233

A power cut plunges Collinwood into darkness as a thunderstorm rages outside. As the residents wait for the light to be restored, a haunted Barnabas recounts the tale of Josette's suicide.
== Synopsis ==
Teaser
: My name is Victoria Winters. A violent storm rages over Collinsport. Its ferocity and terror reaches everywhere, and out of the tempestuous blackness comes a horror that cannot be explained.
As Victoria sits with Maggie, Maggie gets up and goes to the French doors, but Victoria manages to get her back to bed. Victoria fusses around, tucking her in, and Maggie snaps at her to leave off. Later in the evening, Maggie wakes up. Victoria gets up from the chair where she has been reading, and moves to Maggie's bed. She tries to ask Maggie what's wrong, but the other girl is unresponsive. Suddenly, the French doors leading outside Maggie's room fly open and the silhouette of a man stands bathed in the moonlight. Victoria lets out a scream, and after a flash of lightning, the figure is gone. Victoria jumps up to shut the doors while Maggie screams: "they've got to stay open!" Victoria races back to Maggie's bedside, but Maggie seems oddly comforted.
Act I
Later that night, Victoria returns to Collinwood and meets Carolyn in the foyer. Carolyn wasn't able to sleep (thanks to the storm) and she and Victoria warm themselves by the fire in the Drawing room. Suddenly, the lights flicker and a nervous Carolyn hopes the power doesn't go out. Victoria relates her dangerous drive home in the storm. Carolyn jokes that she and Victoria make a "great pair" just before the lights die. The girls light candles, and Victoria is startled as she thinks she sees something at the window. She tells Carolyn about the figure she saw outside Maggie's bedroom. As Victoria tries to chalk the incident up to her imagination, she and Carolyn scream as another figure appears in the doorway.
Act II
It is Barnabas Collins. He apologizes for startling the girls, who welcome his presence. Barnabas inquires about Maggie's health, then is enchanted by the room lit by candles and lightning. He begins to talk of other storms that have assailed Collinwood and the Old House, and the ships that have crashed on the rocks below Widows' Hill in the past.
Act III
The storm continues, and Barnabas is caught up in the moment. He begins to tell Victoria and Carolyn the story of a woman, pressed to her limits, who could no longer accept what the future held for her. The woman had to destroy herself before she became something she did not want to be. Barnabas becomes saddened as he relates how the woman ran out into the stormy night with her lover, whom she had fought with, chasing after her. She hurled herself off the cliff, her body impaled on the rocks below... lifeless, bloodless. Carolyn, upset by the story, excuses herself and goes to bed. Victoria, however, is intrigued and likens the tale to recent events: from the animals found drained of blood, to both Willie's and Maggie's conditions. Barnabas learns of the phone call Victoria received on the night of Maggie's disappearance. Victoria is beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and Barnabas warns the clever governess to take care for the same thing that happened to Maggie might happen to her.
Act IV
Victoria questions Barnabas' wording, and he tells her he doesn't want to see Victoria suffer from the same illness afflicting Maggie. At that moment, Jason enters the room. Victoria bids the men goodnight and goes upstairs to her room. Jason, who claims to have been keeping an eye on Willie, recommends Barnabas get rid of his house-servant post-haste. McGuire mentions once following Willie to the cemetery, which alarms Barnabas. It is clear to Barnabas that Jason is beginning to suspect too much.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Barnabas: (referring to Maggie) You're a very clever girl, Miss Winters. Please take care that what happened to her doesn't happen to you.
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: Carolyn (to Barnabas, after he has told the story of Josette's suicide): Your familiarity with the past is a little too vivid for me.
== Dramatis personae ==
* Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
* Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans
* Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard
* Dennis Patrick as Jason McGuire
* Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* This episode was recorded out of broadcast sequence. The previous episode to be recorded was 235.
* The first few notes of the theme song are skipped, and a dark line blinks in and out above the word "Shadows".
=== Story ===
* Although she is not named, the woman in the story told by Barnabas Collins is clearly Josette Collins. Here's the story quoted in full:
::There was a night such as this, a night when a young, beautiful woman was pressed to the limits. She could no longer accept what the future held for her. She knew she had to destroy herself before she became something she did not want to be. She had quarreled with her lover. She tried to send him away, but he would not be put off. He tried to put his arms around her, but she broke away from him and ran out into the stormy night. Her white dress contrasted against the darkness. He ran after her as she headed for the one place on earth that seemed to be designed for the termination of life. The rain drenched her; the winds buffeted her, blowing her long hair wildly. Her clothing was torn by the low branches. Her small, white feet were bruised and mud-stained with the stony cruel pathway to the summit of the cliff. The shouts of her lover were lost in the wind as he moved swiftly after her. Near the top, she stumbled over a large rock. Crying hysterically, she limped and crawled to the edge of the precipice. Her lover reached her, clutched at her, spinning her around to face him. Her eyes were wide with terror as the lover held her tightly, lips pressed against her throat. Soon she grew limp, and he released her. Suddenly, with a last surge of energy, she broke free and hurled herself off the cliff... her scream reacting and echoing as she plunged downward. Her body... was impaled on the large, craggy rocks below. Her lover descended to the bottom of Widows' Hill. He found her body broken, lifeless... bloodless. As violent as her death was, the expression on her face was one of serenity... as if this were the best possible ending to her life.
* TIMELINE: It was last night when Dr. Woodard gave Maggie a blood transfusion.
* Jason mentions that Eagle Hill Cemetery is "on the other side of town." As the series goes on, it will migrate closer to Collinwood.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* Towards the end of Act I, right after Carolyn says, "Maggie would surely have seen it too," a metal clunking noise can be heard off camera, and Alexandra Moltke chuckles while delivering her next two lines.
* Vicki sees a mysterious and frightening silhouette of a man outside the Collinwood Drawing Room, which quickly reveals himself to be Barnabas. But for some reason, Vicki doesn't even question whether Barnabas was the identical silhouette seen outside Maggie's room earlier, even after Barnabas reveals he knows Vicki was at Maggie's earlier.
* As Jonathan Frid wanders around the drawing room, the camera swerves upward for a moment, and the boom microphone and the very top of the set can be seen.
* In the final scene, as we see the Old House foyer before Barnabas opens the doors, the chandelier is swinging for no apparent reason.
== End credits announcements ==
* Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.
==External links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 233 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 233 - All Wet
The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 233
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 233: Very clever girl
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 233: 5/17/67
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