Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 493 - 5/15/68

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Barnabas, Julia and Willie stand over Adam's sleeping body in the cellar of the old house. Barnabas once again waxes poetic as Adam stirs. Julia warns Barnabas that they should step back, as they have no idea what he'll do. Willie says that they told him he was harmless. Barnabas says you must treat him well. Julia says not to show fear. Barnabas tells Willie to do nothing that would cause Adam pain. Adam wakes up, and Julia asks how he's feeling. Barnabas tells him that they've brought him to a new home. Julia introduces Willie to Adam, and Barnabas says he will stay with him and take care of him. Barnabas tells Adam that Willie will teach him to speak, like Julia taught him to eat. Willie tells them he's afraid. Barnabas says Adam will be kind to Willie if he talks to him and is friendly.


As Barnabas and Julia start to leave, Adam is upset. Barnabas extends his hand to Adam, describing a handshake as a gesture of friendship. Adam takes his hand, and Barnabas tells him goodbye. Julia tells Willie that one of them will be back to check in on them, and then she says goodbye to Adam. They lock the two of them in the cell.


Willie asks Adam if he minds if he sits down, and he does. He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and asks if Adam minds if he smokes. He lights a cigarette and blows smoke. Adam grabs the cigarette from Willie and burns his hand. Willie yells that he didn't do it, and Adam knocks him unconscious before leaving the cell.


Mrs. Johnson comes into the drawing room and finds Julia. She asks if David is there. She says she doesn't want to find him. Julia asks why she's afraid to see David, and realizes that Mrs. Johnson had the dream. Julia tells her that she doesn't want to hear about it. She describes the bats she saw, and Julia begs her to stop. Mrs. Johnson says the one who beckoned her was David, and Julia says she must never tell David. Mrs. Johnson says that she must tell him. She points out that Julia couldn't break the circle, and she can't either. Julia suggests that she wouldn't see David if she left Collinwood. She says she has nowhere to go.


Willie bursts in to speak to Julia. She sends Mrs. Johnson upstairs, so she can talk to Willie. After she's gone, he tells her that Adam ran away.

Adam walks through the trees, lost.


Willie tells Julia he's afraid, and she tells him they have to find Barnabas, so he can find Adam.


Adam hears the fountain outside the main house, and drinks from it. Mrs. Johnson comes outside and asks who he is and what he wants.



She screams for help, and Barnabas, Julia and Willie come. She says there was a man, and then says it was a monster.


Julia sits with Mrs. Johnson while Barnabas and Willie search for the stranger. Mrs. Johnson says it was more like an animal than a man. He didn't understand her. Julia says it was probably a vagrant. Julia tells her she needs to rest, and when she leaves Collinwood, she won't have to worry about David. Mrs. Johnson says she heard something, and Julia asks her if it was in the woods. Mrs. Johnson agrees to leave Collinwood for David's sake.


Barnabas and Willie have found Adam. Barnabas tells him they wouldn't hurt him. Barnabas tells Adam that he must come home with them. He extends his hand and Adam initially recoils, but ultimately takes Barnabas' hand, and follows him back to the old house. Willie follows behind, still skeptical.


Julia is in the drawing room when Barnabas arrives. She asks if Adam is safely back in the old house, and he says that he is.

Adam is back in the cellar of the old house. He gets up from the bed and walks to the door, discovering that he's chained to the wall. He sits on the floor and cries.


Our thoughts

John: I love how Barnabas chides Willie for assuming Adam would be like him, and run away when scared. Of course, that's exactly what Adam ends up doing.

Christine: Barnabas and Julia really should have known better than to expect Willie to be a competent babysitter. There seems to be a competition between actors for the most expressive hand gestures in today's episode. Again, my vote goes to Clarice Blackburn in this category.

John: When exactly did Julia teach Adam to eat? It seems like just yesterday they were in the lab, planning to get Willie to help them take Adam to the old house.

Christine: I wonder who will be in charge of potty training.

John: Well, it was a bit disappointing that Adam didn't run into an old hermit on his travels. But let's give him credit, he's learning pretty quickly for being what - three or four days old?

Christine: I thought he was born yesterday. He would make a great playmate for David. I loved how poetic Barnabas became when talking about how sweet and angelic Adam appears when sleeping, just like any other new Dad gazing down at his sleeping child.

Barnabas: If I did not know what horrors we commit even in our dreams, I'd say all malice and evil leave us when we sleep. How gentle he looks at times like this.

Julia: I, I wouldn't stand too close to him. He's apt to wake up any minute now.

Barnabas: Brute force incarnate, disguised now as one of Earth's most gentle creatures.



Dark Shadows Before I Die Round Robin Nightmare tracker:
  1. Wide-eyed skull
  2. Guillotine
  3. Lang's Headless creation
  4. Skeletal bride 
  5. Educational Bat-footage

2 comments:

Grant said...

This isn't the last time Dan Curtis will tackle Frankenstein, because there's the early ' 70's TV version with Robert Foxworth and Bo Svenson. And John Karlen himself, in a similar scene to that Willie and Adam one.
I mention that TV movie partly because of those stills of Robert Rodin above. Even though the two actors don't look alike, he immediately reminds me of Bo Svenson in some of his scenes.

Paul Haney said...

It's so great to have Karlen back. I have a feeling that Willie and Adam are going to make for an entertaining team.