Thanks, MT. I guess we'll have to put Carolyn's selective memory alongside Barnabas's unconscious state as writer goofs.

Dr. Lang has ordered up a perfect day for his patient: The sun is shining, the birds are singing, a leafy tree is almost close enough for Barnabas to touch. Kudos to JF for a wonderful performance.

Roger thinks he's Joshua and that Elizabeth is Naomi (once again in a beautiful gown). "Joshua" tells "Naomi," In all the time we’ve been married, I’ve never laid a hand on you [I suppose he means in anger, since they did somehow conceive Barnabas and Sarah], but-- Elizabeth is confused at first but finally gets fed up and slaps him. Roger comes back to himself. Do you have any idea what you were saying? Elizabeth asks. I don’t remember saying anything at all, he answers in bewilderment. He admits, Sometimes I hear the woman in the portrait speaking to me.

Funny to see Lang's old-fashioned reflector with a leather headband! I remember doctors actually wearing them.

Barnabas warns Lang about the danger from Angelique, but Lang is too full of himself to listen. Meanwhile, the fire in the drawing room at Collinwood is burning especially brightly….

*hums "Leader of the Pack"*

I guess the purpose of the dream is to remind us that as Vicki was at the scaffold and about to be hanged, Peter promised that he would find her.

Barbabas's desperation was pretty funny, wasn't it!

Um, welcome (I guess) Jeff Clark. But he does have a nice moment of gallantry when he tells Vicki, You seem to have cared for this Peter. The young man is so bold and courteous at once as to add, I envy him.

Julia's tenacious loyalty in the face of Lang's railroading of her patient is something to see!

Barnabas (wearing striped pajamas, not the usual backless hospital gown) wakes up to find Dr. Lang in his room. We must assume that Barn has had the transfusion already, since no IV equipment is in evidence--or any other kind either, even though he’s supposedly on the critical list.

Barnabas is even more frantic than Julia was about getting home, especially when Dr. Lang says it's four o'clock. But he won't let Barnabas leave. Lang explains, "You’ve had not only a massive transfusion but also many drugs, including certain experimental ones. We need to talk." Apparently the idea of informed consent has not yet made its way to Collinsport. Even if Barn was in no condition to consent, Lang would have had to notify his next of kin, no?

Addison Powell certainly can't resist hamming it up when Lang flings open the curtains as he tells the horrified Barnabas, Yes, it is four o'clock--in the AFTERNOON!

I remember enjoying JF's whole performance at this moment. I also didn't remember that they get right into the next story line, barely a day after Vicki has returned from 1795.

LE recites the end of Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" very nicely. Vicki watches, wearing yet another drab and shapeless sleeveless dress. At least she has a scarf around her neck. Julia comes in, looking especially spiffing with perfect hair and makeup and a beautiful dark blue dress. Roger addresses her as the countess DuPres, puzzling her and alarming Vicki.

Welcome, Professor Timothy Elliott Stokes! He and Ben are my favorite TD characters. The professor inherited Ben's shrewd smarts and has enhanced them with advanced education. He is impeccably dressed--one can imagine Ben getting nicer clothes as soon as he could afford them. Barnabas does a double take when he sees the professor. Stokes--whose manners and way of speaking are as impeccable and precise as his appearance--offers to shake hands. Barnabas hesitates a moment before accepting--but only because he has to suppress a slight smile of recognition.

Stokes mentions his ancestor's sudden change of circumstances and explains, Joshua Collins freed Ben and gave him a sum of money and full title to a plot of land just north of the village. Ben settled there, educated himself, and worked his farm till he died in his seventh-fifth year. [spoiler][This means he would have died in 1830--but a long time from now, we will see him still alive in his eighty-fifth year in 1840!][/spoiler] Thus Barnabas learns at last that his father kept the promise he made so long ago--and even did more. But Barn has a bad moment when Stokes says he's investigating the rash of sudden deaths in 1795.

But Barnabas lies to Julia, who once again threatens to expose him….

Carolyn is wearing a riding jacket and cap, along with jodhpurs--an outfit that never appears again. You’re looking very rich today, Tony observes. He doesn’t take up any of her conversation gambits, but he does tell her that Julia has taken his advice and put her diary in a safe-deposit box.

That may partly explain why B&C have given up looking for it. Plus, as you say, MT, Julia is doctoring Vicki, and things would really be messy if she (J.) suddenly disappeared.

Vicki brings the portrait home. The painting is wrapped in the blue sheet that seems to be reserved for all paintings at Collinwood.

Later, Tony watches from outside as Caroly "comforts" Barnabas at the Old House. Tony is furious at seeing Carolyn in the arms of "that old man" and breaks it off, leaving Carolyn miserable.

Barnabas burns the portrait, but he and we hear Angelique's laughter in the background.

I stand corrected, Nicky, but I had to laugh at your spoiler!

Whether or not Barn really liked Julia's hair is probably beside the point. He's just softening her up so he can find out how successful she was at hypnotizing Vicki into forgetting 1795--a tall order even for Julia, it seems to me.

JF returns to 1968 so smoothly that I didn't even really notice. I do mean that as a compliment! I also like Julia's often-worn gray Nehru-collar suit, especially when she wears the orange-y scarf entwined with pearls with it. It's certainly nicer than the green tweed suit.