1970 Parallel Time Quentin: misunderstood, or just an insufferable jackasss?

[IluvBarnabas]

I have read a lot of older posts that try to explain why Quentin acted like such an immature boar almost althrough out the entire storyline....I'm sorry but no matter how much issues he may have had, how much he may have been disturbed over his dead wife and anything that may have reminded him of her, his treatment of Maggie is in no way justified in my book. He could have and should have handled anything Maggie may have done to unintentionally upset him a hell of a lot better than he did.

[spoiler] Biggest laugh I got when he finally confessed to Maggie he never loved Angelique and that he really wanted was someone like Maggie. Yet he immediately started to believe that Maggie was behind the supernatural shenanigans and the murders happening at the time, he was getting kissy-faced with 'Alexis' when he was hiding in the cave and was even ready to kill Maggie on his stupid and totally wrong assumption that killing her would stop the madness. [/spoiler] How Maggie could have stayed with him after this I'll never know.



If I had been Maggie I would have hit him with a frying pan, walked out on him [spoiler] long before Yaeger abducted her from Collinwood. [/spoiler]and taken him to the cleaners. I'm sorry but my verdict, Quentin Collins of this time band and period is the ladder IMO.

[Uncle Roger]

This Quentin is indeed an insufferable jackass and a hothead. It seems that Maggie loved him more than he loved her. But there's very little to show why she loves him. Or why Angelique wants him back.

[Gothick]

Uncle Roger, I've watched the PT 1970 episodes maybe three times now and it's clear that Angelique in PT 1970 is meant to be an all out psychopath.  Our Ange was obsessed by Barnabas; the PT Ange is similarly obsessed with Quentin, but to an even more extreme degree. 

I find both PT Quentin AND Maggie to be profoundly irritating characters.  But both have moments that make me think each carries the seed of a fully developed human being within, and I like to think that once they put the events of that insane Summer behind them, they would be able to nurture one another's humanity in ways that were never possible in the presence of Angelique's vicious, corrosive influence and those she chose to populate her orbit (Bruno, Cyrus, etc.).

G.

[DarkLady]

Well, PT Maggie and Quentin did meet off camera. If I remember rightly from Rebecca, Maxim De Winter was not exactly the world's most lovable guy either, but it was easy to see why the second Mrs. De Winter (whose name we never learn) was attracted to him.

With PT Quentin it's another story. PT Maggie seems far too sophisticated to fall for him the same way. PT Sam Evans was a famous artist as well as a good friend of Quentin's--or Quentin's father? I forget. But PTQ [spoiler]admitted that he hated Angelique only AFTER Barnabas cleared up the issue of who was the actual witch.[/spoiler]

Oh well, just another loopy DC idea for a story line. But on the other hand we do get Will and Carolyn Loomis (JK and NB's first pairing-off, and I LOVED NB's striking outfits) as well as a chance to see Joan Bennett in sweater sets (with a sweater guard!), Chris Pennock's delightfully hammy turn as John Yeager and GH's superlative turn as the evil Hoffman.

[tragic bat]

Quentin was clearly suffering from PTSD surrounding the way his insane wife and abusive, almost incestuous family mistreated and disregarded him for the length of his first marriage (and probably before that, since people don't just stumble into abusive relationships, there is always a history.)  It seems he was able to avoid most of his symptoms and reactions while he and Maggie were away from Collinwood, but returning to the site of all the manipulations and delving back into the psychosis of his dependant relatives drove him over the edge.   Of course [spoiler]the return of Angelique with her spells and manipulations took Quentin to an even nastier place. But with Angelique and the family dead, the house burned down,[/spoiler] as well as being able to speak honestly with Maggie, I'm sure that they will have a better relationship afterwards.

[dom]

I can't decide. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. He couldn't have been an insufferable jackass before returning home and have won over Maggie (I would think). He was certainly a jack-ass throughout most of the story line. I guess I'd go with what Gothick had to say about it. I certainly do not excuse his behavior and I wouldn't have blamed PT Maggie for leaving him and taking him to the cleaners. But PT Maggie isn't a quitter, much like her RT counterpart.

[DarkLady]

Well, tragicbat, I have to say that you've changed my mind! Actually, your hypothesis is close to what I thought the very first time I watched this story. Quentin seemed perfectly nice, right up to the moment he carried Maggie over the threshold of the Great House--and then all hell broke loose.

Having an abusive and flagrantly unfaithful spouse would traumatize anybody. Probably the only bright spot in Quentin's first marriage was young Daniel. I'm sure Q's heart was in the right place when he gave Roger and Elizabeth a home at Collinwood and let Will and Carolyn live in the Old House for probably a token rent. He even gave Elizabeth the role of hostess after Angelique's death. But it only made most of them resent his wealth and what they saw as his absolute power over their lives. It's no wonder his closest relationships were with people outside the immediate family--his lawyer-cousin Chris (gone too soon) and his doctor friend Cyrus Longworth.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that off in Europe, with Angelique (apparently) dead and away from all those negative stimuli, Quentin was free to be himself and woo and win Maggie. And I'm sure he thought that bringing her back to Collinwood would make everything better. Instead, things went from bad to worse, as Hoffman started her get-rid-of-Maggie campaign and especially with the return of Angelique. And it really did take Angelique's being really and truly dead, a corpse-littered stage and a burned-down mansion for Quentin and Maggie to find each other again. I always thought it was smart of them to go right back to Europe.

In my earlier post, I did forget to mention the all-too-brief appearance of Paula Laurence as Alexis and Angelique's aunt Hannah.

[Uncle Roger]

Some of this is very much a product of its time. The Quentin/Maggie/Angelique triangle is very much like the Steve/Alice/Rachel triangle than ran on Another World at around the same time. DS, of course, threw in the supernatural aspect but the stories and characters are not all that different.

[dom]

...and not much has changed since 1970 in the world of soaps, except there being far fewer of them.

[DarkLady]

Sad but true. I actually remember the whole Steve-Alice-Rachel business from Another World! Not to mention the whole question of who killed Bernice Robinson! 

[Uncle Roger]

And Rue McClanahan as the homicidal housekeeper Caroline Johnson.

[patrickm]

Without a doubt, 1970 PT was my least favorite storyline by miles. Nearly every charactor was annoying, cruel or just plain nuts. The only person I cared for was Buffie Harrington. To this day, as much as I love Dark Shadows, I have difficulty watching this storyline - so I definitely vote for insufferable jackass.

[tragic bat]

Well, tragicbat, I have to say that you've changed my mind! Actually, your hypothesis is close to what I thought the very first time I watched this story. Quentin seemed perfectly nice, right up to the moment he carried Maggie over the threshold of the Great House--and then all hell broke loose.

Having an abusive and flagrantly unfaithful spouse would traumatize anybody. Probably the only bright spot in Quentin's first marriage was young Daniel. I'm sure Q's heart was in the right place when he gave Roger and Elizabeth a home at Collinwood and let Will and Carolyn live in the Old House for probably a token rent. He even gave Elizabeth the role of hostess after Angelique's death. But it only made most of them resent his wealth and what they saw as his absolute power over their lives. It's no wonder his closest relationships were with people outside the immediate family--his lawyer-cousin Chris (gone too soon) and his doctor friend Cyrus Longworth.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that off in Europe, with Angelique (apparently) dead and away from all those negative stimuli, Quentin was free to be himself and woo and win Maggie. And I'm sure he thought that bringing her back to Collinwood would make everything better. Instead, things went from bad to worse, as Hoffman started her get-rid-of-Maggie campaign and especially with the return of Angelique. And it really did take Angelique's being really and truly dead, a corpse-littered stage and a burned-down mansion for Quentin and Maggie to find each other again. I always thought it was smart of them to go right back to Europe.

In my earlier post, I did forget to mention the all-too-brief appearance of Paula Laurence as Alexis and Angelique's aunt Hannah.

Yes, that is one way to deal with an albatross-family.  Your post reminds me it must also have been very difficult for Quentin to deal with his in-laws (Hannah and Mr. Stokes) hanging around all the time when Angelique was alive as well.

[DarkLady]

Yes! Even Angelique hated having her father hanging around Collinwood and drinking his son-in-law's best brandy when she was alive, and she still hated it after she was revived. But I did like Hannah, and I'm sure she wasn't such a pest. I can imagine her teaching young Daniel to play poker on the sly.

I also liked Buffie Harrington. Elizabeth Eis did a wonderful job of giving her real depth and pathos, and even humor. [spoiler]I like to think that after Longworth/Yaeger was safely dead, Barnabas advised her to sell the painting he gave her--which I'm sure was a PT Charles Delaware Tate and so worth something--and leave for New York. [/spoiler]

[DarkLady]

It's no wonder his closest relationships were with people outside the immediate family--his lawyer-cousin Chris (gone too soon) and his doctor friend Cyrus Longworth.

I'm also willing to bet that they might have been the only two men in town whom Angelique didn't manage to get into her bed.