503 - Willie sits in the chair at the Old House. Julia comes in and finds him looking almost catatonic. He was afraid it was Carolyn. Carolyn is missing, she reminds him. He doesn't want to talk about it. Julia says Barnabas wants him to help search for Carolyn. He can't--I want to be left alone, he insists. She realizes he's had a dream--THE dream. She knows about it, she had the same dream, as have others. It's part of a dream curse, she explains, but unless the curse is stopped, someone will die.
"Who?" asks Willie. Barnabas, reveals Julia.
Willie tells Julia his dream, biting his knuckles, his face contorted with horror. The last door held a snarling dog, and it would have ripped him to pieces. Then Willie hears the police dogs and leaps to his feet in consternation. Julia assures him they're just searching for Carolyn. Willie awakened from the dream unable to move or think of anything else. Julia tries to figure out the significance. Willie is puzzled that telling Julia didn't help him, but she says she didn't expect it to. I must find Carolyn, says Willie, but Julia says he can't tell her the dream--if he does, she will have the dream and the curse will continue--and harm will come to Barnabas. Willie doesn't want that. So Julia tells him to stay there, but Willie screams he'll go crazy if he doesn't go. Julia suggests erasing the memory of the dream. She takes her medallion and hypnotizes the terrified man.
He watches the colors, looks for the center of the light--where Willie sees a vision of Carolyn--under the ground!
Carolyn asks Adam why he brought her to this place. Her eyes look glazed, like she's had enough. She fears the roof of the root cellar will cave in--it's dangerous for both of them to be there, she cries shrilly. Doesn't he understand anything? He keeps staring at her, and she asks why, then begs him to let her go. No harm will come to him, just let her go, please! He holds out his hands, unsure of what to do or say, but when she sits down on the cot and caresses her face, she quickly runs from him. "Get away from me!" she insists, then apologizes for startling him. She didn't know he was going to touch her like that. She begs him not to hurt her. He is completely at a loss for words. He sits on the cot. Carolyn picks up a large rock and approaches Adam, intending to hit him with it. He grabs her hands, forcing her to drop the rock.
Julia, still working to hypnotize Willie, finds the center of the light. She tells him to listen carefully, and says when she snaps her fingers, he'll wake up but remember nothing about the dream. She snaps her fingers and Willie awakens. He doesn't remember what they were talking about, but he remembers seeing the medallion. He feels the same, he says--scared to death of the dream. She's upset to hear her hypnosis failed; the dream is too deeply locked in his subconscious. She asks about what he said about Carolyn in his trance, that he knew where she was. THAT he doesn't recall. Julia doesn't want to tell him what he said, but relents--he saw her under the ground, but that's probably his imagination. Willie fears Carolyn is. . .don't say it, cautions Julia, but Willie has to--suppose she's dead?
Carolyn struggles with Adam and breaks free, begging him not to kill her. She sobs, and Adam helplessly approaches her, caressing her blonde tresses gently, then her face. She realizes he doesn't intend her harm, he's trying to comfort her. How strange--at times he's so frightening, but really very gentle, she says. He takes his hands away, and she tells him she doesn't mind. She takes one of his huge hands and places it back on her face. She likes him, she says, wants them to be friends. He repeats, "Friend!", smiling, and Carolyn says she wants them to be friends. Friends protect each other, she says, they must protect each other--he must take her back to Collinwood.
"Friend. . .music!" he says. She again asks to go home, promising him food. She's pleased he knows that word. Take me back, she sobs. He repeats friend and food, then opens the door. Carolyn thinks he's letting her go, but when she tries to walk out, he pulls her back. She falls and smacks her head on a rock and falls to the ground, unconscious. Adam caresses her hair, trying to revive her, crying, "Friend! Food!" He stands, terribly upset, and leaves the root cellar, closing the door behind him and bracing it shut with a rock. Sound and pushing don't go together here, but that's DS for you!) Adam leaves Carolyn alone in the root cellar and disappears into the sunshine.
Back at the Old House, Julia paces and Willie frets. There's a knock at the door. It's the sheriff, who wants to see Barnabas, but says he wants to speak to Willie, too. They haven't found Carolyn yet, he says. Julia tells the sheriff Barnabas isn't there, and she wonders what he expects to learn about the kidnapping. The sheriff remarks that she spends a great deal of her time there, and Willie works there, so they should know things. The maniac seems to have a connection to the Old House; Mrs. Stoddard met him once, in the woods--perhaps he was coming from this house? That's ridiculous, says Julia, but the sheriff isn't so sure. He was a prowler wandering through the woods, suggests Julia. Roger told the sheriff the maniac seems to know Barnabas, said his name. Julia heard about that, but is mystified about it. Barnabas doesn't know anything about the man, either. The sheriff goes to Willie, who nervously says he knows nothing. Julia says Willie's been having nightmares, and it isn't his questions that are upsetting Willie. Willie hears the dogs and asks how many they have. A dozen dogs, three dozen men, and if he's out there, they'll get him, says the sheriff.
Adam lingers by the Old House columns, scared. Willie spots him and yells. Adam is staring in the window and the sheriff says he fits Mrs. Stoddard's description exactly. Adam runs off, and the sheriff runs outside. "Stop or I'll shoot!" he shouts, and fires off a shot. Willie and Julia stare at each other, worried.
The sheriff returns--the man has been captured and his deputies are taking him to jail. Julia's glad he isn't dead, whoever he is. (Tell me this doesn't sound to the sheriff like an odd reaction.) The sheriff says the man's strength is superhuman--it took 20 men to subdue him. They must him to reveal where he took Carolyn, but he couldn't--or wouldn't--tell them. Willie says they must keep looking for her. They haven't given up the search, says the sheriff, but in the meantime, this man, why did he come to the Old House?
Julia has no idea, and Willie doesn't, either, but the sheriff doesn't believe them--he saw the way the man looked at both of them, he knows them. Nonsense, says Julia, but the sheriff says he knows what he saw--that man recognized them. Prove it, says Julia feistily. He can't, but he has his instinct, says the sheriff. "Instinct isn't fact," retorts Julia. Julia and Willie retreat into the house, where the fearful Willie says they are going to find out about Adam, Barnabas and everything. Julia says Adam can't speak, but Willie is so jittery, he makes Julia nervous--she can't control her own fears. Willie apologizes. She understands that dream, and wishes she could help him, but she can't. Carolyn must be all right, they have to find her, she can't be dead, whispers Willie, his focus on the person to whom he must tell his dreadful dream.
Carolyn lies in the root cellar, unconscious.
NOTES: Good ep. I love Adam's interaction with Carolyn, and John Karlen turned in a superb performance as the nervous, paranoid Willie. Even if you don't like this storyline much, you have to love the little gems presented in some of these episodes.
Poor Willie! Now he's going to have that dream over and over until--unless--Carolyn is rescued--and that doesn't look very likely, does it?
504 - Drawing room, Collinwood - After wringing her hands over the silent phone, Liz sits with her head in her hands, worrying about Carolyn. Vicki sits with her.
Root cellar - Carolyn awakens, her head throbbing. She remembers the strange man who brought her here, and realizes, happily, that he's gone. She can't open the door, however, and knows he must have done something to lock her in. She grows hysterical--she can't be trapped in here! Sinking to the floor, she realizes she sure is.
Liz tells Vicki that Carolyn is dead or soon will be. Vicki argues this, wishing she could be of more help. The phone rings and Liz races to answer it. It's the sheriff--they've got the kidnaper, but he apparently isn't talking about where he's hidden Carolyn. Liz relays all this to Vicki. They've been questioning the man, who was caught in front of the Old House, endlessly, but can't get a word out of him. Liz wants to order the sheriff to release the man, who might lead them to Carolyn.
Vicki doubts they'd release him, even for her. They decide to go into town to speak to the prisoner themselves. Liz says that if the man has killed Carolyn, or hidden her somewhere she can't get out of. . .they leave.
Root cellar - Carolyn remembers saying "food" to the man, the only word he seemed to understand. She remembers that he started for the door, and she followed, thinking he was taking her home, and that's when he knocked her down. Perhaps he went for food, she muses, and will be back. She'll reason with him. He tried to comfort her once, and he did go for food. . .she thinks. If he didn't, if he just went away and left her here, she's trapped! She pushes against the door, sobbing, begging him to come back.
Adam sits in his cell, his ankle chained, absolutely miserable, as frustrated as Carolyn.
Liz and Vicki go to see Adam at the jail; apparently, Liz wasn't able to talk the sheriff into releasing the man. The deputy shows them to Adam's cell, calling him pretty. He got rambunctious, says the deputy, and he had to rough him up a little (police brutality in a small town, how nice). He calls Adam an animal, and describes him as mean. Liz greets Adam, and the deputy teases Adam by running the keys over the bars. Adam looks as if he wants to attack, and Liz wants the deputy to go--he's upsetting Adam. Just let him try something, warns the deputy, holding his gun on Adam. Liz orders him to put it away or she'll report him to the sheriff. The deputy reluctantly moves out of the line of Adam's vision, which calms the big guy. Liz speaks to Adam, asking if he can talk to her--one word? Vicki thinks he looks puzzled. Liz tells him he can trust both of them. She won? let anything happen to him--just tell them where Carolyn is. You must tell us, begs Liz. He seems frightened, notes Vicki, but Liz speaks gently to him, promising to help him, as a friend would, if he helps them find Carolyn. Adam tries to speak, but all he can say is "Friend." Vicki agrees, they are all friends. "Food," says Adam. He repeats both words, but can't respond to Liz? desperate questions. Vicki doesn't think the man knows more than a few words. Liz is depressed; they'll return to Collinwood. Adam moans, trying to get them to come back. Vicki feels his face shows pity, and that he wants to help. Sadly, Liz and Vicki leave.
Carolyn looks really spaced out, contemplating the hours that have passed, and he hasn't returned. Maybe he never will, and no one will find her. She's got to get out! If he doesn't come back, and no one finds her, she sobs, she'll die there! "Where are you?" she sobs, over and over.
Adam, frustrated, bangs his head against the wall of his cell, crying for "Friend," and "Food."
Vicki and Liz return to Collinwood, discussing Adam. Vicki found him childlike. Liz tells Vicki something she hasn't told anyone--she suspects Barnabas is connected with Adam. She hasn't mentioned it to the police because she wants to speak to Barnabas about it. She believes he knows more about Adam than he admits--Adam's only word in the woods was "Barnabas." Also, another odd thing--Willie brought her a note from Barnabas, telling her he's going away to England and that a young nephew named Adam Collins would be coming to stay, and to treat him as one of the family. This shocks Vicki. Barnabas never did go to England, and now this Adam appears. Coincidence, insists Vicki, but Liz doesn't think so. Cassandra overhears a bit of this and lets herself in just as Vicki is promising Liz to keep this to herself. Cassandra asks Liz if she's had any news of Carolyn--she's sure she will soon and will be all right. She offers her help, but Liz coolly refuses. Vicki encourages Liz to go upstairs and get some rest, and the older woman reluctantly leaves. Cassandra says she knows the man who kidnapped Carolyn has been found. Gossipy, Cassandra asks if Vicki has seen Adam--is he really big (yes, alllll over!)?Yes, says Vicki, suddenly annoyed by Cassandra's curiosity, which she claims is only because he kidnapped Carolyn.
Vicki responds coldly, and Cassandra asks about her hostility--she doesn't like her! Why, what has she done? Nothing, insists, Vicki. Cassandra is aware of the suddenness of her marriage, and it will take time for the family to accept her, but Vicki isn't a family member, why the resentment? Vicki claims she didn't know her well, but Cass accuses her of not liking her. Why? What is it, asks Cassandra, does she remind her of someone she doesn't like? There is a resemblance to someone she once knew, admits Vicki. Cassandra reminds her she isn't that person (you are too!). Beginning to cry, Cassandra says she is only a woman who loves her husband and wants to be accepted by the family. "Oh, what's the use?" demands Cassandra, and runs upstairs sobbing. Vicki looked upset, but Cassandra, grinning, walks slowly up the remainder of the staircase. "Got her!" she is probably thinking. What an award-winning performance!
Liz, dressed in a lovely pastel, multi-colored robe, comes downstairs--she couldn't sleep, she tells Vicki. Vicki tells her she thinks she misjudged Cassandra--the way she appeared so suddenly, resembling the portrait she bought, she didn't trust her, but perhaps she was wrong. Vicki describes to Liz her conversation with Cassandra; she feels guilty and sorry for her. Liz says Cassandra has a talent for making everyone feel guilty, and doesn't believe Vicki's first opinion was wrong--she doesn't trust her, either, at all.
The deputy goes to Adam's cell and asks why he looks down in the dumps--does he miss his rich lady friend, the one who treats him like dirt?--too bad. He takes out his gun and aims it as Adam, who flinches. The deputy promises to think up something real nice for him, and opens his cell, takes out his Billy club and threatens Adam with it. The grapple, the deputy pulls out his gun, and the two struggle. The deputy's cries bring another deputy to the cell, but the first idiot lies on the floor, unconscious, Adam is gone, and the bars on the cell window have been pulled apart by someone with enormous strength.
NOTES: The big guy is strong--perhaps he inherited some of Barnabas' better vampire tendencies? I do remember Barnabas doing the very same thing to a barred window in Dr. Woodard's office. Now he's escaped, and will presumably return to the pretty little blonde who's making his heart go pitty pat.
Liz has added up 2 and 2 and come up with 4, realizing there is a connection between Adam and Barnabas. It's rare she does this, but here she does.
Who'd think the cops in a small town would be so nasty? Why did the one deputy feel compelled to be so cruel to poor Adam? At least Willie has a motive!
Love, Robin
