Fashion notes first . . .
I must comment on wedding dress #2 although it wasn't in Friday's episode. First of all, wasn't it remarkable that Naomi just happened to have that lying around so conveniently in a trunk? I mean, c'mon, it's hardly the kind of thing she would wear and in those days dresses were sewn by hand and not cheap.
So it's not like we could even think that Naomi was out shopping at the post-Colonial equivalent of Lord and Taylor and "they were practically giving things away. Well, you know, I saw this dress and I knew I had to have it. Well, I know I could never wear it and Sarah's about five years from . . . but this is so classic, it won't go out of style."
Anyhow, I thought it was pretty enough, although I liked the first one much better. This is the same dress though that Barnabas made Maggie wear, isn't it?
Abigail's dress, if you like at closely (don't get distracted by Abigail's face or you won't see what I mean), is actually kind of nice. The high neck frill doesn't do much for it, but it seems to have much more in common with Josette's clothes than Naomi's. The headress though, that has to go. My God, it's like something you would see Yul Brynner wearing in "The Ten Commandments" except this one is done up in old-maid chintz. Ugh. They couldn't just have the women wearing caps? One would have looked just as frumpy on Abigail (the wig would make anything frumpy), but it would not have me wondering who I know who has a chair covered in that same fabric.
While I'm on the subject of Regency dress. Cravats. I don't get why the wardrobe people have Joshua looking so spiffy with the way his is tied, when at the same time, it looks like they just yanked it and tied it as tight as possible and leaving the inch of naked neck expanse. Very unattractive.
And finally, Vicki's green dress. Vast, vast improvement over the red w/bib number, but it still looks wrong to me. Am I mistaken--it really seems like it's more Victorian than anything. Maybe it's the fitted waist.
Okay, onto the show.
I don't know that anyone shone in those episodes. Sharon Smyth was a cute little girl, but that's about all I can say for her. I liked Jerry Lacy and Clarice Blackburn's work here, but I dunno, both episodes weren't anything to write home about.
It occured to me that Abigail and Angelique have something in common: they both get quite um, "excited", albeit in different ways about witchcraft.
Very "excited"
![[blshy]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/blshy.gif "Blush(Yellow)")
to a point that's very reminiscient of the Jazz scene in "Phantom Lady" but without Elisha Cook, Jr. on the drums (if you haven't seen it, go rent it).
But let me talk about them one at a time.
Abigail. Ya know, I have to wonder. She was jabbering away to Joshua about why Ben could be in her room (thankfully, no one brought up the improbable--scary, visual place, let's just not go there), and she was right on target about why he would want her hair ribbon. I'm wondering just how a sheltered spinster in rural, 1790s Maine became such an authority about sympathetic magic. I know there were poppets and maybe she would have heard of those, but still, she didn't have to think about it, Abigail knew immediately.
But there she was going on and on about "the witch" and Vicki and well, I know it's the same old schtick they always trot out about frustrated old maids and really very unoriginal, but Clarice Blackburn was such a hoot to watch.
Also, why the hell didn't Joshua dower her to the hilt and marry her off when he had the chance? (with a sister like that, it would have been worth the expense).
What, by the way, was with that very lame attempt at an exorcism? This was all they could come up with--Jerry Lacy, a piece of chalk, Vicki's initials, and a stick. If it was supposed to be a dowsing rod, I want to know: why you need a dowsing rod for an exorcism; and what idiot found a stick with three branches on it?
As for Angelique, well, no wonder she isn't more hipped on consummating her marriage. If she can get that jazzed about saying her spells, well, who needs a partner
I wonder whose idea it was to go for the throes of passion delivery, the writers, the director, or LP's.
I liked the tarot cards she was using (those were tarot cards, right?) Anyone know the name of the deck?
She's her own worst enemy though. Ya gotta wonder what kind of thought processes she actually has--or doesn't have--that would make her do the things she does.
In Thursday's episodes, Angelique sounded sincere in her belief that someone had to be making Jeremiah haunt her, when duh, it should have occured to her that he had very good reasons just all on his lone ectoplasmic self to put her through a lot more hell than tossing her into an open grave.
She's clever, but she's not smart, if you know what I mean.
Yeah, there's a problem with the witch hunt, but considering that both her husband and more importantly, her father-in-law (who has the power) aren't enthused about Trask, why on earth doesn't she just encourage them to oppose Trask?
And then there's Miss Winters. Intermittent brain loss? That's all I can come up with now--forget the PSTD theory. For most of the episodes, she's actually not that dumb. Smart enough to ask the kid to lie for her, to check before going to hide. Smart enough to know that the exorcism is just not a good idea. But then
![[bnghd]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/bnghd.gif "Banging Head/HELP!!!!")
, but then
. . .
Why didn't she just run out the back door?
Luciaphil
