Thursday, September 6, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 574 - 9/5/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

At 4:30 in the morning, frantic knocking wakes Maggie. She answers, and it's Nicholas Blair saying he was concerned that she was in terrible danger. She says she's been concerned about Joe, and he spent the night on the sofa. Blair points out that there's no one on the sofa.

Blair consoles Maggie, explaining Joe probably just went for a walk. Maggie can't understand where he would go.


Joe arrives at Blair's house, where Angelique greets him. He says he didn't want to come, but he failed to resist her call.


Maggie explains that Joe's behaving like a completely different person ever since he left the hospital. Blair tries to explain what may be going on, and tricks Maggie into thinking there may be someone else.


Angelique tells Joe he's not being very friendly. She says that she needs him. He tells her that she's just using him, and she assures him that she likes him. She threatens to force him to like her.


He gets up to leave, and she says she'll decide when he leaves. He says the sun is coming up soon, and she tells him that he'll be waiting for her when she rises tomorrow. She then approaches him, fangs bared.


Joe's back home, with an open bottle of alcohol, when Maggie knocks at his door. He lets her in and says she should go home. She asks him to tell her what's going on, and he says he can't. Maggie opens a window shade, and he begs her to close it, saying the sun hurts his eyes. She suggests he go back to the hospital, and then asks him if there's another girl. He swears there isn't and goes to take a drink. He says she should just go. She says his boss called her, looking for Joe. She says if he doesn't speak to his boss, he'll be fired. Joe says he doesn't know what to tell him. He says he's sorry, and she says he's not as sorry as she is. She says goodbye and leaves him alone in his room.


Willie shows up at Maggie's place and asks if he can talk to her. She says she has a few minutes before an appointment with someone to pick up one of her Dad's paintings. Willie mopes, explaining that weird things are going on at the old house, but not providing more details.


Blair shows up, and Maggie introduces him to Blair before Willie leaves.


Blair asks if Willie is Barnabas' servant. He says they met once at the old house. Maggie says that Willie just said everything was going wrong at the old house. Blair takes the painting and tells her he has to leave in time to hang it before guests arrive at his house. He asks her to call him Nicholas, now that their business is over.



Blair watches the clock, and Angelique asks why. He says he has an appointment. She suggests that his plans might not be progressing as he hoped. She asks him if Lang's tape has anything to do with Barnabas' plans not progressing. Blair sends her to her room.

Blair looks into his mirror, asking it to find the room where Willie sleeps in the old house.


He speaks to Willie as he sleeps, asking him if he meant the experiment was going wrong. Willie says yes, they've all been having problems; Barnabas, Julia and Jeff.


Blair asks what Barnabas had to do with the first experiment, and Willie says he provided Adam's life force. Blair asks if they've found someone to provide the life force for the new experiment, and Willie confirms they have not.


Blair realizes the key to bestowing life is the transfer of a life force from one host to another.


Angelique overhears him making the discovery, and is frightened, likely assuming that she may be the life force that is needed for the experiment. 



Our thoughts

John: Joe doesn't seem to be living particularly well when he has a job. I can't imagine what he'll do if he gets fired.

Christine: He may end up with a job similar to the one Willie has, though Joe's future prospects seem pretty dismal at the moment. Blair's magic must be working on Maggie for her to think that good ol' reliable Joe would be unfaithful to her. I'd think his behavior might trigger her memory of being a vampire victim herself. Nevertheless, I find it very difficult to believe that Maggie would give up on Joe so easily, especially considering that he recently suffered a concussion, which could explain his erratic behavior, in the absence of knowing that Angelique is feeding off him every night.

John: So do you think Willie was preparing to make his move on Maggie? Seems like the right time, now that Joe is all but out of the picture.

Christine: I tend to think that Willie was just looking for an escape from the horror of helping to bring life to a corpse, though I'm sure his crush on her may have been a factor in seeking her out for consolation. Poor Joe must be suffering karmic retribution for his past incarnation as Nathan Forbes. Could that be why Barnabas abandoned him after realizing he was a vampire victim, rather than trying to protect him, or even attempting to follow him to discover who the vampire really is?

John: I love how Blair finds the draining of a life force from one creature to another as such a simple concept.

Christine: It would seem relatively simple to a man of his talents. I love how Angelique claims that they never found out what Lang's message on the tape meant, after hearing Lang clearly say that Barnabas will be healthy as long as Adam lives, and will revert to his former state if he should die, prompting her to attempt to kill Adam to reinstate her curse. I guess dying and coming back undead has screwed with her memory.


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