First of all, apologies for being gone so long. I got into a rather black funk for the last couple of weeks and tried to avoid this place lest I say something I oughtn’t. Anyway, better now. On with the show….
Poor Elizabeth, wasted again (no, not that way, that would have been interesting)
I still don’t like Roger, even if we do finally find out he’s a closet artist.
Well, well, episode four seems to be the episode when just about everything supernatural gets its freak on.
Woodard turning out to be a vampire was a surprise. I had not remembered that from the last time I watched the series. Creepy and frightening. But as mentioned upthread, pains have been taken to show what a slow process this whole cell turning someone into an undead bloodsucker, yet we we have Woodard in the space of a few hours fully turned. Some vampire lore states that when a vampire drains one over time they may become one themselves after death, but if blood is shared that considerably speeds up the process. It would have been nice to have that explained, but it brings up another irritating side effect: we have the shock and surprise, but I would have liked after the cliffhanger of episode three, to have seen the confrontation / conversation between Barnabas and Woodard. Woodard wanted to become a vampire??? I have trouble believing that. That is definitely a scene that needed to be shown – Woodard’s distaste but at the same time the awe and wonder of actually having a conversation with an actual VAMPIRE. Let me see Woodard change from a staunch upright citizen seeking out evil to destroy it to a man tempted by the offer of an immortal existence. Having said that, if he did want to become a vampire why would Barnabas grant his wish if Barnabas himself views his condition with horror and loathing? I think he is selling Julia (and us) a bill of goods, since she was a friend of Woodard’s and Barnabas knowing that she is starting to fall for him. Did you see the look on her face when he played the music box, waxing poetic on how he will one day give it to his true love? He is sooo leading her on.
I’m still confused by the schizophrenic writing of Barnabas’ character. Even contemporary characters like JR and Alexis were evil, but we LOVED THEM. We couldn’t wait each week to see what new nastiness they would perpetrate (My mother had a couple of stick pin broaches, one said I Love JR the other said JR for President.). Is Barnabas supposed to be the stylish bad guy through whom we live vicariously? Or is he a really evil sonuvabitch that we can’t wait to see what is coming to him? Or is he the tragic Byronic hero, tortured by his nature? He’s one thing, then another, and still another as the script requires with no consistency whatsoever. I just am not happy with the way he is written.
I like the development of the relationship between David and Victoria and now Sarah. I like the effect of Sarah passing through the door. It was almost like she was pushing herself through. I was snapping beans as I watched so I didn’t make any notes, but did Vickie read the diary at all before she gave it to Barnabas? It’s like she gets this really cool gift from a ghost no less and almost the first thing she does with it is give it away! What was that all about?
Wow, we get wham wham wham the introduction of Angelique, followed by, a mysterious conversation about Roger’s wife, David trying to kill his father Maggie being revealed as a psychic and then the revelation that David’s mother is a witch, and a powerful one at that. Was that Laura controlling David? Or was that Angelique? Is there a connection? I am intrigued and wondering if the series had continued, would we have seen Laura and would she have been played by Lysette Anthony?
An aside – the missing conversation with Woodard, and later the way awkward “I suppose you’ve heard about my psychic powers” reminds me of the staginess of Lugosi’s Dracula. That film was based on the Broadway play, so much of the action is confined to just a few sets. Lots of important things and images are merely talked about rather than seen (Renfield talking about the millions of rats that his master has summoned for him, or Harker looking off camera and saying that Dracula has turned into a huge dog and running off. Anyway, the scenes we don’t see in DS that are referred to are the kind of thing that always gets my writer’s dander up. Every teacher I ever had hammered into me, show, don’t tell. – end of aside.
Once again, Barnabas and Willie get the best scenes. If I didn’t know (and see) that Willie acts more like a faithful pet dog, I’d start to get a Brokeback Mountain vibe. I found myself very intrigued by their intimacy, Willie on the ottoman at Barnabas’ feet in front of the fire, staring up at him as Barnabas reads to Willie from his sister’s diary and tells him private details about how close they were. The pet dog image is reinforced by the visitation from Angelique with Willie cowering on his knees behind Barn. And then later when Barnabas threatens Willie and Willie talks him down, and they both express the regard they have for each other. It only confuses me more and I can’t help wondering if the wildly inconsistent tone of the character of Barnabas (the star) had an adverse affect on the ratings.
