Frederick Thorne preserves his life by very wisely staying off screen. I knew that Quentin had run afoul of someone at the Hi-Hat Lounge but didn't remember the name.

I love love love (did I say love?) the novel The Woman in White, a real melodrama by Wilkie Collins. So when people started seeing the woman in white as a sign that a Collins was about to die (absolutely not the case in the novel), I got my hopes up, only to have them smashed to bits. That was the most disappointing dangler for me, but when you consider the death toll in 1840PT, she would have been in almost every episode. 

Grayson's bandage was covered with makeup. You can see it in one of the frame grabs on DS Wiki, if that's available to you.

In a way it's lucky that Stokes is also a handwriting expert--maybe from reading Ben's journal. But at least it's one way Julia can distract him from trying to find out the truth about Barnabas.

Also, now that we're back to evil Barnabas, he's back to wearing industrial-strength eyeliner.

JF reads what is only his second voiceover to one of the weirdest episodes ever!

Note to Wardrobe: David's shirt looks like a Star Trek costume reject. Luckily we see it only in this episode.

At the antique shop, Carolyn gives her mother an excuse for David's strange behavior. Then the Unknown Man wanders into the shop, and Carolyn strikes up a conversation with him. Evidently he is very tall.

Later, Elizabeth catches David with the book and confiscates it.

Barnabas enters the antique shop and finds Carolyn dreaming over some poetry: I did but see him passing by, she murmurs, and yet I’ll love him till I die. I’ve just met the most fascinating, fantastic man, she tells Barnabas enthusiastically. We talked for fifteen minutes, but it seemed we had known each other all our lives. Do you remember your prediction that I would meet someone unexpectedly and really find out what love was? I thought it was pleasant but improbable until now. I’m surprised that it has happened so quickly, Barnabas murmurs. Carolyn isn’t sure the Unknown Man was as taken with her as she was with him, but he is planning to return at ten tonight. I hope you aren’t disappointed, Barnabas says politely.

Barnabas finds Elizabeth with the book, and she comments that from what she can make out, it seems to be of a devotional nature. Barnabas offers to take it back to the antique shop, so Elizabeth offers him a sherry. The normally abstemious matriarch admits she seems to need one lately to help her relax. Barnabas suggests, Why don’t you try to relax without it. You should go lie down, force your troubles out of your mind and think only pleasant thoughts. You will have a pleasant sleep if you do that--tonight, you should think of Elizabeth only. Elizabeth promises to give it a try and leaves. After she goes upstairs, Barnabas picks up the book and repeats David’s verse: And the enemies shall be overcome one by one. He smiles and hugs the book to himself.

Since it was written by Violet Welles, of course it has a dream sequence, one of the strangest ever on TV. Elizabeth has a strange dream of a kaleidoscope of mirrors that turns out to be a funhouse, with a cacophony of carnival-type music in the background and two clown marionettes that nod and bob, seemingly laughing, throughout. Wearing a miniature fat suit, David beckons to her. Come on in, he says, so you can have fun like everybody else. She looks into the mirrors and sees the clowns watching her and doesn’t like it. David urges her to laugh as she tries one set of mirrors after another. She is surprised into a small scream when the last mirrors show her Barnabas, but then she starts laughing. Barnabas laughs too. Suddenly she wakes up, startled. [Actually this sequence is longer and far more tedious than described.]

In front of the antique shop, the Unknown Man checks the time as he watches Carolyn through the window. Suddenly we hear the sound of a motor, and a car races toward him at high speed. The lights fill the screen and we hear the brakes screech as the Unknown Man is struck by the car. Carolyn runs out and finds the Man lying unconscious on the sidewalk. The driver gets out--it was Barnabas. The man walked in front of me without warning, he says. Greatly upset, Carolyn turns away as she asks Barnabas to check if the Man is alive. As Barnabas kneels down, Carolyn turns to watch--and realizes it is the man who was coming to meet her. Now we can see the Unknown Man’s face for the first time....

[Unfortunately, the closing credits feature the two clown marionettes. Once again, the credits reveal the identity of the mysterious stranger.]

I loved Portia Fitzsimmons, the woman from "the city" who wanted to buy Sam's art. I was always sorry that nothing more happened with her.

I didn't realize that there was supposed to be more of Claude North. I always thought that once we saw that he was Roxanne's Svengali figure, there was nowhere else for that plot line to go.

And then there's always 1840PT's Gerard Stiles, whom Kendrick Young hires to find his sister. Well, he did, but that was the end of him. And here I was expecting him to start blackmailing all the Collinses--he would have made a mint off them too.

Hail and farewell to Sho Onodera, who plays Mr. Nakamura, the only Asian character ever to appear on the show.

Barnabas is never scarier than when he smiles his terrible smile, IMHO.

Nice to see the tenderness between Carolyn and Paul. Good work by NB and DP.

I don't remember ever paying that much attention to Megan's wardrobe except when she actually wore PANTS. But I guess I wasn't the target market for those tight sweaters, lol.

I actually liked it that we never saw the actual creature. Later on we will get some well-done scary hints about what it's like.

That's right, Uncle Roger! (I've only seen it once, and that was the chopped-up version.)