There are big spoilers for 1897 sprinkled throughout. You have been warned.
Fashion notes first . . .
After seeing Durkin in Carolyn's nightie without the robe and really how well she looked in it, I have to wonder why they then thought it necessary to have her put the robe back on? Before I leave dear Betsy, I also wanted to say that I thought the black sleeveless dress was very flattering to her figure.
Amy's oversized PJs. I thought these were kind of cute. She only wore them a couple of times and then her wardrobe became vaguely like Anissa Jones' of
Family Affair, the very pretty, but highly impractical clothes.
Joan Bennett's clothes for these episodes overall were a disappointment. She wore the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Grandma dress. Then the highnecked white blouse, the red tent dress and really they were kind of all unattractive to watch. I have to say, I am really looking forward to seeing her duds as Judith because these were just lame.
Roger and the hat. The DS men and hats. How many times do I have to say this? Okay, say it with me now, folks,
Evil, scary, bad.
Quentin looked suitably dashing.
Beth . . . Beth. Don't get me wrong, Terry Crawford was beautiful, but I've never quite understood the rationale for her ensemble. Actually, I'll stop right here and say that I don't quite get how she's haunting Collinwood. She didn't die anywhere near it. But back to her clothes as the ghost of Beth. That's a lace dress she's wearing. It's positively lovely (and btw, Arashi wrote a really great fanfic about the dress and Beth), but that's not the kind of thing that a maid would have. Lace, if I'm not mistaken, was handmade in those days. It wasn't the type of thing that a servant was going to have lying around in her closet. I suppose it's possible that she could have acquired it as a castoff from her employer, but given that it was hardly the sort of thing that Judith or Jenny would own, I'm really curious as to where Beth would have gotten it from. Of course, at this point, I don't think anyone had a clear idea what Beth's story was.
David was wearing red armbands on the one arm of his bathrobe because
Mme Findley's outfit was very appropriate and I loved the cape thingy. Nicely done.
Joel Crothers' hair? What's up with that?
Onto the shows . . .
I really like Amy's bedroom. The point lace canopy was charming and can I just say that I covet that armoire.
Faux-Vicki is basically quite the flake. Real-Vicki was dumb as a post, but Faux-Vicki is just a whack job. It's a bad scene. Hello? Scared little girl in the room and you start talking to your invisible dead husband? Think about it, hon--does this seem like a good idea to you?
I get a kick out of Amy. They really wrote her some good lines and gave her a believable character. Added to this, Nickerson was an excellent child actress. I loved her reaction to Professor Stokes too.
Watching Faux-Vicki was very painful. Particularly with the stupid watch. I have to admit I may have hit the FFwd button a few times. I mean, c'mon, all this grief over Jeff Clark? He's so not worth it and she was being such the drama queen. I couldn't help but wish that someone had suggested to Vicki that the watch was just broken and actually not a
sign? At the moment, she's channeling Mrs. Wyse and Blue Birdie but it's not nearly as amusing . . .
Oh, there we go! There's a problem so what do we do?
LET'S HOLD A SEANCE!!!
Everyone they've held has worked just so spectacularly well before, NOT. You'd think they would have decided that maybe there was a better problem-solving tool out there, wouldn't you?
Was kind of intrigued that in the beginning, Amy has a stronger connection with Quentin than David does. Given her relationship to him, not altogether surprising. I do wonder exactly what had been plotted out for 1897 at this point. Anyone know? The dates are wildly off for Jamison to be corresponding with Quentin. In 1887, he would have been, what? 3? And I am curious as to who Oscar was supposed to be.
So I'm watching Carolyn channeling Magda and then Amy and David running around at 3AM and I just have to say this. You know, if Carolyn had been in college or gainfully employed (and I mean at a real job) or if Amy and David had been receiving actual parental care and education, none of this would have happened. As it is, Carolyn seems to have nothing at all to do every day and the kids, well, does anyone even make sure they get fed? Faux-Vicki isn't doing anything but trying to commune with a watch (And Real-Vicki had stopped providing any actual teaching months and months ago). Chris can't be bothered to do much but drink and mope. Roger. Well, we know about Roger. I dunno. I don't think I would want to leave these people with a pet fish let alone two kids. Kind of makes you wish that someone had contacted Social Services.
Speaking of Roger, I really miss the snarky, acerbic Roger of old, but there was some attempt on the part of the writers to explore his parental instincts and I did appreciate that. Of course, Roger's parental instincts are completely askew, but still was intriguing.
Oh. My. God. So they were in the hall of the West Wing and I finally noticed the lamp behind Amy and David! It is possibly the ugliest light fixture I have ever seen. Like something out of an Edward Gorey drawing--it looks like a plant with tentacles and bulbs for buds. (shiver).
This is probably a sign of poorly place priorities on my part or a lack of empathy or decency or something, but when the grandfather clock fell in front of the kids, my first thought was I hope that's not original.
Regarding the cradle robbing (sorry couldn't resist the pun) episode, I'm a bit curious as to a)how Quentin knew the cradle was in the Old House attic--I mean, does he have a ghostly sense for antiques? and b) how the damn thing got there in the first place. In light of what those of us who have seen 1897 know it seems highly unlikely that the family would have chosen to move a cradle to the Old House for storage.
God, these kids are championship liars. But I don't care, it's bringing us Quentin who is just so delightfully dishy even when he's wreaking havoc.
More bad parenting. Roger, sweetie, the kids don't need a governess. What they need is to be enrolled in a school and given some sort of actual structure in their lives.
I have always wondered how exactly our little tykes managed to fit a 6'5" skeleton in a toy chest and drag it all the way out of the house. All I can think is that they broke him into pieces (we'll ignore the fact that there were probably still bits of flesh and that even sixty odd years later might have reeked a bit), stuffed the bones in the box and then literally dragged and pushed the box throughout the halls (probably ruining the floors in the process). Kind of an ignominous type of burial.
Roger keeps a loaded gun in his bedside table? Things that make you go hmmm. I was amused though that when he was demonstrating to David that he was fine, he decided to do it by going to the brandy decanter. I guess as long as you can make it to the liquor, that constitutes health. Curious that no one chose to look at the stairs for the screw holes that held the wire into place. That's what they do in the movies--I don't really think David would have gotten putty, sanded them down and then restained the wood so the evidence would probably still be there.
And then the Tarot card! Yep, that would make me phone an acquaintance at 2:30 in the morning. Of course, as I really enjoy the appearance of Madame Findley, I'm not going to complain too much. Humphrey is very over the top, but it works for the part and we'll just ignore the fact that some of her gestures to the spirits looked very much like she was doing warm-up exercises
When Chris was imploring Julia for sleeping pills and she hesitated, I nearly fell off my chair. This from the woman who's constantly handing them out like they were candy?
It pains me to talk about it because it was just so godawful to have to sit through, but Faux-Vicki and P/J. So first we have Roger and Elizabeth calling her "poor child" and wringing their hands--she's acting like a first-class loon. Psychiatric help, people. It's not that hard. You've got a shrink in the house. They stick people in Wyndcliffe at the drop of a hat, here's someone who actually could benefit from the treatment and it's not even discussed?
It's kind of sad really. By the time Vicki had "left," I could have cared less. The character was destroyed by then--there wasn't anything to lament. Poor Art Wallace.
Luciaphil
