acilius

Episode 117: I’m only here because of Vicki

Well-meaning governess Vicki is being held prisoner by homicidal fugitive Matthew, a fact unknown to any of the characters in today’s episode. As in all episodes from the first 55 weeks of Dark Shadows, Vicki delivers the opening voiceover; she seems annoyed when she says that “the inhabitants of Collinwood have only begun to suspect I’m missing!”

Reclusive matriarch Liz is in fact very worried about where Vicki has got to. Housekeeper Mrs Johnson holds fast to the theory that she and flighty heiress Carolyn drove off together to visit Vicki’s boyfriend in Bangor, Maine, but cannot convince Liz of this. Mrs Johnson concedes that Carolyn had been very concerned about her appearance before she went out, and that she would not have been likely to make such a point of looking her best if she were just driving Vicki to Bangor.

Carolyn wanted to look especially good for the same reason she didn’t tell her mother where she was going. She is on a date with her family’s arch-nemesis, dashing action hero Burke Devlin. By the time we catch up to them, they’ve gone back to Burke’s hotel room, where they are drinking, exchanging sweet nothings, and doing some serious kissing.

Just Thursday, Burke was kissing Vicki, and now he’s moved on. This shouldn’t reflect too badly on him- after all, he’s one of only two eligible bachelors in all of Collinsport.

The other eligible bachelor is Carolyn’s ex, hardworking young fisherman Joe Haskell. Joe interrupts Burke and Carolyn’s kiss with a knock on the door. They gather that Joe is there on behalf of Liz and jump to the conclusion that he is trying to enforce Liz’ prohibition against her daughter dating the family’s foe. This leads to a fistfight between Joe and Burke, in which Joe fulfills the vow he made in #24 to punch Burke in the mouth. When Burke learns that Vicki is missing, he forgets all about his date with Carolyn and goes to Collinwood to form a search party.

Within one minute, Carolyn goes from the high of seeing the entire available male population of the town fighting over her attentions to the low of being dismissed as both of them start literally chasing after Vicki. Nancy Barrett usually throws herself into all of her parts with the utmost gusto, but she plays this bit of emotional whiplash very quietly. It’s an effective choice- the situation is so blatant that an underplayed reaction comes off as shock.

At the great house of Collinwood, Joe hangs his coat up. It’s the first time we see someone doing this from inside the imaginary closet in the foyer. While doing it, he sees Vicki’s suitcase, proof that she did not go to Bangor:

It’s a relief to have an episode in the middle of a captivity story that doesn’t lock the audience up with the captive. There are a couple of awkward bits. Vicki’s huge suitcase is in the coat closet, but there is no door separating that closet from the entryway, so it is simply inexplicable that no one notices it until the end of the episode. And, entertaining as Joe and Burke’s fight is, regular viewers will find it repetitious- Joe and Carolyn broke up weeks ago, long after they had bored us all silly with their pointless, joyless relationship. We know that Joe and Burke have nothing to fight about. And the conversations between Liz and Mrs Johnson go on too long and involve at least two statements of every point.

But those are relatively minor objections. This one moves along at a fair pace, has more action than usual, and the actors manage to paper over even the weakest of the weak points.

Episode 116: I’m afraid of you, that’s all

Well-meaning governess Vicki has stumbled onto the hiding place of the fugitive Matthew. Matthew traps Vicki in a secret room and talks about killing her.

Back in the great house of Collinwood, evidence begins to mount that Vicki has not caught the bus she was supposed to take to Bangor, Maine. Reclusive matriarch Liz and housekeeper Mrs Johnson try to figure out where she might be.

Vicki tells Matthew that there are no police between him and his car. He says that he will go to his car and leave forever if she will stay put for a couple of hours. She tries to slip out a few minutes after he has gone. He grabs her, shouts “I knew I couldn’t trust you!” and comes at her. She moves behind the camera. He moves toward it, blocking the lens. The episode ends with a black screen, as if our point of view character is being murdered.

The actors and director do their work well enough to make us feel claustrophobic. I realize that kidnapping stories are a standard part of the genre- if you’re a soap opera heroine, it’s when they stop kidnapping you that you have to worry. But I hate seeing people in cages, and will be very glad when we move on from this.

There are a couple of efforts in this one to make our time locked up with Vicki tolerable. She keeps telling Matthew that she will do “anything you say,” and each time she does he casts his eyes down, looking as sad to hear her say it as we are. Back in the great house, Liz tells Mrs Johnson that she feels sorry for Matthew, that he was all right for the 18 years he was caretaker at the estate and that she is sure he didn’t intend to kill beloved local man Bill Malloy. Those moments take some of the edge off, but it still makes me miserable.

Episode 115: The suddenness that frightens

In episode 98, strange and troubled boy David Collins appeared to be a true sociopath, never losing his cool while he manipulated the adults around him according to his sinister plans. It was easy to see how a character like that could drive the story for a long time.

Traces of this conception resonated in David Henesy’s portrayal of David Collins as recently as this week. In #113, David Collins found homicidal fugitive Matthew hiding in the Old House on the estate of Collinwood. Matthew shows David the same fury he had earlier shown both well-meaning governess Vicki and reclusive matriarch Liz. Those grown women needed impressive amounts of courage to keep their composure while dealing with Matthew in that state, but nine-year-old David is as relaxed and chipper as a kitten. He simply disregards Matthew’s obviously menacing affect, and cheerfully enlists him in his scheme to send his father to prison. We can see a detached, calculating mind undisturbed by mere human feelings.

Matthew greets David. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Today seems to put an end to the idea of Sociopath David. David brings Matthew a meal at the Old House. Matthew startles David, then spends a moment making vaguely creepy remarks about having frightened people in the past. These remarks suffice to petrify David. It takes Matthew two and a half scenes of happy talk to calm David’s fears. Once David has warmed up, he starts boasting about how well he knows the Old House. Matthew claims to know a secret about the place that David does not know. This upsets David. He pleads with Matthew to fill him in, and won’t let it go until they hear Vicki nearby calling for him.

Matthew hides while David and Vicki stand in the entryway talking. David’s defensive mood carries over to that conversation. He insists that ghosts really do haunt the Old House, something Vicki hasn’t denied. He tries to frighten her by talking about the multitude of rats that infest the house. Longtime resident that she was of the Hammond Foundling Home, an institution that sounds like a cross between the bleakest creations of Charles Dickens and H. P. Lovecraft, Vicki doesn’t bat an eye at the notion that she is surrounded by countless rats. Still, she does have a bus to catch, so she hustles David back to the great house on the estate.

There, David has an earnest conversation with his aunt Liz about loyalty and unfortunate people who need help. David feels unloved and expresses a longing for a friendship with someone he can trust absolutely. The unemotional iceman of #98 is nowhere in sight.

The best storyline they’ve had so far has been the budding friendship between David and Vicki. I suppose turning David into a master manipulator with no conscience and no capacity for empathy would bring that storyline to an abrupt conclusion, but the move they make here folds him into it completely. His relationships with the other characters have so far been defined for us by what Vicki learned about events that took place before she arrived at the beginning of the series. The only person David knew before Vicki came and towards whom he has changed his attitude since is Matthew, and there is a very short list of possible surprises that David and Matthew can generate together.

That raises the question of how David will meet any new characters who might come on the show. He’s nine, so presumably he will need to be introduced. He hates his father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, and his cousin Carolyn has no patience for him. Liz loves him very much, but she hasn’t left home in 18 years. He often sneaks off and visits his father’s sworn enemy, dashing action hero Burke Devlin, but Burke keeps these meetings secret. So if David does interact with any new characters, those interactions are likely to be presented in the context of his friendship with Vicki. Since Vicki has more possibilities than David does to move the plot, that means that they will be presented primarily in terms of their effects on Vicki. The needy, untrusting David of this episode might get himself into trouble from which Vicki will have to rescue him, and he might get Vicki into trouble from which others will have to rescue her. But unless he gets a more dynamic character motivation matrix, it’s hard to see how he will ever contribute anything to the narrative beyond support for Vicki.

Vicki is the main character of the first 39 weeks of Dark Shadows, and this week is particularly Vicki-heavy. The week began with Liz preventing Matthew from breaking Vicki’s neck, and ends today with Matthew capturing Vicki when she comes back to the Old House to get something she had dropped there. The next couple of weeks will focus on her imprisonment. So if you’re going to be relegated to supporting one character, I suppose Vicki is the one you would choose. But still, it’s a shame. Not only is David Collins too promising a character, and David Henesy too talented an actor, to be reduced to sidekick status, but the notion of a show that’s on five days a week having one main character is just nuts. You need multiple sources of plot development and thematic coherence. David would be a terrific one.

Episode 114: Miracles don’t happen

Well-meaning governess Vicki visits dashing action hero Burke in his hotel room. Burke wants to express his sympathies over Vicki’s recent ordeal as prisoner of the homicidal Matthew. Vicki wants to tell Burke that, because he is the sworn enemy of her employers, the ancient and esteemed Collins family, she can never see him again. He abruptly kisses her, then apologizes. She tells him to forget about it, then leaves.

The actors do what they can with what they’ve been given. Alexandra Moltke Isles and Mitch Ryan were two of the ablest stage kissers on Dark Shadows, and their smooch looks great. But the whole theme of their conversation is a wistful sadness as the two of them wonder what might have been were it not for the conflict. In that context, the kiss is a gesture of mourning. Later, reclusive matriarch Liz will notice that Vicki is unsettled and will ask if it is because of something Burke did. Evidently we’re supposed to think Vicki is coming undone because she shared a great moment of passion with Burke, but the scene that was in the script included no such thing.

The real highlight of the episode comes later, when strange and troubled boy David Collins raids the pantry in the kitchen at Collinwood to get food to take to the fugitive Matthew. It’s our first look at any part of the kitchen since #53. It’s good to know they still have the kitchen in mind. The characters have always exchanged a lot of story-productive information during their conversations in that relaxed, intimate environment, so I hope they build that set again soon.

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.