We open in the cottage on the great estate of Collinwood. Blonde fire witch Laura Murdoch Collins is pleading with dashing action hero Burke Devlin to help her. Laura and her husband, high-born ne’er do-well Roger Collins, are divorcing. Laura wants to leave with their son, strange and troubled boy David. Since Roger is all for this plan, Burke is unsure why she needs his help. Laura’s lines aren’t much, but Diana Millay delivers them in such a perfectly sardonic tone that we laughed out loud. And not only us- here’s Mitch Ryan breaking character to laugh on screen a second before the opening title
David finds his governess, the well-meaning Vicki, arranging flowers in the drawing room of the great house on the estate. David is furious with Vicki and everyone else. Wildly indiscreet housekeeper Mrs Johnson has told him that there was a séance at the house last night, and that his buddy, the ghost of Josette Collins, spoke through Vicki. David feels that Josette belongs to him, and is outraged that he wasn’t invited to the séance. Vicki is shocked that Mrs Johnson told David about the séance.
David asks Vicki why the séance should be kept secret from him. She tells him that it isn’t a secret, it is just something he ought not to know about. This distinction doesn’t make any more sense to David than it would to anyone else. It seems that Vicki is being sincere, but she has a complicated thought to express and has not had time to work out a way to express it clearly. Seeing David’s frustration, Vicki tells him that she can’t explain the matter any further. Vicki reaches out to caress him, and he pulls away, asserting that they can’t make up. He announces that he is going outside to play. Entirely unruffled, Vicki asks to go with him. He refuses and stalks out of the house.
Through the first months of the show, David hated Vicki and she struggled to befriend him. This scene is a well-realized glimpse into the friendship that has developed since then. Even when David is very angry with Vicki and doesn’t think she is being fair or honest with him, he knows that she will be patient and affectionate. When he says they can’t make up now, we know that they’ve made up before and hope to see them make up again.
Laura and Burke are still talking in the cottage. Burke very much wants to be with Laura, and agrees to help her persuade David to leave Collinwood and live with her. They talk about the mysterious illness that has overtaken reclusive matriarch Liz and led to her hospitalization. Burke is startled when Laura says “That was hard enough to arrange.” Seeing his expression, she hastens to explain that all she meant was that she had a hard time persuading the family to send Liz to a hospital where she could be cared for properly. Burke doesn’t seem to be quite convinced.
Following Laura’s suggestion, Burke finds David at the old fishing shack, a location that has never before been seen or mentioned. He tells David he would like to take him fishing, and encourages him to go live with Laura. David is excited about the proposed fishing trip, but confides in Burke that he still has mixed feelings about his mother. When she first came to Collinwood after several years when she was far away, David had been afraid of Laura. He likes her now, but the fear still complicates his feelings towards her. As David Collins, David Henesy does a superb job depicting these conflicting emotions.
Vicki shows up. She scolds David for going so far from the house without telling her where he would be. When Burke and David bring up the idea of a fishing trip, Vicki says it’s still winter and they should wait until it’s warmer. David had predicted Vicki would say no, and turns to Burke when he is proven right.
Over Vicki’s objections, David leaves for his mother’s cottage. Vicki stays with Burke, who asks her what she has against Laura. He tries to talk her out of her misgivings, but when Vicki carefully lays out the inexplicable events that have surrounded Laura’s return, he falls silent.
Burke has heard all of these facts before, but Vicki’s quiet candor connects with him. She looks up at him very steadily, keeping both eyes on him the whole time. Closeups concentrating on Vicki’s eyes do tend to make Alexandra Moltke Isles’ strabismus noticeable, but the extraordinary stillness of her body turns that to advantage. It’s as if she is concentrating so hard on telling the straight story that she can’t keep her eyes in place. She speaks in a quiet, level voice, and uses the simplest available words. Of all the attempts characters in today’s episode make to persuade each other of things, only this resolutely plain one has the desired effect.
In the cottage, Laura and David sit by the fire. He asks her what happened at the séance. She denies that anything at all happened, except that Vicki got upset. She tells David that Vicki is a high-strung and nervous person whom he ought not to trust. David’s two scenes with Vicki today are enough to show even a first-time viewer that he is unlikely to accept this description of her. He doesn’t protest, though. He seems anguished when Laura tells him that Vicki and her friend Dr Guthrie may lie to him even about her.
Burke comes in. He tells David it’s getting dark, and David grumbles that he’ll have to get back to the great house to stay out of trouble. Burke confronts Laura about the strange goings-on Vicki has enumerated. Laura points out that for Vicki’s suspicions of her to have any substance, she would have to be a superhuman being. She invites Burke to touch her. She asks him if she seems to be anything other than a woman pleading for help, if she seems to be any different than she was when he loved her before. He turns away. With a bleak look on his face, he says “Don’t work me, Laura.”
Acilius on Dark Shadows 