Idle Thoughts--A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose

[Luciaphile]

Sorry, for the snarkiness of the post, feeling quite miserable as I suffer from the killer cold from Hell  

Fashion notes first . . .

Not wild about Angelique's dress.  The color combination looked good on her, but there was just too much going on with it.  Was it the bows and how they were placed? Or the sleeves?  Not entirely sure, but think that in this case, less would have been more.

Same thing for Josette's gown.  The colors of the dress and cape were lovely.  Really stunning on KLS.  But what was with that panel thingy in the middle of the skirt?  I swear to God, I'm watching her and at first I thought she was standing in front of a chair.  The underskirt idea would have been fine, but the cut and design just looked weird.  Also, I'm sorry, but a French woman of her supposed exquisite taste would never have chosen to wear an evening frock like that for a trip into town to visit the jail.  Uh uh.

The rust color was very nice on Grayson Hall, but all those spangly, sparkly things on it were too distracting.  Less is more, costume people.  Learn the lesson.

Onto the show:

I have to pause now and address the so-called "secret" room in the mausoleum.  Let's just all think about this.  Anyone walking around the outside of it would have to realize the size of the structure.  And anyone stepping inside and seeing the visible space would have to assume that there was more to it.  What is this, the TARDIS?  (Yes, I watched Dr. Who--I was very young )  

As for the other so-called "secret", Barnabas sudden death/trip to England.  Yeah, I can buy that succeeding generations believed the social lie.  No prob, there.  But c'mon, who the hell does Joshua think he's kidding?  Like the men who carried the coffin to the "secret" room didn't tell someone?  Like they weren't seen by one of the legion of servants that the estate would have had to have employed?  Spare me the ignorant villagers--teeming prostitutes notwithstanding, these people would have clued in sooner or later.

The eternal thunderstorm is less effective after the umpteenth time, especially when it occurs to one that there is never any rain to accompany it.  

The curse . . . I will address this in more detail later on, but it always seemed so imprecise and haphazard to me, more like the hype you hear when someone breaks a chain letter and has a run of bad luck.

The bat.  Good grief, the bat.  Was that not the cheesiest thing you ever saw?  And this is supposed to be scary?  C'mon, I've seen real bats, inside a house,  to boot, and I assure you that we handled it with a lot more composure and aplomb than poor old Joshua.  

Oh dear, I haven't said one positive thing yet, but I really thought these were pretty lean pickings  

Maybe it was a good thing we never saw the 1795 folks at the dining room table, because I think we just got an indication of the table manners of Msieur Barnabas.  Does the man not own a handkerchief?  I realize that this was DC's way of being dramatic and cost-effective (saves on the dock set and the extra, who'd they have to pay scale for, more if they gave her lines), but ick, like the man would not WIPE HIS MOUTH???  This is not a five-year-old; this is supposed to be a gentleman, undead, yes, but still presumably someone taught manners.

Then we hear that he just left the body???  Hello?  There is a whole bloody ocean and it didn't occur to him to at least try to dump the body in it?  Yeah, they float and all that, but at least it would buy some time.

Not really impressed by any of the acting today.  Read that Teleprompter, people (note the plural--I'm playing no favorites).

As for Vicki.    Her and her jailhouse lawyer deserve everything they get.  Between their little jaunt to get the stupid book which she should never have shared to begin with and his stupidity in not trying to destroy it ASAP, well, there's not a gray cell between the two of them.

And we end with clouds of witness against Vicki, two future perjurers and a woman too stupid for her own good.  It fits in with the hysteria of a witch trial (see, I did say one nice thing  ) that the perjurers didn't notice that well, they didn't actually see Vicki at Collinwood, now did they?

Off to find the Vicks and some cough drops,
Luciaphil

[Josette]

As to the costumes, I loved Josette's dress.  But, I was wondering, what happened to the black?  Presumably she's still officially in mourning for Jeremiah.  And now Barnabas is dead for just 1 or 2 days, and there she is in beautiful color once more.

And, as to the Countess, I think this is another example of what I always say, that Grayson seems to get the worst clothes of anyone.  To me the rust color is rather depressing and they seem to give her characters that sort of color quite often.  Presumably she's of a similar age to Naomi, but the latter gets gorgeous gowns to wear!

I loved Angelique's death scene.  I hadn't recalled how well she did it.  Her body really did go limp and just slither down to the floor.  And then, those eyes!!  Sensational!

It really is amazing how everything conspires against Vicki.  Naturally he has to lie to protect not only Vicki, but himself for letting her out.  Presumably he can safely get rid of the book.  But, immediately Trask twists it around and now has "proof" that she was in 2 places at once!!!  Obviously Vicki doesn't help herself, but everything else "gangs up" on her, too.

[ROBINV]

Luciaphil said:

I have to pause now and address the so-called "secret" room in the mausoleum.  Let's just all think about this.  Anyone walking around the outside of it would have to realize the size of the structure.  And anyone stepping inside and seeing the visible space would have to assume that there was more to it.  What is this, the TARDIS?  (Yes, I watched Dr. Who--I was very young

It's been suggested that the mausoleum is built into a hill, which effectively hides the addition of the added-on secret room.  I used to think the same thing you did, Luciaphil, but it makes more sense to think that if Joshua were hiding weapons, he'd be more careful than that.

Love, Robin  

[Birdie]

I agree with Robin.  The mausoleum most likely was built into a hill.  Actually, that is not uncommon.  I have seen this done in many old cemeteries.  My sister in law and I were looking up some old ancestors and were in a very old cemetery and we saw a few of those.  That is the only explanation that makes any sense.

Agreed about Josettes dress, the pink panel was terrible.  The dress was gorgeous other than that and she looked beautiful in it.  Than again she looks good in a paper bag.

It is funny in the future Barnabas does not make such a pig out of himself when dinning on the young lovelies.
I am going to be interested today to see him Ben cleaned his cravat and shirt while the B-man slept.

Birdie

[Luciaphile]

I agree with Robin.  The mausoleum most likely was built into a hill.  Actually, that is not uncommon.  I have seen this done in many old cemeteries.  My sister in law and I were looking up some old ancestors and were in a very old cemetery and we saw a few of those.  That is the only explanation that makes any sense.

I've seen plenty of the tombs built into a hill myself.  And actually, that did occur to me too.  It also occurred to me that the secret room could be underneath the ground--which I've also heard of--a lot of the memorials in our big cemetery in Buffalo utilize this.

However,  the screen shots of the mausoleum depict it as s a freestanding structure so that lets out the built into a hill thing--also again, it's something that would probably occur to a reasonably minded person (When David was babbling about a secret room, if the tomb had been built into a hill presumably Dr. Woodard would have considered it).

As for the underground thing, the fact that in certain shots we could see up the three stairs into the outer chamber destroys that theory.

All I can think of is that Joshua didn't have too high an opinion of British intelligence!

Luciaphil

[VAM]

Sorry, for the snarkiness of the post, feeling quite miserable as I suffer from the killer cold from Hell  

.Off to find the Vicks and some cough drops,
Luciaphil

Maybe we should have Angelique brew some tea for you!