Discuss - Ep #0794

[Watching Project]

Robservations #794

[Pansity]

Ang standing there in horror as the hand failed to do its thing -- or did it too well (pick one.) Meanwhile we have Fenn-Gibbons  roaming outside.  Wolfie goes straight for the doorknob and out the door (getting a lot of practice, isn't he?).   Meanwhile Angie and the hand have disappeared to parts unknown, to FG’s great displeasure. Nice scene here with Angie and Victor fencing.  He has the upper hand though, as he knows more about her than she does of him.

Funky effect this time with Ang being tipped off by Barn’s portrait.  It almost sounds like an air raid siren.
 
Cut to the Blue Whale, where Aristede is getting what looks like a brandy – from an actor I could swear is the same one played Bob the Bartender (but with muttonchops).  You have to wonder how the Blue Whale has survived all these centuries, when they only seem to have 2-3 customers at a time.   They seem a bit more upscale then, too –  everyone seems to be drinking wine, liqueur or whiskey of some species in this scene. 

In walks a gypsy woman, nearly giving Victor a heart attack on the spot.  He thinks she brought the hand, but Aristede hasn’t seen her before.   Aristede talks her up and finds out that she’s Julianka and promises to help her find  Magda Racozy.

Barnabas and Angelique in the old house.  And now somehow it’s HER FAULT he got himself found out.   Only if you consider it her fault she didn’t hypnotize him into listening to her good common sense advice.  Sure, SHE’s responsible for the fact that he  hared  off and made mistake after mistake on his own.

He tells her to stop meddling because she will change history, and she points out that he’s done nothing BUT that since he arrived. GOOD SHOT ANG!     CHOKE COUGH  Barnabas is insisting he’s tried not to change history.  Really?  Could have fooled ME.   Hmm sounds like this really is a later Ang.  She is sick to death of waiting (inference is for Barnabas) and she’s going to start living her life, since even for those such as them, life was meant to be lived.

Again, door completely unlocked for Julianka to walk right in and roam around. At least Barn was out and about to challenge her.  Interesting – though she’s looking for Magda, she tells Barn that she’s there to end the curse.

LOL Wolfie does NOT like Aristede.  And again, instead of going for tearing and ripping, this wolf seems to combine human and wolf attack methods.

Ooh, just the sight of Victor calms the beast.  He makes no move to attack. What’s more, he understands when Victor speaks to him. Booga booga, yet another mystery about the mysterious Mr. Victor Fenn-Gibbons.

Jeannie

[MagnusTrask]

...and she’s going to start living her life, since even for those such as them, life was meant to be lived.

Ooh, just the sight of Victor calms the beast.  He makes no move to attack. What’s more, he understands when Victor speaks to him. Booga booga, yet another mystery about the mysterious Mr. Victor Fenn-Gibbons.

My two favorite parts, along with Julianka showing up.   I always want more of the reflective moments such as Ang's here, rather than non-stop plot developments.   I need for these events in DS to mean something, and for the characters to say or show that they do.

[Midnite]

an actor I could swear is the same one played Bob the Bartender (but with muttonchops).

If you look up the actor (Bob O'Connell, who played BtB) on IMDb, you'll see #794 in his credits.

[MagnusTrask]

Happy 7500 posts, Midnite!!

[Midnite]

Ah!

Thanks.   

[Pansity]

I always want more of the reflective moments such as Ang's here, rather than non-stop plot developments.   I need for these events in DS to mean something, and for the characters to say or show that they do.

You call them "reflective moments", I call it backstory or character development.  Same thing, different names.    We both like those little bits of business thrown in to give the characters more depth.

Thanks, Midnite, for the imdb info confirming it was Bob the Bartender (Bob O'Connell) in that scene.  Congrats also on the massive amt's of posts that Magnus pointed out.    The rest of us have NO chance of getting close.  (Though I was happy to see that somewhere along the line I crossed the line to Sr. Poster lately.)

Jeannie

[MagnusTrask]

You call them "reflective moments", I call it backstory or character development.  Same thing, different names.    We both like those little bits of business thrown in to give the characters more depth.

Actuially in this case I wasn't talking about backstory, but a character stopping to reflect on what recent events mean to him/her, or reflect on life or her/his life situation.   Angelique said that even people such as Barnabas and she needed to live their lives, rather than obsessively pursuing obligations or other goals, though I'm rephrasing.

The biggest letdown and defect in the 1968 story was that so little time was spent on Barnabas's thoughts and feelings after becoming human again.   It became all plot, plot, plot, and what ought to have been a great part of the DS story was pushed aside in favor of an aggravated Frankenstein monster and his endless threats.

[alwaysdavid]

The Blue Whale gets used but not by the biggest drinker in the family.  It seems odd that Quentin would not be there as a regular, but I suppose the need for a bartender and paying the actor to play him would be a problem.   Victor's hatred of the gypsies is comical for a rather imposing figure. 
Barnabas is so self delusional.  He has changed everything so that there is probably nothing left of the original time whatever that may have been.  And why is Barnabas at the Old House when he is being hunted? 

[EmeraldRose]

Major Milestones:
1. First appearance of Julianka.
2. Victor told Aristede that the letter to Edward from the Earl of Hampshire was a forgery!
3. Julianka told Barnabas that Sandor found her in Montreal and was still there.
4. Angelique was "summoned" by Barnabas through his portrait.
5. Julianka gave Barnabas 24 hours to get the Hand from Angelique.
6. Victor was able to calm down and actually talk to the Werewolf. Victor was the first person to be able to do that.
7. It was revealed, when Victor felt fear when he saw Julianka, that he was afraid of gypsies.

That was strange when Angelique heard that weird sound coming from Barnabas's portrait. [spoiler]It was the same sound effect that was used when Peter was coming back to 1968 from the past. It was the specter of light that Vicki saw.[/spoiler] That was a pretty neat sound effect. I like it!

Barnabas told Angelique that he "tried not to change history". Well, he certainly did not do a very good job! Angelique was changing history, too. 

It was a nice touch when they cast Bob O'Connell in the role of the Blue Whale bartender, like he played Bob the Bartender in the "present". Come to think of it, I recall he played the bartender in 1795/96, also.

I thought Julianka was cool when I was a teenager.  She had great hair, and pretty eyes, and that clipped diction that sounded foreign and neat.

I agree with Robin, except I still think Julianka was really cool, etc. I guess I never grew up!

It was great when Victor was able to control the Werewolf. He certainly seemed to have some strange powers. 

----- Sally -----

[MagnusTrask]

Julianka is cool.   It's the aloofness, the fact that she's so small yet so fearless, walking around in a costume that makes a wonderful walking spectacle out of her, yet she has absolutely no use for anyone who might be attracted by it or her... 

[Midnite]

We learn the names of 3 new characters in as many eps.  The 2nd half of 1897 sure starts off with a bang.

The boom mic also drops in.  Twice.

Aristede is a terrific character.  But my god, did he really need so much eye makeup?

Aristede to Julianka:  "I have a fondness for gypsies."
And I get to play one in Parallel Time.

When Victor told Aristede to meet him in the woods outside Collinwood, he neglected to mention that a werewolf was loose on the estate.  Nice.  And yet, Aristede seemed willing to sacrifice himself to save his master.  What a fascinating relationship those two have.  Victor took immediate and complete control of the werewolf, but had to order Aristede to leave twice; lol, who's the more obedient subject?

Julianka, sigh.  So much potential there.

Petofi gets aged quite a bit in this ep.  In #766, Magda said she was a child when the old gypsy (Julianka's mother) cursed him.  Now we learn from Julianka that the curse was her great grandmother's and there were a couple of generations in between.  His fear of gypsies, however, does jibe with Quentin's ramblings about being in the forest with nine gypsies closing in.  Brrr.

Hmm sounds like this really is a later Ang.

There's much beyond this conversation to indicate that everything we've seen of her so far in the series is part of her past, including her Cassandra days.  Her powers are now considerable, apparently improved during her time spent in hell, but not good enough to master the hand.  Ouch.

It must be nearly midnight by the time we get to the Blue Whale scene.  Maybe that explains its lack of customers?

why is Barnabas at the Old House when he is being hunted?

I guess the mundane reasons are that it was his meeting place with Angelique because the room was already dressed for the opening scene, and he was still there when Julianka showed up to help move the plot along.  But logistically, I agree, it makes no sense for him to be spending time there.

[Midnite]

Congrats also on the massive amt's of posts that Magnus pointed out.    The rest of us have NO chance of getting close.  (Though I was happy to see that somewhere along the line I crossed the line to Sr. Poster lately.)

Thank you.  But a certain gentleman is already close-- so close that I can feel his warm breath on my neck. 

Belated congrats on reaching Senior level, Jeannie.

BTW, if anyone hasn't seen Diana Davila's memorable performance in "Play It Again Sam" (or wants to see it again since it's SO good), here's a clip of Woody Allen trying to pick up her character in the art museum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0yuqpk00Ts

[Lydia]

You have to wonder how the Blue Whale has survived all these centuries, when they only seem to have 2-3 customers at a time.

Money-laundering, maybe.

Funky effect this time with Ang being tipped off by Barn’s portrait.  It almost sounds like an air raid siren.

Thanks for the explanation.  I was so put off by the sound effect (or anyway, that's my excuse) that I didn't figure out what was going on.  I don't remember Barnabas summoning Angelique in that way at any other time.  And really the whole summoning and conversation seem unnecessary to me - but that's just me.

When Angelique said to Victor Fenn-Gibbon, "I was engaged to a Collins, but..." somehow I really expected her to say, "he turned out to be a vampire."  But she went the conventional route and said, "it didn't work out."  Such a pity; they were having such a very polite conversation that I would have loved to hear Mr. Fenn-Gibbon's polite response to Angelique's sad disclosure.

[IluvBarnabas]

The biggest letdown and defect in the 1968 story was that so little time was spent on Barnabas's thoughts and feelings after becoming human again.   It became all plot, plot, plot, and what ought to have been a great part of the DS story was pushed aside in favor of an aggravated Frankenstein monster and his endless threats.

I'm not sure I would say that Barnabas' feelings about being human again in 1968 were NOT addressed enough. We did have some wonderful scenes in which [spoiler]Barnabas went out on the balcony in his room at the hospital and he's just awed at seeing the sun again. And another where he's looking at his reflection in the mirror. [/spoiler] I think the fact that he wanted to stay human no matter what he had to do proves how much he appreciated being a human being again.

I have always thought that Barnabas has been getting a hard rap from a lot of posters about changing history, when his intention had never really been that...he never wanted to go to 1897 at all, really. However, he does sound like a moron when he tells Angelique that he has tried not to change history...while that may be true, the way he says it makes him sound like he actually believes he has NOT changed history, when we know that he has. He does sound idiotic in this episode.

Angelique, on the other hand, I think may be intentionally changing history, certainly if she marries Quentin that would be a big change for the future. I don't think it would have been a change for the better, however, since [spoiler]when Jamison learns that Quentin rejected Beth for her, he rejects him, and would still have hated his guts if Angelique and Quentin had wed.[/spoiler] She once told Barnabas she did care for David, but I didn't buy it then,  and I don't know. I don't think she cares if David lives or dies or if that dilemna depended on her plans for Quentin.

I liked Julianka too.