Discuss - Ep #0463

Robservations #463

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0463

Welcome, Angelique's portrait again.   Are we hearing brand new classic DS music here?   Have Barn and Carolyn forgotten they're desperate to get Julia's journal?   I've always thought that at this point, they were just pushing past the bits of the pre-1795 storyline whether it made sense or not, but now I think it all may make sense that B&C have disengaged from battling Julia.   

Julia has temporarily made herself valuable at Collinwood, as a doctor for Vicki, at least for now, as opposed to just being an historian/freeloader on her way out of town.   Barnabas could still kill her, but it would create unpredictable ripples in things.... more suspicion, just when ECS accused B of knowing what's going on with Vicki for one thing.

If he's not killing her, he needs her cooperation re Vicki for info and access.   Once he decides this, he starts allowing himself to notice that Julia never gave him away through all the threats and throttlings.... and relaxes about the damn notebook.  I don't know if this makes her safe at all in the longer run, but for now it might.

Barnabas doesn't care who hears him, as he burns the portrait, and bellows his head off.   Nice sense of hightened reality in this stretch of 1968.   It all seems to promise great things ahead.

Carolyn is wearing a riding jacket and cap, along with jodhpurs--an outfit that never appears again. You’re looking very rich today, Tony observes. He doesn’t take up any of her conversation gambits, but he does tell her that Julia has taken his advice and put her diary in a safe-deposit box.

That may partly explain why B&C have given up looking for it. Plus, as you say, MT, Julia is doctoring Vicki, and things would really be messy if she (J.) suddenly disappeared.

Vicki brings the portrait home. The painting is wrapped in the blue sheet that seems to be reserved for all paintings at Collinwood.

Later, Tony watches from outside as Caroly "comforts" Barnabas at the Old House. Tony is furious at seeing Carolyn in the arms of "that old man" and breaks it off, leaving Carolyn miserable.

Barnabas burns the portrait, but he and we hear Angelique's laughter in the background.

I always cringe a little at Tony's "old man" remark (though it is rather amusing when one reflects on the way Carolyn fell under Barnabas' influence to begin with); after all, Barn looked so young in 1795!  We're never really told how old he is; I always figured, theoretically, late twenties (which is a stretch, I know, but for the purposes of the story, or at least the 1795 story, which rewrote a lot of canon that came before). 

And I have some weird appreciation for Angelique's stand-in laughter, which is used once or twice in a rather inexplicable way:  [spoiler]for instance, during Cassandra's last appearance, Elizabeth hears the fake laughter before the lady herself emerges from the shadows of the trees.  Why not just have LP laugh?  Sigh and head shake.[/spoiler]

Elizabeth and Vickie are wandering in the cemetery looking for Peter's grave and they find it. Elizabeth calls Julia Miss to Vickie, I guess unused to her new title. I like the play on works as Vickie says it's Angelique and Roger enthralled says it angelic. Daniel is now Elizabeth's great=great grandfather. This is really quite an action packed eventful episode.

Over the years I've always found it fascinating that with this ep (and the previous one) no one ever seems to express any sympathy for Peter. After all, he was wrongly arrested, tried, convicted, and hanged for a murder he didn't commit, but none of us seem to care. And ordinarily those would be considered terribly sad circumstances, even tragic - yet for Peter, nothing.    I guess that says an awful lot about what we all really feel when it comes to Peter. And he's probably the most likeable of RD's characters. 

I find I don't begin to become truly -- TRULY -- irritated by Roger Davis until his portrayal of Jeff Clark.  After that, he's mostly a lost cause.   

Peter Bradford and I share a birth date. That would have been exciting for me back in ’68. Oh, geez, Carolyn in a ‘riding’ outfit, lol. I didn’t remember that. Do we ever see her in pants again? Angelique’s portrait shows up and freaks Barnabas. Carolyn going for Tony seems odd to me being she is under Barn’s thrall. Tony sees Barn biting Carolyn (though he thought they were necking) and confronts her upon her return to Collinwood. Barn decides to destroy Ange’s portrait. Is Barn so stupid as to forget that if Vicki loves him she will die? Carolyn asks for her freedom (I loved this scene). Barn burns the cut out figure of Ange’s portrait, but it restores itself much to Barn’s horror. No surprise here that we hear Ange’s laugh – I totally expected it. I enjoyed this episode for content and for it not being 1795.

Random thoughts: Liz looks nice in purple (or lavender?). I thought Vicki was going to remember the secret room in the mausoleum. Nice tombstone for a convicted & hanged criminal. Good question posed by Vicki; did Peter Bradford fall in love with Phyllis Wick? Was it my imagination or did I hear a tinge of Trask in Tony Peterson this episode? Ange’s portrait showing up at Collinwood - for me - harkens the arrival of some fun new characters and new storyline!

Welcome back, dom!

I think this is the last time we see Carolyn in pants [spoiler]except in 1970 PT, when she gets some truly striking threads.[/spoiler] The only other time was when she was dating Buzz.

And yes, Peter Bradford was a much better character than Jeff Clark, who does get annoying practically right out of the box.

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I find myself feeling really sorry for Burke in these episodes. I mean, it's only a few days since Vicki received verification of his death (to everyone but Vicki anyway), yet no one so much as mentions his name or wonders how Vicki could so quickly have both forgotten him and transferred all her grieving to this nebulous figure from the past, Peter Bradford. I don't think it reflects well on anyone, Vicki included.

I was surprised to see Carolyn sans scarf in this episode, with her mark-free neck fully exposed for all to see. How long does it take for vampire marks to disappear, I wonder?

Tony's insinuation that Carolyn may be having an affair with her own cousin strikes me as very provocative for '60s daytime television.

I like the way Carolyn pleads with Barnabas to let her live her life and not waste her youth serving him. A poignant moment.