ate a barnadog

burned all his nag champa

Sam sits alone in his studio. Enter a gay pretty Maggie home in her ugly new coat and mod dress. Sam tells her he can’t see. Upset, Maggie starts to phone Dr. Slone but Sam stops her and asks that she get Barnabas. She tries to reason with him but he snaps at her. A hurt and confused Maggie grabs her ugly coat and leaves to fetch Barn. Sam gets up and stumbles into a stool and stops at an easel. Fade to black. It’s a long darkness and I wonder if it’s a symbolic gesture to Sam’s blindness – there was no music curtain to take us into the title. Ford plays his part well, I was very sad for Sam.

Barnabas enters the basement to find Willie making a fool of Adam with the help of the family jewels. Barn is not amused and does not believe Willie’s tale of Adam stumbling across them while playing with the wall. (Willie reminds me of Mickey Rooney here. And why the F is he wearing a tie?) Barn notices the earrings are missing and Willie tries to blame Adam. Barn’s not buying it and has Willie search for them in the cell. Rodan out-acts both Frid and Karlen without saying a word. Meanwhile, upstairs, Julia is reading when pretty Maggie comes calling for Barnabas in her ugly coat. She explains the situation to Julia and waits as Julia goes to get Barn.

B & J & M arrive at the Evans cottage. A bitter and angry Sam insists on speaking with Barn alone. Maggie leaves but Julia stays. Sam tells his story and Barn clues Julia in that Sam is speaking of Cassandra and the portrait of Ange. Julia examines Sam’s eyes but only tells him to consult a specialist. She tells Barn later that Sam will probably be permanently blind. Barn is devastated that he ruined yet another life. I liked that Sam made a snyde remark about Julia being "in on this" when Julia showed up at the cottage with Barn & Maggie. The scene with Jules and Barn is good - nicely acted and nicely written. Barn worries about what Ange might do should she find out about Adam's existence. Dear lord he should have an idea of just how bad that actually would be for him.

I agree with DarkLady that Adam's reasoning skills are developing much faster than his language skills. Willie brings Adam food and Willie tries to teach Adam to say he stole the earings but as per usual Willie goes overboard and Adam reacts badly. He escapes his bond and chases Willie down and starts strangling him. Jules and Barn walk in on this and Barn beats Adam with his cane to stop him. Willie retreats upstairs (yes, on all fours, lol, Darklady!) and Adam turns on Barnabas. Julia closes the episode with screams of despair. This is my all-time favorite Julia-ism - when she screams "NO!"

The sets could barely hold up to Karlen & Rodan's use of them in the chase scenes.

Thanx, G. I went to TCM and looked it up and realized that I'd seen it before.

Sam continues work on the portrait, now considerably aged, while in the garden at Collinwood, a cloaked and desperate Angelique tries to locate the portrait with all the power and will at her command but to no avail.

Tony, no doubt summoned during the opening title, shows up for a grateful Cassandra. She reveals her aged self to him (and us) and explains what is happening to her. And with the help of his lighter asks Tony to help her to locate who might be aging the portrait. He mentions two possible artists and Cass/Ange decides that Sam is the one. Just then, a sarcastic Carolyn busts the duo at what she thinks is a tryst. Tony tries to explain but Carolyn will have none of it. She threatens Cass with telling Roger and Cass barely gets through warning her not to when we see Sam stroking the face in the portrait to which brings Cass unbearable pain. Carolyn almost cares but Cass runs off into the night with Tony wanting to chase her but Carolyn warns him that they will be through is he does. He stays with Carolyn and she asks why it was a difficult decision and he says he wished he knew. Carolyn questions him and he tries to be as honest as possible but it’s not assuring to Carolyn. She gives the sad-sack speech and Tony throws his own on her. Car’ decides to have a showdown with Cass and Tony begs her not to saying Cass is dangerous and has some kind of power over people and Car’ assures him her family’s power is the greatest in all the land. Fed up with the situation, Car’ decides to say goodbye – forever.

Sam has aged the portrait considerably since last we saw. Cass/Ange comes to visit Sam. She welcomes herself in and shows Sam how she looks and tells him she is the woman in the portrait, it’s hers and she wants it back. Sam throws her out and she threatens him as she leaves. As Sam returns to and faces the portrait, he starts losing his sight. Ange’s spell is so fierce that it affects the videotape. Sam goes blind. Ange comes back in and takes the portrait and gives Sam the ol’ ‘I told you so!’ on her way out. Panic stricken, he falls to the floor in pursuit and pleads with her not to leave him, “…like this, I’…” then the blind Sam Evans manages to find the camera and pitifully state, “I’m blind!”

Afterthoughts: Nice gams for an old lady. Poor Sam. Poor Carolyn. Poor Tony. I guess the hood was better than a veil or one of those mosquito hats? Carolyn couldn’t tell Cass was six million years old from 15 feet away? Hey, Sam! That ain’t no way to treat a 200-year-old lady! Angry Carolyn – kinda funny. Cass/Ange wins again. Cloak and hood, courtesy of Ohrbach’s? Wonder how many fans went there and tried to buy one? Come to think of it, I wonder how many fans shopped at Ohrbach’s and bought anything they saw worn on DS?

Brides-R-Us