Discuss - Ep #0728

Robservations #728

Denise Nickerson can grate on my nerves, but it IS impressive seeing her display joy, sorrow, desperation, curiosity, terror, and genuine creepiness in the same ep.

Crayons hadn't been invented yet, so what did Nora take out of the neat little box to make her drawing?  Chalk?

Since Quentin used Jamison in his Black Arts rituals, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he used the boy as barter to try to gain information about Jenny's location.

And, because Quentin revealed that Laura followed him out of the house, and Nora said she hasn't seen her for about a year, we have a clearer picture of how long it's been since Jenny delivered her twins.

Interesting how they are playing up the sexual effect of Barnabas' bite more with Charity than with any other character.Her reaction is really a departure from the cold prudish Charity we first met in the previous episode, a real throwback to the Dracula novel (and the Broadway play, for those who remember Frank Langella in that).

The confrontations between Edward and Quentin are very nicely played.  Like with Carl in an earlierl episode, there's a sense of long buried antagonisms and hatreds breaking out here.  Edward was the responsible one, probably the example held up to the younger boys to live up to -- and neither of them could or perhaps would.  Quentin, on the other hand, is the one who seems to have gotten away with murder  -- or at this point, everything short of murder. Edward for his part seems to resent the hell out of the fact that Quentin goes through life having everyone else clean up the consequences of his actions.  We also find out that his reflex action on everything that goes wrong is that it's somehow something Quentin did.

Oh, and Midnight, I think the box IS chalk.  It looks like the big boxes of colored chalk they had when I was a kid.  Dunno if they existed that way back then (even history wonks have their limits on trivia <G>), but it's quite possible.

Agreed, Denise Nickerson was great in this ep.  Especially at the end where she essentially had to be shovelled into the room by Edward, only to see the face in the flames.

Jeannie

Marriage is a fine institution: it means that, having created four squabbling Collins siblings, the writers can have double the fun with four Collins spouses.  We have learned that Quentin's wife went mad after Quentin walked out on her, and that Edward's wife followed Quentin to Egypt, where no doubt she is digging up an army of mummies to invade Collinwood.  No doubt Judith and Carl have spouses and we shall learn equally fascinating things about them.

Denise Nickerson is always good, but I can't stand Nora's hair.  And why are her bangs straight?  It doesn't fit with all those curls.

Interesting how they are playing up the sexual effect of Barnabas' bite more with Charity than with any other character.Her reaction is really a departure from the cold prudish Charity we first met in the previous episode, a real throwback to the Dracula novel (and the Broadway play, for those who remember Frank Langella in that).

Yes indeed, it's very romantic, if you're into that sort of romance.  A handsome man comes to Charity's bedroom, bites her, tells her "You are under my power now, Charity," doesn't even tell her his name, and leaves.

I never understand why Barnabas bit Charity.  It ought to have been so that he can get Charity to be nicer to poor little Rachel, but he doesn't say a word about Rachel.  So apparently he bit Charity simply because he couldn't resist, which means that he is two-timing Rachel, and which suggests that if Angelique had been a little more patient in 1795, Barnabas would have ended up sleeping with her again even though he was married to Josette.  Except that I think the business with Charity is a result of his vampire nature, which was probably completely alien to him before Angelique cursed him.  Which takes me back to "Why can't he fight his vampire nature?"  It's so easy to condemn people who give in to temptations that I myself don't feel.

Edward needs a little padding.  Louis Edmonds has kept himself in very nice shape, but Victorian stalwart Edward is surely too fond of his heavy Victorian dinners to maintain a boyish figure.  Now there's a temptation I can understand!

Denise Nickerson is always good, but I can't stand Nora's hair.  And why are her bangs straight?  It doesn't fit with all those curls.

I recall Denise Nickerson mentioning, either at a Fest or in an interview, that around this time she had surgery to pin her ears back  and that the hairstylist had to use all the curls in order to cover her bandages.

ProfStokes

Oh, Interesting, ProfStokes. That sure explains Nora's hair.

I couldn't help but laugh when Nora said she saw Laura's face in the fire! Laura's face wasn't in the fire, it was her hair.  In fact, the image in the fire looked to me like it was the same image that was used when Angelique's "face" appeared in the fire at Quentin's cottage. I thought DN's acting was great. Especially when Edward was dragging Nora back into the drawing room to look into the fire again.

I love how Charity was so straitlaced and prudish when she arrived, but Barnabas turned her into a sexual romantic diva. I agree, it was quite romantic.

----- Sally -----

Does Barnabas really need a reason to snack? Maybe he was just hungry. He didn't want to harm Rachel, Josette lookalike that she is, he didn't want to harm anybody in his family lest he screw up history even more, he can't feed on his witch-wife so who better to chomp on than his nemesis' daughter? I can't help feeling Barnabas did get some sort of satisfaction
of having a Trask under his power. Especially a female.

I'm not surprised Quentin would sell out Jamison at this point since he's so desperate to find Jenny. Of course Edward threatened to have him arrested for hiding the boy, so really Quentin betrayed his beloved nephew for nothing. At the moment, Quentin is far from caring about that since he only has one thing on his mind: his crazy wife and doing away with her.

Loved Quentin's speech about Edward and his oh-so strong determination to protect the family name at all costs. I think
every word he said was true. I think the reason Edward doesn't want Quentin to find Jenny is he is afraid that the family
name will be in jeopardy by whatever Quentin does to her and not because he doesn't want any harm to come to
her. It would be keeping in Edward's character.