Discuss - Ep #1187

[Watching Project]

Robservations #1187

[MagnusTrask]

Daphne's shock at seeing Parallel Time is replayed, but it takes about two seconds this time... we see her open the PT room's doors, look shocked for a second, and then immediately shut the doors and walk away!   We don't even see what she's shocked by (the contents of the Room) this time...

They've pulled Elliot back out of the closet they'd put him in so as to polish off Mordecai... and Julia's back too.  ***  Isn't Daphne's real last name Mills?   Her PT twin is Daphne Harridge, though, and her sister's Catherine Harridge.   I thought Harridge was Daphne's assumed name.

Morgan's so loud that he overloads the microphones a little, I think.   Elliot gets top billing this episode.

[Lydia]

We started out the episode believing that Daphne was facing a homicidal Gabriel standing on his own two feet, and we finished the episode in almost the exact same situation, but at the end we knew for sure that Daphne was facing a homicidal Gabriel standing on his own two feet, where previously we we had only been given that impression.  So no particular progress was made, but I enjoyed the running around in the middle, so it was OK.  I was pleasantly reminded of The Spiral Staircase.  And even though Gerard didn't murder Edith, it was satisfying to see Daphne knock him out.

Isn't Daphne's real last name Mills?   Her PT twin is Daphne Harridge, though, and her sister's Catherine Harridge.   I thought Harridge was Daphne's assumed name.

It's possible that Daphne and Joanna were only half-sisters, with different fathers.  Or, alternatively, when Daphne took the pseudonymous last name of Harridge, she was using the name of somebody she knew, who was her father in parallel time.  Or maybe Joanna was a widow.  Or...I can't think of any other possibilities offhand, but I'm sure there are a couple of dozen at least.

Now we know, perhaps, why Stokes was brought to 1840: so he could be available to talk about parallel time.  And there he and Julia are, saying, "What did they say in the room?" but what does it matter?  It's another band of time, best ignored - by the our-time residents of Collinwood, anyway.  As for myself, although I'm slightly distracted by Grayson Hall's Julia no-Hoffman Collins wig, not to mention the nighttime get-up that I believe I recognize as something that the Countess wore in 1795, I'm still hugely enjoying the atmosphere that Grayson Hall brought to Aunt Julia's discourse about what goes on inside parallel time Collinwood.

[DarkLady]

Pennock has even more fun in this episode when he's discussing monogrammed cufflinks with the hapless Daphne.

Next to Ben, Timothy Elliot Stokes is my favorite Thayer David character. Too bad they didn't make more use of him in this story line than to explain parallel time. I love his eagerness as he waits for some parallel-time business to happen! His and Julia's intellectual curiosity sets them apart from all the other characters, along with their (especially Julia's) willingness to follow that curiosity even if the trail leads them off the edge of the map. Nowadays, curiosity has become a dirty word (not to mention intellect).

I had to laugh, though, when our Julia so stringently warns Daphne NOT to hang out in the PT room when it's empty--earlier, Julia, Daphne and Stokes were standing around in it quite at their ease while Daphne was telling the other two about what she saw.

I'm pretty sure too that parallel Aunt Julia is wearing one of the countess's long and cumbersome gowns as well as one of her long and cumbersome wigs. What, they couldn't have found a different 1840s gown for her? Good grief. But I still love her frozen severity and seeming omniscience.

[Midnite]

It's possible that Daphne and Joanna were only half-sisters, with different fathers.  Or, alternatively, when Daphne took the pseudonymous last name of Harridge, she was using the name of somebody she knew, who was her father in parallel time.  Or maybe Joanna was a widow.

Mrs. Purdy described Joanna as a young widow, so her maiden name would have been Harridge.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This is actually one of DS' more infamous eps. Does anyone recall why? 

[Janet the Wicked]

This is actually one of DS' more infamous eps. Does anyone recall why? 

No clue.

[Lydia]

MB, I don't know.  All I can think of is that when Julia and Stokes came in the front door, they looked as though they might have been out on a date, but it was in no way certain enough to cause this episode to be infamous.

Mrs. Purdy described Joanna as a young widow, so her maiden name would have been Harridge.

Really?  I should have picked up and treasured that bit of information like a shiny penny, but I guess I was too busy enjoying Camila Ashland's performance to notice details.  My, my, my, this opens opens up fascinating avenues for speculation.

[MagnusTrask]

I don't remember Mrs. P's remark, but maybe she called her a widow so as not to have to discuss her real situation, as a former mistress.

[Gothick]

I read in an early 1971 fan club newsletter that Grayson's appearance in her first episodes as Aunt Julia of PT 1841 was due to the fact that she had been unable to attend a wardrobe fitting because of her father-in-law's sudden death while she and Sam were out in Ohio for a holiday visit.

I think the main reason Eliot was brought to 1840 was because somebody was concerned that the folks at home were getting really confused at this point.  You'll notice that the first thing that happens when he arrives is that we see him interrogate Julia as to just what has been going on since she arrived.  And poor Grayson gets pages and pages of expository dialogue of the kind the DS actors dreaded, with lots of names and relationships jumbled together in a heap. 

After that, apart from having him explain Parallel Time, they sort of don't know what to do with Eliot.  I still relish these final appearances of the character.  Back during the time of the original broadcast, I still remember the thrill his initial appearance down the stairway through time (which I thought was just the coolest thing ever) gave me--as a child, I found time travel endlessly intriguing.

G.

[Gothick]

If I am remembering correctly, this episode is "infamous" because Kate was supposed to hit Jim with a "breakaway" vase--instead, she hit him with that candlestick, which was a for-real prop, and really knocked him out cold!

She's told the story on a number of occasions, including one of the video interviews.

G.

[MagnusTrask]

Wow... my enjoyment of that scene would have so much more enhanced, had I known ahead of time!   I'd come to doubt that it ever worked that way in real life.  I thought that if you really did enough damage to turn someone's brain off, to a large extent (not involuntary processes obviously), then that does more than just knock you out conveniently till the next scene, and death was very possible.  I wonder if James Storm was in real trouble...

[Lydia]

No, no, even with a candlestick, how could she have knocked him out cold through that head of hair?  But now I want to know, did Kate Jackson ever play Clue?  And if so, did she giggle every time she saw the candlestick card after that?

[Midnite]

I don't remember Mrs. P's remark, but maybe she called her a widow so as not to have to discuss her real situation, as a former mistress.

The context was that she was visiting Quentin at Collinwood (after receiving his letter) to tell him about Joanna's reaction to his ending their relationship, her subsequent attempted suicide and later, her escape from the asylum, and Mrs. Purdy said she identified her body after it was found and arranged the burial, and she made it clear she was not passing any moral judgment.  Anyway, here's a summary of the remark that refers to when she first met Joanna:

when she rented the little cottage to her, she didn't ask questions; she knew she was a young widow who didn't seem to have any family--that's all she told me.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If I am remembering correctly, this episode is "infamous" because Kate was supposed to hit Jim with a "breakaway" vase--instead, she hit him with that candlestick, which was a for-real prop, and really knocked him out cold!

Yes, that is indeed why this ep is infamous. 

I wonder if James Storm was in real trouble...

No, no, even with a candlestick, how could she have knocked him out cold through that head of hair?

I'm pretty sure he was knocked out - at least momentarily. But what I do remember distinctly is Kate Jackson saying that that they took Storm to the hospital and his head wound required stitches. Needless to say, she was mortified.