Members' Mausoleum > Luciaphil's Idle Thoughts '02

Idle Thoughts--Freudian Slips 7/22-7/25

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Luciaphile:
Fashion notes first . . .

Just wondering.  Why does Willie wear his windbreaker indoors?  Drafts?

Liked Maggie's blue short-sleeved dress with the striped detail.  Think it served to delineate her figure so she wasn't swimming in the dress.  KLS was a twig!  Also have noticed that her hemlines are beginning to make their upward climb.

Hated the bright green sleeveless dress they had KLS in.  The color was great; the cut was not and the fabric looked very cheap.

Okay, Josette :)  I know you like the solid white frock of Angelique's, but to me it shall ever be her most heinous, scary, evil dress.  My chief problem with it is that I don't think it's very flattering.  The gathers which go like two different ways make Parker look dumpy, and she wasn't dumpy.  That and the lighting guy had her looking green as well.  Mr. Spock and Kermit the Frog should be green; the cast of DS should not.

Yuck to Vicki's gray pleated skirt.

And Carolyn's most singularly unattractive outfit makes its debut.  I am thankful that after one or two more episodes it goes into the void.  I speak, of course, of the taupe dress.  Again with the atrocious cut and the color is beyond ick.  Completely washes Barrett out, and why did she choose to go sans brassiere for this one.  Not a smart idea.

And lastly, I turn my attention to La Bennett.  On the night when we see her clearing out her wardrobe, we first are treated to her in a teal robe.  It's very fetching.  Presumably a few hours later, she's changed this for an icky Queen Mother powder blue nightgown and robe.  And then magically--she awakes in a fuschia striped number.  Now, I love the last.  I like how the fabric hangs in back and it's a great color on her, but what is this?  Parallel time wardrobe?

Onto the shows . . .

The Tom bites Julia scene was very sexy . . . until Don Briscoe chose to cross his eyes.

Hehehe Julia doesn't want to share with Liz (okay, okay, the more conventional interpretation is that she was concerned for Elizabeth's well-being, but mine is more fun, admit it).

These episodes were much more enjoyable for me.  One of my favorite scenes is the one where Willie is standing there snickering to himself while Barnabas comes up with all these reasons why he's worried about Julia.

"You're acting like some man whose secretary is missing."

Very nicely done.  I'm not a B&J adherent much, but like it or not, Julia and Barnabas do share a relationship of sorts--platonic, not-so-platonic--there's something there and it was nice to see acknowledgement of that.

Liz and her death obsession.  Yawn.  I so don't care.  I have to admit though she's right about Barnabas not knowing much about Roger.  And in a way, it'a an appropriate curse that makes a good deal of psychological sense as far as the character goes.  Elizabeth is probably afraid deep down that she's "buried" herself by having shut the world out for nearly 20 years.  But good God, it's so bloody tedious.

Liked the struggle between Tom and Barnabas, which was suitably dramatic, or would have been if Briscoe had not been so hammy.

No one seemed surprised when Elizabeth shot up from behind the arm chair which seems kind of odd.  I mean, she's not a child.  If I saw a 50+ year old matron popping up from behind the Chesterfield, I think that would rate a jaw drop or two.

Also loved the scene between HAA and Grayson Hall.  The verbal fencing was a joy to hear and there was just the right amount of tension.  About bloody time the writing started to improve.

Holy speedy recovery!  It was remarked upon in the main forum, but here's my two cents.  You would think that it would take longer than 24 hours to replace the drained fluids without benefit of a transfusion.  But hey, Julia is set up for electricity, maybe she ordered some blood when she bought the generator  ;)

As far as the debate over Nicholas Blair and his involvement in the mess goes.  It was refreshing to see Julia, at least, using her mind and pointing out a few facts to Barnabas.  Am I right in thinking that this little interlude with toothsome Tom restored some of her brains?

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie.  Is it possible for someone to have held a job as a waitress, experiencing the worst of humanity (and I thought retail was bad) and not have developed a fairly accurate sense for when someone is hitting on her?  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce the reason behind Mr. Blair's "kindness" and "generosity" as well as the fact that this is just not the sort of man that commonly is referred to as "kind."  

Also remain deeply puzzled as to the reluctance to take the two grand for the painting.  In the first place, Sam did once command that kind of a price--that's what Barnabas paid to have his portrait painted.  In the second, I do believe that the value of an artist's work typically goes up after their demise.   Aside from that, let's consider:

1. She has no discernible form of income.  
2. She's engaged to be married to a working stiff and presumably any kind of money would be welcome.
3. Sam doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to leave behind a healthy little nest egg.
4. Bills must be coming due (mortgage, utilities, food, groceries, the tab at the Blue Whale).

With those sorts of pressures, I would say you smile politely the minute some sucker offers to buy a painting, take the money, and you run to the bank.  Again, not rocket science.

And speaking of Maggie's boyfriend.  I've always wondered.  What effect do you think distance would have on the power of the vampire?  They always talk about running far away in the vampire stories, but no one ever actually does.  Let's just say that oh, Joe someone finds the cash (and I know he wouldn't have it, but hypothetically speaking) and while he's got the will power, gets on a plane that's going to I dunno, Canberra or say, Abilene.  And the plane takes off and gets wherever.

Meanwhile there's Angelique who's hardly the sharpest knife in the drawer, these days either.  By the time she figured out why Joe wasn't answering, what exactly could she do?  I dunno.  Just a thought.

More things that should make Maggie go hmmm.  Nicholas Blair shows up at like 4AM with the vaguest of excuses.  Honey, get a clue.  I wouldn't blame her for ditching Joe, but it's pretty obvious why Blair's there.  

As far as Joe goes (and Crothers is really amazing with these performances, btw), it's also painfully obvious that the guy's problems go a lot deeper than another woman.  Cheating men typically don't appear this tortured and don't act that erratic.  I can see why Maggie would give him the old heave-ho (and I mean this in the kindest way--but her father's dead.  She is at a crossroads.  Maybe it's time to say sorry, and move on), but my first thought here as to what's wrong would be mental illness, not another girl.  But then I did say that Maggie wasn't that bright.

Some nice dialogue here.  Angelique seems kinda mystified as to why Joe keeps fighting her.  It's sort of like watching a sociopath trying to figure out why some people bother with things like laws and codes.

I have to say that Lucretia Borgia is a better choice for most evil woman in history than Elizabeth Bathory (although revisionist historians might disagree).

Jeff is just one creepy human being.  I'm just saying.  

Poor Adam.  I felt distinctly sorry for him as Jeff the self-righteous ass was ragging on him "you were made of dead bodies, nananana."

Roger is a total shadow of his former self.  How he (or any other sentient being) could refer to Jeff as "presentable" is beyond me.  And I cannot believe that he would want Jeff at the cannery (unless he was envisioning a nasty accident with the sardine equipment  ;) )  And what kind of a ditz has no idea what kind of work her fiance does?

I loved Liz's indignation that Richard Garner wouldn't come to the phone at 3AM to discuss her burial arrangements.  

Oh dear, Stokes is a Freudian.  This is the first negative thing about him, but it's kind of a biggie.  Did enjoy Adam taking Carolyn to task for the obvious deficiencies of her education.

Too bad that they didn't do more with Tony.  I thought Jerry Lacy had nice chemistry with Nancy Barrett.  He was an edgy character and I also liked the baggage he brought with him.  Oh well.

Luciaphil

Josette:
Maggie with Nicholas is really unbelievable!  And, while you're indicating that she wasn't too bright, originally she was the sharp one!  But, even if she didn't catch on to Nicholas from all of the previous encounters - when he suddenly shows up at 4 in the morning just because he suddenly had a feeling that there was something wrong and he had to check on her!!  Really!!!  She actually believed that?!!!

(By the way - she had the painting wrapped up for him when he gave her the check.  Evidently Joe's arrival disturbed everyone, because he left the check but said he'd be back for the painting the next day - at which time she informs him she has it ready - he knows that!)

Again, her encounters with Joe - when Nicholas plants the seeds that it could be another woman.  Joe has been pleading with her that he loves her, kisses her, and begs her to keep him there and not let him out.  I can understand her puzzlement and that she might think of mental illness, as you suggested, but I can't imagine that sounding like someone who is going with another woman.

Adam's getting good (it's a shame that aspect is about to come to an end!) - his statement to Stokes about no one caring if anything happens to him and the whole Freud thing and how could Carolyn have lived so long and learned so little (!) were really good scenes.

Cassandra:
Lately it seems as if everyone along with Maggie is loosing their "oomph" these days!  And you're right, this Liz being buried alive business is starting to get more and more tedious each day.  What gets me is that Liz and everyone else seems to forget how STRANGELY Roger was behaving when Vicky bought that portrait to the house! He believed he was Joshua Collins and did nothing but talk to a painting all darn day.  Well why didn't anyone (especially Liz) decide to commit him to Wyndcliff back then?  Yet, when it's Liz's turn to act like she's from another century, they couldn't wait to commit her fast enough.  Also Barnabas, of all people should believe Liz when she says she was put under a curse by Cassandra, yet he too acts like she's gone mad. It's funny how they all forgot so fast about Roger's strange behaviour back then.  I wish Liz would get some of her spunk back and just remind her brother of his own past odd behavior!

It's funny how Maggie's behaving so clueless about Nick's fondness for her. Any guy that comes to your house at that hour with such a lame excuse definetely has something more in mind than "just being concerned."  

Everyone except Julia and Professor Stokes seems to be off in another world these days. Im wondering what happened to all their fighting spirit?  I can remember awhile back when Laura came to town and put Liz under a spell and then tried to harm her own son, how fast everyone seemed to catch on to her.  Even Vicky was pretty swift then too.  She kept suggesting that Liz's illness was caused by Laura and then she did all she could to keep David away from her.  I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong with everyone now? Either the experiment has gotten everyone crazy or it's just bad writing in this storyline.

I too wish that they did more with the character of Tony Peterson.  After Cassandra left, he seemed to be put in the backround.  It's a shame too because all of his other characters, Rev.Trask, Gregory Trask, etc.. were all so similar, so it was nice to see J.L. playing a much different character for this storyline. :)

Nancy:
It does seem to me that the producer compelled the writers to paint themselves and the show into a corner by every single storyline revolving around Barnabas.  True, he was the major draw of the show, however, it would have made life much easier for the actor playing Barnabas and others too if other actors were given more to do on the show dealing with their own subplots/storylines.   Maybe this decision was based on the fact DS was a half hour show but still you think it would have made the soap more complex and interesting to have characters who were otherwise liked well enough have more storylines that had nothing to do with whatever demonic battle Barn and Julia were engaged in at the time.  Instead, good characters were all but eliminated (dummed down I think was the word used) and other characters were given most of the burden of the show.

Elliot Stokes was an amazing character and more of  him would have been good too.

Nancy

Raineypark:
Absolutely, Nancy.....and it's not as though there wasn't room in the half hour for it.  No soap opera in history ever "moved along" more slowly than this one.  

If they had done away with the opening "repeat" of the last scene of the day before, it would have freed up minutes-a-day they could have used to develope sub-plots.

If they had picked up the pace of the dialogue, instead of assuming that the audience required remediation, they could have added even more time and space for complimentary storylines.

But they didn't.

Rainey

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