Discuss - Ep #0730

Robservations #730

Laura is back or some version of her, but she seems less haunted than the present day Laura.  I'm not sure if it's that the show is now in color or faster paced.  It seems that Collinwood has always been inhabited by remote father's and rather lonely sons who seek friendship elsewhere. 

Laura is back or some version of her

Yay.

but she seems less haunted than the present day Laura.  I'm not sure if it's that the show is now in color or faster paced.

I'm guessing it's both.  Diana Millay looked better in B&W, IMO, and maybe she had help from the pregnant glow.  But her earlier story definitely benefited from the slow pace.  I find just the simple touch of her studying a lit match after Burke pulled out a cigarette to be very entertaining.

But I think her line delivery is just as good here.  And knowing what she was up to in 1967 makes her dreamily-spoken statement to Nora [about bringing Jamison along the next time they see each other]-- "Then we'll be together always"-- especially creepy.  I wonder why the offspring of the Phoenix have no special powers.

At other times in the storyline, Gregory doesn't tolerate anyone addressing him as Mister Trask as Edward does here.

I'm probably way behind everyone else in noticing that Nora's side curls are hairpieces.

And how many times do we hear a character exclaim, "You're dead!"?!

The backwards slide of Collinwood is back, sheesh, but so is the prettier of the two gramophone horns.

Louis Edmonds makes a rare blooper here.  When trying to throw Laura out, he mistakenly calls her "lawyer" -- and in a change for him, doesn't notice and fix it within the context of the script.

On those two gramophones: has there ever been an explanation offered as to why there's two of them? I know later on there's one travels to the drawing room, but at this point in the storyline there's only one, and it's in Quentin's room all the time.  So, I'm curious why they had two different ones.

Got to give Laura points for sheer guts.  She walks in their bold as brass and starts ordering Edward around.  It's that Collins distaste for scandal.  Edward could by rights not only have kept her from the house, but never allowed her near the children for the rest of their lives.  That's how it worked then when women cheated on their husbands.  And if I recall, even a woman's clothes were considered the property of the husband, to be surrendered on demand if she left him.

Jeannie

This was the Diana Millay's first appearance as Laura in 1897. I just watched the 1967 Laura storyline again (for the second time ever), and I like that Laura (1967) better than this one (1897). For one thing, the 1967 storyline was much longer. In addition, I agree with Midnite that Laura looked better in B/W. She also seemed much creepier.

[spoiler]Of course, the 1897 Laura storyline doesn't coincide with the Phoenix story in 1967, when it was established that Laura came back every 100 years. She had just "died" in 1867. Now, in 1897, a mere 30 years later, she's back. There's also one other big difference: that whole Egyptian thing with the Great God Ra. There was no mention of Ra in 1967.[/spoiler]

I loved it at the end when Quentin told Laura, "No, you're dead! I saw you die!" Ooh! Gives me goosebumps!

It was delightfully humorous to see Jamison tug on Quentin's coat and smile at the camera! It was one of the few times that Henesy needed to use the TelePrompTer.

----- Sally -----

Nice change of expression on Quentin when he saw the brooch.  I was thinking to myself, "Hmm...he's looking a lot like Quentin the 1969 ghost rather than 1897 Quentin," and then we found out what was bothering him.

When Laura was imploring Edward to let her stay at Collinwood, I tried to imagine it being a true statement, and tried to work up sympathy for this imaginary helpless, homeless Laura.  It didn't work.  I looked at Laura and couldn't see anything but a schemer.

So, Edward had several thousand dollars stashed away in the study?  He's a true Collins.  There's always some cash available for emergencies.

"I saw you die" makes a nice ending for the episode, but in a way, it's a shame.  The simple situation of Edward, Quentin, Laura, and Jenny - combined with their distinct personalities, not to mention their distinct facial hair - would be quite sufficient for melodramatics without the whole supernatural ingredient.  I guess I can't really complain, however.  If Laura were an ordinary woman, then this would be an ordinary soap opera.

Laura couldn't have been serious about wanting Edward to take her back since she wants to take the children away with her. Heck she's lucky he didn't go grab a gun and shoot her right on the spot (can guns kill Phoenixs?). Maybe she thought
she could sweet-talk Edward long enough for her to do what she wanted, but that's a rather naive hope, because she had
to have known how furious he'd be about her coming back. Laura is many things, but naive is not one of them. At least the 1967 version wasn't.

Laughed at Quentin's comment about the children being better off with Simon Legree than with Trask. One of the most truest, and funniest, statements I've ever heard on the show.

So Edward has decided that school would be best for the children... if only he knew...

It's too bad we couldn't have seen Quentin and Jamison do the same thing to Trask that they did to Barnabas with the cane the other day. But somehow I don't think that would have kept Trask away...knowing him, he'd be more determined
to "defeat the powers of darkness"...problem is evil can't defeat evil. lol