I agree in thinking that the original Laura story of early '67 was a major highlight--perhaps THE highlight--of all DS.  It was incredibly well crafted, and beautifully mounted.  The one jarring note for me is the character of Dr. Guthrie; I find him far less engaging or dynamic than Professor Stokes, or, for that matter, Dr. Woodard as portrayed by Robert Gerringer.  After his initial week or so of episodes, he gets to be a bit more charismatic, but when he first shows up on the scene, the tension of the tale which has held taut up till that point suddenly falls slack, to my taste at any rate.

I do enjoy Laura's return in 1897.  When I originally watched, I had missed everything in 1967 (and the first half of 1968), so my formative impressions of Laura were from his 1897 manifestation.  I enjoyed how the writers wove in the Egyptian occult elements into the tale on that go-round.  It gave what happened a different flavor from the original narrative of 1967.  In a similar way, I thought the introduction of Angelique and their story together gave the character of the vampire Barnabas a very different tone and a much more explicitly tragic emphasis once everyone got back to 1968.

G.

What unfortunate news.

That series seems to be under some weird sort of curse!  And now I sound like Mrs. Johnson talking to Nicholas Blair...

G.

I wonder whose car Willie commandeered in this episode?  I am pretty sure it was made clear in previous shows that Willie did not have his own wheels...

There's something so terribly haunting about those shots of Karlen at the bedroom window, his face a mask of tortured despair, telling Barnabas from afar "I hear ya."

G.

Forgive me for pouting--we see Briscoe in the bathrobe, but not showing off that luscious chest of his.  Sigh.

I'll just have to take Prof. Stokes' advice to Tony Peterson and "dream my troubles away."  LOL!

G.

Wow, I've lived in Boston for 13 years and never been to Durgin Park!

My sister made Indian Pudding once back in the Seventies and it did indeed take 3 hours.

I had the feeling this was going to turn out to have been a Malcolm Marmorstein show.  I really loved his writing for DS.  He got a bum rap in an interview Sam Hall did that was widely printed in an early DS themed publication.

G.

The real question is whether Mrs J used to serve Whip 'n' Chill as the dessert nearly every weeknight at Collinwood.

Oh boy, I am really pushing those memory banks here...

G.

The DS producers seem to have decided decapitation was upping the ante, since Vicki's punishment in 1796 was the threat of being hung as a witch, while Quentin in 1840 faced public decapitation, something I'm quite sure has NEVER been practiced in US law enforcement but, what the hey.

I have read some descriptions of Tudor era public decapitations and it could be a grisly, prolonged death just as much as hanging was.  There was a reason why Anne Boleyn requested a swordsman from France to be her executioner--a request that Henry honored.

G.