Yes, yes, and more yes to Sunny_Collins's post. This is where the soap opera format really becomes worthwhile. We've had eight weeks get to know nice, well-intentioned Barnabas, and eight weeks to get to know clumsy, good-hearted Ben, and today the change in Barnabas was terrible to see, and Ben's difficulty in grasping what had happened was very real, and made me feel very sorry for him.
Was the lighting in the secret room any different from usual? During the initial scene with Barnabas and Angelique, I felt that it added to the feeling that Barnabas had just stepped into a nightmare.
When Angelique described how a vampire must return to his coffin at dawn, I suddenly had a switch in my thinking. Previously I had thought of the coffin as an inconvenient necessity in a vampire's existence. Angelique made me think about Barnabas telling Willie that Maggie would think of her coffin as beautiful. Now I'm thinking of the coffin as being central to the vampire's existence, always drawing him back to it, as if it were a magnet. Perhaps the death or afterlife that a vampire experiences during the day is more real and vital to him than the life he has at night. It doesn't really make sense, and I don't think it's true - but it's fun to think about.
I feel like a fool. As Joshua opened the door to the secret room, I thought it was going to be a tough squeeze in the coffin with both Barnabas and Angelique. It never occurred to me that Barnabas would use his bat form. Clearly Barnabas is a faster learner than I am.
