Carolyn and David, shopping together in Bangor! I remember the days when she referred to him as the "little monster."

I also like the scene where Sam and Joe are looking for Sarah in the woods and find the swing swinging--just as if a child had just jumped off it.

At the Old House, Sam lets Julia have it with both barrels. "The master of the evasive answer!" he calls her, then stomps out. But Joe sees how angry and insulted Julia is and apologizes for Sam. Considering how she has put herself in harm's way while juggling Maggie's sanity and Barnabas's cure, no wonder Julia is upset.

I love the fact that Sarah gave her doll back to Maggie. The poor little ghost can't be everywhere at once, but she does make it clear that she still feels connected to Maggie--and that Maggie still needs what protection she (S.) can provide.

I don't think Sarah wants to harm Barnabas. Just as he needs her forgiveness, she desperately wants an explanation for all the awful things she's seen him doing. I do think she knew the danger that David would be in if she showed him Barnabas asleep in the coffin at the Old House. I think she showed him the empty coffin in the hope that he might have some ideas about what's going on with her big brother--and to keep David with her a little while longer.

I like the interplay among Maggie, Sam, and Joe. The actors work very well together, and these three characters make a lovely and affectionate family unit.

Vicki is waiting for Burke at the BW--why didn't he pick her up at Collinwood? Barnabas would huff that a gentleman would escort her into town--and wouldn't keep her waiting.

Anyway, while Vicki is waiting for Burke, Joe tells her about the mysterious Sarah, who keeps appearing and almost certainly knows something about what happened to Maggie. When Maggie and her pop arrive, Vicki shares her theory, and they all compare notes on Sarah. Maggie has a brief memory flash of some “tinkling music,” but unlike Burke two episodes ago, Vicki fails to make the connection to her music box. C'mon, Vicki!

Shortly after Burke arrives, the Evanses and Joe leave. Sam doesn't finish his drink!

I love the way Vicki takes apart every one of his arguments. This is a glimpse of the old Vicki, who stood "on her own two feet"! This scene gives us a hint of what happened when Burke ordered her to stay away from Barnabas. I imagine this command met with a frosty silence, and the date ended soon after.

You're right about Kent State! But 1968 had the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which ended up being a police riot. And Nixon was elected in 1968. Just thinking about him addles my memory, I guess. 

I suspect that Sarah knows exactly who was the former occupant of the coffin in the mausoleum. With massive understatement, she tells David that he "went away." Even though Sarah doesn't answer his questions and insists that the former occupant did leave the coffin, David is delighted to have yet another secret to keep.

Vicki has made the connection between David's little friend and the "girl at the top of the stairs," whom she glimpsed at Barnabas's party.

Barnabas has one of the great lines of the show in a defining moment of his relationship with Julia: You are a meddlesome and domineering woman. If the modern man is willing to tolerate your kind of woman, that's his problem, but I will have none of it.

He tells Julia he will handle Burke with finesse: "a quality that seems lacking in your world."

I love Barn's feigned innocence when he tells Vicki oh, so reluctantly that Burke is having him investigated. What should I do? he asks her with becoming diffidence. Of course Vicki instantly says she'll speak to Burke and make him stop. Then Barn has the gall to apologize for troubling her. Finesse indeed! I just hope JF enjoyed these bits as much as we do.

Julia returns to Collinwood, and she and Barn keep up their pretense of distance by addressing each other as Mr. Collins and Miss Hoffman. Barnabas listens tensely as Vicki tells Julia that David saw his friend Sarah again and that they played in a secret place. Barnabas leaves hastily.

David comes downstairs and announces that he's hungry, but Vicki says she'll have Mrs. Johnson fix him something. She refuses to let him go to the kitchen--most likely because he won't clean up after himself.

Another fabulously moment from JF: From outside the mausoleum, Barnabas hears Sarah playing her flute, but when he draws near the gate, the music stops. No, Sarah, don’t stop, he begs her. Inside, Sarah sits on her stone coffin, listening intently--and silently. His face and voice suffused with sorrow and longing, Barnabas says, It’s your brother, Barnabas. I’ve come to take you home again. But when he enters the mausoleum, it’s empty. If a vampire could shed tears, Barnabas would be near weeping. Leaning his head against the cold marble of her plaque on the wall, he pleads, Sarah, come back. Please come back. I need you, Sarah. I love you, and I need you. But the only reply is silence.

Lydia, your observation about that scene is great! Barnabas learning just how little control he has over the people in his orbit.

During the 1960s, especially earlier in the decade, no self-respecting woman of Julia's age and status would dream of going out without a pair of gloves and a handbag, even if there was nothing in it but a lighter and cigarettes. A complete ensemble also included a hat that matched the gloves, but by 1968 hats for women (as well as men) were dying out. The handbag and shoes were also supposed to go together.

I guess the writers wanted to keep us in suspense about the outcome of Burke's peremptory orders to Vicki. But it would have been fun to see Vicki give him an argument for a change.

Maybe Sarah simply doesn't associate the tombs with her parents, or at least not directly. She's looking for her friends (and relatives), but she probably assumes they're somewhere on the same plane of existence as she is, and all she has to do is find them. Still, it is a bit strange that she has David stand on her mother's tomb. She probably doesn't even realize that she's dead, much less a ghost.

And I don't think Sarah has any idea that she might be putting David in any danger--she's just achingly lonely. Her main motive for bringing him to the cemetery is to keep him with her a little while longer, and the best way to do that is to get him curious--after all, who can resist a secret? And David thought the first one she told him--that Maggie Evans was alive--was a real humdinger.

Our first sight of Sarah is in connection with Maggie, but I suspect she was watching Barnabas for a while before that. His behavior must be utterly incomprehensible to her.

My notes indicate that when Julia arrives at the Old House, Barnabas remains seated as he says with great formality, "I apologize for not rising to greet you, but I’m not feeling well." Even though he threatens to kill her in every other sentence, he has already started treating her less like a servant. You can take the vampire out of the eighteenth century, but you can't take the eighteenth century out of the vampire! Even so, he still finds her self-assurance extremely annoying. But even that annoyance is a very human response.

Great ending as David finally helps Sarah raise the coffin lid and they stare down into the coffin….

Thanks for your kind words, dom. I love your synchronicity moment. And "the 'soap' way of doing things" is priceless!  Sometimes DS is just a soap opera.

I think Joe is written in black and white, but JC's performance gives him some interesting layers. I love it that in those dear dim days before Netflix and World of Warcraft (or whatever), Maggie and Joe settle down for yet another game of gin.

I don't know about hairpieces, but Robert Gerringer has always been my favorite Dr. Woodard. He gives the doc both intensity and integrity beneath his "simple country doctor"-type persona.

I've always wondered whether there was a connection between Niall Bradford and Peter Bradford. Sometimes the writers have fun with the few surnames they use. For instance, one of Burke's minions is a Mr. Blair.  Maybe Niall is part of the genuine English branch of the Bradford family and is a distant relation of Peter who went to America. Or maybe the writers are just messing with our heads.