Discuss - Ep #0296

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #296

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0296

[Lydia]

Kinescope of the color film looks better then kinescope of black and white.  During the previous kinescope episode, I decided we weren't getting as many frames per second as we needed in order to fool our eyes, but today that didn't seem to be a problem.

What does Julia think of Barnabas?  His personality, I mean.  She knows what he did to Maggie.  Does she believe that his viciousness is a result of the blood disorder?

She could have thrown a cross on his chest when she saw him in his coffin, and treated him while he was immobilized.  I'm not sure what she would have done about Willie, but she'd have found a way to keep him from rescuing Barnabas.  She is not lacking in ingenuity.  Why didn't she take the easy route?  Maybe she thought the coffin would inhibit the effects of her treatment.

[IluvBarnabas]

I think Julia needed Barnabas up and around so she'd be able to study the effects of her experiments on him more easily than she would if he was confined to his coffin. I'm not so sure she'd have been able to stop Willie from aiding Barnabas though. True, she's a very resourceful woman, but if Barnabas wanted to be free badly enough he could have easily commanded Willie to assault Julia if necessary in order to get him out.

I know she wanted to protect Maggie from Barnabas by sending her back to Windcliff, but now that Maggie's memory has been restored (sort of) and no longer behaving like a child, there's really no legitimate reason to send her back there.

Loved Maggie's reunion with her father and Joe. No doubt they're both relieved and happy to see her back to normal but puzzled by her sudden amnesia.

I wonder what Dr. Woodard makes of Maggie's convienent loss of memory. He'd never suspect Julia at this point, unless he believes that Julia is still withholding important information to herself...but withholding the identity of the kidnapper is beyond unethical it's also against the law. I don't think that Dave can quite fathom Julia going that far but oh if he only knew....

Barnabas seems puzzled that Julia had to go so far as to erase Maggie's memory to stop her from talking, yet he has no qualms about doing away with her because he doesn't trust the hypnosis. Hypnosis is something new to Barnabas so I guess why he might be a bit skeptical of it. But what's he doing to do if he does kill Maggie and Julia realizes he did it....

[DarkLady]

I feel sure that if Julia has studied up on vampires, she also has a pretty good idea of how their servants behave. She probably had some contingency plans for dealing with Willie, too.

At this point, I think Julia is more interested in Barnabas as a patient than as a person and probably attributes his actions with Maggie to his disorder. And yes, I do think she needs him to be up and around, the better to study the effects of her treatment. We don't know yet whether she's planning some sort of medicinal brew or injections. I imagine it wouldn't be too easy to give someone, say, a hypo while they're in a coffin. And it's hard to swallow liquids while you're lying down.

It's nice to see Maggie back in her own room, surrounded by all her own things and with her pop and her beloved Joe.

Dr. Franz Mesmer first started hypnotizing people at parties in the 18th century, so Barnabas might have heard of it before he was confined to the coffin. Mesmer didn't use hypnotism for medical purposes and was considered a charlatan, which might explain Barnabas's skepticism about the process. (Mesmer was a friend--and mesmerizer--of Mozart, who used mesmerism as a plot element in one of his comic operas.)

Barnabas and Julia have an interesting conversation on the subject. Julia is going to make house calls (!) to continue treating Maggie. She tells Barnabas, I plan to visit Maggie regularly as her doctor to make sure she continues to forget--as long as you continue to cooperate. And if I don’t? he asks. Your safety depends on me, she reminds him. You’re going to great lengths to continue, he comments. I’ll do whatever it takes, she answers. That seems to be anything, Barnabas observes, not without some wonder at her medical dedication. Anything to save a human life, Julia says firmly [spoiler](words that she will remember, alas!).[/spoiler]

While they're talking, Julia calmly inserts a cigarette into a holder and lights it at one of the candles. I wonder why Barnabas lets her, but then some of the strangest twentieth-century customs (or clothes) don't seem to faze him at all. Possibly her smoking is less of a surprise to him now that he knows that twentieth-century women can be doctors. After a final warning to Barnabas that if something happens to Maggie she will expose him, she sails out the door.

Meanwhile, we see that Sarah is also looking out for her friend Maggie….

[alwaysdavid]

The rooster crows prominately and Barnabas says Dawn!  He menacingly says Maggie must die! But he will once again be deterred for talked out of it with no,doubt by either Julia or Willie.