Quentin goes to his room and sees a portrait on the chair, covered. He uncovers it and recoils in terror, as it has his name, but the portrait is of him as a werewolf.
Tate looks at his portrait of an ideal woman, which is the spitting image of Amanda, when Quentin comes to see him. He asks Tate if Petofi put him up to painting the portrait of the wolf dressed like a man. Tate shows him the sketches for the portrait. Quentin asks if Tate brought it to his room, and he says Petofi did. He tells Quentin that he may be hallucinating, as Charity was when she looked at the painting and saw a wolf while he was still working on it. Quentin tells him he's coming back to Collinwood with him.
Charity comes downstairs and hears Quentin's music playing in the drawing room. She spruces herself up and walks in. She's surprised to see Amanda listening to Quentin's theme. She asks what she's doing, and Amanda says she's living in the house now. Charity asks who invited her, and when she says it was Trask, she screams for him. Trask arrives and tells Charity to go to her room. She fights him and he drags her upstairs.
Quentin brings Tate into his room, where the portrait is once again covered. Quentin removes the cover and shows him the wolf portrait. Tate doesn't know what to say. Quentin says he'll have to go to Petofi. Tate tries to tell him it's just one of the strange things in the Universe. Quentin threatens to kill him if he tells anyone about the portrait.
Trask tells Amanda that Charity is undergoing a great trial. Amanda says that she seems to hate her, and Trask blames the devil's presence. Tate comes downstairs, and Trask goes into the foyer to speak with him. Tate tells him he's ready to paint Charity's portrait, and Trask explains that she is not well. He says there is another girl that he would like Tate to paint. He brings Tate into the drawing room, and tells Amanda that Tate has agreed to paint her. Trask introduces them, and Tate says he knows her. Trask asks if they've met before, and he says he saw her in the Inn. Amanda says she is honored to be painted by him. Trask leaves them alone to discuss the details. Trask tells Tate he wants the preliminary sketches to be completed in Collinwood. He leaves them.
Tate asks her if she feels it. She doesn't understand him. She says that she hasn't met him. She says that Count Petofi asked her if she had met a man named Tate. He asks her when she was born. She asks him to please not ask. He says he only asks because he needs to know. He begs her to tell him.
Trask tells Charity she's a disgrace to him. She tells him to get Amanda out of the house or she'll leave. Trask says that Amanda will stay, and no one can stop that. She says he'll regret it if she leaves. He tells her that if she leaves, she'll beg him to take her back in. She tells him that she's Pansy Faye, and she'll come back as Mrs. Quentin Collins, and kick them all out of the house. He leaves her and she begins packing her bags.
Amanda tells Tate that she doesn't know anything about herself. She says she remembers a newspaper lying on the street. Tate asks how long ago that was. She says it was March 11, 1895. Tate tells her to wait for him, and excuses himself.
As he runs out, Charity comes downstairs and tells her that she's won the battle but not the war. She adds that when she comes back, she'll throw Amanda out.
Quentin finds Amanda in the drawing room. He realizes that she was expecting someone else. He asks who, and she says Tate. Quentin says she needs someone who knows how to enjoy himself, and puts on his music. She says she played it earlier, but a madwoman came in and stopped her. He invites her to dance, and they dance around the drawing room.
He says he'll have to write new words to make him think of her. She asks him to says the existing words, and he recites the lyrics to Shadows in the Night. He kisses her, which Trask witnesses. He tells Quentin to leave.
Quentin bids Amanda goodnight and leaves them. Trask says she must have the strength to fight her weaknesses, and will never be alone in a room with Quentin again.
Tate sketches some fruit he has laid out on a table. He decides to add a vase to his drawing, and starts sketching it. He looks up and sees the vase on the table.
Our thoughts
John: Ah, the ever-convincing Roger Davis. I love how he tries to write off the werewolf portrait in Quentin's room as 'just one of those unexplained things in the universe'...
Christine: It was pretty weak, but I think he was trying to dodge the obvious since he knows Petofi's involved.
John: Poor Amanda. Is every lecherous man in Collinwood going to make a move on her? I guess we have to wait and see how Barnabas, Edward and Jamison respond when meeting her.
Christine: She's surrounded by a whole pack of wolves now. I'd expect her to be safe from Jamison and Edward, but Barnabas may try once again to resurrect his Josette flame with her.
John: Running out of gothic tropes, the Dark Shadows writers have dipped into more recent fare, stepping into territory explored in Richard Matheson's Twilight Zone episode "A World of His Own." Stephen King would explore similar territory in his story "Word Processor of the Gods." Can't wait to see Tate try and use his special talent to make things go away...
Christine: I thought Pygmalion was the inspiration for the storyline, though I suppose the direction they are taking is more novel. It would be pretty funny if he began a series of nudes, but I have a feeling he is going to be too afraid to use his newfound power, and will have to keep his talents hidden from Petofi to avoid exploitation.
1 comment:
"A World of His Own" is one of the best comical Twilight Zone's.
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