Discuss - Ep #0337

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #337

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0337

[dom]

Joan Bennett does the opening voiceover. Love Joan, Liz is my fave character, but Bennett’s voiceovers don’t do a thing for me. What do you think? Do the opening voiceovers even matter to you? One thing I notice is that this voiceover is telling us that Woodard is going to eventually die. I wonder if this is a trend throughout the series – spilling the beans?

Well, I was dumbfounded at the sight of the caretaker. I thought DarkLady wrote that we saw the last of him but I see now that she meant the last of Daniel Keyes as the caretaker. Why do they have to makeup a young man to look like an old man? Are there no old men available to play these parts? 

Woodard finds out from the caretaker that there is no detailed explanation of the Collins mausoleum curse. And though I thought the Collins family records were poured over during the Laura storyline, the caretaker sez that they haven’t been “disturbed” in years. And how the Caretaker knows that the two Barn’s are identical is beyond me. For a minute there I thought the caretaker was Roger Davis.

I enjoy seeing these seldom seen sets, like the caretaker’s/records room. I know that sets are redressed to become other “rooms”; Does anyone recognize or know what other rooms this “records” room at the caretakers place has been used as?

Barnabas’ talk with Roger was rather pointless but I guess they had to use Frid as he was on set. I did enjoy Edmonds’ performance immensely. I'm not used to seeing Barnabas in a casual conversation or setting as this, so, it was kind of fun for me to watch. Barn walks away from this discussion with a false sense of security, thinking Roger will convince Liz to send David away.

Should it surprise any of us that Liz insists David stay at Collinwood and not be shipped off to military school? Does anyone think Liz is playing the “money” card on Roger to get him to back down? I doubt it would be something as trite as having Mrs. J starch his shorts, lol. For some reason, their battle didn’t engross me like their battles of old. The new Liz and the new Roger aren’t as venomous as they once were, but it was still "fun" nonetheless. I thought Bennett looked lovely.

I am fascinated by the vague pattern visible on Dr. Woodard’s trench coat. Could it be seersucker?

David warns Woodard to be careful. LOL, I guess David knows the perils of investigating Barnabas Collins. Woodard and Barn go at each other and Barn is rather quick to literally dismiss Woodard. Before leaving though, Woodard drops the Sarah bomb and Barn lets him know that he’s overstayed his welcome. I expected Barn to kill Woodard right there and then. This scene could have been very suspenseful but I think the scene fell flat because of Turgeon’s (and possibly Frid's) uneven performance and shoddy camera work.

Does anyone think it was unprofessional for Dr. Woodard to tell David of his discoveries -- to go that far with the info and his personal thoughts?

[DarkLady]

According to my notes, the caretaker was played by Peter Murphy, also a replacement due to the actors' strike. And I think the records room at the cemetery was also the Stockbridge crypt in the Phoenix story line.

I liked how Woodard talks to David as to an equal when he tells the boy that he believes him. David isn't his patient, but I think he (W.) realizes that Julia has been deceiving him.

I enjoyed the scene with Woodard and Barnabas. It may have been underrehearsed and poorly directed (at one point Woodard blocks Barnabas in a shot, so they redid for the next ep.'s opener), but it was certainly suspenseful to me.

Dave Woodard's days, or even hours, are certainly numbered by the time he leaves the Old House. The only reason Barnabas didn't kill him then and there is that he's pretty sure of how he wants the doctor to die….

[alwaysdavid]

the new caretaker is not as crazy as the old one. I noticed that they seemed to have wiped out the names on the Stockbridge graves although it is clearly the same crypt as was used before during the Laura Story.
Woodard confronts Barnabas about Sarah with not any thought of safety. He and Julia obviously didnt take any courses in college about common sense.

[dom]

No kidding, AD. Book smart, common sense stupid, lol.

[MagnusTrask]

Dave Woodard studied at the Peter Guthrie School of Self-Defence.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Do the opening voiceovers even matter to you?

Often the voiceovers are innocuous - but sometimes they actually offer important plot points that aren't otherwise fully covered elsewhere in the eps. So, it's never really a good idea not to pay attention to them. 

One thing I notice is that this voiceover is telling us that Woodard is going to eventually die. I wonder if this is a trend throughout the series – spilling the beans?

They do spill the beans sometimes. Though other times they attempt to lead us to believe something is going to happen when it actually turns out that something entirely different happens. In those instances the writers used the voiceovers to mislead the audience so as to no doubt make what really happens more of a surprise. Sneaky writers. 

I thought the Collins family records were poured over during the Laura storyline, the caretaker sez that they haven’t been “disturbed” in years.

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think the Collins family records were gotten into during the Laura storyline. It was the Murdoch, Radcliffe, and Stockbridge records.

I know that sets are redressed to become other “rooms”; Does anyone recognize or know what other rooms this “records” room at the caretakers place has been used as?

I'm too lazy to check to make sure, but I think the wall with the grave markers was used during Leviathans for the crypt in which certain characters are held prisoner.

And the entire set will return during 1897 when Laura figures into things again.

For some reason, their battle didn’t engross me like their battles of old. The new Liz and the new Roger aren’t as venomous as they once were, but it was still "fun" nonetheless.

I always love when Joan Bennett and Louis Edmond's characters spar, whether they be Liz/Roger, Judith/Edward, or to a lesser degree Naomi/Joshua (because it takes a while for Naomi to find her backbone). 

Does anyone think it was unprofessional for Dr. Woodard to tell David of his discoveries -- to go that far with the info and his personal thoughts?

Probably. Though what Dr. Woodard does is typical for characters in soaps. 

[dom]

Often the voiceovers are innocuous - but sometimes they actually offer important plot points that aren't otherwise fully covered elsewhere in the eps.

Interesting.

Sometimes the voiceovers offer me delight in the form of exposing who will be in an episode. And sometimes I enjoy them for a particularly delicious delivery. I wonder if Nancy Barrett ever delivered a voiceover in character as one of the Pansitys? Or Grayson as Magda or the Countess DuPres? Or Thayer David as Sandor...?

They do spill the beans sometimes. Though other times they attempt to lead us to believe something is going to happen when it actually turns out that something entirely different happens. In those instances the writers used the voiceovers to mislead the audience so as to no doubt make what really happens more of a surprise. Sneaky writers.

I don't know that I'd appreciate that, lol. I guess it would depend to what degree I was misled.

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think the Collins family records were gotten into during the Laura storyline. It was the Murdoch, Radcliffe, and Stockbridge records.

You? Mistaken?
I figured all the Lauras were Collins' by marriage and therefore their records would be on the Collins shelf. But I wasn't thinking it through.

[MagnusTrask]

As far as I'm concerned, it's a rule of fiction that the narrator isn't supposed to say anything that isn't true.   He/she/it can play with words so as to give a false impression and fake us out, but strictly speaking, what's said needs to be technically correct.  DS voiceovers break that rule sometimes, and actually lie.

That comes under the heading, though, of all those missing screws and squeaky unoiled joints that DS is full of, which to many give DS its charm.  I feel betrayed by the lie, then I shrug and move on...

As the years went on, the voiceovers seemed more and more mechanical and uninteresting, but there were still interesting things in them, such as Jonathan Frid doing one (rare in itself), and in his real Jonathan Frid voice!

I figured all the Lauras were Collins' by marriage and therefore their records would be on the Collins shelf. But I wasn't thinking it through.

For 1897 Laura, this was probably true.   Maybe I shouldn't say any more...

[Roland]

What is it with these professional types on DS? Dr. Woodard is making the exact same mistake as the paranormal investigator the family brought in during the Laura Collins story, namely, directly confronting the person whom he suspects of engaging in nefarious activities, leaving himself totally exposed and at the mercy of said person without any real plan to defeat him or her.

[MagnusTrask]

Maybe there's a certain amount of ego that goes along with being certain kinds of professionals.  They're used to being in control, with being authorities, with having people do what they say.  They may know a "phoenix" or a vampire won't follow doctor's orders, but this would be a more instinctive, automatic thing.  They just charge in assuming they can handle it.