Discuss - Ep #0963

[Watching Project]

Robservations #963

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0963

[MagnusTrask]

Grayson VO.  All the dead people died that same year.  Did I see "Born 1955" on one?  Megan Todd dies.  Marie Wallace did a very good job of the entire thing.  It's a long time before they get back to the zombies again.  All I could think was that they had been off at zombie orientation camp.  Now they're in Collinwood.  My memory of Roger's reaction was all wrong.  I thought he'd said flatly and unenthusiastically "Oh my God" without bothering to show even a second of surprise or reaction time.  The last part was true, but it turns out he showed plenty of shock and concern.

Three zombies in Julia's room.  The Tor one had been hiding behind the drapes, the one you'd think wouldn't have been able to.  By Sam Hall.

[Uncle Roger]

Megan seems to have traded Leviathan devotion for vampire addiction. I don't recall any other vampire victim being quite so insistent about being bled.

So Maggie wasn't part of the zombie deal? An oversight by Jeb (or the writers)? Or were there plans for Nicholas and Maggie that never made it to being scripted?

Elizabeth's Leviathan devotion seems to be slipping. Is this a sign that the plan is failing?

[MagnusTrask]

The Leviathans are so powerful that their house has to start falling down from within.  It's a bit disappointing that they have to keep resorting to that, but it's entertaining to watch, and not unrealistic.  Liz has adjusted to a lot, smilingly, but it seems that slaves have a crucial point where they can't be pushed any farther.  In this case, it's Liz and her house.  She was fine being Jeb's hostess, but his tenant?

To be good slaves, they have to bring a lot of their real selves into it.  They won't have drive, or creative thinking otherwise.  That means a danger of that real self rebelling if pushed too far.  Hollowed out shells embued with brand new personalities wouldn't be able to fit in unobserved either.

Megan, and Marie with every role I've seen her in, are very passionate, and that comes out in everything she does, including vamp victimhood.  She also might see the meaning of her existence slipping away, with the marriage AND Leviathanism gone for her, and Jeb going human, so she might actually be actively looking forward to vampirehood. 

[Josette]

I seem to recall Megan actually enjoying being a vampire.  Barnabas and Julia offered her the possibility of a cure and she wasn't interested.

[DarkLady]

I believe you're right about Megan, Josette.

Like all the other DS villains, the Leviathans forget that even their servants have free will.

It never seems to occur to either Barn or Julia to draw the curtains while she's giving him his injections. So Jeb and one of his pet zombies watch while it's happening, and Jeb, at least, learns some interesting things.

Jeb is extremely rude to Elizabeth, ordering the Mistress of Collinwood around in her own mansion. But he's careful to keep his zombie companion out of her line of sight.

Even after his injection, Barn feels the need for blood. Although vampires are impervious to heat and cold, he puts on his coat to go hunting. Once again, Megan insists on being bitten. We can see the terrible regret in Barn's eyes as he bites her.

It does seem odd that after Megan dies, Barn is capable of staking her. It seems to violate some unwritten law of vampirism. But then again, as DS story lines hurtle to their conclusions, the writers seem to be making up the rules as they go along. Barnabas is in his drawing room with a stake ready in his hand. He tells Julia to stay in the basement, but she is determined to join him. I have put you through so much already! he protests. Even now she smiles faintly as she replies, I have not done anything that I have been forced to do. [She seems to have forgotten about poor Dave Woodard.] We can see that Barnabas has a hammer in his other hand as he approaches the chair--but Megan’s body has vanished. We won’t need these, he tells Julia. She is gone.

Jeb tells his Gang of Four, You know what to do. He adds unflatteringly, I can’t be with you, because I have to prevent one of my people from becoming like you. He moves off, and the zombies file into the house. They fan out as if searching, but two of them head upstairs.

Barnabas has walked Julia back to Collinwood. He will search for Megan while she tries to figure out what’s wrong with the serum. As she enters the darkened house, we can see that one of the zombies is hiding in the corner below the stairway. He does a near 360 as he watches her walk upstairs.

Another storm is at its height as Julia enters her room and prepares to start her work. She stops when she hears several strange, loud noises, but assumes it’s just the storm. She goes back to work, but then hears a knock on the door. She opens the door only to find the zombie who watched her go upstairs. She quickly slams the door in his face, but he opens it and walks in as the two zombies who went upstairs earlier now emerge from hiding--inside her room. No! she screams, but it is too late. (It is really a compliment to Julia that Jeb sent _four_ zombies after just one woman.) One zombie rudely hits her, knocking her unconscious. The other two follow as he picks her up and carries her out of the room in the received horror-movie style....

[DarkLady]

One other interesting note about this episode: The voiceover says that Jeb can no longer trust a LIVING being.

[MagnusTrask]

DL, Welcome back!  Dry yet?  You're alert to more details than I am.  A few seconds of "Better draw the curtains Barnabas" "No just get on with it" would have helped. 

Ever since Barnabas first wrenched his will and mind and instincts away from his vampire state, in 1897, based on his having been alive again in 1968 (I know what V Welles meant about crazy conversations overheard in elevators... listen to us!), he's been capable of staking other vampires (like Tom J), even though the next thought has to be: "Well, I guess you'd better stake me, too". 

He's probably thinking that.  Where to draw the line on that is an interesting issue that's often hanging in the air on DS, which they seldom, if ever, address out loud.  We're left to ponder it on our own.

I think Julia meant that her actions lately have not been forced, though I doubt they ever want to refer to anything like the Dave Woodard incident (sounds so much better than "murder") ever having happened, ever again.  If they had a show Bible (did Violet W say they had one?), it might be in there...

'"We won’t need these," he tells Julia.'  (Referring to the hammer and stake...) "But put them in a handy drawer, I'm sure this happenstance will pop up again.  Be prepared, my Boy Scout leader used to tell me!" Barnabas did not say... though he could have...

He does a near 360 as he watches her walk upstairs.

  Isn't that the zombie with just the one "good" eye?  Is it even possible we missed an intentional joke there, with his having to try harder to see things, without binocular vision?  Is it possible that DS was filled with such jokes and we miss them, because it's all played straight?  Which might be one definition of "camp"... so are the "camp" fans right after all?  No, because the seriousness was meant too; we have Violet Welles' testimony on that.  A mixture?  It could have been the actor's joke...

[spoiler]

(It is really a compliment to Julia that Jeb sent _four_ zombies after just one woman.)

Looking back, I think the plan started as one zombie per victim, and one of these would have been offing Roger, and another Barnabas, but offscreen, Jeb had already changed the plans to killing Quentin only, and kidnapping Julia intact, requiring a bit more personal attention from more zombies.  If they couldn't whap her unconscious with just one whap, that is, and she struggled and screamed.  ?  This assumes Jeb thought things out to this extent...  Okay it is a compliment to Julia...

What exactly did he mean for one, and only one, of the zombies to have done to vampire Barnabas?  Even we the viewers knew ahead of time in 1970 (between 1995 and 1840) that one vampire can survive a roomfull of zombies![/spoiler]

[DarkLady]

Thanks, MT. Good observations as always!

Everything is completely dry now, but some of my books will never be the same, alas.

[MagnusTrask]

(Commisserations on books.  I have my own more chronic water invasion going on...)

[DarkLady]

So sorry to hear that, MT! I hope the invasion ends ASAP!