Episode #224 - Sunset at Collinwood, and the coldness of the night settles in. This is a coldness that comes, not from the air, but from a place that is still and deep.
Barnabas himself comes in, managing to appear both friendly and scary at the same time.
He easily opens the "stuck" door, wipes David's tears and assures the boy he can come visit Josette's portrait anytime he likes, once they've found a new home for it. When David asks if he can have the portrait, Barnabas tells him it belongs to the Old House. Willie comes in, places a protective hand on David's shoulder and almost shoves him out the door. Barnabas tells Willie he worries too much, and to give his employee something to really worry about, tells David he will follow him to Collinwood.
Drawing room - As Liz reveals to Jason that Willie is working for her cousin, we learn that she has bestowed that Swiss bank account on him.
Jason assures Liz, who still wants the young Loomis to leave, that he will look into the fact that Willie is working for Barnabas.
After Barnabas returns with David, Liz encourages her cousin to get rid of Willie, Barnabas smoothly talks her out of it by placing the decision entirely in her hands. Craftily, he makes it sound like he's more than willing to rehabilitate the poor lad. Barnabas' guiding hand is all he needs; they have an "understanding," after all, he can always dismiss him if he causes one iota of trouble. He DOES have Willie firmly in his control. Liz doesn't want to stand in the way of Barnabas' largesse, so she gives him the benefit of the doubt. "No trouble from HIM" Barnabas assures her, implying, to my ear at least, that there will be trouble from another source, such as their newly-found cousin!
Jason goes to the Old House. "Is the lady of the house in?" he asks, and barges in past Willie, then grabs him by the lapels. I don't understand the "light housekeeping" reference, unless he's implying Willie is living there as Barnabas' wife! I'm surprised these references got past the censors in 1967! Loved when Barnabas just appeared, startling Jason ("Did I startle you?" should be a drinking game on DS during this time period.) Liz is fine about Willie now, Barnabas assures McGuire,
and he can deal effectively with Willie and keep him under control.
Cottage - Maggie is nervous as she brushes her hair and sees her father off to another portrait sitting for Barnabas. Edgy, she slips between the covers.
Old House - Barnabas is assuring Sam that his lovely daughter's future "is assured" as she tosses and turns, then has a terrible nightmare that she's wandering through a foggy glen-like place. She discovers a coffin, and, upon opening it, sees herself lying dead inside! She stares at her own dead body and begins to scream, and her face becomes that of a skull.
Maggie wakes up, screaming and screaming, the dream horrifying and vivid in her mind.
Sounds to me like Barnabas intends to make sure she HAS no future!
Episode #225/6 - Night has come to Collinwood and the country around, and with it has come a terror which has no name and no known source. It is greater than a fear that stalks the earth because it is a fear that haunts the mind, without shape, without form, until in dreams a form is found, and one is led to it down winding corridors, and forced, finally, to look upon its face.
Barnabas made Maggie his victim in this episode, feeding on both her psyche and her blood.
Joe responds to a frantic call from Maggie. He takes her to the Blue Whale for brandy (no wonder everyone thought of booze as a calming drug), where she told him about her nightmare.
Maggie found herself unnerved by Barnabas' presence in the bar, so much so that she didn't even want to go over to the table where he sat with Sam. I guess she was attempting to fight his control over her, resulting in a bad case of nerves for the poor girl. She gazed oddly at Barnabas, seeming both attracted to him and repelled at the same time. When Sam called Barnabas on his obvious fascination with Maggie, Barn sadly says, "Interested, of course--involved, of course not." What B.S.! How much more involved could he be?
I still remember hearing Barnabas refer to Willie as "my man," and it makes me smile still. Burke was interested in meeting the new Collins in town, and encouraged Barnabas to get rid of Willie, too. Sam pointed out that Barn's been a good influence on Willie,
and one has to smile at Barnabas' insistence that he despises violence, and that "serenity is my favorite emotion." Barnabas wishes Maggie "sweet dreams," and she stares uneasily at him.
As Maggie goes to bed that night, she dogs are howling incessantly. Burke, back at the Blue Whale, admires Barnabas' cane ("a savage beast made familiar" I show Barnabas explains it to Burke), but the vampire is distracted, and when Burke tries to ask him what metal it's made of, Barn rises, says he has something to do, and hurriedly departs, leaving Burke puzzled.
What Barnabas had to do, of course, was pay Maggie his first visit. He came in through the French doors leading to her room (why not just materialize in her room?) bared his fangs in a horribly creepy smile, and, off camera, bit her for the very first time. Of course, imagination is a much better than seeing the real thing, and mine went into overdrive the first time I saw it--and every time since!
NOTES: Jonathan Frid often tells the story that the first time he was required to bare his fangs on camera (and I guess this is it), in his efforts to insert them, he made a mess of them and ended up chewing them up and ruining them. So when we see Barnabas baring what are supposed to be his fangs, those are actually his real eye teeth he's showing us, and much more effective than the fake fangs would have been. A completely chilling final scene!
Love, Robin
