Dark Shadows Episode 236 - 5/22/67

Maggie lies in a hospital bed, gasping, before passing out. A nurse checks her vitals and goes to get the doctor. She explains she has no heartbeat and has stopped breathing. When they re-enter the room, the door to outside is open and Maggie is gone. The nurse tells the doctor that there was every indication that she was dead.

The doctor tells Sam and Joe that Maggie is gone. Joe asks if she's dead, and he says that she's disappeared. The doctor says the sheriff and state troopers are looking for her. Joe tells Sam to stay, and that he'll check the cemetery at Eagle Hill. The doctor doesn't think they'll find her there. He says that he told them she's gone, suggesting that someone may have taken her body. Joe leaves to go look for Maggie, hoping to find her alive. Sam asks the doctor if he thinks Maggie is dead. He tells Sam that Maggie didn't have a heartbeat when the nurse checked.

In a trance, Maggie wanders through the forest.

The doctor tries to give Sam some pills to help him relax. Burke arrives at the hospital, and the doctor asks to speak to him outside. Before he can, Joe returns and says he didn't find Maggie at Eagle Hill cemetery. Burke says that someone probably knows where she is—whoever called Vicki the last time she went missing. Burke suggests that it might have been Willie Loomis. Joe tells Sam to stay at the hospital, and that he and Burke will go find Willie.

Burke and Joe arrive at the Old House. They knock on the door, and Barnabas answers and invites them in. Joe asks to speak to Willie. Barnabas says he sent him to Bangor to do some business overnight. Burke tells him that Maggie Evans has disappeared from the hospital. Barnabas asks what they think Willie would know. Joe says that when they found Maggie at Eagle Hill cemetery, Vicki thinks Willie made the call to Vicki telling her to look there. Barnabas says that Willie was with him that night, and he wouldn't have had the time to call Vicki. Barnabas asks how Burke thinks Willie was involved; if he thinks Willie abducted Maggie. Joe and Burke agree that seems unlikely. As they start to leave, Burke says he hears something in the house. Barnabas confirms that he's the only one there.

After Joe and Burke leave, Barnabas comes back inside and calls out, "It's all right. They're gone. You're safe. Safe here with me," as Maggie comes out of a room to join him.

The portrait of Josette hangs in a furnished bedroom. Barnabas leads Maggie in, and describes it as just as she left it.

Maggie walks to a mirror. Barnabas calls her Josette, and says from now on that will be her name. Maggie repeats the name as she looks into the mirror.

Barnabas says they will experience all the joy that was denied them for so many years. He says he forgives Josette for leaping from the cliffs. Barnabas promises her life, so that the two of them will never be separated again. Maggie says, "Eagle Hill," and Barnabas tells her to forget all that. He then presents her with her wedding gown, and says that she will soon be his bride. He then winds a music box, and presents it to her.

Our thoughts

John: Josette's Music Box! I was surprised to hear that the music isn't the exact theme that we'll come to know as Josette's music box theme, but the basic melody is there.

Christine: It is a momentous occasion. The only music cue I could find for Josette's Music Box (cue 285) on the Dark Shadows Complete Soundtrack is the one we'll hear in later episodes. Maybe it's not as complete a soundtrack as it states. Does Maggie have some sort of amnesia, or is she just held in thrall by Barnabas?

John: So is Barnabas' plan to keep 'Maggie/Josette' locked away in the old house? And marry her? I'm surprised that up to now, there's been no mention by Barnabas of Maggie resembling his long lost love before now. It does appear that she's far more than just a vampire bride to him.

Christine: Barnabas has certainly got some issues to want to use Maggie to relive his life with Josette. I suppose if you're going to have a vampire on a soap opera, he should be a romantic vampire and not just some bloodsucking beast. How does he expect to get away with keeping Maggie hidden the way everyone is always tramping through the Old House?

John: I thought for sure the noise Burke heard was going to be Willie Loomis. I wonder if Barnabas actually did send him on an errand to Bangor...

Christine: He must be tasked with picking up the wedding cake.

The teleprompter is lurking just outside the door, maintaining close proximity to Mitchell Ryan.