Discuss - Ep #0685

[Watching Project]

Robservations #685

[Lydia]

It's nice to see that Abe Vigoda got his name spelled right for his second and last episode.
 
What a sweet smile Amy put on when she saw Quentin!  And then behind his back (or or so she hoped) she said she wished that she and David had never discovered Quentin's room.
 
I always think it sounds wrong when Amy, talking to Barnabas about the dear old days at Windcliff, says, "We confided in each other."  That's not how a kid Amy's age talks.  But maybe she's parroting back what Barnabas said to her once.  Today I was thinking that I could imagine what Amy told Barnabas: Tom's dead (except when he's not), her parents are dead (I keep wondering what exactly happened to them), and Chris can't be bothered to come see her.  But what did Barnabas tell Amy?  When he talked to Elizabeth on the phone (I think it was on the phone, anyway) he said he wanted to come home.  Did he tell Amy that Julia was cruelly refusing to let him go home?  Whatever it was, he was probably just as clumsy about it as he was when he tried to help Amy today.  For heaven's sake: "I'll be able to help you better if you tell me who you're afraid of."  Yeah, right, Amy's going to come out and tell him all of a sudden.  Sure.
 
It's a pity that Barnabas didn't happen to ask Ezra Braithwaite in yesterday's episode if Ezra remembered Quentin Collins.  But maybe there are some other people who remember Quentin.  Ezra seems to be 86 or 87 years old now, and there are probably a few other octogenarians who are native to Collinsport.  I daresay Bob the Bartender could recommend a few to Barnabas.  How old is the caretaker at Eagle Hill Cemetery?

[Midnite]

Nice closeups in the ep of the statue on the foyer table, in case someone is interested.

David's phone manners seem pretty sophisticated.  And like Lydia, I was also struck by the huge smile Amy had for Quentin (that quickly faded), and it made me think about how starved these children surely are for adult affection-- both are motherless, and one has an absentee father while the other's is deceased.  And David is an only child and (as Lydia points out) Amy may as well be.  A depressing household, and no friends with homes to hang out at.  These two must have been easy pickings for Quentin and Beth.

Do ghosts need to open doors?  That entrance was jarring.

I absolutely love the scene between Vigoda and Selby.  Ezra was delightfully dotty, and Quentin communicated so much without words.  What a comedy duo they'd make!  BTW, Abe Vigoda will be back.   

It's a pity that Barnabas didn't happen to ask Ezra Braithwaite in yesterday's episode if Ezra remembered Quentin Collins.  But maybe there are some other people who remember Quentin.

Wasn't the point of Quentin intercepting Ezra to stop him from telling Barnabas about him?  I'm probably misunderstanding what you're saying, but is Barnabas at all aware of Quentin's existence in the 19th century so that he can make inquiries about him?

Liz had her hair down, sort of, and I still can't tell if it's all hers or not.  Augh!!

[MagnusTrask]

Do ghosts need to open doors?  That entrance was jarring.

They do if they want to make an "entrance", I guess (like maybe if they've been watching Kramer on Seinfeld a bit too much... imagine Q doing that...)!

[EmeraldRose]

In this episode, it was the first time that Quentin's eyes actually looked blue!

Ezra Braithwaite was darling in this episode. It was endearing to watch him have to change glasses. He had his "thing glasses" and his "people glasses". That was one of the best lines of all when he said, "You're dead!" Quentin actually was kinda cute, too, when he nodded his head and smiled at poor Ezra. Quentin's cuteness was in direct contrast to the fact that he was evil and shocking Ezra to death with the discovery of his ghost.

It was great to see Amy and David figuring out that there was something going on and some point to Quentin's manipulations of them, and only Quentin knew the answer. They realized that they were in way over their heads, and there was nothing they could do to stop him.  They really were pretending when they said they would have to "watch him and make sure he didn't do anything bad." What could they realistically do to stop him? Nothing!    He was too powerful. That's a rather scary prospect. One of the worst feelings is powerlessness, because someone or something else has control of the situation, and the powerless person has none.

It was a shame that David felt that he couldn't leave the house to meet Roger at the airport. Quentin had given him instructions, and David was scared of getting the wrath of Quentin upon him if he left. It was rather sad that David had to wait for Roger to get home in order to see him again.    Roger was gone for a relatively long time.  Elizabeth was understandably perplexed at David's reaction. 

When Quentin came into the drawing room through the secret door, he looked very tall and handsome, which took away from the evilness of what had just happened.   

----- Sally -----

[Lydia]

It's a pity that Barnabas didn't happen to ask Ezra Braithwaite in yesterday's episode if Ezra remembered Quentin Collins.  But maybe there are some other people who remember Quentin.

Wasn't the point of Quentin intercepting Ezra to stop him from telling Barnabas about him?  I'm probably misunderstanding what you're saying, but is Barnabas at all aware of Quentin's existence in the 19th century so that he can make inquiries about him?

You're right, Midnite, my mind got muddled and distracted by the enchanting thought of somebody actually remembering the live Quentin and seeing him unchanged seventy years later.[spoiler]I know that happens after 1897, but that's different.[/spoiler]I've got AE Housman's To An Athlete Dying Young running through my head.  And there was a conversation a while back between David and Amy about the pre-ghost Quentin that I managed to transfer to Barnabas and Julia.

[Roland]

I thought the scene between David and Ezra was charmingly written and played.  There was a great deal of genuine humor in it, especially the discussion of David's name.  I love how Ezra thought "David" was some new-fangled name and how David rose to his own defense by bringing up King David. Clever stuff.

[MagnusTrask]

It's great when they insert interesting detail like that into episodes, that doesn't necessarily relate much to plot.   It makes the program open up and "breathe" more.  I'm not sure if what I just said made sense, but I'm sticking with it.   Anyway, things like that are as important to me as plot.  I get the feeling that during certain stretches, they were satisfied just to have the plot moving along, and dropped those interesting details and human moments in the rush to get episodes done.

[michael c]

yes the series was quite well written and plotted here...

after the schlock that had been the previous several months(adam and co.)it's like someone stepped back and said 'we don't have to throw in everything but the kitchen sink' and can take a bit of time to craft a well told tale.

it reminds me more of the laura collins or the early barnabas story.

i never really thought about what midnite said about david's upbringing but yes he(and amy)are leading very sheltered,isolated lives,surrounded by some seriously screwed up adults.