09. The Black Hand

[kaybee]

I agree with most of the comments to date. I loved this episode, for so many great things. I like the way Brackenreid came to his senses and chose integrity over politics, and I loved that George stood up to him to say something. In a lot of episodes it seems as if it takes down to earth George to cut thru the nonsense and say what needs to be said. (Now if he would only tell William to speak up to Julia!!!!!)

I really loved the progression of the attitudes of William and Julia toward each other. Both actors manage to get a lot of mileage out of facial expressions! The moment when Anna told Julia that he had not gotten involved with her because of Julia, and that he had mentioned her, it was interesting to see just how gratified Julia was. I think she must really not have realized how much William loved (loves) her, and I hope that gives her pause.

I also wonder, watching her deal with Anna so sympathetically, if Julia wound up with Darcy because he was a sympathetic ear at a time when she was devastated by her loss of William.

Also, when Anna noted that love is not enough, I'm hoping that Julia starts to wonder whether it might be enough if it's on both sides. (I am the last of the great wishful thinkers, I know!)

Anyway, I think this was a terrific episode - can't wait for the next!

[hannikan]

Apr 13, 2011 20:08:56 GMT akarana said:

I really really liked the episode.

Also it frustrated me that she seemed surprised that William chose her back in Bristol. I come more and more to the conclusion that she thought he didn't really love her.

On another note I really liked the Brackenreid storyline. Finally he maned up and did the job he is supposed to do. And Kudos to Crabtree for speaking up to him once more (last time when he took the gold cure and nearly beat him up). In that aspect he's even more courageous than Murdoch, who always just stays out of everything.

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I wonder though if William just never told her about his pseudo-relationship with Anna. He told Julia about meeting Anna and that she helped him but not that they started to have a physical/romantic relationship. So in this episode, it was more that Julia was surprised he almost had a relationship with Anna when he and Julia were becoming an item. I think it made her happy to know that he hadn't and that he did chose her but also sort of jealous and worried that he could have been with Anna. Esp since she was finding this out when Anna was vulnerable, her fiance had died and she still had feelings for William. Julia also saw that William cared a lot for Anna in the course of this episode so she might wonder if he still had some feelings for Anna. But since he forced Anna to go away and take on a new identity (albeit for her own protection) Julia's worries should have been put aside. Now she has to do the same thing with regard to Darcy. I agree that George is pretty gutsy and has a lot of integrity. William has called Brackenreid on stuff, too, but it has usually been with a lighter touch. I think the reason Crabtree was so adamant about refocusing Brackenreid in this instance was also because Crabtree felt partially responsible for his going after the gypsies because it was Crabtree who suggested they could be the culprits for the robberies.

[hannikan]

Apr 13, 2011 20:30:38 GMT kaybee said:

I also wonder, watching her deal with Anna so sympathetically, if Julia wound up with Darcy because he was a sympathetic ear at a time when she was devastated by her loss of William.

Also, when Anna noted that love is not enough, I'm hoping that Julia starts to wonder whether it might be enough if it's on both sides. (I am the last of the great wishful thinkers, I know!)

Yeah that's a good point about possibly how Darcy and Julia got together. I still think it may have had something to do with Darcy being open to adoption. I think somehow it will come out that William wants to adopt, too, and that that will force Julia to decide between the two of them.

[akarana]

I doubt that William ever told Julia anything about Anna.

Another scene that was amazing because of Murdoch's facial expression was when Anna told him "the killer of the woman you loved...." He paused, one could see that he was picturing the scene with Julia in mind, and then allowed Anna to come along.

[lifeisridic]

I don't think Julia thought William didn't love her, so was surprised by what Anna said. I just think the fact he basically put having kids over them made her doubt just how much he loved her. But the Bristol thing has shown her he does love her as much as she loves him.

It makes you wonder what would happen if and when Julia finds out that William was going to propose the day she left and in Buffalo. Surely she would never marry Darcy then.

And I never understood why the child issue was even a big deal. There is plenty of children who need a family.

[hannikan]

Yes there are plenty of children who need homes but it is actually quite rare, even today, for couples to choose to adopt. There are lots of couples who have fertility issues and will go through multiple forms of medical procdures to try to conceive before they even consider adoption. People want to procreate so strongly even knowing that many children need good homes. And people weren't any more open to taking in children that weren't biologically theirs in the past. In the days of MM adoption wasn't really a formal procedure. Usually children without parents were cared for informally by other family members or even neighbors, often grudgingly. If the children became unwanted by these adults because they had more of their children and/or they could not afford to keep them or no one had ever agreed to care for the children, they were placed at a church or became wards of the state. That meant going to an orphanage. Otherwise they ended up on the streets/working.

[lifeisridic]

But Julia's tenderness with that street kid last week showed she would willingly take a child off the street. William just has to see they can be a family.

[kaybee]

I think WIlliam knows they could be / have a family.... his problem is that he's never told Julia that adoption would be fine with him if they were together.

[hannikan]

Apr 14, 2011 0:26:53 GMT kaybee said:

I think WIlliam knows they could be / have a family.... his problem is that he's never told Julia that adoption would be fine with him if they were together.

Yes, I think so, too. Neither knows that the other would be open to adoption and they wouldn't expect it because it's not/wasn't that common. And until the very end of S3 William didn't even know that Julia wanted children at all. She didn't until some point in S3. And that explains her becoming more of a softie with children.

[akarana]

I think their lack of communication on important matters is what broke them up and what keeps them apart now. And it's sad to see because it could be so easily resolved.

[hannikan]

Apr 14, 2011 19:38:34 GMT akarana said:

I think their lack of communication on important matters is what broke them up and what keeps them apart now. And it's sad to see because it could be so easily resolved.

Yup but it is indicative of the era, too. People were not supposed to be blunt or come out and say their feelings directly.

[akarana]

True, but then again even Murdoch described Julia as blunt once. I hope she will speak up, because I have more hope for her than I do for him

[hannikan]

Yes, she tends to be blunt about everything except her feelings for William. It makes sense for her character to be hesitant in love and less open about her feelings because she has focused so much on her career and due to her painful past relationship that involved her abortion. Marriage would have been likely to be a hindrance to her career in those days so she had probably expected never to marry and tried not to think about romantic love. Especially emotions of love were to be not discussed bluntly in the Victorian Era. You would talk around your feelings with flowery poetry. People had whole relationships through letters because they didn't express themselves verbally about love as much. So it makes sense that Julia will tell William her feelings through a letter. I actually expected William to have sent her a letter about his feelings (or even proposing) when she was in Buffalo.

[akarana]

Yes, I am really wondering why he didn't do that. (other than for the storyline )

Anna on the other hand was really blunt and not really uptight when she met William in Bristol. .. Then again Julia wouldn't have said no either when they made out in the park.
And in hindsight it makes no sense that she asked for precautions, considering that she can't get pregnant... well, maybe against diseases?!

[hannikan]

Well, Anna seemed to be working class so there were different social norms than for an upper middle class woman like Julia. Working class women were more likely to be blunt. As for why Julia wanted precautions/protection she may not have known for sure yet that she couldn't get pregnant. She probably knew it was possible that it could prevent her from ever getting pregnant based on the terrible effects of the procedure but I'm thinking she found out later for sure when she actually hoped she could. Also she may have meant that she could get pregnant but that she would not be able to carry a child to term (would miscarry). She went back to Dr. Tasch that one time at the end of Shades of Grey and I think that's when she got the confirmation of that. She was probably also worried about diseases since they were starting to understand how STD's were transmitted in the late 1800's and she would have been well read on medical advances. William would have known that, too because he said how modern of you. I'm thinking it had more to do with pregnancy because until only a few decades ago condoms were only thought necessary when you were intimate with a prostitute so that would explain why William would not have thought of needing one either.