409 - (Joan Bennett) - A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent one girl on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, each of the Collins ancestors resembles a present-day member of the Collins family, but the names and relationships have changed, and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger in a sea of familiar faces. The family history she has carried from the present day has been found by a woman whose fate was written inside.
Josette is shocked over what she has read about herself in the book in Vicki's room, but Natalie calls Vicki a devil. Does Barnabas live or die according to the book? wonders Josette, and they continue to read despite being terrified. It says Jeremiah met Josette on a business trip to Martinique, which Josette knows is false. There is no mention of her being engaged to Barnabas. It says the marriage was unhappy, and that Barnabas was attracted to his uncle's wife--which was true. Josette and Natalie realize that some aspects of the book are correct, but. . .the book also says that Barnabas, unable to get over his infatuation with Josette, left for England where he lived long and prospered. Barnabas will live! says Josette joyfully, and reads on. (Don't believe it!!!) The marriage suffered after Barnabas' departure--but Jeremiah is dead, so that one is wrong. The candles blow out by themselves, a sign, says Josette. She doesn't know what to believe, she sobs in her aunt's arms.
Naomi sits sadly by her son's bedside. He continues to rant about the bat. "Get it away!" he shouts. Joshua, walking like an old man, comes in and he and Naomi hug each other when she tells him their son is no better. She thinks Barnabas will fight harder if he knows his father is there. Joshua, his voice cracking, tells Barnabas how stupid he's been (sure, you say that NOW!)--he had the right to marry whomever he wished. I want you to know. . ..Joshua, miserable, turns to Naomi and asks if there isn't anything they can do--a doctor from Bangor, perhaps? It would take too long, laments Naomi. In a heartbreaking scene, Barnabas recalls when he was a boy and saw his father brought in from being wounded in the war. He didn't recognize him and began to cry, but he knew his father would be angry to see his tears. Barnabas promised himself then that if his father survived, they'd live together peacefully. Joshua swears that WILL happen.
Writhing, Barnabas again begins screaming about the bat while his parents try fruitlessly to comfort him. "It's coming for me, help me, Josette!" wails Barnabas. Joshua looks helpless, sorrowful, and Naomi covers her face, unable to bear her son's suffering. Joshua tells Barnabas that Josette is there to see him, but Barnabas insists that his father help him sit up on pillows before she comes in--Josette will give me strength, he assures his father, and asks Joshua to keep Angelique away (she isn't even in this episode, which I found fascinating). Joshua walks out as if carrying a huge weight on his person and leaves Josette alone with Barnabas. She takes his hand and observes that he seems better. Because of her, he says. Then she'll stay, she promises, feigning a smile. He's pleased. She'll stay until he's well again, she says. Natalie read the Tarot, and he's going to live long and happily in England. I hear the bat, he moans, grabbing at the marks on his throat. She promises to do anything he asks. "I love you still," he says.
"I never stopped." She kisses his hand and holds it tightly. "Don't leave me," she begs, "I love, you as wrong as it is. He swears he'll come back to her, and she says she will wait for him. Then, quietly, his head drops to one side and Barnabas Collins dies. Josette screams, "Mrs. Collins!"
Naomi and Natalie, waiting downstairs, hear the squeaking of a bat. Naomi says she wants to see Barnabas, but Natalie tells her not to go. They see a bat flying towards them and back away, scared, but it disappears, seemingly into thin air. Joshua walks painfully, slowly downstairs and tells them Barnabas is dead. Naomi falls into his arms and they try to console each other.
Later, Natalie revives Josette with smelling salts. Josette sobs. What will she do? Take one day at a time, advises her aunt. I love him, wails Josette--I was never able to say it when he was alive, but I had loved Barnabas from the first time I saw him. He can't be dead, sobs Josette. He is, says Natalie, the book is wrong, a vicious lie! Josette wanted to make the part about Barnabas surviving true.
Naomi sits, too sad to even drink. Joshua comes in and is hesitant to tell her what he's done about Barnabas' death. She asks if he's contacted Reverend Taylor, and says Angelique is with Barnabas now. When Josette and Natalie come down and Josette hugs Naomi. Joshua finally admits that he doesn't want to cause a plague-generated panic in town and make people afraid to come to his shipyards. He must consider other people! Therefore, he announces, no one will even know of his son's demise. He is spreading the story that Barnabas went on a business trip to England. Josette throws herself into Naomi's arms. The book was right!
NOTES: Many hankies today, folks. Great eps. Great acting. So sad!
410 - (KLS) - A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent one girl on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, each of the Collins ancestors resembles a present-day member of the Collins family, but the names and relationships have changed, and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger in a sea of familiar faces. Over at the Old House, a storm approaches from the sea, but inside, another storm rages, caused by the mysterious death of the Collins' only son.
Old House, upstairs bedroom - Angelique is furious when Joshua tells her that, because he fears word of the plague will spread and panic the town, Barnabas is to be buried in a secret place, without a service (yeah, like she really wants a service), and that he is telling everyone his son went to England. She threatens to tell everyone that Barnabas was buried in a secret grave if he doesn't agree to leave her husband with her, she insists, at least until morning, but he nastily informs her she has no rights or protection and what he says goes! Joshua walks out. Angelique, clearly frightened, summons Ben--she needs him immediately!
Josette comes into the Old House drawing room to find Natalie pouring over the Collins family book. Natalie wants to take Josette back to Martinique as soon as possible, even if Jeremiah's estate isn't settled yet. Natalie denies believing the suicide prophecy in Vicki's book, but she feels it would be better not to chance it. Josette informs her concerned aunt that she's going to stay and wait for Barnabas to come back--he promised he would, and she said she'd wait until he does. Even if it takes forever? asks the upset Natalie. Even then, says Josette calmly. She loved him, she's waitin'! They mention that Andre is in New York during this conversation, and Josette also tells her aunt she and Naomi were discussing Barnabas.
Josette cries out, "No!" when Barnabas' coffin is carried past them, and Joshua apologizes; he thought they'd returned to Collinwood. He refuses to tell a protesting Josette where they're bringing the body and asks them to trust him. Ben peers in through the window and Josette spots a figure, but when Joshua goes to investigate, Ben is no where to be found. He suggests the ladies return to Collinwood and leaves, too.
Later, Ben quietly enters the Old House and Joshua returns to find him there. He curtly tells Ben that Barnabas is dead and accuses him of coming to rob the body. He was my friend, protests Ben, then adds, touchingly, "If you had any love for your son, you'll let me grieve for him." Angelique, coming downstairs, agrees with Ben. Joshua orders her to stay out of it, but Ang insists Joshua must treat Ben as Barnabas would have wished. Joshua asks Ang if she's afraid of being alone with Ben, and she says of course not--they were servants together. Joshua curtly responds, in a delicious diss, "THAT I will NEVER forget!" He stalks out.
Ang, nervous, tells Ben she did love Barnabas, and Ben must help her. He observes how scared she is as she tells him he must follow Joshua and find out where they are burying Barnabas, then make a sharp, 10-12 inch stake from a holly tree and bring it to her. He wants an explanation, but she says, "Do it before night falls or we will all die when dusk falls!"
Joshua asks Angelique what her plans are, and she says she'll stay at the Old House, refurbish it, throw wild parties, have her friends over--all to piss him off, at which she succeeds. He starts out with $10,000 in gold (he was ready to give her that much to not marry Barnabas, she sniffs), then $15,000, then $20,000. She wants him to leave the passbook and the paper he wants her to sign promising never to return to Collinwood, and he refuses--until she asks him if he'd leave it for Josette in the same circumstances and points out that he has no choice but to trust her and treat her like a lady! He's furious that she bested him, but hands her the papers and stalks out. She immediately takes them to the desk to sign them.
Ben brings Angelique the stake. She orders him to have a carriage waiting for her by nightfall. She won't tell him anymore, but nervously notes how dark it is with the storm outside. Upstairs, as she packs, Ben demands to know how Barnabas died. He was bitten by a bat, says Ang, she didn't want him to die, but he'd shot her, and she thought SHE was going to die! Did Ben tell Barnabas about her, she asks? He never said a word, Ben replies (ironically). Barnabas will ris at nightfall, she explains, and every night thereafter. As one of the living dead, he'll do terrible things, worse than she'd wish on anyone! The stake Ben made must be driven into his heart, says Angelique.
Ben takes her to the secret room of the Collins mausoleum. It was used to hide guns during the war, Ben explains--weird to think of it, but Joshua was a patriot. He's upset at what she's planning to do, and what she's saying about Barnabas returning from the dead, even though she keeps insisting it's necessary. He opens the panel and she enters, clutching the stake and a mallet. She asks Ben, "Have you ever heard the word vampire?" (the first time the V-word is EVER uttered on DARK SHADOWS.) Ben closes Angelique in the secret room, shouting, "If he comes to life, he'll settle YOU!" Locked in, Angelique determinedly opens the coffin, places the stake over Barnabas' heart, and readies the mallet. . .
NOTES: How good was this? Will Angelique destroy Barnabas? Will Barnabas, in Ben's words, "settle" her?
How terribly sad have these eps been?
Love, Robin
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