Who could blame Maggie for not wanting to live her life in fear and cooped up at home. The plan that she and her pop and Dave Woodard cook up is pretty effective!
This has not been a very good couple of nights for Barnabas. Last night Sarah stopped him from killing Julia but refused to appear to him, even though she's been seen by almost everyone else. Tonight he's stuck wearing the long, cumbersome robe as he takes one look at the newspaper with its dire headling (ANOTHER GIRL ATTACKED!) before throwing it in the fire. Then Willie returns from-- well, somewhere and starts needling Barnabas. He pretty much hits the nail on the head when he says that Barnabas is afraid that he'll lose Vicki, that David will blab, that the experiment will fail. All this makes Barnabas angry, and he waves away the attack. People will forget about it in a week, he says dismissively. Willie warns him, If anything happens to David, there'll be an investigation the likes of which you've never seen. I can’t believe you’d want to hurt a child! Yes, Willie has developed a full-blown conscience along with his compassion. He lays it on thick at every opportunity. No doubt he also enjoys his small measure of revenge.
Willie is at the BW nursing a beer and pretzels (I hope that's not his dinner!) when Sam parks himself at the bar and confides in the bartender (who actually gets some lines in this episode!). As planned, Sam pretends to be extremely drunk and starts to talk despite the sheriff’s best pretended efforts to shut him up. While a small crowd of extras listen raptly, Sam lets fall some hints that Maggie may be getting her memory back. After a little of this, the sheriff tells the bartender to forget everything that Sam just said. Then Sam and George adjourn to a table, confident that their planted rumor will be all over town by morning.
And they conspirators have hit their mark! Long before their little charade is over, Willie races back to the Old House and retails the whole to Barnabas, who listens in shock. Julia Hoffman must prevent Maggie's memory from returning, he declares. Willie wants to know what he's planning, but Barnabas says ominously, You'll find out--maybe before tonight is over.
