How Many Heads?

[Philippe Cordier]

I'm puzzled about something I don't remember from seeing 1840 before, and I'm wondering if my current daily taping got out of order when I fell behind in my viewing last week ...

Anyway, from what I've seen, Julia "Collins" and Leticia Faye stitched Judah Zachary's head back onto his body (implied), the body came to life but then didn't, Julia and Leticia leave, Gerard Stiles enters the crypt and removes the mask from the lifeless body which then comes to life, they grapple and Gerard escapes the crypt but Judah Zachary is apparently killed in a fire that breaks out, Julia and Barnabas return to the crypt and find his arm sticking out from under the rubble and cavalierly pronounce him dead.  At this point (at least as I've taped it), Gerard returns to Rose Cottage, where he consults the head of Judah Zachary, which is still in its glass case.

At first I thought I was watching an old episode on the tape, but then the head seemed to instigate a dream in which Gerard is inspired to return to the tomb for the mask.

That's about as far as I've gotten (and I had to pre-empt the second episode last Thursday so I could tape something on another channel) ... but I also noticed Quentin wearing his unusual ring, although I don't think that has been introduced yet, unless that was the episode I missed taping ...

Anyway, if Judah Zachary's head was attached to his body, how could it still be in the glass case at Rose Cottage?

 

[Julia99]

Sorcery Vlad. . Sorcery. . .

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Vlad,

I think that Judah's "coconut" came off as a result of the post-experiment explosion in the crypt.  Kaboom!  (In addition: another contributing factor may have been that Julia might have gotten her surgical stitches at the local Odd Lot store instead of the local Wahlgreens in Collinsport.)

As to the head's presence in Rose Cottage, I think that Gerard Styles returned to the crypt and retrieved both the head and the mask AFTER Mr. B. and Dr. H. discovered Judah's "stiff," buried under the debris.  (Why Barnabas and Julia weren't thorough enough to unearth Judah's body and make doubly sure that he was dead, and "whole," is another question that I have.)   

Another thing that puzzles me, is that just before Julia and Leticia let those kites fly up into the air to "re-juice" Judah (a la Dr. Victor Frankenstein), we get a quick close-up of the top of Judah's head under that unbelievably garish Mask of Baal.  Anyway, I could swear that the formerly bald Mr. Zachary was sporting a full head of hair on the top of his chrome dome as he lay (laid?) on that operating table.

Do you think it's possible that Dr. Hoffman, in mixing up all of those 18th century chemicals, actually (and accidentally) stumbled upon a cure for male pattern baldness?  I tell you, who cares about bringing a nearly 200-year-old warlock back to life!  We're talking BILLIONS here, if the good Dr. Hoffman really came up with a cure for the so-called "Kojak-look"!  I want to buy some stock in that medication right now!

Bob the Bartender, aspiring pharmaceutical "inside-trader" !     

[Patti Feinberg]

Do you think it's possible that Dr. Hoffman, in mixing up all of those 18th century chemicals, actually (and accidentally) stumbled upon a cure for male pattern baldness?  I tell you, who cares about bringing a nearly 200-year-old warlock back to life!  We're talking BILLIONS here, if the good Dr. Hoffman really came up with a cure for the so-called "Kojak-look"!  I want to buy some stock in that medication right now!

Bob the Bartender, aspiring pharmaceutical "inside-trader" !     

LOLOLOLOL Bob....you funny man!!

Patti

[Happybat]

dalV,

I was confused too.  All along I thought that Gerard already had the head-the-box at Rose Cottage, so what was Hanley doing bringing it to him?  Wasn't there a scene beforehand where Gerard (after his dream) looks at the head and says that he has no reason to fear it?  But - I may just be confused.

When Hanley arrived at the door, I almost expected him to announce to Gerard that he has brought him a handy dandy, light-weight carry-all (with double reenforced cloth handles!) for the head-in-the-box.  After all, shouldn't a warlock with an attitude have his head ride about in style?  Oooh, I better stop here before I come up with some really ghastly puns to match.   

-tabyppaH, who is still catching up on DS after her week in nedewS with Mom

[Philippe Cordier]

I was confused too.  All along I thought that Gerard already had the head-the-box at Rose Cottage, so what was Hanley doing bringing it to him?  Wasn't there a scene beforehand where Gerard (after his dream) looks at the head and says that he has no reason to fear it?  But - I may just be confused.

I think you are confused, my dear, even more than I was.  My question was how the "head" could be in the glass case at Rose Cottage, in Gerard's possession, while at the same time it is attached to Judah Zachary's lifeless body in the underground tomb.  Did Gerard decide to hack it off when he went back for the mask?  (Or was that a different trip down into the vault?) ... Though I'm told here that it's all bewitched ....

The situation you're talking about is more straightforward  -- Gerard has just tried to get rid of the head by throwing it off Widow's Hill.  The glass case breaks and the head rolls around on the rocks and is washed out to sea (well, I'm just adding a bit to what was shown).  Upon his return to his room at Rose Cottage (actually a revamped Quentin's room from 1897) from disposing of the head, Gerard lies down on his bed (once again not even removing his boots!) and immediately has a dream that a stranger is at his door with the head.  Return service, if you will.  Then he wakes up and what he just dreamed really happens.

It seems he can't get rid of the head.

Hope that clarifies things ... perhaps you're suffering from jetlag?   

-Dalv

[Patti Feinberg]

Vlad...thank you. I meant to ask if that was a quasi-1840-pt-Quentin's room.

HAPPYBAT
welcome home...hope you had a great trip.

Patti

PS...if Gerard's there, where does Quentin sleep (when he's not in Anne's room!!)

[Josette]

When Julia and Barnabas find the "dead" Judah Zachary, all that is really seen is the arm sticking out from under the rubble.  I always assumed that the head became severed again in that disaster and influenced Gerard to take it with him.

[Philippe Cordier]

I always assumed that the head became severed again in that disaster and influenced Gerard to take it with him.

Josette, your explanation makes sense, but it does seem to require some major assumptions on the part of the viewer.  It seems strange to me that this wasn't explained.  I mean, it's not part of the mystery of the storyline or anything.

[Happybat]

[It seems he can't get rid of the head.

Hope that clarifies things ... perhaps you're suffering from jetlag?   

No, Vlad dear, it wasn't jet lag anymore, just general confusion about where the head is and when.   
Yes, I do remember JZ's body (with head intact?) being found beneath that rubble in the crypt.  It may just be that I have the sequences of events confused.  It just seemed to me that Dawson (not Hanley!) brought the head to Gerard shortly AFTER I saw the head already in its glass case at Rose Cottage.  And these events occurred after JZ's body was found in the rubble.

Don't recall Gerard tossing the head off Widow's Hill - it's possible I missed seeing that scene altogether.

As we know, the DS writers were hardly paragons of consistency!