Discuss - Ep #0233

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #233

[Lydia]

When I saw Carolyn in the drawing room in her bathrobe (or was it a peignoir or a negligee?) I thought to myself, "Oh, goody, goody, Barnabas is going to tell the Josette story!"  And lo and behold, he did.  It was like kids around a campfire telling ghost stories.  My enjoyment of the episode was enhanced by the fact that it was dark and snowy this morning where I live, and when the power was flickering at Collinwood, it occurred to me that the power could conceivably go out here - which would have been a tragedy, in the middle of Dark Shadows.  I've got to get myself a generator to run the TV and DVD player in case of such dire emergencies.

Why did Barnabas come over to Collinwood?  Was he feeling restless because he could never get Maggie alone?  It couldn't be that; he disposed of babysitters later on without any trouble.  Perhaps his restlessness was due to exhilaration - despite occasional hitches, his plan was going well: Maggie knew she belonged to him, and she would, in the fullness of time, come to him permanently.  Anyway, I thought of Mrs. Whatsit's line (pause while I check to make sure that it was indeed Mrs. Whatsit) in A Wrinkle In Time: "Wild nights are my glory."

I still have trouble with the concept of a shipmaking family deliberately building a house where they knew the storms tend to congregate.  Never mind, it was a great episode.

[dom]

Josette is mentioned in the first week of the show ('66) as coming from France and that Collinwood was built for her. Is this still the story at this point in time?

[IluvBarnabas]

OMH wasn't Jonathan just brilliant? The scene where he's telling the story of Josette's death to Vicki and Carolyn was just so spellbinding. As you listen to Barnabas, you could hear the emotion, and the despair coming through his voice. For just a few minutes there we can see a glimpse of the "human" Barnabas shining through there.

Too bad though that he reverts back to being a monster when Jason tells him of following Willie to the cemetery. When Barnabas screams out "Willie!" at the end of the episode you know poor Willie is gonna be in hot water again.

[loril54]

This was an excellent show. I actually think that Barnabas followed Vickie home. Not so much to see if she got home OK but to see what she was going to do.

The house coat make Carolyn look older, it was almost out of place. The dressers thought the shiny materials. Maybe it was because of the lighting and the effects.  Also Jason had the smoking jacket on.

I was there with Barnabas when he told the story about Widows Hill and Josette.  I could see his heart breaking. He felt so lost, the comment about the human Barnabas was good, he does come through. As John said a person with a "hang-up".

I think instead of just being mean, and Barn was I think that he was more scared. He didn't want to be found out and be killed.  This was reflected that he follows Vickie Home.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Josette is mentioned in the first week of the show ('66) as coming from France and that Collinwood was built for her. Is this still the story at this point in time?

Yup. I don't believe that changes until the 1795/96 storyline.

[Alondra]

Episode #233

They replay the scene with Vicki and Maggie as the doors burst open and the figure of Barnabas stands there.

Later Vicki comes home. The storm is really bad so it's good she got back safely. The storm has made Carolyn very nervous, though I would think she'd be used to them by now. She can't sleep with all that noise going on. The lights sort of flicker a bit and then go out. They get candles and begin to light them. At the window, Vicki thinks she sees a figure and tells Carolyn about what happened at Maggie's house. Then suddenly both girls scream as they see a figure at the doorway which is exactly the same as the one seen at Maggie's. It turns out to be Barnabas, but will Vicki think maybe it was him at Maggie's? Nooooo.

Barnabas apologizes for startling them and comments about the electric being out. Then sort of gloats that he never has that problem. Vicki agrees that he doesn't. Barnabas takes the opportunity to wax eloquent about how superior candlelight is to electric light (sorry Barn but I disagree, fire is dangerous!) and then he asks about Maggie. Vicki tells of having seen her that night and that she had gotten a blood transfusion. (Barn is thinking oh, goody, more for me!)

At this point, he goes into a long soliloquey that has become one of the hallmark scenes in the show. He tells the story of Josette (without mentioning her name) which was surprisingly accurate considering how the writers later on butchered this [spoiler]just before Vicki's trip to the past.[/spoiler] It was a night like tonight when the girl had a quarrel with her lover and ran away from him. He ran after her, but as she ran to get away from him, she ran toward Widow's Hill and he caught up to her, putting his lips against her neck (very telling there, Barn!) She pulled away and fell to her death on the rocks below Widow's Hill. He later found her on the rocks, her body lifeless and bloodless.

Both Vicki and Carolyn are frightened by this story and Carolyn goes upstairs. Vicki asks Barnabas if the story is true? Yes. Why did he use the word bloodless? He claims that is how the story was related to him. She reacted to that word because of the cattle, Willie and Maggie all having lost blood. Barnabas says the incident in his story took place more than a century ago. Then Vicki tells about Maggie being found in the graveyard and that she and Burke had been led there by a phone call. Of course Barnabas perks up at this, he had suspected Willie of having alerted them about Maggie's wherabouts but this was the first he was hearing of a phone call. He is scarcely able to hide his anger and we know that Willie is in for it when he gets home! :-

As Vicki leaves to go upstairs, Barnabas warns her that she is a clever girl and she ought not to let what happened to Maggie happen to her. He doesn't want her to suffer from the same sickness Maggie is suffering from. Is this his round about way of telling her to butt out? I sort of felt this was a warning and/or threat!

Jason enters with his usual snide smirk and comments on the loss of electricity. He tells Vicki as she is leaving to tell Mrs. Stoddard to pay more attention to her electric bill. This irked me no end of course. The pig is staying there against everyone's wishes, living off Liz' "hospitality" and then he makes a comment like this. I really would like to see someone thrash this nit to within an inch of his life.

As if this isn't bad enough, he decides to open his fat yap wider and start talking about Willie. He thinks Barnabas should get rid of Willie, he is trouble! Barnabas says Willie is doing well. Jason says he knows Willie has been to the cemetary, he found him there twice (so maybe you should pay attention to your own stomping grounds, Jason!) And Maggie was found there under strange circumstances (implying that Willie had something to do with her being there) He can't control Willie as he could before (Oh yeah? You could never control him!) Willie's been beaten up and Barnabas claims Willie told him he'd fallen from a ladder. He will take steps to deal with Willie. I think we know the translation of this. 

He goes home and enters the house. We see a pan of the drawing room which looks very nice and clean and we know who's responsible for that. Unfortunately this will not matter one bit to that vampire as he enters the house, and calls rather softly for Willie. He advances a few steps to the stairs and looks up them, and calls a little louder, "Willie!" Then he comes to the entrance of the drawing room, raises his cane and screams, "WIILLLIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" 

Gak, I felt the same sense of utter foreboding I used to feel when I knew my own butt was fixing to get a spanking! Poor Willie!

This is one of the episodes where I have differing emotions regarding Barnabas. I can almost sympathize with him as he tells his sad story to Vicki and Carolyn. But as he enters the Old House, planning to lay his cane heavily upon sweet Willie, I hate him!

Alondra

[CT!_CTP/FITBs]

Be sure to check out these (hopefully  ) humorous topics related to this episode:

From "Caption This!":
(none yet)

From "Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s)":

[Midnite]

When I saw Carolyn in the drawing room in her bathrobe (or was it a peignoir or a negligee?)...

A dressing gown?  Anyway, I'd kill to have one just like it.  I'm imagining it was a soft blue, but I really have no idea.

On Halloween nights I light all the candles in the front of my house (and it's a lot of candles) and turn out all the lights.  The effect is quite spooky, but I always marvel at how I still cannot see much of anything in candlelight.

[Jackie]

This is the episode with the riveting story of the lovers and tragic death!  Bravo for JF in his superb delivery of it!!

I could see the woman, [spoiler]Josette[/spoiler] running away as [spoiler]Barnabas[/spoiler] follows, catches, and places his "lips" on her neck while her body goes limp.  After throwing herself off Widow's Hill, Barnabas says the lover goes to her bloodless body.  Clever of Vicki to pick up on the "bloodless" body phrase.  Barnabas warned her that she should be careful it didn't happen to her which seemed like a threat to me.  Here, Vicki tells the wrong person about the phone call warning her where to find Maggie.  Barnabas is piecing these "facts" together and then along comes Jason to fuel the fire AGAIN.  Circumstantial evidence, all of it, but it still sets the vampire into a rage.

It breaks my heart to see Barnabas rushing back to the Old House to beat Willie again for the SAME infraction.

Another wonderful episode by Frid.

[EmeraldRose]

I love Jonathan Frid's voice!   He tells a story so well.  I could see in my mind's eye exactly what was happening.  I also could tell when I saw Carolyn and Vickie together that "the story" was coming!  It WAS just like telling ghost stories by the campfire.  I  felt sorry for him, too.

But I agree that it's too bad Barnabas had to revert back to his "bad" self after talking to Vickie and Jason.  Poor Willie!  It was pretty spooky and scary when Barnabas yelled his name at the end of the show.  Another great show.

----- Sally -----

[EmeraldRose]

After throwing herself off Widow's Hill, Barnabas says the lover goes to her bloodless body.

Oh, and I LOVE that "bloodless" line - sends chills up my spine!  One of the best lines of the whole show. 

----- Sally -----

[Sunny_Collins]

Unsettled by the storm, Carolyn and Vicki are startled to see a figure,but when they discover it's barnabas, they're relieved. Barnabas talks of how the residents of Collinwood and the Old House used to huddle together on stormy nights like this, and it made me imagine Joshua, Naomi, Sarah, barnabas, Jeremiah and even Abigail sitting around a roaring fire, brought together for just a moment through the commonality of unease by the ferocity of the storm.

Barnabas recounting the tragic narrative of Josette's death is definitely the highlight of this episode. The anguish is so apparent in his voice, so deep it gives me chills just to listen to it. For just a brief time we get to see the human part of barnabas.

Too bad the episode has to conclude with him calling up the stairs for Willie, for we know what is in store for him. 

An excellent episode!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Too bad the episode has to conclude with him calling up the stairs for Willie, for we know what is in store for him.

It may be too bad - but it's also who Barnabas is at this point. There's definitely a cruel streak in him that probably isn't as obvious in any other point in the storylines he appears in because there's so little, if any, regret specifically depicted for most of what he does.