Barnabas smiles a very crocodilian smile when he apologizes to Elizabeth for failing to reform Willie.

I'm just as glad I didn't see this when the show was first being aired. Even though I was a teenager, I'm sure the ending would have given me nightmares!

*makes humble bow before the awesomeness that is MB*

Nah.    But it does seem like it's worth checking out.

I have vivid memories of that very vivid green. Back in those days, that particular green plus turquoise blue was a very popular (and I'm sure non-biodegradable) color combination, as you can see here.

Poor Willie has found out the hard way that the road to hell--or at least the road to the hospital--is paved with good intentions.

But Maggie is sorry for Barnabas--because his attempt to reform the violent, thuggish Willie has apparently failed.

Barnabas has stayed home in the hope that Sarah will appear to him. He's so desperate to see her that he actually confides in Julia about it. Then the sheriff arrives with his news. For once Barnabas and Julia are equally thunderstruck, still more so at the sheriff’s declaration that Willie must have been the kidnapper (nice bit by Jonathan here as Barnabas comes to a sudden realization).

With all his 18th-century courtesy, Barnabas apologizes to Maggie, even though he says he's not directly responsible. Sam and Maggie and the sheriff boast about the success of their plan--while Barnabas and Julia have to hide their alarm. Maggie shows no signs of agitation at the sight of Barnabas. Julia questions her with the utmost delicacy, but she remember nothing that Barnabas did to her while she was his prisoner. Later Julia points this out to Barnabas and says he's in the clear.

But David isn't in the clear….

I'll say something tomorrow, I promise!

Sorry, but I have to laugh at poor David's nightmare. He tells Burke that he didn't want to tell Vicki because she "sort of likes" Barnabas.

Lots of wondering for me in this episode. I'm assuming it was a Friday ep., but a lot of it seems like filler.

Burke promptly tells Vicki everything, but she insists that Barnabas is incapable of harming anyone. Vicki and Burke are about to fight about it when Barnabas stops by to ask for Julia, who is away from Collinwood. I have an urgent message for her, Barnabas says. The message is so urgent that he forgets his eighteenth-century manners and fails to greet her properly. After he rushes out, Burke wonders what could be so urgent about historical research. When he asks Julia about it later, she smiles as she assures him it's only some new data. I wonder how long she thinks she can keep up the charade.

It turns out that Barnabas is freaked about what Willie heard at the BW. He orders--no other word for it--Julia to re-hypnotize Maggie into forgetting, and she is forced to confess that Dave Woodard has fired her. She barely escapes being throttled when Barnabas magnaminously (ha ha) says he'll spare her this once--because it's time for his injection. Who's more dependent on whom, I wonder.

Barn promises Julia he won't harm Maggie, but the moment she's gone downstairs to prepare his injection, he starts pacing. Willie doesn't fail to notice and immediately suspects that Barn is planning something. Sure enough, Barnabas decides yet again that he has to kill Maggie. When are you going to do it? Willie asks. Barnabas tells him, It will be tonight--after the moon goes behind the clouds and I can move unseen in the darkness. I wonder how many more times he's going to decide he has to kill her. Sheesh.

Who could blame Maggie for not wanting to live her life in fear and cooped up at home. The plan that she and her pop and Dave Woodard cook up is pretty effective!

This has not been a very good couple of nights for Barnabas. Last night Sarah stopped him from killing Julia but refused to appear to him, even though she's been seen by almost everyone else. Tonight he's stuck wearing the long, cumbersome robe as he takes one look at the newspaper with its dire headling (ANOTHER GIRL ATTACKED!) before throwing it in the fire. Then Willie returns from-- well, somewhere and starts needling Barnabas. He pretty much hits the nail on the head when he says that Barnabas is afraid that he'll lose Vicki, that David will blab, that the experiment will fail. All this makes Barnabas angry, and he waves away the attack. People will forget about it in a week, he says dismissively. Willie warns him, If anything happens to David, there'll be an investigation the likes of which you've never seen. I can’t believe you’d want to hurt a child! Yes, Willie has developed a full-blown conscience along with his compassion. He lays it on thick at every opportunity. No doubt he also enjoys his small measure of revenge.

Willie is at the BW nursing a beer and pretzels (I hope that's not his dinner!) when Sam parks himself at the  bar and confides in the bartender (who actually gets some lines in this episode!). As planned, Sam pretends to be extremely drunk and starts to talk despite the sheriff’s best pretended efforts to shut him up. While a small crowd of extras listen raptly, Sam lets fall some hints that Maggie may be getting her memory back. After a little of this, the sheriff tells the bartender to forget everything that Sam just said. Then Sam and George adjourn to a table, confident that their planted rumor will be all over town by morning. 

And they conspirators have hit their mark! Long before their little charade is over, Willie races back to the Old House and retails the whole to Barnabas, who listens in shock. Julia Hoffman must prevent Maggie's memory from returning, he declares. Willie wants to know what he's planning, but Barnabas says ominously, You'll find out--maybe before tonight is over.