Discuss - Ep #0207

[Lydia]

Robservations #207

[Lydia]

This episode must have been written back when James Hall was still playing Willie, and, rightly or wrongly, it seems weird to me to see John Karlen with James Hall's lines.

Not being a Burke fan, while Jason and Burke were talking I found the background much more interesting than the foreground.  We could see Joe and Maggie talking.  And we know that Joel Crothers and Kathryn Leigh Scott were friends, so I wondered if they were really talking or just pretend talking, and decided it had to be pretend, because you never know where a real conversation will lead, and anyway, Joe was doing all the talking, and, not so coincidentally I'm sure, his was the only mouth we could see.

[MagnusTrask]

Think I stopped halfway through-- the only notes I have are about the director's slate thing, where I was frustrated in my attempts to make out what the Blue Whale had on tap, even though the taps are right there in the foreground.   Does anyone who lived in New England then know if these are disguised labels for real beers?

Yes, try holding your breath, Willie!

[DarkLady]

As if more proof of Willie's execrable tastes and manners is needed, he selects a horrendous fifties-style arrangement of the Beatles' "She's a Woman" on the jukebox.

Jason finally realizes he can't charm Burke onto his side, especially after Willie calls Burke a "jailbird." But we know that it is a truth, universally acknowledged, that Burke has never tried to conceal his past.

Joe leaves to make a phone call and doesn't return until Burke has thoroughly trounced Willie and he and Sam have thrown W. out bodily. So Joe misses his chance to defend his lady love.

[Janet the Wicked]

Think I stopped halfway through-- the only notes I have are about the director's slate thing, where I was frustrated in my attempts to make out what the Blue Whale had on tap, even though the taps are right there in the foreground.   Does anyone who lived in New England then know if these are disguised labels for real beers?

I don't think the taps are a for real brand, but they look to be Schlitz maybe. I did a drawing of Willie sitting at the bar and tried my darndest to figure out the brand on the taps, but they look to be a couple peices of tape in a cross hatch design. Maybe MB will supply us with a super-duper close up screen cap of them.

[IluvBarnabas]

It never occured to me before that this episode was written before James Hall was given his walking papers, and it does seem like Hall's take on the character has spilled over onto John Karlen's in here. But I still think that John did a great job continuing on with Willie's nasty personality and violent temperment. With the change in actors, I think it would have been unwise of the writers to change his whole persona like that....[spoiler] at least until Barnabas comes along, and a vamp's bite we all know can change a person. [/spoiler]

I'm glad that Burke wasn't falling for Jason's crap that Willie was basically 'a nice guy'...not after hearing about Carolyn and Vicki's encounters with him and certainly not after his own with the guy the previous episode. Now Jason might have thought he was on his way to convincing Burke to give Willie another chance, but I think Burke is much more smarter than that. But even if Jason was succeeding in swaying Burke, Willie pretty much threw all that away by insulting Sam and Maggie, two people that Burke cares about.

Willie deserved that butt-kicking big time. But in a way I kind of wished to have also seen Burke also whip Hall's Willie...oh well we can't have everything.

I can't believe that Sam would even want to try to be friendly with Willie after Joe and Maggie pointed out he harrassed her the other night. If Sam was drunk, maybe I could have bought it, but he was sober in here, at least it appeared that way to me.

Love this episode.

[MagnusTrask]

Willie is, of course, one single character even though played by two actors, and Willie is a mean SOB until Barnabas radically changes him.   Karlen actually does a better job of playing mean Willie here than Hall did.

I guess Burke's ten year vendetta is off his back, simply because he says so.   No clearing his name, no justice for the victim...   Willie knows about some sort of porn painting industry I've never heard of.   Since the invention of photography, has painting been used for that purpose?

This episode is great-- it's like a little film.   Willie isn't just better-acted; he's getting better lines too.   I like that alley.   Marmorstrein-written.

[Watching Project]

The Robservations caps for this ep have been posted. 

[alwaysdavid]

The Blue Whale is busy tonight and Willie wants money. He is quite the dangerous man but Burke the former prison inmate takes the knife from him and beats him to the ground.