"Please don't ask me."

Great, Lemacd and that is what is so nice: we can all argue till the cows come home about what it all means, because it's not absolutely clear - aren't we lucky?!

Anne, the trouble with a new title is that there is an awful lot of meandering going on! How about 'Please don't ask me/Georg and Maria' ?

how about "please don't ask me why it always comes back to the balcony scene"??

we'd be a tour guide's worst nightmare. hahahaha.

we have a winner.

That would be fine by me, but experience tells me that threads continue to wander this way and that, so there may well be a need to move things again in the future if one were keen to keep it all in order. But it is frustrating to be unable to find a favourite juicy bit, and moving things would help!

actually, anyone who is a global moderator can do it, ahem, lemacd. or, to put it differently, all global moderators are wise and fearless, which means we should make indigo one too. But I will try to get to it in the next few days.

you don't have to do anything. it just means that you have more power. but power does come with great responsibility.

but you don't have to. just wanted you to have the full info.

ok... procrastinating. i mean, i put boys on a school bus, emailed a teacher, ran to the store, filled the car with gas, called my doctor, called my pharmacy, did the dishes, paid some bills, finished some online christmas shopping... i'm not avoiding life, just my writing.

watched this scene again. still love it so much. so reread this thread because it is always nice to remember how brilliant we are.

children: Father! Fraulein Maria is back from the Abbey!
Maria... stunned, bewildered, wondering how to make herself get swallowed by a huge hole in the ground: Good evening, Captain.

now, this:

Captain ALMOST LAUGHING !!: Good evening.

it is just... what is that all about?!  do you know what i'm talking about?  maybe he's amused at his children huddled around her all happy.  maybe he is still laughing at his little 'i'll have cook cancel your dinner' prank earlier.  

thoughts?

yes, yes... and do you think he was trying to maintain in front of the children? i mean, what if she returned and they face each other without the children around? how would that 'good evening' sounded like, i wonder. probably not that different, but... we know she is still reeling from finding out about the engagement. if he heard them tell her (it's possible, right?) and saw that look on her face... could he be thinking "ah. so i wasn't just imagining things." maybe his male ego was pleased to see her reaction to his engagement.

i realize that isn't exactly making him a nice guy, but heck he's human.

ramble off.

So looking forward to your take. This could be something like the Balcony.
I love what lemacd said about how he sees her face and knows it wasn't just his imagination.....

That's a great point - he's been watching for a while. There's a moment when she and the children are walking toward the house, and her eyes slide in the direction of the house -- we know she's thinking of him -- so he's not there then, but agree he definitely saw her get the news. Also, you are so right about everything that's changed from her days of "great, I'm going to help them get ready for their new mother." This is a transition I'm trying to write about in the garden story, but I haven't quite gotten to her conversion yet.

one of my favorite things about this group: people are always pointing out things I've missed. Like tranquillity and the eye flick after the puppet show. Or the sleeves thing in the gazebo. (which now seems so obvious to me, I don't know how I missed it).

oh, no... she said horses. cue the riding crop joke.

The first rule of the riding crop is to not joke about the riding crop. 

here is her look up to the house


Yes, he's definitely been watching for a while, and most assuredly saw her reaction to the news of his engagement. Possibly came out as soon as she looked away, as when she receives the news none of the children are positioned to see him---they are completely focused on Maria, and she on them. Screencaps show him standing at the top of the stairs, with an expression I'd describe as guarded. It's all in the eyes, and CP is just so good at that. I won't cap it here because it is too small to see, but it the whole bit is on this page. I think he wants to go to her, but not in front of the children, and not while engaged to Elsa. 

The last screen cap on that page is his head turning, and the next page begins the whole bit when Elsa comes out and he winds up with that weird grin. Going frame by frame, it looks to me as if he watches Elsa walk toward them, with a flat expression. When she gets to him and takes his hand, he looks at Maria and never takes his eyes off her, almost as if he is willing her to look at him and meet his gaze. It's quite a wistful, longing look in my mind, and that gets the weirdness out of it. Almost like he's wishing the stumbling blocks away, so he could just sweep her into his arms.

Then as Maria starts up the stairs, he drops Elsa's hand when he turns to speak to Maria, asking if she's there to stay. Elsa has been watching Maria until he drops her hand, and then she fixes her gaze on Georg. I think at that moment she knows her time is up. His disappointment in Maria's answer is evident on his face, and he gets that same look in his eyes that he has when the children were singing so sadly just a little bit ago. His expression doesn't change much but Elsa looks from him, to the ground, back up at Georg. Her face shows that, even though he's taken her hand and smiled at her, that she knows she has lost him.

By the fourth balcony shot, he is looking very melancholy and has begun twitching his fingers, even before Elsa comes out. But he spies Maria in the first one, before he even steps out of the door.