403 - (Nancy Barrett) - A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent one girl on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, each of the Collins ancestors resembles a present-day member of the Collins family, but names and relationships have changed, and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger in a sea of familiar faces, one of whom has unknowingly married a practitioner of black magic-and after his discovery of his wife's secret, he feels he has only one chance of escape.
Barnabas pulls back the covers and realizes he has just stabbed wadded up bedclothes. Do you hate me that much? demands Angelique from where she has been standing. You are the witch! he cries. He knows all, he heard her incantation. She never meant for him to find out, she admits, but does he realize that she loves him, and always will? Ignoring her words, he raises the knife to plunge it into her heart, but she raises a hand and forces him to drop it. He disparages her claims of love, tells her she made him hate himself. He wants to kill her! He lunges for her, reaching for her throat, but she makes him drop his murderous arms and tells him she can use her powers to force him to embrace her, if she wanted to--but she can't be that cruel. Cruel? shouts Barnabas--you've been practicing witchcraft all along. She swears she'll stop, if that's what he wants, but he sneers that he can never forget that she turned Josette against him. She wanted a man, not a puppet, she insists, so she would never actually cast a spell on him. He saw a woman in Martinique, not a witch, she reminds him. He calls her a destroyer, and she says she never wanted Jeremiah to die. He says she is as responsible for his uncle's death as if she'd pulled the trigger herself, and she agrees with him. Abigail and Natalie were right, he fumes, there WAS a witch. He demands she set the record straight and tell him everything. Angelique says she didn't do anything the first night when she came to his room, he loved Josette and she wanted to change that--have something that belonged to her. (Here is where we wonder about Ang's "loving" motives, and even Barnabas shoots her an incredulous look here, like she spilled the beans on a very important revelation.) She was furious at his rejection that first night, and if he'd only resumed their Martinique relationship, none of this would have happened. She confesses to being responsible for the choking incident and how she realized she didn't want him to die; the Josette/Jeremiah love potion; Sarah's illness. Barnabas has had it--he's leaving. Oh, no, warns Angelique, you're going to stay with her, play the loving, attentive husband, and after a few years, even you will believe we can have a good life! If he dares to tell the authorities about her or tries to leave her, Josette will die--and if she has to produce a realistic vision of her death, hell, she can do it! Barnabas shoots Angelique a look of unrelenting hatred and walks out on her.
Nathan and Millicent giggle together on the terrace. They've apparently been meeting in secret, and he's been quite touchy-feely with the airheaded heiress. She shocks herself in his presence, she says breathlessly. He tells her she's falling in love, but she wisely points out that he always talks about her loving him, but never the other way around. (Millicent is sharper than she appears.) He wants her to invite him to tea, but she insists that's flaunting the rules, and he says he hates rules. He kisses her neck to prove it. Barnabas appears. Millicent moans, "I'm ruined!" She lies and said she and Nathan met by chance while strolling outside. He begs her to awaken Josette, but the Countess appears (eliciting another moan of disaster from Millicent), congratulates Barnabas on his marriage and says it's a strange way to be spending his honeymoon. Josette doesn't wish to see him, says Nat firmly.
Angelique is upset Barn had the nerve to leave her. I must have eyes that follow him wherever he goes, to spy on him, she decides.
Natalie tells Barnabas he can't see Josette. Does he want to tell her how sorry he is that he married her maid?--Josette is unhappy enough. Without telling her why, Barnabas just says that Josette must leave Collinwood, go to Boston--her life is in danger! He begs Natalie to follow his instincts, but she seems to feel he wants them out because their presence is ruining his honeymoon. Is he saving Josette's life or his curious morality, she demands. Forget Josette, advises Natalie. Barnabas is upset, he thought the Countess his friend. Natalie says his marriage has made her lose all respect for him, and making friends of the Collins family is impossible--they're too difficult to understand and speak in riddles. She doesn't trust him not to try to see Josette, and insists on accompanying him downstairs.
Angelique draws a pair of long-lashed eyes on paper--these "eyes in the night" will follow Barnabas and watch him.
Millicent sobs to Nathan that they were seen by TWO people, and she is now compromised--Nathan is not a gentleman. He feigns being hurt by her comment, and says if he isn't a gentleman, why is she hanging out with him? Perhaps SHE is no lady, suggests Millicent. Everyone knows about them now, he points out, and is about to kiss her when Barnabas appears again. He begs Millicent to have Josette out in the garden at 9 AM the next morning--he must speak to her. She waffles about it, insisting it's improper, but Nathan reminds her that she might need a favor from Barnabas sometime, and she giggles and agrees. She feels a sudden chill, saying someone is watching them, and Nathan and Barn encourage her to go into the house.
Nathan asks Barnabas if he needs someone to talk to; he looks like he does. He's more familiar with women like Angelique than Barnabas is (women like what, I wonder?), so, no offense, but can he help? Barnabas agrees he does need to talk to someone, but they're interrupted by the sound of loud squeaking. Nathan points out a bat, hovering near the gate, watching them!
NOTES: One of the very best DS eps in the archives, folks, it rarely gets better than this! Is that bat Angelique's "eyes" plus a portent of things to come?
Barnabas and Angelique's confrontation is one of the reasons I always adored this show. They are so passionately pissed, and the way she makes him drop that knife is amazing, mesmerizing. You almost get a glimmer of the passion they must have shared in Martinique from watching them together here.
404 - (Alexandra Moltke) - A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent one girl on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, each of the Collins ancestors resembles a present-day member of the Collins family, but the names and relationships have changed, and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger in a sea of familiar faces. And she has been accused of witchcraft. One member of the Collins family knows that she is innocent, but for the moment he must remain silent, in order to protect others whose lives are in grave and immediate danger.
Barnabas nervously paces the gazebo, waiting for Josette to show up. He has to warn her about the danger she's in, but can't reveal it's Angelique, or the witch will kill his beloved. He's very distressed, therefore, when Millicent shows up and says Josette refused to see him--at the Countess' insistence. Millicent thinks Josette doesn't want to meet him because she still loves him and doesn't trust herself in his presence. Nonsense, says Barn, but he's clearly pleased to hear this. Josette must leave Collinwood, insists Barn, and Millicent must arrange for him to bump into Josette by accident. She is afraid of Naomi and Joshua's reaction to participating in this scheme, but then Barnabas utilizes a little blackmail--he saw her with Nathan, and he brought her home VERY LATE! She's flustered, but she insists Nathan is genuinely fond of her--and besides, both of them are single. Barnabas tries to warn Millicent that the charming Nathan is too much for an innocent like her to handle, but she refuses to listen, and diverts the discussion by saying she COULD arrange for Josette and herself to be taking a walk when Naomi and Natalie are in town, and he COULD accidentally run into them--the garden gate after sundown! Don't fail him, says Barnabas soberly; this is a matter of life and death.
At the Collinsport Gaol, Barnabas brings Judge Matigan, who he hopes to defend her at her witchcraft trial, to see Vicki. Although Barnabas does his damndest to deflect Vicki's responses, saying she was hurt in that carriage accident and her brain has suffered as a result, Vicki decides to be completely honest. Barnabas offers to be her character witness, but the judge says he hasn't known Vicki long enough. Unfortunately, the judge's questions about her family and friends in the Boston area where she claims to have come from a foundling home, unnerve Vicki, so the brilliant Miss Winters decides to tell Matigan that she came from another century! To no one's surprise, including Vicki, Judge Matigan bows out of defending her.
Vicki sits miserably in a chair, and that's when Peter Bradford, her jailer (gaoler?) and lawyer-in-training, who had been standing by, listening to every word of what she told the judge, tells her that he's been watching her since she came to the gaol, and he decided she's not a witch. Witches don't cry, he says gently, and he's heard her crying in her cell. He gives her back a locket taken from her when she was brought to the gaol, a gift from Burke, it seems, and she is very grateful to him. They play really sappy music over this exchange, as he tells her he's felt pity for her, and doesn't believe he'd feel pity for a witch. She says hearing this from him made her feel less alone. He explains that he's studying law and that if Mr. Collins can't find anyone to defend her, he is willing to try. He finds her story of coming from another time strange, but believes her. Vicki, thrilled to hear this, smiles. He's right outside if she needs anything, he promises, and she returns to her cell with a smile--she's not afraid to return there now!
Barnabas waylays Millicent and Josette on their walk past the terrace. The latter says she has been forbidden to speak to him, but he insists, and sends Millicent back into the house. It's better not to see each other, murmurs Josette, but Barnabas explains that she's in danger and must leave Collinwood immediately. He explains to her that she and Jeremiah were never in love with each other; they were under a spell cast by a witch. Her marriage seems a dream, both then and now, she admits. He knows who the witch really is, he says, but he can't tell her such dangerous knowledge. She can't believe anyone hates her so much, but Barnabas asks her to trust him. The witch is plotting her death, and is watching them! As he says this, there's a squeaking sound, and a bat with glowing red eyes is indeed watching them!
Love, Robin
