We had a nice straight line of an episode today, as we watched Barnabas proceeding towards definite knowledge that Angelique is the witch. Lots of lines for Jonathan Frid, but lots of fun for us.
I liked the way the clues came together for Barnabas. Motive is always a tricky thing, because what will impel one person towards murder is shrugged off by another, but Barnabas has other evidence to go on. It's lucky for him that Ben got caught stealing Abigail's hair ribbon, but even without that, he's got Vicky's unsolicited mention of the fire-and-ice business, and Angelique's lies about her whereabouts during the exorcisim.
Why is it that Naomi owned a house while Abigail was the poorest member of the family? When we learned that Naomi owned the Old House, I decided that Joshua's father had given it to her when she married Joshua, because it was a Collins house, and would not have come from Naomi's family. Or else there was a tradition that the wife of the head of the Collins family owned the Old House, and Joshua's mother gave it to Naomi at some point. But if the house came to Naomi through one of Joshua's parents, why didn't they give anything to Abigail? Did they in fact give Abigail money or property that she somehow lost?
"A for Angelique." And the battle is joined.