643 - (Louis Edmonds) - Darkness envelops the walls of Collinwood. There is danger in the night, for a seance has just been held in the great house, and the spirit of a mysterious woman has spoken from beyond the grave and a new reign of terror is about to begin.
Alone, Carolyn asks Chris why he stopped the seance. I was afraid, he says, afraid for you--I didn't like what happened to you.
She doesn't believe him. You were frightened of something else, she insists. He levels with her--he doesn't know why he stopped it. Something just came over him, he felt he had to do it, he doesn't know why. Neither of them understand. She wonders who they contacted, who the woman was. He doesn't know anyone named Magda, and he doesn't want to discuss this. She suggests they talk of something else, then her face contorts. She still feels her presence, the woman, the one who contacted them during the seance. Chris looks around nervously.
"Good grief, Carolyn!" protests Chris. Don't tell me it's my imagination, she insists--she's here. How do you know? demands Chris. I can sense it. He scoffs, telling her to stop it. She accuses him of being scared, too--why did you stop the seance, what was I saying? You said something ridiculous about a curse, says Chris. Why does that upset you? She asks. I wasn't upset! Says Chris. She touches his arm--could it possibly have anything to do with you? She asks. You're going overboard, accuses Chris--stop talking of this insanity--it doesn't mean anything at all!
Amy, wearing David's robe, wakes him up--I have to speak to you, she says. He demands to know what she wants. He's angry, she says, Quentin--something's happened to make him very angry, I just know it.
He says she's making it up. We have to find out, she says, you have the telephone, we should ask him. I've been talking into the phone, with no response, he complains. Try now, she says. David calls hello into the phone, but hears nothing--then he does--breathing! Say something, asks David, but there's no talking. Amy takes the phone herself. She listens. "Yes, I understand," she says. Quentin spoke to me, says Amy, and said "she" would try to stop us--we don't know who or what. "He wants to find him--and tonight," reports Amy.
Carolyn and Chris leave the drawing room. She says she's feeling better. He promises to call in the morning, and stop by to see Amy, too. Roger comes in and gives Carolyn a kiss. I still have work to do, says Roger. Carolyn sees Chris out.
Roger goes into the drawing room and opens his briefcase on the desk. A large book falls from the piano to the floor. Roger turns and looks at it. He picks it up and opens it. He finds a piece of paper inside, a letter. He looks at it, puzzled. When Carolyn comes in, he tells her it's a letter addressed to his father, Jamison, dated 1887. He must have been a boy, muses Roger. "Dear Jamison, you must return to Collinwood, I need your help. You must intercede with Oscar. Only you can save me." They wonder what it means. It's signed "Quentin." Roger doesn't know the ancestor, who spent most of his time abroad, well. Roger describes how he found the letter in the book, which toppled from the piano. He wasn't anywhere near when it happened. They wonder how it could have fallen. Carolyn says SHE did it--Magda--she wanted them to see the letter. This name is unfamiliar to Roger, but Carolyn explains about Magda's spirit being in the house. She wanted them to see the letter--but why?
Roger and Carolyn sit before the fire. I'd like to call it nonsense, he says, the seance, the book falling, but I can't--neither of us imagined what happened tonight--what is the significance of the letter? "Stop them!" bursts out of Carolyn's mouth. She doesn't know why she said it, or what it means--it was Magda speaking through me, says Carolyn, a warning. Roger doesn't understand, but Carolyn says Magda is still there, speaking through her, warning them--someone in the house is in danger, and it could be any one of them.
Amy tells David Quentin wants them to go to the storage room, she knows that. David says she's just pretending to know. It's the only possible place, points out Amy--are you afraid? Of nothing, says David. Amy wants to find Quentin and see a real ghost. So does David. He shushes her, hearing something. Roger is heading upstairs with Carolyn, talking of making sure David is all right. David starts taking off his robe and orders Amy to hide. She hides behind the door and David hastily climbs into bed. Roger asks David if he's all right. The boy seems puzzled by the question. Roger says, "Never mind--you should be asleep," he tells his son. David says he woke up and couldn't sleep, so he decided to read. Roger tells him to get back to sleep and turns off his light, not spotting Amy hiding behind the door. She's about to sneak out when Roger steps back in, telling David if he needs him tonight, to come to him. This seems to confuse David, but he agrees. Roger leaves. Amy says it's a good thing he didn't find her, or he'd have sent her to bed--then they couldn't have any fun at all (give yourselves a few years). David says his father was acting really strangely; he never says goodnight, and this asking if he was all right business. . .Amy asks if Roger's gone to bed--we had better make sure everyone is asleep or they'll prevent us from finding Quentin. Amy is sure they'll find Quentin tonight, and she's very excited about it.
Down in the drawing room, Carolyn asks Uncle Roger why he was so concerned about David. It was just a feeling, he explains. He's all right, isn't he? she asks. Yes, he's fine, says Roger, no longer worried.
David and Amy check for sounds of others and David takes a flashlight from his desk. They head to the West Wing. David reminds her she must be real quiet, so she shouldn't speak until they are in the West Wing. She agrees. (Their hair looks the same color in the lights, reddish brown.) David tells Amy to stay close, it's going to be dark. The flashlight seemingly flies from David's hands. They're both surprised. It felt like someone took it from my hands, says David, but no one is here. He finds it on the floor and they resume heading to the West Wing. David feels a hand driving him away from the door. "It's pushing me backwards!" he cries.
The pressure disappears and they wonder what it was. Quentin did tell them someone would try to stop them, David reminds Amy--some woman, so it was probably her or her ghost. Amy is scared, and David admits to being a little frightened too--but not too scared to go on. He says she's more scared because she's a girl. (sexist little piggy!) David finds the West Wing door locked. Weird--it wasn't locked the other day. Someone locked it, says David, but there's another way into the West Wing, a secret way I know, and you must promise not to tell. She swears. Off they go. 4 AM. No one sleeps at Collinwood.
Roger and Carolyn, fully clothed, sit on the sofa. Roger suggests they head off to bed, but Carolyn doubts she'll get much sleep. He advises her to try. David and Amy have been listening outside the double doors, and scamper off when they realize Roger and Carolyn are exiting the drawing room. Roger offers her sleeping pills, but she refuses. She is exhausted, perhaps she'll sleep. He kisses her goodnight. Roger turns off the foyer lights and they both trudge upstairs.
David and Amy exit the servant's entrance and go into the drawing room. David moves a red velvet chair and opens a secret panel. He ushers her in ahead of him, leaving the chair pulled out. An unseen hand pushes it against the wall. David and Amy walk up a flight of stairs into the West Wing. David leads the way, commenting that he thought he heard something. A large old grandfather clock suddenly falls in front of them, scaring them spitless. She must have done that, says David--whoever she is, she wants us to go back! Maybe we should, suggests a frightened Amy. David insists they go on, and she asks him to take her hand. He does. They enter the storage room, still holding hands. They call to Quentin, or anyone. He isn't here, says David, disappointed. I was so sure, says Amy. David suggests they leave, but the door closes, locking them inside. David can't get it open. "Try!" cries Amy, but it won't budge. They're locked in, they realize, gazing at each other fearfully.
NOTES: I do love these kids, but it's been too long since we've seen Barnabas. Sniff.
What was trying to prevent them from going to the West Wing--Magda? Seems likely, given the little we already know about her. What are these kids heading into? Aren't they cute together?
What is Chris' connection to all this--why did he feel compelled to halt the seance?
644 - (Joan Bennett) - The great halls of Collinwood echo with the rumble of thunder. The walls are illuminated by flashes of lightning. The storm rages, as if all the elements of nature were in conflict. Inside the great house, two angry spirits are in conflict, spirits of those long since dead. One of them has lured two innocent children to a deserted storage room in the West Wing of the house. In that room, unseen terror awaits.
David holds his robe closed as he announces they are locked in--and can't get out. He's clearly scared.
Amy and David wonder if Quentin locked them in. Why doesn't he appear to us? wonders David. Perhaps it isn't time, Amy suggests. David doesn't want to be stuck here the whole night. The knowledge that ghosts only appear at night, and they might have to remain the entire night, upsets Amy. She's getting scared. Only babies get scared, says David, but Amy accuses him of being afraid, too. What if Quentin never appears and we really are locked in? stammers Amy--who will find us? David assures her they will get out somehow.
Carolyn awakens screaming. Liz and Roger rush into her room. Carolyn tells her mother and uncle she heard a woman's voice saying, "They'll die," over and over. Then she saw two little shadowy figures, children, dead--Amy and David. Roger and Liz assure her it was only a nightmare, but Carolyn says it was too vivid, and a warning. Carolyn insists Roger go check on David, and he agrees only to humor her. Carolyn gets out of bed and tells her mother something is wrong, she's sure. Liz says they shouldn't have held the seance.
Carolyn wonders why she spoke of a curse at the seance. Roger runs in and reports the kids are gone from their rooms--David likes to explore and might have taken Amy with him--they must be in the house, says Roger. Carolyn gets her robe and says she'll help search for the children. Suddenly, Carolyn sees something being written on her mirror: JAMISON. The trio watches in horror, wondering what it means. Roger doesn't know. Carolyn reaches up to touch it, but the writing disappears.
David and Amy try to get the door open, to no avail. What will we do? laments Amy, but David has no answer. They spot an old armoire, and Amy asks what's inside it. Just cobwebs, says David. Amy asks what's in the chest. David never saw it before. Perhaps it's full of toys, suggests Amy. They open it. Only old clothes, says David, unimpressed. Amy pulls out a boy's suit, and a girl's dress--who did the clothes belong to? Some Collins ancestors, says David. Amy wants to put on the clothes and play dress-up, but David thrusts the clothes back in the trunk, insisting, in his macho way, that he doesn't play such games. Amy hears the sound of sweet music. Quentin must be playing it, she says, excited, and someplace nearby!
The adults search the house, but can't find the children. The West Wing, suggests Carolyn. Roger reminds her it's locked. Carolyn says David might have found another key. True, agrees Roger, and they head for the WW.
David and Amy hear the music coming from behind a paneled wall. David knows of no room behind there, but the music gets louder. Why is Quentin playing it? It might be a message that he's behind that wall, says David--perhaps we have to go to him. We can't go through a wall, protests Amy. David knocks on the wall, listening for hollow spots. The wall isn't solid, David explains.
Roger finds the WW door locked, so they can't be in there. Carolyn thinks they should search anyway. Liz and Roger don't see the point--David can't get past a locked door. (how long have these two lived with David? Hello?
) The other two leave Carolyn behind, who tries the solidly locked door herself, then leaves.
Amy and David hear the music fading away. David muses that perhaps Quentin told them all he wanted them to know--that he's behind the wall. Why won't he appear to us? asks Amy (hey, this scene is a repeat of the one we just saw! A blooper). David tells Amy the wall is covering something up, and she wonders if Quentin is behind it. Something is, states David.
Roger, Carolyn and Liz troop downstairs. Roger is going to search the grounds, but won't let Liz--and don't phone Chris until after the kids are found, he says. Carolyn and Liz go into the drawing room and wonder why David had to go out tonight in a storm. Carolyn feels a hand pushing her toward the door. It's Magda--she must want us to go someplace, the only place in the house we haven't searched--the West Wing. Carolyn thinks they should go, and if Roger won't go with her, she'll go alone. Roger follows her, annoyed. He won't allow her to go alone. (How could they have filmed the same scene twice, or put it in twice? Weird?)
The trio of adults find the downed clock. Roger is sure it was standing last time he was up here.
David and Amy hear their elders talking. Amy is all for hiding; David wants to call to them so they'll be discovered. Amy says they must have a key, and perhaps the adults will open it, leave it unlocked, and they can get out without their ever knowing they were there. Carolyn tells Roger to check the very locked room in which the children are trapped. The kids have hidden themselves behind a trunk. The door closes behind Carolyn, Liz and Roger.
Liz says she heard a noise from down the hall. They all leave the room to have a look, and Carolyn closes the door behind her. David and Amy, fearful they were being caught, wonder how they got in--they didn't hear a key turn in the lock. David, however, finds they still can't get out--it's locked again. Amy comments she isn't surprised; it's because Quentin wants them to stay and do something for him--let him out. The wall isn't thick, and she saw something while they were exploring. She hands him a crowbar--they could perhaps open the wall with that. David says he has the strength to open the wall, even if she doesn't. She's surprised he wants to do it, then says they'll be scolded if anyone finds out. David doesn't care, he's proceeding anyway. He starts prying open the bottom panel.
Roger, Liz and Carolyn return to the drawing room. Carolyn still feels the kids are in the house. Roger wants to search the grounds. Perhaps they went to the Old House, suggests Liz. Carolyn reminds them that some force pushed her toward the West Wing--why?
David bangs on the panels, pushing one out. Behind it, they see a door, so there must be another room on that side. David doesn't want to open it, and Amy agrees that she doesn't if he doesn't. David wants to go downstairs. Amy reminds him they're locked in. What will we do? wonders David. Abruptly, the door they uncovered opens by itself.
David looks in with the flashlight, unable to see much. They aren't sure if they want to go in, but Amy does if David does. (they are so adorable together!) He volunteers to lead the way; he takes her hand and they start to go in--to face what danger?
NOTES: What are these crazy kids getting themselves into? What does Quentin want from them, and will it be in their best interests to do it?
Who was giving Carolyn these messages--Magda? Will she continue to search the West Wing until she finds the kids, who we sense are in danger?
Seems like we have two opposing forces, Magda and Quentin. One wants to save them, the other. . .well, we don't yet know what the other wants, but Magda clearly doesn't want what Quentin does.
Love, Robin
