722 - (KLS) - In the great drawing room at Collinwood, a man lies dead, cut down in mindless fury by the woman he wronged. Quentin Collins is in his coffin, mourned by his sister Judith and his brother, Carl. But even in death, there is no peace for Quentin Collins.
Carl stands staring at Quentin in his coffin while Judith, on the phone, asks Mr. Snell to tell Edward, who's in Bangor, to telephone when he arrives. Carl asks her what she told Mr. Snell. I she said Quentin had a serious accident, answers Judith--he wasn't surprised, he said yes, Quentin was always mischievous. He's all finished with mischief now, says Carl, and I'm not sorry. He IS our brother, Judith reminds him, you might at least try. . .Carl snaps, "and miss the chance to say all the things I never said when he was alive?--Quentin Collins," he snarls at the dead man, "you were a bounder, and a bully, a rake, and a lecher, and a liar, and I..." Carl screams--I saw him move--I swear, lying in his coffin, Quentin moved! And the corpse sure seems to have a smile on his face!
Carl swears he saw Quentin move. Don't mourn him, advises Judith, but don't mock him! I'm not joking, says Carl. How did Quentin move? Asks Judith. Carl explains--it's like people waking from sleep. Quentin's sleep is eternal, she says, I'm certain of that--I'm also weary--it wasn't easy telling the police what happened--this house is a private place. Murder is a very public thing, counters Carl. That's why I agreed to cooperate with the police, says Judith--I did what had to be done, as I always do. Carl giggles derisively. Well, I convinced the police, says Judith--had them in and out so fast, didn't let them search the grounds--I had Dirk do it. Dirk searched and found no one, says Carl. The murderer is down by the docks, says Judith, I'm sure a transient sailor struck up a discussion with Quentin in a card game and found a way to make a fortune for himself. It was done with Quentin's own knife, Carl reminds her. We made no attempt to hide that, says Judith. It could have been almost anybody Carl starts to say, but Judith gives him a look and he falls back on the transient sailor theory she suggested. It could have been someone else who is still here, insists Carl--I understand your need for privacy, but I'm your brother, and Quentin's, and I know Quentin wasn't killed by a stranger. Judith says the murderer knew him. His family, friends and his women had reason to hate him most, insists Carl. He smiles, laughs evilly--I have some ideas about that, but they must be said. Let Quentin rest, demands Judith. Carl begins to shout, wondering what Barnabas' role in all this was--why was he at the cottage and right there when the body was discovered?--Barnabas is eerie!
He's a gentleman, says Judith. He didn't come to Grandmother's funeral, Carl reminds her, or be a pallbearer. Urgent Bangor responsibilities., says Judith. All right, says Carl--Magda and Sandor? When are you going to start accusing me? demands Judith. "That's what I really think," Carl says. "WHAT?" she shrieks. Carl backs down--just some woman, had to be a woman. You'll be accusing Edward next, even though he's out of town, says Judith. He could have paid someone to do it, asserts Carl. It wasn't Barnabas, a gypsy, a woman, Edward, me nor a paid assassin, says Judith firmly--it was what I told the police.
Rachel's eyes in closeup. She's in her room, sitting on her bed. Jamison, holding a locomotive in his arms, comes in and asks if she's seen his other trains. She sits him down, bad news evident in her face. Jamison first asks if it's Nora, then his father, then Quentin--something's happened to Quentin--he's been hurt. Much worse, says Rachel. Jamison stands. "He's dead." I know how close you were, says Rachel, but you must be brave--help Nora, stay together. He walks away from her. She asks where he's going, but he doesn't respond.
Quentin lies in his coffin, Carl laughing at him. Imagine how absurd I was to think you moved, he tells Judith, who's glad to hear this admission. He looks peaceful, serene, notes Carl, always did have the looks in the family, and that's why he was both Grandmother and Grandfather's favorite when they were children. Grandfather used to sit Quentin on his lap, recalls Judith, and say he was much too good-looking to die of old age. Killed by a woman, says Carl, his voice rising to near-hysteria, that's what Grandfather used to say, but Grandmother used to tell her husband to stop talking such nonsense. "Stop talking nonsense!" demands Judith. Jamison enters, staring at the coffin. Your Uncle Quentin is dead, says Judith. Jamison says, I know he's NOT dead--he's NOT!--I know he's not dead. The little boy sobs, breathing heavily.
Jamison sits in Quentin's chair in his room, listening to his uncle's music. "Please," he begs, "don't be dead! Don't leave me alone." The music plays out. I like that music, says Jamison, and I'm going to keep playing it, over and over again. He begins it over--"Until he hears it--until he HAS to hear it."
Quentin lies in his coffin. We see the gramophone superimposed on his face, the music winding down. Jamison begs his uncle to come back--I'll do anything you ask--just come back!
Don't leave me! The music, slightly sour now, continues to play, sweet. Quentin's eyes flutter (well, I saw them). The coffin closes by itself. Jamison, angry, says, "You don't want to hear me--to come back! If that's the way it is, I don't want to hear anything that makes me think of you!" He stops the music, then hears Quentin's voice in the air--"We must always be as one." Jamison, awestricken, is thrilled: "You've come back! You've come back!"
1:30 - Carl strolls through the foyer into the drawing room. Rachel and Judith descend the stairs, the older woman telling the governess that Nora will be especially frightened and not to leave her alone for a few days. Rachel promises to spend as much time as possible with Nora. Judith assures her there's no need for either Rachel or Nora to be afraid any longer. Carl bursts in and tells Judith someone closed the coffin! When he went into the drawing room it was UP, now it's DOWN! Judith annoyed, says "Carl, it's one thing for a boy like Jamison to carry on," but you are old enough to know better. Carl shrieks, vowing to get to the bottom of this before it's too late. Carl hates being laughed at, Judith tells Rachel. We must do something about Jamison, says Rachel, he's behaving unnaturally in light of his grief. Judith suggests a picnic--would that be unseemly?--as far from the cottage as possible--I'm sure the murderer is far out at sea.
Carl goes to Quentin's room and hears the music playing. He tells Jamison he doesn't like what's going on in this house. He gets in Jamison's face and says Judith insists they only remember the good about Quentin, forget what he was, but she's wrong about Quentin being dead, and wrong to forget what a heartless conniver he was. Carl thinks Quentin is conniving something now, and he thinks Jamison knows more about it than he's saying--so he had better shut off the music and start talking! Jamison gazes at him eerily, refusing to do what his uncle says. Screaming that he wants it off, Carl turns it off himself. He advances on Jamison and shouts, I'm your uncle, and you must listen to me! Jamison, his face completely serious, says, "No, Carl, you're my brother!" "Brother?" asks Carl. "Grandfather always said that I'd be killed by a woman--he was right--a woman murdered me--that woman is still in this house!" Hearing this drives Carl nuts. "Free and not free," pronounces Jamison. "A woman--a murderess! Do you hear me--brother?" Carl, face shaking, nods.
Jamison tells Judith that she's "dear sister Judith," and Carl whispers to Judith Quentin would never die quietly, never be that obliging. Judith reminds him Quentin is dead. What's happening here? asks Carl--Jamison told me about the murderer being a woman who is still in the house.
It's NOT a woman! Insists Judith. No, it was a sailor who came home with me, took my money, stabbed me with my own knife, says Jamison--"She told you that while you were both standing by my coffin!" Carl is horrified--how could he have heard that? The child is possessed! says Judith, backing away, leaving the room. Jamison cackles with laughter, driving Carl out, too.
Rachel dreams. She hears Jamison calling to her. "Where am I, Rachel?" She rises from bed and opens her door. She finds Judith in the hallway. "Rachel, where am I?" "Who will ever know?" asks Judith, locking doors as Rachel follows her. "Someone will know," says Jamison. "Her!" Games have rules, warns Judith, important rules, and even violent. Go downstairs and sit in the drawing room until you are called, and remember, a child only speaks when he is spoken to. Downstairs, Rachel finds Carl, wearing a cap like Sherlock Holmes, who holds the train and a huge clock without hands and tells her it's too late. Rachel, calls Jamison, where am I? She searches the foyer and finally enters the drawing room. The coffin opens. Jamison is inside. "Now you know where I am, don't you, Rachel?" he asks cheerily, then sits up and laughs and laughs.
So is Carl, and Judith, all laughing at Rachel, uproariously. Jamison settles back in the coffin, crossing his hands on his chest. Rachel awakens, sits up in bed, and hears a creaking sound. Quentin, eyes open, sits in a rocker by her bed, rocking away. . .
NOTES: That last scene scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. It's really scary when you see it the first time. Great dream sequence, and superb performance by Henesy, Bennett and Karlen. So, did Angelique "make Quentin rise? Wait and see!
723 - (Joan Bennett) - For most people, death is the end on earth. But for Quentin Collins this night at Collinwood, it is only the beginning of a desperate drama. Secrets carried on the wind invade the darkness. A body shudders, trying to free itself from death. A child speaks with Quentin's words and thinks with Quentin's twisted thoughts. And finally, in the dead of night, a young girl wakes from the nightmare world of dreams to find that the waking world holds even more terror.
For most people, death is the end on earth, but on DARK SHADOWS, some folks just never die!--RobinV, paraphrasing today's intro.
Rachel's dream ends in laughter, but her terror has just begun--Quentin sits next to her bed in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth, back and forth. . .he stares straight ahead, no expression in his eyes.
Terrified, Rachel backs out of the room, screaming NO! She meets Judith and Carl in the hall and tells them what she saw. Judith insists Rachel was dreaming, but the governess is close to hysteria. I saw him, she insists, I saw Quentin. Judith wants to send Carl in there to prove Rachel is still dreaming, but Carl doesn't really want to. You're the man of the house, Judith points out, at least for now, so Carol reluctantly goes to do his manly duty. He opens the door but the rocker is empty. He returns to the women, relieved, and tells them Quentin isn't there. Judith leads Rachel away to show her Quentin still rests in his coffin. Carl double checks that rocker one more time, and it's still empty.
12 midnight - Carl, Rachel and Judith find Quentin's coffin empty (just as Judith is warning Rachel how "catching" hysteria tends to be). All are terrified. Judith faints, and Rachel and Carl help her to the sofa. I can't believe it, mutters Judith, it's impossible. The body is gone, declares Carl shrilly. Is someone playing a joke on us? asks Judith. Rachel assures her she DID see Quentin in her rocker--but Carl didn't. I looked into the room, saw the empty rocker, but didn't search the room, admits Carl. Judith insists he do that, and though he's very frightened, he goes. Judith wonders what mind could conceive of something this grotesque--someone like that is capable of anything, and none of us is safe. Rachel asks if the person who did this could be the same who murdered Quentin. Judith doesn't think so. Someone knocks at the door, but both women are afraid to answer. Judith tells Rachel to go--but find out who's there before you answer the door. Rachel slowly walks to the door and asks who it is.
Upstairs, Carl slowly returns to Rachel's room. He searches half-heartedly, nervously. He waves a dismissing hand at the empty rocker, looks under the bed, then screams. He leaves the room, holding his hands to his heart.
Barnabas solemnly tells Judith he wishes he could have come sooner, then turns to Rachel and says I wish I'd known you needed me. Judith says everything that happened is bewildering--how did the body get out of Rachel's room? Barnabas knows of a secret panel there. Judith wonders how--to the best of her knowledge, he's never been in Rachel's room (a bit of implied scandal perhaps?) Barn covers up for Rachel's reputation by explaining that he has a rare book written by Collinwood's architect, and therefore knows much about the house.
The shaking Carl opens the West Wing door, finds nothing, and continues back down the hallway, his face screwed up in fright. He spies a drapery and opens it. Quentin walks out. Carl wails, then screams.Hearing him, Barn, Judith and Rachel rush to Carl's side. Zombie Quentin is strangling the gasping Carl, whose tongue is protruding, finally releases him, drops him to the floor, then shuffles off.
Judith applies smelling salts to the unconscious Carl, who begs Quentin not to come near him. This puzzles Judith, but Carl reveals it was Quentin choking him--I saw his cold, empty eyes, saw him lurching after me up in the corridor. Judith persists in saying Quentin is dead, his missing body notwithstanding. Barnabas is angry (a betrayal by Angie?). Quentin was walking, insists Carl. Judith says this is something from the depths of hell--men can't rise and walk again after death. Not so fast, cautions Barnabas, but I must find Quentin first, then I'll reveal all to you--I know you will find it hard to believe, but you must accept it. Rachel tells him to be careful and they touch hands. It's too horrible, mutters Judith, what's happening. Carl rises from the sofa.
12:35 - Barnabas comes downstairs and tells the others Quentin is gone, at least for now. The body can continue to walk, says Barnabas, under certain circumstances--what are they?--Carl described the icy hands, lurching walk, empty eyes--all too familiar to me--as a very young man, I traveled to the West Indies, and in a remote Martinique village, the people were filled with terror because a young man had died and come back just as Quentin has--lurking and unseeing, unfeeling, driven by a mind outside his body--they spoke of him with terror, and with good reason--he was a zombie. A zombie, repeats Judith--Quentin?--how could it happen? Because someone powerful is using him as a mindless hulk, able to maim and kill, says Barn, unknowing and unfeeling. Who would do such a thing? demands Judith, what sort of creature could make him rise from the dead?
Never mind that, says Barn, we must concern ourselves with undoing it. It that possible? asks Judith. The inhabitants of Martinique found a way, by burning Cyprus and myrrh inside the empty coffin, explains Barnabas--and the zombie was brought back to rest--and stayed at rest, because they buried it and covered it over with cement--the body couldn't walk then. Rachel bursts out how horrible that is. Barnabas leaves Carl in charge of the ladies and heads out. Judith asks where he is going. To the Old House to get the necessaries from Magda to take care of this, says Barnabas. Carl, take the ladies and lock yourselves into a room, orders Barnabas--I'll be back later.
Later, Barnabas and Carl stand before Quentin's closed coffin. Carl asks him how long it will be. Barn shushes him--I hear someone. They hide in a dark corner of the room. A figure heads downstairs. It's Quentin, who walks toward the drawing room and opens the doors. A pot of something smoky stands at one end of his coffin.
He opens the coffin. Carl, hands over his mouth, watches, stunned, Barnabas with satisfaction.
Up in her room, Rachel tells Judith how quiet it seems. Judith tells her it's a good sign, but Rachel complains it's taking so long. Barnabas told me it might be hours before Quentin responds, says Judith. There's a knock at the door, an ecstatic Carl--we did it just right--Quentin went into his coffin, no trouble at all. Thank God it's over, cries Rachel. Judith says it's not quite over.
Quentin lies back in his coffin. Barnabas gazes down at him--I know who controls you, he says--Angelique--she told me you would rise and walk, but Angelique hasn't won yet!--I'll do what I have to do, and this time, Angelique, you will not stop me! Judith enters. I had the servants prepare what you needed, she says, although I couldn't very well tell them to what use it would be put--so I must ask you and Carl to perform the final task of pouring cement over the coffin. Barnabas doesn't think that necessary. Judith reminds him, you said it would prevent the body from rising again. I don't want to do that with Quentin, says Barn--I will find another answer. Judith doesn't want him to--there isn't time and no need for another answer--why are you hesitating? It doesn't seem Quentin was meant to die that way, protests Barn. But he has, says Judith, and we must help him find final peace.
Cemetery - Quentin's coffin has been placed in a grave. Carl and Barnabas wield shovels and begin to bury the coffin, Judith standing by. Lightning flashes and thunder roars as they bury Quentin, and Carl is scared.
Quentin's grave is covered.
Rachel is in the drawing room when Judith comes in and assures her Quentin won't rise again. Rachel thanks her for letting her know. It's near dawn, says Judith--you must get some rest. Rachel volunteers to shut off the lights, and asks if Barnabas is coming back. No, he went back to the Old House, she tells the disappointed young woman. Rachel turns off the lights and holds her collar tightly around her throat. She turns and sees Barnabas there--oh! I thought you were going home! I was, he says, I had to come back just to make sure you were all right. I'm glad you did, she says, because if you came tomorrow, it would be too late.
What do you mean? he asks. I'm going to leave, she tells him. Why?--where will you go? he asks. Anywhere, she says, I know I have a job, but this place terrifies me--too many dark secrets--dawn is beginning, a new day over the hill (oops, get home, Barn!), but I'm still frightened. Time is too short for long explanations, says Barn, but I have my reasons for wanting you to stay--trust me now, he begs, and stay here until I get back. I want to know how long that will be? asks Rachel. As soon as I can, he promises, hurrying away to his coffin, leaving her calling after him, but alas, he must go.
Left alone, Rachel finishes turning off the lights. She shuts off the foyer light and goes upstairs. When the front doors open by themselves, she's sure it's Barnabas. She goes outside to look for him, calling to him, but instead, Quentin lurches at her and starts to close his hands around her throat. She faints in his arms, and he carries her off, eyes as wide and glassy as big blue marbles. . .
NOTES: Sorry, but this really IS silly. It's as if they figured they have every other supernatural creature, might as well add a zombie to the mix, but it wasn't necessary. Quentin does keep his eyes wide open, and that's really cool. Loved Carl's fear. He's such a wuss for this family! Barn and Rachel are such a cute pair--will he be able to keep her from leaving? Reminds me of when Vicki considered leaving shortly after arriving at Collinwood, but she stuck it out much longer.
Barnabas didn't want Quentin enclosed in cement for obvious reasons, but now he's gotten out and kidnapped Barnabas' lady friend! What will Barnabas do to save little Nell--I mean Rachel?
Love, Robin
