Speaking of the biting of Josette, wouldn't that actually run counter to Angelique's curse? I know she said that Barn would have his "precious Josette--but not in the way you would have chosen." But they would be together for all eternity and presumably a happy (if vampiric) couple. But wasn't Angelique's intention for Barn to be miserable?

Just wondering….

Barnabas resists temptation and doesn't bite Josette. He sends her away, but she's hurt and confused.

Millicent is wearing the same dress that Carolyn will wear to Barnabas’s costume party in 1967. Now we can see that it is pale yellow. Nathan is trying to fix a date for the wedding (with the help of the Farmers Almanac). Later, Millicent is shocked that Josette went out alone and even more shocked that she saw Barnabas.

Two actors have made the trip to 1795 to reprise their 1967 roles. The sole customer is played by George McCoy, reprising his role in the Blue Whale. Nathan has just ordered a rum from the bartender, Mr. Mooney, played by Bob O’Connell, who plays the bartender at the Blue Whale.

I like Suki's traveling clothes, but I don't much care for her necklace/choker made of little cameos.

Yeah, too. bad. Barn is actually pretty conflicted in this episode. After he nearly throttles Ben, he frantically pleads, Tell me everything Josette has said about me! Ben complies but adds emphatically, You must stay away from her--because you love her, and because you should listen to the human part of yourself. Barnabas observes sadly, There's so little human left in me now. In despair, he vows not to see Josette again. Ben’s relief lasts only a moment, until Barnabas prepares to leave the secret room. Ben asks anxiously, Where are you goin’? Barnabas answers, To where the night takes me. But I will not go to Josette. He leaves the mausoleum and enters the dark night that is his new and unique domain.

No fashion notes today either.

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....

Thanks for those answers, Gothick. I had no idea!

Thanks for the update, dom! I'm always glad when an actor can continue to work--it can't be easy.

Apologies, dom! Yes, Naomi's dark green velvet dress is a knockout. I love all Naomi's gowns in this story line. And somehow JB is at her most beautiful in 1795. She gets all the shadings of Naomi's character: patient, caring wife whose husband treats her coldly, so she resorts to the sherry bottle--her one weakness; excellent, loving mother whose love is returned with interest by both her children. She's really the heart of the family.

Better now?

Poor little Sarah spends most of this episode trapped in the mausoleum. I suppose that even in death, Angelique still has power enough to lock her in.

I know that some people don't like JC as Nathan, but I did enjoy his outrageous flirting with Millicent, especially when he moves toward her on the sofa, and she keeps backing away. Eventually he pops the question, and of course Millicent accepts. He's very good at disguising his real intention of spending all her money on himself. Finally he pulls her into a real embrace, telling her that it's proper now that they're engaged. This can only end badly.

Naomi returns and tells them that Sarah is missing. Nathan volunteers to join the search and leaves. He’s so masterful! Millicent squeaks (she actually bounces up and down with glee!), but all Naomi's attention is for Sarah. Now we see some of Millicent's strong points, as she is actually very gentle and concerned for her cousin and makes some shrewd--though incorrect--guesses as to Vicki's motivations.

We meet the first of Barnabas's on-screen victims, the unfortunate Ruby Tate. As he pauses by Jerimiah's grave on his way to the mausoleum, we get another nice JF soliloquy: I remember how we used to laugh at other people's idiocies, Barnabas murmurs. Now we have both died at the hands of the same woman, who used the most primitive means to destroy us. Even though your spirit roams the earth searching for rest, at least you have the hope of finding it. I will never find rest.

As Barnabas pleads with Sarah to promise not to say she saw him, he inadvertently turns to face her--and she sees Ruby's red blood trickling down from the corners of his mouth to stain his neckcloth (the cream-colored one). You're not Barnabas! she screams and runs from him in terror--just as the dawn begins to come up….