Discuss - Ep #0497

[Watching Project]

Robservations #0497

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0497

[DarkLady]

Despite Julia's efforts to prevent it, Mrs. Johnson finally tells David the dream.

Meanwhile, Maggie and Joe have a quarrel over the emerald and diamond earrings. Joe says he took them (1) because Maggie isn't herself when she wears them; and (2) to get them appraised. He says the jeweler told him they're worth $15,000 and very old. (They're worth at least $75,000 in 2013 money!) He wants her to take them off but she refuses. (After she admires herself in the mirror, her left earring falls off, but KLS recovers it without missing a beat.)

Later, Maggie goes to see Willie. He's glad to see Maggie, but she says, I don’t know why I came--I just had to. I’m starting to remember fragments of things (Josette’s “ghost” theme wafts through the air). She now realizes that Willie got shot because he tried to tell her she was in danger. To his delight she tells him, I’m not afraid of you anymore, but I want to know what the danger was. Willie's in a tight spot but he gets out of it pretty well (with some really good work by John Karlen) by saying, I just had a strong feeling I had to help you. After all, a number of women had been attacked. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t next. His attempts to ask her out are truly sad, but she tells him as gently as she can that she's engaged to Joe now.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Johnson sits beside David's bed while he has the dream. His beckoner is Willie, and his special treat is to be trapped in a giant spiderweb. The faithful Mrs. Johnson is ready for the moment when he screams himself awake. He sees her by his side, and instantly flings himself into her comforting arms. They both sob as she holds him tight. She probably loves him more than anyone else in the family.

[dom]

Julia greets Mrs. Johnson at the Old House. We already knew that she was home but the writer forgot this I guess as Mrs. J. states to Julia that she avoided the great house upon her return so as not to present the dream to David. The two women go back and forth re: telling the dream to David, at one point Julia having to slap Mrs. J. out of hysterics and another with Julia having to throw her weight against the door to keep SJ from leaving. Kudos to C. Blackburn for her performance here. And after all the drama and tears – David shows up at the Old House. Why did this surprise me? Mrs. J. eyes him like a 1935 hobo eyeing a t-bone steak & baked potato dinner through a restaurant window. It’s quite a marvelous performance within a performance. Julia sends Mrs. J. home and keeps David there with the promise of letting him play with a tape recorder – a new experience for him. Enter Willie imploring Julia to come downstairs, so Julia leaves David momentarily to see to Willie and fetch the recorder. David decides to play outside instead of waiting inside. Leaving the Old House he is greeted by Mrs. J. Again, why did this surprise me? I can’t believe I was taken twice in the same act.

Joe finds Maggie searching for Josette’s earrings. He has them and she is none too happy about it. He’s had them appraised for fear someone might be setting Maggie up with stolen property. Their conversation re: the earrings snowballs into a squabble ending with a fabulous line by Maggie about finding a restaurant that serves baby food. After Joe storms out, Maggie, entranced by the earrings, recalls their importance in her life but can’t quite make the pieces fit. We hear Josette’s theme and know exactly how the pieces fit. Maggie ends up at the Old House and is greeted by Willie – still entranced; she decides that Willie was innocent of the charges levied against him for her abduction, etc. Willie takes advantage of the situation and convinces her that they should be good friends. Maggie cautions him that she & Joe are engaged but Willie sidesteps the issue and gets Maggie to promise to think about them becoming best buddies. After Maggie leaves Willie shows us that he plans on getting rid of Joe so that he can have Maggie all to himself. Definitely not the same Willie we used to know and love – definitely a level of crazy that wasn’t there before. But come to think of it, maybe this is the pre-Barn Willie we used to know and didn’t love.

Though we haven’t seen it, a remorseful Mrs. J. has told the dream to David and now sits with him as he sleeps figuring it’s the least she can do for him under the circumstances. David has the dream and this time it is Willie that leads him. His final door reveals a spider and it’s web, which David gets trapped in. He awakens terrified and into Mrs. Johnson’s comforting arms.

Afterthoughts: The shrub under the Old House window on the porch is an idiotic addition to that set. Loved the quarrel scene between Maggie & Joe – both actors were fantastic, especially Crothers. We got to see a bit of the old ‘tough’ Maggie again. Perhaps dream props should be immune from criticism.

[MagnusTrask]

Mrs. J comes across as a vampire, when encountering David.   Post 1796 Joe is a different character.   Williw with Maggie:  good thinking, rationalizing the reason for his coming to her place and getting shot that day, w/o giving Barnabas away.

Aw, Mrs J watching over David as he Dreams.

[alwaysdavid]

Mrs J. says that the dream is worse each time one has it. This is the first time that I noticed this information and it makes me think that it doesn't matter how cheesy the dream seems at times that it is just the having it that causes the terror. 
I likes the line from Maggie, "A place that serves baby food."  Joe just seems too possesive. He storms out like a little boy also. I like Maggie's attraction to the earrings. KLS looks very pretty and I like how she plays the scene with a certain distracted quality like she did when she was lost in Josette.
Willie meanwhile plays with the gun in a crazed manner and apparently intends to use it on Joe.
Mrs J tells David the dream offscreen which seems strange.  She sits by his side waiting for it and there is a beauty in her face that isn't usually there.