Dark Shadows- Barnabas' Demands for Maggie

 Episode 248 focuses on that ole Soap Opera tease (or drag a storyline out mercilessly trope) where Maggie escapes from the Old House, even appearing in front of her pop's big picture window so Sam, her dad, could get a big glimpse before she strangely ventures off to the cemetery. Now why would Maggie leave her home and go to the cemetery? Because Barnabas needed to catch her before the police could find her. Even if I might raise the question as to why Maggie wouldn't go right to the front door and hug her father, I guess the writers of that time might answer with, "Well, she's all mentally warped by Barnabas' vampire mind-fuck". The Josette complex has been beaten into Maggie's brain for a few weeks as Barnabas, and Willie (who only sees her capitulation as a means for her survival and "less severe punishment"), repeatedly remind her she isn't Maggie but Josette. I mean, the question that continues to remain on my mind despite understanding why he's written this way--his obsession with the loss of Josette so long ago, with plenty of time spent in a coffin to stew before Willie's dumb ass unearthed him--is how does Barnabas ever expect to have a relationship with this version of Josette (in his mind) despite her being Maggie with so many looking for her or keeping an eye out for her? At the end of the episode, Willie releases her from a coffin that Barnabas purposely closed her into (those with a fear of being buried alive or are claustrophobic, I imagine would be mortified) so she couldn't get away again, hoping that if he talks sense into her she would stop trying to flee and just accept that she's someone she is not. Barnabas didn't quite think this through, but his obsession with recreating the love he lost has consumed him to the point that he's willing to close the coffin on someone innocent. I can see what they are going for: Barnabas does evil things but what drives it is a love he tragically lost because of his being a vampire. He wants that back and sees the opportunity with Maggie if he can just eventually convince her she's Josette. It's all a lie that isn't sustainable. No matter of brainwash--as seen by the ending where Maggie refuses to give in--seems to work despite every effort of Barnabas and Willie to convince her otherwise. Sam's pipe was Maggie's grasp onto who she is with Barnabas realizing all ties to "pop" must be cut off if he is ever to have his way. I think any viewer could see this just wasn't going to every work. You could lock her up in a mausoleum, sure, but Josette died long ago. This is a completely different person. So the show's story arc toys with the viewer regarding just how Barnabas can keep Maggie hidden, if Willie will ever get a backbone and stop this madness, or if Maggie can somehow break from these people and return to her home.

The other subplot that I found amusing--the ole Soap Opera dangled carrot pulled back--was Sam's seeing Maggie, the sheriff and Burke not truly believing him, a search party finding nothing (though funny we never see cops on this show), and Sam accepting that "Maggie, pale-skinned, almost ghost-like, in a gown" was some liquor-conjured delusion. Then the camera cuts to Maggie struggling in the Josette bedroom of the Old House combating Barnabas' manifested persona for her to emulate and eventually become. It leaves that thought of "With Sam losing hope, who would be left to save Maggie?" The idea that might be whimpering Willie cracks me up. 3.5/5