Fashion notes first . . .
I think it's been said before (possibly by me), but it is still incomprehensible to me as to why it was thought necessary to have Barnabas in his PJs and slippers for what was a non-invasive procedure.
Liz looked very spiffy in her gray checked "country sophisticate" outfit. I would like to pause here so that we can all consider what a truly put-together character Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is. I was so busy taking notes on her clothes that it nearly escaped me that she had left a suddenly mute small child of a nephew at approximately 4AM, got in her car and drove out to Dr. Lang's house and arrived looking perfectly coiffed, made up and in general well dressed. Either she got dressed before the fact or this is what she had been wearing the whole day.
Setting aside the moral implications of the first possibility, I remain stunned. I have, of course, been up till 4AM before (in fact, have stayed awake for nearly 48 hours one never-to-be-forgotten spring nearly ten years ago) and have more than once gotten up around that time to be somewhere or go someplace. I have also witnessed others in similar conditions and never, not once, have I or any of these other people looked that good at that hour of the morning. Not even when I was a blushing girl of (well, never mind), let's just say under 21, have I ever looked or have the people I have seen at that hour looked that put-together.
Well.
Okay, onto other less well dressed characters.
I was slightly agog to see Julia who was being menaced by Bag 'o' Parts, screaming and gaping, and still, still holding her handbag fashionably to her. That's style.
Mostoller, for whatever her other myriad faults as a costumer, did do a nice job of making Clarice Blackburn look suitably dowdy.
Cassandra was wearing what I think is my favorite of her outfits, sadly, it's a one-time appearance. I speak here, of the navy skirt, red jacket, and the striped top. I love this and she looks really great in it. The fabric looks good too. It's just a tasteful and stunning outfit and I wish they let her wear it more.
Regrettably, they were not so sparing with the outfit Julia wore in today's episodes. The suit is the wrong side of brown and the orange is too yecch. Beside the suit fabric always looked (to me at least) like it could be on someone's floor. Now it may just be that I am prejudiced because this is exactly the same kind of thing that my mother would have worn then (she loves orange and brown), but it just does not seem at all visually pleasing.
Maggie's gray dress and yellow tie. Okay, vast, vast improvement over the patchwork divided skirt (but then so would a burlap bag be), but KLS was way too thin to be in an A Line dress. It just sort of hangs on her.
Onto the show . . .
Okay, Julia is a doctor. She went to medical school. She's a psychiatrist at a mental hospital, as such, surely she has been privy to all sorts of gruesome and disturbing things. I have read medical journals. I work in a medical library. From what I've seen, these are not the sort of people who go "ew" or freak out easily. I'm thinking that once you've worked on a cadaver, syringed somebody's ear, drained out an abscess or whatever, there's not much that disturbs you. I'm guessing (no real life experience here to go by of course) that after you've treated a vampire and watched as your patient murdered your old friend, that that the squirm factor would just decrease exponentially. And yet, here we have her shrieking and acting like she's seen a mouse. It's very dramatic, but by now, wouldn't you think that seeing a body rise up would be old hat?
I just love Barnabas putting the blame and onus on Julia, implying that not only has she missed something in Dr. Fruitcake's records (because, of course, as we will incessantly be told, Eric Lang was absolutely brilliant), but also that she has to calm Adam down.
Excuse #35. Let's be honest, the book excuse about the family history was pretty lame to begin with (after months and months, has Julia even produced a page?), but it's really, really pathetic, when you tell your cousin that you're going to write one about a supposedly ordinary G.P., a guy you've known for less than a month.
Enough however, of weak lies and gullible relatives. It's time to talk about the dubious parenting skills of Barnabas and Julia.
I suppose, it is only fair that I should tell you that not only do I not have children, but that my experience with them is painfully limited--as is apparent right now at the local public library where I am doing a reference practicum. I can't judge ages to save my life, and Monday, after encountering a child who made David Collins (the 1966 David Collins) look like Opie Taylor, I think it's safe to say that I have absolutely no vocation for working with small children (my gut instinct during this incident was a lot closer to Roger's approach to childrearing than Elizabeth's, although I hasten to say that I contented myself with a stereotypical look of death and a firm voice).
However, I have babysat and I have enough experience to know a few things:
1. Children should never, ever be left unsupervised for long.
2. You should be worried when they're being quiet.
3. It is not acceptable to kill your offspring, no matter how many tantrums they have.
I found myself laughing uproariously at Barnabas. I think it's safe to say that his only exposure to children was for short spans of time. His sister probably spent her life with servants except for the occasional five minutes here and there, because he seemed surprised that Adam could be so destructive--what Adam did to the lab could probably have been duplicated by a three- year-old (okay, the three-year-old would need maybe five more minutes).
I did enjoy the scene where Julia flat out told a petulant Barnabas that no, he could not kill Adam. They had brought him to life and they needed to be responsible.
Wondering why they opted to bring Adam to the Old House. Why the hell didn't they just take him to Wyndecliffe? Julia could have had him admitted as a John Doe. The scars might have given the staff some pause, but I've seen outpatients on the bus who look worse than that. At least the hospital would have been cleaner and cheerier and the staff would have been able to devote more time to Adam.
It always kills me to read fanfics that give Barnabas and Julia children (either as a joint thing or by other people). Although I've read a couple stories where it worked, in general, it's seemed like an impossible concept to me. These two plainly should not be allowed to reproduce. Nor should they have the charge of anything other than say, a small houseplant, because neither of them has a clue as to what the hell to do.
These are not great days for Dr. Hoffman to shine. Aside from her lamentable and deplorable parenting skills, I just love her treatment of Mrs. Johnson. First she's surprised to learn that Mrs. Johnson has had the dream (hello, she told it to the housekeeper, yes? And it has been long enough for the woman to sleep, no? So why wouldn't this occur to her?) And then, having learned that Mrs. Johnson has had the dream, what does Julia suggest? The 1968 equivalent of No-Doze? Strong coffee? Hypnotizing her to make her forget the dream?
No.
"Why don't you go upstairs and lie down?" Or then politely, "You've been talking about going to visit your sister in Boston. Why don't you go and do that?"
I would expect a suggestion like that from the neighbor down the street. I wouldn't expect it from the frigging doctor who knows damn well that sleep is not going to help and that distance won't either.
I used to be irritated by Adam. He's still not my favorite character, but really, given how he's treated from inception, it's no wonder that he turns out the way he does. If this isn't a forceful argument for nurture over nature, well, then, I don't know what is.
They stick him in a cheerless basement cell. They talk at him like they're in a Victorian reading group. They feed the guy (the over 6' tall man) something that looks like it would have Calista Flockhart asking for more. They assign Willie, of all people, to look after Adam and then they go blithely on their merry way. When Baby decides to leave the mean babysitter, what do they do? They chain him up. Good God. I take it back about the houseplant.
I think we were treated to another peak of what gets Willie juiced and what a scary, visual place that was. It could have been worse, I suppose, they could have had him turned on by shoes or something,
I've never much liked the earring plot. Maggie's dialogue was abysmal. "I've never responded to jewelry in this way." Um, well, yeah. Most people don't. I also realize that Maggie was the epitome of the small-town girl, whose biggest trip was to the mysterious cousins in Canada, but it was way too hokey having her pronounce the earrings as the most exquisite pieces of jewelry ever made. Have her go look at a couple of museums and then come back and say that.
And no, I'm not bitter because I never found earrings like that in my purse
Luciaphil
