The status thing . . . I think what people forget is that it's not like he could have had a real relationship with Angelique.  She was a maid.  In someone else's house.  With probably a huge array of duties that would not have brought her into contact with him.  And when they did get together, I think the only logical things that could have happened were sex and a lot of sweet nothings, which while fun is really not a lot on which to build much of a relationship.

The perennial problem that both Angelique and Barnabas face is that they invest others and incidents with qualities that they don't possess or that weren't there.  They see things as they think they ought to be.  Or as they want them to be.

Don't you think it's possible that Angelique had grander designs on Barnabas right from the beginning? Despite her being a maid, she was able to marry Barnabas, albeit after getting Josette out of the way. In Angelique's way of thinking, all the sacrifices that Barnabas ultimately had to make to marry Angelique were not an unreasonable price to pay for love. The irony of Angelique's curse is that the price others would have to pay to love Barnabas would be greater: death.

After watching today's episodes, a thought I had in the past came back to me about the tragic choices that Barnabas made to bring Angelique's wrath upon him. Angelique asked Barnabas why he never loved her, and he said because he loved Josette.  It seems to me that he could haved loved Angelique if she were not a servant, and therefore in a different class than Barnabas. Is it possible that Barnabas' classism blinded him to his true feelings where Angelique was concerned? If so, isn't it conceivable that Angelique's feelings of betrayal were justified? Perhaps she knew what Barnabas could not admit to himself and thus felt she had a right to have Barnabas for herself, even if it meant putting a curse on him that would prevent anyone from loving him but herself without being able to live. I think this is really the tragic theme of Barnabas' and Angelique's relationship. Even in today's episode, Barnabas still has not come to any true self-realization about his feelings for Angelique. Does anyone else see this as the root of Barnabas' problems?

The indignities don't end there though.  When the coffin is finally exhumed and Barnabas is about to be released, Julia does one of the most unbelievable things of all.  Instead of thanking the professor for his help or acknowledging all of the trouble he went through on her and Barnabas's account, she basically tells him to get lost!  By now, Stokes has ample excuse to hit Julia with the shovel or at least lash out with a verbal insult, but what does he do instead?  He complies, leaving quietly and with dignity, numerous questions still unanswered, determined to have an explanation on a later occasion.

Well, it just shows  how much class Professor Stokes has. I suspect that he thought it might not be the time to ask about Julia's bizarre behavior. Rest assured, Stokes is nobody's fool and he knows that better than anyone.

That tacky shot of Nicholas and Cassandra standing in front of the slide of Seaview Terrace was without question one of the cheapest, tackiest, cheesiest looking shots ever on this show! I guess it didn't phase them a bit to chromakey these two figures in front of their stock photo but how cheap looking was that?

But it was still glorious color television! Most of us at the time were still too much in awe that DS was one of the few soaps being broadcast in color to care about it's technical flaws. We had a 1960 RCA color tv with vacuum tubes and as good as it was at the time, it was certainly no Sony Trinitron which would reveal all such anomalies. No other show at the time even made the effort to be that creative.

He always says the right thing.  On number two today, Cassandra/Angelique tell Nicholas that since everyone in the house distrusts her, could he (Nicholas) put some potion in a drink and she (Vicki "I don't understand" Winter) will have the dream.  Nicholas, discussed by this whole "dream affair" says

"I do not drug drinks"

You talk about cool, well then you're talking about Nick.  Then, he says it again.  And now, it's even cooler than the first time.  

I like Nicholas.  And that says a lot.

I have to admit, he does have a way of getting directly to the heart of the matter. He never has to lose his cool because he is cool, i.e. he knows what to say to counter any verbal attack.

I'm sorry....did you just say that because Trask REALLY believed  persecuting innocent people was the right thing to do, God felt honor bound to assist him?  If God were particularly concerned about the likes of Angelique on any given day, don't you think God could have found a more deserving assistant?

I think there's a very good reason why Dan Curtis and the writers NEVER got God involved in their story lines.  It's treading dangerous waters.

Raineypark  

In the first place, I never made the faintest suggestion that God was assisting Rev. Trask in his persecuting innocent people.  I wasn't actually referring to anything he did while he was among the living. Rather, his exorcism was effective because he was asking Divine assistance in his battle with evil.

I don't quite agree with you about the writers never involving God in their storylines. Where you have religion, you have God. Where you have demons, you have the idea of evil personified and the suggestion of a personification of good as their counterpoint.

Dark Shadows often delves into theological themes. The exchange between Nicholas Blair and Rev. Trask was one of them.

Did anyone catch Nicholas Blair's correction of Trask's title?  Trask wanted to be addressed as "reverend" but Nicholas corrected him by saying, "Mr. Trask".

It gave me the impression that Nicholas knew of him a long time ago and knew that this mortal was no man of God but a fanatic caught up in the witch hunt hysteria.

Hadn't the witch hunt hysteria actually ended about 100 years earlier? They never explained how they could have a witch trial so many years after they had been outlawed.

It was soon apparent that Trask was a self-styled Rev. and even Joshua and Barnabas refused to accept his self appointed title. Trask, however, believed that he was doing God's work, no matter how ill-conceived his notions about how to go about doing it were. Thus, even as a religious fanatic and a hypocrite, he was able to command divine assistance.