Saint James Infirmary 410: The Watchmen Themselves.

[Daphne]

[jmundt29]

Same preview pic?  What???

ETA--This was true at the time of the post, but has since changed.

One question.  If there are a finite number of shells that Jakob or Jo could steal, why are there a superfluity of watch casings?  Was he thinking of experimenting with crystals which may or may not be powered by small shell shards or something similar?  Are they just meant to be feints as a security measure?

[mns_95125]

I sense a horrible watch pun incoming...

[Haight]

I like the last panel - more innuendo on something we've suspected all along, that Claudia can't leave the house.

And, of course, this whole bit makes Julian and Claudia a bit more sympathetic - significant, considering Claudia is the agent of the 'original sin' that brought Adrian to Kearsarge.

[jmundt29]

I am pleased we have an exclamation for Julian's policy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

It might strengthen the Harem's chance against Jakob.

However I find Julian's attachment to Cherry puzzling.  Thus far, she seems manipulative, toxic, almost as bad as Jakob in her own special way.

[mns_95125]

This does clarify a number of things.  Yes, there is more than one watch casing.  Yes, Julian and Cherry did work for Jakob.  No, Julian doesn't work for Jakob any more.  No, Claudia can't leave the house.

It does leave a few other things mysterious, like the relatively congenial relationship between Derek and Chulian at the airport at a time when their respective employers were at cross-purposes.

[GodWilling]

As far as we know, Julian is prepared to kill to get what he wants (even if only on the expectation that Erin would heal his victim). I daresay he's capable of telling lies too. So I'm not sure we can take anything definite away from this about his relationship with Jakob. The one thing I think we can trust is true here is that he needs Claudia's help in some way.

And I'm not sure any cross-purposes have been resolved. Claudia didn't trust Julian and she didn't want him to get the watch. It seems to me the underlying message of this visit - and possibly the intention behind the mind games with the broken watch - is that he knows what's going on, he's in control here; yes he needs her help, but they want the same thing and she really has no choice other than to trust and help him. Given that he appears to have sabotaged her plan with Zenon, that may be true.

My reading of the airport meeting was that they weren't pleased to see Derek but he didn't notice. I get the impression Derek has no real grasp of what's going on - and Julian took advantage of that. Or perhaps Derek was just too pleased at the prospect of having Caitlyn to play with to give any thought to the likely truth of what Julian was telling him.