At the House by the Sea, Nicholas admires himself in a small mirror on the drawing-room wall. He is quite unembarrassed when Angelique catches him preening. Of course Angelique cannot see her own reflection now, which only increases Nicholas’s enjoyment. In his pride, Nicholas demonstrates how the mirror (which is magical) operates by showing Angelique Vicki, sitting in her prison room upstairs, alone and despondent. Nicholas tells Angelique, I’m going to free Vicki--but not till after the most terrifying experience of her life. She won’t remember a thing afterward. In spite of herself, Angelique watches the mirror eagerly as the scene unfolds--although Nicholas’s threat might not seem like much to someone who’s traveled back through time, been exorcised, tried as a witch, hanged, and been transported back to the present.

And yes, Nicholas expects Angelique to stay at the House by the Sea and be bored while he goes off to visit Maggie. Joe, just released from the hospital, arrives a moment later. hey embrace, then Maggie introduces the two men to one another and goes to the kitchen to make coffee. Predictably, Joe and Nicholas instantly become enemies. With a working man’s pride, Joe asks Nicholas, What do you do? Do? echoes Nicholas in some surprise. Oh, I’m a consultant--specializing in human relations.

Best line of this ep. is Jeff on the phone with the sheriff: No, I won't be here when I hang up!

Angelique is deep into her sulk when Nicholas returns, but she brightens up when he tells her the name of her first victim.

A stormy episode. First Adam storms out of the Old House, then Jeff does.

Jeff suspects that Adam is Lang's creation.

Fun to see the professor at home, reading with his monocle. I believe that his "Damnation!" may be the only swear word in the series, but I could be wrong. Stokes has always been one of my favorite characters.

Stokes tells Barnabas, You are very miserly with your information. He agrees to help Barnabas and Julia--but only for Vicki's sake.

Carolyn's intermittently paisley-print dress is really strange, more like something her step-aunt would wear.

Nicholas manages to make Jeff suspicious of Barnabas. He also gives Adam some drug to make Vicki unconscious for a few hours.

Vicki reminds Adam, You were kind to Carolyn. Please let me go. Gently but immovably he says, I can’t. Then he asks, This Jeff--do you love him? Vicki answers yes. Then you do not love Barnabas? Adam asks, somewhat surprised. Vicki tells him, I don’t--please let me go. He declines her request in the mildest manner possible. While he's pouring the drugs into a cup for her to drink, she tries to escape but he quickly catches her and persuades her to drink. She lapses into tears, then into unconsciousness.

When Vicki wakes up, she is in a strange room, although we know she's in the House by the Sea. Meanwhile, Nicholas allows Vampire Angelique to get out of her coffin. Dull dull dull.

Well, my notes have this nice bit from Adam once he's deposited her in the West Wing: I brought you here because I need your help. I want to persuade Barnabas to give me what I want. He won't tell Vicki what that is. Adam continues, I don't want to hurt you, and I will let you go when I get what I want.  His manner is quiet and gentle, but the latent strength in his every deliberate, unhurried move is apparent as he leans over the bed to speak to Vicki. His quiet intensity is far more menacing that any shouted threat as he tells her, As long as you don't call for help or try to escape, I will not harm you. But if you try to do either of those things, I will have to kill you.

Later, Adam tells his first lie to his little blond goddess when he assures Carolyn that he left his room only to get a book.

That's about it for me too.

Adam eventually gets it out of Barnabas that Julia completed the experiment that brought him (A.) into being. That's fine with Adam, since he doesn't care who does the work.

Vicki's tells Barnabas of her impending marriage to Jeff. Barnabas takes Vicki’s news as well as can be expected--it's not really a surprise--and wishes her and Jeff every happiness. He kisses Vicki gently on the cheek and tells her, Your news won’t change my feelings for you. He walks her to the door and watches sadly as she leaves. Neither of them is aware that Adam has been watching them.

As Vicki is walking back to Collinwood, Adam accosts her in the woods. She recognizes him and back away in fear. He says, You will help me. She promptly faints dead away. A large tree wobbles as in the received style, he picks her up and carries her off.

My notes don't mention a Vulcan-style nerve pinch, but I'm willing to take your word for it, MT.

Stokes' telephone number (having previously been shown as two other numbers) is now Collinsport 4099, which has also been used for Collinwood telephones. When Vicki finds him in the drawing room at Collinwood, he already has helped himself to a sherry, telling Vicki (perhaps a bit untruthfully) that Carolyn said it would be okay.

Funny scene with Vicki and Stokes when she tells him that Cassandra has left Roger, apparently for good. Then he has my congratulations, Stokes observes dryly. Vicki adds, Besides that, the portrait of Angelique first became unrecognizably distorted, and now is just a mess of white paint. At first Stokes feels quite celebratory (he helps himself to a second sherry), but he becomes very alarmed when Vicki tells him that Nicholas has rented what will forever after be known as the House by the Sea.

Jeff is wearing his best three-piece suit when he proposes to Vicki on the terrace. She assures him that she loves both Jeff Clark and Peter Bradford. Everything is perfect: He offers her an engagement ring of a nice, old-fashioned design; she asks him to put it on the third finger of her left hand. As they embrace in quiet happiness, they are blissfully unaware that Adam is watching them forlornly from an upstairs window. [Long ago, Burke Devlin asked the same question and got the same answer from the same woman in the same location, I believe even on the same little bench. And they also kissed while someone was watching sadly and surreptitiously--in that case, Barnabas, from beyond the gate.]

The scene with Stokes and Adam is long and painful--and very well done, as I remember. Stokes tells Adam that he came into being differently from other people, and Adam jumps to the wrong conclusion when he decides that that's why Carolyn can't love him. He murmurs the last few words of Eric Lang's final message, but when Stokes asks him what he said, he throws the professor out, and Stokes doesn't realize the unfortunate conclusion Adam has drawn.

Alone in his room upstairs, Adam is overwhelmed with grief and despair. He gazes at himself in the mirror. Staring hard at his scar-seamed face, he mutters, She hates me. He smashes the mirror, then seizes a sharp knife from his food tray. Sobbing, She hates me, he suddenly turns the blade on himself.

Assuming Pop Tarts had even been invented back then. And anyway, for all we know, Carolyn had a whole closetful of them.