When Beth said a while back that she was seeing her gentleman friend in town, wasn't that a lie told to cover her weekly visit to Mrs. Fillmore with the Collins cash and a care package? If she wanted to fool around with Dirk <gag!>, she wouldn't have to go to the village to do it. It was, as Quentin called it, "Backstairs excitement" (and its spinoff series, "Upstairs, Downstairs"
).
I've been watching Beth carefully (because I'm easily entertained
) for signs she was falling for Quentin-- that she did stay on because he might return, or that she was thrilled when he did or she wanted more from him-- you get the picture, but I noticed none of that... til now. We see a lot of sexual tension in this ep. There's no turning back now, girlfriend!
As for Quentin acting like a fraidy cat when he was convinced he was being haunted by a vengeful spirit, I think that if someone goes so far as to dabble in the Black Arts, then it's a given that they'd believe that death is not the end, that the veil between this and the spirit world can be lifted, and that dark nonhuman entities do exist. So I do feel his fear was true to character. JMO
Switching to Barnabas, I thought it odd that he was convinced Edith wouldn't rest in peace. I mean, we've all heard the stories about ghosts sticking around because of unfinished business, but Barnabas seemed darn sure it was going to happen even before there were any signs of a haunting. Which I guess is why Lydia and Robin wondered if he had anything to do with it. I agree with Lydia that the writing is just not good here.
A scene that drove me nuts: Barnabas wasted no time in starting up a conversation with Rachel about her resemblance to Josette's portrait (cuz if a pickup line works once, why not try it again?). Anyway, all it took was her asking if Josette was a Collins for him to start telling her story, including how she ended up marrying his ancestor's uncle, which led to Barnabas dueling with Jeremiah and killing him. Then Rachel says, "I tend to only see the things that I want to see and I ignore all of the unpleasant things in life." Well, apparently she's not the only one, because this entire conversation takes place right in front of Jeremiah's portrait, and at one point I'm sure Rachel is even brushing up against it, yet this fact is never mentioned by Barnabas. Hello, conversation about the past and portraits and Jeremiah, and you are practically breathing on a painting of him but let's pretend you're not. Augh!
The Petofi box is already gone from the mantel! And in its place, a forgettable smaller box.