Dark Shadows Episode 501 - 5/27/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Adam throttles Barnabas while Julia tries to convince him that he really loves him. Adam lets go of him and runs outside, dropping Barnabas to the  ground. Julia tries to revive Barnabas, and he slowly gets up into a chair. He says they must go after him, and she says he'll be killed and that will be the end of it. She says Adam has tried to kill her, Willie, and now Barnabas. He says that each time, Adam had a reason. He grabs a rifle and goes to find him. Julia grabs a flashlight and follows him.

Adam cries in the woods, with thunder and lightning crashing. He calls Barnabas' name.

Julia finds Barnabas searching for Adam. Julia urges him to let Adam disappear.

Adam hears Julia and Barnabas approaching. He hides from them.

Barnabas tells her to go back to the house. He says he must kill Adam.

Adam hears this, and begins chanting, "kill."

Adam follows Barnabas and Julia, clutching a stick, and saying, "kill," over and over again. Adam sees the new house in the distance.

Liz speaks to Tony on the phone, and Carolyn tells her she doesn't want to talk to him. She says to tell him she's busy.

Adam watches Liz and Carolyn through an open window.

Liz asks Carolyn what's wrong. She asks her mother how much she knows about Cassandra. Liz says if she knows something is going on, she wants to hear it. Carolyn explains that she saw Cassandra in the garden with Tony. Liz says she must have misunderstood things.

Adam stands outside the front door of Collinwood. He leans against the door and it swings open. Carolyn hears the door open, and thinking the wind opened it, she screams when she sees Adam. Liz comes out and recognizing him as the man from the woods, asks what he wants.

Adam tries to speak. He asks for music, and Liz tells Carolyn to turn on the radio. She does, and Adam doesn't like the song. He knocks the radio down and says, "not music!"

He then says. "if both live." Liz offers him food and he follows her. Carolyn runs to the window and Adam grabs her. Liz grabs a knife and just in time, Barnabas enters with a gun. He warns Adam to let her go or he'll kill him. Adam drags Carolyn outside, and Barnabas follows them.

Back at Collinwood, Julia calls the police for Liz. She tells them a stranger abducted Carolyn, and asked them to send several men. Liz says the man was so strong, and when Julia reminds her that Barnabas has a gun, she asks why. She suggests that they were hunting him. Julia tries to fabricate a story about hearing a noise outside the old house, and Barnabas grabbing his gun.

Carolyn screams for help, and eventually faints. Adam picks her body up and carries her away.

Our thoughts

John: It seemed pretty obvious that Adam was going to recite Lang's recording to Barnabas before he gets shot. Maybe tomorrow.

Christine: The music that Adam claims is not music is the theme from Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman). I know it's been used before on the show because I've looked it up before, but now I don't remember when. I think I have to agree with Adam about the music. Not music.

John: Julia tried to do some pretty fast talking to explain why Barnabas had a gun, and I don't think Liz bought her story.

Christine: The blue screen is back and Julia is looking freaky! It doesn't really seem like she is close enough to hear Carolyn screaming.

John: Is it just me, or isn't it somewhat imperative to find out what's up with blind Sam Evans, appropriately aged Cassandrelique, or even sleep deprived Willie, for that matter, who should have had the dream by now!

Christine: If only those actors didn't have the day off, we may have found that out today. Let's hope they're back on the roster for tomorrow's episode. I wonder when Willie had time to teach Adam the creepy moves he puts on girls. Adam's groping of Carolyn would make Willie proud. Or jealous.

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

Dark Shadows Episode 500 - 5/24/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Sam sits in his studio as lightning strikes outside the window. Maggie returns home from a date with Joe and asks her father what he's doing. He tells her that he can't see. He says he doesn't know how it happened. Maggie goes to call a doctor, and Sam says before she calls the doctor, she needs to bring Barnabas Collins to see him. After she leaves, Sam gets up and walks toward his easel, almost tripping, and feels for the painting, which he realizes is gone.

Barnabas descends to the basement and hears Willie tormenting Adam with jewelry. Willie says Adam found the jewelry. Barnabas asks why Willie thinks he's stupid. He tells Willie that he thinks Adam doesn't believe him either.

Willie tells Barnabas he quits. Barnabas takes the jewelry and puts it into the box with the other pieces. As Barnabas goes through the jewelry, he asks Willie where Josette's emerald earrings are. Willie says that maybe Adam took them. Barnabas asks Adam if he has any jewelry. He shows him how to empty his pockets, and Adam does, showing they are empty. Willie says they're not on the floor, and Barnabas says he must have taken them. He tells Willie that if he can't find them, he will accuse him. Willie starts to toss Adam's bed looking for the earrings.

Julia is reading at the old house when Maggie arrives. She says her pop needs her, but sent her to get Barnabas. She says he's gone blind, and Julia goes to get Barnabas.

Sam sits by the window when Maggie, Barnabas and Julia arrive. He asks if Barnabas is with her, and when she says he is, he asks to speak to Barnabas alone. Barnabas says he would like Julia to stay, and Sam says he should have known she was in on it with him. He tells Barnabas he followed his instructions. Barnabas asks what happened. He says he did everything he asked, at the time he asked him to. He started aging the portrait at 10:15. He says there was a knock at the door. It was the woman in the portrait. She told him it was stolen. He said he refused to give it to her, and when he picked up his brush to finish it, he lost his sight. He asks what Barnabas paid him to do.

Julia asks to examine Sam, and he allows her to do so. She asks him to look into his scope. After waving it in front of his face, she says he needs to see a specialist. Maggie comes back in. Julia offers him a sedative and suggests he see a specialist. Sam gets up saying he can take care of himself and trips over a stool.

Maggie helps him up and into his bedroom. Barnabas asks her if his blindness is permanent. Julia asks why he brought the portrait, and Barnabas says he wanted to see if Angelique controlled the portrait or if it controlled her. Barnabas asks about Sam and Julia says the blindness may be permanent. Barnabas laments that Dr. Lang is no longer alive.

Adam listens to Dr. Lang's instructions on the tape recorder again. He begins to recite more of the recording as Willie comes down with a snack. Willie tells Adam that he can do something for him. He taunts him with a chicken leg, holding it just outside his reach. Willie tells Adam to say, "I." Adam does. Then he tells him to say, "stole." He says he needs to learn to say "I stole the earrings." Willie then eats the chicken. Adam breaks free of the chain, and Willie makes it out of the cell just ahead of Adam. He chases Willie upstairs.

Barnabas and Julia return home to find Adam choking Willie. Barnabas tells him to let Willie go, and then proceeds to beat Adam with his cane.

Adam gets up and Willie runs off. Adam grabs the cane from Barnabas and tosses it aside. When Barnabas goes to retrieve it, Adam grabs him by the throat and chokes him.

Our thoughts

John: So Barnabas is aware that Josette's jewelry is hidden behind the bricks in Adam's cell? Not a particularly safe place, especially if Willie knows about it.

Christine: Looks like dad caught the boys messing around in the basement again. Perhaps Barnabas will be finding a new hiding place for the jewels, especially since he's missing the emerald earrings.

John: I guess Julia missed the fact that Sam was blind when she asked him to look into her ophthalmoscope.

Christine: She may have also missed the lecture on how to use it, considering the way she's waving it around like a magic wand. It's pretty weak for Barnabas to claim he didn't suspect there would be any danger in having Sam tamper with Angelique's supernatural portrait. He was concerned for Dr. Lang's safety just for disrupting the curse, so he should have expected that attacking the witch through her portrait would be extremely dangerous for Sam.

John: Wow. Adam gets a beat down with the Barnabas cane, all because Willie teased him. Knowing Willie as he does, you'd think that Barnabas might give Adam the benefit of the doubt that Willie deserved the throttling he was getting. I have a hunch that the events of today are going to have a lasting effect on the relationship between Barnabas and Adam.

Christine: Barnabas has obviously not had the opportunity to read Dr. Spock's books on child rearing. Willie is a mean stepbrother. It was bad enough for him to taunt Adam by eating his chicken drumstick, but spitting it out at him was way over the top. Perhaps the dream will take him down a notch. I had hoped he'd be having it today, but it looks like we'll have to wait until next week to see Willie quivering with fear.

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

Dark Shadows Episode 499 - 5/23/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Sam ages the portrait of Angelique. Her face is wrinkled; her hair long and gray.

In a hooded cloak in the garden at Collinwood, Cassandra pleads that she must find the portrait. She begs for it to speak to her.

Tony arrives and finds Cassandra in the garden, standing in the shadows in the black cloak. She screams in pain and says she needs his help. He asks to see her and she tells him to use his cigarette lighter. She pulls back her hood, and her face and hair match the revised portrait.

She tells Tony to look into the flame and pledge to help her. He says he'll do as she asks. She says she must find and get the portrait back tonight. She says someone is aging the portrait, and in turn, causing her to age. She says she needs him to find the artist who would be doing the painting for the Collins family.

He says there are two possibilities. Amos Parkes, an old friend of the family, and Sam Evans, father of Maggie. She recalls that Maggie looks like Josette. Tony says Sam did a portrait of Barnabas, and Cassandra realizes that he must be the one. Carolyn interrupts them.

Cassandra is hidden in her cloak and hood, and Tony explains it's not what Carolyn thinks. She says she saw his car pull up, and thought he was coming to see her. When he got out and moved towards the garden, she came to investigate. Tony asks Cassandra to vouch for him. Cassandra says she's already judged them. She says she'll let her uncle judge her. She asks if everything is so innocent, why is she hiding in a cloak in the shadows.

Sam continues to age the painting.

Cassandra screams in pain. Carolyn asks her what's wrong. Cassandra tells her to leave her alone, and runs off. Carolyn tells her not to go after her, and he says she needs help. She suggests that Roger can take care of her, and if he walks out on her now, he'll never see her again. He pauses, and then agrees to stay with her. She asks why he met Cassandra in the garden, and he says she asked him to. She asks if it's the first time they met, and he tells her it's been going on for about a month. She asks if he's in love with Cassandra, and he says no. She asks if he's doing it out of hatred for Roger. He says he can't explain, and she'll need to take his word for that. He tells Carolyn he cares about her.

Tony warns Carolyn to stay away from Cassandra, as she has strange power over him. Carolyn tells him that he's either crazy, or has lost all sense of self respect, and storms off.

Sam continues working on the portrait, aging it further as lightning strikes outside the window. In the darkness, Cassandra peers into the window and sees the portrait.

There's a knock at the door, and Sam opens the door to woman hidden in a black cloak with a hood over her face. She steps in and he tells her that he's very busy. She removes the hood and asks if she recognizes her face. He does, and doesn't understand.

She tells him that she's come for her portrait. He says it has another owner, and she says it's Barnabas Collins. He tells her to settle the issue with him, and asks her to leave. She says that she has nothing against him personally, and will give him one more chance to give him the picture. Before leaving, she tells him to try and return to his work, and just try to finish the picture.

When he returns to the painting, his eyesight worsens, with everything around him becoming blurry, and ultimately fading to black. He screams out that he can't see anything. He hears the door open, and while asking who it is, Cassandra sneaks in and takes the painting. As she leaves with the portrait, Sam trips over the entry step and screams out that he's blind.

Our thoughts

John: Some nice new portraits for your paintings of Collinwood pages! Didn't see Dick Smith's name in the credits for make-up, and as this isn't quite as impressive as the aged Barnabas look, I think it's probably not the maestro's handiwork.

Christine: Angelique's portrait first materialized at the Old House, so the original painting is found in the gallery of Old House Portraits, though now that Sam Evans has transformed it, the revised portrait will be added to the Works of Sam Evans. It really turned out to be a stunning piece of work in the end. I sure would love to find out who painted the portraits for the show and what happened to them. Ancient Angelique and Zombie Josette are my two favorite portraits on the show so far.

John: Why didn't Cassangelique just take the painting from Sam when she first walked in? Seems like she thrives on the added drama of having to threaten and ultimately curse folks to get what she wants.

Christine: Yes, she does like to punish people for not doing as she demands, though I think she was unable to take the portrait when she first walked in because she was too decrepit to wrest it away from Sam.

John: Sam looks different without his beard. It certainly makes him look younger. Of course it's a good thing he shaved, as with the sudden onset blindness curse, he may not be able to shave for a while. Poor guy can't seem to catch a break. First time we've seen him in ages (since we learned the cause of Dr. Woodard's death!), and after signing up to do some shady work for a quick buck, he finds himself blind.

Christine: He may have some trouble affixing his Rip Taylor mustache. It was an odd choice for Angelique to don such a short cloak, especially since her legs have not aged as rapidly as the rest of her.

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