Discuss - Ep #0777

[Watching Project]

Robservations #777

[Pansity]

We open with Judith being consoled by Trask about her victimization, and find out that she is blessedly ignorant of the fact that Dirk forced her to murder Rachel.  She is just trusting as all getout and totally relying on the smarm Gregory.  Hm, makes me wonder if there’s some connection with smart women being bitten by vamps, and they’re going completely unperceptive and downright stupid afterward.  Any takers?

Tim is an idiot, bursting into Collinwood that way, even if he thinks he has the upper hand.  There’s serious irony in Trask’s line “it’s easy to accuse, Timothy but harder to prove.”  Isn’t that just the kind of circumstantial evidence he has against Tim? Nothing but HIS word that it’s not a natural death.  I doubt the Collinsport coroner (probably the local GP to boot) has anything even resembling what would be the period equivalent of a tox screen.

Poor Judith,  she still has enough brains and fairness to completely analyze Tim’s story and compare it to her memories of coming back to the house.   She knows, and can’t pretend she doesn’t know, that Tim is telling the truth about the period she doesn’t remember.   JB did a great job with this scene.  And there’s Gregory lurking like a spider to pick up the pieces.   Ohh we see just how evil Trask is in this scene, as the audience knows what Judith does not – that Trask put Tim under the same kind of spell to kill his wife.  What a lovely look at hypocrisy at its finest.  Its not Judith’s fault because she was under a spell, yet Tim is fully to blame though he was under a similar spell.   I think Trask overplayed his hand going after Tim so gung ho, apparently for no reason other than revenge. If it had been brushed off as natural causes in a woman of a certain age, it all would have gone away very quietly – and ironically, would have kept a lot of future events from happening (probably including Tim’s  introducing to Collinsport one Amanda  Harris.)

You do see in these scenes the beginnings of the calculating, on the make Tim Shaw that we see later.  Nice job by Don Briscoe. Yet, in retrospect, you wonder how much of the operator was there under the surface, such as the way he fit in with the Trasks to the point where he was going to marry Charity.

Hmm where have I heard Trask’s argument before?  YOU didn’t kill her, Dirk did.  Sounds like a replay of Beth and Quentin about the werewolf.  Notice that neither Judith nor Quentin bought it – both KNEW (even the self absorbed irresponsible Quentin) that in the long run they were the ones responsible.  Very skilled manipulator there, he turns her fear of the gallows into hurting HIM if she died. Wait, did he say Sheriff DRUMMOND?  Anyone know if that was really the guy’s name or a blooper?

And into this mess comes Carl, babbling about how Edward should have stopped in mid staking to ask Dirk about Pansy.  Self absorption  runs rampant in this family, doesn’t it.   He does show he has brains about some things, and an inconvenient curiosity  on the same level as Quentin’s.  Judith wants Rachel buried right away, Carl thinks this sounds weird and won’t let it go.  Once again, as with at Quentin’s coffin, we see under the jolly joker mask that Carl can be quite a determined and ruthless character. (I'm reminded of Clau-clau-claudius again).

And, with a musical cue, we see Tim meet the shade of Pansy Faye.  But it seems he’s not the droid she’s looking for.
Ugh is it not creepy to watch Trask doing the service for Rachel?  Surely the last person on earth SHE’D want to have done it. Pretty sparcely attended too, wonder if that was deliberate staging or the 5 castmembers rule again?  No Edward, Charity, teachers from the school, or house servants from Collinwood (Q missing too, but he’d probably have ducked it anyway).  Not even pallbearers or gravediggers, it seems to be implied that Carl and Tim did all that themselves.

Ok, now Pansy's music is starting to bug me.  NO one questions music from a gramophone in either the Old House or the cemetery.  Is it supposed to be a clue they’re ignoring that it’s a spook?  Or  did the production people just not think to have her sing the music a capella?

And we have a fadeout as Carl finally realizes that music in the graveyard means a dead Pansy.

Jeannie

[alwaysdavid]

Judith has become very familiar with Trask now calling him Greggory. Trask caressing her neck is oh! so creepy.  Why does Tim hear and see Pansy?  One would think that she would appear to someone she knew.  I  kept thinking during Rachel's paltry funeral that Barnabas must have I Chinged a modern casket back to 1897.

[MagnusTrask]

I really like that awkward moment when Tim sees Pansy.  Real life unpredictability meets the supernatural.   I don't think ghosts just appear to individuals usually, it's just that ghosts choose moments to appear when others aren't around.   Generally if they manifest, anyone can see them.  I think.

[EmeraldRose]

Major Milestones:
1. Kay Frye did the opening voiceover. This was the first and only time she did so. She did an excellent job, too! Was this the first time that an actor/actress who played a ghost spoke the voiceover?
2. Tim made a deal with Trask: Tim wouldn't say anything about Judith killing Rachel, and Trask wouldn't say anything about Tim killing Minerva.
3. Trask made up stories about Minerva's and Rachel's murders. He gave Tim an alibi, and lied that some unknown person shot Rachel by accident.  
4. Trask let Tim leave the school, and Tim made Judith agree to speak to Edward about a job for him.
5. Pansy, looking for Carl, appeared to Tim and sang her music at the graveyard for Carl to hear. Carl figured that Pansy must have bene dead.

I thought it was ironic that Judith was under Dirk's influence, and Tim was under Evan's (really Trask's) influence. Judith and Tim both were in trances and didn't remember committing murder.

Yes, indeed, this episode was the beginning of a conniving Tim. It was great to watch him make those deals! He really stood up for himself. He got a backbone after years of being beaten down by Trask.

I felt sorry for Carl when he just missed seeing Pansy! He sounded so sad when he was calling her name.

It was pretty disgusting that Trask presided over the funeral service for Rachel. I agree, there should have been more people attending. I wonder, where were Quentin, Edward, and Beth? They should have been there.  

----- Sally -----

[Midnite]

Was this the first time that an actor/actress who played a ghost spoke the voiceover?

The same thing happened recently.

[EmeraldRose]

Oh, OK.

If you're talking about Quentin: [spoiler]He was a zombie at the time, not a ghost.[/spoiler] I guess I have a poor memory - I've forgotten who it was.

----- Sally-----

[Midnite]

Dorcas

[EmeraldRose]

Oh, yeah! That's right! Thanks, Midnite!

----- Sally -----

[Midnite]

That Gregory-- so devious and sure of himself (he sure pulled that gun out fast as soon as Tim showed his face!!) and quick on his feet at fabricating stories and coming up with a convincing argument.  Now I'm thinking that he probably used Tim's escape with Rachel as an opportunity to murder his own brother-in-law and frame Tim for it.

Barnabas must have I Chinged a modern casket back to 1897.

I loved Tim's should-I-stay-or-should-I-go? routine in the foyer when Gregory got on the phone.

Gregory (about Minerva):  "She was a very understanding woman."
 

Carl (about Pansy):  "She's ... refined, cultured.  She's English."
Well, he got 1 out of 3 right.

There’s serious irony in Trask’s line “it’s easy to accuse, Timothy but harder to prove.”  Isn’t that just the kind of circumstantial evidence he has against Tim? Nothing but HIS word that it’s not a natural death.

I think Gregory's phone call showed that his word has sway with local law enforcement.  If the reverend/headmaster says it's so, then it's to be believed.  Tim wouldn't stand a chance against that.

NO one questions music from a gramophone in either the Old House or the cemetery.  Is it supposed to be a clue they’re ignoring that it’s a spook?  Or  did the production people just not think to have her sing the music a capella?

She WAS singing a capella in the Old House, just humming the music.  Adding the musical accompaniment to the graveyard scene may have been intentional, perhaps to make it a little creepier (as if a cemetery isn't creepy enough ), or maybe to show how Carl was able to figure out she was dead.

I'd like to add the children to the lists already given of people that should have attended Rachel's service.

[Lydia]

Great episode.

Judith has become very familiar with Trask now calling him Greggory. Trask caressing her neck is oh! so creepy.

Caressing her neck, caressing her (clothed) shoulders, caressing I can't remember what else...Trask isn't wasting any time, is he?

That Gregory-- so devious and sure of himself (he sure pulled that gun out fast as soon as Tim showed his face!!) and quick on his feet at fabricating stories and coming up with a convincing argument.  Now I'm thinking that he probably used Tim's escape with Rachel as an opportunity to murder his own brother-in-law and frame Tim for it.

Ooh, perfect idea!

I think Gregory's phone call showed that his word has sway with local law enforcement.  If the reverend/headmaster says it's so, then it's to be believed.  Tim wouldn't stand a chance against that.

But at some point the police (pronounce "po-lice" by Trask) had to have started wondering.  Surely Evan Hanley had told the police that he had found Tim right there with Mrs. Trask when her corpse was still warm - and now here's Trask telling them Tim was in Bangor that night!

I'm wondering when the writers put together the plan to have Rachel Drummond's death balance out Minerva Trask's.  When did they learn that Kathryn Leigh Scott would be taking a break?  Was it before or after the plan to murder Minerva had been initiated?   If it was after, then how were they planning to resolve the hunt for fugitive Tim, given that they wouldn't have known that Rachel was going to be killed?  Mind you, I have no complaints about the resolution we got.  It's wonderfully callous.

In another area of callousness, nobody's worrying about Pansy Faye's disappearance, as Carl points out.  I daresay the police think she left town when she found out that the Collinses were putting up a stiff opposition to her marrying Carl.  Or else they figure she went down to the docks for some extracurricular entertainment and met what is the usual fate these days of girls on the docks.  But there you are: nobody worries much about the disappearance of a lower-class girl.

[Pansity]

Caressing her neck, caressing her (clothed) shoulders, caressing I can't remember what else...Trask isn't wasting any time, is he?

He sure isn't.  So much for respecting the LOOONG mourning period which was customary in Victorian times.  Considering what he was trying to do, you'd wonder about him moving so quickly that it could be called scandalous. We all know what extremes the Collins will go to in the name of preventing scandal.

That Gregory-- so devious and sure of himself (he sure pulled that gun out fast as soon as Tim showed his face!!) and quick on his feet at fabricating stories and coming up with a convincing argument.  Now I'm thinking that he probably used Tim's escape with Rachel as an opportunity to murder his own brother-in-law and frame Tim for it.

Ooh, perfect idea!

I like that idea too.  Its very devious and oh so in character for Trask.  He's quite the operator, and I could see him diving head first on such a tempting opportunity to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone.

Mind you, I have no complaints about the resolution we got.  It's wonderfully callous.

Thats why I love 1897.  Galloping inconsistancies not withstanding, they got the FEEL of the period spot on.  That kind of complete callousness varied with sentimentalism (not to mention the obligatory touch of jaw dropping hypocracy) is the Victorian era in a nutshell.

In another area of callousness, nobody's worrying about Pansy Faye's disappearance, as Carl points out.  I daresay the police think she left town when she found out that the Collinses were putting up a stiff opposition to her marrying Carl.  Or else they figure she went down to the docks for some extracurricular entertainment and met what is the usual fate these days of girls on the docks.  But there you are: nobody worries much about the disappearance of a lower-class girl.

Especially if that lower class girl can be self righteously written off as a "soiled dove" beneath the notice of respectable people.

Jeannie