November 2022 – Dark Shadows Commentary

Episode 113: I’ve got another contemplation

The writers didn’t always put a lot of effort into Dark Shadows’ opening voiceovers, but today’s is exceptionally dire:

My name is Victoria Winters.

Collinwood is still living up to its name as a ghost-ridden house where deaths have gone unsolved. Except that in this case, the murderer is known. Only his whereabouts are unknown. But much like a wounded animal at bay, he has taken refuge in the one place where he thinks he will be safe. The Old House has already been searched thoroughly, so Matthew Morgan feels this is one place the police will not look again.

“Collinwood is still living up to its name”- it is still in the woods and is still occupied by people called Collins? No, “its name as a ghost-ridden house.” So, it is living up to its reputation, not to its name.

Then we get three short sentences beginning with “Except,” “But,” and “Only.” If the narrator has to issue three retractions in fifteen words, it’s difficult to be optimistic about what will happen when people start exchanging dialogue.

“But much like a wounded animal at bay, he has taken refuge in the one place where he thinks he will be safe.” How does that make him more like a wounded animal at bay than like any other creature who is aware of only “one place where he thinks he will be safe”?

“The Old House has already been searched thoroughly”- that sounds OK, until about 30 seconds into the episode, when Matthew lets himself into a secret chamber of the Old House that only he knows about. When you say a house has been searched “thoroughly,” I for one assume you mean that the searchers figured out how many rooms were in it.

This is the final script credited to Francis Swann. That sloppy, confused narration doesn’t sound like his writing. Maybe he was in such a rush to be done with Dark Shadows that he didn’t bother to take a second look at the opening voiceover once he’d pounded it out of his typewriter.

Or maybe he didn’t write it at all. Malcolm Marmorstein’s name will appear in the credits soon, and Marmorstein was eminently capable of writing something that lousy. The actors have an unusually hard time with their lines today, as if the teleplay got to them later than usual. Swann hasn’t written an episode since #106, and that one felt very much like his farewell. So it could be that Marmorstein was supposed to write this one, got stuck, and Swann came in to bail him out.

Further supporting that theory is a change of texture between the first half of the episode and the second half. After the prologue showing the fugitive Matthew hiding in the Old House, we go to the room in the Collinsport Inn occupied by dashing action hero Burke Devlin. Mrs Johnson, housekeeper at Collinwood and spy for Burke, visits him there. She recaps the last couple of episodes for him. The scene is listless and disjointed, in part because of the actors going up- at one point Clarice Blackburn actually prompts Mitch Ryan with Burke’s next line- but also because they have so little to work with when they do remember what they’re supposed to say.

After Mrs Johnson leaves Burke’s room, strange and troubled boy David Collins drops in on him. Mitch Ryan and David Henesy were always fun to watch together, and they manage to get a good deal of interest out of an opening exchange in which David tries to get Burke to admit that Mrs Johnson is his agent inside the Collins home. They then go into Burke’s kitchen, where they talk about their respective grudges against David’s father, high-born ne’er do-well Roger Collins. That’s an emotionally charged topic, and the kitchen is an intimate space. But the conversation is dull. The actors don’t look at each other very much- even when they aren’t reading off the teleprompter, they keep casting their eyes to the floor, as if they’re having trouble staying awake. You can’t blame them if they are sleepy- there’s nothing new in their lines.

The second half of the episode takes us back to Collinwood, and all of a sudden it comes to life. In the foyer, an authoritative-sounding Mrs Johnson scolds David for not hanging his coat up properly. He then puts her on the spot with his ideas about her and Burke. Once he has her good and nervous, he tells her he’s going to the Old House to talk to the ghosts. Mrs Johnson takes the supernatural very seriously, and responds to that idea with some words spoken in a deeply hushed tone. She finally dismisses him with a brusque command to be back for dinner. After the door closes behind him, she looks about for a moment, pensive. Taking Mrs Johnson through these moods, Clarice Blackburn traces a clear line of emotional development that gives the scene a healthy dose of dramatic interest.

We are then treated to a previously unseen location insert in which David is skipping along the path to the Old House. It’s a lovely little scene, dreamlike and eerie:

David skipping on his way to the Old House

David stands before the portrait of Josette Collins and asks for information about Matthew. The portrait isn’t talking, but Matthew himself appears. David tells Matthew that he doesn’t believe he is a murderer, and that the two of them can investigate and prove his innocence. When David tells Matthew he has no choice but to trust him, Matthew asks “Ain’t I?” Returning viewers remember that in the previous two episodes, well-meaning governess Vicki and reclusive matriarch Liz both asked Matthew to trust them. In response, he tried to kill Vicki, and only his fanatical devotion to Liz kept him from doing the same to her. David’s blithe self-assurance stops Matthew this time, and he agrees to stay in the Old House and let David take care of him.

This episode is the first time we see the secret chamber off the parlor of the Old House. Much will happen there. Another first comes when Matthew is deciding whether to trust David or to kill him. He goes to the window of the parlor. We cut to the outside, and see him in the window thinking murderous thoughts. Many, many times next year and the year after we will see another character, one not yet introduced, in that window, vowing to kill someone or other.

The Old House isn’t the only place where today brings firsts. Up to this point the proper way for people to dispose of their coats when entering the great house of Collinwood has been to fold them and place them on a polished table in the foyer. But this time, David responds to Mrs Johnson’s reproof by taking his coat to a space next to the door where he mimes placing it on a hanger. In later years, we will actually see a set dressing there that can pass for a closet, but for now we just have to imagine one exists.

Episode 112: A person has to trust somebody in this world

Yesterday, gruff caretaker Matthew held well-meaning governess Vicki prisoner in his cottage on the great estate of Collinwood. Having inadvertently confessed to Vicki that he killed beloved local man Bill Malloy, Matthew could see no alternative but to kill Vicki. Vicki kept trying to talk him into reassessing his options, but without success. At the end, Matthew had announced his intention to break Vicki’s neck and was choking her. Only when reclusive matriarch Liz entered the room did Matthew stop.

Today, we hear Liz take much the same approach to talking Matthew down that Vicki had tried yesterday. Matthew’s fanatical devotion to Liz keeps him from harming either woman, but his fear of prison drives him to block the exit when they try to leave. As Liz tries to reason with Matthew, we see Vicki’s terrified face between them. Not only does her expression add emotional depth to the scene, but Alexandra Moltke Isles’ resemblance to Joan Bennett drives home the similarity between what Liz is trying now and what Vicki tried in yesterday’s episode. No wonder Vicki is afraid Matthew will attack Liz next.

Eventually Matthew does raise his hands to Liz. She stands her ground. He retreats without touching her. When he menaces her, the music swells; when he backs off, it stops. Then we see Liz in closeup for a couple of seconds before the commercial. That silence makes for one of the most effective act breaks in the whole series.

Back at the great house, Liz and Vicki bring the sheriff and instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank up to date. It’s a lot of recapping, but the actors make it interesting.* Mrs Isles does a particularly good job of seeming bewildered and traumatized. Her lines are repetitive- a lot of “He tried to kill me”- but she delivers them in just the right tone of dreamlike detachment.

Liz’ brother, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, comes home and is sarcastic to Vicki. Roger had been arrested because he was caught red-handed with some evidence he had hidden from the sheriff, and while in custody had confessed to a series of felonies. This led to him being detained for almost an entire day, an inconvenience for which he blames Vicki. Later, Roger will see Liz and the sheriff in Matthew’s cottage. He insults the sheriff, who is unimpressed. After the sheriff leaves, he demands Liz fire Vicki. Liz tells him that Vicki did nothing wrong and orders him to drop the subject.

I’m not going to bother explaining why Roger thinks Vicki is at fault for his brush with the law. Doing so would require a retelling of the saga of the fountain pen, and no one wants that. Besides, the only person who takes Roger at all seriously today is Vicki, and her attempts to apologize to him come off as a symptom of the extreme confusion she is in after her ordeal. There’s little reason to expect any plot developments to come of Roger’s hostility to Vicki, but Louis Edmonds is always hilarious to watch when he’s playing a character in a snippy mood.

The sheriff has told everyone that Matthew’s old station wagon was seen barreling down the highway toward his brother’s hometown, Coldwater, Maine.** That brings a great relief to Vicki and Liz, but the closing shot of the episode shows us Matthew entering the Old House on the grounds of Collinwood.

This is a fast-paced, well-acted, exciting episode. There is also some good soapcraft in it. The Old House and the caretaker’s cottage have by this point been established as permanent parts of the setting of the series. Matthew’s flight from the caretaker’s cottage leads us to expect that sooner or later a new character will take up residence there, and that there will be a new storyline centering on that character.

Our glimpses of the Old House so far have been tantalizing. We’ve seen the ghost of Josette Collins emerge from her portrait there twice. So we know that it is a place where very strange things are going to start happening one of these days. When we see Matthew go into the Old House, we may well expect that the day will soon be upon us.

*Well, the actors who play Vicki, Liz, and the sheriff do- as Frank, it isn’t Conard Fowkes’ job to be interesting.

**Coldwater, Maine is a fictional place, mentioned only in this episode. It’s a testament to the influence Dark Shadows has had in American popular culture that 56 years after a single reference to it in one of the series’ least-seen segments a significant number of people have heard of Coldwater and are interested in moving there.

Episode 111: I’d believe you if you were dead

In the great house on the estate of Collinwood, reclusive matriarch Liz and instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank worry about where well-meaning governess Vicki has got to. Since Vicki is a witness in the investigation of the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy, and she has been the target of at least two attempted assassinations in the last 24 hours, the sheriff and his men are searching the grounds of Collinwood looking for her.

As it happens, gruff caretaker Matthew is holding Vicki prisoner in his cottage on the estate. Matthew had blurted out a confession that he killed Bill, and has now decided he must kill Vicki to keep her quiet. Vicki tries to persuade Matthew that he will be better off with her alive, but he will not change his mind. As he is putting his hands around her neck with the stated intention of breaking it, the door opens. Liz enters. Startled, Matthew unhands Vicki. She tells Liz that Matthew killed Bill and is about to kill her.

Liz walks in on Matthew throttling Vicki. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Art Wallace’s original story bible for Dark Shadows, which circulates under the title Shadows on the Wall, had called for Liz’ brother, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, to be exposed as a murderer and a deadly threat to Vicki. Roger would fall to his death in the course of his final attempt on Vicki’s life. That was still possible a week ago.

Now that we’ve heard Matthew’s confessions, we know that Roger isn’t going anywhere. Not only does that keep one of the show’s most engaging actors, Louis Edmonds, in the cast; it also opens a long list of story possibilities. Perhaps Roger and Vicki will reenact the climax of Jane Eyre, and the dark-haired governess will marry her charge’s father. Perhaps the horrendous relationship between Roger and his son, strange and troubled boy David, will improve in some way, or perhaps David will make another attempt to kill his father. Certainly we can expect more scenes between Roger and Liz, as the show plays out the first of its signature relationships between Bossy Big Sister and Bratty Little Brother.

Further, Liz tells Frank and the sheriff that there are three residences on the estate- the great house, the Old House, and the caretaker’s cottage. One of Matthew’s previous attacks on Vicki took place at the Old House, and we’ve twice seen a ghost there who is clearly marked as someone who will be coming back again. Vicki is trapped in the caretaker’s cottage now, and the great house is the main setting for the series. By listing the three locations in this way, Liz is telling the audience to expect to see more of each of these sets, not just in this storyline but in the stories to come.

In place of 109 and 110: Dividing Dark Shadows into periods

The makers of Dark Shadows set out to give every episode airing on a Friday a number divisible by 5. Since no episode aired on Thanksgiving Day or the day after, that meant that episode 108, originally broadcast Wednesday, 23 November 1966, was followed by episode 111, originally broadcast Monday, 28 November 1966. There never was an episode 109 or 110. I’ve decided to take advantage of such breaks in the flow of the series to post general notes.

When we finished our first watch-through of Dark Shadows on 2 April 2021,* I looked back over the show and divided it into these 14 periods:

Episodes 1-45 “Meet Vicki”
Episodes 46-126 “Meet Matthew”
Episodes 127-192 “Meet Laura”
Episodes 193-209 “Meet Jason”
Episodes 210-260 “Meet Barnabas”
Episodes 261-365 “Meet Julia”
Episodes 366-466 “Meet Angelique”
Episodes 467-626 “Monster Mash”
Episodes 627-700 “Meet Amy” (subdivided into “Chris the Werewolf,” 627-638, and “The Haunting of Collinwood,” 639-700)
Episodes 701-885 “1897″ (subdivided into “Meet Quentin,” 701-748, and “Meet Petofi,” 749-885)
Episodes 886-969 “Leviathans”
Episodes 970-1060, “Meet Another Angelique”
Episodes 1061-1198, “Meet Gerard” (subdivided into “1995,″ 1061-1070, “The Re-Haunting of Collinwood,” 1071-1109, and “1840,″ 1110-1198)
Episodes 1199-1245, “Dying Days”

I’ve decided that it makes more sense to divide the first 42 weeks into two periods defined by writing staff rather than four periods defined by characters. So I now think of the first 21 weeks as the Art Wallace/ Francis Swann era, and of the second 21 weeks as the Ron Sproat/ Malcolm Marmorstein era. Wallace and Swann wrote finely etched character studies that gave their fine cast a chance to show their stuff. Sproat and Marmorstein didn’t really understand what actors could do, and needed much busier and more outlandish plots to keep the show going.

As for the stories, I’ve noticed a 14 week cycle. For the first 14 weeks of the series, characters occasionally use the word “ghost” as a metaphor for unresolved conflicts that have ongoing consequences. Often as not, they go on to say that around the great estate of Collinwood, ghosts are more than a metaphor- literal ghosts haunt that place. We see a few events for which no non-ghostly explanation is immediately forthcoming. Some of them would have to be either legitimately supernatural occurrences or deliberate hoaxes in the tradition of Scooby-Doo. In episode 70, at the end of week 14, we get our first sighting of an unmistakable, non-metaphorical ghost.

The second 14 week cycle ends with episode 140. That comes early in the saga of the “Phoenix.” The one storyline in the first 42 weeks that works every time we see it is well-meaning governess Vicki’s attempt to befriend her charge, strange and troubled boy David. In episode 140, David is terrified of his mother and goes to her only after Vicki has persuaded him to do so. It is a powerful scene, showing that David has come to trust Vicki totally. That marks the end of the Vicki-befriends-David story, and sets up the rest of the Phoenix saga as an exploration of what that trust means and what will become of it.

The third 14 week bloc ends with #210. That one is mostly about petty thief Willie Loomis trying to find some jewels that he believes are buried somewhere around the estate. It ends with Willie opening a coffin, from which a hand shoots out and grabs him by the throat. That moment turns out to be quite an important break from one phase to another.

So, my revised periodization of the first 42 weeks is:

Episodes 1-106, the Wallace/ Swann era. Subdivided into 1-35, Prologue; 36-106, The Mystery of Bill Malloy. In its turn, The Mystery of Bill Malloy is further divided into Bill Investigates, Bill Disappears, and Who Killed Bill?

Episodes 107-210, the Sproat/ Marmorstein era. Subdivided into 107-126, Matthew Imprisons Vicki; 127-192, the Phoenix; 193-210, Jason.

*The fiftieth anniversary of the first broadcast of the final episode.

Episode 108: Bottled up

At the end of yesterday’s episode, we saw gruff caretaker Matthew push a heavy stone urn from the top of the Old House on the great estate of Collinwood. It landed at the feet of well-meaning governess Vicki standing far below. Vicki didn’t see Matthew and doesn’t realize he is her enemy, so she runs to his cottage to look for help.

Matthew won’t let Vicki use his telephone to call the sheriff, won’t let her leave his house, and won’t stop telling her that all her troubles are in her imagination and that everyone else’s troubles are her fault. She did barge into his house and she knows that he is a rough customer, so none of this leads Vicki to any conclusions.

In the manor house, reclusive matriarch Liz is worried that it is taking Vicki so long to get back from the Old House. When she tells strange and troubled boy David that Vicki had gone there looking for him, David suggests that one of the ghosts who haunt that house may have got her. This does nothing to lighten Liz’ mood, and she sends him off to have dinner. Later, instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank shows up and says that he and Vicki had a dinner date. Liz decides that the two of them should go to the Old House to look for Vicki. Before they go, she telephones Matthew’s cottage.

In the cottage, Vicki listens to Matthew’s side of the conversation. When she hears him tell Liz “I haven’t seen her,” Vicki can’t think of anyone but herself to whom he might be referring. She asks Matthew a series of questions about the conversation. Matthew claims he was talking about flighty heiress Carolyn, a claim which Vicki knows cannot be true. When Matthew sees that Vicki knows he is lying, he becomes agitated. She claims to believe his denials and tries to leave. He grabs her and pulls her back into the house. She screams.*

Back in the manor house, Liz and Frank have returned from their search of the Old House. They saw the stone urn shattered on the ground, a sight that deepens their alarm. Liz calls the sheriff. He comes and says he and his men will search the grounds for Vicki.

In the cottage, Vicki keeps telling Matthew she isn’t frightened, and he keeps pointing out that she screamed and is trembling. Only when Matthew betrays special knowledge of an earlier attempt on her life does it dawn on Vicki that he is her would-be assassin. When Matthew blurts out a confession to the killing of beloved local man Bill Malloy, Vicki looks desperately for a means of escape. Matthew forces her to sit down and tells her he will have to kill her.

Vicki realizes that Matthew is the one trying to kill her. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

*That scream was authentic enough to impress a very tough critic. Our beagle woke up from a nap and looked around with alarm when he heard it. It took some time to assure him that Alexandra Moltke Isles is fine.

Episode 107: Who is it?

Well-meaning governess Vicki has uncovered evidence which has led the sheriff to resume his investigation of the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy. The three suspects in the sheriff’s initial examination of the case were high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins, drunken artist Sam Evans, and dashing action hero Burke Devlin. Yesterday the sheriff questioned Roger, and today he questions Sam.

Since it became known Vicki might be a witness in the case, someone has tried to enter her bedroom, and someone has tried to run her down on the road. Roger is the only one of the three suspects who could have tried to get into Vicki’s room, and he has an alibi for the time when the car swerved towards Vicki. Vicki’s potential boyfriend, instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank Garner, suggests that Roger and Sam might both be working to silence her, whether in tandem or separately. Vicki considers Sam a friend, and finds it hard to believe he might want to hurt her.

Vicki’s charge, strange and troubled boy David Collins, is not to be found in the great house on the estate of Collinwood. She goes to look for him at his favorite hangout, the long-abandoned Old House on the same property. As she approaches the front door of the Old House, we see gruff caretaker Matthew Morgan on the roof high above. Matthew is pushing a large, heavy ornamental urn. The urn falls, and lands at Vicki’s feet.

Matthew pushes the urn. Detail of a screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Matthew has been presented as a volatile, dangerous man, and a potential threat to Vicki. He admitted to hiding Bill Malloy’s corpse, and becomes agitated anytime the topic of his death is raised. At the end of a half hour devoted to asking who, if not Roger, Sam, or Burke, might be behind the attacks on Vicki, the shot of Matthew pushing the urn towards her leaves little doubt that he is in fact the villain we’ve been looking for.

Episode 106: Swann song

At the end of Friday’s episode, dashing action hero Burke Devlin and the sheriff caught high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins digging up a fountain pen from under a rock. It appears to be the fountain pen Roger had stolen from well-meaning governess Vicki. Some think that Roger stole the pen and hid it because it is evidence implicating him in the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy. Today, Roger is in the sheriff’s office.

Accompanied by Richard Garner, the Collins family’s lawyer, Roger talks and talks, admitting that he saw Bill that night, badly injured and face-down in the water. He jumped to the conclusion that Bill was dead, and left the scene without notifying anyone. He also admits that he concealed evidence that he believed the police would find relevant to the investigation. As if that weren’t enough, he admits that he lied to the police time and again, most recently the night before, and is caught in yet another lie when he gives a nonsensical explanation of his plan to meet Bill that night.

Garner makes only one feeble attempt to interrupt Roger’s torrent of self-incriminating remarks. When the sheriff questions Vicki, Garner takes the opportunity to ask her some questions of his own, questions which produce even more information that is adverse to his client’s interests. On their site Dark Shadows Before I Die, John and Christine Scoleri feature commentary on Garner’s performance from a lawyer friend of theirs. Setting aside the utter hopelessness of Garner’s work from a real-world perspective, this friend analyzes his conduct by contrast with the standards set by other TV lawyers:

This brief addendum will review the competence of Garner using a “TV Lawyer Competency Rating” (TVLCR) scale. This WAG scale is based on my estimation of how a general audience might rate a TV Lawyer’s performance. I have supplemented these TVLCR scores with some comments reflecting real-world practices.
http://dsb4idie.blogspot.com/2016/11/episode-106-112166.html

Even by those standards, Garner doesn’t come out very well:

Garner strikes me as the go-to civil attorney for the Collins family who got dragged into this murder case just because they are familiar with him. Based on Garner’s poor competency rating as a TV Lawyer, Roger Collins should fire him and instead reach out to Raymond Burr or Andy Griffith.

Soap operas typically generate suspense by sharing information with the audience that some, but not all, of the characters have. We wonder when the secrets will be revealed, and how those to whom they are revealed will react when they finally get the news.

By the end of today’s episode, all of the characters will know almost everything the audience knows. Even what the characters don’t know, they’ve heard of. For example, Roger and drunken artist Sam Evans have not confessed the guilty secrets they share to any of the other characters, but everyone seems to have figured out more or less what they’ve been up to. Not everyone believes in ghosts, but it’s all over town that Vicki and her charge, strange and troubled boy David Collins, have seen ghosts in and around the great house of Collinwood, and even the most skeptical are not in a hurry to hang around the place after dark.

This is the next-to-last episode credited to writer Francis Swann. Swann will fill in for the new writers a week from Wednesday, but today is really the end of the Art Wallace-Francis Swann era of the show. From tomorrow, the new team of Ron Sproat and Malcolm Marmorstein will be holding the reins. By bringing all the characters up to at least our level of knowledge about the ongoing storylines, Swann is clearing the decks for Sproat and Marmorstein to set up their own crises and dilemmas.

Swann’s great strength is his ability to give actors room to show what they can do. Today’s episode is a case in point. Just when Garner’s disastrous intervention in the sheriff’s questioning of Vicki has led us to wonder if he’s all there, he has a moment when he opens his eyes wide and looks out the window. As Hugh Franklin plays it, that’s enough to make us wonder what’s on Garner’s mind, and to think he might be about to do or say something interesting.

Of course stage veteran Louis Edmonds thunders delightfully as the wildly indiscreet Roger, and of course TV stalwart Dana Elcar does an expert job of presenting the sheriff as a skilled professional firmly in control of the situation. There might be a crying need for a defense attorney to intervene when a suspect is blabbing as freely to the police as Roger is to the sheriff, but there is no need for a third actor to get in the way of Edmonds’ and Elcar’s interplay. Standing in the background between those two, Franklin occasionally gives a slight facial expression that underlines some point or other, but never upstages them.

In the first half of the episode, Alexandra Moltke Isles’ Vicki has to give some long speeches full of recapping, and in those she takes the character through several distinct shades of discomfort. She begins with diffident nervousness, builds up to frightened indignation, and ends with pure sadness.

Later, flighty heiress Carolyn comes into the sheriff’s office and pleads with Vicki to say that her beloved Uncle Roger couldn’t be a criminal. In front of the sheriff and Garner, all Vicki will say is that the two of them should leave. As Carolyn, Nancy Barrett makes the most of the melodramatic turn, but Mrs Isles takes possession of the scene with her few words spoken in a quiet, husky voice we haven’t heard before. Those brief remarks cap the progression we saw her making in her speeches earlier, and define the mood she is still in during a conversation between Vicki and Carolyn in Collinwood later. Vicki’s feeling for the pity of it all holds the episode together, and leads us back into the texture of the life of the family at the center of the story.

Episode 105: Concrete evidence

Dashing action hero Burke Devlin visits the sheriff in his office. He brings the sheriff up to date on the recent threats well-meaning governess Vicki has faced. He also tells the sheriff that Vicki had found a pen belonging to Burke on a beach, and that he thinks that high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins dropped the pen there while murdering beloved local man Bill Malloy. Burke also thinks that Roger is the one who has been menacing Vicki. He asks the sheriff if he will play along with a scheme that might put some “concrete evidence” behind his beliefs.

In the great house of Collinwood, Roger faces a series of very sharply pointed questions about Vicki’s problems from his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz. He denies everything, including things Liz can prove to be true. He tries to say that Vicki is untrustworthy because she claims to have seen a ghost dripping wet seaweed on the floor in the west wing of the house. Liz reminds Roger that they investigated that claim, and found the wet seaweed just where Vicki said it would be.

The sheriff and Burke show up at the house. In the mood established by their conversation, Liz and Roger are left feeling trapped and small, as this shot none-too-subtly shows:

Collinsport Gothic. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

The sheriff asks to see Vicki. Liz explains that she gave her a sedative and sent her to bed. He then questions Roger and Liz about the stories Burke has told. Liz downplays Vicki’s experiences; Roger makes another attempt to sell the idea that Vicki is nuts because she claims to have seen a ghost. When Burke brings up the topic of the pen, Liz is at a loss- it is the first she has heard of it. Roger tries to brazen it out. When Burke produces a pen identical to the one Vicki found, he flails and finally denies that the pens are at all alike. The sheriff asks Liz to send both Vicki and flighty heiress Carolyn to his office first thing in the morning to examine the pen.

Liz tells Roger that she is confident Carolyn and Vicki will tell the sheriff the truth. When he tells her he needs time to think, she replies that he doesn’t need any time to think of more lies. He declares that there is something he must attend to immediately, and rushes out of the house. Liz watches her little brother leave the house, frustrated in her attempts first to correct his behavior, then to shield him from its consequences.

Roger goes to the peak of Widow’s Hill. He had stolen the pen Vicki found and buried it under a rock there. He digs it up. As he looks at it, Burke and the sheriff appear and thank him for saving them a lot of trouble.

Art Wallace’s original story bible for Dark Shadows had called for Roger to have his final scene on this spot. Vicki was to have found evidence that would send Roger to prison, he was to attempt to kill her by throwing her off the peak of Widow’s Hill. She would avoid that fate when Roger instead went over the cliff himself. As it has worked out, Louis Edmonds is too appealing an actor to lose. So Roger stays on the show as a suspect in an investigation, perhaps as a defendant in a trial. It won’t be the last time Dark Shadows extends an attractive villain’s stay on the show by playing out different events on the set where his story was originally meant to end.

Episode 104: Chamber of horrors

In the great house of Collinwood, well-meaning governess Vicki is terrified of high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins. She had found evidence that led her to suspect Roger of murdering beloved local man Bill Malloy. Roger learned of her suspicions and told her a story that has left her unsure what to think.

In yesterday’s episode, someone unlocked the door to Vicki’s room and started to enter while she was in bed. She screamed, and the door slammed shut. Seconds later, Roger came. He denied having unlocked the door or seen anyone else in the hallway.

Today, Vicki is discussing that event with reclusive matriarch Liz. Vicki won’t explicitly say anything against Liz’ brother Roger, and Liz will not draw any conclusions about him in front of her. When Liz says she can’t imagine who might be in the house that Vicki could have reason to fear, gruff caretaker Matthew enters. This is not the least subtle clue the show has given us that we should consider Matthew a potential threat to Vicki.

Vicki tries to call her friend Maggie Evans. She talks to Maggie’s father, drunken artist Sam. Sam asks her to meet him at the local tavern to discuss a painting he did long ago of a woman to whom Vicki thinks she might be related.

After Vicki has left, Roger comes home. Liz is unhappy that he did not return her call when she telephoned him at his office in the business she owns. He is unrepentant. When she questions him about Vicki, he tells her that he thinks Vicki should leave Collinwood. He says that she is not safe there because she knows too much about the death of Bill Malloy. This does not leave Liz with a particularly sunny view of her bratty little brother.

At the tavern, Sam admits to Vicki that he doesn’t have anything to tell her about the painting. He wants to pump her for information about her suspicions. Vicki says she has something to say to Maggie about that subject, but only to her- she doesn’t want to go through it any more often than necessary. She refuses to tell Sam anything. When Sam gets overheated, she gets up to leave the table. He touches her sleeve. She gives him a look that goes from startled to commanding to wondering to pitying to just sad in the space of fifth of a second. He shrinks into his seat, and she sits back down. He offers her a ride home, she says she would rather walk. After she goes, he gulps a drink, then follows her out.

On the road, a car tries to run Vicki down. They’ve introduced a new set dressing for this scene. I like the signpost:

Vicki must have lost her keys when the car was coming at her, because she pounds on the front door of Collinwood until Liz lets her in. Vicki describes the incident, saying that the car deliberately swerved to hit her. In answer to Liz’ questions, Vicki says she couldn’t see anything but the headlights, and declines to call the sheriff. “I can’t talk to the sheriff. I can’t talk to anyone.” Liz mentions that Roger has left the house, and says it’s too bad he didn’t find her. Vicki replies “Maybe he did.” Liz responds to that by fetching a sedative and insisting Vicki take it.*

While Liz is out of the room, Vicki telephones dashing action hero Burke Devlin and tells him of the incident with the car. We hear only her side of the conversation, but we can presume Burke will do something about it.

*The first of countless sedatives that will be consumed in the drawing room of Collinwood in the years ahead. If the show had lasted another decade, the Ramones might have written a replacement for Robert Cobert’s piece for theremin as its theme song .

Episode 103: The girl can’t help it

Another action-packed episode from writer Francis Swann. His new colleague Ron Sproat seems to have given him a jolt of energy.

High-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins has been Dark Shadows‘ foremost villain so far. This week’s theme is that well-meaning governess Vicki suspects Roger of murdering beloved local man Bill Malloy. She is terrified of what Roger might do to her, and Roger is terrified she might go to the sheriff. Vicki and Roger scramble to keep up with each other, and draw the other characters into their frantic activity.

Today we divide our time between the great house of Collinwood, where Roger and Vicki live and play their high-stakes game of cat and mouse, and the Blue Whale, a tavern in the village of Collinsport where we see the consequences of their actions ripple out into the broader community. In yesterday’s episode, Vicki and Roger had a talk in which he told her that he did see Bill the night he died, but that he was already dead when he found him. That accounted for the evidence Vicki found, but only increased the tension between them.

We begin and end today in Vicki’s bedroom. In the opening teaser, Roger knocks on her door and lets himself in when she doesn’t answer him. In the closing scene, Vicki’s door is unlocked and opens while she is in bed. This prompts her to scream. When she does, the door quickly closes. Roger comes in seconds later, and implausibly denies that he opened it until after she screamed.

In between, we see Vicki in the tavern, telling Roger’s arch-nemesis, dashing action hero Burke Devlin, what Roger told her yesterday. Burke is incredulous that Vicki seems willing to believe that Roger might be telling the truth this time. She responds “I know you think I’m an idiot, but I can’t help it!” Maybe Bill wasn’t pushed to his death- maybe he was just clumsy and fell without anyone’s intervention. Burke does not contradict Vicki when she tells him he thinks she is an idiot. He urges her to leave town, since Roger might kill her at any time. She insists on staying at Collinwood.

Vicki and Burke leave the tavern. Drunken artist Sam Evans and his daughter Maggie Evans, The Nicest Girl in Town, enter. Maggie tells Sam that she talked to Vicki yesterday. Vicki told her almost everything, holding back Roger’s name but making it clear she can’t be thinking of anyone else. Maggie sees that the idea of the investigation into Bill’s death being reopened and connected with the incident that sent Burke to prison ten years ago disturbs Sam intensely. When Sam answers one of her questions with a lie, she asks “Haven’t you thought of a better one than that?” He mumbles a response, but won’t tell his daughter what he has to be afraid of.

Maggie calls Collinwood. Roger answers, and Maggie asks to speak to Vicki. Returning viewers will remember that when Burke called Vicki in yesterday’s episode, Roger was in the room. Vicki concealed the fact that she was talking to Burke by pretending she was talking to Maggie. Maggie’s call tips Roger off to Vicki’s lie. He tells her that Vicki isn’t home. She tells him that the Evanses are at the Blue Whale, that they haven’t been home all evening, and that they haven’t seen Vicki.

Vicki comes home. She tells Roger she was visiting Maggie at her house. Roger plays along and encourages Vicki to elaborate on this story. At the tavern, Burke had told Vicki she was a bad liar. She proves him right, giving Roger one falsifiable detail after another about her time at the Evans cottage.

After the affair of the door, Roger sees Vicki’s frank disbelief that he will not admit that he unlocked and opened it. Facing her unspoken accusation that he is brazenly lying to her, he casually mentions Maggie’s call. He suggests Vicki call her tomorrow, so that the two of them can get their story straight. He saunters away, having deflated her righteous indignation about his apparent lies.

As Vicki, Alexandra Moltke Isles was one of the cast members who delivered her lines with the fewest stumbles. She has a doozy today, though. When she returns from her conference with Burke, Roger sees her climbing the stairs and calls out to her: “Vicki!” She replies: “Rodgie!” A man you address as “Rodgie” is not someone of whom you are deathly afraid. They have done such a good job building up an atmosphere of tension between Vicki and Roger that this slip is one of the most breathtaking bloopers in the entire series. It’s still a Genuinely Good Episode, but that moment does make you wish for a videotape editor.