Adam leaves the Old House after threatening Barnabas yet again. Even in her bitten state, Julia is still herself and puts her hand on Barn's shoulder to comfort him. This time, he doesn't pull away. Later, he promises to keep Tom away from Julia, but his real reason is apparent when he reminds Julia that they have only four weeks to complete the experiment.

Nice touch when JF pinches the candles out. Jeff breaks in, and even though it takes him a while to find the body, he does finally realize what's going on.

Yup, another one of my faves too. Barnabas really is concerned about Julia as a person. Nice detail that he carries her upstairs and sets her on Josette's own bed.

We get another nicely delivered soliloquy by JF as Barnabas gazes down at the sleeping (and breathing!) vampire Tom. Barnabas wonders silently, Did anyone look at me as I look at you now? Then grimly he answers his own question: No--or I wouldn’t be alive now. (Sadly, no one now living can tell him that Joshua tried and failed to destroy him. But a long time from now, he will find out what happened.) As he sets the stake on Tom’s chest, he is repelled and horrified by what he must do. Sternly he reminds himself, I must, if Julia is to live. As he drives the stake home, dreadful screams arise from the coffin, then subside as the unfortunate Tom finds his rest. Emotionally and physically spent, Barnabas flings the mallet away. He does, however still have enough presence of mind to realize that his job isn’t quite over yet. I mustn’t leave the coffin here, he tells himself. I’ll come back after dark and bury it, but for now I need to assure myself that Julia is safe. He slowly leaves the crypt--unaware, with his merely mortal senses, of Nicholas, impeccably dressed as always, watching him go. Nicholas quickly enters the mausoleum, opens the coffin, and gazes at the contents (unseen by us) with interest.

That would have been a golden opportunity for DC to indulge in the gore he seemed so fond of. Maybe he thought it wouldn't get past ABC's censors.

Up in Josette’s room, the devil and the doctor fence very discreetly. Congratulations on your speedy recovery, Nicholas says as he sits in a chair at Julia’s bedside.. I was very concerned about you--good doctors are vital to all of us. We can’t afford to have you sick. You do look very weak, he observes. I’ll be out of bed tomorrow, Julia assures him. And back to work? he asks. I imagine you have a lot to do. Julia acknowledges, The virus did come at a bad time for me. I can imagine, Nicholas says. With her usual tartness, Julia retorts, I know very well that you haven’t come just to ask about my health. There’s more to it than that. What? Nicholas asks. You tell me, Julia says. Nicholas replies lightly, Perhaps I’m planning to be ill, and I want to be sure the best doctor around is in good health herself. Julia comments a bit sourly, Your own health seems excellent--in fact you seem indestructible. I hope so, he answers grinning broadly as he knocks wood. As he gets up to leave, Julia asks, Did you find out what you came here to see? Yes, he replies, you’re much better. Gallantly he takes her hand and kisses it, then leaves. Julia gazes after him suspiciously.

Roger tells Julia that when he went to the crypt, there was no coffin. Poor Barn has his grim work to do all over again.

The scene where Willie uses his street smarts to force Barn to admit that he cares about Julia is one of my favorite scenes, and I think it was well done. It's certainly one of the pivotal moments in the show. I didn't watch the original broadcasts, but I'm sure it was a moment that fans were waiting for.

Julia's outfit is very nice! The whole scene with her and Joe at the hospital takes place under a poster exhorting us to “Give Blood--Save Lives.”

A nice moment at the Old House when Barnabas and Julia realize another vampire is in their midst. Barnabas instantly resolves to stake Tom, and JF delivers another great speech: Surely you remember, Julia, those moments just before dawn when I would have to go crawling into my coffin, hoping that someone would find me and stop me before another dusk released me. I know the agony of those nights only too well to let anyone else go through them.

While Julia tries to distract Joe at the cemetery, Barnabas orders Willie to start digging. [When the coffin has been raised, there is no hole in the ground out of which it has been dug.] Once the coffin is uncovered, Barnabas orders Willie to open it. Resolutely he takes up the stake and the mallet, prepared to do what he must. But to their surprise and horror, they’re too late: The coffin is already empty....

Thanks so much, MB! I hope that didn't take a whole lot of work. And Gothick, thanks to you too, for the link. 

Don't worry, it's still a hoot!

Barn goes to visit Joe to find out what happened when Joe went to see Nicholas. But Joe is apathetic. Barnabas notices that Joe is feeling distinctly unwell and doesn’t even want to answer the phone when it rings. (Presumably because it’s Maggie, but possibly also because a fly lands on the dial during the phone’s big closeup. The same telephone number was used for Professor Stokes' telephone number. But nobody, not even the fly, answers the phone.)

My notes say that everyone in this ep. is wearing a new outfit. Julia's suit is really beautiful--she outshines even Nicholas in the gray dept.

Joe must have been as carefully brought up as the Collinses--he visits the Old House to thank Barn for saving his life. By the end of the scene, they are on a first-name basis at last. Unfortunately, that's Joe's last good moment in this ep.