Third try here and I'm not using that nasty spell checker again because it keeps wiping out my messages Â

Fashion notes first . . .
I am not overly fond of Hall's chic short haircut. Â There are just too many episodes where it looks icky. Â The past couple of episodes, however, have been a notable exception. Â Nice work with the styling. Â The dress with the bow though--yeech.
Nancy Barrett should not be put in that pale yellow color. Â Maybe it worked on her in real life but on camera it washes her out. Â
Either the wardrobe people unclenched Curtis' fist long enough to pry out the $ necessary for a new and better wig for Cassandra or they found someone who knew how to style it. Â
I wish they would have had Moltke's hair up more often. Â Sans bow or hair ribbon, it looked great. Â
Was noticing that the glossy spots on Stokes' dressing gown sort of matched the polka dots on his bowtie. Â Very cool.
Onto the show . . .
Liked how Carolyn had her snippet of the dream and then woke up (although I couldn't believe that after her ordeal, she went to bed in false eyelashes).
Can I just stop here and say how much I like the Stokes character? Â I've said it before, but I would love to know what lines he tinkered with and what lines were original. Â I do notice that Sam Hall's scripts seem sharper when the professsor is in them. Â That line about the Meissen china was classic. Â
I also have to note that I think we've just learned that Stokes is a better hypnotist than Julia.
The whole twist to the dream curse was great. Â I loved it the first time I saw it and I love it now. Â Thayer David and Lara Parker were so on target. Â This is why I like DS. Â When it's this good. Â It makes it all worth the rubber bats and the construction paper monsters and all the rest of it. Â Really cool scene.
Something was a bit off, however, in the succeeding scene with Stokes, Joe, Sam, and Julia. Â I can't put my finger on it, but everything about it seemed forced.
Lukewarm about the rip off (er, homage) to the monster and the blind peasant man taken "Frankenstein." Â It strikes me that Sam would be much more likely to be hitting the bottle than pulling out the first aid kit. Â I certainly don't recall him being that hospitable before his paint-by-numbers disaster.
Cassandra is quite the 20th century gal, isn't she? Â She smokes like a pro. Â That, of course, was code for what she and Tony were up to Â

 It's interesting though how much she uses or gets close to fire.  I would think that would be a danger in her situation, but hey, she's got guts, I'll give her that

Was somewhat taken aback at Vicki's newfound reluctance to discussing her misadventures in the good ol' days. Â Is this not the same woman who was freaking out and telling everyone (including probably the mail man) that she had been in 1795, hanged as a witch, and that she had to find Peter??? Â And now, she's keeping her mouth shut. Â Sloppy, sloppy writing.
The whole Stokes and his aged cheddar and madeira bit. Â God, I love it. Â It was great. Â Just when I write off Cassandra, she's given Tony a really great and completely plausible cover story. Â Of course, it might have something to do with the delivery, because when she starts channeling Donna Reed I want to gag, but Tony as Bob Vila/Ward Cleaver, completely works. Â
Too bad for her that Stokes is paranoid (yeah, it has occurred to me to that when I have my back turned, my houseguests have a perfect opportunity to poison my coca-cola. Â But then too, I don't have any ipecac in my house so maybe that explains it Â

)
When Stokes took out Ben's manuscript for one horrible moment I really thought they were going to try and pass off that dime store notebook as the original. Â But then nice save, although I suspect that anyone who works with rare books was cringing like hell at his attempts at "preservation."
The chess scene continues to be a favorite of mine. Â It's a nice bit of acting and a nicer bit of writing. Â In a couple of minutes, it told us everything we needed to or wanted to know about the particulars of Roger and Cassandra's marriage: he's not getting laid; he's suspicious as hell; she got off that great shot about his drinking (I wonder if he's yet at the stage where he's salted the house with extra bottles of booze). Â It worked. Â And then my personal favorite was the last shot of Roger on the stairs looking down at Cassandra

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Luciaphil