Barnabas Collins, on a quest to rescue well-meaning governess Vicki Winters and her boyfriend Peter Bradford from death by hanging, has traveled back in time to the year 1796, reverting to vampirism in the process. He bites roguish naval officer Nathan Forbes and compels him to go to the authorities with a confession of his role in framing Vicki and Peter. This leads them to order Peter’s release, but there is enough other evidence against Vicki that her hanging is still scheduled to go forward tonight.
Barnabas meets with his sidekick, much-put-upon indentured servant Ben Stokes, down at the docks. They confer about this situation. Barnabas says he may have to forcibly break Vicki out of gaol. He and Ben are discussing the difficulties of achieving this when a prostitute emerges from the fog. Barnabas’ eyes lock on her, and he sends Ben away.
The following scene is a reworking of one we saw in #414. Then, Barnabas met Ruby Tate, another professionally agreeable lady, on this same set. As Ruby introduced herself to him, so Crystal Cabot introduces herself. As Barnabas struggled with his impulse to bite Ruby, so he struggles with his impulse to bite Crystal. As Ruby sealed her fate by eventually telling Barnabas she recognized him, so it dawns on Crystal that she is talking with the scion of the family that owns the town and she goes on about having seen Barnabas coming and going from his father’s offices. As Barnabas finally gave in and bared his teeth to Ruby, so he bares them to Crystal. He is a more experienced vampire now than he was then, so he gets Crystal in his grips repeatedly, something he never managed with Ruby. But he has also had several months respite from his curse, during which he has come to think highly of himself, and he is after all on a mission of mercy. So each time he grabs Crystal, his conscience stops him from biting her. In 1967, Barnabas kept trying to bite Vicki, but could not bring himself to do it. Longtime viewers will be reminded of that reluctance when Barnabas keeps holding back with Crystal. The scene returns to the model from #414 when Crystal breaks free of Barnabas and, like Ruby before her, she goes into the water. We hear the same splash we heard when Ruby fell, and Barnabas’ face again tells us that she will not come out of the water alive.
Barnabas goes back to the great house of Collinwood and tells Ben how sorry he feels for himself. He had forgotten what it was like to be a vampire, how overpowering the urge for blood would be. Ben does not know that Barnabas has returned from the future, much less that he had a vacation from the effects of his curse, and so does not know what he is talking about. Ben leaves Barnabas alone in the study, and Crystal’s drowned body materializes in an armchair.
This again harks back to Barnabas’ early days as a vampire. In #440, Barnabas killed yet another sex worker, the luckless Maude Browning. Barnabas took revenge on the fanatical Reverend Trask by planting Maude’s body in Trask’s apartment. The next day, Nathan helped Trask dispose of Maude and evade the police. Barnabas never found out who thwarted his evil plan for Trask.
Nathan is in gaol, and so does not seem available to help Nathan as he once helped Trask. Moreover, it seems Barnabas’ control over him is fading. Nathan’s wife, Barnabas’ feather-headed second cousin Millicent Collins, saw Barnabas and Ben frog-marching Nathan out of the great house of Collinwood. She goes to visit him in his cell and asks why he is there. He doesn’t give her a straight answer, but does try to tell her about Barnabas. She can’t follow his story, but does understand his instructions to go to Barnabas’ coffin in the morning and drive a wooden stake through his heart. It is hard to believe that the giggly Millicent, a character from light comedy whose mistreatment at Nathan’s hands turned her into a hopeless mental case, will actually take any such action. But it is clear that if Barnabas is going to call on Nathan to do any more work for him, he will not only have to get him out of gaol, but will also have to bite him again to renew his power over him.
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