Well, okay, this episode consists mainly of flashbacks to Barn's last night in 1795/6/whatever. But it's so well done that I enjoyed it thoroughly when I saw it.
No one seems to realize that if Vicki had been hanged as a witch, she never would have been buried in consecrated ground.
The unspoken message here is that Barnabas has grown to trust Julia implicitly. His pain and shame are ever fresh, but he spares himself nothing as he begins to speak, at last revealing to his dear friend the whole story of the end of his past.
JC is even more hateful as the duplicitous Nathan Forbes. Even now, Barnabas feels a grim relish in relating the story of Forbes's demise. Since JB presumably off doing a play, we don't get to see Naomi's last moments either. But it's always a treat to see TD's wonderful portrayal of Ben and LE's equally wonderful Joshua, especially in their scenes together. We see Ben finish chaining the coffin and bidding his master a final good-bye.
Now in the present and still at the grave site, Barnabas finishes his narrative, telling Julia, And there I stayed, in that mausoleum prison, for almost two hundred years--until the night Willie Loomis broke in and opened my coffin and released me.
Julia has listened in rapt silence. I see, she comments quietly. We can only guess what thoughts and emotions are coursing through her brilliant mind. So now you know, Barnabas tells her. How will you save Vicki? Julia asks. Barnabas realizes: I was too obsessed with killing Forbes. I should have let him live and forced him to recant his testimony against Vicki. That’s what I’m going to do this time. How? Julia asks. How will you get there? Barnabas replies, Vicki was led back to the past by Peter’s spirit. I will go the same way. For just one night, I will control time! What if it doesn’t go the way you want? Julia asks. It will, Barnabas insists, I will control it. You have no more control than anyone else, Julia protests. Barnabas insists, I will have more control because I lived through it and I know what happened--and therefore can change it. Julia argues, What if Forbes fires the arrow and strikes you in the heart? You’ll be dead, and Forbes will have changed the course of history. It will never happen, Barnabas insists. What if you change one thing and start a whole chain reaction that could lead to your own destruction? Julia insists. I know that, Barnabas declares. Remember what you were then, Julia reminds him. When you come back--_if_ you come back--will you be as you are or will you be a vampire? Barnabas must admit he doesn’t know. Julia continues: How will you return? I don’t know, Barnabas answers, but I’m prepared to take all the risks you mentioned. I want you to return to this spot in forty-eight hours. Barnabas! Julia pleads one last time. Please don’t try to stop me, he says, taking a few steps back from her. I’m determined to go through with this. I can’t let Vicki die. Julia watches intently as Barnabas begins his plea: I summon the spirit of Peter Bradford. Hear me, wherever you are! Help me as you helped Vicki in transcending the barriers of time. A great wrong has been done in the past which must be rectified. Help me to rectify it. Take me back! Open the way for me, I implore you! Open the way!
Barnabas! Julia cries, but he can only watch as she and the gravestones fade away and he finds himself standing in a grassy clearing. [This has always been one of my favorite effects!] He has indeed returned to the past and is once again dressed as an eighteenth-century gentleman. As the dogs howl in the distance, he realizes that his clothing isn’t the only thing that has changed. He bares his fangs in response to the dogs’ howls......
