347 - (Alexandra Moltke) - Deepest night lies over all of Collinwood, and sleep has given quiet rest to all who live there-but there is a house where night and sleep are not companions, and the dark hours are the hours of action.
Old House lab - Julia reiterates that speeding up the treatments goes against her best judgment and her principles. Barnabas insists she gave THOSE up a long time ago. Barnabas sits in the chair that resembles an electric chair. Julia turns on the equipment, then begins to slowly drop the dry ice into the bubbling vat. Julia fiddles with the controls and brings the treatment to an end, then unstraps Barnabas from the chair. At first, he feels numbness, then that goes away. Thrilled, excited, he feels himself changing, the humanity rushing through his blood. Julia, more cautious, is concerned. Rashly, he's all set to watch the sun rise, but she advises against it--it could destroy him. She wants him to sit down so she can conduct some tests, but he's too enervated. Only when Julia, exasperated, says, "Go ahead, destroy yourself!" does he calm down. He decides he'll wait until tomorrow for that sunrise, and he's going to watch it with Vicki--the sun will rise on the two of them--together! Julia nearly looks apoplectic from jealousy.
Collinwood, drawing room - Carolyn tells Vicki she's concerned about all these late nights she's been having, waiting by the phone for word of Burke. Carolyn goes for coffee, which gives Julia the opportunity to bring out a crystal, supposedly from the chandelier in the West Wing, to show Vicki.
She hypnotizes the young girl with the swirling crystal held over a lamp, then takes Vicki on a little walk to the Old House. Vicki is surprised to see a coffin down there, and frightened when Julia orders her to open it. When Vicki does, she turns away at the sight of the green-faced Barnabas slumbering inside.
"You will never forget and never remember" this incident, intones Julia. Julia leads Vicki back to Collinwood and awakens her. Carolyn, forced to make the coffee herself because Mrs. Johnson was sick, comes in at that moment with a tray laden with coffee cups. She tells them to enjoy the coffee themselves, she has to help her mother. (That coffee must have taken a looooong time to allow Julia her trip to and from the Old House.) Vicki asks Julia if she can look at the crystal again, and starts to mention that she wants to show it to Barnabas-but the name seems to make her uncomfortable. "If the crystal will make Barnabas happy, by all means," says Julia, smiling smugly.
When Barnabas comes to see Vicki a short while later, she seems to flinch in his presence, not wanting to be there with him. Vicki, uneasy, shows him the crystal Julia found--she wants the three of them to see if it matches the West Wing chandelier. Barnabas brings up her unpleasant association with Widows' Hill and suggests that they form some new, happy memories of the cliff. Why don't they watch the sunrise over Widows' Hill, that very morning?
Vicki doesn't answer at first, then says, sure, why not, dawn is her favorite time of day. Mine, too, says Barn (LOL!) She notices that something's wrong with his hand, and when he looks at it, he's horrified. He injured it, he says hastily, getting up to leave. He rushes out, muttering they'll have to postpone their date to watch the sunrise, leaving her in mid sentence. "Barnabas," she murmurs.
Barnabas is filled with bitter irony for Julia when he hastens into the lab, where she's sitting in the experiment chair. "Look closely," he commands her, holding out his ugly, aging hand. "The hand of a very, very old man."
Julia gazes at his hand and gasps in horror.
NOTES: Tomorrow we'll see a fantastic makeup job, and soon Carolyn will. . .help her cousin in ways she probably never imagined.
Barnabas' cruelty towards Julia continues to escalate, and he KNOWS she cares about him and is using it as a club against him. As for her, such daring it foolhardy. It's almost like she wants him to kill her, and perhaps at this moment in time, having helped murder Dave and feeling the pangs of unrequited love, perhaps she does.
348 - (Joan Bennett) - Dawn has not yet come to Collinwood. The earth hovers between night and day as though terrified to bring into being the days and nights that lie ahead. But time is indifferent to terror, and the earth obeys the primeval commands, creating nights and days-creating a moment when fear no longer stalks, but stops to strike.
In Carolyn's pretty bedroom, where she lay asleep, false lashes and make-up perfect, wearing a lovely pastel nightie, David came in to touch her, conducting a death check. Startled to see him, she screams when he touches her. Although she denies that anyone is trying to hurt her, it appears David had a premonition about her safety, and he gives her the toy soldier Sarah gave him for protection, and begs her to take it.
When Liz comes in, Carolyn basically shushes all her questions and sends David to bed after thanking and kissing him. They agree that David has gotten worse, and Carolyn insists her mother see that, for his own good, David must be sent away. Love isn't always enough, says Carolyn gently. Both women are clearly distraught over David's distance. Holding the soldier, Carolyn sadly comments she wishes she had some protection to offer David.
Barnabas sits in the lab chair, gazing somberly at his disfigured hand. Julia reminds him it's almost coffin time and that watching-the-sunrise thing would be unwise. He speaks of how slowly times passes for most men, but not for him--"it's a rushing, howling wind, withering me in one relentless blast." He's sitting there, watching time work him over.
Julia expresses hope that it's a temporary reaction, and blames him for rushing the treatment. He grabs her hands, then her throat, warning her to be careful, and she is clearly grossed out by his touch. Fearing he will reach his true age, then turn to dust, Barnabas tells her to fix it--his powers go beyond the grave, and her choice is either to give him life or face worse than death herself. He sure does know how to threaten a person! He offers his good hand to Julia to show she is in agreement, and she accepts, it slowly, cringing, but he covers it with his withered hand just to freak her out, I'm sure.
Carolyn, dusting her room, is holding the soldier when she hears Sarah's flute--then the ghost girl herself appears! Sarah begs them not to send David away; she'll be lonely! She comes right out and tells Carolyn she's a ghost.
Carolyn muses that if David is telling the truth about HER, then. . .she starts to ask about Barnabas, but Liz interrupts by knocking at the door, sending Sarah fleeing wherever it is that ghosts go at such times. Carolyn tells her mother she was talking to herself, but reverses her opinion about sending David away. She wants to check something out, and she can't say what it is, but asks Liz to not send David away for a day or two, and to trust her, for David's sake.
When she hears Sarah's lilting flute music filling the air, Carolyn decides she made the right decision.
Carolyn goes to David's room to return the soldier and is surprised when, after she reveals she saw Sarah, he becomes very upset.
He didn't WANT her to see Sarah! Dr. Woodard did, and he died! Carolyn suggests he might be telling the truth about the rest. Dr. Woodard believed him, and now he's dead, says David, so he doesn't want Carolyn to believe him, hell, no! He lied about everything, even Sarah! Carolyn hugs him tightly and promises she'll help him.
Julia, preparing a treatment she hopes will reverse the aging, tells Barnabas she has given him her life, done everything she could to help him. He thinks this sounds like a farewell, and he assures her farewells aren't possible. She wishes him only good, which he cruelly disputes--her interests were selfish! He's ready, and suggests she be equally prepared. She sets the equipment in motion and begins feeding dry ice into the vat. She checks Barnabas, then fiddles with the dials.
When she turns around to look at him, she gasps in horror. We see him only from the back, but his hair has gone snow-white!
NOTES: So much happened in this episode, with Barnabas' terrible threats and David's fear for his cousin's safety amongst the paramount concerns. David is so terrified, he now is claiming he lied about everything, just to prevent harm from coming to Carolyn.
Love, Robin
