Discuss - Ep #0890

Robservations #890

I'm trying to make Chris Bernau's reading of Philip Todd's line "Very easy.  And very nice," work.  It's tough going, though.  He says it so matter-of-factly in response to Megan's "How can you love me?"  Obviously it was supposed to be said romantically.  It wasn't said that way.  So here I sit, trying to make it into a quirky aspect of Philip's personality that he can't speak lovingly to save his life.  I love a show that challenges me.
　
Poor Julia.  Barnabas had just explained to her why he had reacted so unenthusiastically to her friendliness (which suggests that Chris Bernau would have done just fine if he had played Barnabas for this storyline, but I'm sort of glad he didn't) when along comes Carolyn, and Barnabas is fawning all over her.  And then, oh the horror of the thought that something might happen to Carolyn![spoiler]Barnabas would sure be in the soup if he had to report to Oberon that Carolyn had been wolfed down by a werewolf.[/spoiler]
　
It's strange to see Barnabas dropping Chris like a hot potato while Julia keeps on trying to help Chris.  Back before the 1897 cruise, Julia didn't want to get involved but Barnabas insisted.  And now Barnabas is being far too vehement in telling Carolyn to forget Chris.  That's the perfect way to get a girl to stick to a guy like a leech.  And asking her to wear the pentagram all the time?  What right has he to ask that of her?  She's not sweet little Rachel who would wear the Coptic cross all the time just to please Barnabas.  And he couldn't even be bothered to give Carolyn a chain for it. 

When Barnabas presented the box to Carolyn, it seemed sort of wrong for him to be giving anybody anything but the music box.  But right now he has probably forgotten that the music box even exists.

BC chides JH with: "You see something sinister in everything you look at."   Does he remember what town he's living in?!   

What's Julia's medical specialty?

Barnabas should have sounded less duplicitous when warning Carolyn off of Chris.   It makes perfect sense for him to do it anyway, and to give her the pendant, and if he'd toned it down, it could have been left mysterious how much he is or isn't being controlled.

So the symbol is called "The Naga"....

Yes the Naga is a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology!  I think that is pretty interesting.  I wonder which writer came up with all that?  Back in those days one didn't have the net to quickly find and answer.  However, they were writers and I am sure they were all very erudite and had studied these dieties in college perhaps?

Again I will be back later to day to comment more on this episode!  So glad to be back with my DS buddies.  I have truly missed you guys in the WP!  

If interested there is a lovely page on Wikipedia about the Naga!  I read it the last time I watched these episodes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%81ga

Very interesting page about the Nāga. Thanks so much for the link, Taelyor. 

The captures for this ep have been added to Robservations. The easiest way to access them is by clicking the link in the first post.

So glad to be back with my DS buddies.  I have truly missed you guys in the WP!  

Likewise!  And thanks also for the link...

Remember:

Monday, November 23, No Episode, originally Monday, November 24, 1969 was the Apollo 12 splashdown

In retrospect, I can see how upsetting this episode must have been to the old guard of DS fans back in the day.  The way Frid plays LeviaBarn is so subtle, cold, calculating, and insidious--a very different kind of villain from the 1967 Barnabas (who was sort of a debonair Mr. Hyde, or at least that's one way I would describe him).  Frid's physicality and body language are so different from his previous work.  Really excellent work from him in this show.  Just how unnerving the fans found it can be viewed as kind of a tribute to how deftly he conveyed the character's new ruthlessness and froideur.

From a theatrical point of view, the Barnabas/Julia dynamic seems more lively when they're at odds rather than when they're in sync.  Both actors had wonderful chemistry in their scenes together.  I find the scene where Barnabas tries to throw Julia out of the house and berates her for her "curious belief that you have the right to know everything about me" one of the most disturbing moments in the entire series.  It's like one of those moments when a pit seems to open beneath one's feet and you wonder whether you really know a person who has been in your life for years when they suddenly behave in a turn-on-a-dime about-face from established patterns.

G.

It's like one of those moments when a pit seems to open beneath one's feet and you wonder whether you really know a person who has been in your life for years when they suddenly behave in a turn-on-a-dime about-face from established patterns.

Good point....

It's like one of those moments when a pit seems to open beneath one's feet and you wonder whether you really know a person who has been in your life for years when they suddenly behave in a turn-on-a-dime about-face from established patterns.

Sadly I have experienced that with about two people only in my life!  I am sure you guy have to! It's unfortunate!

Great post Gothick and oh how I missed your words.  Thank you so much for introducing me to the word froideur! You would make Natalie proud!  Both of them!  Hee How I have missed learning new words from you my friends on the DS Forum!  I can't wait to use it! TEE HEE

VO:NB

(Again)  However, I don't mind because Nancy B does fabulous voice over’s. She is among my favorite voice over actors!   I like the lighting for today's recreation of yesterday's final scene!  It is very dark, with light in all the right places and a mysterious air about it.  Don't you just love when technicians pay attention to detai?? As Jonathan once said, “….It was a good looking show”  I think in many ways DS raised the bar for other soaps on a technical level as well as the acting!

One would think Barnabas would want to play nice with Julia.  Those Leviathans are off to a bad start.  One does not want Miss Hoffman suspicious of them! As Gothick touched on, I think that Jonathan Frid is relishing this new Barnabas! Although he played B for most of the shows duration he was able to (at least) do different characterizations of him!

Barnabas we are friends aren't we?” Julia says with so much love dripping from her voice!

Barnabas replies, “You see something sinister in everything…”  UH Barnabas…this is Collinsport for God's sake I would see something sinister in my morning coffee!

I wanted to point out that we were talking about DS & Wars in another thread.  I thought it was neat that the writers let Phillip say, “I mean we are sending men to the moon…”  It was nice to touch to add and brought a bit of realness to DS!  It's dated now but for the time it was good move!

Phillip seems awful anxious to get to bed!  Hubba hubba! Ha!

I love Grayson’s “false lashes” Very subtle!  The play up her eyes well and I like them much more than the butterfly lashes!

I missed you too, Taeylor!

How interesting that Magnus said Barnabas should have toned down his deceptiveness while Gothick called the performance subtle.  I fall more into Magnus' camp-- while I'm relishing JF's unrelenting wickedness (it's too bad TPTB didn't have the cojones to stick with it despite fan impatience) and especially enjoyed his villain-pretending-to-be-warm-and-fuzzy turn opposite Julia in this ep, it just would've made more sense for the sake of his mission to not fawn over Carolyn quite so much in front of Julia.  And no offense, but I'm just not seeing the subtlety.

I can't say I'm surprised that Carolyn chose Barnabas' advice over Julia's.  He seemed to be playing along with her insecurities and fears whereas Julia dismissed them outright.  [Using Carolyn as an example,] when the voice inside a woman's head tells her that a man is being guarded, then hello, her subconscious knows that he probably IS hiding something.

What's Julia's medical specialty?

Hematology and Psychiatry

As for Julia's medical proclivities, did anyone else find it amusing that she would purchase a pill box?

The voiceover tells us that the mysterious box is something that Barnabas "somehow brought from the past"; did the writers realize that they made a mistake by having him appear in the present holding the freakin' book instead of the freakin' box?  The redo of the first scene has Julia wearing her gloves instead of carrying them, and we come to realize that Carolyn is a budding water conservationist because she wears the same skirt and blouse for the 3rd day in a row.

I wish we could have seen Mrs. Johnson lying for Carolyn instead of just hearing about it.

That pentagram is HUGE.

I think Barnabas was under the spell of the Leviathans, particularly when he first returned.  It wasn't a matter of logically thinking that he shouldn't be so obvious in his attentions to Carolyn in front of Julia or to act warmer towards Julia and more interested in the things she was talking about.  In a way, his severe manner almost seemed as though he were in a trance.

He had no choice in his manner, in other words?   Maybe, though he's more his usual self with others right now.   The viewers could have been kept in doubt as to why Barnabas was saying these things to Carolyn, through a more normal delivery from him.   Everything he's saying to her now makes perfect sense, and as far as the viewer knows, he could be saying it all independently of the mysterious influence on him that we don't know much about yet.

I was going to say he'd have more influence with Carolyn sounding less sinister, but he did fine with her, didn't he?   Come to think, when he was a vampire in 1967, he could come into that house, voice dripping with velvet covered ironic menace, and he'd just be good old kindly harmless cousin Barnabas.   So Carolyn is used to this from him, from earlier on.    It's strange to see Carolyn taking on the Victoria Winters role though, doing stuff just because Barnabas keeps repeating that she should.

Indeed, Barnabas has lost his free will, but since he was able to change his tone with Julia mid-conversation and offer her an excuse for the change in his demeanor (time travel did it), then the Leviathans have not taken away his ability to lie or to alter his demeanor to suit his purposes.