325 - (Alexandra Moltke) - The brilliance of the moon and all of the stars in the sky over Collinwood cannot prevent the shadow of terror from visiting one of us tonight. Young David Collins has learned part of the secret behind the evil at Collinwood--and now he lives in a state of constant fear.
In the middle of the night, David comes downstairs to the foyer to stare at Barnabas' portrait. He remembers what his cousin said when he caught him in the cemetery. I don't want to go! Protests David--I want to go back to Collinwood--let me go, let me go! The foyer seems to darken. As Liz enters, David races upstairs to his room, where he calls for Sarah. I want to know what's in the mausoleum! He tells her. Hearing David calling, Vicki comes in to check on him. David insists he's fine, but clearly isn't.
Liz, getting ready to leave for the Old House, tells Vicki how frightened David is of Barnabas, and Liz wants to talk to her cousin about her nephew's fears.
Maybe Burke would be the best person to talk to David, advises Vicki. Liz concurs, and asks Vicki not to get married and leave David until this tough situation is resolved. Barnabas arrives. He's worried that the newspapers might sensationalize Willie's working at Collinwood. David seems to be afraid of you, Liz tells Barnabas--can you think of a reason why?
The vampire says he can't, but will try to find out. Perhaps David's fears are imaginary, suggests Barnabas, but Liz and Vicki disagree on that point.
Liz brings Barnabas into David's room and leaves them alone together. Barnabas asks the boy why he's afraid of him, but can't wring a straight answer out of David.
Barnabas shows David the pocket knife he found in the mausoleum's secret room. What else did Sarah tell you? Demands Barnabas--"what other secrets?--she's told you all about her family, hasn't she--about her mother and father?--and about her BROTHER?--she's told you about her brother?" No! wails David, scared of Barnabas' vehemence, she hasn't! Vicki joins them, and Barnabas says he'll finish this conversation with David some other time.
Later, restless in his sleep, David has a dream in which he recalls his conversation with Sarah in the secret room. Why would someone put an empty coffin in there? Asks David. It hasn't always been empty, she replies--there was someone in it once, but he went away. A figure dangling a glittering object confronts David in his dream,
and he runs to a metal gate. Over here, David! Exclaims Sarah, who is behind him. Who are you, really? He asks, an where are you from? Collinsport, she responds--I lived on a hill in a big, big house until was about nine--ten--and then I got sick and everyone came to see me--and they were very, very sad. Because you were sick? Asks David. Because I died, replies Sarah. Be serious, insists David. I am, she says--I died, and everyone brought me such pretty flowers. If you died, what could you be doing here now? He queries. I don't know, says Sarah--I think I'm looking for someone. She leads him down some steps into a foggy room, the cellar of the Old House. A coffin stands in the middle of the room, and its lid begins to open. Barnabas rises from inside and moves toward his sister. "Sarah, my little Sarah," he croons, "you've come back at last." Sarah, look out! Warns David--he'll get you, Sarah! Barnabas then turns toward David and backs him against a wall, his cane raised in a threatening manner.
NOTES: This was the kind of episode that gave me nightmares. The Barnabas in this episode, in this dream, who so obviously loves his sister, is also determined to silence David. I found him really frightening to a young teen, at least he was to me! Also, Sarah telling David both that the person in the coffin "went away" and that she sickened and died was also the stuff chills are made of. DS did this so well!
326 - (Alexandra Moltke) - The night brings to Collinwood an austere and lonely silence. Inside the great house this night, a child will have a dream, and for him, the dream will be a revelation of the evil that still threatens us all.
In his room, David describes his dream to Vicki. Barnabas is dead! he insists--
Sarah is a ghost--everything in my dream is real!
Barnabas returns to the Old House, where Julia sits reading in the drawing room, in a high snit--Willie is clinging to life with a leechlike tenacity, he complains--he expects someone to tell him that his servant has miraculously recovered and is writing his memoirs. (A couple of DS' funniest lines from the dour vampire.)
He also bitches about his talk with David. Julia decides that this situation requires working a bit of hypnosis on David.
Julia troops downstairs and eavesdrops in the foyer, listening to Vicki tells Liz the details of David's nightmare. Julia joins them and offers to talk to David herself. Liz is OK with it, but wants to check to make sure David is, too. Julia asks Vicki to tell her David's dream in detail.
In David's room, Liz asks her nephew if he'll consent to speaking to Miss Hoffman. He agrees, reluctant. She asks to see a drawing David has done,
and is shocked and horrified to see that it's of a coffin an a tombstone on which is written Barnabas' name.
Drawing room - Why do you think Barnabas would be in a coffin? Julia asks David. Trying to encourage him to relax, Julia urges him to concentrate on her medallion. Seeing the shiny round piece of jewelry,
he recognizes her as the unrecognizable figure holding a similar object in his dream. Terrified, David dashes from the room, calling for Vicki.
NOTES: The dream David has about Barnabas rising from his coffin and attacking him with his cane scared me spitless the first time I saw it. Vicki comes running into David's room as she hears him shouting, but when he tries to tell her Barnabas is dead some of the time and Sarah, a ghost, is dead all the time, she almost seems to be making fun of him.
Barnabas is annoyed to find Julia reading a medical journal at the Old House and irritably tells her he's had a crappy day--Willie is taking too damn long to die (here we have some of Barn's pithiest comments about Willie miraculously waking up and writing his memoirs, as well as "He clings to life with a leechlike persistence.") Nasty, nasty Barn!
He seems ready to kill Maggie, David and Willie, but Julia points out the foolhardiness of getting rid of Willie now that everyone believes he kidnapped Maggie. Julia suggests hypnotizing David, just as she did Maggie, and smugly twirls her medallion as she contemplates her certain success.
At Collinwood, Julia listens in as Vicki tells Liz about David's belief Barnabas is dead and his fear of his cousin. Liz tells Julia about David's nightmare. Julia pronounces his fear irrational and says, hey, she's had experience in child shrinkology and why doesn't she talk to the boy? Liz observes wryly that Julia's a woman of many talents.
While Liz heads upstairs to ask David about talking to Julia, the latter asks Vicki for details of his dream. Liz is appalled to find that David has drawn a coffin and a headstone with the name "Barnabas Collins" on it. She does convince him to talk to Julia, but when the good doctor gets the boy alone and finally urges him to relax a bit, he sees the glittering medallion she's twirling in front of his face, recognizes it as the one from his dream, and makes a mad dash away from Julia, calling for Vicki. Julia feigns surprise at his reaction, gripping the medallion in frustration--curses, thwarted!
Love, Robin
