610 - (Joan Bennett) - The great house at Collinwood has known many dark and sinister secrets. Now it is the scene of another one, a secret that has its origins in the late 18th century, a secret that has mysteriously transcended time and space to create a threat to the future of two young people. So deep in the supernatural is this secret that not even the young man who it concerns is aware of it-but there is one who is, a strange woman who recognizes him as someone she knew in the year 1795.
Jeff demands to know who Eve is, and she notes he responded to the name she called him--I was right, you are Peter Bradford!
It doesn't matter who I am, she says. Jeff denies being Peter. Yes you are, she says, circling him, even though you're dressed so strangely, everything else is the same. Jeff doesn't know what she's talking about. I didn't think I'd ever see you again, she says, I watched you die. He insists he's never seen her before in his life. You can't pretend you don't know me, she says. I'm not pretending, insists Jeff. You must be, counters Eve. It's a joke, he says. No, Peter, she corrects him. Don't call me that, he says, I'm Jeff Clark. Of course, she realizes, you don't recognize me, I look different--we both lived before, but you came back looking the same, and I different. Why are you at Collinwood? he asks. I don't know, says Eve, I can't remember anything but you. He orders her to go away and never come back, but she says she can't, now that she's found him again. Stop it, he orders. Why? she asks--if you don't believe me, why are you getting upset?--you needn't be.
Jeff tells her she mistook him for someone else. There could be two people in the world who look exactly the same, she agrees, but you can't convince me you aren't Peter--I don't know how or why I know you, the memories are so dim and long ago, but you're my Peter Bradford and I won't rest until we're together again. She leaves Peter madly thrusting his hands through his hair.
Vicki enters the drawing room to find Liz working on correspondence and is surprised to see her out of bed. My doctor said I could attend to routine things, says Liz. Vicki is pleased she's better. Liz considers herself lucky--everyone has been so understanding and patient. We care, Vicki reminds her. Liz asks to speak to Jeff. Vicki explains they're seeing each other again--he's coming tonight--Jeff and I are getting married--we've resolved our difficulties--we love each other and want to be together. Are you leaving Collinwood? asks Liz. We haven't set a date yet, replies Vicki--there are plans to be made. The doctor advised that I keep my mind occupied, says Liz--I want to help you plan the wedding. Vicki is pleased. Perhaps if kept busy, I can convince myself I'll be alive on your wedding day, adds Liz. Vicki objects to Liz saying this, and the older woman apologizes--even in better moments, I can't help dwelling on it. Vicki can't understand the root of Liz' fear--I know you aren't going to die.
My doctor agrees, says Liz, and yet, the other night, when I collapsed, you all thought me dead--I recovered, but the terrifying thing is, it will happen again, and when it does, I might not come to consciousness so quickly, and when I do, I'll find myself buried alive. Vicki looks somber.
Jeff paces the terrace, looking like he's choking.
Vicki joins him and apologizes for being late. She wants him to come inside so Liz can thank him for helping her the other night. Jeff says Liz doesn't need to speak to him right away--she can talk to them when they return from the movie--I don't feel like talking to anyone but you, he says. She asks what's the matter; he's acting the way he did a few weeks ago, his mind elsewhere. Tired, he says. That's what you said then! she reminds him. I'm starting a new job in a few days, he says, and I'm uptight (love that word!) about it--I let Roger down once, I don't want to do it again--I still want to see the movie. She comments that his expression isn't one of his best--but will have to do. He promises to try to improve it on the way to town, and the two of them exit through the gate. Eve pops out, looking angrily after them. When Liz comes out, she spots Eve and asks her who she's looking for? Eve doesn't answer. Liz guesses--you came to warn me that I haven't much time left--you're the angel of death! Eve looking creeped out, hurries away. Liz gazes after her.
Blair House - Nicholas doesn't look at all happy. He's rubbing his hands together, pacing. Eve returns. Nick sternly asked where she's going. Up to bed, she says, I'm tired. He demands she come in. (This red-haired "daughter" of his is such a trial!) You're doing everything to ruin my plans, he accuses. Eve doesn't understand why he's upset. I'm upset about what happened at Collinwood, and you know it, he says. Nothing happened, she lies. Nicholas knows about her fight with Carolyn. "Poor Adam," she croons sarcastically--"The minute something doesn't go his way, he comes running to Papa Nicholas!" Nicholas slaps her across the face. "I hate you!" she spits. You weren't brought here to love me, says Nick, only to follow my orders. Yes, master, she says. He orders her to drop the sarcasm. What do you want from me? asks Eve. Answer my questions, he says. She admits she fought with Adam--I don't like him and never will. You must pretend you do, says Nicholas. It isn't that easy, she retorts--he is impossible, like a spoiled child. He can be handled, says Nick, who wants to know why she left the room after fighting with Adam--and where did she go? I went outside for air, she says--Adam knew where I was and could have come to get me. Adam said you completely disappeared, says Nicholas. I was down in the garden, she says. You aren't to wander around herself, orders Nick, if someone saw you at Collinwood, it could be dangerous--no one knows about you--I don't want questions asked. I don't understand, complains Eve--why not?--I can give the right answers--I did it tonight. Someone saw you? he asks. Suppose I don't want to tell you? queries Eve. He grabs her arms and demands to know, reminding her she isn't indispensable. I know that isn't true, counters Eve--for some reason I'm very important to your plans, and you don't want anything to happen to me. No deals, he says--you're right--you are important to me, but not indispensable--who did you meet on the terrace? She asks him to answer one question for her, she deserves an answer--who was she and where did she come from before the experiment? You were no one, nothing, he says. You're lying, says Eve--I know I lived another life--there is someone I knew in another lifetime who I recognized--I want to know more about him--he loved me, though I don't know when, where or why--tell me!
Someone you knew, muses Nicholas, in another lifetime. . .that's fascinating, he says. Then it's true, I have lived before, she exults. The less she knows about that life, the better, Nicholas says--I want to know about HIM--not who he was before, but who he is now. Eve doesn't want to endanger the man, who might take her away from Adam. You're not stupid, says Nick--you know it would be foolish to let anyone take you away from Adam. What harm would it do to know about my past? asks Eve. Nicholas again asks who the man is. Jeff Clark, she replies--I know he's Peter Bradford, but I don't know how or why. Blair asks how long ago this man lived. I only know it was long ago, says Eve. If that is true, says Nick, they are one and the same--and forces are at work I don't know about. She doesn't understand; neither does Nick--I must find out. Eve says she will do anything he wants her to do, but he must tell her. Nick says he will let HER tell HIM. He has her sit at a table, turns off the lights, and assures her everything will be quite clear. He lights the candle and tells her to look into the flame. Look deeply into it, he tells her, putting an arm around her. Keep looking, deeper, deeper, until you begin to feel light and relaxed. . .deeper, deeper into the flame. . .until your mind is completely weightless and free. Tell me what you are thinking, he asks. Nothing, she says. Your mind is a void, asks Nicholas. Yes, she agrees. You will enter that void, he orders--let yourself be taken back through the flame to another time another place, long long ago, almost 200 years back, back, through the flame to the time you lived before. . . Everything is hazy, says Eve, but I see something. . .a room, I can't see it clearly, there's a figure, two figures, sitting at a desk.
Eve, wearing a white, 18th century cap, asks Peter what he's going to do. He doesn't know. You aren't going to tell them, are you? She asks. I should, says Peter, I should tell them what a vicious, crazy animal she is. I did it for us! she cries, why can't you understand? I'll never Understand, he assures her. Philippe would have kept us apart, she says desperately, he would have killed YOU! So the answer was for you to kill Philippe, says Peter--as simple as that. Yes, she says--I saw the spilling of blood for four years during the revolution, killing no longer shocks me--I killed Phillippe because we love each other. I did love you once, Peter agrees. You still do, she insists, after you recover from the shock of this. He grabs her arm and, making a fist, orders her to listen--Maybe I do feel something for you and that's the only reason I ought to turn you in to the authorities and let them hang you, but I'm going to tell them everything about you. But I'm going to give you more of a chance than you gave Philippe--you've got until tomorrow morning to get out of Collinsport. Now get out of my life--I never want to see you again-never!
Exultant, Eve returns to the present. I was right, she tells Nicholas, he IS Peter Bradford and I love him--I love him!
NOTES: Ho hum. No Barnabas, Angelique or Julia makes for two dull episodes, at least to me. This sidebar into Peter/Leona seemed far too coincidental. Peter fell for an innocent like Vicki, it's hard to believe he had a torrid romance with Danielle Roget. And when did this affair take place, anyway? Presumably before he met Vicki. Leona apparently murdered Philippe to be with Peter, and he was fine with their romance until she killed her other lover. Frankly, I find it hard to care.
I say, let's get back to some serious love bites between Angelique and Barnabas!
611 - (KLS) - The plans of many people will be changed or threatened by the events of this night, events occurring in the large old house by the ocean and in the mind of a strange young woman subjected to the spell of a mysterious man. Placed in a hypnotic trance by the flame, her eyes have looked away through a great void and into the past, seeking the true identity there of a man she has just met in the present. What she learns from this fleeting look through the flame is that a moment in the 18th century may have tragic results at Collinwood.
Having foolishly sent Eve back to learn that she loves Peter Bradford/Jeff Clark, Nicholas turns on the lights and tells her he wants her to relate exactly what she saw. It makes no difference, I was right, I found him again! she says--I care not for Adam, I'm going to be with Peter Bradford--and you can't stop her!
Proudly, Eve raises her head in defiance of Nicholas. Before you make the mistake of leaving the room, says Nicholas, you must acknowledge you could be wrong about Jeff Clark--it took place in your mind, perhaps you imagined it as you wanted to. No, Peter and Jeff are one and the same, insists Eve--I also recalled I loved Peter enough to kill for him. Philippe Cordier, guesses Nicholas, who says he knows all about her past; YOU are the one in the dark. Philippe and I came from France after the French Revolution, and I fell in love with Peter here, she says--Philippe tried to keep me away from Peter, so I knifed him to death. You weren't very nice in your other life, says Nicholas. Now I understand my urge to kill Adam, she says. An urge you will never fulfill, says Nick. You can't force me to love Adam, says Eve. Nick says you must pretend--someone as fundamentally evil as you are can do it--forget Peter, orders Nicholas--I have my ways of making you forget.
They smile at each other. I don't believe your threats, she says, if you were going to punish me, you would have done it before. Grandly, she leaves the room, running into Adam, who demands to know where she's going. She says nothing, but leaves the house in a flutter of filmy black. Adam asks Nicholas where Eve is going. Nick claims he doesn't know what's wrong with her--she said she had a headache. (already?) Adam wants to go after her, but Nick says no. She's been acting oddly, objects Adam. Nick assures him she will be herself in the morning. Adam feels she hates the place, and says the longer she stays there, the more miserable she will be. Nicholas orders Adam upstairs; he wants to think. Adam refuses to go--when are they going someplace else? They will, after they get certain things done, insists Nick, you have to wait--your scars must be taken care of. Adam doesn't care about that, he wants Eve to be happy. Nicholas promises to see to that, and Adam asks how. Nick doesn't know, but will think of something. Too late, says Adam, he wants to leave NOW. Nicholas tells him he, not Adam, makes the decisions.
Adam accuses him of talking like they belong to him--we don't. Nick apologizes, saying he has much troubling stuff on his mind. Have you changed your mind about going with us? asks Adam. No, Nick assures him. What's keeping us here? demands Adam. All right, says Nick, we'll go, but only after I've done one more thing--there will be four of us leaving--not Angelique, but Maggie Evans. This surprises Adam--are you in love with her? he asks. I want her along, Nick says, let's just say that, and as soon as I have convinced her to come with us, we will leave. Good, says Adam, Eve will be happy to hear it. They smiles at each other.
Jeff lies in his bed in his room, smoking. He answers a knock at the door--Eve! She asks if he's going to ask her in. He's not too thrilled--how did you find me? he asks. She knew the name he was using. He closes the door, trying to force her out, but she comes in, then turns on the light--we have much to discuss, she says--I know things now that I didn't when I saw you earlier. I don't want you here, he insists. I'm right about you, she says. I know who I am, insists Jeff. You don't act like it, counters Eve. I want to have you committed, he says. I know the truth, she tells him. I'm Jeff Clark--Peter Bradford died 200 years ago! He says. You do know about Bradford, she accuses--where did you hear it? Forget it, he says. She realizes he doesn't remember anything. How can I get through to you, you don't listen, he says. You're afraid I'm telling the truth, says Eve, and that you'll remember who you are. Jeff denies this--he isn't afraid of her or anything she has to say. Then listen, she says--you're being unreasonable now as then. If I let you speak, he asks, will you go away and leave me alone?
No, she says, touching his arm, now that we're together, I can never leave him. We aren't together! he bursts out, moving away from her caress--I've never seen you before in my life and never want to again. I saw you with a woman at Collinwood--who is she? demands Eve. Jeff won't tell her. She threatens to find out from the woman she saw him with--I can go to Collinwood and see her! Leave Vicki alone, Jeff commands--she's my fiancee (way to give it all away, Mr. Brilliance!) and we will be married ASAP. Eve isn't happy. I don't have very much time, do I, to find a way to convince you you once held me in your arms, told me you loved me--we were to be married! Jeff can't believe this claim! We will be together again, she vows. I love Victoria Winters and will marry her, retorts Jeff--the man you think I am died a long time ago, and people can't come back from the dead--good night. It IS possible, she insists. You're crazy, says Jeff. I was brought back from the dead to live a new life and look different, says Eve, but so were you, and you look the same. She caresses his shoulder. He tells her to get out. Unperturbed, she says she will find a way to make him remember--it will take a little time--and that marriage of yours will never take place! Jeff locks the door after her, very upset.
Maggie is at the cottage, dressed in her quilted flowered long skirt, when Nicholas pays her a visit. She's thrilled to see him--I thought you had to work tonight. I couldn't concentrate, you were on my mind, he says--I'm putting all other matters aside to get something settled with you. He sits on the sofa with her and takes her hand in his. "Maggie, will you marry me?" he asks. She seems unsure of what to say. Nicholas admits it's sudden--I might have to leave Collinsport soon, he reveals, permanently, and I want to take you with me--if you don't know how you feel, if you need time to think. . . It isn't a question of time, she says, I know how I feel about you, but I can't marry you--I'm sorry.
Nicholas is disappointed; he'd hoped for a different answer--there's nothing more to say. She feels he has a right to know why she refused him--you've been very good to me, and if circumstances were different, I would have said yes--it's Joe, I'm worried about him. Nicholas assures her he understands her feelings--but I thought you'd decided it would be better to forget about Joe. She realizes that, but after his suicide attempt last night. . . Nicholas can't believe this news. I couldn't ignore it, says Maggie--I had to go see him. Of course, agrees Nicholas, surprised to learn she visited Joe not at the hospital, but at the Old House, where he's staying with Barnabas. Maggie explains that Barnabas found Joe in the woods and brought him to Julia.
Maggie learned there was another girl; Joe kept talking of her the whole time she was with him. Nicholas carefully asks if he told her the name of the woman. No, says Maggie, but she intends to find out. Why? he asks, what good could it do? She begs him to understand--she knows it's over between her and Joe, but as long as he goes on bring troubled, she will go on being concerned. Nick looks like he wants to do something about that--badly, and quickly.
When Eve returns to Blair house, Adam calls to her and asks where she was. For a walk, she says curtly--I go where and when I please; if we are to get along at all, you'd better remember it. He tells her they will be leaving, expecting her to be pleased. When? she asks. A few days, he responds, noting she isn't happy at all. She turns away. Yes, she lies, I'm delighted. She bids him good night, leaving him standing there, puzzled. He sighs. Nicholas comes in, equally unhappy with his love life, and seems distracted when Adam asks when they are leaving. Nicholas tells him it's going to take a little longer than he thought--he can't force Maggie to leave with them--she must do it willingly, and doesn't want to yet. What will you do if she doesn't change her mind? asks Adam. She will after I attend to a certain matter, Nicholas assures him. There's a knock at the door and Nicholas orders Adam into the other room. Adam insists on knowing who it is. Harry Johnson--I sent for him to do an errand for me, replies Nicholas--we'll discuss this tomorrow. Adam demands his final decision tomorrow! He leaves.
Harry enters. Nicholas praises him for making good time--I have a job for you. He hands him a vial of poison, which he will give to someone. Harry objects. Nicholas asks Harry if he must "discipline" him. No, says Harry hastily. Go to the Old House after Barnabas is asleep, instructs Nicholas--find out which room Joe Haskell is in; there will be a medicine tray next to his bed--empty the vial into the medicine--by tomorrow morning, Joe Haskell will be dead. Harry surveys the vial in his trembling hands with disgust and horror.
NOTES: So it wasn't bad enough that Nicholas broke up Maggie and Joe; now he wants the poor young man dead and out of Maggie's life as completely as possible--so he can move in and marry her and do God knows what with her! It's weird that such a bad `un fell in love with such a good, sweet, honest person, but somehow, you'd figure he'd be reviled by someone like Maggie. I guess opposites really are attracting here!
Give Harry credit for finding it loathsome to kill a man. He may have resorted to petty thievery, but he's no killer!
Adam is stuck with such a bitch in Eve, you'd think he'd just sling her over his shoulder, cave man style, and take her to his cave and have his way with her--but she might love that! I can't in a zillion years picture her and goody two shoes Peter together. This was just stuck in the plot to keep Vicki and Jeff apart. Boring--at least to me.
Love, Robin
