Maggie's quilted maxi is atrocious but I love the vibrant splash of color it affords us, like a breath of fresh air, especially after the previous B&W kinescope and all the hot (dead) air contained therein.
There's a seven second video glitch on my VHS MPI tape (vol. 23) during the first scene. I wonder if this is in the DVD version of this episode?
Maggie & Sam discuss Woodard's death and all it's implications. Adequate scene - no complaints, no compliments.
Julia's red notebook (I so want to call it a diary) becomes the latest new character on DS soon to take on a storyline of it's own. Envision it on the cover of 16 Magazine or in the Adonis Gallery.
Burke brings up the supernatural in relation to Woodard's death. Sam's new favorite word is unearthly. Where oh where can the best sheriff Patterson be? Oh where, oh where can he be?
Nobody hears the obnoxious Barnabat outside Woodard's office window. All that frantic cork-rubbing against the wine bottle is in vain. I'd love to know what Barn the smarm is saying in bat-form. Even then he can't keep his trap shut! No doubt something along the lines of "Woe is me! Woe is me! "Don't mock my pain! Don't mock my pain!"
Vicki looks gorgeous in her (baby?) blue outfit. Was '67 the year of pastels? She brings up Burke's South American trip again as in the form of a "Thursday departure" - which in soap opera time could be three months from now. I'm over it. I'm ready for Burke to take that long trip south.
Burke's telling of Woodard's death shocks Vicki. Enter Julia and what follows is an interesting scene. It's fascinating & fun watching Julia try to deal with all the levels of complexity the situation produces. There's one essence of the scene I was especially fascinated with; Julia has her back to Burke and Vicki as she deals with the "shock" of it all. I am thinking that as long as she keeps her back to them she should be able to pull it off, but Burke positions himself in front of her -- I know, so what? I thought it was brilliant stage direction, taking the character's "safety net" away so to speak, and it happens three times I believe. And each time Julia is literally forced to face the whole ugly truth. It was like mini-climaxes within a climatic and highly suspenseful scene. I ate it up. No one's acting was particularly brilliant but overall it was a fun and totally engrossing scene. I eagerly anticipated seeing how the Julia character was going to pull off "first" hearing the news and 'I got my money's worth'. (Look that phrase up in the urban dictionary and you may never use that phrase again.)
Unfortunately, Vicki's continued discussion (minus Burke) with Julia is horribly written, and comes across as contrived. I like it nonetheless, because of how it represents Julia's frame of mind.
The best moment in this episode IMO is a portion of the last scene between Sam & Maggie. Maggie gets frantic about the still-present threat from a supernatural source (though she doesn't state it as such).
Maggie: "You know we never come right out and say it but we know that something terrible is threatening our lives. It could be in this room right this minute! Dr. Woodard knew it was true and that's why he's dead! I'll never be safe, because it's not something we can touch or find or reach...” OMGoodness, I love it! Great writing and great acting by KLS. I'll take this over the self-aggrandizing Shakespeareanesque psychobabble BS they write for the Barnabas character any day. (But I'm not bitter, lol.)
Sam gets the 'death by natural causes' phone call. Maggie wants/needs to believe the coroner's conclusion; Sam unconvincingly agrees. They, we, us, you, he, she, it and I all know better.
