Dark Shadows Episode 1114 10/1/70

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After Barnabas tosses the I Ching wands, Stokes says it's the 49th hexagram. Stokes tells him to visualize a door with that hexagram, and concentrate on it until the door opens. Barnabas does. He says it's opening. Stokes tells him to rise and go through the door. Barnabas sees a tombstone showing that Julia died on October 6, 1840. He says it can't be. Barnabas says he can't get through. Stokes shakes him. He asks if he could see anything. Barnabas says he saw a tombstone with Julia Hoffman Collins, with the date three days in the future.

Barnabas and Stokes go to the cemetery and find Julia's tombstone. Stokes asks about the name, and Barnabas says she must have been impersonating a member of the family. Stokes asks how he can get back in time to save her, and Barnabas says he doesn't know, but he must try. Julia calls to Barnabas.

In 1840, Julia is calling for Barnabas in a mirror when Roxanne Drew, Samantha's sister comes in and introduces herself. She asks if Julia always speaks to inanimate objects. Julia sees that Roxanne is accompanied by a man who looks like a Trask. Roxanne introduces him as Lamar Trask. Roxanne asks her to guess what profession he's in. Julia says she's not good at guessing. She says he's an undertaker. Roxanne asks her if Samantha is home, and Julia says she's not. Trask says they'll wait on the terrace. Julia is surprised that Roxanne is so different than the one she met in 1970. She wishes she knew when she would be cursed, and by whom, so she could help her.

Trask points out that Roxanne doesn't think highly of his profession. He makes a case for the importance of the Trask chapel. He says there is little time left before her father returns, and feels he's entitled to an answer. She says he's not entitled to the answer that he and her father want to hear. She says the answer is no. She talks about the day when she will meet a charming stranger who will love her as she wants to be loved. She says they are destined to meet, not realizing that Barnabas was watching her. She asks Trask if he's quiet because the man she described couldn't be him. 

Julia comes out onto the terrace to tell them Samantha has arrived. She tells Trask that she knows the way, and leaves him with Julia. Julia offers him a glass of wine, and he says drink is the curse of mankind. She asks if he's related to reverend Trask. He says that was his father. He asks what she knows of him. She says her father, Barnabas, spoke of him. He says his father disappeared the same year her father went to England, and no one knows what happened to him. She asks if he was involved in some trial. He says he helped bring a witch to justice. Trask says he thinks his father was the victim of foul play, a victim of the evil spirits involved in the house. He vows to find out, someday.

Roxanne comes downstairs and goes into the drawing room. She tells Trask she's ready to be taken home. He asks if Samantha took her side against him as her future husband. He tells her she should come to her senses and comply with the agreement her father made with him. Barnabas watches them from outside. Roxanne tells Trask that she is not a parcel of real estate, and tells him to return to Collinsport and bury someone. Trask leaves, and Julia comes in. Roxanne says she's happy to be rid of him.  She explains that her father will be furious, at least until he finds another husband for her. She leaves, and Julia goes upstairs.

On the terrace, Roxanne hears someone. Barnabas comes out and tells her not to be afraid. He asks her not to be afraid. He says he was just about to go inside and surprise the family. He asks who she is, and she introduces herself as Roxanne Drew. She asks if he's planning to stay at Collinwood, and he says he hopes so. Roxanne says he's an amazing man, and he asks if he may see her again. He explains that he thinks they are destined to be together forever. She says he's a most unusual man. He asks if he may call her at home. She explains that her father is out of town for a few days, and while she has a guest in the house, he may call upon her anytime he wishes. He kisses her hand, and she goes on her way. He realizes that he must stay away from her. 

Roxanne is upset that he didn't visit her tonight. She wonders if he's the one she's always felt that she was destined to meet, or just a stranger. She knows she'll see him again if he stays at Collinwood. She turns to see Barnabas in her room. He tells her not to be frightened, or to make a sound. He says he couldn't resist coming to her. He says that he is the stranger she spoke of, and he will love her as no one has. He leans in to bite her neck. 

Our thoughts: 

John: My wife wants to know how Julia could come to be called Julia Hoffman Collins. Do they somehow think Hoffman is her middle name? It wasn't hyphenated, not that that would have been common in 1840! Funny too that Barnabas points out that October 6th is three days away, considering today is October 1st, until you realize that in three days of the show, it will be Tuesday, October 6th!

Christine: Knowing Julia, she probably accidentally introduced herself as Julia Hoffman to someone and then quickly recovered by adding in the Collins family name. Since she wasn't around too long before she died, whoever was in charge of ordering the tombstone must have assumed it was her middle name. What do you suppose is the significance of her being buried next to Minerva Trask? 

John: I was more and more convinced by my Terminator time-travel-paradox theory suggesting that Barnabas would be the one to turn Roxanne into a vampire, and here he's gone and done it! I guess Julia can't really be jealous, because this Barnabas hasn't spent enough time with her to know how she feels about him. 

Christine: 1840 Barnabas is not the one she's in love with, anyway. I don't think Roxanne will be a vampire just yet. I think it takes at least 3 bites on this show to turn someone. There may be time to save her yet.

John: Nice to have a Trask back on the show — another welcome familiar face —and an undertaker, no less! The biggest question in 1840 is now how the dual-Barnabas situation is going to be resolved...

Christine: I predict we may be seeing one of our skeleton friends soon if Lamar discovers what happened to his dear old daddy. Perhaps that is how the dual-Barnabas situation will be resolved. It is quite interesting that Reverend Trask had a son after giving the impression of being extremely pious and celibate.