Identity Crisis

Barnabas has Maggie and what he has in store for her is rather tragic in Episodes #236-240



So this is my I KNEW IT moment...It seems I  totally and unintentionally guessed where the story would go in the previous post. But first,

Earlier that night Maggie Evans disappeared from her hospital room without a trace. Nobody can find her and the police are still on the look. Sam is devastated. Relying on a hunch Burke and Joe go up to the Old House to see if Willie knows something. But Barnabas informs them that he's out of town for an errand. When they leave with their heads hanging down, Barnabas calls out to someone from the other room: Maggie!!

Gothika

He takes her up to a room, which used to be Josette's and Barnabas has redecorated it exactly the way it was with Josette's portrait hanging on the wall. He calls the spellbound and rather zombified Maggie "Josette" and plays Josette's music box. He promises her eternal life~

Maggie's transformation
into Josette begins

The next day the whole town is alert and saddened by the news. The Sheriff pays a visit to Collinwood to talk to Vicki about the phone call. She agrees it could be Willie but isn't sure. The Sheriff has a talk with Willie and warns him if Maggie turns up dead, he'd be suspect #1! 

Poor Willie is a regular door mat

Jason is annoyed with Willie because he's scared the Sheriff's snooping would ruin his own plans. He orders him to leave town and even beats him to the ground. But when Jason leaves the Old House and walks through the woods to Collinwood, the sound of dogs howling close in on him. Barnabas seems very protective of his minion.

If only dogs would bite his ass off

Curious to see Barnabas's decorations, Vicki and Carolyn sneak in to the Old House when nobody answers the door. They even go up to Josette's room, where Vicki's excited to see the portrait again. They also play with the girly things on the dressing table, ie the hair brush and the parfume bottle, which Vicki recognises as  Josette's scent: jasmine. Suddenly, the door of the room swings shut by itself (is that you Josette?) and when they open it, they find Willie staring at them. He is upset that they've been changing the places of things and takes the girls downstairs in a hurry. Barnabas greets them kindly (but deep down he's annoyed they were upstairs) and accepts their congrats on the work he's done. Vicki also gets Barnabas to confirm the identity of the girl in his story the other night as Josette but says nobody knew who her lover was. Willie insist that the girls leave, which Barnabas notices and taunts Willie about.

Barnabas tells the girls this isn't a beauty parlor

Back at Collinwood, Liz is confused about Barnabas' reasons to redecorate Josette's room.

That night, Barnabas is winedining (or is it blood, can't tell) with Maggie, who's in Josette's wedding dress and carrying her music box, when Sam and Joe knock on the door unannounced. Maggie is quickly taken to Josette's room by Willie and Barnabas welcomes them in. Sam informs him that he can't work on the painting but can take it to his house to which Barnabas strongly opposes (I'll seriously write a paper about this shows use of portraits when I'm finished with it all). They leave, not knowing how close they were to saving poor Maggie who appears to snap out of Barnabas' spell upon hearing their voices but is restrained by Willie. Barnabas takes over and Maggie screams for help in vain.

Creepy romantic dinner interrupted

The next day David knocks on the Old House's door but gets no answer. He peers through the windows and sees Maggie, in Josette's dress, wandering in the house like a ghost. He thinks it is Josette and calls out to her to let him in. The door opens by itself and Maggie isn't around. He goes up to Josette's room and is happy to see the portrait again but he feels her presence has already left the building. Barnabas catches the little monster and takes him home to Roger. 

Not every girl wandering in a
ghostly manner is a ghost, David!

While Roger's being kindly warned by Barnabas, David tells Vicki about Josette. Something bugs him about her so he sneaks out to the Old House again. When they fail to find David, Vicki and Roger both leave to collect him from the Old House. Meanwhile, David calls Josette's name when Maggie, still dressed as Josette and carrying her music box comes down the stairs and stands in front of him!!!

Is it the salvation for Maggie?

Please please let Maggie be seen by Vicki and Roger. I've never wanted to see Roger more :)

Although I hate characters getting captured and being kept somewhere where many people occasionally come and go but fail to find them (Yes Vicki, I'm talking to you), this kidnapping is rather..romantic and doesn't bother me as much!

Still I'm confused about Josette/Barnabas age thingie..

Barnabas Attacks!

Barnabas's hold over Maggie gets stronger in Episodes #232-235

Maggie pms'ing!

Joe watches over Maggie who doesn't remember about her attempt of escape last night. As the dogs outside get restless, so does Maggie and declares she doesn't wanna see Joe ever again. Joe gets upset and calls Vicki to take over the watch.

Willie fell and hit his face..repeatedly

Before leaving Collinwood, Vicki runs into Jason who gets intriuged by the news of Maggie's cemetery visit and bite marks. He visits Willie at the Old House and questions his involvement in Maggie's situation. He even guesses Willie as the one who made the anonymous phone call. Willie, bruised after Barnabas's beating, tells Jason to stop getting involved in this.

But who might that be?

A storm breaks when Vicki's at the Evans' house. She's by Maggie's side when suddenly the glass doors in Maggie's room fly open and a silhouette appeasr outside with the flash of lightning, frightening Vicki and strangely calming Maggie. He's gone one moment later and Vicki runs to lock the doors. This is the first time that I've jumped watching this show.

Ghost stories!

Late at night, Vicki arrives at Collinwood and recites the earlier events to Carolyn. The girls get terrified as the storm causes a power cut and suddenly the same shape appears at the doorway. It turns out to be Barnabas, who tells them the vivid story of a woman (probably Josette) that killed herself at the Widows' Hill after fighting with her lover. When Carolyn the chickenshit leaves, Vicki points out and likens the details (the bloodless body of the woman) to Maggie's situation. She also tells about the "anonymous phone call". Barnabas slightly warns her that the thing that happened to Maggie could as well happen to her. When Vicki leaves, Jason also has a word with Barnabas about Willie's involvement in Maggie's case and wants him fired.

Now that his treachery is official, Barnabas bullies poor Willie even more. He tells him to keep his friend Jason away from meddling no matter what.

Vicki's once again babysitting Maggie (that reminds me, where the heck is David?) when Sam's up at the Old House. Maggie seems to be switching moods and begs Vicki not to leave her no matter what she may say.

Up at the Old House, Willie gets shocked to find out Barnabas is out for a walk. He tries to warn Sam about his daughter but Sam gets mad and Willie recoils.

Barnabas Attacks!

Maggie once again acts possessed when the dogs outside begin to howl and close in around the house. Maggie wants to be alone and Vicki gets so terrified of the dogs banging on the glass doors that she runs out of the room (for a hilarious sec there I actually thought she fled the house). She calls Burke and literally screams for help. Maggie locks her door and Vicki helplessly bangs and begs her to open it. Once Burke arrives, he breaks the door and they find Maggie on her bed, unconscious and blood dripping from her neck wound and the doors open.

Definetly not Scrubs!

Maggie is taken to the hospital and receiving another transfusion. Doctor Woodard's disturbed by her blood loss and the reopening of her wounds. They think she was attacked by something. Maggie defeatedly believes she's going to die and apologises to Joe and Sam. Doc orders the nurse to keep the window in Maggie's room locked all the time. When Maggie's alone with the nurse, she appears to choke and says she can't breathe. The nurse opens the window a bit, instead of calling the doctor that stupid bitch. Then Maggie appears to go into spasm and faints. The nurse rushes out to get the Doctor but when they come back, she's gone and the window's totally open...the dogs outside barking..
The nurse claims she was definite Maggie was dead!!!!

...right now, some dogs outside my window are barking..am I the next? Come take me Barnabas, I wanna be your bride!!!


Wow man, now I'm getting why people always tell you to skip the first 209 episodes (though I'm very glad I didn't) cause this is the shit! It's scary, it's suspenseful and it's just the beginning! The only downpart is the side story of Jason & Liz that comes and goes but then again it can also get quite intense. I want the basement opened NOW but then I can't bare to see Liz so helpless against Jason anymore.


Also, I take the story Barnabas told must be about Josette's death and her lover is him. It'd be cool because the actress playing Maggie will also play Josette in the future and that'd explain his obsession with Maggie. But I'm confused about one thing, isn't Josette supposed to be older than Barnabas as she's the widow of the founding Collins; Jeremiah?

Maggie's Descent

Maggie falls deeper and deeper into the darkness that is Barnabas's influence in Episodes #227-231

It's the next morning and Maggie has trouble waking up and feels very weak. Despite Sam's warnings, she goes to work where she feels wonkier and eventually faints. 

It ain't easy being a waitress

Taken home by Sam and Joe, she strongly opposes seeing a doctor. After sunset, she suddenly becomes lively and offers to drive Sam up to the Old House where she almost flirts with Barnabas. She later comes back home and lies on her bed with her throat exposed. Barnabas says he's going out for a walk as Sam needs one hour break.

Vixen!

The next morning at Collinwood, Jason forces Liz to give him a job as the PR supervisor or something at the family business which shocks Carolyn, Roger and Vicki who are by now proud members of the "We Hate Jason Club". They secretly try to figure out Liz's motives, who snaps at them for their intervention. Carolyn, suspecting Jason's hold over her mother is related to it, demands the door in the basement opened but to no avail. Liz secretly asks Vicki to dissuade Carolyn, who is told there're only her father's belongings in there, from opening that door.

Liz crashes her own intervention party

Back at the Evans residence, Maggie sleeps till afternoon and is still sick. Sam finds the glass doors in her room open again but doesn't suspect a thing. He also calls Doctor Dave Woodard against Maggie's wishes, who informs them that she's recently lost some amount of blood and writes some prescription. Later Joe takes over the watch when Sam goes to Blue Whale for some air (and drinks). After sunset, Maggie wakes up looking like a corpse yet energetic enough to scream at Joe and kick him out of the house for the reason of wanting to be alone.

Maggie doesn't need a babysitter

Joe heads to Blue Whale to find Sam chatting with Burke and Vicki (who happen to be on another date*) about Maggie's condition. Vicki likens it to Willie's symptoms when he was sick. Sam leaves in a hurry upon learning the news. At home, he finds Maggie..gone!!

Joe hits the bar after getting the boot

Joe, Burke and Vicki arrive at the Evans house. They decide to split up and look for her around the town, in addition to the police search. Vicki's left behind in case she returns. Later, Willie appears at the door with Barnabas's message about cancelling tonight's session and is surprised to see Vicki and vice versa. He gets more shocked when he learns Maggie is missing and leaves in a hurry. Later, he calls Vicki from a pay phone and disguising his voice, he informs her about Maggie's whereabouts: The cemetery! Vicki can't reach the police so she and Burke setout themselves.

When A Stranger Calls

Maggie, wandering hypnotizedly through the cemetery, is welcomed by Barnabas. Willie comes running and tells Barnabas that the others are coming after him and persuades him to flee. They leave Maggie there unconscious. Vicki and Burke find Maggie, who's still weak and has no recollection of getting there. Burke follows some movement into the Collins Tomb where he can't find Barnabas and Willie hiding in the secret chamber. When he leaves, Barnabas suspects Willie as the one who betrayed him and beats him to the ground with his cane. Poor Willie :(

Cemetery trip!

They bring Maggie home and discover two puncture holes on her neck covered by the scarf she's been wearing ever since her first nocturnal encounter with Barnabas**. The next day, Doctor Woodard comes back and performs an immediate blood tranfusion between Joe and Maggie (aww). Maggie throws a fit screaming "Don't take his blood" (also add very creepy sounds of dogs howling) and gets very stressful during her examination of her puncture holes that are dismissed as torn cuts or something. Her memory is very hazy. The Doc also makes a half assed interpretation of Maggie's dreams of coffins and her visit to the cemetery. 

Blood Brothers Lovers

The Doctor orders Sam to keep constant watch to prevent her from sleepwalking again. That night, Sam locks the glass doors but falls asleep in the armchair. Maggie wakes up like a zombie to the howling dogs and tries to go out but Sam catches her at the last sec and struggles her back to bed as she kicks and screams to be let out.

Somebody call the Exorcist!

* The role of Frank Garner has been written out without any explanation. That sucks, I liked him!

** I find the recurring theme of vampire bite victims' reactions (concealing of their cuts, rejection of help etc) and it's association with rape curious and worth analyzing. (Willie and Maggie both went through that phase, I also remember Buffy of BtVS doing that after her encounter with Dracula and I'm sure the vampire literature is filled with such examples)

Poor Maggie! She's going through a lot, we wish her the best~

Vampiric Obsessions

Maggie takes center stage (as she should!!) when Barnabas develops a paculiar interest in her in Episodes #121-126

Barnabas sneaks up on Maggie one night at the coffee shop. She serves him the last of the coffee; obviously he's one of them vampires who do not limit their cuisine with blood. He impresses Maggie with his nobility. They have a chat about his Collinness and his part silver part gold wolf's head walking cane which he incidently forgets when he leaves. Also during their convo, dogs outside begin to howl creepily.

 Maggie terrified by the dogs / Barnabas's cane

Right after Barnabas leaves, Joe walks in but hasn't seen him on his way in. He is worried about Maggie cause a local girl's recently got attacked by a man she couldn't see. They find Barnabas's cane and decide to take it up to the Old House. Once there, Barnabas gives Maggie another jump with more sneak-up-onage but he's slightly disappointed that she's come with her boyfriend. He kindly thanks and once they're gone, Willie appears and asks what he wants with the girl. Barnabas dismisses and sends Willie out on another errand. Then he stares out the window and Maggie, at her house with Joe, feels a chill as if someone's watching her.

The Old House looks like a church

The next night, Maggie rushes home breathlessly cause she's felt someone following her. Coincidentally, Barnabas knocks on the door and has her invite him in (Still unclear if vampires need invitation in this universe or he's just being polite?). Sam too comes home worried cause some other girl has been attacked. Barnabas asks Sam to do his portrait which he agrees but he wants it right away and only at nights, so they leave for the Old House.

Sam gives the news of the attack

Sam works on the portrait till the break of dawn and just he's about to add one more detail, Barnabas gets nervous and suddenly disappears. Willie says he'll drive Sam home, to his confusion.

This one better not burst into flames

Meanwhile, the news of Willie working for Barnabas spreads quickly when Vicki finds him at the Old House on day. David's shocked to find the Old House not so old anymore. He's specially mad at Barnabas for taking down Josette's portrait. He feels like Josette has left the house forever but Barnabas, right after yet another creepy sneaking up, informs him that he will have the portrait put up in another room and David can visit whenever he wants. 

David's friendly ghost is gone

Both Jason and Elizabeth try to warn Barnabas about Willie but he politely says he has him under control and they needn't worry.

Burke pays another visit to Liz to ask about some parcel of land she's recently sold . He asks why she needed the cash so bad for? She keeps her silence but we later learn, as we have guessed, that it's for Jason's hush money.

Maggie's Hammer Horror Nightmare

That night with Sam up at the Old House, Maggie wakes screaming from a surreal nightmare where she sees herself lying dead inside a coffin. She calls Joe and they head to the Blue Whale. Joe's surprised to see a strong girl like Maggie break by a nightmare. To add more to her misery, Sam and Barnabas also decide to hit the bar after their art session. Maggie tries to avoid Barnabas as much as she can and eventually asks Joe to take her home but not before Barnabas kindly utters a "Sweet dreams" on their way out. 

It sucks to be the object of
a vampire's desire

Barnabas also meets Burke at the bar who too warns him about Willie. Barnabas says he'll get rid off him if he causes more trouble. He also tells the story behind his wolf-head cane, something about taming the wild and untameable. Burke likens that to Willie. Then, Barnabas gets distracted by something and leaves.

Barnabas lets Burke touch his cane

Maggie waits up for Sam to sleep. Once she's asleep, Barnabas appears outside her room, enters through the glass doors, stands over her bed, lifts his cane and smiles. Oh nooo!!!~

Lock your windows ladies,
Barnabas is in town!

I seriously want to pet Willie. He's such a reformed angel, worried for people's safety; trying hard to take the visitors away from the Old House.

And the contant ominous howling of the dogs just before something scary happens is creepy and great!!!

Enter Barnabas

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's a..Gentleman? Episodes #210-220

Barnabas unleashed!

The last time we checked, Willie was shooed away from the Collins Tomb by the Caretaker. So, later that night he comes back with tomb-opening-tools that he's taken from Collinwood, breaks in and comes across to three tombs; Naomi, her husband Joshua and their child Sarah Collins. While trying to open up the one belonging to Naomi Collins, he accidentally discovers a system that opens up to a secret chamber behind the wall. In there, he finds a casket wrapped with chains and locks. Curiosity leads him to breaking the locks and opening the coffin. He looks inside with shock as a hand reaches out and grabs his neck~

The long lost cousin (!)

Willie's gone missing and one night a gentleman arrives at Collinwood. He introduces himself as a cousin to the family. Whoever meets him has an initial shock upon realizing his uncanny resemblance to the portait of Barnabas Collins, which incidentally happens to be his name. He claims to be a direct descendant of that Barnabas from England but we know better. He's very eccentric and gentlemanish (ahh good ol' vampires. He even refuses to call Victoria "Vicki", saying her real name is too beautiful to give up). Anyways, the Collins' are extremely welcoming to this cousin (understandably after the Jason & Willie disaster) and he's very polite in return. But Vicki thinks there's something different about him (clever girl) but can't put her finger on it (oh well~). 

The Alpha Male

That night he meets David at the Old House who actually thinks for a sec he's the ghost of Barnabas Collins (if only he knew..). Barnabas tells some stories about the house as if he actually lived there (which doesn't escape David and later Vicki's attention). He claims its due to excessive history studying. He also learns the story of Josette's ghost from David, how she protects the Collinses-in-need and shit. Later when he's alone, he asks the portrait of Josette how come she didn't protect him when he needed it. He then claims to be the real master of the house and kicks out Josette's influence, figuratively of course.

DRAMA ALERT!!

Carolyn has a talk with Burke and expresses how heart broken she was when she found out he was using her, which he doesn't deny. They wanna remain friends yada yada, Carolyn is clearly still in love with him yada~

Roger is envious of the ring

A couple of nights later, Barnabas comes back to Collinwood and asks for Roger's counseling about doing business in town. Roger also notices the cousin Barnabas is wearing the portrait Barnabas's ring, which is explained away as being an heirloom. He also asks Liz's permission to move into the Old House, to everybody's mild amusement. He convinces them that he'll eventually make the place habitable. Liz says she'll sleep on it.

Once biten twice shy

One night at the Blue Whale, Joe tells Maggie and Burke the "tragic" discovery of a calf drained of its blood. Then out of nowhere, Willie reappears looking traumatised. Burke gets ready to go Mortal Kombat II on him when he notices his situation. He appears to be in real shock which even worries Burke. Jason comes and takes him up to Collinwood.

There's no escape for Willie

With some sweet talking (and minor threatage) with Liz, Jason gets permission for Willie to stay at the house until he gets better. Everybody thinks he's faking it but he does weird things such as fainting upon seeing Barnabas's portrait, getting scared of the sunset; you know the usual things one would do if they're attacked by a vampire. He also apologises to everyone for his earlier behaviours. The next night alone in his room, he hears the heart-beat again and says "I'm coming" (we call this the Renfield Syndrome; luckily his diet doesn't involve insects..yet). Jason follows him to the tomb but can't find him as the wall leading to secret chamber is closed by the time he gets there.

"The cattle, eh?"

Next day, Willie arrives back at Collinwood, looking sicker than ever. Roger calls the doctor on him (to prove he's a big faker). Then Roger is called into the Sheriff's office who informs him about more cattle getting drained of blood phenomenon. Due to it's professionality, they conclude it's a work of a man. When Roger comes back to the house, the Doctor informs him and Jason that Willie lost a big amount of blood from the cuts on his wrist. Roger is confused.

Barnabas sends Willie on a mission

To conclude, Liz finally announces that she'll happily give Barnabas permission  to live in the Old House. Barnabas refuses Mrs Johnson's help, saying he's already got someone for the job. In the Old House, Barnabas feels Willie standing outside and calls his new servant in!

Phew! A major post to a major event~

Ps. 1 Barnabas is really charismatic, he speaks "like someone out of the old books" as David's put it.

Ps. 2 Isn't it strange that Willie's becoming one of my favorite characters? I wonder if I'd have felt the same way if the original actor was kept~

DS Drinking Game: Season 1

So, the pre-Barnabas season, aka Dark Shadows The Beginning, is over! How about we celebrate it with a drinking game~ 

You know the drill!! You gather with your friends, play some episodes and do a shot,

• Whenever Vicki opens an episode with a monotonous voice over going "My name is Victoria Winters.." (that is every 209 of them)
• Whenever Vicki suspects herself to be a Collins.
• Whenever Vicki is locked somewhere.
• Whenever Vicki gets a free painting from Sam Evans.
• Whenever you want to smash the TV because of Vicki's naivety.

• Whenever Carolyn dreamily says "How wonderful" 
• Whenever Carolyn says the total opposite within the same episode.
• Whenever Carolyn and Joe kiss.
• Whenever Carolyn and Burke kiss.

• Whenever David says "I. HATE. YOU."
• Whenever David answers a statement with a question (ie. You have? She does? I am?)

• Whenever Maggie says "Oh Pop.."
• Whenever Maggie wears her horrible nightie
• Whenever Maggie and Joe flirt talking boat slang.

• Whenever Roger calls Carolyn "kitten"
• Whenever Burke phones his lawyer/banker/business advisor etc.
• Whenever Liz stutters her lines   
• Whenever Liz sullenly looks out the drawing room window
• Whenever Laura's in a trance next to the fireplace and is interrupted with a knock on the door
• Whenever you get distracted by Dr. Guthrie's forehead wrinkles
• Whenever Mrs Johnson claims she never gossips right before/after gossiping
• Whenever Sam looks happy (don't count on this one)
• Whenever Sam pronounces Carolyn's name as Caroline
• Whenever Sheriff Patterson's efficiency is questioned
• Whenever Matthew tries to solve a problem with murder.
• Whenever Jason McGuire drinks brandy.
• Whenever Willie Loomis makes a pass at a girl (Ugh!)

• Whenever someone drops by Collinwood unannounced
• Whenever you hear a sobbing sound from the basement.
• Whenever you hear the legend of the "Widows"
• Whenever you hear the song "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor" (do two shots if it's sung by a ghost)
• Whenever you spot a outdoors footage used more than once (take small sips)
• Whenever you spot Josette's coming out of the painting footage used more than once
• Whenever the Collins Family Album opens by itself.
• Whenever Bill Malloy's name and seaweed used in the same sentence.
• Whenever an episode or a scene ends with a supposedly shocking revelation but fails to live up to it in the successive episode/scene.
• Whenever an episode starts with a different reenactment of the previous episode's ending but without the dramatic impact.
• Whenever two extras display some hilarous dance moves in Blue Whale (name of the bar)

• Whenever an actor is holding the clapboard
• Whenever you see an actor look at prompters (this alone will be enough to get you drunk)
• Whenever you hear a cough from the crew
• Whenever you see someone from the crew

~fin~

Previously on...

      I've just come across to this recap clip on one of the Dark Shadows DVDs that features the events in episodes #1-209 but I couldn't find it on Youtube so I went on and uploaded it myself. So here's the story of my whole blog so far :)

I'm hoping this visual treat will encourage

a) more people who are lazy to start from the beginning to watch the show from #210 on, the more famous Barnabas years!

b) my friends to participate in the blog more often mwhaha!! ;)