Episode #247 - When hope is gone, there is nothing, and the world becomes an empty void. For one man, the setting sun indicates the beginning of a long, lonely night haunted by thoughts of his missing daughter.
Sam Evans is miserable, unable to paint, able to think only about Maggie. Sheriff Patterson stops by and says he has no news (then why stop by?),
the FBI knows zilch and it's obvious Maggie was kidnapped for reasons other than ransom. Sam laments he knows Maggie is dead. Burke stops by, and the sheriff leaves, his face sad. Burke offers to buy Sam a decent dinner and help him knock his pet peeve, pop art (blast from the past, my children of the sixties).
Burke says Sam should try to work, which gives Sam an idea--he'll go work on Barnabas' portrait to take his mind off Maggie! As he leaves, Sam grabs his pipe.
Willie, who is hammering a chair in the living room, is very reluctant to even talk to Sam, no less let him in. Willie gazes nervously upstairs, then decides it's the better two evils to let Sam take the portrait home and work on it, since he's so determined to do so. As Sam carries the painting out to the station wagon, Willie grabs the easel so he'll only have to make one trip. While they're outside, Maggie/Josette drifts downstairs, spots Sam's pipe on a nearby table, and takes it. Holding it pressed to her breast, she disappears back upstairs, missing the returning Sam and Willie by seconds. (so suspenseful!) Sam comes back in to look for his missing pipe, but it's obviously gone, so he asks Willie to keep it for him if he should find it. Willie is relieved to see Sam go, but upset when Maggie/Josette drifts downstairs. She doesn't want to stay up there, she says plaintively. He insists she do as she is told. Who am I? She asks in a child-like voice.
Josette Collins, Willie replies--did she take something? She doesn't answer. She thinks she's someone else, she says several times. Barnabas will come soon, he warns. She repeats Barnabas' name several times, then scuttles upstairs in fear.
Willie heads downstairs to await Barnabas' awakening and watches the coffin lid slowly rise. Still lying on the casket, Barnabas asks him to come closer, grabs his throat and demands to know what's up.
Willie is forced to gasp out the information that he had to let Sam in and allowed him to take the painting home with him. Barnabas pushes Willie to the floor angrily, then rises, off camera, from the coffin. He reminds Willie that they must have no visitors who might see their guest, and that he's vulnerable. "You can't ever escape me," Barnabas reminds him. Willie knows that. (Oh, he looks so sad and resigned!)
Maggie wanders downstairs again clutching the pipe. She knows she is someone else, and she has to get that pipe to it's rightful owner. So, she wanders out the unlocked door.
Cottage - Burke, pleased to see Sam working on Barnabas' portrait, brings him a ham and swiss sandwich, which Sam seems eager to eat. They discuss how Sam likes to imbue his portraits with the characteristics of the person being painted and can't figure out why Barnabas' eyes keep coming out so cruel-looking. Burke agrees that Barnabas doesn't look mean (ha!)
At the Old House, Willie tells Barnabas he's been having problems keeping Josette in her room, and Barnabas asks Willie to bring her to him. Barnabas, lighting candles, hears Willie screaming, "JOSETTE!" and turns in alarm. She's gone! They race out the door to find her (lock the house from now on, guys!)
When Burke goes to the kitchen to get coffee, Sam, working on Barn's portrait and still having trouble painting the eyes, spots Maggie outside the bay window. He calls out for Burke and they both run out to look--but she's gone!
NOTES: Really, it's amazing that a vampire and his terrified Renfield, both protecting a giant secret, are leaving the door open the way they are, but so be it--Maggie escaped and now Sam's seen her. Will this mean her salvation or destruction?
Barnabas is such a violent creature, I wonder how and why I ever felt such caring for him, but there are those moments when his self-hatred shows through (I loathe him, he says of himself when speaking to Woodard), and you can't help but realize he despises being this terrible creature and longs for his old life with Josette. So, if he can't have it for real, he creates it as best he can. It's very sad.
Will Maggie be found? Will poor Willie ever stop being pummeled by different people?
Episode #248 - A stillness hovers over Collinwood tonight, but there is no peace in the silence, for it is a silence that precedes a great storm--peace that holds the promise of terror. Far away from Collinwood, one man knew a moment of hope on this night, only to have that hope withdrawn. And despair and further confusion follow in its wake.
Poor Sam! The episode starts with him CERTAIN he's seen Maggie,
but after the Sheriff finds nothing, he is convinced it was all his imagination. She was wearing a gown from another century and looked ghostly and pale. He recalls so many details, but in the end, decides he never saw her at all. You really have to pity the grieving, confused Pop Evans.
Today, we saw the truly cruel Barnabas, and how venomous he could be when crossed. Maggie wanders into the cemetery, where, unfortunately for her, Barnabas is the one who finds her--and promptly grabs her around the throat. He drags her to the mausoleum where he opens the secret panel. "Come," he orders. She tries to run away from him, so he snatches hold of her, twists her arms and demands that she never leave him, never. "You must stay with me always, Josette" he entreats over and over. He's going to have to punish her for her attempt to leave him! She insists she wants to stay with him, and falls down sobbing on one of the coffins in the outer room. Her crying upsets him, and when he reminds her who she is,
she repeats, "I am Josette." She also repeats that they will be happy together, for eternity. He reconsiders punishing her and says they'll go back home. He's closing the secret room when he spots her gazing at Sam's pipe. He grabs her, demanding to see what she's got, and she starts screaming, "POP!" She struggles in his arms, then faints, and he carries her into the secret room. He places her in a casket (this was the infamous scene that so appalled KLS and made them wait until the end of the day to film it). She screams frantically as he closes it, and his face is the last thing she sees before the light is blotted out.
Willie later comes to release her. He helps her out of the coffin and into the outer room of the mausoleum, where she bursts into tears. Willie assures her Barnabas is gone and he, Willie, won't hurt her. He returns her to Josette's room at the Old House, encourages her to lie down on the bed and rest, and does his best to calm her down. She thinks she DREAMED she was in a coffin, but becomes hysterical when she realizes it was no dream. She's got to do what Barnabas wants, be what he wants, Willie tells her desperately, or risk more cruelty from Barnabas. She cries no at first, but when he opens Josette's music box, the tune soothes her.
Willie tells her to keep reminding herself that she's Josette and she's going to be Barnabas' bride. She seems calmer, and relaxes, repeating what he tells her.
Burke and Sam and completely demoralized when Sheriff Patterson tells them there was no sign of Maggie at all. All they saw at the cemetery was a big, ugly dog (Barnabas?)
Sam decides he was wrong in the first place--seeing Maggie was all in his imagination.
Maggie awakens with a start, listens to music box, says dreamily, "I'm Josette Collins." She sits at the vanity, sniffs the perfume, starts brushing her hair, then touches her reflection in the mirror. The truth hits her; angrily, she slams the music box closed. "I'm MAGGIE EVANS!" she says harshly, and, calling for Pop and Joe, begins to cry helplessly.
NOTES: What Barnabas did to Maggie was just horrible. For all the terrible things he does, he deserves whatever he gets, but he is clearly desperate to bring back Josette in whatever form he can. That Maggie isn't cooperating him is frustrating and infuriating him. He wants to love her, but she won't let him, and now that she's determined who she really is, his chances of success are slim.
As for Sam, you have to pity this poor father who loves and counts on his daughter so much. From a man always bothering Sam to exonerate him from his crime, Burke has become a reliable friend who wants to help in any way he can.
So who will win, Maggie or Barnabas? Can Willie ultimately save the damsel in distress? Who will save HIM?
Love, Robin
