295 - (Alexandra Moltke) - We have mourned and wept for those who have passed on. Out tears have dried, but our hearts are scarred indelibly. Life continues, although our memory serves to freshen the wounds. We are vulnerable, therefore, to the great shock that a sudden return can bring.
(This was DS' first color episode.)
The extras in the Blue Whale stare is disbelief as Burke holds Maggie in his lap and Barnabas complains that a hoax was apparently perpetrated against all of them. Maggie awakens, thinks she recognizes Vicki and asks about the little girl, "My very best friend," who brought her there. Barnabas, eager to be anywhere else, volunteers to go look for the child, but returns to report that no one was out there.
Maggie starts to mutter about a "room, special room", then something about her father, when Barnabas interrupts and says he'll go get Sam while they take her to Dr. Woodard. Maggie stares at Barnabas and says she knows that face, but Vicki tells her she knows them all.
In his office, Dave gives Maggie a pill. She's starting to slowly remember; she says she vaguely recognizes Dave. He observes that she's in good physical condition and says her memory loss was temporary.
She's beginning to remember more and more, faster and faster. Burke and Dave leave Vicki alone with Maggie. Burke is angry that Dave, Sam and Joe knew all along that Maggie was alive and didn't tell him and Vicki. Dave assures him they did it to keep Maggie safe, and now they only hope she remembers who kidnapped her before he learns she's alive and comes after her again.
Maggie tells Vicki she remembers a special room, a scent, and music. Uh oh!
Barnabas races to Collinwood, frantic. He accuses Julia of betrayal--Maggie has shown up and her memory is fast coming back!
He saw a glimmer of recognition on Maggie's face, and he's going to kill Julia first, then Maggie. She moves away from him, circling the entire room to escape him before the phone rings and she hastily answers it. It's Dave, Maggie's with him, remembering everything. Julia says to keep Maggie there until she gets there, clear everyone out, and not question Maggie about anything. Meanwhile, Maggie is starting to rapidly blather everything that's coming back to her--Sam, her home, Sam's painting, being held prisoner, in a room, by a man with dark, burning eyes, who wants to kill her. Dave is trying desperately to get her to swallow another sedative, to quiet her, but the words are pouring from her lips. Julia arrives just in time to prevent her from naming her kidnapper. She feigns gladness over Maggie's returning memory and sends Dave out of the room, to his consternation. She takes a medallion out of her blouse and shows it to Maggie, who reveals to Julia that Barnabas Collins in one of the undead and did horrible things to her.
Julia tells her it's necessary to "stabilize" her memory.
When Dave comes back into the room, he finds Maggie radiant, jubilant, remembering everything--except the vitally important weeks during which she was missing. Dave is stunned. Julia allows herself a small, triumphant grin--pulled that one out of the fire!
296 - (Grayson Hall) - It will soon be dawn at Collinwood. Soon faint rays of light will appear on the horizon, dispelling the darkness. One girl has known what it is to live in darkness, what it is to find a moment of light, only to be plunged into darkness again. For one who seems to be her friend has hypnotized her, and a moment of truth which could have been her salvation has been denied her.
This ep, in black and white kinescope, concerned everyone's reaction to Maggie's memory loss. Julia seems to have done her hypnosis job well--Maggie doesn't remember either Julia herself or her stint at Windcliff! Maggie is not pleased to learn that she disappeared over a month ago, it's explained how they spread the word that she was dead as a safety precaution. The last thing Maggie can recall is going to bed at home.
Alone in the waiting area, Dave tells Julia he's puzzled--he was sure Maggie was remembering everything, including the identity of the man who kidnapped her.
Well, if she was, she repressed it immediately, Julia says. C'est la vie!
Sam hugs his daughter enthusiastically, grateful she's physically well, but even he, concerned that her kidnapper might return to finish what he started, he does try his best to jog her memory by replaying the last night Maggie remembers.
She does remember a terrible dream about a man in her room and is trying to dredge up his face, but Sam pushes her past the point of remembering. . ..
Julia wants to ship Maggie right back to Windcliff, but Sam, Dave and Maggie herself protest, and Sam's set to have the sheriff post guards around his house. Julia will remain Maggie's doctor, but she has to pretend Julia is a writer, not a doctor, when Julia comes over to examine her. She will use the excuse that she's writing about Sam's paintings to cover her patient-doctor visits to Maggie. Dave is worried about Maggie, but Julia assures him that she's safer than he realizes, and he'll completely understand it someday soon.
Maggie returns to the cottage with Sam, remarking that she feels as if she's been on a long trip someplace and can't remember where. She opens the French doors and is scared when she sees a man's shadow, but Sam assures her it's just a deputy placed there to guard her. Sam answers a knock at the door--it's Joe. He hesitantly enters Maggie's room and asks if she remembers him. Of course, she says, what a silly question! They hug, and she starts to cry--she's so frustrated and fearful about what happened to her!
The only explanation is that you were kidnapped, he says, and she wonders who could have done it. He's ecstatic she remembered him this time, and she's upset once again by her total loss of memory. She can't believe there was actually a time she didn't recognize him. Was she crazy? No, just ill, soothes Joe--they'll keep her safe, no matter what.
Old House - Julia triumphantly tells Barnabas, who's been nervously pacing and worrying, that, using hypnosis, she wiped Maggie's memory clean--she doesn't remember him and probably never will. That "probably" unnerves Barnabas, but Julia promises him she will renew the hypnosis as needed--if he cooperates.
She'll do anything to make this experiment happen, short of taking a life, and Maggie, memory gone, can't hurt him. Julia coolly pushes a cigarette in a holder, then lights it in Barnabas' candelabra. He has no choice but to cooperate, she says, and leaves him, agreeing with her, like she's a queen and he a lowly subject. After she's gone, however, he realizes it's dawn. Maggie Evans is safe for now, he says, but, "Tomorrow night, you must die."
Maggie has crawled into bed, exhausted. Dogs howl outside. She finds Sarah's doll on her night table and wonders where it came from. It seems to give her a measure of comfort, and she places it back on the night table and goes to sleep.
NOTES: How cool is Julia? I love that lighting her ciggy in the candelabra act, it shows her one-upsmanship over him--this time! Poor Barnabas seems close to having a coronary (can a vampire even have one?), but Julia assures him everything is under control--yet he still plans to kill Maggie! He never, ever feels secure, does he?
Love, Robin
