Friday, August 26, 2011

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~

6 comments:

RedHeadedPixie said...

I saw your posts about this blog on the IMDB message boards and decided to check it out. I too just started watching all the episodes but I unknowingly started with season 2. Thanks to you I am now current on all things season 1.
(really sorry I missed Laura)
Keep up the good work! I'm really enjoying your take on it all!

Efe X said...

Thanks a lot!!! I'm really glad this is actually enjoyed by someone; sometimes I feel like I'm spending my time for nothing :)

Laura's story was a blast. I think I'd have been really lost if I hadn't started with Season 1.

It's also great to know some other people other than me are crazy enough to watch the whole thing. Go us!!

Debjorgo said...

I started with Collection 1 of the classic episodes starting with the appearance of Barnabas.

I'd seen them all when the SciFi channel was running them. I'm currently on Collection 4, disc 1.

I may let you catch up with me. I've purchased the sets up to Collection 11. I'm waiting for a sale before I get more. The longer I wait, the more money I've put aside to spend.

Efe X said...

I really appreciate your determination for watching the 2nd time round~

Good luck and enjoy. Let's see if I'll catch up ;)

Melis said...

Dracula made Xander eat spiders too, what's with the bugs and that guy huh?

btw I saw a typo, the editor in me is itching to point it out :p

Sarah said...

It would have been fascinating to see what the actor who originally played Willie would have with the transformation. If he had been able to pull it off, after his horribly believable portrayal of a creepy almost certain rapist, I would have been very impressed. He probably still would have flubbed his lines constantly, though.