Episode #231 - An overwhelming force has taken possession of a young girl. Unseen, unsuspected, it withdraws the life from her. The telltale marks are a frightening indication of what this girl has been victim to.
Maggie lies in her bedroom as Joe and Sam await the doctor. What's with those marks on her neck, they wonder? Dogs, howl, cuasing Maggie to move restlessly on her pillows. When Sam comes in to close the French doors, he, too, is spooked by the howling, wolf-like sound. Maggie awakens, in pain, clutching her blanket fearfully.
At first, she has no recollection of what happened to her, then remembers being in the cemetery, but can't recall how she got there. She complains that she feels very cold.
Later. Dr. Woodard finds Maggie's temperature below normal. With only Sam there, he examines her, remarking on how nervous she seems. She regards him with mistrust. Woodard, annoyed that she got out of bed, explains that she's quite ill. Did she sleepwalk or dream of doing so? Maggie becomes upset when Sam brings up her nightmare, and Woodard's questioning about it distresses her tremendously. The doctor tries to calm her, and over her objections,
examines the wounds on her throat. Maggie only wants them to leave her alone. Woodard comes to the conclusion that those are puncture wounds. Maggie screams for all of them to leave her alone!
Woodard and Sam go out to the front room to report to Joe. Because of the two losses of blood she suffered, Maggie needs a blood transfusion right away, insists the doctor--she's almost in shock. Joe has the same blood type Maggie does, so he volunteers to be the donor.
Maggie is immensely upset during the transfusion; the howling dogs upset her. The trio of men keep a close watch on her. Realizing what they're doing to her, she cries out and tries to stop it. They hold her down at the dogs continue to howl.
Woodard provides Sam with a prescription for transquilizers; until they learn what's caused this, she must be kept quiet--and she must be watched every minute. "We're dealing with a condition here that's far from normal," opines Dr. Woodard, and she must stay in bed. He leaves.
Joe keeps vigil over Maggie, who orders him, "Stay out of this!"
He doesn't get what she means. She thrashes in her bed. Sam comes in and notes that she seems to be asleep. Sam locks the French doors and Joe leaves. Sam sits down to take over the vigil. Later, dogs howl, Sam sleeps in the chair. Maggie rises from bed, drifts to the French doors and pulls on them wildly.
Sam awakens and grabs her, dragging her away from the doors. "LET ME OUT!" she screams, fighting him as he forces her back into bed and holds her there. She continues to scream, struggling against him.
NOTES: What a powerful hold Barnabas must have on her! You'd think that getting a transfusion would weaken his hold, but every time she hears those dogs, she responds violently. The poor girl will surely die if she is attacked again, but she's fighting her protectors with everything she's got! Who is going to win? Joe gives up his blood for his gal; Sam works hard to keep her in bed and away from harm. She orders her boyfriend to stay out of this. Surely she must realize, at least a small, rational part of her, that they're trying to help her, they're the two men in the world who love her most. Will she realize it in time to save herself?
Episode #232 - If a night wind had not cleared the mists from the cliffs that lead from Collinwood to the sea, no one would know that a giant storm is slowly approaching; it hovers on the horizon, but its advance is as inexorable as the advance of time itself in the journey from day to night. And there is a woman near Collinwood, a young woman, who seems to reflect in her spirit the tranquility of the day that waits helplessly for the coming storm that the night will surely bring.
Cottage - Joe keeps a vigil at Maggie's bedside, who wakes up at first seemingly glad to find him there. He gently questions her about the cemetery and other strange events, but she gets testy and says she's tired of questions. She's TIRED, period! He examines her throat, which she doesn't like, and when she hears dogs howl, she goes PMSsy again, ordering him out of the room and out of her life.
She doesn't want to see him again, so don't bother coming back! Joe, knowing she can't be left alone, calls and asks Vicki to take his place.
As Vicki is leaving Collinwood, Jason quizzes her about Maggie's illness, her mysterious walk in Eagle Hill Cemetery,
and the strange call she got while at the cottage. Her response sends Jason racing to the Old House. When no one answers his knock, he walks right in (will they ever lock that house with a vampire hidden in the basement?) and finds Willie with the left side of his face beaten black and blue. He's less interested in Willie's injuries than in protecting his own butt, so he cruelly interrogates his old friend (and this was a fabulously acted scene), demanding to know if HE made that phone call to Vicki, and why does he suddenly seem to have developed a conscience, and Willie had damn well not screw up his, Jason's, plans, or else!
Willie, lighting candles, issues his own warning to Jason, who asks if it's a threat. Threat, warning, Willie, smiling enigmatically, suggests that Mr. Collins doesn't like him entertaining guests and perhaps Jason should leave. It IS getting dark, after all! Jason, puzzled as to why Willie would have made that phone call, vows to find out what Willie is up to, and Willie answers, "Fortunately, you're not a man who keeps his promises."
Joe seems embarrassed to tell Vicki that Maggie handed him his walking papers and that's why he asked her to come over. Ruefully, he says he was with Maggie all day and never missed her so much before in his life.
Vicki goes into Maggie's room and listens uneasily as her friend expounds on how much she loves the night, so much that the lightning is making the outside too bright for her liking.
Maggie reiterates to Vicki that she doesn't want to see Joe again, then restlessly rises from bed, making Vicki nervous. She urges Maggie to get back under the covers. When Vicki sees Maggie staring raptly out the French doors, she calls to her, but Maggie ignores her. The doors blow open and the young women see reflected in a lightning flash a man's figure standing outside (clearly Barnabas). With the next lightning flash, the figure is gone. Unnerved, Vicki hastily closes the doors while Maggie sits in bed assuring her, "It's all right now." Maggie seems eerily calm, but Vicki is clearly shaken, not knowing what to do or say.
NOTES: Joe is a saint. He knows this isn't truly Maggie, not his lady, so he finds someone else to stay with her because he knows he doesn't dare leave her alone. Any other guy might cut her loose, but he understands that she doesn't mean what she's saying, and all he wants is for her to be all right.
Maggie already seems to be getting into vampire mode, loving the night life. Barnabas waits outside in the storm, knowing that she will eventually come to him--she has no choice!
Such moody, dark and truly creepy scenes here. Maggie scared me. Aside from looking like death itself, she's so changed from her usual cheerful self, a totally different person under Barnabas' influence. What must Vicki think?
As for Jason, he treats Willie shabbily in this episode, far more concerned about his own evil plans than his friends mashed-to-a-pulp face. What a shameful excuse for a friend--hell, for a human being!
Love, Robin
