Friday’s episode ended with one of the most effective scenes in all of Dark Shadows. Vampire Barnabas Collins summoned his latest victim, Roxanne Drew, to the gazebo on the grounds of the estate of Collinwood. Roxanne looked at Barnabas adoringly and told him she was willing to die for him. He took her up on this. He bit her, draining her body of blood and letting it fall to the floor of the gazebo. He told her that her corpse would be found in the morning and that her family would grieve for her during the day. At dusk, she would rise as a vampire and would belong to him forever. He walked away from the gazebo, leaving her body lying there. Jonathan Frid and Donna Wandrey showed the full terror of this unimaginably cruel scene. The result chills the audience as deeply as anything they have shown us.
Today, it turns out Roxanne isn’t dead after all. That gives Roxanne’s sister Samantha a chance to find her, and Barnabas’ friends Julia Hoffman and Ben Stokes a chance to hide Roxanne from Samantha and to keep her from dying. When Barnabas finds out what Julia is doing, he moves to attack her, but collapses in the nick of time.
There is also some activity involving Samantha and the evil Gerard Stiles, but that’s basically it. They can’t all be gems of course, but last week was a such bright spot that these twenty two minutes of busywork come as a big disappointment. We can only hope the show gets back up to speed soon!
