Discuss - Ep #0707

[Watching Project]

Robservations #707

[Lydia]

Jonathan Frid finally got a day off today, and we were left on our own with the 1897 crowd.

We got our first look at the four siblings together.  Very, very enjoyable.  I would like to have heard some ancient grievances being aired ("You always got the extra eclair!"), but never mind, it was fun anyway.

John Karlen was having the time of his life playing Carl.  The way he holds himself is quite different from Willie, and I loved it when he shouted, "Edward!" upon coming back from the Old House with Sandor - so pleased with himself for having proof that he couldn't get hold of Barnabas.

During this viewing of 1897, as during my last viewing, I keep thinking about the one constant in all of it: the house.  Here are all these people thinking they're so important - but they come and they go, and it's the house that stays the same.  Most old houses, though, aren't like that in real life.  They're built, and then added onto here and there.  I grew up in an 18th century farmhouse, but the kitchen dated only back to around 1912.

[MagnusTrask]

Our family moved every four years or so, and we were almost always the first family ever to live in the house.  I wonder how differently I see things because of that one factor.

[IluvBarnabas]

I just love the sibling quibbling among Edward, Judith, Quentin and Carl. You have to wonder how, growing up under the same roof, they managed to reach adulthood without killing each other.

It seems to me that Magda in the previous episode showed more grief over Edith's death than any of the Collins siblings ever did. Maybe Edith really should have left the family fortune to Magda....wouldn't that have drove Judith and Edward crazy!

[Lydia]

Maybe Edith really should have left the family fortune to Magda.

It would have ended up in a Bleak House scenario - so much money being spent on the lawsuit between Magda and the Collinses that Collinwood would have been sold to pay for it.  Maybe Elizabeth, Roger, Carolyn, and David would have had to live in Room 24, with Julia and Mrs. Johnson sharing a rollaway bed.

[Midnite]

If I were Edward, I'd be having the mausoleum torn apart.  Not that they'd find anything, but it's his only clue to the secret.

What I love about this ep is Sandor's line to Carl that there must be gypsy blood somewhere in the Collins line since "no one in the family trusts anyone else!" 

A legend of the tower room indeed.  Technically, Naomi only collapsed there, right?  I wonder if that tidbit was inspired by the real life legend of the Seaview/Carey Mansion tower room.   Something about a pregnant nun who hanged herself in there, so they boarded it up for years.  Or something.  I seriously doubt the story's veracity (and for sure the room now has students sleeping in it), though I don't doubt that the mansion is haunted.

Forgive me, Lydia, for referring again to a storyline that hasn't happened yet, but Quentin's story about the tower room being empty for 100 years is just wrong.  In 1840 it was a happenin' place, and it got used even in the original timeline.  But maybe the Q-man was just trying to unsettle Rachel so he could hit on her some more.

Anyway... Josette's portrait is back!

[Lydia]

Forgive me, Lydia, for referring again to a storyline that hasn't happened yet, but Quentin's story about the tower room being empty for 100 years is just wrong.

No problem.  Collinwood being what it is and the Collinses being what they are, it would be very strange if the tower room was left unused for 100 years, whatever the story might be.  But I like the idea of an event that we actually saw happening there being cited a century later as a family legend.

[Midnite]

But I like the idea of an event that we actually saw happening there being cited a century later as a family legend.

Yes, I thought that was cool too.

[alwaysdavid]

We see the portrait and then the episode features Rachel.  I'm sensing a musical gift for Rachel coming soon.

[EmeraldRose]

I, too, loved to watch the squabbling between the 1897 Collins siblings. Edward was acting like Barnabas was when Carl was playing his practical jokes. I wanted to throttle Edward and tell him to "lighten up"! 

It was cute when Carl complained that he always had to do the errands. Sounds just like Willie!  I like how the writers made Willie and Carl, both characters being played by JK, similar in that way.

So, there's some scandal (I know what it is, but I won't say) that has to do with the tower room and Beth making errands downtown.  It is very satisfying to watch the 1897 storyline being rolled out a little bit at a time.

----- Sally -----