Discuss - Ep #0884

Robservations #884

It's like the day after Labor Day in a summer resort.  Last week Dark Shadows was bustling with characters, but by the end of today's episode there were hardly any left.
　
Jerry Lacy was wonderful today.  I truly believed that Trask was scared of the dark, crazed, and ready for suicide.  But he was still very much Trask, so I couldn't feel sorry for him, even in his darkest, most vulnerable hour.  I was sure that if Judith were to let him out, he would be his old self again in no time.
　
It looks as though Barnabas was planning to forget all thought of returning to 1969, and to stay in 1897 to live out his life with Kitty.  If Jonathan Frid had wanted to leave the show, that would have been a nice way of doing it.  Poor Julia would have researched his fate in some old periodicals or something.  I imagine she would have gone back to Windcliff, because at this point I don't think her place at Collinwood was sufficiently cemented for her to stay - but maybe it's just that I've lost touch with the 1969 folks.  Would Barnabas have gone looking for Quentin and continued to try to help him, or would he have been too enchanted by his wife ever to leave her side?  Once Barnabas and Kitty left Collinwood, would Josette have continued to appear in Kitty?  And if not, would Barnabas have remained interested in Kitty?
　
I love seeing Kitty wafted up to the portrait or Josette.  The execution of the idea isn't perfect, and furthermore I feel very sorry for Kitty, but none of that matters.  I just love seeing it happen.

I'm headed to watch the episode!  I have been gone far too long and want to get back into the Watching Project! I really miss you guys!

From #885:

[spoiler]Together, they fade into the portrait and disappear.[/spoiler]

You know, I don't think I've ever seen this particular scene!!

I've seen the remaining ep (885?), but not where [spoiler]Kitty & Barn fade into Chosette's portrait.[/spoiler]

Also, doesn't it seem interesting how Chosette's portrait 'comes to life' during the Chas. Delaware segment? (They sort of go hand-in-hand.)

Great stuff!

THANKS ROBIN

Patti

(edited by admin)

Could Petofi have survived?  Were the glasses just a ruse.  It's hard to imagine though that Garth who was quite powerful couldn't have easily snapped the doughy old Petofi.   
More Tate. It just won't end.  He lamants his work being destroyed as Greggory then destroys another of his works that Judith had so kindly left for him to meditate on.  Apparently this isn't the original that created Amanda as we get to see her and hear another tortured lovers meeting and parting.
It's interesting that Josette only talks to Kitty.  One would think she would contact Barnabas, but then she didn't appear to him when he returned to Collinwood in 1967.  Josette tells her she must forget that she is Kitty.  Maybe she is the reincarnation of Josette, but it seems that the spirit is trying to take her over.  It was thrilling to see her start to disappear into the portrait.  The reverse of when her ghost would exit the portrait and wander about the old house.
I see the gramophone has appeared in Q's room.  This is a very satisfying conclusion to the Trask saga.

More Tate. It just won't end.  He lamants his work being destroyed as Greggory then destroys another of his works that Judith had so kindly left for him to meditate on.  Apparently this isn't the original that created Amanda as we get to see her and hear another tortured lovers meeting and parting.

My impression is that although Amanda's existence generated by the painting, it was not dependent on the painting after that.  But if Amanda believed otherwise, that could be an additional reason why she was horrified at learning of her origin.

Well, I guess Blackwood ceased to be because his sketch burned.

Look ma, I'm jumping on the WP bandwagon slash juggernaut.

Trask thinks about the children he semi-tortured, imagines them calling "Let me out!" then immediately does so himself.  That's very real.

I LOLed at Amanda portrait.  I thought it would be the gun.

Nice moment of regret from Kitty regarding her gold-diggerism, and final reflective moment from Judith, where she appreciates her resolving to act, much like Judith herself just did.

More day-glo yellow-green note paper.  I remember that.

We all need a Garth Blackwood to tie up the loose ends of our lives so neatly.

Greg Trask somehow rests in peace in Q's room for the next 70 years, whereas Quentin didn't.   Strange.  I guess Gregory did find peace at Collinwood!   He must have gotten in some especially good meditation in that room before the end, in those quiet moments between screams.   Or Primal Scream works!   

Maybe our past life personalities are part "us", part not us... a lot may be lost in the transition between bodies.   So maybe a past personality could "possess" a present one.   Imagine a partial-you threatening "you"... disturbing.   Talk about being conflicted.

Judith has a bow-tie on her abdomen.

Just saw "Of Human Bondage", about people being tied totally and completely to a love-object, no matter how unreciprocated or foolish it is, and this making sane people ignore all reason, while knowing better.   That's Barnabas.   

With the emotional deadening this neurological thing of mine causes, I keep having to use the music as an emotional "reset button" to reconnect me a little bit with what I'm supposed to be feeling from these scenes.   The music is eternal; it seems to reactivate a slender thread that reaches back to my early days of watching.  I'm glad that that's still possible.

Trask couldn't even wait till the last candle went out to use the gun... it made me think of a movie with Peter Sellers, a dead-serious one, where people hiding in a sealed bunker from Nazis live there for years after the last candle flickers out.

It's not Barnabas's fault, maybe, that Josette keeps pestering Kitty... would BC have accepted Kitty as herself?  Maybe.   He was still destructively clueless, as regards the intolerable pressures on Kitty at this point.   Maybe most of us are like that.

KH entering portrait, it does give a sense of something big coming... and it's totally unexpected except that I knew it was going to happen....

The Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s) topics for this ep have been posted. They're backdated to the 15th and are currently on Page 2 of the CTP/FITBs-Y4 board beginning with this topic:

Episode #0884

- but they'll move on once I post more of the delayed topics...

I couldn't believe that Barnabas actually believed Tate would be willing to paint another portrait of Quentin....he's all too aware of the hatred between them. Barnabas should have been keeping an eye on Tate, but I suppose his mind was too preoccupied with Kitty.

We haven't seen Edward since he announced his engagement to Kitty....I would have loved to have seen a scene between him, Barnabas and Kitty and her telling Edward she was going to wed Barnabas, not him. Can you imagine how bruised Edward's ego would have been...to be rejected by another woman for ANOTHER relative? Would he have thrown a punch at Barnabas? True it wouldn't be in Edward's character, but still...

Loved to see Trask get his. He's been trapped in a darkened room, and he's terrified...now he knows the fear and anguish he put Jamison and countless other children through when he locked them in the closet at Worthington Hall.

We have finally reached the end of 1897. What a journey.