Discuss - Ep #0849

Kitty beards the lion--Petofi--in his den, accusing him of sending Pansity to torment her with the music box. Petofi is amused but denies having anything to do with it--in fact, he tells Kitty that he hopes she gets all the money she wants. Kitty has to admit that she's mystified by her reaction to the music box, so different from the "death and destruction" that Pansity warned her about.

Quentin has dropped Amanda off at the old mill and is chatting with Julia. She tells him that she and Petofi have established a kind of truce. Quentin warns her it won't last. Julia says it has a better chance of lasting if he'll just take Amanda and leave Collinsport. She suggests, If you let me know where you are, I will promise to let you know when everything is settled here. Once more he asks, Can’t you tell me what’s really happening here? No, not now, Quentin, she says. Petofi will not always be the threat that he is now. Perhaps he will simply disappear as Aristede has. I am not giving up, Quentin! I promise you that.

Beth is surprised to find that Aristede has returned to the old mill--to stay, he says.

Petofi has walked Kitty back to Collinwood, LOL. He wants to keep up the "delightful fiction" that they don't actually know each other. He wishes her luck in finding out who sent her the music box and suggests she ask Quentin: "He always has time to spend on a beautiful woman." Kitty walks into the house and finds Quentin (pouring himself a brandy, naturally) in the drawing room. Holding up the music box, she asks him, Do I owe you thanks for this? Shocked to see it, he asks, Where did you get it? I hoped you could tell me, she replies. I don’t know, Quentin tells her. You’ve seen it before, she says--where? I must be wrong, he says in confusion--it can’t be the same one. Who did it belong to? Kitty asks. Why? Quentin asks back. It matters to me, a great deal, she replies. Reluctantly he tells her, It belonged to a relative who once lived at the Old House. Barnabas Collins? Kitty guesses. How did you know that name? Quentin asks. She replies with a knowing smile, I collect information, Mr. Collins. I remember what I hear. You wouldn't expect me to forget a vampire, would you? Quentin turns away from her, and she continues, I listen when people speak. Now, is there any reason why I shouldn't have known this? No--not now, Quentin says wearily--Barnabas is dead. By now Kitty has worked it out: I think I saw him the first night I was here, she tells Quentin--I cannot believe he was a vampire. She opens the music box and the tune plays. But if the music box was his, she asks, why was it given to me? I don’t know, Quentin says, but she looks haughty and skeptical as she closes the box just before the last chord of the tune.

When Petofi returns to the old mill, he isn't best pleased to see Aristede. It turns out that Aristede went clothes-shopping in Boston and shows off his new cravat for Petofi--who, the next moment, slaps him hard across the face with the Hand. Aristede pleads that he ran off only because Barnabas threatened to kill him. Now that Barn is dead, he's come back. Petofi argues that he failed in his final assignment. Aristede insists that Julia must be dead, even though he didn't see her die. He shows Petofi the infamous chair, with its back shattered. Petofi takes a closer look at it, then leaves. But Aristede is sure he's been welcomed back.

Julia barely has time to hide another prepared syringe when Petofi arrives--of course he's made a beeline to the old rectory. Frostily Julia points out the brandy across the room, saying, There’s some brandy. Your manner almost makes me want to decline, he remarks. But I won’t--the night air has brought on a chill. I don’t drink with enemies, Julia says coldly. I come as a friend, the count replies. He pours her some brandy too; since his back is turned to her, he has no trouble putting some powder from a small vial into her glass. What do you want? Julia asks again. We will discuss that when we’ve had our drinks, the count says. I can’t believe you’re here out of any friendly feelings, Julia says. We might as well start the meeting honestly. Pleased, the count replies, I’ve read that some of the virtues of “our” time have survived to your age. He hands her a drink, which she accepts, then he toasts: To your enjoyment of 1897. He watches carefully and smiles as she takes several sips of the brandy. Now tell me, she says, why did you come here? He replies, I came to watch you die, Dr. Hoffman. There was cyanide in that brandy--enough cyanide to kill ten women. Will it kill you, Dr. Hoffman? That is what I came to see!

Petofi and Julia wait for the poison to start its work. Do you feel any pain? he asks hopefully. Julia suddenly reaches out her hand, clutches her throat and rises quickly from the chair. Petofi holds the Hand toward her and says, No! No remedies. Is your throat burning? he asks. Have the unbearable pains started? They should have. I went to town to purchase that exact drug because it acted instantly. Julia has reached the table but is calmer now as she tells him, I would like to act it out for you, Count Petofi. Yes, I believe I would. I would like to make you think that I feel every pain the poison can cause. But I know you. I know that you would wait for the very end. You cannot die? Why? Petofi asks. I won’t tell you, she says. He holds the Hand in front of her face as he asks, Shall I force you to tell me? Forced to explain, Julia replies, My physical body still exists in 1969, sitting in a trance in a room. Your astral self-- Petofi starts, seemingly well acquainted with the concept. Is here, Julia finishes. And your astral self cannot be killed, Petofi realizes. I don’t understand, Julia murmurs. It is not necessary to understand, Petofi declares. It is enough to know it! He leaves quickly. Trembling with reaction, Julia picks up the brandy glass and gazes at it.

Aristede has ordered Beth to cook him a meal, but she says she hasn't come to the old mill to cook. I didn’t come here to cook, she says bluntly. Why did you? he asks. I came because I want more than I’ve had. Petofi arrives and shouts, Out, Aristede! As Aristede helps Petofi out of his coat, he asks, Did you find Julia alive? In a manner of speaking, the count answers. Now get out. But you are planning something, Aristede protests. You can guess what it is as you walk through the woods! Good night! the count answers, waving the Hand menacingly. Aristede runs out.

Now that he has his desired audience, the count tells Beth about his shiny new theory of the astral self. He says, If you had gone to the future the other night when you tried to go [that is, via the I Ching], only your essence would have gone--your astral self. Your body would have remained here in a trance, unable to defend itself--vulnerable if a gypsy with a knife were to get into the room. But your astral self, in the future--no one could kill that. But Charity killed Barnabas, Beth points out. Precisely, the count answers, pleased. You are more intelligent than I thought. Because the Barnabas Collins who existed in 1969 was born in the eighteenth century, in this year, 1897, his body was in the mausoleum. But Barnabas’s astral self had a body to occupy--as I myself must have in the year 1969. You’re mad! Beth exclaims. Perhaps, he concedes. If I am, I am very foresighted. What I intended to accomplish with Quentin’s portrait has happened. Opening the magic TV cabinet, he orders her, Look--concentrate on the future and tell me what you see.

As the magic TV warms up, Beth obediently looks and describes aloud for the count what we can see with her: I see Collinwood, only it is different--so different. There are strange lights, not at all like the lamps I’m used to. With surprise, she adds, Quentin is in the drawing room, standing in front of the window. He’s dressed oddly. The count pounces on this detail and demands to know what Quentin is doing. Quentin seems quite agitated, Beth says. We can see that he is wearing a mustard-colored 1969-style jacket, a bright yellow shirt, and a six-lane-wide diagonally striped tie--only the first of many examples of his execrable taste in twentieth-century neckwear. He has a gun in his hand, Beth says--different from ours. I’m sure he is going to kill someone! She is very upset as she walks away from the cabinet to sit on the sofa. It can't be! she exclaims. Quentin is not in another time. He is here--but he looks the same. He is no older. Petofi steps behind her and holds the Hand over her head. You will remember nothing, he tells her. You will not even remember my coming into the room. When he passes the Hand before her eyes, she shuts them. A moment later, she comes back to herself. When did you come into the room? she asks, turning to face him. A few moments ago, my dear, he replies. And I have wonderful news! I know now how I shall go to the future!...