Barnabas as The 5th Golden Girl

EPISODES 341-355

Barnabas kills Dr. Woodard with the hypodermic needle causing him to have a heart attack and die instantly. Due to the nature of the death, people's suspicions of murder are dismissed but Julia, crushed by the guilty, has ghostly visitations.

David becomes absent and prophetic after learning about Woodard's death. He strangely and maturely says his good-bye's to Burke as he leaves for Brazil on a business trip. Later, the news of Burke's plane crash arrive in Collinwood. Vicki, after initial shock, hopefully clings to the idea that Burke is alive since his body hasn't been found yet.

Barnabas, thinking it's the right time to make a move on Vicki, forces Julia to speed up the treatment process that'll make him human again. After a massive dose of injection however, Barnabas turns into a withering old man.

After Sarah appears to Carolyn, she begins to suspect David might be telling the truth about Barnabas. She sneaks into the Old House and discovers Barnabas' coffin but Barnabas catches and feeds on her. This reverts him back to his original form.

Now under Barnabas' spell, Carolyn stalks Julia who has been hypnotizing Vicki, making her see his true self and subconsciously be repelled by him. When Barnabas learns about this, he plans to kill Julia or worse, but her scientific diary stands in the way for it may reveal Barnabas' true identity.

Woodard's dead as I said he'd be and I ain't sad as I said I wouldn't be. I wish that scene happened with the previous actor. And Julia passed the test only barely as she didn't kill him herself but the injection she'd prepared did. Once again she manages to stay in the grey zone and we can't hate her. Nonetheless, she's doomed by Woodard's ghost telling her "she has no friends" and me thinks that's punishment enough..for now!

It was strange to see David assume the role of Cassandra. I think he's never been this mature when he said it was nice having known Burke and he'd always remember him. I'd have shouted at David to tell Burke not to go for god's sake but the scene was played out so well, I just had to shut up and keep watching.

Wuthering Heights

It was also eerie how the widows wind wailed when Burke and Vicki said their farewells. At that moment I thought they were calling Vicki to her death at the Widow's Hill but they could have been warning her too. Well, she did ask Burke to stay but as he's the practical man of the bunch he had to go and that's how it should go down on his tomb stone if/when they find his body in the Amazon jungle. (In reality, he crashed on the Lost island and is having a threeway with Locke & Hurley)

My eyes actually got teary when Vicki insisted that Burke was alive. It was a strange experience, I mean the scene wasn't all that dramatic and I found Vicki's performance a bit dull; maybe I sympathized with the scene as an actor but anyway some itsy drops of tears were there alright and I'm positive now that this show is  turning me into a grandma. Not that anything's wrong with it but I'm neither the right age nor the sex for it.

The Sisterhood

I also found it quite interesting to note that Vicki learnt the news of the plane crash from the living widows of the show. Technically none of them are widows but Liz had believed she was for 18 full years and I think we can count Mrs. Johnson for she experienced a similar grief when her long time employer, Bill Malloy, died. (Also note that Vicki herself isn't a widow since she was only engaged to Burke) However, this is as close as we get to it and Vicki experienced her first real sense of loss in the company of that band of women.

Barnabas made a great grandpa, even though it was for only few episodes. Kudos to the make-up artist!

He also seems to like that bat-teleport trick cause he did it again. But I have one question..why was his face a glorious shade of yellow when Julia took a hypnotized Vicki to his coffin?

Your typical TV lab

Which brings me to....Julia's laboratory at the Old House cellar. I can't really understand the logic of it; it consists of some tubes and colorful liquids, electrical circuits, a freakin' cauldron(?) and a random chair that does not seem to be connected with the rest. We all know this isn't a science show and I am not asking for a detailed documentation of Julia's experiment but even adding a simple needle in Barnabas' arm would be acceptable. But to be honest, I dig this camp look.

This photo actually breaks my heart

Julia finally more than hints her feelings for Barnabas. I mean she just hints only more strongly but we get the idea. She even offers herself for Barnabas' drinking pleasure. Now Julia you she-wolf, are we supposed to think you're just looking out for Vicki? Deep down inside, you're just burning with jealousy. You know you can't be the ideal Josette for Barnabas but he's just old fashioned, what does he know. I know someday you'll meet a nice fella who'll appreciate your scientific experiments and wide spectrum of facial expressions.

"Find the center"

So it seems Julia doesn't limit herself to the old medallion when it comes to hypnotizing people. Maybe she uses different stuff for different types of mind games (after all this one is a more complex, more Inceptiony operation than the previous "forget an event" hypnosis-es). Her selection of chandelier crystal is pretty slick, knowing how fond of everything oldie but goldie Vicki is. Actually I used to play with a similar piece of crystal when I was a child; good thing I didn't accidentally hypnotized myself. Or did I? 

Isn't it funny that we are specifically shown the light-show within the crystal so that the actors can rush to the other set. 

Also the mystery of the howling dogs is officially explained: It apparently happens when Barnabas is upset with something and planning an action.

The willing slave

For a second there, I thought Carolyn would be the one to solve the mystery and kick some vampire ass. Even David had enough faith in her to give the toy soldier to her for luck. Of course she left it behind when she went to the Old House and got attacked by Barnabas and became his new Willie..only more beautiful and more willing, which is understandable as Carolyn always had a thing for father figures. Since than, she's been working overtime to change David's mind about Barnabas; convince Vicki to spend more time with him; follow Julia like a maniac and expose her meddling. But just like Willie, she's not all for the idea of murder (although for a sec there, I swear I saw her get excited at the sound of killing Julia). Thankfully, Julia kept her notebook hidden to ensure her safety. But I smell a cat fight coming between Julia and Carolyn. Remember the tense scene when she caught Carolyn in her room? There's  potential~

So, Burke is probaby dead somewhere in South Africa...

Vicki is being mind controlled by Julia against Barnabas' influence...

Carolyn however is under his influence and is wearing a scarf to cover her neck bites...

Joe and Maggie suspect something's up with Carolyn, and so does Liz...

Julia's experiments have came to an end and now Barnabas is onto her...

There's a mosquito in my room that I can't find...

What will happen next, we'll see~