473 - Vicki and Liz spot Roger's luggage sitting in the foyer. Vicki said he took no luggage with him, just the painting, and now the painting has been returned. Why didn't he come to Liz, asks Vicki, who says Mrs. Johnson is mystified also. The painting wasn't on the easel the previous evening. Roger wasn't heard driving up or seen. They both know something is happening there that has no explanation, says Vicki.
Barnabas tells them he doesn't understand it at all, either, Roger hasn't been himself lately. Liz says she told the police, and asked them to be discreet. Barn feels she should have gone all-out to find him. Liz fears he's wandering around, and she hoped he'd come to Barnabas. The Collinsport Inn business is weird, too. Barnabas suggests she get some rest; he and Vicki will do her worrying for her. Liz leaves, and Vicki wonders why all these things keep happening. He suggests one mistake can multiply into a thousand--dispose of the portrait, he advises, then asks if she trusts him. She does. She says he won't reproach her for her reasons for not marrying him; he doesn't want to make her reluctant to see him. Barn is convinced the portrait is affecting Roger's behavior. How can that be? she asks. He reminds her she went to 1795, and they survived the accident--many things that cannot be understood. Vicki tried to tell Liz. Barnabas points out that Roger changed when she brought the portrait home. Really? asks Vicki. Roger wouldn't let her sell it to Stokes; the painting has tremendous meaning for Roger and is a greatly disturbing force. He tells Vicki he and Julia saw Roger the previous night at Dr. Lang's, but whatever he's got, Lang can't treat it. He was most peculiar, says Barn, and that's all he wants to say--Roger jumped from Julia's car. Vicki says they must do something, and that Barnabas knows more than he's telling. He has intuition about what is wrong, more than she does. Angelique died over 150 years ago, says Vicki, she was a witch, but. . .Barn asks if witches ever die and suggests she still has powers. Vicki wants to call Stokes and tell him he can have the painting, to come to Collinwood and get it. Liz comes in and announces that Roger missed an important meeting at work. Roger himself enters, beaming. He tells Vicki to have Mrs. Johnson to bring in champagne--in a moment, they'll know why. He brings in a woman with short dark hair and introduces her as his wife--the spitting image of Angelique. The woman is smiling, but Barn, Vicki and Liz look totally stunned.
"Your wife?" sputters Julia, and Roger admits it's a surprise, but a pleasant one. He introduces his bride, Cassandra Collins, to Liz, who says she hopes she'll be happy. Liz says she will when she gets her breath. He introduces her to Barnabas, and she expresses hope they'll be good friends--Roger is so fond of him..
He introduces their good friend Victoria Winters, and the new wife gushes how anxious she is to meet David and how sorry she is that he's in Boston--I hope he likes me--it will be a shock to him, as to them. They were married in City Hall in Rockport. Liz says they should have come home, but Roger was impatient and wanted to do it right away. "It wasn't the marriage I've always dreamed of," says Cassandra, and Barnabas gets a strange look on his face at that. She asks him if something is wrong, but Barn merely says he has to leave. The couple says to stay for a toast, they're leaving for a honeymoon in the West Indies. When Barn asks specifically where, Roger answers, (naturally) "Martinique." Barn asks if she's been there before, and she says no, but she's sure she'll like it. I understand it's changed a great deal in recent years, remarks Barnabas (how would he know?? Roger notes that Vicki is staring at his bride, and reminds her about the champagne. Vicki leaves, and Liz asks if they are heading out for their honeymoon immediately. Yes, says Roger, but Liz insists they must speak. Cassandra understands; she begged him to call. They all know him so much better than she does, the bride remarks, and I envy them that. Barn says, "I think perhaps YOU know him better than any of us," which she says is very courtly of him. He thanks her. Roger says speaking to Barn is more fascinating than reading a history book, and Barn says he hopes more interesting than that. "I believe that," says Cassandra. Roger expresses hope she doesn't find Barnabas too fascinating, Barn is a bachelor. "Oh, you never married?" asks Cass, and Roger promises she will know Barn's story soon enough. Roger wants the champagne immediately so they can leave for Boston. Liz says she must speak to him about the business. Roger kisses his new bride on the cheek and leaves with his sister, leaving Barnabas and Cassandra alone. She loves the room, she says. He asks if she's ever been here before, and she says no..
He thought she might have, he says pointedly, and she says she's always dreamed of a house like this. Now her dream has come true, he says, and she replies, "Incredible, isn't it?" He agrees--almost too incredible to believe--and she grins.
Liz and Roger go to the study. What about this marriage? his sister demands. You're being tiresome, says Roger. She wants an explanation--now! He feels he doesn't owe her one. Your wife hasn't been declared dead, Liz reminds him, and you're legally still married. A technicality, insists Roger. She threatens to use that, and he says they are legally married as far as he's concerned and no harm in their living together--any court decision would go in their favor. And if it didn't? asks Liz. Roger says, "I love her."--does she have any idea what that means?--I'll go through anything to be with her. Liz says this will cause huge scandal. Is that what worries her? asks Roger. No, her concern is for HIM--they've never met her, why haven't they met her? He just met her but feels like he's known her a long time, says Roger--I met her in Rockport. When Liz asks how, he accuses her of treating him like Carolyn, and she retorts his behavior is younger than Carolyn's. He's been very lonely--she isn't a stranger to him; and knows that as far as Liz is concerned, he should have married an already-approved widow, with whom he would have spent months boring each other to death and then marry. He wants what he's got. What about David? asks Liz. Roger says he needs a mother and will get to know Cassandra. Liz asks what they have in common and Roger accuses her of hostility. She says she's being sensible. Same thing, says Roger--you know nothing about my wife, but I can tell you're against it..
Back and forth the siblings go--Liz was rude to her; Liz was in a state of shock without warning. Liz insists he tell Cassandra he hasn't been well, which Roger resents. Liz cites his irrational behavior, and he is furious--he's insane now because he's trying to take a chance on happiness--is she so embittered she. . . Liz insists it has nothing to do with her. She wants to speak to Cassandra, but he forbids it and vows that if Liz goes against his wishes on this, he'll leave Collinwood with his bride and never return! (Usually it's Liz making similar threats--to send her brother packing and keep David.)
A pleased-looking Cassandra examines the foyer. Barnabas gazes carefully at her. She wishes she and Roger weren't going on a honeymoon; this house is more foreign to her than Martinique would be. More so, suggests Barn, and she asks what he means by that. She remarks that the portrait is a perfect likeness of him, and Barnabas explains that is isn't his portrait, look at the clothes--he's an ancestor. How unusual the likeness, she says, and Barnabas excuses himself. "Don't go," she says, a little too forcefully. He says they'll see each other again soon. "Inevitably," she says. "Yes, inevitably," agrees Barnabas, and leaves. She smiles at the portrait. Vicki comes in with the champagne, and asks Cassandra if Barnabas left. "Yes, but he'll be back," says Cassandra-- should she interrupt Liz and Roger?--Roger asked her to, but. . .she doesn't want to do anything wrong--Vicki will have to help her in so many ways. Not true, demurs Vicki. Just meeting Mrs. Stoddard and Barnabas has made Cassandra realize she has much to learn--and only yesterday she knew nothing of any of this--she met Roger at Prof. Stokes' home--she transferred to the college, where Stokes was her faculty advisor. . . WAS--all this is so new to me, says Cassandra. She asks why Vicki is staring at her, and Vicki apologizes. Cassandra claims to be good with children and is sorry David isn't here. Vicki offers to show her pictures of David, and when Cass asks if he resembles Roger, Vicki says he's the image of Daniel, an ancestor, who Cassandra doesn't know about. Vicki says she'll try to find a photo of Daniel as well. Cass asks Vicki to knock on the study door, it's getting late--she misses him so, and it won't be such an intrusion if Vicki knocks. Cassandra examines Angelique's portrait and smiles, then begins to fiddle with her hair as if in front of a mirror. The portrait stares back at her and the two faces are, for a moment, superimposed on each other. Cassandra lets loose with a very Angelique-like giggle, quite pleased with herself.
NOTES: Now that Cassandra/Angelique has insinuated herself into Collinwood via her marriage to Roger, what is going to happen? There is already considerable friction between Liz and Roger, a relationship which has always been shaky at best. I always loved the moments between Barnabas and Cassandra; even if this isn't his witch-wife, the resemblance has to be killing him! She is very pleased at her latest coup, this Serena to Samantha bit, and one wonders what kind of spell she put on Roger to encourage him to marry her so fast.
474 - (Once again, we have an annoying opening that keeps repeating itself.)
Roger exits the study, his face morose. Cassandra says she knows him well enough to see he's upset. He takes a drink, and his bride says Liz would have prevented their marriage if she could have. She suggests they don't take a honeymoon; she wants to deal with the family's hostility, then go away on a trip. He refuses to change their plans. She begs him, cozying up; he tells her he needs her. Liz comes in and informs Roger there's an important phone call for him; he leaves to take it in the study. Liz and Cassandra decide to be frank with each other--Cass knows Liz doesn't approve of her, but Liz says it isn't Cassandra, but the sudden marriage that worries her. Cass says she wants to make Roger happy, and Liz says the best way to do that is to have the marriage annulled. Cassandra's eyes widen with shock--does Roger want the marriage annulled? asks Cassandra and wants to know how Liz dares suggest it. Liz insists Roger and his bride could barely know each other over two days. Cass. denies that; I have watched him, thought about him and I feel no one in the house has done the same in a long time. Liz denies this; she's been very concerned about her brother lately. "Why?" asks Cassandra cuttingly. "Hasn't he been doing what you want him to do?" (right between the eyes!).
Liz says that remark was uncalled for. Her brother and her lead their own lives, and Roger has changed. Yes, he's making his own decisions now, agrees Cassandra. Liz says Roger disappeared 3 days ago, to the Inn, but Cass doesn't think this unusual. Liz asked his reason but got no answer. Roger has been confusing them with ancestors from the past, explains Liz, but Cass seems to doubt this happened. Liz says the marriage isn't fair to Cassandra, but the latter says that's up to her to decide. Liz suggests Roger will confuse Cassandra with some picture he's seen, but Cass trusts her new husband and wants to spend the rest of her life with him--I want to learn everything there is to know, I'm not afraid, and I would never marry a man she knew well'too boring. Liz doubts it would work, but Cass says she knows Liz is searching for another reason, like money. "You said it, I didn't," says Liz, and Cassandra says she's not fortunehunter--she never had any money and has no idea how much it means, but not much--she was planning to teach, not a rich profession. Would she have married Roger if all this hadn't been his? asks Cass, and Liz quickly points out it all belongs to her, not Roger. Then we'll find someplace else to live, says Cass, and Liz jumps in with a strong No, then says she didn't mean it that way. Cass says Liz' attitude toward her brother shocks her, and Liz says she believes him ill--Cassandra should get him to a doctor. Cass wants to wait until she sees symptoms herself. Roger calls and Cass tells Liz he needs her. He needs other help, insists Liz, to which Cass retorts, "To make him stay here with you." Liz stares after her, tight lipped and angry.
Roger shows Cass their bedroom. She again asks "Darling" not to go away on a honeymoon just yet. He still wants to go and let everyone accept the marriage. Why give them the time to think, to plan against them? asks Cass--nothing will be as simple as she thought it would be--Liz and Barnabas are against them, and they can't enjoy a honeymoon if they have to face all that when they return. If she's there, she can deal with it, she says, cuddling against him, but he promises not to let any of them harm her--they're going away. She smiles falsely and says she married a man who never gives in at all.
Liz tells Vicki Cass made her feel jealous and interfering, and made her say things she didn't want to say. Vicki points out the resemblance of the portrait to Cassandra. Liz reminds her of Barnabas' portrait--it could be his ancestor. The portrait is over 150 years old, so that's impossible. Roger races downstairs looking for Julia? Cassandra had an accident! They run in different directions to find Julia.
Julia binds Cass' sprained ankle and tells her to stay off it. (simple way to get out of a honeymoon she doesn't want) Cass says Roger will be disappointed. Julia wishes her happiness, which seems to make the bride weepy. Julia's the first person in the house to give her good wishes, sobs Cassandra. (Mike in shot.) Julia tells Cass that the Collinses are an inbred family, not unkindly, but they aren't used to a Collins doing the unexpected. They should be, but they're quite nice. Julia finds them so. Cass understands Liz, who has had Roger around for a long time--but Barnabas? hostility puzzles her. Barn and Roger are about the same age and both unmarried for some time. Julia tells her--Barnabas has never been married (ouch, the sting). Hasn't he? asks Cassandra, then adds, "Do you know him well?".
Barnabas' manner is very distant, few know him well, says Julia, who says she knows him well, and has known him about 6 months. He seems strange, tortured, comments Cass. He has his reasons, says Julia. Cass senses Barn is a man of many secrets, and Julia agrees with that, but doesn't reveal any of them. Cassandra says she's very intuitive, which Julia says could be a mistake in that house, but Cass assures her she's a fighter. You'll have to be, predicts Julia, and Cass responds she wouldn't be there at this moment if she weren't.
In the gazebo, Vicki waits. Julia shows up, asking what's wrong--she got Vicki's note. Has something happened to Barnabas, asks Julia anxiously. "Not yet," says Vicki--Cassandra looks like Angelique's portrait, and she IS. Julia doubts it, and cites Peter and Jeff, and how Jeff knew how to get into the secret room. Julia insists they can't be inundated by people she met in the past. Vicki points out that Angelique was a witch and a witch can return as a ghost, like Sarah. I just bandaged Cass' ankle, says Julia, I know she's human. Vicki fears if they don't do something, Barnabas will die..
Julia reminds her THAT Barnabas isn't here, which confuses Vicki. No, but why did she come back? Only to settle a score with Barnabas' ancestor, the present Barnabas--but why, asks Vicki. Julia doesn't know.
Roger opens a bottle of champagne and promises Cass they'll leave as soon as her ankle is better. Cass doesn't mind the delayed honeymoon--she's happy to be with him. He so often thought they were wrong to return to Collinwood. Cass is used to people not liking her at first--Liz will get used to her--she has her little tricks (uh oh). Cass asks Roger to get her painkillers to help her sleep, and when he leaves the room, she opens the lid on her ring and surreptitiously slips Roger a mickey. I like Julia, says Cassandra "is she a good friend of Barnabas?" Roger supposes so, and asks where her pills are. How is it that Julia living at Collinwood? asks Cass. Roger replies that's a long story. By the time he returns with her pills, she's back on the love seat, ankle propped up. Cass asks Roger if Julia's in love with Barnabas, and Roger chuckles and says of course not--you're such a romantic, he teases his new wife. They drink a toast "To us" and Roger and Cassandra down their champagne.
Roger drains his glass and presses his hand to his forehead. Cass asks him if something is wrong and he says it's nothing, but he complains it's hot in the room. He opens the window and leans out. "I don't believe it," he says. Cass asks what he said, and then asks what they were discussing. They must decide where they will live, says Roger, walking unsteadily. "Why did I do it?" asks Roger, as if coming out of a trance. "Why did you marry me--is that what you're asking?" queries Cass. "Yes," he answers. Why did he?--it's insane, they barely know each other. Cass asks him to come to her, but he says the entire day seems like a dream he just remembered. She holds out her arms to him, and he steps forward. They sit on the love seat and she caresses his face. Do you still have doubts? she asks--"Look into my eyes. You love me, you told me so, I believe you. You do love me, don't you?" He turns his head away, but she forces him to look into her eyes. She orders him to look at her. "Yes, I love you," he says uncertainly. She comments on how tired he is, and he agrees--he must sleep. He sits on the bed--he never felt this way before, so much has happened, so many emotional things--Cass, Liz, the trip, Barnabas. He sinks down onto the bed, asleep as only the drugged can be. It's 1:45AM. Cassandra comes downstairs, walking without difficulty, and stares at Barnabas' portrait. "So many years, Barnabas, and I would never have known that you're free from your chains if Victoria Winters had not come from the past. You think you have escaped me even now. You may walk in the sunlight today, but you have not escaped! No, Barnabas, in time, in time you will find the curse back with you again!"
NOTES: So, we know for sure that she IS Angelique, come back to haunt Barnabas, to make sure he is turned back into a vampire. But how is she going to juggle the present day members of the family? She escaped having sex with Roger by drugging him; is she planning to do that every night? Will she give him some token sex, considering she IS his wife? Liz is seriously against her, and we can already see these two women squaring off. What will the outcome be of this new family member, this new dynamic?
Love, Robin
