Discuss - Ep #0376

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #376

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0376

[dom]

Wow, what a dud. This episode sucks. Bennett struggled, Natalie is Julia in a wig, Ford talks too loud. When Anthony George is the best thing about an episode, well, need I say more? I knew I shouldn't have opened my mouth. I said I had reached the saturation point with Ange & Ben and wondered where the rest of the family was. And look what it got me, lol. And the pièce de résistance -- a "bloody" dismembered mannequin arm. FU DC.

So, Countess is now sure that there is an evil in the house and she strongly suspects Vicki, which just kills me but it makes sense. I like that Naomi stands up for Vicki regardless of what the cards or Natalie say. Andre, learning of Josette's & Jeremiah's tryst confronts Jeremiah and that's as it should be, IMO, and most probably how things would be handled back then by men. Naomi defends her daytime drinking to Jeremiah as the result of imposed boredom. I think I'd rather it be because Joshua neglects her sexually or something more weighty, like never getting over the death of a child -- anything other than being forced to be a lady of leisure, lol. The scene between Ford & Hall could have been great but IMO they both fell far short of their craft. The dream sequence was garbage.

Just one random thought: Who is playing the woman in Jeremiah's arms?

[DarkLady]

I haven't seen this ep. in a long time, but I think you're right, dom. I remember being really disappointed when I did see it. It should have been better all around. And the ending is just preposterous. (My notes say that Dorrie Kavanaugh played the woman in Jeremiah's arms.)

I really have only one more thing to add: After conferring with Natalie at the gazebo, André returns to the house and asks if he may speak to Jeremiah alone. Jeremiah invites him to the study, but Naomi offers to go upstairs--thereby obviating the need to build another set. I don't think we ever do see the study at the Old House.

Big question I've always wondered about: Are André and Natalie are supposed to be siblings? If Natalie was married to a count, how come her last name is still DuPres? Or are they following the rule of 18th-century English society which stipulated that even in-laws referred to each other as brother and sister? If Natalie was married to a brother of André's, I suppose the brother could have been a count. But André would have had a title of his own, right? Mass confusion!

[dom]

That was my first thought, that it was DK, but then I thought that DC would never pay an actor for that when he had a numerous amount of people already in-studio that could do that part. Interesting that it was her, I wonder why she was there to begin with? Maybe she was dating someone on the staff? Or maybe DC did pay her to be there. Well, if nothing else, it is an interesting bit of trivia.

[alwaysdavid]

Natalie's Tarot cards look remarkably like the ones my grandmother used in 1967. Wherever she got them must have been on the forefront of Tarot technology that they were still produced in the same way 170 years later. She sees lovers separated and death and betrayal and this leads to Vickie. Vickie is acting more like a lunatic than a witch, but then how many witches has she known? I recognize Dorries voice right away she used to be on another show I watched that Sam Hall would go onto destroy.

[dom]

Well, DL, I just remembered after re-reading your post that Natalie tells Joshua when they first meet that she was born with the title. Perhaps Andre discarded his title (if they are indeed blood brother and sister) for practical or more likely, personal reasons. You still got me on her using the last name of DOOpray (lol, I love the way Ben says it!). Perhaps people with titles retain their last names as a matter of protocol? Or maybe more likely in Natalie's case, vanity.

[DarkLady]

I like your hypothesis. Both André and Natalie might have had titles to start with. André has relocated to the New World and maybe has adopted French Revolutionary principles and could even have renounced his title. But Natalie seems rooted in the age of the monarchy and sees no reason to change her politics. I'm sure she expects the rest of the universe to adapt to her. 

[dom]

Well put, lol. Perhaps that's where Angelique picked up her outlook on life.

[MagnusTrask]

I wonder if the aristocrat-slaughtering French revolutionaries took over in Martinique too, in which case maintaining that title would be a very bad idea.