certainly a possibility. Another one being that the human side of Barnabas stopped him from killing both Maggie and Sam. He could have done the same to Willie and Maggie earlier but he appeared to hesitate, listening to Willie's pleading, perhaps looking for an excuse not to kill them.   

I was watching the episode where Maggie escapes from Barnabas' cell in the basement of the old house and wondered how others felt about the conclusion. Maggie successfully escapes and makes her way onto the beach but drops to the ground exhausted. Barnabas finds her and is about to kill her when Sam hears Maggie's screams. Barnabas runs and hides as Sam finds Maggie.

Only a few episodes earlier Barnabas was ready to kill both Willie and Maggie. It has been explained that Barnabas has superhuman strength (tearing apart the bars in Dr. Woodard's offfice) in addition to his vampiric powers, so why didn't he just kill Sam and then Maggie? Why did he run? I think it would have made more sense if Sam had been with Sherrif Patterson and his men, or Barnabas thought they were with him, but this was never mentioned. Is there a logical explanation for Barnabas running away and allowing Sam to rescue his daughter?     

It was explained that the cow was found dead a few miles away from the farm, so was it Willie who had to drag the cow to Barnabas and then dump the cow in the woods? I'm sure Willie had to do the dirty work with those bovines one way or another!

Just finished watching the collection this week. I'm sorry they didn't include the voice over. I've really enjoyed the openings with the announcing of the episode numbers and the occasional appearances of DS regulars, especially Alexandra Moltke, who always appeared to be smiling and having a great time.

Thanks for the heads up. it's appreciated. BTW, I enjoyed Buzz's confrontations with Jason. While Buzz was a character, he did have integrity and couldn't be bought off by Jason. He and Carolyn could have had a nice life together, traveling on the road, looking for adventures, don't you think? 

Hey man, do I hear my name being called? First of all I loved Carolyn and didn't give a rat's @$$ about the Collin's cash, but I was the one who cut out when I found out Carolyn was playing me for a fool! I was probably the most stable boyfriend she ever had on the show!

As far as that Barnabas cat, he may have been a little square but I think I would have dug the cape and cane. 

OK, going out of character I will say Buzz and Barnabas should have met up at least once on the show. The expression on Barnabas' face would have been priceless. I don't think there should have been too much interaction between the two, but a meeting would have been interesting, if played correctly.
   

Where do I begin: making Barnabas and Elizabeth patsies to the Leviathans, killing off Vicki, bringing back Peter Bradford- those are some of what went wrong with the storyline.

However, there was something that Curtis and the writers failed to do and I am shocked- yes, SHOCKED no one else has brought up this topic within this discussion:  they should've brought back Count Petofi!!!  Without a doubt he was the greatest villain DS ever had, and I bet people who watched his firery confrontation with Garth Blackwood at the end of 1897 were looking forward to see him coming to 1969 to raise hell for Barnabas and a returned-to-Collinwood Quentin.  After all, Angelique followed Vicki from 1796 to 1968 as Cassandra to get Barnabas for once and for all.  

Ideally, Petofi should have come to 1969 with the Leviathans under his control as a way to achieve immortality and get revenge on the Collinses.  

Charles,

I agree with your ideas. Barnabas, by this point, was a sympathetic character to the audience. To return him to his evil ways betrayed the audience and the character. Another important reason I did not like this plot was because it took an essential element that the evil Barnabas had- strength. A Barnabas weak and not in control just didn't work for me.

Petofi reveled as behind the Leviathans would have been great; a shock to Barnabas and a threat hanging over his head. Barnabas could have pretended to be allied with the Leviathans, but working behind the scenes to destroy them. That would have been interesting.

Quentin, with memory intact, aware of Petofi as an enemy, would have added drama. And, of course, no Peter Bradford in sight          

Nick C.

I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts and am glad to see so many enthused over those early episodes. Most of the acting in these episodes are top notch, something that did not always occur later on in the series. I notice how many of the characters were later softened, ie Roger and David. Relationships changed, as Carolyn grew more "fond" of her cousin. Carolyn was always a little spoiled, but very manipulative in this period, especially with Joe.

The episode where the Old House was introduced was very good. The outdoor scenes of David and Vikki going through the woods and approaching the huge, imposiing house were moody. It's too bad we didn't have a few of these filmed outdoor scenes when Barnabas arrived. It would have added considerably to the atmosphere. The "Who killed Bill Malloy" plot is a little slow going at times, but it was nice to see Mrs. johnson arrive, not a friend of the family, and devoted to Bill Malloy. Clarice Blackburn was a fine actress. I also liked George PAtterson, although again, I missed the original sherrrif.

And we had our first ghost, but not our last, with the introduction of Josette. I guess this was the turning point, when Dan Curtis said something had to be done to stir things up....

Nick C.