Setup:

Willie: No, Barnabas, I did not put that “Kick Me” sign on your backside.  If you ask me it was ________, because (he/she)'s had it in for you ever since you _________!

Naturally I thought of poor, suffering Midnite as we saw Julia's low-heeled shoes walking down the stairs.  It must be torture for Midnite to watch - though perhaps she has learned to avert her eyes.
 
When Julia got cold feet at Nicholas Blair's house and Barnabas told her to go wait in the car, suddenly I was positive that we would get a look at Julia in the car, fiddling with her gloves, tapping the steering wheel, smoking cigarette after cigarette, looking in the back seat for an old medical journal to read or at least doodle on.  Never mind that I know that not once in the whole series do we get to see Julia's car.  I just knew it was going to happen anyway.
 
Now that Joe's the vampire victim, Maggie's not giving Joe as much support as he gave her when she was a vampire victim.  I've been thinking about the possible reasons.  I've come up with:

a) Gender difference: Joe's supposed to be a macho man who doesn't need anybody's help.
b) Maggie's father was around at the time of her victimization, so that an atmosphere was created of Maggie being somebody to be protected.  If Joe's parents had been around now, would they have started taking action when Joe kept being AWOL at work?
c) Maggie has more of a sense of self - to use Nicholas's phrase - than Joe.
d) Joe's behavior as a victim appears to be slightly different from Maggie's.  When Maggie was a victim, it was obvious to all concerned that she was not well.  In the case of Joe, however, up until today's episode, I think all that Maggie knew was that Joe was not keeping his appointments.  The fact that it was completely unlike him didn't start her wondering if there was something wrong with him.

But I can't make it gel.

Yeah, I'll miss the slideshow too.  A lot.

And now I have to go searching to find out which episodes some of my favorite quotes were in.

Originally, Dr. Hoffman was supposed to be a man, but it was changed when Grayson Hall was hired to play the doctor.

I believe Dr. Hoffman became female first, and then Grayson Hall was asked if she was interested in the part...but I am having fun imagining Dan Curtis deciding to add some class to Dark Shadows by hiring Oscar nominee Grayson Hall to play Dr. Julian Hoffman, and then being very surprised, on Mr. Hall's first day, to discover that Grayson was a woman.

The way I see it, Dark Shadows' timeline is a living thing, constantly changing.

If only Dark Shadows had lasted a little while longer, we could have had a storyline about the Dark Shadows timeline finally getting fed up with all the shenanigans it had been put through, and threatening to kill off the whole Collins family if Barnabas and Julia didn't just leave it alone!

Setup:

Barnabas: Willie, I suspect that this bill is an attempt to defraud me, but you are more familiar than I am with the intricacies of the 20th century.  Tell me, am I really expected to pay for _______?

If you think about it, I'm sure it will come to you as the concept of ascension is a part of several of the world's religions/mythologies.

Well, I've thought about it, and I've even googled on "ascension religion" but I haven't achieved enlightenment.  Story of my life.  Are we to assume that Magnus is about to ascend into heaven (rapturously, I hope) and we'll never see him again?

Happy birthday, MagnusTrask!  And when did you become a NEW ASCENDANT?  And do you know what that means any more than I do?