Dark Shadows Episode 497 - 5/21/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Julia paces in the old house when Mrs. Johnson comes to see her. She explains she's back from Boston, because she has had the dream every night and it continues to terrify her. She asks Julia why she told it to her, and Julia said she has no choice. Mrs. Johnson says that even though she doesn't want to, she has to tell David, and Julia tries to stop her. They struggle at the door, and Julia eventually slaps her across the face.

She sits her down and says she's been in touch with Professor Stokes. Mrs. Johnson asks if she can see him, and Julia says he thinks it will be several days before he'll have a solution. She asks Julia what she's supposed to do until he's ready.

There's a knock at the door and Julia answers, surprised to see David. He says his father wants to see her at Collinwood. Mrs. Johnson tells him hello, and he asks when she got back from Boston. Julia sends Mrs. Johnson home, and David offers to walk her home. Julia tells him she has something to show him. After she gets rid of Mrs. Johnson, he asks what she wants to show him. She tells him she has a tape recorder. Willie then shows up and tells her he needs to see her downstairs. She asks David to wait, and says she'll bring him the tape recorder. David decides to play outside while she gets the recorder.

Outside, Mrs. Johnson is waiting. She says she couldn't leave without seeing him. She says she has something very important to tell him and they leave together.

Maggie is looking for her earrings when Joe arrives. He tells her that he has them, and pulls them out of his pocket. He said he wanted to have them appraised, to see if they were valuable enough to be stolen property. She's upset, and then he tells her they're worth $15,000. He tells her they're very old, but the police have no record of any valuable jewelry being stolen. Joe says there has to be a catch somewhere. Maggie says if someone comes looking for them, she'll give them back. She puts them on, and Joe says he's tired of talking about them. Maggie looks into the mirror while wearing them, and is captivated.

Joe asks her to take them off, as she's not herself when she wears them. She says he thinks there's another man in her life, and he's jealous. She refuses to take them off, and Joe says they should cancel dinner. Maggie says they can do that, or find a place that serves baby food. Joe storms out, and she returns to the mirror to admire the earrings. She thinks she remembers something about them, perhaps related to the old house. She realizes that she has to go there to find out.

Willie is in the old house when Maggie knocks at the door. He invites her in. She appears to be in a daze, and he asks if she came to see Barnabas. She says she's not sure why she came, but she had to. She says she started to remember things from a long time ago. She looks at Willie and smiles. She says it wasn't him. She says he didn't come to her house to hurt her, he came to warn her that she was in danger. She doesn't know why she knows that, but she believes it to be true. Willie is happy to be friends with her now.

She says there's something else she needs to remember. She asks him who was going to hurt her. He says he doesn't know, he just thought she needed protection. He asks her out on a date, and she says she doesn't think Joe would like it. She explains they're engaged. Willie says he's just looking for a friend. She asks about Barnabas, and Willie says he works for him, so it's not the same. Willie says he's awfully lonely, and he needs someone to talk to and smile at him. She says she'll think about it. He shows her out, and after she's gone, he gets his gun and says it will just be she and him after Joe's gone.

Mrs. Johnson sits over David's bed as he sleeps. She says she apologizes for telling him about the dream. She vows to stay with him until it's over.

David dreams, hearing a knock at his bedroom door. It's Willie. He beckons David to follow him. He leads him to a door and closes it behind him. He hears Willie's voice recite the curse. He finds himself in a room full of doors. Hearing a music box, he opens a door revealing the wide-eyed skull. He moves to another door and opens it to see a skeletal bride, laughing. Behind the next door he opens is the footage of bats Mrs. Johnson first saw. He slams the door shut and approaches the final door. He walks in and steps into a giant spider-web. He wakes up screaming and Mrs. Johnson is there to comfort him.

Our thoughts

John: I'm glad we're finally back to the dream curse! I was a bit surprised that it skipped right to Willie. I thought for sure it would pass through Carolyn, Roger and Liz on its way to Barnabas. Right now, I'm betting that Willie is the last step in the chain before Angelique's curse lands on Barnabas' doorstep. And while I like the idea of a giant spider-web, it would have been preferable had they not shown the dime store spider (I had enough of those in my youth to know it says Made in Hong Kong on the bottom).

Christine: What do you mean, in your youth? So, the dream doors continue to be condensed. Nice to see the skull in extreme close up, and glad we still have the skeleton bride, though I'd much rather have the headless creation than the film strip of bats. David must be dreaming of a spider web because he feels trapped, but does the spider represent Cassandralique or Barnabas? Once Barnabas is a vampire again, will he remember that he wanted to kill David?

John: So Julia says she didn't have a choice but to tell Mrs. Johnson about the dream, but she has no problem telling her that she can't tell David about it. Hypocrite.

Christine: I think Grayson Hall really slapped Clarice Blackburn. Those look like real tears she was crying afterward.

John: Maggie is awfully dismissive of Joe, which conveniently opens the door for Willie to be creepy Willie (even if Maggie doesn't see it). And now we know he keeps his rifle behind the chair in the front room of the old house!

Christine: I don't understand the earring effect on Maggie. Barnabas no longer has vampire powers to assert over her, so why is she acting drugged out and forgetting that Willie creeps her out? KLS covered nicely when the earring dropped, and smoothly recovered it after Joe huffed out.

Easy come, easy go.

I'm not taking off these earrings...whoops!

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
6. Giant spider-web 

Willie's Recitation of the Dream Curse

Through sight and sound, faceless terror,

through endless corridors by trial and error,

ahead a blazin' light does burn, 

and one door leads to the point of return.

 David's Recitation of the Dream Curse

 Through sight and sound and faceless terror,

through endless corridors by trial and error,

ahead a blazing light does burn,

and one door leads to the point of return.

Mrs. Johnson's Recitation of the Dream Curse

Through sight and sound and headless terror,

through endless corridors by trial and error,

a blazing head of light will burn,

and one door leads to the point of return.

Julia's Recitation of the Dream Curse
Through sight and sound and faceless terror,
through endless corridors by trial and error,
ahead a blazing light does burn, 
and one door leads to the point of return. 

Dr. Lang's Recitation of the Dream Curse

Through night and sound and faceless terror,

through endless corridors by trial and error,

a head of blazing light does burn, 

and one door leads to the point of return.

Maggie's Recitation of the Dream Curse

Through sight and sound and faceless terror,

through endless corridors of trial and error,

a blazing head of light shall burn, 

and one door leads to the point of return.