The opening voice-over says that Vicki doesn’t want to tell Barnabas the dream because she is afraid it will reinstate a two-hundred-year-old curse. But Vicki doesn’t know about the curse!
We get a glimpse of the old Vicki as she bravely defies the dream curse, even though she is constantly tormented by it, in order to spare Barnabas.
I agree, MT--Nicholas's bogus letter sounds almost too good. We can see the dawning horror on Barnabas's face as he reads it to the end. For once he does the sensible thing and rushes to Collinwood, where Vicki assures him that she never wrote the letter. Julia arrives and fears the worst, but Vicki assures her she hasn't told Barn anything. Barn explains about the note, which implied that Vicki would kill herself before telling him the dream. Julia urges him to leave, but he won’t go till she promises to take “good care” of Vicki. After he leaves, she turns her eyes heavenward, miserable and overwhelmed with emotions she can never express.
Meanwhile, Carolyn visits Adam at the root cellar and finds out that he knows a lot of new words, including "police" and "hair" (with a catch in his voice as he gently touches her shining poll). But Adam reverts to third person in his distress at disappointing Stokes. Carolyn tells him that he has to learn to say "I" and promises to come back. Eventually he decides he trusts her and even politely opens the door.
Barn and Julia end up arguing about the dream curse. Barn is overflowing with admiration at Vicki's courage. Unlike whoever wrote the opening voiceover, Julia correctly points out that Vicki doesn't know what Barnabas will become if he has the dream. Barn eventually tells Julia about his offer to Cassangelique. As Julia listens, horrified, he continues, I asked her to release Vicki from the dream’s effects. In return for _what_? Julia demands, even though she already knows the answer. Sure enough, Barnabas replies, I was willing to admit defeat and restore our relationship of long ago. I can’t believe you were series! Julia bursts out. Barnabas replies, I told Cassandra I would wait for her answer, but no answer came. If Cassandra is not willing to respond to that, she will respond to nothing. There’s no way of stopping her. I can no longer bear to think of what Vicki is going through for me. I must put a stop to it. Julia tries one last time. Please, she begs him, think of what you’ll become! Barnabas answers firmly, I have thought about it--and I am prepared to accept it. He leaves for Collinwood, with Julia gazing after him in despair.
Dom, I do like your new attitude, and I'm glad you can take the show as it is.. I never watched DS as a teenager, so it was all new to me when I first saw it (well into adulthood) in the 1980s. Sure, plenty of things made me roll my eyes or even want to laugh. But most of the performances most of the time were very good, and there were plenty of moments that were actually quite powerful. There's nothing I love better than a good, character-driven story, well told, and DS delivered that enough of the time that I was (and still am) willing to overlook all the shortcomings.
