A very happy birthday, Minja! 

Well, it's happened! The episodes leading up to this one have hinted at it, have led us along, making us wonder, then the previous episode gave us no doubt, Dave Woodard would die. What a tragedy!

A good man trying to do the right thing met his end because he knew too much.

The opening voice-over said something to the effect that there was no hope of returning to the light since they had gone too far in to darkness. In some ways this was a true prediction. After Dr. Woodard's death Barnabas and Julia, and others in and out of the Collins' family would do things that they didn't want discovered.

You get the idea that Dr. Woodard might have a chance to still remain alive as Julia desperately tries to persuade him to go along with them. But noble Dave refused! Even facing death he didn't back down, which is quite admirable! 

Dr. Woodard is taunting Barnabas, saying how evil he is, which angers Barnabas. But after all, Dave knows death is almost certain, so what does he have to lose?

Even though Julia couldn't inject Dave with the medicine that would kill him, she is still partially to blame for his death. Her eagerness and ambition should never have brought her to this point.

Barnabas is never so despicable than at this moment! He had no mercy, no compassion, just an overwhelming desire to stay alive and keep his secret concealed, and if Woodard had to be eliminated in the process, so be it.

I don't really enjoy this episode because it shows both Julia and Barnabas at their worst. 

Poor Dave, this should never have happened! 

In some parts of this episode I thought that Julia was trying to protect Dr. Woodard, then at other times, it seemed all that mattered to her was the experiments and her desire to not be found out.

When Julia is Telling Dr. Woodard that Barnabas will kill him if he refuses to keep what he knows to himself, she sounds very cold. Perhaps she's trying to distance herself from the situation?

There is no excuse for harming a child, no matter how well you rationalize your reasons! Barnabas should have realized that if she was capable of hurting Sarah on a whim, then curing her just as suddenly, that she was selfish and might even turn on him, no matter how much she loved him.

And when she turned him into a vampire, that was just done out of the spirit of hatred and revenge in the heat of the moment. This same situation has happened a lot throughout history, and probably in many of your lives, when you decide to do something in the heat of the moment, and then after you've thought about it, wish you could fix it and take it back.

But this wasn't some petty revenge. Angelique had to actually make him die before he could become a vampire. I don't think killing the man you claim to love would endear him to you.

Spoiler:

As for Barnabas's 1840 confession, IMHO, he couldn't have meant what he said. It's too difficult to believe that he could love a woman who cursed his family, causing all sorts of tragedies, setting off an entire chain of events that would completely transform his very existence, and oh, there's that little matter that she killed him in order for the vampire curse to work.

Seriously though, since I can understand Barn's murderous ways and still love the character, Angelique fans can still love their witch even when she makes a child ill.

Very well said. If we can love Barnabas after all the terrible things he's done, Angelique is no acception for those who like her.

I believe there is an episode shortly after Angelique arrives at Collinwood, in which barnabas says he promised her nothing, and she responds with something like, "Not all promises are made with words."

Not sure, however...  :-

I think Barnabas's affair with Angelique was an attempt on his part to rebel against his dominating father. Terrible as it sounds, I believe he used Angelique as a part in his youthful defiance.

In the heat of the moment he may have wanted to promise her all kinds of things, but realistically he knew any kind of permanent relationship with her was impossible.

For one thing, Joshua wouldn't allow it, and as much as Barnabas wanted to make his own decisions, I don't think he was courageous enough to so completely go against him. He's caught between wanting to be his own man, and wanting to make his father proud of him.

I think Angelique blew the whole affair out of proportion, reading more in to his words than was there. Should he have led her on? No. Was it wrong of him to pretend to care about her? Yes.

Even though it isn't RG playing Dr. Woodards role, I still feel terrible for the mess he's gotten himself into.

It's obvious that Julia has strong feelings where Barnabas is concerned, and she's very embarrassed to talk about it with Dr. Woodard. Although she's admitting how she feels about barnabas to him, she's doing it to keep him from getting harmed, otherwise, I don't think she would tell him anything of what she's feeling.

In later episodes, we don't hear much of Julia's feelings for barnabas, and rarely are they acknowledged with one another, accept friendship. Too bad. It would have been interesting to see them talk about it, at least a little, especially after all she's done to help him.

Did it used to be customary for families to keep their family journals and records with the caretaker of the cemetery? I know I wouldn't want my personal journals lying about for anyone to peruse on request.

Also, Dr. Woodard says he thinks it's strange that both Barnabas and Sarah contracted a fever, but it could have been like any contagious illness, spreading from one person to the next. As a doctor he should realize this and it shouldn't really cause suspicion. But then again, he already has enough to make him suspicious of Barnabas. I just think it was a rather odd observation coming from him.

Roger's idea of sending David to a military school is ridiculous! what he needs is an understanding father who will actually listen to him.

I think it was foolish of Dr. Woodard to continue the investigation alone. He really should have enlisted help from someone. Perhaps then things might have turned out differently for him.