217

Willie's illness grows worse, and he hears the heartbeat once again calling to him. 
== Synopsis ==
Teaser
: My name is Victoria Winters. It is late afternoon at Collinwood, and lengthening afternoon shadows are beginning to creep across the wall of the great house. For one man, a man who has been struck down by a mysterious illness, there is terror in the coming nightfall, danger in the lengthening shadows, and his heart is numbed by fear.
Jason has taken Willie into his old bedroom at Collinwood. Willie is still very sick. Too weak to stop him, Willie is helpless as Jason discovers two puncture marks beneath the makeshift bandage on his wrist. He comments on how strange Willie's arm appears (he can't see any veins and the skin is a strange, grayish color) almost as if his arm had been drained of blood.
Act I
Jason questions Willie about the wound, but Willie lies and tells him that he got in a fight (with some guy he met in a bar) the night before. Jason disbelieves him; it doesn't make sense that Willie would leave without the $500 he got for him. Willie, too exhausted to keep his eyes open, drifts off to sleep. Downstairs in the foyer, Carolyn and Victoria talk about Willie's recent illness. Carolyn remarks that Willie seems as if he's an entirely different person now.
Act II
Carolyn explains the frightening change in Willie, as if he was recovering from some terrible incident. Jason comes downstairs and tells the girls about the wound on Willie's wrist. He says he'll call a doctor whether Willie wants one or not. While Victoria goes to the kitchen to ask Mrs. Johnson to prepare a tray of food for Willie, Carolyn grills Jason further about his relationship with her mother. Jason pretends that he wants to be Carolyn's friend. But Carolyn tells Jason off and storms out of the drawing room. Meantime, Willie is sleeping fitfully, crying out his fear.
Act III
As dusk settles down, Victoria takes some dinner up to Willie’s room. Willie becomes increasingly agitated as he discovers that it is almost nightfall. He rudely demands that Victoria leave his room. Jason comes up minutes later and catches Willie trying to leave. Willie is desperate to leave Collinwood, but Jason forces him back into bed. Willie pleads with Jason that he is very tired and very sick. Jason leaves him be. Willie goes to the window and is terrified when he realises it's dark, wailing "It's too late!", before he hears a disembodied heartbeat pounding in his ears. Answering an unspoken command, Willie leaves his room and stumbles down to the foyer.
Act IV
As Willie nears the portrait of Barnabas Collins, he hears the eerie heartbeat again. He opens the doors and begins to step outside. Jason finds him and tries to force him back upstairs. Willie pushes him down onto the steps and races out into the night. Willie goes to the Collins family mausoleum at Eagle Hill Cemetery. Jason follows him but is astonished when Willie seems to mysteriously disappear inside the tomb.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Carolyn: It's almost as if he isn't Willie anymore. It's almost as if he's become a different person, an entirely different person.
----
: Willie (as he hears a disembodied heartbeat): I hear ya. I hear ya callin' me. I hear ya. And I'm comin'.
== Dramatis personae ==
* Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard
* John Karlen as Willie Loomis
* Dennis Patrick as Jason McGuire
* Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* Aside from the cast, no crew credits are listed for this episode.
=== Story ===
* TIMELINE: Day 62 begins, and will end in 218. 4pm at the start of this episode. It was the other night when Willie fainted.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* When Jason is looking at Willie's wound on his arm, he remarks how Willie's arm looks strange--that he can't see any veins and the arm is gray, as if the blood had been drained from it. Physiologically, of course, this makes no sense--even though Barnabas has drunk blood from Willie's arm, the loss of blood would not remain isolated to just his arm.
*As Willie draws the curtains to his room, a large fan can be seen behind the window blowing simulated wind into the room.
* Someone's shadow can be seen passing back and forth under the door to Willie's room.
*Victoria brings Willie a tray with a large bowl upon it, presumably a soup bowl. This is supposed to be a dinner that Mrs. Johnson prepared for him. Yet, from the way Victoria handles the bowl, it's obvious there's nothing in it. We never actually see inside the bowl, but she tilts it this way and that, oblivious to the hot soup that it supposedly contains.
*When Victoria sets Willie's food tray down on the table shortly after she enters the room, she does so quite severely in order to make noise to wake Willie up. The action seems unnatural as it appears so deliberate, not an accident, as it clearly was intended to be.
* When Willie stumbles down the stairs in the foyer as he heads toward Barnabas's portrait, the large newel post at the foot of the bannister moves back and forth when he grabs it.
== End credits announcements ==
* Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.
==External Links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 217 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Everyday - Episode 217 - Not Enough Vampire in Your Vampire Show
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 217: A terrible beating
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 217: 4/26/67
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