Episode #216 - A deceptive calm hovers over Collinwood, for a man of great violence appears to be no longer violent--yet fear and suspicion still persist--a false quiet may predict a new rush of destruction--a false calm may disguise the presence of an even greater violence--and a sinister stillness may obscure an unmentionable evil.
Jason continued to badger Willie about the blood on his sleeve, certain he'd been in a fight and gotten injured. One has to wonder what he'd have said about the truth behind those bloodstains, if Willie had been able to reveal it! Poor Willie--Jason insists he return to Collinwood to apologize, but Willie doesn't want to go back there! Hell, no! Alternating between kindness, anger and being purely perplexed, Jason wheedles Willie out of the Blue Whale. Burke wants Loomis gone, and you sense Willie himself would like nothing better--except he no longer has a choice. Of course, just as Liz is telling Carolyn they've seen the last of Willie, in walks Jason with the young man in tow.
Willie, managing to sound mechanical and sincere, apologizes to Liz and Carolyn for his evil behavior. Carolyn senses he's telling the truth before Liz does, and she seems genuinely concerned about his change in attitude. Jason speaks affably to Liz in the drawing room, and Liz tells him she accepts Willie's apology--but wishes him a long, happy journey.
Outside, alone in the foyer, Willie, unable to bear the sight of Barnabas' portrait, cowers, his face shuddering wildly.
Finally, overcome, he cries out, looks at the portrait, and screams. Liz and Jason find him unconscious on the foyer floor. Barnabas, from his portrait, imperturbably surveys all. When Jason attempts to loosen Willie's collar, the sleeping young man screams at the feel of hands hovering near his throat. Though Jason feels he should plead Willie's case so he can stay at Collinwood, Mr. Loomis doesn't want to stay at all. His sincere apology for what he does convinces Jason more than ever that his pal is sick. Once again, Jason blackmails Liz into letting Willie stay.
I loved what he said when he brought up her criminal past and she agreed to let Willie stay even though she's sure he's faking: "None of us is completely bad--even you," he croons.
Remarkably, Carolyn is cool when Liz tells her Willie is staying. Describing him as numb, but in pain of the spirit, she believes something terrible has happened to him, and whatever it is, she doesn't want to know.
Expecting Willie to be pleased when Jason comes upstairs to tell him he can stick around Collinwood, he's surprised to find that Willie doesn't want to stay. Then, in a burst of solicitousness, trying to make the lad comfortable, Jason helps him off with his jacket and finds his arm bandaged. Willie, recoiling, orders Jason to neither look at it nor touch it, and his terror as he demands,
"You stay away!" is reflected in his eyes and his shuddering face.
NOTES: Willie Loomis has changed forever, leaving puzzlement in his wake. Let us pay our final respects to the old Willie, who will never be seen again.
Episode #217 - It is late afternoon at Collinwood, and lengthening afternoon shadows are beginning to creep across the walls of the great house. For one man, a man who has been struck down by a mysterious illness, there is terror in the coming nightfall--danger in the lengthening shadows--and his heart is numbed by fear.
Standing in front of Barnabas' portrait in the foyer, Carolyn reveals to Vicki that Willie is back--and sick, and the changes in him scare her. As much as they dislike having him sticking around Collinwood, they must admit he can't go if he's ill. Jason comes down and asks Vicki to have Mrs. Johnson prepare a tray for Willie. After Vicki leaves, Carolyn and Jason converse in the drawing room, where she asks where Willie has been. Jason doesn't know, and when she questions him about his ordering her to stop asking questions, he assures her he's only trying to protect her mother, who also happens to be his friend.
Carolyn knows there's more to this than Jason is telling. She leaves.
Willie lies in bed in his room, begging the powers that be not to let it get dark again. His passivity seems to have disappeared when Vicki comes in with his dinner tray
and he orders her to leave. He puts on his jacket and is about to leave when Jason comes in. Willie wants desperately to get away, but Jason urges him back into bed, where Willie pretends to fall asleep. After Jason leaves, Willie rises from bed, looks out the window and piteously says that it's too late; he hears the heartbeat. I hear your summons, he says, and I will respond to it.
Willie descends the stairs, barely able to move. He goes to the portrait, drawn to it, and hears the heartbeat. In the drawing room, Jason paces, then catches sight of Willie about to flee. Willie runs out, but Jason captures him, insisting he return to bed. As they go upstairs, Jason supporting Willie, the latter pushes Jason away and rushes out the door. We hear Willie's car racing away, even as Jason grabs his coat and goes out after him.
Willie walks toward the tomb. We hear a car pulling up, and Jason appears, calling for Willie, who, inside the mausoleum, looks up at the lion's head ring. His head drops in defeat. He leaps down into the secret room.
Jason enters, but not in time to catch the panel closing. He calls out to Willie, checking out the entire tomb with a flashlight. Inside the mausoleum, we hear the heartbeat thumping behind the closed panel.
NOTES: As ill and weak as he was, Willie knew Barnabas was waiting for him, so as soon as he could, he escaped from Jason, who was plying him with questions, noting that Willie's arm looked drained of blood, insisting on calling a doctor, and raced to the mausoleum. I assume he was there to wake him and get him ready for that night's cattle draining (ewww). Jason couldn't figure out where Willie had disappeared.
Love, Robin
