is liz a dish best served cold?

over the weekend i watched an episode featured in today's slide show(#917)where liz 'icily' asks paul what would ever have made him think she wanted him back...ice-water certainly ran through my veins(and i hit the rewind button 10 times).

leviathan liz is one cool customer!

in general liz can get quite frosty at times.

roger,burke,laura,jason,cassandra.they've all gotten the deep-freeze from liz.
i like liz's warm,maternal side too(carolyn,vicki and david all get it)but when she gets cool it's a wintry blast to watch.

I love that scene:

Ep #917 - Liz icily asks a (faking to be) sleeping Paul what made him think she wanted him back.

And I think it's one of Joan Bennett's best. Say what we will about Leviathans (and we often do - at least about the final weeks of it) but Bennett was definitely one of the actors who most benefited from that storyline because she was lucky enough to get some great material to work with.

I love Icy Elizabeth, but that's one of the aspects of Leviathans that bugged me. They brought Paul back to Collinwood and we see hardly no actual interaction between he and Elizabeth (as herself, and not under the Leviathan influence). The Paul/Elizabeth dynamic is something that could have been played up more than it was. Instead, it was just added to the Leviathan plot, and as such, most of their interaction isn't really real to me...because Elizabeth isn't herself. I would have really liked to have seen normal Elizabeth and Paul go at it. I think Paul was a bit of a wasted opportunity.

mysterious,

i loved the scene too and agree that bennett was in top form(needless to say that liz was immaculately coiffed and jeweled and dressed added to my pleasure).i was fully prepared to despise this storyline but the first several weeks of it have proven quite enjoyable for me...although it's final weeks do sound really dumb so the jury is still out.

barnabas' bride,

i hear what you're saying too.personally i would loved to have seen some straight-foreward "soap opera" storytelling here and really get into it with(non-leviathan)liz and paul but the show simply had gone in a different direction by this time so it wasn't in the cards.i also agree that paul stoddard was something of a wasted opportunity here.this character(after the initial set-up)really could have been almost anyone.

Too true....I just wish they could've taken the time to inject some more drama there. That was something they lacked in the later storylines, IMO.  We never even really got to see how Elizabeth feels about Paul afterwards. Those are things that should be there, no matter what direction of the show.

I did like Paul's scenes with Carolyn though. I thought Carolyn's feelings were really well portrayed by Nancy Barrett, who was a bright spot in the Leviathan storyline to me.

Barnabas' Bride,

have you seen the 1967 Jason Maguire storyline with Liz?  After the end of that, I found Liz's reaction to Paul entirely plausible.  [spoiler]  As I recall it, when she went to his hotel room when she first learned he was back in town, she was beyond icy and basically informed him to get outta town!  I thought the Leviathans' influence simply brought out even more her real feelings about him, which were ones of utter contempt.  That whole episode from which this scene is excerpted is FABULOUS work from Joan Bennett, with great support, of course, from Dennis, Clarice, and Thayer.[/spoiler]

G.

I loved the Jason McGuire storyline, and I loved Elizabeth in the storyline as well.

I did like that scene between Elizabeth and Paul. I suppose the fact that she was a Leviathan just  detracted from their interaction for me...so when I watched them, that was just there in my mind, the fact that it was not the normal Elizabeth that was dealing with him.

Joan Bennett plays "cold" great, though. I agree that she was fabulous.

....and, I don't believe I'm reaching here...a great extent to Liz being Ice Queen is because of Paul's choice in 1945...(selling THEIR daughter out).

Patti

Actually, Liz wasn't aware of Paul's bargain or how it involves Carolyn. In Ep #916, Liz asks Barn what the Leviathan's goal actually is and what Paul has to do with it, and all Barn will tell her is they will bestow on a "particular person" a "very great honor." And when Liz asks who the person is, Barn's simple response is that it's someone they'll be "very proud of" - and that's all he'll tell her.

I loved the Jason McGuire storyline, and I loved Elizabeth in the storyline as well.

I totally agree, Barnabas'sBride. The Jason/Liz blackmail plot is my favorite non-supernatural storyline. Joan Bennett and Dennis Patrick are wonderful in it.

mysterious,

perhaps i haven't been paying as close attention to this as i should.is barnabas the only person under the leviathan influence actually aware of pauls bargain and what it means for carolyn?are liz,david,amy and the todds in the dark about what their mission is and are just blindly following instructions?

i'm not 100% clear on this point.i like to think that liz would not knowingly ever put carolyn in harm's way even under an influence this powerful.

Apparently different members of the cult knew more than others on a presumably need to know basis. Liz appeared to know very little and David appeared to know a bit more but not about Carolyn's ultimate fate, whereas in Ep #919/920/921, when Philip reprimanded Michael for staring at Carolyn and making her uncomfortable and Michael claimed he could stare if he wanted to, Philip flatly told Michael that he couldn't stare at Carolyn yet and warned him not to rush things, which certainly indicated that Philip knew the utlimate plan for Carolyn. And one would presume Megan also knew because it was established that Megan and Philip seemingly had the same dreams at the same time. But as the "baby"-Alexander-Michael-Jeb's "parents," it only made sense (if such a thing was ever possible in Leviathans  ) that their jobs were to guide him to his destiny.

...are liz,david,amy and the todds in the dark about what their mission is and are just blindly following instructions?

From what I remember, doesn't it get a bit confusing about who knows what, whom is just following orders, and who is in command?

[spoiler]Hierarchy from what I can remember:
Jeb (Cthulhu)
Barnabas (offical spreader of the word)
Megan & Phillip (keepers of the kid)
David (keeper of the book)

And then everyone else was the underlings?

Who manages to not become a Leviathan? Maggie I believe, Julia, anyone else?[/spoiler]

Roger doesn't fall under the Leviathan influence.

Chris and Quentin didn't either.

MB -  I love that time period on the show. It's also one of the first DS storylines I was introduced to, and I always love rewatching those episodes and seeing the back and forth interaction between Jason & Elizabeth and how everyone reacts to them.