Episode #235 - Darkness hovers over Collinwood like a shroud, and somewhere in that darkness exists the presence of an evil force, someone with the power of enormous destruction at his command-he has been waiting to strike, waiting to destroy, and tonight, perhaps he has. An innocent young girl is a prisoner in a locked room, and no one knows what fate awaits her.
Vicki bangs frantically on the door, begging Maggie to let her in, to no avail. Burke knocks at the front door. Vicki, hysterical, tells him that something's in the room with Maggie and her door is locked. Burke knocks, calls, and finally breaks down the door. They enter, and Vicki gasps in horror: Maggie lies on the bed, unconscious, the gashes re-opened in her throat. The French doors are open.
Dr. Woodard finds that Maggie has again lost a tremendous amount of blood and insists she needs hospitalization. The wounds on her throat look like bite marks to Dr. Woodard, a large dog, perhaps. Something inhuman did this, says Dave soberly. Sam, unable to rouse Maggie, is very upset, so much that he even turns down Burke's offer of a drink, insisting that it won't solve anything.
Vicki explains in detail what happened in Maggie's room, and she and Burke try to reassure Sam that Maggie will be all right. Woodard says Maggie needs a transfusion, and tells Sam that if she survives the night, she should be OK.
This alarms Sam, who faces the possibility that he may lose Maggie.
Maggie, in the hospital now, sleeps, an IV in her arm. Dr. Woodard says her heartbeat is stronger, her color better. An anxious Joe shows up. Maggie awakens, and they explain to her that she's in the hospital. Maggie is glad Joe and Sam are both with her, but when she starts describing what happened, she grows agitated and says she doesn't want to remember her terrible nightmare. She apologizes to Joe for the fights they had and tells Sam she wants him to take care of himself. He'll go on the wagon when she gets well, he vows. When Maggie quietly says she's going to die, Sam shakes her and demands she get well. Woodard banishes Sam and Joe to the lounge (and what a sad bunch of scenes ensued)!
Maggie says goodbye and tells Joe she just wanted to see him one more time. Stricken, Joe follows Sam out, but first orders Maggie to get well. She smiles wanly. Alone with Woodard, Maggie whispers, "It's true," but won't say what is true. (I guess she's certain she's going to die.)
At 12:10 PM, Woodard leaves a nurse with Maggie, instructing her neither to leave her alone nor open the window, no matter what (she ends up breaking both orders).
Out in the waiting room, a despairing Sam tells Joe that he was waiting in the exact same spot when Maggie was being born, and now he's here waiting for her. . .he can't continue, and sobs. Joe encourages Sam to go home, but neither of them have any intention of leaving the hospital, and even though Joe tries to reassure Sam he believes Maggie will be fine, he buries his face in his hands, unable to deal with the possibility of losing her. Both actors did an excellent job here, by the way, and I felt myself choking up.
Of course, Maggie, after waking up and gasping that she feels like she's suffocating, gets the nurse to open the window a crack (looked like more than a crack to me). I guess she had to invite Barnabas into the hospital in this manner. A short time later, Maggie gasps for air, lifts herself up in the bed, then collapses. The nurse finds no pulse or heartbeat, and runs from the room to get Dr. Woodard, who is out in the hall. She tells him it appeared as if Maggie had died, but when the two of them return to the room,
the window is wide open and Maggie is gone.
NOTES: Has Maggie become a vampire? Did Barnabas steal her body from the hospital?
Loved this ep. Excellent performances, mucho suspense-and tons of emotional outbursts, too. You had to feel so sorry for Sam and Joe, both of whom love Maggie in different ways. While David Ford was often criticized for not being able to remember his lines, his performance here was exemplary, IMHO. Everyone involved created a marvelous show.
Episode #236 - A distant moon, cold and bright against the black sky, looks down on Collinwood and the country around. What it sees is not reflected in its unshadowed gaze. It remains, as always, an unblinking eye, impassive to the terrors that stalk the earth below, indifferent to life and death alike, it watches as a young woman gasps a final breath, and perhaps it sees from its cold corner of the sky, the fate that lurks beyond the final gasp and waits, and waits, for the last silence.
Shock waves rushed through Collinsport as the news of Maggie's possible death/kidnapping/disappearance made the rounds. Joe checks out Eagle Hill Cemetery, to no avail, while Sam rants at Dave Woodard, one moment wanting to hope his daughter is alive, another moment giving up and believing she's dead. The thought that someone might have stolen her, dead or alive, is grossing everyone out. Sam is so upset, he refuses to take the tranquilizers Dave orders him to take, and knocks them out of his hand, he's so upset.
Maggie wanders through the woods, wide-eyed, but looking less haggard and certainly more alive than she did the last time we saw her.
Everyone decides Willie might know something; perhaps he was the one who made the call to Vicki about Maggie being in the cemetery! Joe and Burke leave Sam with Dave and head to the Old House. They only find Barnabas there, who tells them Willie is in Bangor and coolly (he is SO cool, isn't he?) wonders why they think Willie is involved in this Maggie disappearance mess.
He quickly offers an alibi to the two men--Willie came directly back to the Old House after calling on Sam that night, and had no time at all to make any phone calls along the way. And he, Barnabas, has no phone, so... Burke hears a floorboard creaking and Barnabas dismisses it as the normal noise an old house makes. After he's sure the Burke and Joe are gone, Barnabas calls to Maggie to come out. She seemingly floats towards him as he assures her he's safe there with her.
Barnabas' plan comes out as he escorts Maggie into Josette's room, which has been lovingly and painstakingly refurbished. "This is your room," he tells her, "just as you left it long, long ago." He calls her Josette and says that will be her name from now on. She repeats the name, wonderingly, questioningly, and sits down to gaze at her reflection in the vanity mirror. They are going to be together from now on, he assures her, and enjoy the happiness they were denied so long ago. He's forgiven Josette for killing herself, for taking herself away from him. He stares at the portrait of Josette hanging above the mantle and back to Maggie. He wanted to give her life, not death, and now they will have another chance together. She takes his hand. "Life," she repeats in a childlike voice. He escorts her to a love seat and after she is seated, kneels in front of her like a man proposing.
They will be together, never again separated, he vows. "You are my Josette." She pulls her hand from his grasp just as he's about to kiss it, as though emerging from her trance for just a moment. He shows her a magnificent white wedding gown and reminds her that it was hers. She'll be his bride. When Maggie starts to cry, he begs, "Please, no tears."--only happiness from now on. He gives her a music box that he brought from the Orient--it has traveled the centuries with him. Listen to the past and look to the future he bids her, playing the pretty melody (which I always preferred to the one that came after). Maggie raptly listens and we see her face segue into Josette's portrait as the music plays.
NOTES: Brainwashing Maggie into becoming Josette-what a cool concept! To me, a budding teenager, this seemed the epitome of romantic, if a little sick--he was drinking her blood, convincing her she was his long-lost dead love. Of course, he was crazy, but still, it stirred my blood and made me want him to succeed, even if I knew it was totally wrong.
Frid's performance is marvelous, deliriously loony and romantic, and KLS is perfect as the victim slipping into and out of her Josette personage.
I think these episodes are absolutely top notch!
Love, Robin
