Discuss - Ep #0297

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #297

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0297

[IluvBarnabas]

Poor Sarah probably feels all alone now that Maggie, her first friend in a long time, doesn't even remember her.
Hardly Maggie's fault though, she had a little help from Julia in forgetting.

Sam and Joe want to protect Maggie, which is understandable. At the moment she's enjoying being overprotected but it won't last long, I bet.

Barnabas goes to the Evans' cottage, gets Maggie alone, to see how much Maggie remembers. Maggie mentions her friend Sarah....so even if Barnabas believes that the hypnosis might be working, he has to worry that Sarah may come back to Maggie and help her to remember and so decides to do away with her...

However as he enters Maggie's room while she's sleeping, preparing to kill her, he hears Sarah's singing, whispering what does she want from him, and leaves with Maggie unharmed. Even though Sarah believes that Maggie has forgotten all about her, she still looks after her. Interesting....

Great ending, chilling and yet also a bit emotional as you see Barnabas a bit scared but also a bit emotional at hearing his sister's voice after so long....

[Lydia]

I believe this is the first time that we see the black-bordered, multicolored afghan, and I think it is no coincidence that its debut comes only a couple of days after the advent of color.

Maggie assumes that Sarah is a normal little girl, not a ghost, so it never occurs to her that Sarah might be the entity that put her through several weeks of unremembered horror.  Sarah isn't, of course - but as I watched the scene, I liked playing with the idea that this sweet-looking little girl would lure Maggie to a tragic fate.

How odd for Barnabas to be carrying on polite conversation with a woman who looks so much like Josette.  Of course he had something else on his mind - but still, it must have felt strange.

Sarah protects Maggie, even though Maggie forgot her.  Whatever Sarah's feelings may be, she is still obliged to protect Maggie from Barnabas, apparently.

And now Barnabas knows, without a doubt, that Sarah is here.  So now he has two interfering females to contend with: Sarah and Julia.

[DarkLady]

I believe this is the first time that we see the black-bordered, multicolored afghan, and I think it is no coincidence that its debut comes only a couple of days after the advent of color.

In that case, welcome, black-bordered, multicolored afghan! 

Poor little Sarah, indeed! Her first friend in almost two hundred years has forgotten her. But she seems to be a forgiving little soul. She plays catch with Maggie and even sings "London Bridge" with her--which doesn't drive Maggie to hysterics for once. But she's still hurt and runs out, taking the doll with her.

Barnabas does have a bad moment when Maggie comes out of her room to talk to him. But he recovers quickly enough, maybe because he's given up on creating an exact replica of Josette and has fixed his sights on Vicki, and because he doesn't know if he can trust Julia to keep Maggie from remembering. But still, conversing with Josette's almost-double must seem strange, even to him.

Barnabas becomes increasingly alarmed as Maggie starts to remember the strangely dressed little girl who visited her earlier during the day. His agitation increases as Maggie describes the girl further. Maggie has turned away from Barnabas in trying to remember details of the conversation. The little girl said her name was Sarah, Maggie tells him--whereupon Barnabas actually stands up, he’s so disturbed. (Nice bit by JF here.) Maggie, unaware, finishes, I hope I can find Sarah, because she may know what happened to me. Barnabas exclaims, The person who did this may very well be apprehended! Something will have to be done, he says.

Now without the doll and utterly vulnerable, Maggie is asleep when when we hear the howling of one of the "children of the night." Maggie continues to sleep peacefully as Barnabas enters noiselessly through the French windows. [They had the budget for color videotape, but they couldn't make him materialize out of the darkness, for pete's sake!!!!!] He prepares to smother Maggie with a conveniently placed cushion when suddenly Sarah starts singing London Bridge. He calls to her in a desperate whisper: Sarah! Sarah! What is it you want? What do you want of me? But she only keeps on singing. Appalled but seemingly torn between loss and longing (another wonderful bit!), Barnabas slowly backs out of the room while Maggie slumbers on, unaware of her danger--or her rescuer.

Now Barnabas knows absolutely that (1) Sarah is here; and (2) she won't let him harm Maggie. So he is pretty much forced to trust Julia, even though that's probably the last thing he wants!

[Lydia]

Now Barnabas knows absolutely that (1) Sarah is here; and (2) she won't let him harm Maggie. So he is pretty much forced to trust Julia, even though that's probably the last thing he wants!

Does Barnabas know that Sarah won't let him harm Maggie?  I think at this point he's still pretty confused.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another one of Frid's letters to his mom. This one was written on August 2, 1967, the day this ep was taped:


Wednesday

Dear Mother,

I'm always a little afraid to write you good news for wondering if my star will have fallen by the time the letter has reached you.

Your letter (Sunday) which just arrived today did not mention The Times. There is to be a story on "Dark Shadows" in Newsweek magazine next week (Mon Aug. 7th). They interviewed me for about half an hour the other day. This is how I was greeted by the writer: 'We understand the ratings for "Dark Shadows" are among the highest ABC has enjoyed for a day time show, They (the ratings) have even surprised CBS' "Edge of Night" and you are the man responsible.'

Whatever the meaning or exaggeration of this phenomenon is, it has made me very very happy and extremely nervous. I really don't know how to handle it use it. I don't even know if I believe it. My one refuge from all this is going to the studio and actually doing the shows. My confidence is secure there, even though I still shake a little each time we start taping a show. I feel my performance has improved greatly since the beginning. (That show when the fire took place still has to be aired and I dread that one.)

On the whole my acting has been better.

But this other business I just don't know. The phone keeps ringing, every now and again I get giggling clusters of teenagers greeting me on the street, the mail keeps coming, begging me to answer. Some day soon all this will fade and I'll be down in the dumps.

I was talking to the script writers yesterday and they say I'll be going at least until the end of October. But even this could be subject to change.

Love, John


I have the Newsweek article that Frid mentions - but I have no idea exactly where it is. So, if anyone also has a copy and they know where to get their hands on it, certainly feel free to post a copy. 

And the reason why he mentions Edge of Night is because DS was on opposite that soap and it was the highest rated soap in the time period (but at this point in time I believe all the CBS soaps were doing phenomenally well). So apparently they were getting a bit concerned that DS was building an audience against them.    (And they should have been because for the 1966-1967 period Edge of Night had a 10.9 average rating and ranked 2nd among all 13 soaps on at the time, whereas DS had a 4.3 average rating and was ranked 12th. But for the 1967-1968 period Edge of Night slipped to a 9.4 average rating and was ranked 6th. On the other hand, DS' average rating climbed to a 7.3 - though it was still ranked 12th because it had been way behind the other soaps. And also note that Frid doesn't say in his letter that DS' ratings were among the highest for all soaps - only those on ABC, whose soaps in general had dismal ratings compared to those on CBS and NBC. But even at that DS was not ABC's highest rated soap in the 1967-1968 period. That honor went to General Hospital with an 8.8 average rating and a 9th place ranking.)

And as a tease, there is big news in the next letter - but we'll have to wait a bit for that one...

[DarkLady]

Does Barnabas know that Sarah won't let him harm Maggie?  I think at this point he's still pretty confused.

Very true. Sarah has certainly distracted him from his original mission. But earlier in the evening, Maggie told him as much as she remembers about Sarah. I admit he's probably confused at the moment, but at least we know what Sarah is up to.

[alwaysdavid]

The afghan reminds me how colorful the Evans cottage is and SAMs paintings really stand out.  The place seemed really dreary in black and white where it is really quite cosy. Sam seems to be either on the wagon or reduced his intake.

[DarkLady]

Surely that's because Maggie has returned, safe and sound and reasonably sane. And whoever did the paintings, I really do like them. The Evans cottage would really fit into an artists' colony.