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David allows Cassandra and Nicholas to make an important discovery about the connection between Adam and Barnabas.
== Synopsis ==
: In the great house of Collinwood, the clock is about to strike the hour of nine. At the stroke of nine, a witch faces destruction unless she can uncover a vital piece of information. Quite by accident, she may have found out what she needs to know. And if this is true, Barnabas Collins is in greater danger than he has ever known.
Cassandra tells Nicholas that she now knows why her curse failed. Nicholas is intrigued by the man-made man, and restores Cassandra's hand. Nicholas pays a visit to Maggie in an attempt to get information on Joe and what he knows about Adam. Nicholas offers Maggie $2,000 for one of Sam's portraits; she says it's too much money, but he insists. He lets her keep the portrait until he has a place of his own. Nicholas learns, from Maggie, that Stokes was harbouring Adam; he also receives an offer to drop by as he wishes and call her Maggie. Maggie is clearly charmed by Nicholas and he seems very interested in her.
David is curious about Cassandra’s healed hand; she puts him off. David finally tells Julia about the message for her, but can't remember the details. Nicholas is very angry about Stokes' knowledge of Cassandra; he and Cassandra have switched the tape, to Julia’s horror. David reports Cassandra's excitement about the message on the tape.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Nicholas: (to Cassandra) Congratulations, my dear. For once you've succeeded in being successful.
----
: Nicholas: I suppose the hand of a skeleton does offer some problems, doesn't it?
== Dramatis personae ==
* Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman
* Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans
* Lara Parker as Cassandra Collins
* Humbert Allen Astredo as Nicholas Blair
* David Henesy as David Collins
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* This episode was recorded out of broadcast sequence. The previous episode to be recorded was 538.
=== Story ===
* The tape in the recorder is switched by Nicholas with another. It now plays "Dies irae", translated as "Day of Wrath," i.e. Judgment Day, from the finale of Symphonie Fantastique.
* The portrait said to be of Betty Hanscombe, previously seen in 60, is back on display in the Evans cottage. Sam Evans previously gave it to Victoria to keep due to its resemblance to her. However, it's possible Victoria decided to return it to Maggie since Sam's death.
* Nicholas offers Maggie two thousand dollars for one of Sam's portraits, which, adjusted for inflation, would equal $17,383.75 in 2023.
* INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Julia: Cassandra knows about the experiment.
* TIMELINE: The police had been searching for Adam for weeks prior to Adam attacking Joe (the police were first aware of Adam in 503); he attacked Joe in 530. The doctor says Joe will need to be in the hospital for a long time.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* In the closing scene from the last episode, David takes the tape recorder with him when he leaves the drawing room, but in the repeat at the beginning of this episode, he leaves it.
* In the previous episode, Cassandra yells for Nicholas in the foyer, but in this episode, she yells for him in the drawing room.
* In the teaser, Cassandra speaks over one of David’s lines, so he repeats the beginning of the line: “Do you know...do you know what it means?”
* When David stops the tape after Dr. Lang's recording, it is playing the middle section of the Mozart piece. When Blair listens to the tape later, the Mozart piece starts at the beginning after Lang's recording.
* Nicholas's line "For once you've succeeded in being successful" seems to a blooper with the awkward repetition of words.
* In Act I, as Nicholas says he's more interested in Adam than Cassandra's "foolish curse," a boom mic shadow moves across him.
* When Maggie is talking with Nicholas about Professor Stokes hiding Adam, there is a banging noise off-stage.
* At the end of the scene in the Evans cottage with Maggie and Nicholas, a studio light is visible.
* Julia says that Dr. Lang told her he would leave a message for her, but he never did say that.
* Toward the end of the episode, when David is in the drawing room with Julia and telling her that Cassandra had heard the tape, David Henesy flubs a line: "She seemed to understood."
==External Links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 541 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Everyday - Episode 541 - Death of a MacGuffin
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 541: Creating a living human being
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 541: 7/22/68
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