#Dawn Greenhalgh

[opineonionated]

Daily Rhythms of a Pond

Musician and field recordist Action Pyramid finds magic in the everyday on Mardle, a compelling and confounding suite of hydrophone compositions revealing the sonic 24-hour cycle of the UK’s freshwater ponds.

Rooted in Jack Greenhalgh’s sonic research on pond biodiversity, Mardle brings to the surface the delicate sounds of aquatic insect stridulations, plant respiration and photosynthesis - an ecology of otherworldly rhythms and alien hyper-sounds that feel more like early synth experiments than biological processes.

As Greenhalgh explains, “It's so exciting that we've discovered the woodland bird song dawn chorus equivalent for ponds, in the form of nocturnal aquatic insect choruses at night-time, and the whining of aquatic plants as they photosynthesise like busy factories during the midday sun.”

In doing so, Mardle takes the daily cycle as its compositional cue. Beginning above water, the listener is plunged into a “strange and mysterious” world, peaking in the frenzied, pulsing activity of midday and midnight, before the calm of the early morning rain returns above. Inspired by Jana Winderen’s creative underwater soundscapes, the result is quietly breath-taking. “To actually consider the living presence of plants with direct sonic evidence is quite profound,” Action Pyramid says. “It's such an evocative way to capture people's attention and highlight these fragile and maligned habitats. There have definitely been moments where I think I can’t believe I'm listening to this.” Accompanied by detailed liner notes that explain Greenhalgh’s findings and the implications of acoustic ecology in freshwater monitoring, Mardle is a perspective-shifting, mind-expanding missive from the shallows of one the most familiar and overlooked ecologies on Earth. 

released October 24, 2023

Field recordings by Action Pyramid / Tom Fisher and Jack Greenhalgh Music and composition by Action Pyramid / Tom Fisher

actionpyramid.com www.jack-greenhalgh.com

[mrsdoctordear]

Mrs. Cadbury, head mistress of the orphanage in Anne of Green Gables (1985), was played by Dawn Greenhalgh, mother of Megan Follows.

[ruleof3bobby]

MAPS TO THE STARS (2014) Grade: C-

The script wasn't bad, some of the acting & DP work is though. Very strange film with not a great hook to pull you in early enough.

[letterboxd-loggd]

Maps to the Stars (2014) David Cronenberg

July 20th 2020

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Some photos of Jean Paul that didn’t make it into my review of Episode 19, all of which give a good view of this suit of his. It sometimes looks blue and sometimes looks gray, but always looks flattering on him (and I love the huge, pointy lapels!). His shoulders look so broad, his waist so small, and, in close-ups, the color of the jacket brings out the dark blue of his eyes. He cuts such a dashing figure that it’s hard to look away and even harder to resist the urge to screencap.

When I first started watching this series, I favored Jacques’ cavalier outfit, despite its weird inaccuracies and anachronistic style for 1689. I’ve long loved men’s fashions of the first half of the 17th century, so Jacques’ very 1630s ensemble from the flashbacks instantly drew me to him. As the series went on, however, I realized that I actually preferred seeing Colin Fox’s characters in mid-20th-century suits, which wouldn’t do a thing for me on most men but look gorgeous on him. (I think it has to do with more than just his looks; I think much of it is also the way he carries himself. Notice how awkward Dan looks in comparison in the fourth photo. Most men in suits carry themselves more like Dan than like Jean Paul, regardless of how they look.)

Is he way overdressed for a tropical Caribbean climate? Of course. Should he really have worn black for Erica’s funeral? Yes, or at least a black armband. But I love this suit of his so much that, quite honestly, I don’t care.

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Avenging Angelo 2002

[ramajmedia]

10 Music Biopics You've Probably Forgotten About (That Aren't Rocketman)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and Rocketman (2019) released to thunderous media and audience buzz. The last year has been a landmark one in the music biopic circuit. Despite the controversy surrounding director Bryan Singer and rampant questions concerning the film's accuracy, Bohemian Rhapsody managed to demolish box office records and procure four Oscars (including the highly coveted Oscar for best actor). While it didn't quite measure up to Bohemian Rhapsody's lush box office success, Rocketman held its own, enjoying seemingly boundless praise for its production quality and for Taron Egerton's performance as the force of nature that is Elton John.

RELATED: Rocketman: 5 Things It Does Better Than Bohemian Rhapsody (& 5 Things It Does Worse)

With the lofty popularity of both Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman evident in the enormous demand for similar stories, let's take a look back at a few existing biopics that may have been forgotten in the wake of two such tremendous narratives.

10 The Runaways (2010)

Floria Sigismondi's directorial debut The Runaways chronicles the brief gritty success of the iconic 1970s all-female titular rock group. The film stars Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, in performances widely heralded as the most redeeming quality of the feature.

Though the film vastly underperformed at the box office (grossing less than $3.6 million nationwide for the film's $10 million budget), it examines the impact such a lifestyle had on these teens during a decade in which rock and roll was at its glamorous, dangerous best.

9 Control (2007)

Anton Corbijn's feature film debut Control recounts the fleeting life of 1970's post-punk band Joy Division, and the bleak existence led by frontman Ian Curtis. Curtis (Sam Riley) lived a notoriously short and desolate life punctuated by his troubled marriage. Despite Joy Division's current widespread popularity, the band was on the brink of stardom (mere days from a tour in the United States) at the time of Curtis's untimely passing at the age of 23.

The film was shot on color stock and then printed to black and white, a relatively uncommon practice in contemporary cinema. Though the film never received a wide release in the United States, director Anton Corbijn had the unique privilege of being personally acquainted with all of the members of Joy Division in their active years, and thus was able to bring an intimately personal touch to the narrative.

8 Straight Outta Compton (2015)

From director F. Gary Gray, Straight Outta Compton depicts the emergence, notoriety, and subsequent crumbling of the legendary hip hop group N.W.A., offering a glimpse into the early lives of its founding members. Universally observed as pioneers of gangsta rap, Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) distil their experiences with racism and violence into their music, launching their controversial careers.

RELATED: 5 Musical Biopics Done Right (And 5 Done Wrong)

The film broke the box-office record and became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, clearing over $60.2 million in its first weekend (a record not even Bohemian Rhapsody could rival). It was produced by two of the founding members of N.W.A. (Ice Cube and Dr. Dre) and scored an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

7 Nowhere Boy (2009)

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Nowhere Boy chronicles the adolescence of John Lennon and the formation of the band that evolved into The Beatles. Beginning in the year 1955, the film details Lennon's (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) first encounters with Paul McCartney and George Harrison and the dawn of their wildly successful music careers.

Written by Matt Greenhalgh (the same screenwriter who brought Control to the screen), the film offers a more intimate telling of Lennon's family background. It illustrates his tumultuous relationship with his mother and presents a glimpse of his childhood and teenage years, being brought up by his aunt in a suburb of Liverpool.

6 I'm Not There (2007)

Directed by Todd Haynes, I'm Not There is the semi-fictionalized and rather unorthodox telling of the life of Bob Dylan. The film is split into the narratives of six characters: Jude (Cate Blanchett), Arthur (Ben Whishaw), Pastor John (Christian Bale), Billy (Richard Gere), Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin), and Robbie (Heath Ledger). Each is intended to reflect a different facet of Dylan's colorful life.

The result is a braided narrative that lends a vibrancy to the saga of Bob Dylan and brings a unique texture to the more standard form of storytelling typical to music biopics. Though the film was not commercially successful, it scored a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Jude.

5 Amadeus (1984)

Directed by Milos Forman, Amadeus is the fictionalized biographical account of renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Told from the perspective of rival composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the film illustrates Mozart (Tom Hulce) as obnoxious and foolish but an unprecedented fountain of musical prowess. 

RELATED: 10 Biopics About Celebrities That Are Worth Watching

A tale wrought with jealousy, betrayal, and absurdity, Amadeus was a creative gamble that yielded eight academy awards (including the Oscars for best picture and best actor), four Golden Globes, and four BAFTAs.

4 Sid and Nancy (1986)

Directed by Alex Cox, Sid and Nancy divulges a partially-fictionalized account of the romance between Sex Pistols star Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and  Nancy Spungen. The film chronicles the turbulent final days of the Sex Pistols, a demise largely credited to Vicious's spiraling relationship with Nancy.

Though the film was not commercially successful and only gained its cult following years later, it illuminated the profound effects of addiction, which ultimately led to Vicious's death at the age of just 21.

3 Walk the Line (2005)

Directed by James Mangold, Walk the Line explores the life of famed singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. The film straddles memories of Cash's (Joaquin Phoenix) early childhood, his rise to fame, and his struggles. The film also highlights his relationship with first wife Vivian and his romance with second wife June Carter.

Based upon two of Cash's own autobiographies, the film earned five Oscar nominations (with Reese Witherspoon winning for best actress) and was the highest-grossing music biopic of all time before being eclipsed a decade later by Straight Outta Compton. 

2 Selena (1997)

Directed by Gregory Nava, Selena is an introspective look at the short life of the titular Mexican-American singer/songwriter. The film spotlights the early childhood of Selena (Jennifer Lopez), her meteoric rise to fame, and her death at the hands of her business partner, Yolanda Saldivar (Lupe Ontiveros). 

Selena's living family were integral to the creation of the film, including her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., who took on the role of producer out of a desire to provide the most accurate narrative of Selena's life. Despite backlash due to her casting, Jennifer Lopez lended a vivacity that was crucial to the role of Selena and helped spotlight the life of the designated "Queen of Tejano." 

1  Love & Mercy (2014)

Directed by Bill Pohlad, Love & Mercy reveals the profound genius of Beach Boys founding member Brian Wilson (Paul Dano/John Cusack). Straddling two different decades, the film examines Wilson's mental state during the recording of The Beach Boys's album Pet Sounds, his treatment by psychotherapist Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), and his relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks).

Though the film was only moderately commercially successful, it was the intention of Pohlad to ensure that the film was as historically accurate as possible, a fact that is evident in Dano's depiction of Wilson (which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor).

NEXT: 10 Iconic Singers Who Need A Biopic Like Freddy Mercury In Bohemian Rhapsody

source https://screenrant.com/forgotten-underrated-music-biopics-rocketman/

[vocalproject-blog1]

Publications related to the VOCAL project

1. Greenhalgh T, Vijayaraghavan S, Wherton J, Shaw S, Byrne E, Campbell-Richards D, Bhattacharya S, Hanson P, Ramoutar S, Gutteridge C, Hodkinson I, Collard A, Morris J.. Protocol: Virtual online consultations - advantages and limitations (VOCAL) study. 2016 BMJ Open 6: e009388 

2. Morris J, Campbell-Richards D, Wherton J, Sudra R, Vijayaragahavan S, Greenhalgh T, Collard A, Byrne E, O’Shea T. 2017. Webcam consultation for diabetes: findings from 4 years of experience in Newham.  Journal of Practical Diabetes. 2017. Vol 34: 45-50. 

3. Morris J, Campbell-Richards D, Wherton J, Shaw S, Vijayaragahavan S, Greenhalgh T, Sudra R, Collard A, Byrne E, O’Shea T.  Virtual webcam clinics: Benefits and challenges. The Newham experience. Diabetes Care for Children & Young People. 2016 Vol 5 (3):105-110.

4. Vijayaragahavan S, O’Shea T, Campbell-Richards D, Sudra, R, Morris J, Byrne E, Greenhalgh T.  DAWN: Diabetes Appointments via Webcam in Newham. British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease. 2015. Vol 15, 123-126. 

[weheartmeganfollows]

September 9, 2014 — Megan Follows attends the Maps To The Stars TIFF Premiere with daughter Lyla Porter Follows and mother Dawn Greenhalgh

[queensknight87]

Maps to the Stars: Megan Follows arrives with her mother Dawn Greenhalgh, and her daughter.

[thebabysittersguidetoexorcisms]

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Since I reviewed Episode 17 last week, I decided that it was high time I post a link to this post from Curt Ladnier’s wonderful Maljardin blog about Nonnie Griffin, who played one-episode wonder Beryl Forbes in the pilot. The article also contains an old newspaper clipping with interviews with both Griffin and Dawn Greenhalgh, who played Dr. Alison Carr.

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 24 Review: Top 5 Reasons Why the Holly Portrait Subplot Doesn’t Work

Welcome back to Maljardin, where the melodramatic master Jean Paul Desmond is God and the Devil is a snarky talking portrait.

Speaking of portraits, today we will be looking at the subplot about Tim’s portrait of “Erica” (or, rather, of Holly) and the main things that are wrong with it. This subplot is, in my opinion, the worst in the Maljardin arc and I’ve been holding off on writing a detailed explanation of why I feel that way until my review of this episode, which mostly centers around the damned Holly portrait.

The portrait, circa Episode 18. There aren’t any good shots of it from Episode 24, so I had to settle for this one.

To recap: After the death of Erica Desmond, her husband Jean Paul hired Tim Stanton, a young artist in debt to the mob, to paint a portrait of her. Erica being both dead and encased in a cryonics capsule which both Jean Paul and THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES refuse to open, Tim must instead use young heiress Holly Marshall as his model until Erica comes back to life as Jacques promised that she would.

Sound like a reasonable plan? No? I didn’t think so, either, and now I shall explain why. Here are the top five reasons why I think this subplot is stupid:

#5: Holly neither looks like Erica, nor knows what Erica looked like.

This screencap is actually from Episode 13, but I’m including it because it’s relevant.

I sometimes wonder if this criticism is unfair, because the only viewers up to this point in the show’s broadcast history who would have seen Erica were the viewers of Episodes 1, 2 (where Tim shows Alison his sketch of her), and 4. In the first scene of Episode 4, the Cryonics Society froze her corpse in the cryonics capsule, meaning that anyone who started watching after that scene would not have seen her face before Tim got his assignment from Jean Paul. Even so, neither Erica resembled Holly, which makes it absurd for her to sit for it. Why not have Alison pose instead when she’s not working? After all, they are sisters and they share a strong family resemblance according to the original pilot script. Holly barely resembles either Erica beyond being pretty.

Tim’s sketch of Erica from Episode 2, with a screencap of Alison from Episode 17 for comparison. With its upturned nose and full lips, the sketch is clearly intended to resemble Dawn Greenhalgh (Alison) and not Sylvia Feigel (Holly).

Because Holly hardly looks a thing like her, Tim complains in Episode 13 that he “can’t use her for anything but position and play of light.” In spite of this, later episodes including Episode 24 show that he has painted a sort of semi-abstraction of Holly’s face, with features about halfway between those of Holly and those of Erica. This means that he’s only making more work for himself for when Jacques brings Erica back to life--if he brings her back to life--because he will need to paint over the semi-abstraction with Erica’s face. In short, he’s wasting his time.

Besides, it’s unclear why Holly doesn’t know what Erica looked like if Erica was a very famous actress and she and her husband were stalked by the paparazzi until they escaped to Maljardin (as previous episodes have indicated). Surely she would have seen a photo of Erica in the newspaper at some point, or her face on the poster for one of her plays, or something. I realize that’s not the same as seeing someone in real life, but it’s just odd that she doesn’t know.

  #4: Tim doesn’t have even a photo of Erica with him and so has to rely mostly on memory.

He even says so in Episode 13: “I have to depend on my memory of your wife and that sketch I made of her at the café,” he tells Jean Paul (or, rather, Jacques while he is possessing him). As we saw in that episode, opening the cryonics capsule and posing Erica’s thawed-out corpse for Tim is too devilish even for Jacques, so the starving artist is left with a dilemma. Jean Paul, being a fancy rich guy of noble descent, naturally assumes that any criticisms of his assignment is just a case of beggars trying to be choosers and ignores them; in his mind, he did him a favor by paying his debts and taking him to his island, so Tim should obey his every whim without question. But the truth is that Jean Paul has no understanding of how artists work, nor why Tim needs the real Erica to complete the painting, and he may not even understand the creative process behind painting a portrait.

This could make for interesting social commentary if the writers had had Tim take a good hard look at the situation and realize that Jean Paul is not just imprisoning him on the island but flat-out exploiting him. They could have made his subplot about class conflict, the establishment’s lack of empathy towards creative types, or both. However, they choose not to use the subplot for such commentary, instead going in a much more conventional direction.

#3: The Holly portrait is mostly used to drive a clichéd romantic subplot.

Two people meet and hate each other at first sight--or at least pretend to--although they are clearly attracted to each other. They argue, bicker, treat each other indifferently at best and abuse each other at worst, until one day they realize that they have fallen in love. When was the first time you read or saw this story? Do you even remember the first time? Most likely you don’t, because the exact same plot has been used and reused so many times since Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing premiered that Western media is saturated with it. It’s not a bad plot in and of itself, but it’s been overused so much that you can usually see it coming from a mile away. When Tim and Holly first bickered over her being too young to order booze, I predicted that they were setting up a romance between them. There are many signs: Tim confesses to Vangie that he feels sorry for Holly, Elizabeth suspects that he’s hitting on her, and, while she claims to dislike them both, Holly seems slightly less irritated by Tim than by her former captor, Matt Dawson. Ian Martin was clearly setting up a romance between the heiress and the artist, who are gradually bickering less and less: a telling sign that they are getting closer to falling in love.

As creepy as it is and as much as I don’t want them to get together, I actually find the Matt/Holly subplot more interesting to watch than Tim/Holly. Danny Horn of Dark Shadows Every Day may have written about how “groovy priest attracted to the beautiful young girl that he wants to take care of” is an old soap cliché, but I’ve seen it done far less often, which I suspect has something to do with all the church scandals in the past twenty years. The Belligerent Sexual Tension plot, on the other hand, is still very popular, so it feels less fresh to me than Matt and Holly’s subplot. (That doesn’t mean that I don’t still think he should leave her alone. Personally, I ship Reverend Dawson with his right hand and I think they ought to stay together.)

#2: The use of the Holly portrait on the show doesn’t connect to the show’s use of portraits for symbolism.

This one is really nitpicky and based mostly on my personal interpretation, but bear with me. Although far more complex than the Dark Shadows ripoff that many critics reduce it to, Strange Paradise nevertheless relied on many of the same tropes and themes, including the way its writers used portraits. On Dark Shadows, the writers often used a trope that Cousin Barnabas of the Collinsport Historical Society blog calls the “Portrait as Id,” meaning the use of paintings to symbolize and illustrate the truth about whatever character they represented. We see this in Strange Paradise as well with the portrait of Jacques, who tells Jean Paul that he is “the man you are, the man you might have been,” implying that the ostensibly good Jean Paul is not so different from his evil ancestor. Later on after Robert Costello becomes producer and the show becomes more like Dark Shadows, we’ll meet another character whose portrait does not turn out as intended because of the evil in said character’s heart, which also connects to this idea of portraits reflecting hidden reality. Although the conjure doll also resembles and represents Jacques, he does not generally use it to communicate with Jean Paul the way he does with the portrait. This makes sense, given that the doll and silver pin ended his life, while the portrait was painted at some point while he was alive.

In contrast to the portraits mentioned above, Holly’s portrait does not convey any additional information about either her or Erica. Because it represents the late Mrs. Desmond in name only, the Holly portrait says nothing about Erica’s id, her personality, or the state of her soul. It doesn’t even say very much about Holly. Instead, it’s mostly just used as an excuse to force Holly and Tim to interact with each other and bicker until they can finally admit that they’re in love.

#1: It goes (almost) nowhere.

And when it does finally go somewhere, it’s only relevant for a few episodes before it’s forgotten about. Holly’s participation in the portrait sittings soon becomes completely irrelevant, much like so many of the show’s early subplots which Late Maljardin’s headwriter Cornelius Crane chose to ignore. I suspect that the Holly portrait would have eventually became more significant in the main plot had Martin not been fired around Week 9. We may never know how it would have become so, nor how significant it would have become in his original outline. Who knows? Perhaps Martin would have crafted a shocking plot twist involving Holly that justified its existence. Perhaps he would have connected the portrait and its eventual fate somehow to the nightmare she had about Tarasca, having it reveal some terrifying truth about Maljardin’s past. At the very least, he might have used it to cement the romance between Tim and Holly. But instead the subplot ends with little payoff.

Tim on his subplot.

Still, despite the focus on the Holly portrait, this episode isn’t entirely a waste. Raxl saves it with her pleas to the Serpent and her attempt to contact the Conjure Woman, in all her scenery-chewing, melodramatic glory. There’s also a scene where Holly pressures her to read the two Tarot cards--the King of Swords (whom Matt identifies as Jean Paul) and the Queen of Cups (whom he interprets as Holly)--that she dropped on the floor earlier in the scene “just for kicks,” and she refuses, shouting “No!” repeatedly. If you love Raxl like I do, you’ll enjoy her scenes. They’re not Best of Raxl material, but they’re fun.

So long until my next review, which will cover Episode 25, followed by Week 5′s long overdue Bad Subtitle Special. I know that this is a change of pace from my usual recap-style reviews, but I really wanted to go into more detail about why I don’t like Tim’s subplot. I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you again soon.

Coming up next: Elizabeth continues her attempted seduction of Jean Paul as we explore inter-generational conflict on Maljardin.

{ <- Previous: Episode 23   ||   Next: Episode 25 -> }

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 6 Review, Part I: Dream a Little Dream of Me

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

Even though this is one of my favorite episodes, it’s taken me a while to get motivated to write this. I don’t want to get into detail about my personal life because it’s irrelevant to this blog, but last week was very busy and hectic. With the holidays coming up, things are also likely to get really wild really soon, so odds are I will be progressing even more slowly through this show. Yes, this is going to be another two-parter and yes, in the second part, I plan on doing another deep dive into the contents of the flashback.

We start out with Jean Paul bitching again at the portrait because, at the end of Episode 5, he finally figured out that making a deal with the Devil was a bad idea. Shortly after Raxl has had a chance to air her grievances towards Jacques as well, they meet up in the crypt downstairs. There she tells him of Dr. Menkin’s death, including Jacques’ explanation that Menkin was drunk. “Dr. Menkin never drank,” he says, and she responds, “Yes, I know. But you told me yourself that he had been drunk.”

In this shot, you can clearly see a camera on the right-hand side of the screen.

Considering that she knows that Jacques likes possessing him, one can safely conclude that she is feigning ignorance. After some exposition for the new viewers about the conjure doll and the silver pin, Raxl gives some new background information about Jacques’ crimes:

Raxl: “Three hundred years ago, Jacques Eloi des Mondes ceased to care for his wife and she was dead. After that, her younger sister, then she was dead. There is a sister of your wife under this roof. Is she younger than my mistress?”

Jean Paul: “Yes.”

Raxl: “Then get her out of here before she is dead! Please, M’sieu! It is all we can do! We must fight!”

Jean Paul: “Against whom? A man of three hundred years ago?”

Raxl: “The Devil is eternal!”

Really, Jean Paul? You need to be reminded whom you’re fighting against? You need to be reminded that Jacques Eloi des Mondes is a threat and possibly the Devil himself? Look, I know that you were born sometime in the mid- to late 1930s and grew up in a world where most people didn’t believe in the supernatural and viewed voodoo and similar religions as superstition, but the spirit of Jacques has already started messing with your life! He’s possessed you! He’s killed Dr. Menkin! He talks to you all the time through his portrait! He even changes your clothes sometimes and gets you drunk while he’s in your body! And besides, I’m going to assume that Jean Paul was raised some variety of Christian, so most likely he already believed in the Devil before the beginning of the show. I could see him being skeptical if Raxl one day decided to proselytize to him about the Great Serpent, but, in this case, he just has no excuse for not believing her.

Jacques poncily inspecting Jean Paul’s fingernails right after possessing him. I suspect that many real-life 17th-century fops liked making this sort of gesture.

Anyway, Jacques possesses him and tells her to go away, then reveals while talking to the cryocapsule that he has no intention on reviving Erica until after he’s had his fun. I’m sure that this is not surprising, because why should he want to return to Hell when he can stay on Earth for the time being and wreak havoc on the residents of Maljardin?

In the Great Hall, Jean Paul--who is himself once again--meets up with Alison. She can’t sleep because she is still trying to recover from the shock of Erica’s death and can’t accept that Jean Paul has frozen her with the intent to bring her back to life. He starts to comfort her, but then...well...I think you can guess what happens next...

As of this episode, Colin Fox hasn’t yet mastered the sexy evil smirk, but he is still hot as Hell.

If you guessed “Jacques possesses him again,” you’re right! The early episodes get predictable quickly, and, although I have no evidence to support it, I suspect that was one of the things Robert Costello* criticized about the show when he became producer. But predictable doesn’t always mean boring, and the sequence coming up is an interesting one.

Jacques dropping a hint about his true identity to Alison, who--fortunately for him--refuses to believe that Jean Paul is possessed. Note that the portrait is still visible in the background. Continuity error or inconsistency?

While pretending to be Jean Paul, Jacques gives Alison a history lesson on himself in the third person: “Jacques was a very active man. He was a chevalier, he was renowned of royalty and he was a scholar, an engineer, a navigator, an explorer, and a free-looter. He was the beginning of the family's true wealth. Legend has it that in the coral caves beneath the island of Maljardin, he buried a king’s ransom, which still lies hidden. To tell you the truth, I’m a secret admirer of his.”

So many BISSITS!

Alison is intrigued, but still not convinced that Jacques was a good person (perhaps the “free-looter” bit tipped her off?), and is still worried about him. “You do identify with him,” she says. “He frightens me.” To reassure her, Jacques goes on to draw some comparisons between himself and Jean Paul, taking the opportunity to try to seduce her:

Jacques: “Look at our history. He had a wife that he adored who died, as I did. He brought her to this château, as I brought Erica. He lost a princess, a woman he loved.”

Alison: “As you lost Erica.”

Jacques: “Well, you could say the connection has a ring of witchcraft about it--but only in theory, of course.”

Alison: “That’s a comfort.”

Jacques: “But I will add one more thing. Jacques’ wife had a sister. And her name was Rahua.”

Alison: *falling under Jacques’ spell* “Rahua? A pretty name.”

Jacques: “The name of a goddess. And her hair was like ripened wheat. Her skin was as white as goat's milk and as soft to the touch as the morning mist on the water of the lakes.”

Alison: “Sounds lovely. So real. You describe her almost as though you knew her.”

Jacques: “History to me is real and so romantic in spite of the tragedy.”

A man after my own heart.

Alison interrupts Jacques’ attempted seduction to ask about the death of Jacques’ wife. “Huaco was her name,” he responds. “They climbed to the headland alone to watch the sunset. They didn't realize that the terrible force of the trade winds would be a danger to them, the terrible force at the cliff edge. And when they reached there, Jacques Eloi’s cries of warning were drowned out by the wind that plucked her from the cliff heights and threw her into the sea like a rag doll.”

Soon after, the conversation shifts to Jean Paul’s plans to revive Erica, but Alison doesn’t want to hear about it. Then the handsome devil decides to drop another hint:

Cue another flashback in the form of a dream that Jacques gives Alison about Rahua. I will write about the flashback in more detail in my next post, so I will just summarize it for now. Huaco has just given birth to Jacques’ son and leaves dinner early to see him, but her sister Rahua (who, like Alison, is played by Dawn Greenhalgh) stays behind. Jacques kisses and tries to seduce her, but she is reluctant to accept his advances because she is his wife’s sister. To persuade her, he says, “The right [to happiness] belongs to those who take it,” and they kiss. It’s a great scene, if slightly reminiscent of a cheesy bodice-ripper in its execution--but, frankly, if someone were to write a cheesy bodice-ripper starring Jacques, I would probably love it. I’m a big believer in the Reader’s Bill of Rights; I am under no obligation to defend my tastes.

I know that Jacques is evil and likely planning on eventually killing her, but I want to be Alison in this scene. Why aren’t men my age this dashing?

Alison is distressed by the dream, crying “no” in her sleep, which makes me wonder if we the audience are missing part of it. Or does the thought of a romance between her and her brother-in-law distress her that much? When she wakes up, Jacques--who has been by her side the whole time probably implanting the dream into her head--pretends to comfort her (see above). Then he says his, echoing his line from the dream:

Yes, Jacques, I’d love to.

After she leaves, Jacques monologues to the audience about being the Devil, looking devilishly hot while doing so and flashing that gorgeous grin some more. (I will post separately, because this post is already a mile long.) By the end of the episode, the crew still hasn’t noticed the continuity error/inconsistency from earlier, and rolls the ending credits over the still-visible portrait of Jacques:

Stay tuned for an in-depth look at the first flashback about Jacques and Rahua, including my thoughts on the costumes. I can’t promise it’ll be finished this week, but I will try. Until next time...pleasant...dreams?

Notes

* Yes, the same Robert Costello who produced Dark Shadows left DS to work on this. So did two early DS writers, Ron Sproat and Joe Caldwell, who wrote some of the early Desmond Hall episodes. I will write more about them when they become relevant.

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