In the hospital, Doctor Lang introduces himself to Barnabas. Barnabas gets up to leave, but the doctor won't allow it. He says that it is vital to Barnabas that he stay. Lang tells him that it's 4 in the afternoon, and pulls the curtains open. Barnabas screams as the daylight hits him.
Barnabas begs him to close the curtains before he dies. The doctor tells him to come into the light. Barnabas does, and is shocked that he is able to do so. They step out onto the balcony, where Barnabas feels the warmth of the sun. Barnabas looks at his hands, preparing to see them grow old. He asks the Lang if he knows what he is, and the doctor says he knows what he was. Barnabas asks how he changed. Lang checks and confirms that Barnabas has a pulse. He adds that he gave him an injection to protect him from what happened previously with Dr. Hoffman.
Barnabas waxes poetic about the outside world. Lang says he has excellent notes, and will share them with Hoffman in case there's a relapse. Barnabas isn't happy with that, thinking she shared his secret. Lang explains he figured it out on his own. He asks how long Barnabas has been a vampire. Barnabas says nearly 200 years. Lang asks who else knows, and also who Angelique is. Barnabas explains that she was a witch who cursed him, and she won't allow him to live without it. Lang tells him that he will help protect him against her. Barnabas makes a vow to do anything for Lang.
At Collinwood, Roger stares at the portrait of Angelique while the phone rings off the hook. It stops ringing just before Liz enters to pick it up. She asks Roger why he didn't answer, as it might have been the hospital. She asks if he hears her, and he refers to her as Naomi, and speaks to her as if they're married. He looks at her and sees Naomi. He sends her to her room, and she slaps his face.
Roger comes to and doesn't understand why she hit him. She asks him if he knows how much time he has spent staring at the portrait. Roger says he wonders who she really is. Liz says it's an antique, and she's dead. Roger tells Liz that sometimes he hears her voice.
Liz and Roger visit Barnabas in the hospital. Barnabas thanks her for bringing flowers. Liz says he looks well, and Roger watches uncomfortably. Barnabas explains what happened on the road, and asks Roger if he'd be more comfortable sitting down. Roger doesn't say anything. Lang enters, and Barnabas introduces him to Liz and Roger.
Lang sets his head mirror down on a table, and Roger sneaks it into his pocket while Liz chats with Lang. After the doctor leaves, Liz points out to Roger how rude he was, not speaking to the doctor. He says he's returning to Collinwood, and will send a car to get Liz after she's through visiting Vicki. He turns to Barnabas on his way out and says, "It is not this easy." Liz and Barnabas don't understand his behavior.
Outside Lang's office, Roger takes the mirror out of his pocket and examines it.
Back home, Roger closes the door to the drawing room and approaches the portrait of Angelique with the mirror. He tells the portrait that he brought it; that it belonged to him, and has his name on it. He says he'll try to do what she's saying in his mind. Roger twists the head mirror in his hands.
In Barnabas' hospital room, Lang reaches for his head, saying he's getting a headache. He then asks Barnabas about Angelique's origin. Barnabas starts to tell the story when Lang gets up, suffering.
Roger continues to twist the headpiece. He stops.
Lang tells Barnabas the pain has stopped. Barnabas tells him that if it starts again suddenly, he may know the cause. Lang again grabs his forehead in pain.
Roger once again twists the head mirror.
Lang exclaims that he can't see.
Roger asks the portrait why he has to put it in the fire. He walks to the fireplace and says he cannot do it. He throws the headpiece across the room.
Lang says he can see again, and there's no pain. He doesn't understand what happened, and Barnabas tells him that Angelique is responsible. He says she must not be able to harm him now, but he cannot allow her to harm Lang. He says he'll have to revert to his cursed self in order to save him.
Our thoughts
John: Love the particularly cheesy Roger/Joshua POV and slap shot, despite the unconvincing cut to Roger rubbing his cheek. Though it's quite funny as he's shaking his finger at Liz from offscreen. I guess Louis Edmonds wasn't interested in actually getting slapped by Joan.
Christine: Who can blame him after the way she belted Trask in Episode 438? It may have had more to do with her appearing in period costume as Naomi, though. It's not like she could run offscreen and quickly change back into her green dress. I wonder if Roger is thinking of his dead wife while staring into the flames, as he reflects on being controlled by yet another woman with supernatural powers.
John: Roger continues to have some of the best lines of dialogue, this time bragging how he has "an admirable memory for his own conversations"!
Christine: He deserves the best lines as he delivers them so well. After the numerous experimental treatments Julia gave Barnabas over the past year, Dr. Lang steps in and handily cures him in one evening without even knowing how he did it! Beginners luck, I guess. It was a special moment to see Barnabas enjoy the warmth of the sun and remember the beauty of the colors in daylight for the first time in almost 200 years, though I do have to wonder why he was screaming like a banshee at the beginning of the episode, since he had been cured of his sun sensitivity.
John: So is the portrait of Angelique going to allow 1795 to bleed into 1968? If so, Vicki had better hope Joe doesn't see it.
Christine: I wonder how Dr. Lang may make Barnabas regret his promise to do anything for him without question.
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"I will make a vow. If ever you want me to do anything for you, I will do it without question. Whatever it is." -Barnabas
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Christine: I couldn't resist capturing a few extra images of Dr. Lang's excruciating headache in today's episode. The man certainly has a talent for pained expressions!
3 comments:
Along with Dr. Lang's promises, it's interesting to see Barnabas' "martyr" attitude about Lang - the way he's willing to become a vampire again to spare the man who CURED him of it.
I wonder if his motives aren't purely altruistic and part of Barnabas doesn't really want to be cured. Perhaps he does not want to give up eternal life or the power to control others as much as he thinks he does.
Addison Powell is the worst actor in the history of Dark Shadows.
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