Ok coming in late here. Interesting that in the voice over, JB refers to Laura letting Jenny out. Well, I guess, from a certain point of view (as an old Jedi once said....).
Good point about Dirk giving her the knife too soon. Everyone seems to have their own little delusions that an unpredictable madwoman will do just what they need her to do. And once again, roughing her up when a little reason might have gotten her to go quietly. Does it strike anyone else as odd that Dirk goes through the entrance to the servants quarters (which we know also goes to the kitchen) and comes back with a dagger. Wouldn't a kitchen knife or butcher knife make more sense? Most people don't just have daggers lying about for convenient use -- but a fully supplied kitchen on an estate with a gamekeeper would have quite a selection of knives for the dressing of fresh game.
Nice touch with the reference to the "House by the Sea". Don't remember if they mentioned it by name before in this storyline, but it ties the past and the present together nicely. And nice type of loyalty Dirk has -- Judith could have been killed because he didn't fess up that Jenny was in the Drawing Room.
But poor Jenny -- was what she was hearing her own delusions, or Laura inspired to egg her on? (I'm thinking her own, but it would be an interesting point of discussion.) Judith was blind lucky she changed her mind and used the candlestick instead of the knife. And Quentin was blind UNLUCKY wanting to come in right then. Of course, he might have had the pure bad luck for Jenny to have already been in the vestibule when he opened the door, and once again he would have ended with a knife in his chest. Makes you wonder what Barnabas would have done to bring him back to life THIS time.
Interesting choice in having Jenny go on about her father being a King in India [spoiler](since that's where it's theorized the Romany originated. Wonder if there was anything to that other than pure coincidence?)[/spoiler]
Another interesting point here with Quentin not coming in the house. What exactly are we to suppose he saw? When he opened the door, did he know Jenny had a knife? Did he hear voices, or know someone was in there with her? Did he shut the door and wait, KNOWING Judith was alone with a madwoman with a knife? At this point in his character evolution. I think he's quite capable of doing that, without a second thought, if he thought it would save his own skin.
In the scene with Judith, the irresponsible, let everyone else clean up his messes Quentin shows a sense of responsibility, dark, twisted and without compassion though it is. He caused the problem, he's going to fix it. Yet Judith's solution is the better one (though maybe he doesn't believe she'll go through with it). Ship Jenny off to an asylum hundreds or more miles away and that should keep him alive. Maybe that's the key: Quentin may fully believe that the family (especially Judith) would rather see him dead than chance someone finding out that Jenny was mad. Rid herself of two problems at the same time. It's what I've been calling the "Little Foxes" type mindset. Not killing someone inconvenient oneself, but standing there and letting an external factor do the dirty work for you, and not lift a finger to prevent it.
Scene with Barnabas and Jenny is quite interesting. Barnabas opens to door to an irrational woman who's looking for Quentin, he knows Quentin's mad wife is on the property, and he doesn't put it together (judging from when we see the sudden flash of fear in his eyes) until she says her name is Jenny? He's not normally that slow on the uptake.
There's probably been a thread on this somewhere but I do get the feeling that the writers are trying to show Jenny as having multiple personalities. The way she suddenly forgets she's met Barnabas, and her change in attitude, even in tone of voice. Marie did a wonderful job playing Jenny as realistically "mad" (or whatever other general term one chooses to use for her mental disturbance). She has an internal logic, but it doesn't connect with the rest of the world.
Oh just spotted a minor interesting little filming thing [spoiler]The bit where Jenny is singing the lullabye, framed by the spokes of the staircase -- the framing is almost identical (at least to me it looks so) to the shot in 1995 of the mad Quentin shot through the banister. Artistic preference, or a throwback in 1995 to the poetic justice of Quentin's being driven insane? Of course, I'm probably giving the show too much credit there.[/spoiler]
Another clue to the whys and wherefores: Jenny's statement that "they were afraid some harm would come to them" being the reason the babies were taken away. Are we to connect this with the broken doll (head I think) that was mentioned in an episode? From what we see, IF Jenny was mad when the children were still with her, though taking them away probably made her much worse, I can't see that they had a choice to keep the babies safe. If she went through one of her violent personality swings, she could have killed one or both of them without even knowing it. So, some partial credit to Edward and Judith. They had enough humanity to not want Quentin's children killed, even inadvertantly.
On the marrying in a church. Maybe it's a delusion of Jenny's maybe not. It might have been the quickest way to get married in that time and place, and everything we know about Quentin points to him marrying her on impulse, whereever they were. And in the later scene with Barnabas Jenny mentioned them being married two months before going to see his family. Presumably they were travelling around during that time, from the way Jenny takes Barnabas for a bellhop. Nice period touch, the wife wouldn't deal with money, it was the husband's job (not to mention he's the one with the fat allowance from grandmamamamama).
The "animal with a knife" "animal with a gun" scene is a good one. Also nice foreshadowing of what comes later. I notice that she didn't resist him very hard when he moves her arm to go by.
Barnabas sure developed a sudden skill for knowing what would motivate Jenny. Makeup and girly things and pretty dresses. And LOL on Dirk and Quentin's verbal pissing match.
I DO think that's Marie's hair by the way. I think she mentioned something in her book about teasing it up to play Jenny.
Poor poor Jenny, primping and all vulnerable and hopeful for her meeting with the "animal with a gun". And does anyone else wonder how Quentin knew which room is Josette's room?
