I enjoyed that sign too.
This was a
good episode... in a bad storyline. How is this possible? Everything sprang to life, and it became Dark Shadows suddenly, with good writing and acting, personal tragedies that draw you in and put you into the characters' minds, and some actual perspective and reflection. One requirement for such a thing to occur is, no Adam. It's okay to discuss Adam, but he must not actually turn up in person.
I wrote down that the opening scene was good, but as it turned out, the whole of the 21 minutes was. Intense music for a hospital corridor scene, right from the ep's start when we don't know what's happening yet. Unusual... we are given the mood music and only later are we told why. I missed good old identifiable Joe, who was MIA ever since Vicki's return to the present day. I'm glad Joel C has this section of story to make up for his unpleasant harsh jealous stretch.
Julia: "You couldn't help it." (Not knowing what she means possibly-- what would she think Joe blames himself for?)
Joe: "That's right." With a slight sort-of-ironic smile, without humor. Joe got Tom killed but had no choice, now he has to live with it, without being able to tell anyone. He has to just stand there and hear the painful comforting and unintentional irony from people.
So Maggie went out with Tom. *** John Karlen's
good in the next scene, with Barnabas in the lab. Again, well-written. Sam Hall is credited. Willie even raises the life force question before anyone else does, making Barnabas stop and wonder, who's it going to be? I know though. Tom Jennings! Am I a genius or what?! Cure him of vampirism and complete the project in one act. Problem, how to put Tom on ice until he's needed? Come to think, that body needs to be put on ice...
[spoiler]Later, they act as if the life-force source's personality is projected into the inert body, making Adam want to use a woman, but it didn't happen with Barnabas and Adam. They're nothing alike. So why not Tom? Because Tom is very hard to reason with as it turns out..... Dumb men turn into feral vampires I guess.[/spoiler]
Later in the cemetary... I liked Julia's instantly taking charge, announcing that she'll get Joe to leave, so the boys can get to work on Tom's grave. She apparently "uses" her genuine concern for Joe, and I'm not sure I've ever seen such pure empathy from her before. They stay with Julia and Joe for a long time, with her trying to draw him out of his depressed bottomless hole, rather than dwelling on the easy-ratings grave-digging. I liked that. It was a good dramatic decision. Julia even offers him a nice family dinner at Collinwood.
Back at the grave, it turns out Tom has already vampirized and teleported out of his grave and coffin, an interesting ability Barnabas never had, unless chaining a coffin somehow magically prevents this. It would have been fun to hear Willie giving Barnabas a hard time about this.... Presumably Tom intends to go back to the coffin after feeding, since he needs it, and can pop in and out at will. They should re-bury it and come back in the day.