Right off the top I'll admit that this is not my favorite ep of the series. It's not that I dislike it - I don't. In fact, I think it has much going for it. However, for me it's not as engaging as much of the rest of the series because far too much of it is a retread of DC's past projects - and DC is apparently blatantly unapologetic about it because he "borrows" or perhaps attempts to "pay homage" to (I don't know which) his past work with shot for shot restagings of it. I've lamented this in the past, so it will come as no surprise to long-time readers of the forum, but to me it certainly seems as if DC's motto was "If it worked once, use it again and again and again and..." What the man obviously failed to realize, though, was that might work for audiences unfamiliar with his work, but it's a huge disservice to those who are because they don't even have to actually watch to know what the next shot will be and what it will lead to afterward. I mean, OMG - as an example, just watch Ep #2 and then watch DC's version of
Dracula - some of the similarities will be beyond striking.
![[sad3]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/sad3.gif "Sad #3")
And the reason I say DC was blatantly unapologetic about it is because he actually screened his past work looking for ways to incorporate it into this ep of the '91 series - and as I mentioned in the discussion for the second half of the pilot, Hall Powell and Bill Taub were hired specifically for that purpose...
The best thing to happen to the '91 series was that Linda Campanelli, Shelly Moore, Matt Hall and William Gray were brought on board after the miniseries eps were developed because, with both DC and Steve Feke having wanted blood, gore and violence to predominate, and with DC's preference for all of that over character, it's quite sad to think what the '91 series might have been had DC and Feke had their way unchallenged.
All that being said, though - what is fascinating is that when it comes to reviews of the miniseries that expressed a preference for one night over the other, several picked the second night (meaning Eps #2 and #3) over the first (meaning the pilot). I can perhaps see that when it comes to Ep #3 (though that discussion is for next week), but to me it's not really the case with Ep #2. But then, we're probably talking about reviewers who were not so familiar with DC's work as to recognize the shot for shot restagings for what they were. So, unlike me and others like me, they saw Ep #2 with an unclouded perspective.
And while we're on the subject of downsides - though this has nothing to do with the ep itself - it struck me again how unfortunate it is for those who are only able to see the series on DVD - particularly when it comes to the actors' close-ups. So much can be conveyed in a close-up - but with a full quarter of the original framing completely missing in Sony's misguided effort to falsely create a widescreen appearance, too much of their work can often go unseen...
But enough of the downside, let's focus on the interesting aspects of this ep:
I love how Chuy Elizondo's cinematography picks up seamlessly from Dietrich Lohmann's work in the pilot.
Even though the romantic relationship between Vicki and Barnabas isn't really touched on in this ep, it's interesting that they made a point of showing Vicki doodling Josette's name on a pad to establish that it isn't far from Vicki's mind.
There's no avoiding the fact that this series wholly embraces the vampire bite as sex act. I remember that at the time the series was in production DC often commented in interviews that it was his intent to play up the sex angle and he was pleased whenever women in the screening room swooned because he knew they'd gotten it right. Well, they certainly went full tilt for the orgasmic angle - and there's probably no better example of that than in this ep when it comes to Michael T. Weiss and his ecstatic eye fluttering as Daphne attacks him.
And while we're still in that vein, Joe must have really been drained for him not to have shown any sign of movement for so long. I mean, there's definitely one type of movement that virtually every male in Joe's age range displays when he's sleeping and it's completely involuntary. But perhaps Joe's blood supply had yet to be fully recouped for that particular movement to take place.
It's amazing where a certain characterization may set one's mind to wondering. For example, does anyone besides me suspect that if Carolyn had been in Daphne's place, and it was she who needed Joe and Deputy Harker to "look after her," the men wouldn't have been taking turns merely reading in a chair - there may have been a full-fledged menage a trois going in that room!
I definitely get a kick out of how Willie hides his face as Julia opens Barnabas' coffin.
I love Julia's smile at the end of the ep - everything is falling completely into place for her.
And finally, there have been a few remarks that Barnabas doesn't seem sympathetic, but I don't honestly think he's actually supposed to be at this point. I mean, what has he done to elicit much sympathy? Beating and killing don't exactly make for sympathetic acts. But characters can be interesting, even fascinating, without being sympathetic. Plenty of such characters exist. Personally, even at this point I find Barnabas eminently watchable - particularly in a What-Will-He-Do-Next sort of way (even when, thanks to DC, I have some idea of what he's going to do). And the thing is that this ep is only the third installment in a thirteen installment story arc. In a well thought out arc, characters evolve over time and through circumstance and experience. Barnabas will be no different - particularly once the Campanelli, Moore, M. Hall and Gray (and John Boorstin) team become involved.
