Dark Shadows Episode 616 - 11/4/68

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Barnabas sits in the old house, saying that he will not go to Angelique. He hears her laughter and she appears to him. She calls him to come to her. She asks if he gave Joe the medicine, and if he's dead. He tells her that Julia stopped him, and Joe is still alive in the hospital. She tells him that he must not disappoint her. She bites his neck.

Julia approaches the old house.

Angelique reminds Barnabas that he is hers, and will soon be with her forever. Julia enters and finds him weak in his chair. He tells her to stay away. She sees the bloody marks on his neck. She calls Willie, and when he appears she shows him the marks on Barnabas' neck. They wonder who the vampire is, and Julia tells Willie they need to take Barnabas to the cell downstairs to keep him safe.

Julia locks Barnabas and Willie in the cell. He asks what she's doing, and she tells him they saw the marks on his neck, and know what happened. He asks them to let him free, and she says they're trying to protect him.

Willie says they're his friends, and he tells them both to go away and leave him alone. Willie says they're going to stay with him to protect him. Julia asks Barnabas to tell them who the vampire is, if he can. Willie reminds her that even she couldn't say when she was under a vampire's control.

Maggie apologizes to Blair when she finds him waiting on her doorstep. They go inside and he mentions that she seems upset. He asks if it has to do with Joe, and she admits that it does. Blair mentions how his death must be a terrible shock to her. She says that Joe's not dead. She says she's referring to what he did to Barnabas. Blair asks her what she's talking about, and Maggie explains that Joe tried to strangle Barnabas because he believed Barnabas tried to poison him. Blair is discombobulated, and presses Maggie for details on the poisoning, as well as Joe's claims of Barnabas trying to kill him. She says she can't understand what would make Joe do this, and Blair explains that men might do anything when under a woman's power.

She wishes that she knew who the woman was. Blair suggests she still has feelings for Joe and she vehemently denies it. She says whatever Joe does from now on is no concern of hers. Blair adds that now she can make decisions that she had avoided making before. She asks Blair to take her to see Barnabas. He tells her that he must not be in any condition to receive visitors. She says she could have warned him. Blair suggests a quiet evening at home, but she is adamant, and he tells her that he is hers to command.

Julia tells Maggie that Barnabas isn't there. Blair explains that he's probably just not there to receive visitors. Julia acknowledges that. Blair tells her it's unreasonable for them to insist to see him.

As the dogs howl outside, Willie hangs a cross on the cell door. He asks Barnabas to speak to him. Barnabas begs Willie to set him free. Willie tells him that he can't.

Maggie says that she thinks Barnabas isn't there, or Julia would let him see him. Julia says that Barnabas wasn't hurt has bad as Maggie thinks.

Barnabas realizes that Maggie found a way out of the cell. He asks Willie to bring him food. He explains that Julia locked the cell from outside, and he doesn't have a key. Barnabas asks him for water, and when Willie goes to pour him a glass, Barnabas breaks a bottle over Willie's head, knocking him out. He then opens the secret panel in the cell.

Maggie apologizes for getting carried away. Blair says he's sure Barnabas is perfectly fine. They leave, and Julia goes downstairs.

Barnabas feels sorry for hurting Willie, but he leaves him, crawling into the secret passage and shutting the entrance behind him.

Julia finds Willie in the cell, unconscious, and Barnabas missing. She hears the dogs howling outside.

Our thoughts

John: Wasn't it odd to lock Willie in the cell with Barnabas? What was he really going to do in there?

Christine: He was apparently there to hang a cross. I wonder where he got it. Nobody in the Collins family seems particularly religious to have such artifacts on hand, and it's been rare to see anyone employ one against the many vampires traipsing about the property.

John: I do love when Blair is out of sorts. Do you think he's so smitten with Maggie that he'll forget to investigate who's been manipulating Joe Haskell when he gets back home?

Christine: I would expect him to come down on Angelique and Harry for failing to dispatch Joe, though it would seem that his mission to remove Joe as an obstacle for Maggie's attention was accomplished anyway, so perhaps he'll be lenient.

"Maggie, when a woman has a man in her power, there's no telling what he might do." -Nicholas Blair

John: Did Barnabas know about the hidden passage in the cell? I can't recall. Though if he did, wouldn't you also think that Julia, or at least Willie, would be aware, too?

Christine: I don't think it was explicitly stated that he knew about it when Maggie was using it in Episode 260, though he seemed to be able to make his way through the secret passageway easily enough at the time, indicating that he may have had some familiarity with it. I doubt that he would have had reason to share that information with Julia or Willie.