349 - (Alexandra Moltke) - A single star is visible over Collinwood, seeming like a cold, lonely light that exists in a void unto itself. Few men can know such isolation, but there is one who has, one who has hoped his isolation might be ended, only to have that hope destroyed. And desperation and terror will follow in its wake.
Saw Dick Smith's fantastic makeup work on the ancient Barnabas today. The man definitely has/had a great talent (I don't know if he's still alive).
Julia, panicked, rushes upstairs. Barnabas follows. His face is withered, aged, ugly. The dosage he insisted on was too powerful, Julia claims. Seeing his hideous face mirrored in her eyes, he grabs her throat, then touches his aged face with ancient hands. "Oh, no!" he screams. He accuses Julia of doing this to him, revenge for spurning her feelings. She denies it. It's his own fault. He blames her, too, for not realizing that, if he became human, he could very well become his true age. She screwed up, missed the obvious! He must revert back to being a vampire, he says. No, Julia insists, he'll go on destroying and she'll be partially responsible. Yes, he grimly agrees. He orders her to go to Collinwood, break his date with Vicki and tell her he has to leave town.
She sarcastically calls that a "bitter pill to swallow" for him and opens the door to leave, but Vicki is there, and has overheard the last part of what Barnabas said! Quickly, while Julia keeps Vicki at the door, Barnabas arranges one of the high-backed chairs so he can sit in it and speak to Vicki without being seen. He explains to her that he's going away on business and isn't feeling well. He doesn't want her coming too close to him, or she might catch it. She says it doesn't seem like a good idea to go away when he's under the weather, but between Barnabas and Julia, they manage to send Vicki on her way back to Collinwood, looking uncertain. Barnabas miserably buries his face in his hands. He'd have been loathsome to Vicki, he laments, to which Julia curtly replies, "In HER eyes." He's saddened to learn from Julia that he's changed so drastically, even his own relatives wouldn't recognize him. He mocks her for her noble experiments and says he won't forgive her for dashing his hopes. (Hey, if I were Julia, I'd have hightailed it out of Collinsport by now!) Vicki can be yours, Julia says, a vicious light in her eyes. Use her to revert! Why not? Barnabas says he wants Vicki to come to him willingly, as Josette, but Julia cruelly reminds him that might not ever happen. He must be more realistic, get Vicki any way he can! She can be under his power! (You know this is jealousy talking, but why she wants to see Vicki harmed seems beyond nasty to me, especially given that she was so seemingly concerned about her safety in the past.) Barnabas is not happy that Julia is undermining his romantic plans for Vicki with her suggestion and says he just can't use Vicki, but Julia gets in his face, cunning and manipulative. She knows he's very tempted-GO FOR IT!
Carolyn knocks on Vicki's door and tells her she's going to meet Joe at the Blue Whale. Vicki, after saying she is sure Burke is still alive,
tells Carolyn about Barnabas' plans to go away and says she's wishes he didn't have to leave--she's going to miss him--he's been such a good, kind, reliable, strong friend.
Meanwhile, Julia continues to urge Barnabas to take Vicki's blood, Vicki's youth! Barn refuses again. Think it over, advises Julia craftily. "You'd be a fool not to get her now, tonight!"
Carolyn and Joe share a table and drinks at the Blue Whale. She tells him of her Sarah sighting, and explains that she believes it possible that he's telling the truth about everything else, too. Joe reminds her that Dave and Burke checked out David's amazing stories, and he believes the kid just has a wild imagination.
She coaxes him to come with her to Eagle Hill to seek out the secret room, but Joe refuses. He advises her to forget it, after all, does she really think her cousin is a sinister person? No, Carolyn says, but she doesn't seem so sure anymore...
Carolyn tells Vicki she has some doubts about Cousin Barnabas. Vicki assures Carolyn that Barnabas doesn't deserve her doubts, and looks troubled as Carolyn heads off to bed.
Barnabas ponders Julia's suggestions about Vicki and decides to go for it. He appears as a bat outside Vicki's window, then the aged Barnabas materializes in her bedroom.
He stares at the sleeping Vicki, thinking how lovely and innocent she is--he can't do it! Carolyn, hearing a sound, knocks at Vicki's door, then opens it, waking Vicki up. The two young women spot a bat hovering outside Vicki's window, squeaking and flapping. "A giant bat!" gasps Carolyn.
NOTES: Fabulous makeup, and all involved gave great performances. Tomorrow, tune in for one of DARK SHADOWS' most frightening scenes!
350 - (Grayson Hall) - A cold piercing night wind whistles around Collinwood, and its chill somehow seems to penetrate the walls of the great house-for this promises to be a night of danger-one girl may learn a terrifying secret tonight, and that knowledge could cost her her life.
How chilling can you get? Not much more so than the ending of today's second episode! Brrrrr!
David comes downstairs and again offers the toy soldier to Carolyn. She's happy to see him out of his room, a rarity these days, it seems, but assures him she doesn't need it. Over her shoulder, David spots the ancient Barnabas standing outside the window, but when he points him out to Carolyn, he's gone when she turns to look. Liz comes in and David tells her about the man--he was over 100 years old! Carolyn says she didn't see him, and Liz talks gently to David, as though handling an insane person. No one believes him anymore, laments David, and he can't prevent the bad things from happening, either. Liz and Carolyn suggest to David he saw a trick of the light, not a person, and, dejected, he goes back to his room.
Liz brings up sending David away again; it might put an end to these fantasies. Carolyn confesses to her mother that SHE saw and spoke with Sarah; if the little ghost girl is real, why not. . .the other stuff? Liz is upset to think her own daughter is having delusions, too, and asks her if she REALLY thinks Barnabas has a coffin in his basement, etc.
Carolyn admits she doesn't know about that, or about a connection between Sarah and Barnabas, but. . . David overhears Liz tell Carolyn she thinks he's mentally disturbed and must be sent away. David clutches the balustrade and hangs his head in defeat.
Barnabas returns to the Old House, where Julia is waiting for him. He went for a walk, he says, taunting her about the "success" of her noble experiment. He has to take someone's blood, he says, so he'll go attack a stranger later. Does he want it that way, Julia asks. There might be someone who'll do it willingly, accept and submit. And who might that be, Barnabas wants to know. Me, Julia offers. Take mine. He is stunned at her offer: "Why, Julia?" Her face shows delight as she murmurs, "That's the first time you've called me that." She says the offer is on the table, and she won't give him a reason.
He brings over a candle, tells her to look at his face, then grabs her hand and presses it over his aged flesh. Don't I repel you? he demands. No, she assures him--she knows what he was and will be again. He reminds her that if he does take her blood, she will no longer control her own will, and Julia smiles as though he were telling her she's the most beautiful woman in the world. She wants it--she wants him to take her blood-damn it, just TAKE her! He calls her doctor, and Julia says never to do it again. That's the whole problem, explains Barnabas, he might need her services as a doctor, other needs beyond the experiment, and while he appreciates the offer, he refuses. Is that the real reason he refused, she demands, clearly hurt and sad. She goes downstairs to her lab.
Carolyn is examining the toy soldier when David comes in and asks her if she thinks he's crazy, as Aunt Liz does. She knows he didn't imagine Sarah, Carolyn says, so perhaps all this stuff about Barnabas. . .David becomes alarmed and demands his cousin forget everything he said about Barnabas--he made it all up! Nearly hysterical, he begs her to promise not to go to the Old House. She promises, but after sending him up to bed, she proves she's his relative and heads right to the Old House (leaving the solider/protection on the hallway table). She finds the front door open (WHY?), the upstairs empty, then finds the basement door open, too (with Willie gone, doesn't anyone see to security anymore?)
She finds a coffin and is shocked. WHY is it here? What is it doing here?
She finds it empty, another puzzle. The coffin suddenly slams closed--it's Julia, demanding to know why Carolyn is there. Carolyn starts firing questions at her about the coffin, but Julia tries desperately to get Carolyn to leave--before it's too late. Barnabas' voice drifts over them: "It's already too late!" He reveals to the disbelieving Carolyn that he's her Cousin Barnabas, but she can't understand why his face is so old. "I won't be old much longer . . .scream all you want, no one will hear you. . .don't be afraid, my dear," he says, drawing her long, blonde hair away from her throat, "You know I'd never do anything to hurt my own flesh and blood!"
His fangs appear and Carolyn screams in terror as Barnabas sinks his fangs into her throat and drinks her youth-giving blood.
NOTES: This scene did give me nightmares all those years ago. It was very scary to me, yet in a perverse way, very erotic, too.
We don't see Julia's reaction, but one can only imagine the horror, jealousy and disbelief on her face as she witnesses the man she loves attacking a victim she knows right before her eyes.
Love, Robin
