658 - (Vince O-Brien) - On this night, not far away from the great house at Collinwoood, one man who lived through the most hideous terror that exists--the terror of madness, for he has witnessed something so monstrous that he may dwell forever in the dark and frightening realm of insanity.
Chris answers his phone--it's Julia, and she's at the Collinsport Jail with Sheriff Patterson. Joe has been locked in a cell, and Julia wants Chris to come immediately--Joe keeps talking about you, incoherently, she says, and you might be the only one who can quiet him down--Chris' is the only name Joe has mentioned. Chris agrees to come ASAP.
Joe sits in the cell, staring straight ahead. Patterson leads Julia into Joe's cell. I can't stay here, Joe tells Julia--I have to go, tell everyone. What? asks Julia. Chris, says Joe, left him in his room, don't know where he is--gotta find him. Julia assures him she did find Chris. Joe says he must get Amy out of Collinwood, she must never see it--ever! cries Joe wildly. Julia asks for clarification, and Joe says Amy isn't the only one in danger--everyone is--no, babbles Joe, no one should ever see it. Julia gently tells him he's with friends, no danger here now. He turns away from her. She asks him if he knows who she is, and if he's afraid of her. He shakes his head, but turns away when she asks him what he saw. He asks where Maggie is. At Collinwood, says Julia.
Joe, sounding quite insane, insists he'll take her and Amy away, too, far away--safe, someplace safe. Julia asks why they aren't safe here. Joe reaches out for the Sheriff, asking, Chris, where is he? They're at Collinwood, I'll go get them, says Patterson. Of course he will, says Julia. Joe begins to scream, "NO, GOTTA GET THEM AWAY FROM THERE!" Patterson pushes Joe back onto the bed in the cell. Joe explains that he had Amy in his arms and somebody stopped him, wouldn't let him. Joe gnaws on a fingernail, realizing it was Julia who stopped him. Why? I didn't, she says, Amy didn't want to go with you. Because she doesn't know, insists Joe, but he can't explain further. Julia advises the sheriff to let Joe keep on talking. Joe mutters how everything's happened to her, she's such a sweet little kid, innocent, good, she loves everybody--oh, why doesn't anything good happen to her, huh? He poses this question to both of them. The sheriff wants to leave Joe alone, but Joe looks at Patterson and sees the wolf's face. Joe's face shakes with his terror, he grits his teeth. NO! It isn't you--you're not the one--I know who it is, I know! And Joe bursts into a mixture of tears and laughter--"You thought you could fool me, but you can't, because I know." Julia agrees with the sheriff not to let it go on. Chris' voice is heard. Joe is silent. Julia doesn't want to leave Joe and Chris alone, but she asks Chris to speak to his cousin. Chris greets Joe, who stares at him, terrified, and tells them to keep him away! Chris tries to come closer, but Joe backs away, threatening to use the gun--"I'll kill you!" screams Joe, trying to throttle Chris. Both Julia and the sheriff jump into the fray.
Julia asks the men to hold Joe steady and gives him an injection to help him sleep. Joe protests--I don't want to sleep, the dreams are awful--don't put me to sleep, he begs, kill me, but don't put me to sleep. Julia injects him and Patterson and Chris help Joe lie down on the bed. Patterson tells Chris he wants to ask him some questions. They leave the cell, Julia following. She tells the sheriff she'll be back in a moment. Chris tells Patterson he doesn't know much. Patterson says Joe went off the deep end after seeing something terrifying. Joe's always been normal and easygoing, he never saw him carry on like this--he's convinced himself the whole town is in danger. Chris asks what kind, but Patterson doesn't know--can Chris shed any light? No, says Chris evasively. Patterson says Joe was anxious to see him above all others. Joe flails in his sleep. Chris says Joe didn't seem to know who I was. Patterson asks about Joe's reference to "still having the gun." Chris doesn't know. There was no gun on him when he came in, says Patterson.
Joe dreams. He wakes up in the cell, darkness is all around him, holding Chris' bloody shirt in his hands. He walks and finds himself back in Chris' room, remembering Chris telling him to get out when it happens. Chris tried to get him out, but Joe insisted on staying. Pain wracks Chris' body. He tells him not to forget the gun--pick it up! Point it right at him. Joe notes it's loaded. Chris says he must use it, but Joe doesn't want to listen. Use it, begs Chris--promise to do what I can't during the day. Chris screams in pain. Joe hollers that he doesn't want to see it again.
He tells Chris he'll be all right, then turns and sees the werewolf sitting in the chair, growling at him. Joe fires, but the werewolf comes at him. "Amy!" says Joe--he must get her to safety, keep her away from Chris, she must never know! Joe goes to Collinwood, but the werewolf meets him on the landing, then leaps over. The two pursue each other, and Julia is standing there with a hypo ready, telling him it's all right, he's very tired. Joe warns her to get out, he'll kill her. No, she says, no one will hurt him. He'll kill both of them, he tells her, but the werewolf is gone--he was right here, Joe insists to Julia. What did you think you saw? she asks. He tells her he did see it, he was there when it happened to Chris--not Chris, the monster he becomes. . .she doesn't believe him. She tries to give him a shot, and he backs away--he doesn't want to sleep. He runs out the front door to the cemetery, where he goes into the mausoleum and finds himself face to face with Tom Jennings, the grinning vampire!
Chris asks if he's going to say hello. Joe asks how he got in. Through the door, says Chris. I saw you change, Joe says, in your room, don't you remember? Chris heartily invites him to sit down, but Joe refuses--how could you be there when I just saw you at Collinwood?--I know what I saw. Chris is puzzled. Joe tells him he knows what he saw at Collinwood. Chris tells him he hasn't been at Collinwood in a long time--really, he hasn't! He advances toward Joe, who asks if he remembers him coming to his room, giving him the gun, asking him to shoot him. "Shoot me?" asks Chris incredulously, I would surely remember something like that! Joe is confused. Chris tells him it never happened. Joe sits down on one of the coffins and says perhaps none of it happened--maybe it was all just a nightmare. Chris doesn't know, but it was obviously frightening. Joe figures it started the night at Maggie's house, when he was attacked. This shocks Chris--who attacked you? he asks Joe. I don't know, says Joe, but it was an animal that walked like a man--I struggled with it, ripped off part of its shirt, and matched one of yours to it--when I went to show it to you, you turned into a wolf. Chris says that WAS a bad dream, he's the same as he ever was. Joe asks why he's in the mausoleum, but Chris observes he's still trembling and is surprised he'd ask that. Chris says he's ALWAYS out at night, he knows that. Joe doesn't know that, he was in his room the previous two nights at the Collinsport Inn. Ah, says Chris, I see, maybe you didn't have a nightmare after all. . .it's just a simple case of mistaken identity. Chris laughs--you always did have trouble telling "us brothers" apart. Joe stares, thinks.
"I'm not Chris, I'm Tom."--oh, no, says Joe, it can't be, you're dead. "Not at night, Joe," says Tom reasonably--"Only during the day." Joe backs away, terrified, ordering Tom to stay away from him. Tom exposes his fangs, about to strike. Joe races from the tomb only to run into werewolf Chris. Joe cries out. Caught between one brother baring fangs and the other about to slash him to pieces, Joe screams and screams, covering his face, yelling, "NO!, NO! NO!"
(One of DS' most compelling and scary nightmares, ever. I had nightmares myself after it.)
Joe awakens in his cell to find that Julia, Chris and Patterson have encased him in a straitjacket. Julia doesn't understand why the shot didn't keep Joe asleep--the dream he had was more powerful than the drug--I'm taking Joe to Windcliff in the morning. She tells Chris to go home, but he wants to stay with his cousin he's taken away. Julia tells him not to take it so hard--there was nothing he could have done.
Chris knows better. He stares at his cousin, whose face is an open-mouthed rictus of sheer horror. He knows better, all right.
NOTES: Very powerful. I always liked Crothers and missed him from DS. He turned in a bravura performance in this episode, then went on to an illustrious soap opera career and a too-young death. Don Briscoe performed both Tom and Chris so beautifully, it was like watching two completely different people.
659 - (Nancy Barrett) - The morning of a new day at Collinwood--plans have been made to take two children away on an extended trip. But there are unseen and evil forces at work within the great house, forces that have possessed both children and decreed that they shall never leave Collinwood.
Amy and David converse in the cemetery. It's 10:45 in the morning. Barnabas heads downstairs and into the drawing room. Julia comes in and explains to Barnabas that she took Joe to Windcliff early this morning--he had to be taken in a straitjacket after having a complete mental breakdown. She has no idea what caused it, or if it's hopeless, she says, but she spent most of the night at the jail with him--Joe had had a terrifying, destructive experience, but couldn't talk about it; he was completely irrational. They agree to tell Maggie about it later, after Julia gets some rest. Barnabas hesitantly tells her he must keep the children at Collinwood; he believes Vicki needs him. Julia is incredulous--Vicki is gone! No, says Barnabas, last night she sent me a message--from the past!
Julia examines the note Barnabas assumes is from Vicki. He explains how the note appeared in the music box after it began to play by itself. Julia doesn't see the connection to Vicki, who isn't a spirit sending cryptic messages.
Barnabas stubbornly insists Vicki needs him, but she tries to reason with him, touching his arm. Vicki has gone to the past to stay, she insists, and couldn't contact you. Barnabas can't comprehend that Vicki might be able to send him a message if she was able to traverse time before. Julia asks, "You refuse to give her up, don't you?" Barnabas pretends not to know what she means, but Julia says he WANTS to believe Vicki sent it--you haven't an ounce of proof! Barnabas insists he doesn't need proof. Julia suggests is might be a joke, and the handwriting isn't Vicki's, nor is her name mentioned in the message. Why was it in Vicki's room? demands Barnabas, and who did send it? Julia doesn't know, and advises him to forget it--your responsibility is to David and Amy, and this flimsy evidence doesn't change that. Barnabas supposes she's right, reluctantly. He'll pack and they will leave by the end of the day. Julia thinks a Boston holiday would benefit Barnabas as well as the kids. He wants to go check on Carolyn, who's been hanging out at the mausoleum all day with Liz. Julia heads upstairs, looking helpless.
Carolyn, hair pulled back severely, walks around her mother's casket. Barnabas enters and asks her to come home with him. Carolyn refuses--I want to stay with my mother.
There's nothing you can do, protests Barnabas, who hasn't contacted Roger yet. Barnabas asks her to come to Boston with them, just for a few days. Out of the question, she says, I can't leave now, even if I wanted to. Barnabas hates to leave her there alone. I won't be alone, she assures him, you're forgetting about Liz. She's dead, says Barnabas, and they argue about that. Carolyn insists Liz is still alive and she will stay at Collinwood until she's with them again.
Amy and David play jacks in David's room. Julia enters and asks if they're packed and ready to leave. They are surprised, but hide it. You're going soon, says Julia. Amy thanks her with glittering eyes, assuring her they'll be ready. As soon as Julia leaves, David tells Amy that Quentin will be very angry with them. He shouldn't be, says Amy--we did everything we were supposed to do. We failed at keeping Barnabas at Collinwood, says David. We tried, Amy points out. We've got to try again, says David--I'll have to ask Quentin. There isn't time, insists Amy, we'll just go tell Quentin we're going away and there's nothing he can do to stop us.
Carolyn gazes out the window at Collinwood. Barnabas says he doesn't know how she'll take care of this enormous house herself. Carolyn asks him to stop worrying about her, but he reminds her he promised Roger he'd look after everyone. I don't need looking after, Carolyn insists. He touches her shoulder gently--I promise to return after putting the kids in school in Boston. David and Amy bounce downstairs, David carrying a camera. He wants to take a photo of Carolyn and Barnabas, David says. Amy begs them to agree. David suggests taking the photo outside. They head out, where Barnabas and Carolyn pose in front of the door, standing together, Carolyn holding Barnabas' arm. David takes the picture. Barnabas humorously asks for a print; David promises extra copies. Barnabas leaves to go to the Old House to pack. Carolyn leads the kids back into the house. Julia is heading downstairs and the kids tell her how excited they are about the trip. David and Amy go upstairs to develop the photos. Julia comments on how well the children get along. Carolyn agrees in a way that sounds like it disturbs her. Julia comments about it. Carolyn wonders if the change in David has been for the better; he sometimes seems remote, like he's far away, and disturbing. Julia says she feels David's been happier since Amy came. Harry exits the servants' quarters and tells her he'll be taking Barnabas and the children to the train station--he's going to get the car. She orders him to bring down the kids' bags, and he agrees calling her Miss Collins in a very snippy manner.
David and Amy are in his darkroom, developing his photos. ((Shouldn't a darkroom be dark?) He tells her all his photos turn out well, and she asks about the one of Carolyn and Barnabas. David spots what appears to be another person in the photo, but Amy asks how could there be? It's very faint, like an outline, says David, but they can't figure out who it is. Maybe Quentin caused it, suggests Amy.
David points out he wouldn't need their help if he could do such things. Amy can't think of another explanation. David dubs it a "freak photograph." If Quentin did do it, perhaps he has more instructions for us, suggests Amy, and they agree to go find out. Amy picks up the telephone and asks for Quentin--he's there! She listens. She says she understands and will talk to David. Quentin is just as puzzled as they--he had nothing to do with it. Harry steps into the room, crossing his arms as if catching the kids doing something very wicked.
Amy and David survey Harry, who asks who they were speaking to on the phone. He accuses them of doing mischief, but David defensively says he was just developing photographs. "Who's Quentin?" asks Harry. Amy and David ask him if they could really be talking to someone on that phone? Amy says she was just pretending, but Harry says if she was just pretending, why the guilty expression when he came in? She feigns innocence. David says she might as well tell Harry, but Amy says they can't do that! Harry can keep a secret, says David. Amy says even if they do tell him, Harry won't believe them, and the secret will be out. They decide to tell after making him swear not to tell anyone.
David says the phone is used to talk to a spirit named Quentin, whose grave is at Eagle Hill--they're trying to find out what's bothering Quentin. It's apparent Harry feels the kids are making it all up. Amy says she knew he would never believe them. They tell Harry where their suitcases are. He orders them downstairs, Carolyn is waiting for them. David says to tell her they'll be down in a minute. Harry smirks that they should take the phone to Boston--heir spirit friend might want to talk to them long distance. He leaves. David locks his door. We must be more careful, they agree, it's a good thing he didn't believe us. (and how ironic they told Harry the truth and he took it as a lie!) What about the photo? Amy asks. We'll give Barnabas a copy, replies David. The kids grin at each other.
The clock strikes 2. Harry reports to Carolyn that he got the suitcases--I was stuck in David's room, where they were telling him a weird game they're playing--I believe they need time away from the house. I didn't ask, says Carolyn--just take the suitcases to the car. Barnabas comes in and tells Harry his luggage is by the car. He again asks Carolyn to join them, but she says she has to stay here. He understands why, but thinks she's counting on a miracle. The kids come Downstairs. David hands Carolyn the photo he developed. Carolyn shoos them into the kitchen for lunch. She picks up the photo and shows it to Barnabas. Between them in the picture is a woman hanging! "Oh my God!" mutters Barnabas, turning away. Carolyn asks what it is and how it got there. Barnabas asks where Julia is, and rushes into the drawing room to show the photo to her--David took it that morning. He points out the hanging figure in he background. It's clear to me, says Barnabas, it's Vicki--there's no longer any question, I'm sure Vicki is in trouble and needs my help. "Carolyn," he says firmly, "my plans have been changed. I'll be staying here at Collinwood."
NOTES: Nice that David has his very own darkroom. Something for the kid who has everything, right? That was a creepy photo, and since it looks like Quentin had nothing to do with it, that really must be Vicki appealing, through death, for Barnabas' help.
The kids are growing creepier with each show. Quentin is one bad dude, but not responsible for EVERYTHING bad happening at Collinwood!
Now that Barnabas has decided Vicki needs his help, what will he do to ensure she gets it? Staying at Collinwood is only the first step!
I get the feeling Carolyn senses the evil in the house, at least up to a point--and beyond her concerns for Liz returning.
Love, Robin
