In the basement of the Old House, Gerard and Lamar find the skeleton of Reverend Trask. Gerard finds a note in the coat pocket of the skeleton, and Lamar is convinced that Barnabas killed his father.
Act I
Lamar reads the note to Gerard. It is addressed to Reverend Trask, and says that if he wants to know who killed Abigail Collins and is responsible for all of the recent attacks, he needs to go to the Old House basement after dusk, and not to let Ben stop him. The letter is signed by "A". After discussing the letter, Lamar correctly guesses that Barnabas is a vampire and Angelique was the real witch in 1796, and was his wife, not his mother. Gerard wonders why Angelique would betray Barnabas like that, but Lamar passes that off as being irrelevant. Lamar points out that Barnabas has never shown up during the day, and recalls his absence at Daniel and Roxanne's funerals. The two realize the Barnabas in 1840 is the same one who lived at Collinwood in 1796 and he must be destroyed.
That night, Barnabas rises from his coffin as Gerard and Lamar conceal Reverend Trask's burial site. However, they hear Barnabas and Julia talking near the door.
Act II
Gerard and Lamar eavesdrop on the conversation between Barnabas and Julia. They discuss Quentin's trial, which seems to be going in favor of Quentin. The conversation then turns toward Gerard. Julia points out things at Collinwood have been going rather smoothly since Gerard took over, and she wonders if Gerard will still become what they expect him to. She hopes that they will be wrong about Gerard. Barnabas decides to head to the jail to see Quentin and Julia heads to Collinwood. Once they're gone, Lamar becomes suspicious toward Gerard and asks if there is something he is up to that he doesn't know about. Gerard lies and says he has no idea what they were talking about, but secretly wonders if they know he is really Judah. He decides to focus on destroying Barnabas.
Later at Collinwood, Carrie confronts Gerard in the foyer and angrily demands why he took her grandfather's diary without asking.
Act III
Gerard lies and says he gave the diary to Flora to help her with her new book. Carrie starts to leave to go retrieve it, but Gerard uncontrollably yells at her and tells her to get over it. She nearly starts crying, and Gerard collects himself at apologizes. Carrie declares there is something different about Gerard and wishes he would go back to normal.
A few hours later, Julia returns and finds Carrie in the drawing room in tears. Carrie tries to hide her emotions, but Julia is able to get her to reveal her beliefs that Gerard has been acting very strange lately, and he seems more angry and sinister. Julia also learns that he and Lamar took Ben's diary without asking, and becomes very concerned about what might be in the diary about Barnabas. Julia quickly excuses herself, much to Carrie's confusion.
Julia heads to the Old House and reports to Barnabas that Gerard and Lamar have possession of Ben's diary. Barnabas wonders if they know his secret, while Julia is worried that Ben may have revealed the location of Barnabas' coffin in his writings.
Act IV
Barnabas refuses to believe that Ben revealed his secret in his diary. Julia thinks he should leave Collinsport for a while, but he is determined to stay and accomplish their mission.
In the middle of the night, Lamar sneaks into Collinwood and meets Gerard in the drawing room. He gives Gerard a gun with silver bullets, and tells him he will have to destroy Barnabas because he has been scheduled to testify against Quentin in the trial tomorrow. Lamar says there is another problem, however: the location of Barnabas' coffin. Gerard says he has looked at the architectural renderings of the Old House and knows there is a secret room behind the bookcase in the parlor.
The next afternoon, Gerard goes to the Old House with the pistol and the intentions of killing Barnabas. He approaches the bookcase and Julia tries to stop him, but to everyone's surprise, Barnabas shows up and asks Gerard if he needs help finding a book.
Memorable quotes[]
Julia: When a woman has sad thoughts she shows it, and when another woman sees her, she knows it. I hadn't meant to make that little bit of insight rhyme, but it's true.
Gerard: (at the bookcase, looking for the secret room) Barnabas!? But it's daylight!?
Barnabas: Of course. What else did you expect at 2 o'clock in the afternoon? If you tell me the title of the book you're looking for, perhaps I can help you.
Grayson Hall returns to the cast after an absence of 14 episodes. A biography on the actress titled A Hard Act to Follow, written by R. J. Jamison, explains:
Another episode indicative of Curtis's favour of Grayson was when she was written out for three weeks in November-December 1970. This might be the one time when husband and wife colluded without fully informing management. When Grayson began to see the bags from her father's eye's staring back at her in the mirror, she was not happy and decided upon a quiet eyelift. When Curtis realized Grayson was not in the scripts, he confronted Sam Hall. "Where the f*** is Grayson? What have you done with her?" Sam informed Curtis of Grayson's whereabouts. Curtis retorted, "Tell her not to touch her face ever again without talking to me first!"
This is the final time a vampire appears in the original series. In the next episode it is revealed that Angelique has removed the curse from Barnabas. For the remainder of the series, no new vampire characters will be featured. In the final episode of the series, it is briefly implied that a vampire might be loose at Collinwood; however, in that instance it is stated that the bite marks came from an animal.
TIMELINE: 10:20pm: Julia arrives at Collinwood. Day 431 begins, and will end in 1170. 12:30am: Lamar arrives at Collinwood. It's late. Lamar is to appear at Quentin's trial tomorrow. 2pm at the end of the episode and start of the next.
Bloopers and continuity errors[]
Trask reads from the note, 'Do not let Ben Stokes stop you from seeing the master of the house.' A moment later Gerard reads, 'Do not let Ben Stokes stop you from shh-going to the master of the house.' One or the other read this wrong.
In Act I Trask says of Ben Stokes "Yes, there never was a more diverted - devoted servant."
In Act I both times Gerard and Trask head for the stairs in the basement you can see a TV monitor with a moving image in the background, almost off-set. [I only see what looks to be a stage light on the floor. This happens when Trask compares the date on the note to Ben's diary and as both of them start to leave the room but return to cover Trask's bones.]
Why doesn't Trask take his father's bones to give them a Christian burial? He's been searching for years to find the Reverend. (Remember that the bones are still there in the 1960s. And the wall has been rebuilt.)
Actor James Storm calls Carrie "precautious" instead of "precocious" when he reprimands her in Act III. Ironically, she has no problem saying the word correctly when she describes the incident to Julia.
When Gerard is at the bookcase that leads to the secret room as he touches the books, you can see they are fake.
Gerard said he was going to the Old House first thing in the morning, but when he goes there Barnabas says it is two in the afternoon.
