December 2022 – Dark Shadows Commentary

Episode 135: No one is being kind

Mysterious and long-absent Laura Collins has returned to the great house of Collinwood, seeking custody of her son, strange and troubled boy David, and a divorce from her husband, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger. Roger is enthusiastic about this plan, but David’s attitude has shifted from eagerness to see his mother to the terrified belief that the person who has come to the house is not his mother, and that if he becomes close to her something terrible will happen.

These episodes are loaded with hints that there is something very strange about Laura. When Laura was due to visit the house yesterday, David thought he saw her appear on the lawn and then vanish, an idea Liz dismissed instantly and Roger took as evidence of his great desire to see her. David did indeed want to see Laura at that time; when she came into the house, he was afraid of her. Coupled with other indications that there is something supernatural about Laura and with David’s history of sensitivity to eerie happenings, these disparate reactions might lead us to wonder if there are two of her- a ghost who flickers on the lawn, and a corporeal being who comes inside and carries on conversations.

We have seen Laura at the restaurant in the Collinsport Inn several times; the restaurant’s keeper, Maggie Evans, mentions that Laura never eats or drinks. On Wednesday, Laura’s ex-boyfriend, dashing action hero Burke Devlin, tells her that she seems profoundly different than she had been when they knew each other before. Yesterday, reclusive matriarch Liz told her that her personality had undergone a radical change. She is obsessed with fire* and with the legend of the Phoenix, suggesting that her radical change may have something to do with that myth. Maggie’s father, drunken artist Sam Evans, is possessed by an otherworldly power marked by theremin music on the soundtrack and paints a woman in flames, apparently a consequence of something Laura’s presence has stirred up in town.

Today, we have further suggestions that Laura is not simply a physical entity. She tells flighty heiress Carolyn that although she has been staying at the inn for several days, she has not unpacked her bags. Carolyn looks at Laura’s crisp outfit and flawless makeup and is bewildered by this remark. Laura also explains that a taxi brought her to the house from the Inn and that it is scheduled to return. When she decides not to leave, she tells Carolyn that she will call to cancel the return trip, but when Carolyn leaves her alone Laura turns away from the telephone- evidently there never was a taxi. When well-meaning governess Vicki takes the several mile walk between town and the house, she is wearing the soap opera version of a sensible walking outfit. The style-conscious Carolyn is the perfect person to highlight the improbability that Laura took such a hike looking the way she does.

Laura and Carolyn in the cottage. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Laura will be staying at the cottage at Collinwood. This has been established as an important location, and we’ve been waiting for someone to move into it since its previous occupant, gruff caretaker Matthew, confessed to Vicki that he had killed beloved local man Bill Malloy, had then tried to kill Vicki, and had become a fugitive. Carolyn mentions that Collinwood’s housekeeper, Mrs Johnson, had cleaned the cottage up when Matthew died, but that it needs another cleaning. I found this to be rather a poignant touch. Mrs Johnson had for many years been Bill Malloy’s housekeeper, and was intensely devoted to him. It was quite insensitive to ask her to clean the home of Bill’s killer, and it is quite reasonable that she did not do a particularly thorough job.

*I can’t resist mentioning that Mrs Acilius and I watched this episode while staying in a hotel. I don’t know if this was a consequence of Diana Millay’s performance as Laura, but we had to pause it about halfway in when a fire alarm went off in the building.

Episode 134: Stage fright

Strange and troubled boy David Collins is about to see his mother for the first time in several years. Well-meaning governess Vicki calls on him in his room, finding that he is so excited about this event that he has gone to what she will describe as “the extreme length of changing his shirt, brushing his hair, and washing his hands.”

As he talks with Vicki, David’s mood darkens. What if he says something to make his mother hate him? Vicki assures him that his mother loves him, but he can’t shake the fear. Vicki shares her theory that he has been so eager to see her for so long that he’s given himself a bad case of stage fright. This idea is perfectly plausible to a first-time viewer observing David’s rapid slide from extreme enthusiasm to deep self-doubt, and makes an even deeper sense for returning viewers who know how badly David’s fear of punishment has distorted his behavior.

David’s mother, the mysterious and long-absent Laura, comes to the house. David’s father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, talks with her about potential obstacles to their mutual goal of divorcing each other and sending David off to live with her. Prominent among these is David’s aunt, reclusive matriarch Liz, who has been trying to fill Laura’s place in the boy’s life. A more complicated problem is represented by dashing action hero Burke Devlin, whose plans to take revenge on Roger may soon enmesh Laura. Laura and Roger agree to work together against both Liz and Burke.

Vicki meets Laura and goes up to tell David that his mother has come to see him. While Liz and Laura have a frank discussion in the drawing room, Vicki discovers that David has resolved not to see his mother. She insists that he has no choice, and the two of them walk down the stairs together holding hands. David asks her to stay beside him and keep his hand while he meets Laura. Vicki says she will, “you silly goose.”

David had been extremely hostile to Vicki when first he met her, and it was fascinating to watch the scenes where she strove to win him over. At this point in the series, the two of them are patching up their friendship. After all, it was just a couple of weeks ago that David found Vicki about to be murdered and refused to rescue her because of his fear of punishment. In episode 127, Vicki explained that she didn’t see any need to forgive David, just to understand him. For his part, David has responded to the situation by clinging to Vicki. It’s a dangerous dynamic- she could get into the habit of explaining him to himself, and he could get into the habit of meekly accepting whatever she says. The question of Laura will put this relationship to the test.

David had told Vicki about a nightmare in which he saw Laura standing in the middle of a firestorm, beckoning him to join her in the flames. Laura is obsessed with fire, and in two episodes earlier this week we saw drunken artist Sam Evans unaccountably driven to paint a picture of a woman surrounded by flames. David has previously shown an ability to communicate with otherworldly beings, and Sam’s painting jags were marked as supernatural by theremin music on the soundtrack. So the audience is likely to take David’s dream as further evidence that Laura is not of this earth.

In the drawing room, holding Vicki’s hand, David looks at Laura. She calls his name and opens her arms to embrace her son. He has a vision of her surrounded by flames, and runs upstairs.

Vicki follows him and tells him that he has done a terrible thing to his mother. He responds “That’s not my mother!” We don’t see Vicki’s reaction, but by this point she has seen enough evidence of the supernatural and of David’s connection to it that we can expect his remark to plant a seed in her mind.

Episode 133: The kind of son we could have had

Nearly a hundred episodes ago, in #32, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins shocked his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, by speculating that he might not be the biological father of strange and troubled boy David. David’s mother, mysterious and long-absent Laura, had been seeing dashing action hero Burke Devlin until about eight months before David was born. Today, Burke and Laura meet for the first time in many years. In their awkward conversation, Burke says that David is “the kind of son we could have had.” To which Laura replies, “Yes, Burke. Exactly the kind.”

There’s also a funny scene today between Burke and Maggie Evans, The Nicest Girl in Town. Maggie runs the restaurant in the Collinsport Inn, but because the budget rarely allows for enough actors for the customers to carry a scene there by interacting with each other, she often has to sit at a table. This time, she’s sitting at the counter, in her waitress’ uniform, while Burke pours her a cup of coffee.

You can also tell that the episode aired in late December. The menu on the wall behind Maggie lists bread pudding and mince pie.

David Ford plays Maggie’s father, drunken artist Sam Evans, and he has several big scenes today. He is confused and frightened because he has an inexplicable compulsion to paint a picture of a woman surrounded by flames, and he shows that in scenes in the Evans Cottage at the beginning and end of the episode. In the middle, he goes to the restaurant, where he has an unpleasant conversation with Burke and then meets Laura. Nothing new comes of any of that, but Ford is fun to watch.

Episode 132: Why don’t you hate me?

Strange and troubled boy David Collins is on intimate terms with many of the ghosts who haunt the great estate of Collinwood, but few living people would be likely to be called his friends. In some ways the closest of these is his governess, the well-meaning Vicki. The formation of that friendship was the one narrative arc that consistently worked in the first months of the show. David’s first words to Vicki were “I hate you!,” the most usual theme of their early conversations was his wish for her immediate death, and he at one point locked her up in an isolated room where it seemed she might die. But in spite of all his displays of hostility, the actors played the relationship between the two characters as one of a steadily increasing emotional complexity, and when David suddenly declares to Vicki that “I love you, Miss Winters!,” we see a dynamic story kicking into a higher gear.

Now, it would seem that Vicki and David’s hard-won friendship has come to a new crisis. David had found Vicki bound and gagged, prisoner of the homicidal Matthew. Overwhelmed by his terror of punishment, David did not free Vicki, but left her to be killed. Eventually she would escape, but only because the ghosts intervened and scared Matthew to death before he could bring his ax down on her head.

Today we have the first scene between Vicki and David since he left her in Matthew’s hands. She is trying to interest him in his math lesson. He describes himself as “not a brain in math- but I am a brain in history!” Vicki cheerfully says that she wants him to be a brain in everything. After a few such inconsequential remarks, David soulfully asks, “Miss Winters, why don’t you hate me?”

Why Vicki doesn’t hate David. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

David had been calling her Vicki for some time before her ordeal with Matthew, so the fact that he is back to “Miss Winters” is an indication that he’s feeling uncertain with her. She responds jovially, and when David says that he abandoned her to be murdered she points out that he eventually told someone who would be interested in helping her. The subject then changes to a nightmare David had last night about his mother, and his doubt that he wants to see his mother again.

I think this is a missed opportunity. David Henesy and Alexandra Moltke Isles are great fun to watch together, and the climax of the arc centered on David’s mother will have everything to do with the relationship between David Collins and Vicki. So the “Phoenix” story really is the crown of the David/ Vicki storyline. A heart-to-heart conversation between them near its beginning, therefore, would be something the series could build on for months to come.

Imagining what such a conversation might be, I think of the personage Vicki met after David abandoned her and before Matthew came back with his ax. The ghost of Josette Collins appeared to her and told her not to be afraid. David had been paralyzed with fear, so afraid he would be sent to jail for the aid he had previously given Matthew that he can do nothing to help Vicki. Josette is one of David’s favorite specters, and he would be fascinated by any story about her. Telling David what Josette said, Vicki could broach the subject of David’s own terrible fears. After all, none of the punishments of which David is so obsessively frightened could harm him as gravely as he has harmed himself with his fears.

Yesterday, David’s mysterious and long-absent mother Laura said that she is much healthier than she used to be, in part because she went through psychoanalysis. Thus, the theme of therapy has been introduced. Today, a candid talk between David and Vicki could suggest that he needs an emotional catharsis, and that if he doesn’t get it in professionally recognized forms of therapy, he’ll have to get it as the consequence of tragedy. Instead of that talk, they just hustle the whole topic out of the picture for a while. It is realistic that Vicki wouldn’t want to discuss it in depth right now, but it is a missed opportunity for the show.

There also are some miscellaneous scenes I’d like to mention. Before Vicki gives David his lesson, we see them sitting down to breakfast in the kitchen with David’s father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, and his aunt, reclusive matriarch Liz. The kitchen is one of my favorite sets, and this is the first time we start a scene there with four people all sitting at the table. The scene doesn’t lead to much, but it raises hopes that the series will start to feature dialogue among larger groups of characters.

Family breakfast. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Roger at one point brings some firewood into the house. That’s a neat way of marking the transition from the part of the series including Matthew to the part including Laura. Bringing firewood into the house had been the usual way Matthew came into contact with the family when he was the caretaker, before he became a homicidal maniac. That someone else now has to perform this task marks his absence, and service to the hearth reminds us of Laura’s obsession with fire.

Liz breaks the news to David that his mother is back in town. David says he already knows. He says that in his dream he saw Laura wearing a blue coat and sitting beside the fire in the drawing room. Liz is unnerved by this. David was asleep when Laura was sitting beside the fire, and she was in fact wearing a blue coat. Roger refuses to be impressed.

Liz does not know what David told wildly indiscreet housekeeper Mrs Johnson on Friday, that he had seen a lady in a blue coat looking at him while he was using the swing set. Returning viewers know about that, and we also know that Laura’s fascination with fire is so strong that if her son remembers anything at all about her he would probably picture her staring into a fireplace. So the show is giving itself an out if it wants to abandon the hints it has been dropping that there is a supernatural side to Laura.

In place of 131: “A Christmas Carol”

There never was an episode #131 of Dark Shadows. They made a point of giving numbers divisible by 5 to episodes that aired on Fridays, so on days when the show was not broadcast-as it was not broadcast on 26 December 1966- they just skipped the number that would have been used had it run that day.

Since that preemption was the result of Christmas-related programming,* this seems like the place to promote 2021’s big Dark Shadows Christmas event, a dramatic reading of the Orson Welles version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by ten surviving members of the original cast. Surviving at that time- it turned out to be Mitchell Ryan’s last performance before his death on 4 March 2022; Christopher Pennock had been involved in the early stages of the production, but he would die in February of 2021.

It is irresistible viewing for Dark Shadows fans. It makes extensive use of music from the show- rather too extensive for my taste, but Mrs Acilius liked it, and from what I gather she appears to be in the majority.

The acting is quite good. I was especially impressed by James Storm’s portrayal of Bob Cratchit. I had never seen Mr Storm in anything but Dark Shadows, where he was cast in the preposterously unplayable role of Gerard Stiles, so it was amazing to me to see what he could do when he had something to work with.

Another pleasant surprise was Alexandra Moltke Isles as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Readers of this blog know that I have a high opinion of Mrs Isles’ abilities, but this was her first part in 53 years. I held my breath to see how many steps she had lost in that interval. As it became clear that she could go as deep into her character as ever and pull up a treasure trove of dramatic insight, I was thrilled.

Mrs Isles appeared at one or two Dark Shadows conventions early in the 1980s. During the unpleasantness, she couldn’t very well make herself available for any event where she would be expected to take questions from the floor, but from time to time she sent greetings on video that would be played at conventions. And she sat for several interviews about Dark Shadows over the years. So you can’t say she made herself a complete stranger, but it is still quite a novelty to see her in this setting.

Many longtime fans describe Mrs Isles as the cast member who was least friendly to them when the show was in production, and there may be a reason for that. In the Q & A, she responds to the question about her first encounter with fandom by telling a story about a girl jumping her on the street and trying to rip her hair out of her head. After that introduction, it is remarkable that she’s been around as much as she has.

The person who had been absolutely disconnected from fandom the longest was David Henesy. He stuck with acting for a few years into the 1970s, but never attended a convention or had any connection with any Dark Shadows themed public events until a cast reunion on Zoom in October 2020. His performances as the child characters (he’s by far the youngest member of the cast, a mere 65 years old at the time of taping) are as letter-perfect as was his work in the series.

*A football match, but a football match usually held at Christmas-time.

Episode 130: Someone should watch you

Strange and troubled boy David Collins is using a swing set near the long-abandoned Old House on the grounds of the great estate of Collinwood. This is a jarring moment for returning viewers. David just had a traumatic experience at the Old House. He had found his governess, the well-meaning Vicki, bound and gagged there, about to be murdered by the fugitive Matthew. Terrified that he would be punished, David had fled, leaving Vicki at Matthew’s mercy. Vicki escaped, but it is still odd to see David using playground equipment there so soon.

David is not entirely alone. Peering at him from behind a bush is his mysterious and long-absent mother, Laura. Spooky music plays when we see Laura. In yesterday’s episode, similar music played when drunken artist Sam Evans unaccountably adopted Laura’s mannerisms and painted a picture reminiscent of her fascination with fire. That suggested that there is something supernatural and dangerous about Laura. Her surreptitious watching of David, so near the haunted and malign Old House, leads us to wonder if he is the one in danger.

Laura watching David. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

No one has told David that Laura is back in town. Wildly indiscreet housekeeper Mrs Johnson has found out about it, and while she tucks David into bed she drops a series of very broad hints to the effect that someone else may be watching over him soon. David doesn’t seem to catch her point, but he does mention that he thought he saw a woman watching him from behind a bush while he was using the swing set. Mrs Johnson responds with a brusque joke, but looks very interested. Since she knows Laura is back, she may well wonder if Laura is the woman David saw.

David’s father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, and his aunt, reclusive matriarch Liz, are deeply worried about what Laura wants. They haven’t been able to get in touch with her, and the last time they saw her she was profoundly mentally ill. Mrs Johnson knows of their concerns, but does not tell them that David may have seen Laura on the grounds of the estate. Mrs Johnson is disloyal to her employers, working as a spy for the Collins’ family’s arch-nemesis, dashing action hero Burke Devlin. We’ve already seen her give a report to Burke today, and presumably if she has any further information she will reserve it for him.

Late in the evening, Laura comes to the house. She tells Roger that she will gladly divorce him, and that she does not want a financial settlement. All she wants is full custody of David. She says that the course of psychoanalysis she underwent while institutionalized has done her a great deal of good, and that she no longer drinks. She does have a pronounced habit of staring into the fire, but Liz mentions that she has the same habit herself. Neither Liz nor Roger sees any sign that Laura is still suffering from whatever psychiatric disorder she had.

David begins to writhe on his bed as soon as Laura looks into the fire. In his sleep, he moans “mother, mother!” When she leaves, he sleepwalks into the foyer. The wind blows the front doors open, and he starts to run out, again calling “Mother, mother!”

Episode 129: Woman in flames

Maggie Evans, The Nicest Girl in Town, is worried about her father, drunken artist Sam. Maggie’s boyfriend, hardworking young fisherman Joe, is with Maggie at the Evans Cottage, waiting for Sam to come back from his current binge.

Maggie is particularly worried about Sam’s attitude towards a mysterious woman who has recently returned to town. Maggie doesn’t know who the woman is, but yesterday, Sam and the audience found out. She is Laura Collins, estranged wife of high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins. Laura is the other witness to an incident ten years ago that Roger paid Sam not to tell the police about. It was his guilt about that bribe that started Sam drinking in the first place, and he is terrified that his secret will come out. As Maggie and Joe talk about Sam, Sam is in the tavern with Roger, trying to figure out why Laura has come back to town.

Roger goes home to the great house of Collinwood and tells his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, that Laura has come back to town. Liz wonders why Roger is afraid of Laura. Roger denies being afraid of her, and Liz loses interest in the question. She wonders what Laura wants. At the thought that Laura might want to see strange and troubled boy David, the son she shares with Roger, Liz expresses emphatic opposition. Liz thinks of Laura as a severely disturbed woman, and is convinced that seeing his mother would only harm David.

Sam returns to the Evans Cottage. Joe sees that he is massively drunk, and whispers an offer to Maggie to help her take care of him. She declines, saying that she has plenty of experience. Sam insists on starting a painting. Maggie can’t stop him, and goes to bed.

Sam lights a cigarette and stares raptly into the flame, as we saw Laura do yesterday. He then goes to the canvas and makes painterly motions with great rapidity.

Drawn to the flame. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

The following morning, Maggie wakes Sam up. He lies passed out on the couch, a liquor bottle that had been mostly full the night before empty on the floor beside him. In response to his protests, she refuses to leave for work with him unconscious. On her way to make coffee for him, she sees the painting he did the night before. She remarks that it is not in any style she’s ever seen him use before, and he doesn’t remember a thing about it. It depicts a woman in flames. He reacts to the painting with horror.

A woman in flames. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die.

Dark Shadows has already shown us portraits as powerful objects, even as a locus for the natural and supernatural. Just on Monday, the ghost of Josette Collins (which, like Maggie Evans, is played by Kathryn Leigh Scott) emerged from the portrait of Josette in the Old House and brought about the climax of a story arc that began in episode 38. Now we see where these eerie portraits come from.

We will see more portraits created by possessed artists in the years to come. Something else happens in this episode for the first time, but not the last. The bartender at The Blue Whale, who has been addressed variously as “Bill,” “Joe,” “Mike,” “Andy,” and “Punchy,” today answers to “Bob.” That’s the name they settle on, perhaps because the actor’s name is Bob O’Connell.

Episode 128: Whaddaya hear from the morgue?

Maggie Evans, keeper of the restaurant at the Collinsport Inn and The Nicest Girl in Town, greets her boyfriend, hardworking young fisherman Joe, with a hearty “So, whaddaya hear from the morgue?” As Dark Shadows gets to be more deeply involved with horror and the supernatural, that will become a plausible alternative title for the series.

Maggie wants to know the details of the death of Matthew Morgan, fugitive and kidnapper, whom she believes to have been scared to death by ghosts. Joe doesn’t want to entertain that idea. Maggie’s father, drunken artist Sam Evans, shows up and announces that he’s tired of the topic of Matthew’s death. He wants to talk to Maggie privately.

Sam wants Maggie to get information about a mysterious woman who is staying at the inn. Maggie says that the woman won’t give her name or say much of anything about herself, but that she spent some time telling her about the legend of the phoenix. That rings a bell for Sam, making him uncomfortable. Maggie says she was glad to hear about it- “It isn’t something you hear the yokels around here talking about.” Not like the latest doings at the morgue…

Sam won’t tell Maggie why he wants to know who the woman is or why he is so agitated about her. He does tell her that he’s on his way to the tavern, and she doesn’t like that at all. Today’s episode and tomorrow’s go into depth presenting Maggie as an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. Joe volunteers to go to the tavern with Sam and keep an eye on him.

The mystery woman comes into the restaurant after Sam and Joe leave. She lights a cigarette and stares raptly at the flame of her match.

The look of love. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Maggie engages the woman in conversation. She starts with a cheery description of Matthew Morgan’s autopsy report. The woman’s bewildered reaction makes you wonder what it would be like to walk into a diner and be regaled with clinical details of an unexpected death. Maggie asks a series of questions. She leans further and further forward across the counter as she tries to get the woman to identify herself. By the time the woman leaves without giving any answers, Maggie almost falls face-first into her coffee cup.

Maggie goes to the tavern and tells her father that she made a fool of herself in a fruitless attempt to get the information he requested. Sam gets upset, then leaves to conduct his own investigation. He goes to the inn, looks in the guest registry, and finds a name. He goes to the telephone booth and watches the woman come into the lobby. He makes a phone call.

He is calling high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins. Ten years ago, Roger paid Sam to conceal evidence implicating him in a case that sent dashing action hero Burke Devlin to prison. Burke came back to town seeking revenge against Roger in episode 1, and he has by now figured out that Sam had something to do with the case as well. Roger and Sam hate each other, but are bound together by the case. Sam tells Roger to meet him at the tavern immediately.

Sam makes Roger buy him a couple of drinks, then tells him that the last person either of them had wanted to see has come back to town- Roger’s estranged wife Laura, the other witness to the event ten years ago.

The closing scene makes me wish they hadn’t put Laura’s name in the credits the other day. There has been enough evidence on screen that returning viewers will be fairly sure it must be Laura by this time, but if there were a chance it might be someone else Sam’s revelation and Roger’s reaction would have packed more of a punch.

Episode 127: More like me than the portrait

Well-meaning governess Vicki has been rescued from her ordeal as prisoner of the homicidal fugitive Matthew. Now Matthew is dead, Vicki is home, and dashing action hero Burke is having a truce with his sworn enemies, the ancient and esteemed Collins family, during which they try to figure out what the heck just happened.

Vicki is very clear that she saw the ghost of Josette Collins and that a bunch of other ghosts came and scared Matthew to death. The others aren’t quite willing to accept that, but they don’t have any other explanations.

Vicki tells reclusive matriarch Liz that she saw a resemblance to her own face in the ghost of Josette. The show has been hinting pretty heavily that Vicki is Liz’ illegitimate daughter, and Liz reacts to Vicki’s speculation that Josette might be one of her ancestors with a visible shock. She scrambles to cover that feeling and in her most demure voice (which, since she is played by Joan Bennett, is the most demure voice ever heard) says that if she were that would make her a Collins, “and that hardly seems likely.” She also says that Vicki does not resemble the portrait of Josette Collins.

Vicki says that if you look closely at the portrait, there is a resemblance. And so there is. The eyes are the right distance apart, the nose and mouth are about right, and the coloring is the same. The cheeks and chin are a little different, but considering that it is an oil painting rather than a photograph, it is possible that Alexandra Moltke Isles could have sat for it.

Shortly before Matthew took her prisoner, Vicki had told Burke that because he was her employers’ enemy, she could never speak to him again. That’s gone out the window now. Burke visits her in her bedroom, and they have a nice chat. Liz tells Burke that he can bring nothing but trouble to Vicki and flighty heiress Carolyn, to whom she refers as “the girls” and between whom she pointedly draws no distinctions. Not only is the prospect of a Vicki/ Burke relationship back in the cards, but Liz’ denial that Vicki is her daughter and Carolyn’s half-sister is getting thinner and thinner.

Episode 126: Do not be afraid

In the long-abandoned Old House on the estate of Collinwood, fugitive Matthew is sharpening the ax with which he plans to kill his prisoner, well-meaning governess Vicki. In the great house on the same estate, strange and troubled boy David is struggling with himself. His hated father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins, and his idol, dashing action hero Burke Devlin, are waiting for him to tell what he knows about Matthew and Vicki, and he keeps asking for assurances that he won’t be punished if he tells.

While David’s pathological fear of punishment keeps her rescuers at bay, Matthew finishes sharpening his ax. In the secret chamber where she is bound to a chair, Vicki receives a visitor- the ghost of Josette Collins. The ghost tells her she need not be afraid. Vicki asks why not. The ghost simply repeats herself and vanishes. It is by no means clear that the ghosts mean to save Vicki from Matthew, or that they could keep him from killing her if that is what they want.

David finally tells Burke and Roger where Vicki is, and they get some shotguns. David delays their departure still further by pleading to go along with them. Meanwhile, Matthew is in front of Vicki, starting to swing his ax at her head.

Matthew hears ghostly voices and breaks off in mid-swing. He runs out of the hidden chamber to the parlor, where the ghost of beloved local man Bill Malloy comes strolling in to the room, singing one of the more family-friendly verses of “What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?” Matthew starts swinging his ax wildly at the ghost, which laughs at him. Four more ghosts, representing the famed “Widows,” follow, and he swings at them.

Bill and the Widows. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

In her place of confinement, Vicki can hear Matthew screaming, but cannot hear the ghosts plaguing him. She calls out to Matthew, who falls silent. Burke and Roger come in, she calls to them, they find her and release her from her bonds. Matthew in a chair in the parlor, dead of fright.

With its six ghosts, this is one of the most spectacular episodes of the entire series. It is also one of the most effective. It’s no wonder Patrick McCray resumed his posting about episodes with this one after skipping a couple of months’ worth.

It is notable that Burke and Roger do not actually save Vicki- the ghosts of Bill and the Widows do. When Matthew first tried to kill Vicki in episode 111, it was reclusive matriarch Liz who saved her. Now, it is again a female-led effort, though as the victim of Matthew’s first homicide Bill does get a chance to help. I suppose that fits with the nature of the genre- daytime soaps are addressed to a predominantly female audience, so it only makes sense that female characters will drive most of the major plot points. It doesn’t bode well for the future development of Burke- he’s a dashing action hero, after all, and if all the dashing actions are going to be precipitated by women, girls, and feminine ghosts he’s likely to be left out in the cold.