400

Reverend Trask performs the rite of exorcism at the threshold of the Old House. At the same time, Angelique casts a spell that causes Victoria's room to catch fire.
== Synopsis ==
Teaser
: A séance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a séance which has suspended time and space and sent one girl on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, each of the Collins ancestors resembles a present-day member of the Collins family, but the names and relationships have changed, and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger in a sea of familiar faces. Within this nightmare, forces not of this earth, evil, malevolent, slowly plot her impending destruction.
In her old room, Angelique is building a house of Tarot cards. She does this to make sure "the so-called reverend" Trask finds his witch, even though he is a fraud. His worthless chants will turn out to have an effect after all!
Act I
Meanwhile, in Victoria Winters' room, Barnabas Collins is telling Victoria she has nothing to be afraid of. Once Trask has completed his ritual, they'll be finished with this ridiculous business once and for all, since Trask won't find any witches in the house. Victoria tells Barnabas about his future "descendant", then feels a cold chill in the room. In her old room, Angelique calls upon the power of the chilling cold, and then the fire, using her house of Tarot cards to symbolize, and give her power over Victoria's room.
Act II
In the drawing room, Reverend Trask gives Barnabas one last chance to turn the witch over to him, but Barnabas maintains his stance that there is no witch in the house. This leaves Trask with no choice but to go through with the exorcism. Trask starts the ritual, while an anxious Victoria hears it all in her room. Trask performs his ritual, calling upon the powers of goodness and light, while drawing Victoria's initials with chalk on the ground. Meanwhile, Angelique sets fire to the house of cards, calling upon "the heart of fire, fire in the heart of ice". Soon after Victoria discovers a mysterious fire in her room!
Act III
The reverend continues the ritual while Angelique's house of cards is burning, with her calling upon the power of fire. Victoria puts out the fire, but it returns in another part of the room. She tries to put out this fire too, but finds she can't! Strangely, her hands aren't burned when they touch the fire. Outside in the hallway, Barnabas is passing by Angelique's old room, and hears her calling upon the power of fire and ice. At the same moment, Victoria shouts "Fire!" and screams in panic. Barnabas rushes to her rescue, but finds her room to be empty upon his arrival. Outside, Victoria runs in panic straight into Trask's arms, who triumphantly calls out that he's caught the witch.
Act IV
Later, Barnabas and Angelique try to figure out what happened. Angelique acts as if she has no idea. Barnabas is puzzled by the fact that there was no sign of fire in Victoria's room. Back inside the house, Angelique continues playing innocent, saying that there is no such thing as a witch. They discuss the strange things that have happened, but even though it would explain everything so easily, they can't believe that witches might exist. Barnabas then tells her of the voice he heard from her old room, her voice, but Angelique says she was in the sewing room, on the other side of the house. This startles Barnabas, but he says he must have been mistaken, pretending to accept the explanation. After Angelique has gone upstairs, Barnabas thinks to himself that she is lying, because he looked in the sewing room while searching for Victoria, and there was no one there. Still he finds it easier to believe that a girl who says she's from the future is a witch than his own wife. Barnabas decides to question Ben Stokes about the witch, while Angelique is happily thinking about the fate of one convicted of witchcraft, a fate in ashes.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Angelique: I call upon the heart of fire that burns within the heart of ice, the fire that freezes and does not consume itself. I call it into this room of my own construction. Heart of fire, heart of ice, freezing in eye of coldest evil, burn! Come to me and burn! [She sets the house of cards on fire.] Burn! Burn! Burn!
== Dramatis personae ==
* Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
* Lara Parker as Angelique Bouchard Collins
* Jerry Lacy as Reverend Trask
* Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* Victoria pulls the Collinsport Afghan from her closet to smother the second fire in her room.
* This was not only the 400th episode of the series; it was also the first recorded in 1968, having been recorded on New Year's Day.
=== Story ===
* Even though Angelique talks about the fate of witches being ashes, historically, witches were not burned. They were hanged. (Burning was more common in Europe, and Angelique is French.) [The previous correction is only partially accurate. Angelique may be of French descent, but she's not from France. She's from Martinique, which is not in Europe--it's an island in the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. So the norms in Europe are not overly relevant here. In Martinique, witches were not historically burned.]
* INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Barnabas: Angelique is lying.
*The Tarot deck used is the Marseilles, "probably invented in northern Italy in the 15th century and introduced into southern France when the French conquered Milan and the Piedmont in 1499." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot_of_Marseilles), and is therefore historically accurate to the story timeline.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* In the teaser, as Angelique is chanting to the tarot cards, she says, "You are the halls of her room," but she means "walls."
*In Act I, when Barnabas is asking Victoria about the future Collins family, Jonathan Frid stumbles over and forgets his lines.
*After Victoria throws the blanket on the fire and says, "No, it can't be!" there is off-stage whispering.
*Toward the end of the exorcism, the fire on one of the three prongs of Rev. Trask's staff goes out.
*At the end of the episode, when Angelique is talking over the ashes of the Tarot cards, the script is clearly visible on the bed behind her.
==External Links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 400 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 400 - Playing with Fire
The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 400
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 400: Fire knows your name
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 400: 1/5/67
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