Another truly painful episode. Loved JB's touching little soliloquy about the "first bird of the morning." She tells Joshua that she has dressed Sarah in the blue dress she was to wear on her birthday. Poor Sarah will have to wait another 170 years to find her blue dress again and wear it to her big brother's costume party. [I suppose they buried her in a plain shroud, otherwise how would her blue dress have ended up in the trunk at the Old House?]
The enraged Joshua tells Vicki that he hopes the fires of this life will be but a prelude to the fires of the next (even though the town is planning to hang her).
Barnabas has realized that a black neckcloth will be more practical for his new lifestyle. Ben talks him out of giving himself up to the authorities in Vicki's place. Barn decides, My family has already been through enough.
More heartbreak as Barnabas hides in the secret room while his parents visit Sarah's tomb. He is nearly as distraught as they are. In a scene beautifully played by both JB and LE, Naomi blames herself for their children's deaths: I should have saved my children from your coldness and bitterness, she says. It is like the coldness of the stone tomb where they now lie--and where I want to stay. At last Joshua’s grief breaks through his cover-up of anger as he moans, My poor children! Now realizing that Joshua is suffering as much as she is, Naomi comforts him. I will take you home, she tells him. We will go, he agrees mournfully--and never return. They are practically holding each other up as they leave.
Barnabas still hopes to salvage something from the ruin of his family. He tells Ben to look after Vicki--and then asks Ben to stake him at dawn. Horrified, Ben argues, You’re my friend! I don't want to destroy the one man at Collinwood who's treated me decently! Barnabas cries out in anguish, I am already destroyed! He makes Ben promise to stake him. With deep sorrow, Ben reluctantly agrees. Barnabas sighs with relief, sure that his tormented existence will not last another night....
