Hard-Hitting Drama

[Philippe Cordier]

As usual, I'm posting this comment a bit late, but I just wanted to comment on what I felt were a couple of very high quality dramatic episodes late last week -- Thursday, Friday I think.  These were the eps when Will Loomis fell (or did he leap?) to his death from the tower, which came as a shock and I truly felt sadness.  Then Carolyn's emotional reaction to it all, particularly Nancy Barrett's scenes with Frid, were superbly written* and acted.  Heavy hitting drama that was a notch above melodrama.  Carolyn's ambivalence toward Barnabas was realistic; her character in this storyline is well developed.

I'd forgotten much of this storyline from my first viewing, and am finding more to praise than I remembered.  While Leviathan was good "horror," like a Lovecraft story, 1970 PT is better with character development and human drama, plus the air of mystery that surrounds much of it.  Not to mention the incredibly macabre business with Roxanne that makes my skin crawl ...

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*The were no final credits for a couple of these episodes, and I was compelled to check my Pomegranate program guide.  I wasn't surprised to see that the writer was Joe Caldwell.

Also, I earlier expressed my dismay that Caldwell, one of DS's finest writers IMO, didn't write for what I consider DS's greatest storyline, 1840.  However, as I was consulting my program guide the other day, I realized I was wrong -- Caldwell did have a hand in writing several eps of the 1840 storyline.

[Cassandra]

These were the eps when Will Loomis fell (or did he leap?) to his death from the tower, which came as a shock and I truly felt sadness.

That's a good question Vlad.  From what we've seen it did appear to be that Willie leaped to his death rather than give Barnabas' secret away to Angelique.  But then on the other hand, Julia had just come into the room and from the look on Wille's face it could very well be that the shock of seeing Julia there could have frightened him and he accidently fell to his death.  Sadly,  we'll never know.

Cassandra

[Raineypark]

Now let's think about this for a second.......

Will is on the window ledge because he can't give up Barn's secret.  In walks Julia.  Will KNOWS it's Julia, not Hoffman.  Why would that frighten him?  It should have been a relief, having an ally in the room.  Julia might have convinced Angelique to simply lock him in there until he agreed to tell....and then helped him escape.

No....I don't think Will jumped at all.  I think it was intended to look like he was startled and fell....and that's how it looked to me....he lost his balance and fell.

[Cassandra]

I agree, I think he really did accidently fall (as I've stated above) instead of jumping. IMO, it looked to me like the sudden movement of the opened door (and Willie have little leverage to balance himself on) plus someone walking in startled him and he fell.  I suppose it could have been anyone walking in then.

But the there's that nagging question?  "well if you're not planning on jumping then why the heck are you up there then?"

So, it does tend to make one wonder.  (along with alot of other different plots on the show)


Cassandra

[Debra]

I agree, I think he really did accidently fall (as I've stated above) instead of jumping. IMO, it looked to me like the sudden movement of the opened door (and Willie have little leverage to balance himself on) plus someone walking in startled him and he fell.  I suppose it could have been anyone walking in then.

But the there's that nagging question?  "well if you're not planning on jumping then why the heck are you up there then?"

So, it does tend to make one wonder.  (along with alot of other different plots on the show)

I agree Cassandra.  I mean, what was the guy doing up there at all if he hadn't planned on jumping? He sure wasn't admiring the night air & stars.

I would like to believe that maybe the writers sort of left it up the viewers to decide what really happened.  In my own mind I'd like to think that he was startled by Julia's sudden entrance into the room and that it was this sudden movement that made him loose his balance and fall.  When you're up on a window ledge that high up from the ground and suddenly, theres a fast movement or you're startled, unless you have perfect balance, you're going to fall.


Deb