Another great episode.  It's very disturbing to see Liz begging Vicki to help her do damage control with Roger and Carolyn.  There's a frantic note that starts here with Liz that's much different from her enlisting Vicki's aid in dealing with Laura in the previous storyline.  We really start to learn more about what makes Liz tick at this point in the storyline.  I think back to that amazing scene when Jason arrives and he and Liz are alone in the drawing room and the camera has Liz's hands, clasping and unclasping with exquisitely understated nervousness, in the foreground.  Great foreshadowing then to the drama that's unfolding here.

G.

The locution "my man" survived at least into mid-to-late 20th century upper-crust British parlance.  It was used by squire-types to refer to their trusted manservant(s).

"Don't worry about a taxi from the station--I will send my man over in the car to collect you" is a typical example of this kind of usage.

For all I know, nobs in the UK (and maybe some wannabes in the US, but I soooo *don't* have a home in the Hamptons) still use this expression.

G.

I was totally opposed originally to the idea of a remake, but Alec Newman's performance as Barnabas in the 2004 pilot made me think that it could be fun IF it were done as a start-from-scratch exercise rather than a remake tout court.

Just my personal opinion, but I think we are in the final years of series television on the regular networks.  I'll be surprised if ten years from now there are ANY drama series in production for the Big 3 (or is it now the Big 4--or 5??).  I would guess that HBO and Showtime and a couple of those other networks would be able to keep things going because of how they are structured.  A series of DS movies similar to the Donald Strachey movies on the "here" network might be fun.  Again, that would underline the difference between this version and the classic show which was a daily serial and had some of the leisurely rhythms of old Victorian storytelling in its pace.

None of my opinions matter but you did ask.  I do feel incredibly fortunate that we have the entire series (minus the one lost episode), and that it has not only survived but even been released on VHS and DVD!  That seems truly miraculous.

G.

Who else but Julia???

G.

What a fabulous episode!  This is the one I alluded to in a previous post, where ABC's S & P office sent in notes stating that it must not seem that Jason is implying that Willie and Barnabas are a gay couple, in the dialogue about Willie and "light housekeeping."

Jason is such a treat to watch.  He says that line about the Swiss bank account with such sleazy zest.

Maggie's dream is so brilliantly staged.  When I first saw these shows I thought this was the first of the surreal dream sequences on DS, but now of course we know that they had had plenty of practice in the preceding Laura Collins storyline.

G.

I think Vicki's voiceover referred to Willie, esp. since the action of this show revolved around how Liz was irate that thanks to Barnabas, she was still stuck with having Willie skulking around the grounds.  Just my two drachmae.

Is this the first time we see Burke sorta-kinda positioning himself as the protector of Liz--and Collinwood?  I thought it seemed like a real switch from Burke's original determination to buy the house right out from under Liz.

Presumably, Willie was out purchasing hardware supplies at the time of Liz's visit.  It is decidedly odd that they don't lock that door!

G.

What a nuisance.  Everybody who bought them should phone MPI (and perhaps followup the phone call with a letter--if it were me, I'd ask for a name and address where I could send a letter of complaint).

Of course, if they admit there is a glitch in how that disc was authored and they agree to replace free of charge, AND it doesn't happen in the next set, things will be resolved very happily.

G.

Hope you feel better soon, Raining wolf.  Do be gentle with the pneumonia--you really don't want to monkey with that!  Bleah!  My Dad is still a bit weak from having had it several months ago.

I am forever reading a gay subtext into Jason-and-Willie and Willie-and-Barnabas but almost never mention this here because I figure fans here really don't want to hear about it.  I was hysterical back in the Eighties when I got hold of the old "Introduction of Barnabas" book and they reprinted the memo from the S & P office at ABC about some dialogue Jason and Willie had where the officer stressed that "we must not lead people to think that Jason is inferring a homosexual relationship between Willie and Barnabas." What a hoot!

cheers, G.