Night Gallery - Death on a Barge

Strong, atmospheric direction (this is a very attractive presentation of Night Gallery) from Star Trek’s own Leonard Nimoy and a simply ravishing Lesley Ann Warren help to propel basic vampire dark romance plot, set at a seaside town, featuring a dockworking fisherman/salesman enamored by a mysterious young woman he meets one night while noticing her from a short distance. Warren, in alluring gown, spends nights staring out from a barge her peg-leg father owns (he indeed looks quite the part as a crusty old fisherman who has spent a life on the water), her legs often open, thoughts towards freedom “across running water”, when Ron (Robert Pratt) sees her and wants to chat. She always denies his request to cross to her side and be next to her, harboring a secret he’ll soon discover…Warren’s Hyacinth is a vampire. Ron’s attached to a pretty local named Phyllis (Brooke Bundy; many will remember her from “A Nightmare on Elm Street III”), while his buddy, Jake (Lou Antonio), becomes interested in why he’s in bed at 7 and awake from midnight to dawn, gone from the boat for such long time. Soon Jake wants to be introduced to Hyacinth, quite interested in what she might have to offer, but Ron will have none of it, slugging him for even suggesting such naughty nonsense. Phyllis soon follows Ron from afar, even confronting Hyacinth, barely escape the barge with her life, fortunate of the sun’s light protecting her from certain death.

The main melodrama of the episode is if Ron will allow himself to become so drawn to Hyacinth he’d give life as a mortal to be with her. Hyacinth later mentions the death of a baby and three other adult victims recently found, bringing them up and saying the “rumors” about her are untrue. However, once those fangs emerge, Ron’s neck is nearly sunk into. Jake gladly would replace him: Ron briefly separates from Hyacinth, later to return to her once it is learned Jake met a gruesome demise, a throat slashed and blood drained. While Phyllis would have to be considered quite a patient and faithful girlfriend to Ron, I did wonder why she would tolerate his exploits. And by episode’s end, despite appearances of Ron forgoing Hyacinth to be with Phyllis, he returns to Hyacinth, preparing and failing to stake her, with the father having to sadly do the honors.

I think Warren is the significant reason I enjoyed this so much. She’s incredibly sexy, so commanding on screen and Nimoy’s dreamlike direction (the Night Gallery aesthetic has always been good to any director privileged to work behind the camera) of her, the night, and harbor environs  makes for a pleasant thirty minute episode. The plot is not the strong suit and the title of the episode, “Death on a Barge” doesn’t match the elegance of the presentation. Still, I liked the look, the feel, just overall mood of the episode. Very well done, all things considered. But I’m a sucker for the vampire genre and Warren is so delicious, Nimoy had no problem keeping my attention with her in front of his camera. 4/5