The Man In The West Wing

EPISODES 531-546

Okay, here I am again, back on track after yet another hiatus. I've been meaning to make this post for weeks but tons of stuff came up. It's also quite clear that I won't be able to finish the series before the film comes out. However, I've recently found out that the film will be released here in Istanbul around mid-June instead of on May 11th (which also happens to my birthday as I'd mentioned many many  times before), so I have some more time on my hands. But with the rate that I'm doing this (watching & blogging) it doesn't seem likely, does it? Oh well, that means more Dark Shadowage during the upcoming summer. So anyway, let's remember what's happened recently~

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The last we checked, Joe was lying unconscious at the Old House; as the courtesy of Adam. Barnabas brings Julia over to check the young man and she determines that he is alive by touching him on the forehead, making me wonder if she had been on LSD throughout medical school (that actually would explain quite a lot). Long story short, Joe is alive but hospitilized and Ms Hoffman is a kook.

Meanwhile Vicki tries not to have the dream but doesn't last much long. In the dream, after the regular 25¢  horror ride attractions, Vicki follows a bright light into the Old House to see Barnabas' dead body, on the same spot where he originally got bit by the bat. Of course having the dream is just half of the story. Vicki tries a bit longer to ignore Barnabas, knowing that telling him the dream will destroy him. Not knowing the former Barnabas is this Barnabas, Vicki thinks Angelique has a twisted mind for cursing the new Barnabas because of her obsession with the "former". 

She had it coming!

But because Barnabas is a gentleman, he doesn't allow his crush Vicki to suffer longer and lets her tell him the dream, then leaves for the Old House to welcome his doom. The single greatest moment of the series happens when Cassandra walks into the drawing room to find Julia and Vicki grieving. Julia looks at the witch in the eye, walks up to her without a word and SLAPS HER ACROSS THE FRIGGIN FACE, THEN LOOKS AT HER AGAIN AND WALKS OUT LIKE SHE DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT!! If that ain't the definition of epic, I dunno what is. I was like "yeah..slap the bitch" and then there it was, loud and juicy and I went "Yes!! Yes!!!!" Then Vicki had to go on and ruin the moment by nagging talking but the echoes of epicness was sill there. And all Cassandra could do in return was throw feeble "My husband's gonna hear about this"s, can you believe that. You've just been bitchslapped woman, know when to stop! This moment set the scene for future soap operas where catfight would be the main conflict. And by that I mainly mean Dynasty.

So anyhow, later that day Barnabas finally has the dream. His beckoner is Cassandra, not Angelique, a small detail which doesn't escape Barnabas. She gives him the same tour of the Dream Curse set and Barnabas too follows the bright light back to The Old House. However, this time his dead body ain't there. Barnabas begs the witch to finish him right before waking up. 

Full Journey of the Dream Curse 

A Tale of...

Julia and him have a moment of woo hoo we defeated the curse but only seconds later, a bat (or was it the Bat Signal?) attacks Barnabas just outside the Old House. Their celebration is over and Barnabas dies in Julia's arms. Despite knowing he'll be re-reborn as a vampire, Julia can't bring herself to pull a Buffy on him so Willie and her bury him in the middle of the woods. They get sentimental and make plans of running away from the town and I actually expected an unexpected, passionate kiss that went like "Take me Willie, take me right here over Barnabas' grave" to be followed by Julia turning cold in the morning and pretending it didn't happen, maybe she could even slap Willie as well cause she's on f-i-r-e!! But, no that didn't happen~

..Two Mournings!

Here, in order to tell it properly I have to do a flashback to a couple of days earlier. Knowing Adam was on the loose, Carolyn looked for him at the shack-like place where he'd held her captive. And Bingo! There he was. Carolyn must have sensed Adam's goodness so she offered to help him hide, bring him food and joy. She also let Prof. Stokes in on this, knowing he had Adam's best interest at heart. But something veeerry strange happens: At the exact moment Barnabas gets attacked by the bat, a wound appears on Adam's neck too. Since they share a life-force, whatever happens to Barnabas affects Adam and vice versa. Prof. Stokes brings Julia to examine the dying Adam and she realizes her mistake when Adam starts to suffocate. They buried Barnabas alive!!!! They rush to release Barnabas from the ground and Adam gets well too. Prof. Stokes and Carolyn decide to hide Adam away from the others so they put him in a room at the closed-up west wing of Collinwood, telling Julia he ran away again.

A preview of what's to come

Barnabas is surprised that he ain't a vampire. They still wanna go woo-hoo again but they know better. Somehow the spell didn't work. Cassandra goes nuts when she hears about it and it doesn't help that Nicholas is breathing down her neck to make her finish what she started. He tortures her mentally and physically and gives her couple of hours to find out whatever is blocking the curse. 

Tape in the wrong hands

The answer lands right onto Cassandra's lap when David arrives with the tape-recorder with Dr. Lang's hidden message. Cassandra gets overjoyed to learn about Barnabas and Adam's connection, that Adam's existence keeps the curse away and only his death will turn Barnabas a vampire again. Nicholas also gets intrigued by that piece of information and wonders more about this Adam guy. Meanwhile David rushes to tell Julia about the message Dr Lang had left for her but he doesn't remember it all that well. Julia's eyes turn in her sockets when she learns Cassandra has this information and changed the tapes. Barnabas feels guilty for trying to kill Adam before, since he owes him this mortal life and all.

With everyone wondering where he is, Adam is right under above their noses in the west wing, living like Anne Frank. Carolyn brings him food and books and Adam "experiences" the feeling of love. He kisses Carolyn and she freaks out a bit, so she friendzones him.

Harry is busted!

When you have a giant living-dead man living in a house, people are bound to notice him and that's what happens when Harry Johnson (remember Mrs Johnson's ginger son that appeared in one episode and disappeared for the next twenty?) begins prowling. Adam almost kills him but Carolyn stops it at the last second. When Harry tries to blackmail Carolyn, she does it double and makes the man help her with taking care of Adam (Basically, she makes him her bitch). So the totally pointless character of Harry Johnson almost has a point as Adam's nanny.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

But he isn't the only one. Set out to find Adam, Nicholas first summons the ghost of Dr Lang to learn more about the experiment. Then he summons the ghosts of dead-people whose parts Adam now wears as accessories. They literally point to Adam's location and Nicholas pays him a lil visit, introducing himself as a friend (and food). When Carolyn hears about this, she confronts Nicholas like the fiery little Collins she is. They come to an understanding and Nicholas the sweet-talker makes her believe he won't say a word to the police or anyone else. 

Beginning of a scary friendship

He also forbids Cassandra from hurting Adam, stating her revenge is trivial compared to what he has in store for the creature. But she doesn't listen to Nicholas and pays Adam a little visit at night with an axe in her hand.  Before she can behead him, Nicholas appears in the room (this is one of his powers; actually I don't remember ever seeing the guy open a door) and stops her. It seems Nicholas will use Adam's hate for Barnabas to gain him as an ally and I can't imagine anything more dangerous than a warlock with a Frankenstein creature as his protégé.

Angelique depowered!

But Cassandra doesn't take no for an answer and rushes downstairs to cast one of her famous clay-figure spells to off Adam. If she did less talking and more voodooing, she would've been successful too but Nicholas stops her again at the last minute. This time, his punishment is tough: He strips Cassandra's powers off of her and leaves her a mere human whose only attribute is being married to Roger of all people. Cursed to age and die shortly, she has a fight with Roger over her frigidness and ends the relationship saying it was a fake. Then she rushes to the Old House and shockingly admits her true identity to Barnabas. Saying if she's to die tonight, she'll take him with her, Cassandra takes out a gun and aims it at Barnabas!!!!

Now was that a true soap moment or what! Guns don't appear much in a show where magic is the main weapon but when you take away a witch's powers, what is she left with right? Let's watch and see if Cassandra will be able to go through with it.

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Notes.. Notes.. Notes..

*The Dream Curse is finally over.. La la la la la!

*Nicholas starts to show interest in Maggie and admits to Cassandra that he has plans for her. I am half excited, half scared. He has free access to the girl now that Joe's at the hospital because of the concussion. What is your game man? 

*Anyone else noticed the portrait of Betty Hanscombe, the woman who looks exactly like Vicki, at the Evans cottage after like 500 episodes of absence. I was thinking maybe they'll readdress that issue if Nicholas notices it but no such luck. And what is it doing there in the first place, didn't Sam give it to Vicki?

*Stokes & Carolyn hide Adam from Barnabas & Julia, who in turn hide the secret about Barnabas. Both teams come very close to finding out each others' secrets and they don't fail to hint that.

*Willie told Maggie about Barnabas' death despite telling Julia that he wouldn't and Maggie told Vicki despite telling Willie that she wouldn't. When Barnabas turned out to be alive, they passed it as Willie's instability. I am not sure if they'll mention this later. 

*Adam's getting clever and clever. It's even OK to say that he passed Willie.