Discuss - Ep #0378

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #378

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0378

[dom]

Ben can’t get Ange out of his head and he knows it’s futile to resist her call or to reveal her as a witch to Barnabas. While she’s summoning him in the opening scene all I could think of was our Forums’ floaties, lol.

Burke decides to leave Collinsport & Josette for the good of everyone and everything. Makes sense to me and it is exactly what I told him to do when I was yelling at the TV yesterday. Ben blabs Jeremiah’s intentions to Ange and she really didn’t have to twist his arm for the info, damn him. More good stuff as per usual between Ben & Ange – these two deserve their own “Best of” compilation. Ben inspires Ange to create the circumstance of having Josette insist to Barn that Jeremiah stay, and in what I found to be a very compelling scene, Josette’s & Barn’s AJAX love for each other wins out over Ange’s spell. The writers took us on a very short but very thrilling rollercoaster ride. I found the whole scene totally engrossing. And I was so happy with the outcome – another victory for love! Barn’s & Josette’s love for each other must be true & strong to keep overcoming Ange’s spells.

Come to think of it, I found the entire episode pretty engrossing – Thayer is great as Ben telling Ange that her spell didn’t work. He is so good that even the humor doesn’t break me back into reality. And things only go uphill from there as Ange then decides to hex Joshua as a means of keeping Jeremiah from leaving, after Josh harshly chastises the two of them after catching them clashing in what he no doubt considers a vulgar situation on every level. Who didn’t enjoy watching Ben fantasize about what Ange should do to his abuser? I know I would have much more enjoyed seeing Joshua as plow mule being overworked by Ben than the cat she eventually turned him into. I guess it’s a good thing that Jeremiah had his back to his big brother while the transformation took place.

Random thoughts: The clay cat is a dumb prop for obvious reasons and the editing in the last scene is horrid. Still, it is a very good episode all around. MPI VHS Volume 30 has on the cover another shot from the Barn outdoors on the Old House porch photo shoot. My favorite DS story of all-time revolves around this photo shoot.
 

Hi Dom,  the photos of Barnabas outside the Old House were taken at the Spratt Mansion (the original of the Old House) at a publicity shoot, which I think must have happened during the winter of 1967-68.  As I am sure you know, the house burnt to the ground in a 1969 fire.

One of the fans once posted about her excitement (and briefly, I think, terror) when she drove past the house and saw "Barnabas" in the flesh walking on the grounds that day.

Favorite Line: Ben – “If it helps you any, I can tell you the horses names.”

[MagnusTrask]

Burke decides to leave Collinsport & Josette for the good of everyone and everything. Makes sense to me and it is exactly what I told him to do when I was yelling at the TV yesterday.

This was funny.  Anyway, am enjoying your remarks generally dom, and will join in soon, when I catch up.   A VCR has recently come my way, and my apartment-ful of VHS is now re-activated....

[DarkLady]

For once, Ben gets to gloat over the failure of Angelique's spell. Every scene with TD as Ben is fabulous.

Wonderful scene where true love vanquishes Angelique's spell, and Barnabas and Josette declare their love again. They are so lovely together.

The terrible editing of the last scene might have been because they decided to use a live, harmless little black and white kitty. And herding cats is as hard as-- well, herding cats!

Just another fashion note: In contrast to everyone else and despite his genuinely warm and even ardent personality (at least in 1795), Barnabas dresses very somberly indeed. When he wears the bottle-green velvet coat, he's really going wild. His neckcloth is almost always black. Today he wore a suit (coat and breeches) in solid black broadcloth or some similar extremely plain fabric, with no trim at all. However, his weskit is inevitably dark red brocade (a sign and a portent, I suppose).

[alwaysdavid]

Ben is honing his little hatchet and Angeliques head appears and becomes huge. I'm guessing that was planned because its really huge and not the normal out of proportion chromakey. I wonder how long Barnabas has actually know Josette. Did he fall in love with her on first sight? And is all this strange behavior making him think she may be a lunatic? Apparently not. I wish they had actually changed Joshua into a cat onscreen. It's not that hard to do except for having the cat in place when you turn the camera back on.

[DarkLady]

I wish they had actually changed Joshua into a cat onscreen. It's not that hard to do except for having the cat in place when you turn the camera back on.