1014 - A stunned Quentin surveys Maggie's slashed portrait and the letter opener in his hand, which he drops to the floor. He sits on the sofa and buries his head in his hands. Angelique kneels beside him--why did you do that? she asks--tell me, look at me!--you miss Maggie, Quentin!" He begins to laugh, a sick, weird sound. Miss her? he asks, giggling--"You just saw how much I miss her!" He is about to leave the room, but she bars the door, closing it behind her, leaning against it. I won't let you leave until you tell me you understand why you did that, insists Angelique. (I think they cut out the scene in which Quentin slashed the portrait.) You mean you know? he asks. I have a theory, she says. I don't want to hear about it, says Quentin. You must admit you're filled with antagonism, she says. Don't explain myself to me, he says. Someone has to, insists Angelique--you let Maggie leave Collinwood, you can't bear the part you played in that leaving, you've gone past blaming yourself, now you've started to blame me. Miss Alexis Stokes, psychiatrist speaking, says Quentin sarcastically. Will you let anybody try to help you? she asks. He apologizes--I know you mean well, he says, now if you'll excuse me. Not until you tell me exactly what you were thinking when you came across the room with that knife, she insists, closing her eyes in fear--I thought you were going to kill me--so you owe me some explanation. Hate--was it hate? wonders Quentin--for the portrait?--Maggie? No! No? I don't think so...it was as if I were fighting something I couldn't understand. You've got to try to understand, she says--don't you see what's happening to you now?--you've lost all touch with yourself--you don't even know what you're feeling at any moment. What can I do about it? he asks. When do you think it all started? she asks. When I came back to this house, he responds, looking with hatred around the drawing room. Are you sure? she asks--are you sure it didn't start the night Maggie left Collinwood? Turning away from her, Quentin answers brusquely--yes, I'm sure. I don't believe you, says Ang, and I don't think you believe yourself--why are you afraid to admit you feel lost since then? I don't know, he answers. You've got to go back to that point, she says, got to relive it. Fortunately, I cannot relive it, he says. Yes, you can, you can bring Maggie here, says Ang. Quentin looks at her, furious. See how you react? she points out--there's so much violence in your feelings for her. Nonsense! ejaculates Quentin. There's always violence in love, she says (God, what kind of lives do these people live?)--what you did to the portrait just now should prove it to you--call her now, Quentin--have her fly home, for your own sake! Quentin rushes from the room--stop it, he orders. She stands in the doorway, then races to the front double doors to call after the retreating Quentin, "You won't be able to run away forever--you won't!" She closes the door, sighs, and looks lost herself.
At Cyrus' lab, Quentin asks his doctor pal, answer just one question--am I losing my mind? Don't be ridiculous, says Cyrus. Then why did I slash Maggie's portrait last night? asks Quentin Any number of things, says Cyrus--don't forget the strain you've been under lately. I may have been caught off-guard by meeting Barnabas Collins, says Quentin, but that's no reason to... Cyrus interrupts, asking about his meeting with Barnabas--the man we've been discussing in the empty room? No, says Quentin, he's a distant cousin descendant of the first Barnabas--just turned up the other evening--he's staying with the Loomises. Cyrus raises his eyebrows: "Oh?" Quentin wonders why the surprise. Cyrus quickly says no reason, nothing. Quentin looks weary as hell. Cyrus asks about Will--no one knows what he's up to. Cyrus realizes, I was Yaeger when I saw that coffin in the basement of Loomis House--I can't tell Quentin what I know, and he must forget what Yaeger knows. What is it? asks Quentin, irritated. I was just trying to analyze why you slashed Maggie's portrait, says Cyrus--isn't it possible what Alexis said is true?--isn't it possible when you reject someone, you put them out of your life, and in a sense, that's killing them--why wouldn't you feel guilty and find a way to act it out? To be as guilty as that, says Quentin--act it out in such an extreme way... Perhaps your love for Maggie was that extreme... Quentin slams his hand onto a table, shouting, I'm not going to send for Maggie, so don't pursue it any further. I'm not pursuing anything, says Cyrus, and there's no reason to fight me on it. No, says Quentin, chastened, there's not--do you think I should send for her? That decision has to be yours, insists Cyrus. Yes I suppose it does, says Quentin--what if I did want to ask her?--how could I bring her back here to Collinwood?--there's so many strange and even dangerous things happening here. Don't you think you're using that as an excuse to avoid making the decision? asks Cyrus--she loved it here, and you miss her very much! If I could only be certain, laments Quentin--thanks, Cyrus, for your help. As he's about to leave, Quentin gets a weird expression on his face--I'm in pain, he says, but not a physical pain--what's happening to me? I don't know, says Cyrus.
Why am I acting this way? wonders Quentin, looking as if he's going to burst into tears. Tell me what it is! says Cyrus. Oh, it's a pain, sniffles Quentin, terrible, deep pain...but for what, Cyrus? His nose and eyes reflected through the magnifier, Quentin sobs, "Oh, God, what is it?"
Collinwood - foyer - Cyrus asks Quentin, can you think of what caused the incident in the lab? I don't know, answers Quentin--no idea at all. Can you remember the exact feeling you had? asks Cyrus. Yes, says Quentin, it was a very deep feeling--I couldn't explain what it was, express it, but it was a feeling deeper than I'd ever felt before--a yearning. For what, whom? wonders Cyrus. I don't know, says Q, but it was so deep, it wrought me with pain. Angelique stands at the top of the stairs and tells Quentin, I've been worried about you. I think Quentin will be all right now, says Cyrus--he just needed a little rest. Quentin starts to explain what happened, but Cyrus stops him--let me tell Alexis, he suggests--go upstairs and get some rest. Do what Cyrus says, advises Angelique. Yes, agrees Quentin--I must admit I'm exhausted--I'll go upstairs, lie down, and try to forget all about it. Angelique looks worried--has she gone too far this time? After Quentin trudges upstairs, Cyrus explains how something happened all of a sudden at the lab--Quentin described it as an indefinable yearning. For Maggie, guesses Ang. Yes, agrees Cyrus, but why would it come at this particular time? Because it's been building up ever since the night she left, says Ang. But he seems to be feeling something so deep inside himself he can't identify it, much less understand it, says Cyrus. Do you think Quentin's feelings for Maggie go deep? She asks. Who knows the depths of the truest of our feelings? queries Cyrus--who knows what emotions lie at the core of our being, waiting, lurking, ready to spring without warning...? Realizing he's delved too deeply into HIS feelings, realizing she's staring at him, Cyrus stops. All I'm saying, he amends, is that Quentin wants Maggie back, but can't admit it to himself. What should we do about it? she asks. Nothing, says Cyrus, he has to make the decision himself--don't you agree? Of course, she says, the last thing I want to do is interfere with Quentin's relationship with Maggie. (Yeah, right!)
Collinwood - Angelique's room - Quentin enters. I've been worried about you, says Hannah--Alexis said you haven't been feeling well. I'm feeling better now, he says. I'm glad to hear it, says Hannah--where's Alexis?--she's been looking for you. Downstairs, he says, sounding very distant. I really must go now, says Hannah--Quentin, be very careful, please. She leaves. Quentin picks up a Tarot card from the table and holds it up, wondering to himself, is it true it can reveal hidden future secrets?--everything that's happening must be leading to something--but what? Does the answer lie here? He sits at the table and shuffles the Tarot deck, then lays out the cards. This is the card that will tell me what I want to know, he tells himself, and flips it over--"The hanging man!" cries Quentin.
Drawing room - Angelique is surveying the slashed portrait of Maggie when Hannah comes in and says, you must end the spell now. Why? asks Ang. Because we've gone too far, insists Hannah--we've touched something deep in Quentin that may cause him to destroy himself, or cause him to destroy us--I'm frightened of all this! Nothing to be frightened of, says Angelique-- the spell on Quentin will end the night Maggie comes back to this house, and not before. Then, says Hannah, I want nothing more to do with this--I refuse to help you anymore. You will do as you're told! orders Angelique.
I will not, says Hannah, I refuse to have anything more to do with this as long as Quentin remains under this spell! Angelique pursues her retreating aunt, calling, come back here! Angelique is left alone, staring at a closed door.
Lab - Cyrus takes the portion out of the safe and tells himself, John Yaeger is gone and must never come back--I must be forgotten--but how? I can't just erase my memory of him! Maybe I can--by working hard, helping others, no more experiments--I'll be a doctor again, forget Yaeger's thoughts--the things he saw, the things he did--I will never think of them again! His eyes gleam at these prospects.
Quentin sits by the fire in the drawing room, drink in hand. He already seems drunk. What is it? he sobs, what am I feeling--what is it I must do? He goes over to Maggie's portrait and demands to know why she's staring at him--why? Oh, God, he screams, covering his face with his hands, what have I done?
--what have I done?--I've killed you, Maggie, God, I've killed you! Blood is running down the slashed portrait. He turns away, drops his hands from his face and calmly says, I understand it all now--I know what it is I must do. He takes a sheet of paper, sits at the desk, and begins to write.
Up in her room, Angelique lays out the Tarot and says, the cards will tell me if Hannah is right--if there is any danger.
Quentin ascends the stairs, paper in hand. "I had to do this to be with the one I love," he reads to himself. Yes, in the attic room, that was the meaning of the first dream, and what the Tarot card meant--it's all so clear now--so clear! He continues walking.
Angelique lays out the cards on the table, one at a time.
Quentin reaches the attic room, where a perfect noose hangs, a chair conveniently arranged beneath it. He stands staring up at the noose, then climbs onto the chair. He stares at the noose, then starts to place it around his neck.
NOTES: Another spell backfires on Angelique, who appears to be as inept in this time band as she sometimes was in the other. Will Quentin's obsession with his tangled feelings for Maggie result in his death by hanging?
Hannah is a rip, always helping her niece with her criminal spells, but then, when things get too hot, backs out in defiance.
Will Cyrus be able to rid himself of his obsession to become Yaeger, become a medical doctor and help people, rather than hurting them in his ugly alter-life? Or will the pull of Yaeger's far more exciting life draw him back to drink the potion? We'll see!
I am almost certain that I've seen Quentin slash Maggie's portrait, rather than come in on the aftermath. Does anyone else agree that this episode was clipped?
I still say that Barnabas' release from the coffin makes this storyline far more exciting. It's so good to have him back, even if he wasn't actually in this episode, but merely discussed in it.
1015 - Angelique continues to put down the Tarot cards, wondering if Quentin will send for Maggie. Hoffman enters to make sure everything belonging to Alexis has been removed from the room. I'll take care of the rest myself, says Angelique. They say it's not wise to stay here, remarks Hoffman. I'll miss it, says Ang. Hoffman notices the cards on the table. Angelique covers by saying, Aunt Hannah brought them to me (we won't be seeing Aunt Hannah again, by the way, she's gone)--she was trying to explain to me how to tell the future, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at it--I understand Angelique was. Yes, says Hoffman briefly. I'm afraid I don't believe in it, says Angelique. You're beginning to, states Hoffman. I don't know, says Angelique--it's still just a game to me. She sits down to look at the cards while Hoffman regards her speculatively. Don't let me keep you from what you came here to do, Ang says. Hoffman turns and leaves the room. Angelique sees the hanging man card and gasps. Hearing her cry out, Hoffman asks, what's wrong? Angelique has fled the room. Hoffman looks at the cards herself.
Quentin, goofy-eyed, has the noose looped around his neck. "I'll join you now," he says to no one, "and we will be together." He's about to step off the chair when Angelique rushes in and grabs him, screaming, "No, Quentin!" She presses her face into his hip.
Hoffman picks up the hanging man Tarot card and looks up at Angelique's portrait. She leaves the room.
Quentin now sits in the chair he was about to use to kill himself. You shouldn't have stopped me, he insists--I have to join her. No, protests Ang--join who? Maggie, he responds. She isn't dead, says Angelique. Yes she is, I killed her, says Quentin, I slashed her portrait, I know she's dead. The portrait has got nothing to do with Maggie, insists Angelique, you've got to try to think clearly--look at me--call her on the phone, send her a wire, she'll come... You don't understand, he says. I do, better than you think, she says--it's just as if you're walking in a dream, isn't it? Puzzled, he looks up at the noose, touches his head, and asks, what's happening to me? I don't know, she says, but I know it will all be solved when Maggie is back in this house. No, I won't beg her, insists Quentin. You're such a curious man, comments Angelique--I come here, save your life... I'm not sure I'm grateful for that, he says ruefully. Quentin! she chastises. My life, he ruminates, my life is all so wrong, all because...
Of Maggie? asks Ang--you do love her that much, don't you--or is it Angelique that you remember, her you still love?--tell me, it will help you so much if you will. It won't! says Quentin, and leaves the room. Angelique frustrated, wonders why haven't I ever been able to control him?--I've never understood him, every other man was so simple--Quentin, oh, Quentin, what must I do? She looks up at the noose.
For a few moments, as the scene changes, we see Quentin's face reflected in that noose. He's in the drawing room, staring at his wife's torn portrait, wondering why he thinks slashing the portrait would actually harm her--what madness am I suffering from that I could believe with that one act I could kill her? What made me go to that room? Why don't I know what I'm doing?--I lost control of myself. Hoffman enters and says, "You'll want it restored, of course--it was an accident, I assume." How could that be an accident? he asks. Who did it, then? she asks. That doesn't matter, says Quentin. I'll have Trask take it to the village tomorrow, she says. No, says Quentin, I'm tired of looking at it--you have him put it away--right now. He stalks from the room. Hoffman doesn't get it. She touches the slashes on Maggie's portrait.
Angelique, on the phone, tells Aunt Hannah, the spell didn't work--he still refuses to bring Maggie back here--we'll have to try something else. "You will not stop helping me now," warns Ang. Someone knocks at the door; she terminates the call. Hoffman enters. Haven't you taken everything from this room? asks Angelique. I didn't come about the room, says Hoffman. Why did you come? asks Ang. I saw Maggie's picture and brought you something you need very badly, answers Hoffman--and hands her a clay doll with a pin lying on top of it.
What is that? asks Angelique--I don't know, and I don't like it. It's necessary now, says Hoffman, for Maggie Evans to come back. Angelique grins at her, then giggles as she realizes--"Oh, Julia, you know, of course you know--how did I ever think I could keep it from you?" I don't know why you pretended to me, says Hoffman. I was afraid, says Ang. That I would tell? asks Hoffman. No, of course not, says Ang--that our being friends would give me away, that Quentin would see us together and know--but now I'm glad, because I missed you. She takes the doll from Hoffman and says, you always knew what I wanted, long before I myself knew
--and now you brought me this, and you were right to do it. She sits down, grinning at the doll. Hoffman isn't sure. Why? asks Ang. Perhaps, confesses Hoffman, I'm afraid of you now for the first time. Why, because I can suddenly lie to you? asks Angelique. No, says Hoffman, because you're dead. Touch me, invites Angelique, holding out her hand--go ahead, touch me! Reluctantly, Hoffman does so. Do you feel the warmth of life? asks Angelique. Hoffman nods, caressing the other woman's hand, and asks, how did you come back?--if we are to be the friends we were, you owe it to me to tell me. Angelique agrees. You were murdered, you know that? asks Hoffman. Of course, says Angelique, suddenly angry--I felt the pain at the back of my neck, felt the hand pushing the hat pin back here, and I reached back...we must find out whose hand that was. We will, vows Hoffman. I remember falling on the table, says Ang, and after that, nothing--I never remember being in the grave, waking up there--I don't think I ever was there--I remember feeling the terrible cold, then a voice whispering, someone will come--it was like a dream, I was never aware of being dead, I was just not awake! How can that be? asks Hoffman. I don't know, says Angelique--it's as though some higher power allowed me to come back, meant for me to. Do you know who opened the coffin? asks Hoffman. I've told you enough, insists Ang. Hoffman presses her. Quentin and Cyrus, answers Angelique. You were not given this chance for nothing, says Hoffman, there is a debt you will have to pay. To whom? asks Ang. Perhaps we won't know until that person comes to collect, suggests Hoffman. We will outwit him, you and I, together, says Angelique. Hoffman doesn't answer at first. Won't we, Julia? Asks Angelique. Yes, agrees Hoffman--you still want Quentin, don't you? Very much--I must have him, says Ang. Hoffman smiles--you're right--Maggie Evans must be brought back here. We see the doll lying on the table. Will she be difficult to handle? asks Angelique. For you, no, laughs Hoffman. Angelique laughs, too--I missed you, she says. They laugh together.
Barnabas approaches Angelique's room, thinking to himself, if they moved Alexis from that room, perhaps this is my chance to get back to my own time--there I'll have friends to protect me. When I open this door, he wonders, will I be able to enter? He flings open the doors and finds Hoffman and Angelique there. The latter quickly covers the clay doll with her hand. Barnabas apologizes--I understood you had changed rooms. Who did you come to visit then? asks Angelique. I'm very intrigued by what happens in this room, admits Barnabas. Obviously nothing is happening here now, says Hoffman--she leaves. There's a character in Will's book who fascinates me, Barnabas tells Alexis--she was a servant girl who came to this country with Josette duPres. Yes, Angelique, she says, smiling. Your ancestor? says Barnabas. Yes, she says. I wonder so much what became of her--Will doesn't know or say, says Barnabas. As far as I know, she married here and lived to a ripe old age, she says--my father, Timothy Stokes, is also a descendant of a man who worked for the Collins at that time (did Ben marry Angelique in this time band)? Was she buried here? Barn asks.
Yes, chuckles Angelique, she's in the family plot--why? Sometime I'd like to go see her grave, says Barnabas. Really? asks Ang, how curious--I shall have to read Mr. Loomis' book and find out why I have such an interesting ancestor. Barnabas glances up at the portrait and asks, were you and your sister identical twins? Yes, she says, we look a lot alike, but have completely different actions. You speak of her in the present tense, points out Barnabas, as if she were still alive. Thus caught, she says resentfully, I have trouble accepting the fact that Angelique really is dead--she was too young to die--you know, you keep warning me that it's dangerous to be here in this room, yet you are keeping me here--you are a puzzling man, Mr. Collins. Grabbing a scarf and covering the clay doll with it, she leaves the room. Left alone, Barnabas thinks to himself, there is no Angelique in this time band, no supernatural creature--they have been spared that, at least (guess again). All I can think is that it's possible that Julia in my time stands in that hall, seeing me here. He approaches the door. "Julia are you here? Julia, I must get back, I must, but how? How?"
Hoffman enters the storage room upstairs and hands Angelique Quentin's handkerchief. No one saw me come up here, Hoffman assures her. Angelique covers the clay doll with the handkerchief. Hoffman wants to stand outside in case someone comes, but Ang begs her not to leave--stay here with me. Why? asks Hoffman, then realizes Ang is afraid. You find that so surprising? asks Ang. You never were before, points out Hoffman. I have felt the coldness of death, says Ang...my powers--I have never been able to control Quentin as I want to. You will now, Hoffman assures her. It's so difficult, says Ang, I'm afraid I'll go too far. He must only be sick enough for us to send for Maggie, says Hoffman. But if I lose him completely, frets Angelique--he's never reacted the way I wanted him to, I could have controlled him before if it had ever been that easy. You must try, says Hoffman, if you want him. She holds up the pin. "Start now," she commands Angelique.
Angelique reaches for the pin, then says, he must come to me willingly--if he dies this way, he will never be able to join me, I know that without even being told--or did someone tell me, beside my grave, and I don't remember?--oh, Julia... Hoffman holds out the pin and says, begin the incantation if you want Quentin. Angelique looks at the pin--perhaps that's why I'm frightened, she suggests--because it was a pin like that that killed me. You were never afraid before, repeats Hoffman--you got exactly what you wanted--now you want Maggie Evans to come here, you want to get rid of her, and that's the only way you're going to get him. Angelique takes the pin and says, "Just let Quentin be this time as I need him to be. Oh black god that's hidden in the gray depths of hell, let this pin touch this doll and let Quentin feel the pain--the pain." She stops. Go on, encourages Hoffman.
Quentin is slumped in a chair in the drawing room, staring vacantly. Quentin, is something wrong? asks Barnabas, standing in the doorway. Is anything ever right? asks Quentin. Come now, cousin, chides Barnabas, you surely don't mean that. Yes I do, Quentin assures him, rising from the chair, if I didn't believe I would swear that a curse had been put on this house--if I were not convinced that you're the same Barnabas Collins they were talking about in that room, I would think that you brought the curse with you. Barnabas looks guilty and uncomfortable. Quentin apologizes and says, I shouldn't blame you--it all started when I came back to Collinwood. Were these problems not here before? questions Barnabas. Never, says Quentin.
I understand your former wife was interested in the occult, says Barnabas. Who told you that? asks Quentin. Will Loomis, says Barnabas, I assume her interest had a reason, and I thought the reason would be here. It's not true, says Quentin defiantly. Barnabas says, "She was interested in the occult." Why are you asking this? demands Quentin--why?
Angelique, brandishing clay doll and pin, intones, "Guide my hand carefully. "Do not let it go too deep lest it kill him--guide my hand carefully..." She inserts the needle into the doll's chest.
It's my turn to apologize to you, Quentin, says Barnabas. Yes, agrees his cousin, who grabs his chest. What's wrong? asks Barnabas. "My heart," he moans, clutching at the pain.
Angelique pushes the pin in more deeply and says, "You must, Quentin, you must!"
Quentin collapses to the floor. Barnabas cries out, "For God's sake!" and kneels beside him, worried.
NOTES: Barnabas is already homing in on Angelique, and if he doesn't recognize the "symptoms" of witchcraft, having been the victim of the same type of attack, I'll be very surprised. Lots of suspense as we quick-cut back and forth between Quentin and Barnabas and Angelique, working her wicked spell. Will it work? Will Maggie return to her ailing husband, or will Angelique push that pin in one centimeter too much and kill him?
Loved the conversation between Barnabas and "Alexis." One has to wonder what happened in PT 1795. Was that Angelique not a witch? Who did she marry--Ben Stokes?
Quentin was behaving really oddly under the noose spell, thinking he had killed Maggie and wanting to kill himself to be with her. Wonder how and why Ang's spell failed.
Also loved Hoffman's realization that Alexis is really Angelique (guess she recognized her mistress' hand on what was happening to Quentin), her bringing Angelique the clay doll and her fear that the other woman was dead (or undead)? There are those who speculate that there was a Lesbian relationship between these two women, and that wouldn't surprise me; Angelique loved a lot of people, and I can easily imagine her as bi-sexual. Not that they'd be able to show this in 1970, but the intimate way she touched her hand was telling.
Love, Robin
