Discuss - Ep #0736

[Watching Project]

Robservations #736

[arashi]

I must say, I love the face Don Briscoe makes when carrying Nora back out of the room. Hysterical.

Every time I see the shot of the "school" burning down all I can think of is Rhett and Scarlett standing in front of the island gates from King Kong as they burn down in GwtW. Surely with even DS's limited budget they could have come up with something better!

I for one am rooting for the end of Laura. But I do love her showdowns with Angelique. They were very well matched.

[Midnite]

I must say, I love the face Don Briscoe makes when carrying Nora back out of the room. Hysterical.

LOL!  Could that cartoonization and the one from the previous ep-- Trask wrung his hands so much that I half expected him to start twirling his sideburns-- have anything to do with the fact that DC directed these eps? ... Of course not, Midnite.  Shame on you for asking it. 

[MagnusTrask]

For years, this was the episode where 1897 began for me.  Now I have early 1897 thanks to Lydia, but this is still where my tapes pick up after an 1897 gap, so I experience this ep. differently.   It's like being thrown in the deep end.   Interesting feeling.  It was very weird suddenly seeing Quentin again in 2002 (for the first time since 1971) when I got my DS VHS.   I went straight from the moment of Barnabas being bitten in 1795, to the school fire!

This is the start of tape #101, and I have all of DS w/o interruption to the end (tape 200)!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I must say, I love the face Don Briscoe makes when carrying Nora back out of the room. Hysterical.

Because it IS so hysterical, that moment is memorialized on the CTP/FITBs-Y3 board:

And Midnite, the fact that DC directed the ep couldn't possibly have had anything to do with Briscoe's expression. Perish the thought! ... Yeah, right!!   

[Midnite]

I have no excuse, MB, except that I was overcome by the forces of evil!

Every time I see the shot of the "school" burning down ... Surely with even DS's limited budget they could have come up with something better!

And did they have to use the picture of Doctor Lang's house?

The voiceover explains that the children were "sent away to school against the wishes of their mother," who was "angered by the separation from her children," and therefore "she has vowed that they will not spend another night in the school."  There's no mention that the urgency had anything to do with Rachel's warning about what would happen to them there.  So, wow, endangering an entire student body because Edward went behind her back is harsh.  And evil.

Tim is confused because he said he was in the corridor at the same time that Laura claimed to have been there when she followed Nora's screams into the schoolroom.  *I'm* confused because we were clearly shown that he was on another floor at the time.

Laura's blue dress the only one we've seen her in so far, and now it has got to be reeking of smoke.

Magda quizzed Quentin on what other kind of value an object could have if not monetary, yet in the previous ep she learned that Rachel's brooch had sentimental value because if was all she had left of her mother.  And Magda made sure she got it back.  Apparently, she's not as greedy as she wants everyone to think.

[arashi]

All right. I totally burst out laughing at that screencap. I had forgotten just how awesome that was. 

[alwaysdavid]

I see the gazebo set reappears.  When the Cassandra episodes appeared on my local PBS station some time ago I thought that that set must be from just that time period as I didn't recall ever seeing it when I originally watched, but here it is.   

[Pansity]

Back again playing catchup.  Very good points everyone has made about the fire scene.  Loved the comparison to the "burning of Atlanta"  -- but soo much cheezier. .  I know they had a BBC level budget of $1.98 but really......  And Dr. Lang's house?  Seems pretty small for a school. Makes you think twice about Charity's line in a previous episode about what a wonderful school Collinwood would make.  Wonder if even then there was some idea of them hatching a plot to get at least the house, [spoiler]only Minerva didn't fit into the later picture.[/spoiler]

Magnus, that was one heck of a jump in storyline.  2002 was about the time I first saw 1897 since first run, too.  Difference is I had the advantage of having caught  it from the first ep of the run the year before.  (One of the few advantages to being out of work and jobhunting that year was getting hooked on DS while watching it straight through.)

Yes, Midnight, you would think that Rachel's warning would have been more motivation than sheer spite against Edward, but then, with Laura we seem to be seeing someone even more selfish than even Quentin.  Her absorption in what she wants, and it's being all about her, makes me think in terms of a clinical sociopath.  Makes one wonder what she was like before the flames took her.  Is there a difference in personality, and, if so, how does it evidence?  Magda doesn't see it, but Quentin continually refers to it, so is it something other see, or just something he senses based on what he knows happened?

Magda and Quentin scenes are always fun.  They're fencing matches, with each trying not to give the other something that can be used against them.  And, unlike the family interactions, each knows the other for exactly what they are, and they are very alike in their greed, elastic morals, and eye out for the main chance.  And I agree with Midnight (again):Magda isn't as greedy as she makes out to be.  Like everyone else in this storyline, she's more than she seems on the surface. She also likes everyone to think she's worse than she is; I think to play on everyone's worst bigotries toward gypsies.  Hmm, thinking about that, it's another thing she has in common with Quentin, who also loves to make people think he's even worse than he really is.

Nice touch that MAGDA is the one who talks the information out of Nora, rather than her uncle.  Wonder what made him give in so fast and let her?  She did it well, but he's known Nora all her life, so one would think she would trust her uncle more than the strange gypsy lady  -- unless perhaps they're trying to tell us something about a lack of a relationship there. Is there anything I'm maybe missing here?

The scene with the urn is great.  There's a real level of malice here that you don't see even with his wish to kill Jenny. That seems to be a self defense necessity in his mind; this is something he's truly enjoying. I'm not sure whether it could best be called vindictiveness, revenge or the settling of a grudge, but the sense that comes through is that he wants her to suffer as long and painfully as possible.  I've also noticed a similiarity in his attitude toward Laura and his attitude toward Angelique when she was forcing him to do something she wanted. There's a combination of hate mixed with physical attraction there that once again reminds me of Avon and Servalan in Blake's 7. 

Jeannie

[MagnusTrask]

It never occurred to me that Laura might be different in personality before her last fire.   I've never seen 1966-7 Laura... it would be interesting if after multiple fires she was unbelievably psychotic by 1966, but I've never heard that she was.

Man I really do need a good Blake's 7 forum.

[Midnite]

with Laura we seem to be seeing someone even more selfish than even Quentin.  Her absorption in what she wants, and it's being all about her, makes me think in terms of a clinical sociopath.

You're right, of course.  Since dying by fire, Laura is probably as sociopathic as Barnabas was when he was released from his coffin-- both doing what they feel compelled to do by circumstances out of their control.  We don't condone what she wants to do with her children, but we understand her need to do it, same as with Barn's blood lust.  But risking the lives of the children in the school, regardless of her motive for doing it, was just crazy, and probably comparable to what Barnabas did to Maggie and its repercussions.

Makes one wonder what she was like before the flames took her.  Is there a difference in personality, and, if so, how does it evidence?

Well, she abandoned her children for her lover and didn't contact them at all prior to when she burned alive.  So in regard to being selfish, nope, she hasn't changed.

I've never seen 1966-7 Laura... it would be interesting if after multiple fires she was unbelievably psychotic by 1966, but I've never heard that she was.

The 1966/7 Laura was messed up.  She was described as being mentally unbalanced, an alcoholic, and was institutionalized for a time.  And Burke once talked about what she was like when she married Roger, and it was pretty surprising to learn she was a wild child back then, and not long before she became a mother.

[EmeraldRose]

Here I am again... Way behind! I'm so sorry I let myself get so behind. 

I agree that the expression on Tim's face when he carried Nora out of the "fire" was hysterical! (Especially since there was no fire visible when that happened!) The burning building looked really fake. Thanks for the screen capture, MB! I got a good laugh out of it! 

I concur that Laura was selfish and didn't care about anyone else except her children when she came back. But she wanted them so she could [spoiler]take them with her when she burned up again.[/spoiler]She didn't really care about them; she just wanted to use them for her own purposes. Evil!

I also enjoyed watching the scenes between Quentin and Magda. I wonder what really happened between Quentin and Laura in Alexandria? Too bad we never found out all the details. 

----- Sally -----

[Lydia]

I must say, I love the face Don Briscoe makes when carrying Nora back out of the room. Hysterical.

My thoughts were: "Werewolf?  No.  Vampire."

Yes, Midnight, you would think that Rachel's warning would have been more motivation than sheer spite against Edward, but then, with Laura we seem to be seeing someone even more selfish than even Quentin.  Her absorption in what she wants, and it's being all about her, makes me think in terms of a clinical sociopath.  Makes one wonder what she was like before the flames took her.  Is there a difference in personality, and, if so, how does it evidence?  Magda doesn't see it, but Quentin continually refers to it, so is it something other see, or just something he senses based on what he knows happened?

I was really surprised that Magda saw no change in Laura.  For the most part, Laura makes no bones about her determination to get what she wants, no matter what the cost to anybody else.  If that's how she was before, then I'm surprised that Edward married her in the first place.  As she is now, she doesn't seem like the type to attract him at any time.  Incidentally, did anybody else wonder why Edward had (as Quentin mentioned) gone to Collinsport an hour ago?  I was suddenly imagining prim and proper Edward doing the prim and proper Victorian male thing - i.e. visiting the local brothel.

As for Quentin seeing a difference in Laura, I figured he was referring solely to the fact that she had undergone a fiery death and emerged alive and unscathed.

That's an impressive fire in Laura's urn.  It continues burning even with the lid on and when the urn is hidden in a closed container.  It doesn't take the fire long to be visible above the rim of the urn when the lid of he urn is taken off.  I started thinking about the Goblet of Fire at Hogwarts.  Not the same thing, of course, but both fit into the Improbable Fire category.  And then Quentin poured dirt on Laura's fire and it apparently went out.  Odd.

When Laura showed the urn to Nora, Nora said, "It's an urn!"  Or something like that.  How many people besides me would have said, "It's a jar!"

[Pansity]

For the most part, Laura makes no bones about her determination to get what she wants, no matter what the cost to anybody else.  If that's how she was before, then I'm surprised that Edward married her in the first place.  As she is now, she doesn't seem like the type to attract him at any time.  Incidentally, did anybody else wonder why Edward had (as Quentin mentioned) gone to Collinsport an hour ago?  I was suddenly imagining prim and proper Edward doing the prim and proper Victorian male thing - i.e. visiting the local brothel.

You certainly do wonder about Edward and Laura.  Since they seemed to be hinting later that the Collins were very successful, extremely wealthy old money, you seriously wonder about how the heir apparent ended up with Laura.  The family's self important,better than everyone else attitude reminds me of how conscious of social status that level of society was.  To paraphrase a poorly remembered quote:  The Astors only talk to the Vanderbilts and the Vanderbilts talk only to God.  Remembering the local background they gave for all the previous Lauras, one wonders why Edward wasn't sicced on some socially prominent wealthy girl in the society marriage mart.

LOL very true about Edward and the brothel!  I could just see that. Of course he would do it quiet and discreetly,following  Victorian 101.  I think that was his issue with Quentin (if you didn't count Laura). Quentin wasn't making any effort to pretend he wasn't doing it, which was what men were supposed to do.

Jeannie