemicals and hooking a body up to some electrical equipment. It's all very scientific. But ghosts, witches and witchcraft, well, that's all very supernatural and not quantifiable in the lab.

[Roland]

I see your point, but vampires have always been associated with fantastical bogeymen down through the ages, so after discovering that one such bogeyman exists, it shoudn't be such a leap of faith to realize that another does as well.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But as a man of science Lang believes he's debunked that vampires are in any way fantastical - they're simply humans with a disease. A disease that enables them to live for centuries, mind you. But obviously that doesn't strike Lang as odd.    On the other hand, witches and ghosts don't have diseases - they're merely figments of the supernatural in his scientific world. Though, of course, we in the audience know that Lang is absolutely wrong and witches and ghosts are not figments but very real things.

[MagnusTrask]

I agree with MB.    Even living for hundreds of years can be looked at as simply a physical aspect of a disease, though diseases cut your life short.... Anyway, hundreds of years of life could be seen as no more supernatural than any other lifespan-- it could just be the way this disease works.

Lang seemed to take it in stride pretty easily when Barnabas started talking about how a witch cursed him.    He didn't contradict him.