Third try here and I'm not using that nasty spell checker again because it keeps wiping out my messages
Fashion notes first . . .
I am not overly fond of Hall's chic short haircut. There are just too many episodes where it looks icky. The past couple of episodes, however, have been a notable exception. Nice work with the styling. The dress with the bow though--yeech.
Nancy Barrett should not be put in that pale yellow color. Maybe it worked on her in real life but on camera it washes her out.
Either the wardrobe people unclenched Curtis' fist long enough to pry out the $ necessary for a new and better wig for Cassandra or they found someone who knew how to style it.
I wish they would have had Moltke's hair up more often. Sans bow or hair ribbon, it looked great.
Was noticing that the glossy spots on Stokes' dressing gown sort of matched the polka dots on his bowtie. Very cool.
Onto the show . . .
Liked how Carolyn had her snippet of the dream and then woke up (although I couldn't believe that after her ordeal, she went to bed in false eyelashes).
Can I just stop here and say how much I like the Stokes character? I've said it before, but I would love to know what lines he tinkered with and what lines were original. I do notice that Sam Hall's scripts seem sharper when the professsor is in them. That line about the Meissen china was classic.
I also have to note that I think we've just learned that Stokes is a better hypnotist than Julia.
The whole twist to the dream curse was great. I loved it the first time I saw it and I love it now. Thayer David and Lara Parker were so on target. This is why I like DS. When it's this good. It makes it all worth the rubber bats and the construction paper monsters and all the rest of it. Really cool scene.
Something was a bit off, however, in the succeeding scene with Stokes, Joe, Sam, and Julia. I can't put my finger on it, but everything about it seemed forced.
Lukewarm about the rip off (er, homage) to the monster and the blind peasant man taken "Frankenstein." It strikes me that Sam would be much more likely to be hitting the bottle than pulling out the first aid kit. I certainly don't recall him being that hospitable before his paint-by-numbers disaster.
Cassandra is quite the 20th century gal, isn't she? She smokes like a pro. That, of course, was code for what she and Tony were up to
It's interesting though how much she uses or gets close to fire. I would think that would be a danger in her situation, but hey, she's got guts, I'll give her that
Was somewhat taken aback at Vicki's newfound reluctance to discussing her misadventures in the good ol' days. Is this not the same woman who was freaking out and telling everyone (including probably the mail man) that she had been in 1795, hanged as a witch, and that she had to find Peter??? And now, she's keeping her mouth shut. Sloppy, sloppy writing.
The whole Stokes and his aged cheddar and madeira bit. God, I love it. It was great. Just when I write off Cassandra, she's given Tony a really great and completely plausible cover story. Of course, it might have something to do with the delivery, because when she starts channeling Donna Reed I want to gag, but Tony as Bob Vila/Ward Cleaver, completely works.
Too bad for her that Stokes is paranoid (yeah, it has occurred to me to that when I have my back turned, my houseguests have a perfect opportunity to poison my coca-cola. But then too, I don't have any ipecac in my house so maybe that explains it
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When Stokes took out Ben's manuscript for one horrible moment I really thought they were going to try and pass off that dime store notebook as the original. But then nice save, although I suspect that anyone who works with rare books was cringing like hell at his attempts at "preservation."
The chess scene continues to be a favorite of mine. It's a nice bit of acting and a nicer bit of writing. In a couple of minutes, it told us everything we needed to or wanted to know about the particulars of Roger and Cassandra's marriage: he's not getting laid; he's suspicious as hell; she got off that great shot about his drinking (I wonder if he's yet at the stage where he's salted the house with extra bottles of booze). It worked. And then my personal favorite was the last shot of Roger on the stairs looking down at Cassandra
Luciaphil
