485 - Lang works on his creation, distracted. He can't forget the nightmare. He answers a knock at the door, it's Julia. She asks him what's wrong, and he says, "The dream! This is exactly like the dream!" Upset, he asks her what's happening to him.
Julia can't tell him what's happening to him. He says he can't work because of the dream. She asks what he's done about an assistant, and he can't even respond. She asks if something's happened to stop the experiment, and he says he must return to work. He only has a limited amount of time or the body will deteriorate, after 48 hours at the most. He can't keep being interrupted. He shakes his head, he's had many dreams and always been able to get up and back to business. This dream. . .she asks what's different about this dream and he curtly asks if she's asking as an analyst. He tells her his dream, every detail, concluding with the last door--his creation, without a head. He stared at the years he spent working on this, dreaming of it, he suddenly knew the experiment would fail. Julia glances at him with sympathy.
It was a dream, she assures him, and he finally smiles. She's right! He thanks her. She asks him to allow her to assist him in case of emergency. He doesn't want her because she doesn't believe in the experiment; she wants Barn as he was before (what does he mean by that?) Perhaps it's for the best, she doesn't know, but she tells Eric he can depend on her.
Barnabas and Willie hear a dog howling outside the Old House. Willie says, "Well, if you won't be needin' me anymore. . ." Barnabas has an errand for Willie to run--take a letter to Elizabeth Collins at Collinwood. Barnabas is upset at the howling, and a grinning Willie suggests he isn't as changed as he thought he was. "That's very perceptive of you," says Barnabas, annoyed, and turns away from Willie. It's odd he should feel this urge on this night, and he's sure it's something Julia would explain psychologically--a man faced with the unknown, his last night on earth as himself, so naturally everything he has done seems preferable to what he faces. Or is it worse than that--is he reverting to what he was? No answer from Willie, who asks about this last night business--he fears for his own position. Barnabas says he explained it all to Willie last night--there will still be a Barnabas Collins, but he'll be in a new body--he's named him Adam. The first man, observes Willie. Yes, says Barnabas, and he will be the first of a new breed. The letter for Liz will give Adam an entree to Collinwood. Barnabas himself will be away for an indefinite period of time, and in his place a young cousin from England, Adam Collins, will arrive. Willie doesn't like it, which Barnabas says is a shame--he can always return to Windcliff. Willie frets "Adam" won't like him, but Barnabas assures him this new man will behave toward Willie exactly as Barnabas does (too bad, Willie, it would have been nice for him to be kinder to you), and Willie will treat him as he does Barnabas. Barnabas doesn't know that, protests Willie--he might come out of this different. Barnabas seals the envelope as Willie worries things won't be the same; suppose they won't let Adam live there, what will happen to him? Trust me, Willie, says Barn, things are changed at Collinwood--make sure only Liz gets that letter. Willie asks if Barnabas will see him before he leaves. Very likely not, says Barn. He assures the anxious Willie he'll recognize him upon his return, being deliberately unsentimental--even in the other body, he'll know who he is--I promise.
Willie is still sure it won't work, and as the dogs continue to howl, Barnabas tells him it will work--because it must! Willie leaves with the letter.
Cassandra is wearing the infamous butterfly dress as she answers Willie's knock, anxiously asking if anything has happened to Barnabas. He has a letter for Liz. She isn't here, says Cassandra. Willie says he can't give it to her--I don't know who you are. She introduces herself as Roger's wife--Liz will be back very late, adds Cassandra, asking him in--I've been alone all evening. Willie reluctantly enters, staring at her. She offers him a seat in the drawing room, and sits across from him. She talks about how absurd it is of Barnabas not to have a telephone--one would think he lived in the 18th century (dig, dig). She asks Willie if he's known Barnabas long, and he says on and off for a spell. Do you know him well? she asks. He chuckles meaningfully. They don't see much of him, he avoids them, says Cass. To stay inside that house all day long? He doesn't stay inside anymore, says Willie--he goes to see Lang a lot now (tightlipped). Cassandra speculates Lang and Barnabas are working together--that's impossible, of course. She asks Willie if he worked for Barn before his accident. Sure, says Willie, he was very different then. Sometimes, he's almost the same, comments Willie. Is he? asks Cass--interesting.
She knows Willie is busy, so she offers for him to leave the letter with her. Willie refuses. He was told not to-- Barnabas is going away. This upsets Cassandra--where is he going?--I must talk to him about Roger, it's very important! Something about Dr. Lang's, says Willie, and he hears Liz? car pull into the driveway. "Good night, Willie," bids Cassandra, smiling widely.
In the lab, Lang tells Julia assembling a body is easy--a heart can be started, breath put into lungs, but no one ever has been able to transfer a life force, the soul, into another body. He shows her his notebook. She will take Barnabas' pulse and heartbeat. Both are in white lab coats. Julia asks if Barnabas would be in pain and he reminds her she promised not to get emotional. Barnabas will be unconscious after the first phase, he explains. Barnabas, wearing a blue silk robe and pajama bottoms, enters the lab, pausing for a moment as thought getting up his courage.
"I am ready, doctor," he says to Lang as Julia looks at him longingly. Lang removes the covering from the face--this is how Barnabas will look (music miscue). Lang says there will be certain alterations in the face, to be done later. (The creature's face is all scarred.) Barnabas says he doesn't care how he looks--the old desires are coming back upon him again. Lang tells Barnabas to lie down on the other table. Julia and Barnabas exchange a glance before he takes his place. Lang tells Julia to tighten the straps. Barnabas gazes at Adam as Dr. Lang affixes an electrode-studded headband to his head, the same on the creature's body. Lang orders Julia to check the oxygen mask, then tells Barnabas they are ready--he's confident. Barnabas assures Eric he's equally confident, then tells Julia he's glad she's there. She smiles worriedly and thanks him. Lang shouts for Julia to take pulse reading #1.
In the drawing room, Cassandra holds an Eric Lang clay doll in her hands. She tells it she has power over the doll and over Lang himself. She can break off an arm and really break his arm. She can make him burn wherever she touches the figure. Her power was given to her by the devil himself, and she will know it soon. Eric fiddles with the dials and Julia tells him Barn's pulse is normal. He pushes up the switches and the sound of electricity cackles in the air. The lights blink on and off, and Barnabas' mouth works, his eyes glazed. Eric lifts the second electric switch, and Barnabas screams in agony, his mouth wide open. "Give him something!" cries Julia. "His heartbeat is slower!"
Cassandra continues to play with her clay Eric doll, pushing a pin into the chest--not enough to trouble you, she says, just enough to make you wonder. . .
In the lab, Eric grabs his chest, demanding that Julia check the other pulse. No sign of life, she says, and Eric fiddles more with the dials.
The pain is worse now, says Cassandra, not enough to stop you, but when the pin goes in deeper, doctor!
Eric screams fiercely. Something explodes in the lab. Eric grabs his chest, pulls off his glasses. A panicked Julia pushes Barnabas' table away. The pain subsides, and Eric, draped over a table, gasps for breath. "BARNABAS!" cries a horrified Julia. Barnabas himself lies on the table, completely still. He looks dead.
NOTES: Well, Eric was quite the usual over-actor today, but it seemed more called for, given the circumstances. Not exactly high-tech special effects, but we didn't watch DS for that, did we?
Poor Julia! We knew she would be by Barnabas' side, even though she completely disagrees with this experiment. Have Cassandra's machinations killed both Eric and Barnabas? She sure is a bitch, just toying with Eric this way, torturing him for daring to help the man she once loved and now despises.
486 - Julia listens anxiously to Barnabas' heart. Lang calls to her, and gestures to his chest. She fills a syringe and returns to Lang's side, administering a shot. He tells her to check Barnabas' pulse; she does and tells him it's very slow. Give him three cc's of this, he says, giving her a vial. She is reluctant; he nearly killed him, but Lang says she'll save him if she gives it to him. She wonders what Barn will be like--if he lives--as she prepares the shot. Julia injects the drug into Barnabas' arm and Lang weakly calls her name, begging for her help. She helps him to sit down in a chair and says she's getting an ambulance. No, he protests, she can't ruin the experiment. Barnabas calls to Julia, and there is a "Julia" chorus as Lang joins in. Barnabas awakens and asks if it's over. He realizes, with disappointment, that he is the same. He sits up on the table, staring at Eric. Julia explains he had a heart attack during the experiment, which Barnabas blames on Cassandra. He must go--he has to prevent her from killing him! Barnabas nearly falls as he steps off the table--they must save Eric so they can try again, insists Barnabas. He's getting dressed. Eric weakly apologizes to Barnabas, who assures him he'll be all right. Julia tells Barn she wants to stop Cassandra, but he says he has to attend to this himself. Barnabas leaves, walking with difficulty. Julia returns her attention to Eric, who refuses to allow her to take him to the hospital. He tries to tell her Barn will become a vampire if she doesn't do it. The medication is becoming less effective, he gasps to Julia, which Barnabas doesn't know. Increase the dose, advises Julia, but Lang says that won't work. The body will decompose after 48 hours, so she must try again before that time is up.
He grips Julia tightly for emphasis, but she protests she doesn't know what to do. The records are there, says Eric--get them--get my books--very important. She takes the notebooks and insists she can't do it--she'll kill him. You'll save him, counters Eric--bring the records. Eric takes the notebooks and tells her she must--there is time!
At Collinwood, Cassandra asks her clay Dr. Lang doll if he's had enough pain. She stopped him from what he was doing. Perhaps she won't kill him yet, she wants to drag it out, make Barnabas and his friends pay, and suffer, and enjoy their games. She continues to stab the Lang doll, telling him to feel the pain a little more.
Lang grabs his chest. Julia says there's no more digitalis, and he tells her to get more from his desk downstairs. When she leaves, Eric takes his own pulse, and, finding it pretty weak, calls Julia again. She must know! he says. Fading fast, he turns on the tape recorder, (or thinks he does, another classic blooper), to record his voice. "Julia," he says, breathing with difficulty, "if you do the experiment again, if both Barnabas and my creation live--if they both live--Barnabas will be free and healthy as long as Adam lives. Adam will drain Barnabas' affliction from him, but will not suffer from the disease itself if he lives. But, if Adam dies, Barnabas will be as he was before."
Cassandra, still teasing the Lang doll, decides he's had enough--the end will be death. Mrs. Johnson pushes open the doors, yelling, "Mrs. Collins, I will not put up with this," causing the startled Cassandra to push the pin all the way though the Eric doll. Julia races back into the lab. Eric tries to gasp out what he recorded on the tape, but he only gets out a few words before falling down on the desk, dead. Julia tests his pulse at both wrist and throat, finding him gone. (no CPR, Julia?)
Cassandra slowly withdraws the pin from the doll, as Mrs. Johnson tells her she takes her orders from Mrs. Stoddard, not Cassandra, and this note about her and Roger having breakfast whenever they want is unacceptable. Barnabas comes in and tells Cassandra he wants to see her alone. He apologizes to Mrs. Johnson, who sourly calls it par for the course in that house. Cassandra thanks Barnabas for saving her. He accuses her of trying to kill Eric. What has happened now? she asks, irritated.
I swear I'll see you burn if you kill him! threatens Barnabas. Cassandra insists that she doesn't understand his accusations. Admit who you are, Barnabas orders, and she tells him she's told Roger, who believes him mad. Barnabas grabs her arm, twirls her around--if you tell me, I will agree to anything, he says--what do you want of me?--"Do you still want me? I will be yours if. . ." The phone interrupts them, and she tells him he's mad. Smiling, he says, "It was easier in the past, wasn't it? Yes--even for me." He drags her close, gazing at her throat, and it looks as if he's about to bite her. "What are you staring at?" demands Cassandra, struggling, covering her throat with her hand--"What is it?" Mrs. Johnson walks in on this compromising situation and Cassandra quickly covers what appears to be an intimate embrace by saying Barnabas caught her as she was about to faint. Mrs. Johnson says Dr. Hoffman is on the phone, very important. Barnabas gazes warningly at Cassandra before picking it up. He hears the bad news--Lang is dead--I did all I could, says Julia, but he died. Barnabas tells Julia he?ll be there shortly, and stops Cassandra from leaving the room. You've killed Eric Lang, accuses Barnabas, and she just stares at him.
Lab - Julia tells Barn Eric tried to tell her something important before dying: "If they both live, then, listen, listen," and then he lost consciousness. Julia hates this room, this experiment, it killed him as much as she did. If not for the secret, he'd have let her send for help. Barnabas tells Julia they can't be emotional about Eric's death; his every instinct tells him to let go, get revenge, but there is no time--the experiment will go on, as will Julia. While the body may have 48 hours, Barnabas isn't sure HE does--his vampirism is returning, all those urges--Eric's formula is less effective. She prepares the potion. Barnabas desperately tells her he wont be a vampire again, he must escape Angelique--he can't be the victim of a witch. He's enjoyed his freedom--will she let him go back to the dark?
She gives him the liquid and promises they will do the experiment, but first she has to study, so it will be successful. Barnabas drinks, looking very sad.
Julia studies Lang's notes, clearly exhausted. She has to go to bed, she tells herself, but steadfastly refuses to give in. Finally, her head falls forward and she sleeps. Her beckoner is Mrs. Johnson, and the fourth door contains a dark-haired, skeleton bride, which makes Julia scream harshly...
"No. . .no," sobs Julia upon awakening.
NOTES: I always wondered if Lang would have died if Mrs. Johnson hadn't picked that moment to enter the drawing room. Oops! It's almost funny, in a way, until you realize that this "oops" causes a man's death.
Now Julia has had her dream and will be forced to tell it to Mrs. Johnson. She loves Barnabas--will she be more successful in preventing herself from telling it to the housekeeper?
Loved the scene between Barnabas and Cassandra! So much hatred between them, and she's being so obstinate in admitting who she is! Mrs. Johnson must have wondered what the hell was going on between these two, finding them in what surely looked like a compromising position. Fainting, indeed! Mrs. Johnson probably thinks the new Mrs. Collins is a slut. Imagine Barnabas offering himself to her to save Lang. Would she have accepted if things had gone differently? Would she and Barnabas have left Collinwood together? Ah, the speculation!
Love, Robin
