Yes, I was thinking that myself. Now that Roger is back, things will get going again, despite Ned Stuart.

I liked Sabrina too. Didn't seem possible that she could be related to Ned, but that's the DS universe for you.

Julia tells Barn that she watched the autopsy on Ezra. Since he died just a couple of hours before, it must have been the fastest one in history!

Julia is rather dismissive of Mrs. J, calling her a "repressed hysteric," a rather prehistoric diagnosis these days. Anyway, Barn isn't having it because that would make Maggie (who also saw Quentin) a repressed hysteric too.

Nice scene where David reads the ledger entry aloud, which sets Beth weeping, again in total silence. Now David is the only LIVING soul who knows about the pentagram. Poor David practically has hysterics himself when Barn questions him about Ezra.

My notes say that LE has been away for 65 episodes. His last appearance was in Betsy Durkin's last ep. Roger looks and sounds very much like Barn's own father, Joshua, as he thunderingly almost orders Barn to apologize to David. Nice work, LE!

The new records room is a nice set, MT. But Julia spent many months supposedly working on her history of the Collins family. Surely she would not need Liz to show her the way now! After Elizabeth leaves, Julia finds the photo of Beth and brings down the wrath of Quentin.

This is a great, really scary episode. I remember the inexplicable staircase-drawing room switch!

The poor kids are terrified of Quentin. Amy is sure he can hear everything they say. David makes the pitiful gesture of closing the drawing-room doors while they talk. Good stuff by both kids.

Holding a TELEGRAM in her hand, Elizabeth comes in, wearing one of her nicest dresses and looking fabulous. David refuses to go with her to Bangor to meet Roger.

Barnabas, who was staying in Roger's room, is packing to return to the Old House. Amy comes in and begs him to stay. He promises to see her often. Do you remember all the talks we had at Windcliff when we met? he asks. [Why, oh why, couldn’t just one of them have been on camera!] We confided in each other. I miss that, he says, smiling at her. We haven't had one since you befriended David, but you can always come to me, he assures her. Have you ever been afraid of anyone? Amy asks. Of course, he admits, almost certainly thinking of Angelique. What did you do? Amy asks. Who are you afraid of? Barnabas asks. I'll help you better that way. It was just a question, Amy says evasively. I was reading a story about a frightened little boy. I never thought of boys being afraid, she says, then gets up and walks away from him so he won’t know she’s lying--or see her terror. Are you sure? Barnabas asks gently. Suddenly she turns and flings herself into his arms. Oh, Barnabas! she cries. I wish I could go back to the Old House with you! Or stay with Chris! I don't like this big, gloomy house! She buries her face in his shoulder, and he holds her close, almost certainly thinking of his cherished Sarah. [Wonderful scene!]

And another wonderful scene with Abe Vigoda as Ezra explains to David about his "thing" glasses and "people" glasses. Ezra has a wonderful time inspecting the Collins silver. He finds a non-Braithwaite piece and shakes his head in disapproval.

Why does Quentin open the secret panel behind Ezra instead of materializing? If you're a ghost and still not up to full strength, which would be more difficult?

Ezra still has his "thing" glasses on, so he (and we) see Quentin as only a blur. I know you aren't Barnabas Collins, Ezra says. I assume you're the friend he spoke of. Quentin nods silently. I’ve got that information you and Barnabas wanted about the pentagram, Ezra says. I should have remembered it first thing--I made it myself! Quentin smiles and nods. I made it when I was fifteen and a half, Ezra says proudly, and engraved the quotation on the back. [Ezra would have been about 87 in 1969.] How could I forget the first piece of silver jewelry I made? he exclaims. It's all in the ledger, in my own handwriting: One star medallion, engraved with quotation, "To guard you from the wrath of Cerberus," ordered by Miss Beth Chávez [Quentin flinches slightly at her name and looks almost sorrowful] and charged to the account of Quentin Collins. All the information is here, for you and for Barnabas Collins, Ezra announces triumphantly. What is your name? he asks again. Quentin simply smiles at him. Ezra puts on his “people” glasses and smiles back. I know you! he says. I don't remember your name, however. Then Ezra remembers: _You’re_ Quentin Collins! And then he realizes: But you're dead! You're dead! he cries, horrified. Still smiling pleasantly at Ezra, Quentin nods his agreement as he leans closer to the old man.

Quentin swipes the ledger and leaves through the secret panel. David and Barnabas are shocked to find old Eza lying on the floor--dead.

This is the first time we hear Beth's last name. And as a person of Latino descent, I am always delighted that everyone on the show pronounces it correctly every single time, with the accent on the FIRST syllable. I've always wondered why they gave her a Spanish surname--anyone know?

Barnabas and Chris are horrified and saddened when they find thIn fact, Chris is almost unbearably distressed when Barnabas reaches into the coffin and removes a pendant with a pentagram whose points are facing down. Chris is almost unbearably distressed that an infant would need protection from a werewolf. Barnabas says, I would guess the coffin is fifty to seventy-five years old, not the pine box of an earlier period. [He can mean only his own time!] I wonder why it wasn't buried in the cemetery, Chris says. Was your family in Collinsport fifty to seventy-five years ago? Barnabas asks. Yes, Chris replies, but they wouldn't have known the Collins family. [Therefore they were not the social equals of the rich and powerful Collinses. Have Chris and Barnabas both tacitly accepted that Chris’s affliction is hereditary?] Barnabas says, I’ll clean the medallion to see if it has a date. We must search old newspapers for reports of animal attacks. But Chris has had quite a different reaction to the discovery. Appalled, he exclaims, Can you imagine a mother buying a pentagram...! He turns away in pain as he recloses the tiny coffin. I’m sure the pentagram will help us, Barnabas says, trying to comfort him. If only that woman could speak! Chris says, saddened and frustrated. Barnabas suggests, Perhaps she can’t or dare not. She wants to do whatever she can for us, of that I’m sure.

Unseen by the other two, Quentin appears out of the shadows, obviously having heard and seen everything. He watches silently as they prepare to replace the tiny coffin in the ground. For once, his expression is deeply sorrowful.

Carolyn (wearing her pretty blue brocade robe) catches David reading a book called Ghosts and Exorcism. As they talk, Quentin appears outside the drawing-room window, behind Carolyn. (We catch a premature glimpse of him.) David catches sight of him and promptly shuts up. After he goes to bed, Carolyn looks out the window but sees nothing. After she turns out the lights, Quentin reappears.

Barnabas and Chris tamp down the earth (a very small plot) over the reburied little coffin. Perhaps the spirit who guided us here is the child's mother, Barnabas says. I wonder if we can learn who the child was, Chris says. Barnabas says, Considering the secret burial, I doubt either the birth or death was recorded. I'm certain we're missing some clue, Chris frets. I think the pentagram is enough, Barnabas says. They go back to Collinwood.

Quentin has returned to his room. His music plays as David insists, I don't want to do it! Every time you ask me to do things like that, something really terrible happens! With great daring, he even turns his back on the furious ghost. But Quentin keeps staring at him, biding his time while his music works its spell. Mesmerized once more, David finally turns back to his tormentor. All right, David says mechanically. I'll get the medallion for you. Quentin smiles.

The next day, David has set up a rubber dart board on a chair in the drawing room and keeps throwing darts at it. Barnabas has cleaned the medallion. Seated at the little writing desk, he is examining it through a magnifying glass. But David's game is distracting and irritating, so Barnabas asks him to stop. Barnabas has found an inscription on the back of the medallion and reads it aloud: To guard you from Cerberus. Who’s that? David asks. You should know that from your studies, Barnabas tells him and explains, Cerberus was a wild dog who guarded the gates of hell. (Fondly deluded into thinking he has to protect David, he omits Cerberus’s three heads.) Carolyn comes in with a tray of coffee or tea. The sharp-eyed David sees a jeweler's mark on the pentagram. Carolyn says it's from Braithwaite's, the local silversmiths. While Barn is phoning them, David swipes the medallion.

Welcome, Abe Vigoda! He told Barn that the Braithwaites have been silversmiths to the Collinses since 1781, and he certainly looks old enough. Barnabas visits Braithwaite’s Jewelers (a great set, used only for this episode!). The design is unusual, Ezra agrees, but we've made some odd things, I can tell you that. [Wonder if he knows about the six silver bullets Joshua had made for Barnabas in 1796?] My father, Ezra Braithwaite, died in 1901. Do you remember him? That was before my time, Barnabas replies with a smile. Ezra--who wears very thick glasses--makes some flattering comments on the fine “Collins taste,“ then remembers something--but it instantly fades from his memory. It happens frequently, he complains, and it’s quite an annoyance. Check the records for the Collins account, says Barnabas, interrupting him--it's important. I’ll check them as soon as the shop closes, Ezra promises. I’ll call if I find anything. You young people, he tells Barnabas. Things are important to you now that you won’t remember six months later. I’ll remember, Barnabas assures him.

David brings the medallion to Quentin and pleads with him not to hurt anyone. Quentin turns away from him, be we can see that he is still sad rather than angry.

Chris arrives to take Carolyn to dinner and promises to curb his impatience when Barn says he doesn't have any information yet on the medallion. Barnabas makes a huge error in telling David that he's expecting a very important phone call and to tell Mrs. Johnson to get him (B.) if the phone rings. He'll be waiting in Roger's study--but why doesn't Roger have a phone??


 

Mrs. Johnson is relieved when Maggie tells her that the children have gone to Bangor with Elizabeth and Carolyn. [Even though Quentin forbade them ever to leave the house? Maybe they promised to come back as soon as they could. Or maybe he just gave them an evening off.]

Actually, the real reason is that for once, Quentin has other things on his mind than bending the children to his will. The next two episodes will make this clearer.

They could hang out with Josette!