Rich young gentleman Barnabas Collins is having trouble breathing, and the doctor thinks he may die at any moment. The source of Barnabas’ ailment is a spell cast on him by wicked witch Angelique. Angelique panics when she hears that Barnabas may die, and spends almost the whole episode figuring out how to undo the spell.
We only learned on Friday that Angelique was a witch. Her trouble today makes us wonder how long she’s been at it. For all we know this might be the first spell she has ever cast, and that’s why she bungled it so badly. That in turn leads us to wonder how big a part of her character witchcraft will turn out to be. If she hasn’t been involved with it for very long, maybe she’ll swear off black magic soon and become a different sort of person. We do expect that she will have something to do with whatever it is that is about to turn Barnabas into a vampire, but maybe that will be an accident of some kind, or maybe she will be on the side of good, trying to stop it, by the time that ultimate disaster happens.
Acilius on Dark Shadows 