Episode commentary – Page 88 – Dark Shadows Commentary

Episode 83: I resign from the idiots union

In the great house of Collinwood, well-meaning governess Vicki makes unsuccessful attempts to reason with strange, troubled boy David and with David’s father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger. At the restaurant in the Collinsport Inn, it dawns on hardworking young fisherman Joe that Maggie, The Nicest Girl in Town, would like to date him.

A fancy fountain pen Vicki found on the beach has gone missing from David’s room. After the two of them have spent a few relaxed moments looking for it, David declares it isn’t in the room. He suggests a ghost might have taken it. Rejecting this possibility out of hand and seeing no other explanation, Vicki concludes that David must be hiding the pen from her. She calmly asks him to return it; he indignantly denies having taken it. Exasperated with him, she raises her voice.

We cut to an outdoor setting, where we see Roger burying the pen. The audience saw him steal the pen at the end of yesterday’s episode. Roger is afraid the pen will be a piece of physical evidence implicating him in a homicide, so he is desperate to get everyone to forget that it exists. Why he doesn’t throw it in the ocean, or in a trash can, is never explained.

Roger returns to the house and hears Vicki and David yelling at each other about the pen. He goes upstairs to make inquiries. He takes David’s side, leaving both David and Vicki staring at him in astonishment. Roger then talks privately to Vicki, and urges her to forget about the whole thing. She reluctantly agrees never to speak of the pen again, to anyone. Roger visits David in his room, extracting the same promise from him. David tells Roger that he will get even with Vicki for her false accusation against him. Roger, eager as ever to get Vicki out of the house, has no objection to that idea. David glares out the window, looking directly into the camera and muttering to the audience that he will settle his score with Vicki.

David tells the audience of his plans. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

The B-plot is much friendlier. Joe and Maggie are nice, attractive young people who have known each other for a long time, have fun together, and share many interests. Maggie is single, and Joe is at the end of a dull and mismatched relationship with flighty heiress Carolyn. There is no reason why they shouldn’t become a couple.

In fact, that is their biggest problem. As soap opera characters, they can have a romance if and only if there is some obstacle between them they will have to overcome in a dramatic fashion. Maggie and Joe are so obviously well-matched that generating such an obstacle will require the writing staff either to dig deep into the characters’ psychology and to expound that psychology in a superlatively well-crafted plot, or, if that is beyond them, to do something dumb like have them get bitten by vampires.

Joe stops by Collinwood to see if he can talk to Carolyn. Vicki tells him that Carolyn isn’t around, but asks him to stay for a while anyway. Vicki is nervous. She explains that “You don’t know what it’s like to be alone in this house with David.” Joe asks Vicki if she thinks he is an idiot for trying to resuscitate his relationship with Carolyn. When she can’t say he isn’t, he announces that he’s resigning from the idiot’s union and leaving for a dinner date. We know that he’s going to Maggie’s house, but he doesn’t tell Vicki that.

Joe may be resigning from the idiot’s union, but it looks like Vicki is ready to fill his place. David looks at her with undisguised hostility and tells her that he has indeed hidden her pen. When she asks where it is, he points to the closed-off part of the house. Vicki tells him no one can get in there; he shows her a key, and says that no one but he can. She is clearly on edge throughout the whole scene. After some protest, she follows this person she has just said she fears into a locked area to which he has said only he has the key. All that’s missing is a gigantic sign made of electric lights spelling out the words THIS IS A TRAP.

Future writing teams will gradually transform Vicki from the intelligent, appealing young woman we have come to know into a fool who will get them from one story point to another by doing or saying something stupid. We’ve seen Dumb Vicki in one or two fleeting moments already, but those moments haven’t really damaged the character yet. She is just on screen so much of the time, and is so consistently the innocent party in whatever conflict is going on, that when the writers paint themselves into a corner she is the only person available to take some insufficiently motivated action that will solve their problems for them.

This time, though, the episode is credited to not to any of those future writing teams, but to Vicki’s creator, Art Wallace. And her inexplicable action is going to stick us with her in a frustrating situation for days to come. As Vicki, Alexandra Moltke Isles follows David into the place of confinement with slow steps and her neck bent, as if she has resigned herself to being sacrificed. That’s an intriguing acting choice, but there is nothing at all in the writing to suggest that her spirit has been broken in that way. My theory is that Wallace, who will be leaving the show in a few days, is losing interest in the work, and Mrs Isles is trying to salvage what she can from a weak script.

Monday’s episode was so washed-out I thought it was a kinescope, and I said in my post that it was the first one of the series. Apparently it wasn’t- that episode is taken from a surviving videotape, just one that is in bad shape. This one really is the first episode to come down to us on kinescope. It really doesn’t look any worse than do prints like Monday’s.

PS- This is the only episode from the first 42 weeks that Danny Horn discussed on his tremendous blog Dark Shadows Every Day. He includes an analysis of it in the middle of a long riff about #1219, the “missing episode.” His remarks are hostile, unfair, misleading, and absolutely brilliant. I recommend it to everyone.

Episode 82: Gift from the sea

Last week’s episodes established that high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins and dashing action hero Burke Devlin are both unpredictable men capable of real cruelty, and that our point of view character, well-meaning governess Vicki Winters, is about to find herself in the middle of a conflict between them. Today, we see that Roger and Burke’s conflict will take the form of a lot of prattling about a fountain pen.

As we open, Vicki is starting a math lesson with her charge, “strange and troubled boy” David Collins. David, son of Roger, has been studying his crystal ball, hoping to find evidence implicating his hated father in murder. Unknown to either of them, Vicki may have stumbled upon just such evidence. While taking a walk on the beach at Lookout Point, she found a fountain pen that Roger may have left there during a homicide. All Vicki knows is that the pen looks nice. She is in a happy mood, and teases David with jokes about the pen. As usual, David refuses to laugh or to cheer up in any way, but he is impressed that the pen looks to be very pricey.

In the restaurant at the Collinsport Inn, Burke invites himself to sit at the sheriff’s table. Perhaps Burke has a crystal ball of his own- he has somehow developed a theory that Roger left the pen on the beach at Lookout Point while killing beloved local man Bill Malloy. The sheriff is unimpressed with Burke’s theory and bored with the whole topic of the pen. In this, he is the voice of the audience. On his blog Dark Shadows Every Day, Danny Horn lists 21 episodes that are largely or entirely dedicated to talking about the pen. I believe it is uncontroversial among Dark Shadows fans to say that 21 episodes was too many for this theme.

Knowing that Vicki has the pen, Roger is close to panic. He succeeds in his second attempt to steal it from David’s room. Between the two attempts, he has offered Vicki thousands of dollars in cash if she will go away and take a job with friends of his in Florida. He has also complied with Burke’s telephoned demand that he go to town and participate in a confrontation about the pen. During this confrontation, the sheriff happens by and earns a cheer from all of us by telling Burke to find another topic.

As the Saga of the Pen begins, the idea that Roger will be exposed as a murderer generates a measure of excitement. Our desire to see justice triumph is in conflict with the fact that Roger is so much fun to watch that we don’t want him to face any consequences that will remove him from the core cast. That is the sort of conflict an audience experiences as suspense.

Today, though, the suspense is blunted. The coroner has ruled Bill Malloy’s death an accident, so the sheriff doesn’t have a case to investigate. Even if there were still a homicide case pending, there is no way of proving that the pen was left on the beach that night. Bill died many days before Vicki found the pen. In that interval, a person, an animal, or the tides could have moved the pen a great distance.

Roger’s conflict with Burke is similarly unconvincing. Burke has searched Lookout Point and knows the pen isn’t there now, and he has no reason to think that it ever was there. He had no reason to summon Roger to town, nor did Roger have any reason to come.

At times, the writing seems to be deliberately tedious. Both the word “pen” and images of the pen are repeated countless times. The sheriff’s exasperation with the topic gets a great deal of screen time, and Roger’s labeling of it as an “endless conversation” is the only memorable phrase in his whole scene with Burke.

The pen was first introduced in episode #42, the second episode written by Francis Swann. Episodes 1-40 were all credited to Art Wallace, who also wrote the original series bible, Shadows on the Wall. Neither the death of Bill Malloy nor the pen is in Shadows on the Wall; those may have been among Swann’s contributions. This is Wallace’s last week on the show. Swann will stick around for another month, leaving after episode #113. I wonder if the tedious parts of today’s script are Wallace’s refusal to try to make Swann’s inspiration interesting, or if they are a positive warning to Swann and the writers who are about to come on board that the Saga of the Pen is going to bore the audience silly unless they rethink it radically.

Episode 81: I’m not a gossip

We spend today, not so much with the ancient and esteemed Collins family, but with two of the three members of their household staff. Gruff caretaker Matthew Morgan goes into town so that he can scowl at the family’s nemesis, dashing action hero Burke Devlin. Mrs Sarah Johnson goes to the great house of Collinwood to interview for the position of housekeeper.

During the interview, Mrs Johnson tells reclusive matriarch Liz that “I’m not a gossip.” This will become a frequent refrain of hers in the years to come, and will usually serve as a preface to remarks in which she will blab the entire contents of her mind to anyone who will listen. This time, “I’m not a gossip” is followed immediately by her assertion that in all her years as housekeeper to beloved local man Bill Malloy, she never repeated a word she heard spoken in his house to anyone. It seems to be news to Liz that Bill had ever spoken any words he would want to have kept in confidence. It’s certainly news to the audience. All we’ve heard up to this point was that Bill’s whole life was absorbed in his work. Mrs Johnson set me wondering what we might yet learn about Bill.

Matthew drives Mrs Johnson back to town. He sits down with her as she prepares to have lunch at the restaurant in the Collinsport Inn. Matthew tries to persuade her she would be better off moving in with her daughter than taking a job at Collinwood. He tells her that Collinwood is in fact haunted, and that if she isn’t afraid of its ghosts she ought to be. She is unconvinced.

Matthew gets a great deal of emphasis in this episode. There are two location inserts featuring him- when he walks through downtown Collinsport to the Collinsport Inn, and when the taxi carrying Mrs Johnson pulls up to the outside of the house and we see him trimming bushes. Exterior footage is never commonplace in Dark Shadows, and when we see a character moving around outdoors it’s a sign of something important.

Unknown to Matthew or Liz, Mrs Johnson is in fact convinced that Liz’ brother, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, is responsible for Bill’s death and that Liz is protecting him. She wants to become housekeeper at Collinwood so she can spy on the Collinses for Burke.

After Matthew leaves the restaurant, Mrs Johnson reports to Burke on her interview with Liz. He is dissatisfied with her work as a secret agent. He berates her, as we had seen him berate his henchmen in earlier episodes. They had submitted to his rantings meekly. Mrs Johnson snaps at him, and gets an apology. Evidently we are supposed to expect that she will be a strong character in her own right, not a mere cat’s paw for Burke.

This is the first of many episodes that survives only on kinescope. This has some happy effects. For example, the footage of Matthew walking in downtown Collinsport is preceded by a shot of him going out the front door of the great house. The kinescope’s poorer resolution makes this set look like very much like an outdoor shot itself.

CORRECTION: It turns out this isn’t a kinescope, just a particularly crummy videotape. There’s a kinescope coming up later this week, though.

Episode 80: Not one to talk

The few minutes of action preceding the opening credits of a TV show are sometimes called the “hook,” the thrilling segment that will so intrigue the audience that they can’t turn away. Today’s hook takes place in the drawing room at the great house of Collinwood. High-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins is muttering to himself as he tries to remember where he left a pen. We can hardly expect them to maintain that level of excitement for the entire half-hour.

Roger asks well-meaning governess Vicki to help him dissuade his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, from hiring a new housekeeper. Liz walks in and humiliates Roger in front of Vicki, reminding him that he lives in her house as a guest and has no right to tell her how to run it.

Roger goes to the beach and looks for something, presumably the pen. He doesn’t find it. In frustration, he throws a rock into the ocean.

Later, Roger sits in on a conversation between Liz and hardworking young fisherman Joe. When Liz talks about giving Joe a promotion in the company she owns, Roger speaks up and says he thought that it was his place to make those decisions. Liz grimaces at Roger’s presumption, and says that she is sure he will agree with what she decides. Roger is again humiliated in front of someone he has more than once dismissed as a social inferior.

Roger goes to the foyer outside the drawing room. He sits uneasily on the table while Liz and Joe continue their meeting. His adoring niece, flighty heiress Carolyn, sees him there.

Roger tells Carolyn that he and Vicki had seen Joe on a date with Maggie Evans, The Nicest Girl in Town, the night before. This is a misrepresentation of the facts- they had indeed seen Joe and Maggie together, but he knows they hadn’t planned to meet, and Maggie’s father was with them.

It is also a vicious thing for him to say to Carolyn. Joe and Carolyn are a couple. It’s true that Carolyn is lukewarm about Joe. The reason Joe ran into Maggie and her father was that he was looking for her after she broke a date with him to go for a drive by herself. But she is also quick-tempered and jealous. When Joe emerges from the meeting with Liz, Carolyn rages at him, as Roger must have expected her to do. His only motivation for telling her that he had seen Joe and Maggie talking to each other and representing what he saw between them as a date appears to be idle cruelty- he can’t accomplish anything else, so he’ll torture Carolyn and Joe for amusement.

At the end of the episode, Roger sees that Vicki found the pen he was looking for. Since the pen may be a piece of evidence that will connect him to a homicide, we may wonder what he will do to Vicki should she learn its significance. After all, he actually likes Carolyn, and he doesn’t hesitate to use her as a victim in his sadistic pastimes. Vicki, on the other hand, is someone he has never wanted to have around. If he sees her as a threat to his freedom there’s no telling what he might do.

Episode 79: I’ll hate you in public

Problem child David Collins enters the restaurant at the Collinsport Inn. Mrs Sarah Johnson, longtime housekeeper to the late Bill Malloy, is confronting dashing action hero Burke Devlin, declaring that he is to blame for Bill’s death. David angrily defends Burke. Burke whisks him out of the restaurant into the hotel lobby.

Little does David know that the confrontation between Burke and Mrs Johnson was staged for the benefit of his family, the ancient and esteemed Collinses. The two of them are scheming to have Mrs Johnson placed on the Collinses’ domestic staff as housekeeper so that she can spy on Burke’s enemy, David’s father, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins.

Burke and David have a charming little scene in the lobby. David stumbles over many of his words. These are probably flubs, but they fit so perfectly with what we would expect a highly agitated nine year old to sound like that the writer might have wished he’d put them in the script. David says that he and Burke are two of a kind, that everyone in the world is against them, and that he wants to murder them all. Burke asks if this wouldn’t be a bit of a drastic solution. While David ponders that question, Burke ushers him up to his suite.

There, David asks if it is true that he told his aunt, reclusive matriarch Liz, that he would use any means at his disposal to strip the family of all its assets. Burke says that he offered to buy the house, and reminds David that he himself had suggested Burke do that so the two of them could enjoy a freewheeling bachelor existence there. David accepts this at once and is all smiles. He then tells Burke that his governess, Miss Victoria Winters, has been teaching him about the Civil War. The theme of divided loyalties has been weighing on him- how can he choose between two sides led by Liz and Burke, the only two people he likes? Burke tells him they will just have to work out a peaceful solution, and David smiles again.

David Henesy and Mitchell Ryan were not only excellent actors- preternaturally so, in the case of the preteen Henesy- but were also such appealing personalities that scenes featuring the two of them are irresistible. These particular scenes build Burke up as a villain. In his conversations with Mrs Johnson and in a couple of phone conversations, he has made it clear that he is indeed committed to destroying the Collinses. Even if this is the first episode we have seen, we know that he is lying to David and tricking him into helping with the annihilation of his birthright. Returning viewers have seen him being even more explicit about his plans on many occasions. So our loyalties are as divided as David’s- we are eager to see more interactions between Mitch Ryan and David Henesy, but are appalled by what is going on between Burke Devlin and David Collins.

Episode 78: Such fascinating company

High-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins talks on the phone with his sometime partner in crime, drunken artist Sam Evans. They agree to meet in Collinsport’s tavern, The Blue Whale. After Roger gets off the phone, well-meaning governess Vicki passes by. He invites her to come with him to the tavern. Up to this point Roger has often been quite unpleasant to Vicki and she has been wary of him. Also, he is a married man, and she has reason to suspect that he is her uncle. On the other hand, he is no longer a suspect in an active homicide investigation, and she hasn’t had a date in months. So she accepts.

Roger caressing Vicki. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Vicki putting her face on. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Most of the episode takes place in the Blue Whale. Sam is there with his daughter, Maggie, The Nicest Girl in Town. Hardworking young fisherman Joe joins them, and they invent a drinking game. Every time someone mentions the name “Collins,” the table must drink a toast to “Collins of Collinsport!” Getting into a situation where you have to take a drink every time Sam wants one isn’t a particularly prudent thing to do, but Maggie and Joe are in a daring mood.

Maggie has clearly set her cap for Joe. She gives him a frankly aggressive look that is startling to see in the face of The Nicest Girl in Town. Startling, but most welcome- Joe is still trapped in a useless storyline where he is boyfriend to flighty heiress Carolyn. But when we see him having a good time with Maggie, we can finally see the light at the end of that tunnel.

Girl knows what she wants. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Roger and Vicki show up. Roger and Sam go off and talk about something or other having to do with their dark doings. This conversation is meaningful only to the two of them. At this point, even the sheriff has lost interest in Roger and Sam’s little conspiracy. The actors are fun to watch- Louis Edmonds and David Ford always enjoyed playing off each other- but the audience certainly can’t be expected to keep track of whatever they’re talking about.

Vicki joins Maggie and Joe for some pleasant chatter about a couple of plot points the audience might want to keep in mind. Roger, frustrated by his talk with Sam, comes to the young people’s table and insults them. Joe, though he is an employee of the Collins family business, offers to fight Roger in defense of Maggie’s honor. Vicki and Sam break the fight up before Joe can throw his first punch. Roger announces that he has a headache and takes Vicki home.

Once there, Vicki thanks Roger for the evening, with no apparent sarcasm in her voice. He apologizes, and promises to take her out again. She sounds genuinely excited by the idea of another such outing. Who knows, next time maybe she will get something to eat, or a drink, or more than three minutes of conversation before she has to stop a fistfight and go home.

If Roger really is Vicki’s uncle- that is, if his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, is secretly Vicki’s mother, as the show has been hinting pretty heavily- then a romance between Vicki and Roger would seem to be a soap opera cliche. Liz has struggled to keep Vicki from finding out anything about her origins. If Liz sees Vicki about to enter into an incestuous marriage, she might feel forced to stand up at the wedding when the minister asks if anyone present knows why these two may not be joined in lawful matrimony and to expose the secret.

The jukebox at the Blue Whale plays some music we haven’t heard before. The Dark Shadows wiki identifies it as a series of tracks from Les and Larry Elgart’s album “The New Elgart Touch.” It’s a step down from the tracks by Robert Cobert the jukebox has played so far, but it is a fitting accompaniment to the dancing of this guy. In most places he would be thought awkward, but by the standards of Collinsport he is indistinguishable from Fred Astaire:

Screen capture by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Episode 77: Burke Devlin, Burke Devlin, Burke Devlin!

Yesterday, dashing action hero Burke Devlin announced to the ancient and esteemed Collins family that he intends to drive them out of business and take all their holdings. He then muddied the waters by offering to pay them an inflated price for their dilapidated old house. Still, everyone came away with the impression that Burke had openly declared himself to be the deadly enemy of the Collinses.

Problem child David Collins wasn’t in that episode, and he refuses to believe the characters who were when they tell him that his idol Burke has said that he is out to strip the Collinses of their assets. The only person David likes, aside from Burke, is his aunt, reclusive matriarch Liz. He struggles when forced to choose sides between them. His misery and frustration grow palpably throughout the episode.

At least David can still do something he likes. His cousin, flighty heiress Carolyn, tries to get him to return a photograph of Burke that he stole. While she is in his room, he taunts Carolyn with the idea that Burke isn’t really attracted to her, but that he prefers well-meaning governess Vicki. This infuriates Carolyn, much to David’s satisfaction.

The photo itself is a bit of a mystery. It shows Burke striking oil:

Screenshot by The Collinsport Historical Society

The show has repeatedly told us that Burke grew up poor, that he was still poor when he went to prison, and that he was penniless, despised, and alone in the world when he got out of prison just five years ago. Yet now, he owns a corporate raiding firm, and is a millionaire many times over. They’ve dwelt on this time frame so much that even a soap opera audience is likely to start wondering how he got so rich so quickly. The photo may be an attempt to answer that question. Everyone knows that if you strike oil, you can become a millionaire overnight. Of course, you would have to own the mineral rights to the land the oil is on to profit from such a discovery, and would also need to secure drilling equipment and to hire a crew to operate it if you’re going to make the strike in the first place. How an indigent person fresh out of the state penitentiary is supposed to have paid for those things is not really easier to explain than how he could start a private equity concern.

Both yesterday’s episode and today’s include references to Liz’ estranged husband, Carolyn’s father Paul Stoddard. Yesterday’s included a reference to another character we have yet to see, Laura Collins. Laura is David’s mother, the estranged wife of high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins, and the onetime fiancee of Burke. These two had been mentioned only a handful of times in the first months of the show, and neither was given a name until well into it. That they are coming up more often now might lead us to wonder if we will be meeting one or both of them sooner or later.

Episode 76: His own shadow

Dashing action hero Burke Devlin pays yet another visit to the great house of Collinwood. He announces to its residents, the ancient and esteemed Collins family, that he intends to take control of all their properties, including the house. He is buying up their debts and will use them to seize their businesses. He offers to pay them for the house, though. He even offers to pay for it at higher than the market value.

Screen capture by Dark Shadows from the Beginning

Ne’er-do-well Roger Collins urges his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, to take Burke’s offer for the house. It’s a huge, gloomy, impractical place, and they would be better off without it. He doesn’t mention that the cash might come in handy when Burke starts calling in all the notes they have no way of meeting. Liz won’t hear of it, and vows to fight.

Flighty heiress Carolyn and well-meaning governess Vicki process their feelings about the matter. Carolyn is wounded by the evidence that Burke never really wanted to be her boyfriend- not that he ever said he did, but she kept hoping. Vicki wonders what Burke is thinking, and whether he understands his own motives. He admits that he may not- after all, if he’s trying to avenge the wrongs the Collinses have done him by bankrupting them and collecting their assets, why not just watch their house fall into his lap with the cannery, the fishing boats, and whatever else they may have, leaving them with nothing?

With this post we say goodbye to one of the bloggers who has kept us company. This was the last episode Marc Masse discussed on his blog Dark Shadows from the Beginning. His posts usually include stimulating insights, sometimes remarkable scholarship, and occasionally material that is in one way or another frustrating. Still, he is always well worth reading.

Among his most extraordinary contributions was about the story of the sabotaging of Roger’s car, a.k.a. The Saga of the Bleeder Valve. That story began when we, accompanying Vicki, saw Burke standing by Roger’s car in episode 13.

Burke and Vicki in the garage, from Dark Shadows from the Beginning

Burke tells Vicki that he was looking at Roger’s car because he was thinking of buying one like it, an explanation she finds unconvincing.

In his post about episode 46, Masse includes a long section about similarities between the Saga of the Bleeder Valve and a particular episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He convinces me that Art Wallace and Lela Swift had studied that episode. You’ll notice from his screenshots that that John Cassavetes even had the same haircut that Mitch Ryan wore as Burke:

Source material for the missing brake valve storyline on Dark Shadows can also be found in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour anthology series. In the episode Murder Case (season 2, episode 19; aired March 6, 1964), Gena Rowlands plays an actress (Diana Justin) in London married to a rich diamond merchant (Charles Justin) played by Murray Matheson. Diana isn’t really in love with her much older husband Charles, but since he is the main financial backer of a play she is starring in, her success is ensured… that is until the boyfriend she dropped so she could run off to England and start a production company with her rich husband, a struggling actor named Lee Griffin (played by John Cassavetes), manages to wangle his way through an audition and secure a part in the play by getting Diana to pass a good word along to the author and director of the production. Lee gets Diana to agree to resume their former relationship, and in no time the pair are in cahoots to relieve Diana of her marital obligations and in the process secure a huge windfall by plotting to have the old man bumped off. To accomplish this, they arrange for Charles to have an automobile accident; this is where the similarities to the missing brake valve story on Dark Shadows come into play.

One afternoon, on a visit up to the country home where Diana and Charles live, which is situated high up on a hilly area, Lee gets an idea when he comments on how the type of car that Charles drives is famous for its brakes.

To compromise the functioning of the car’s brake system, Lee first uses a wrench to loosen something, probably the bleeder valve…

…after which he pumps the brake pedal several times so there won’t be any hydraulic fluid left for when Charles next gets behind the wheel.

Just after completing the task, and with the wrench still in his back pocket, Charles walks in to find Lee there standing by his car, just like in Dark Shadows episode 13 when Victoria Winters walks into the Collinwood garage to find Burke near Roger’s car. To diffuse the situation, Lee explains to Charles: “I was, uh, just admiring your car. It’s, uh, fabulous!”

That night Lee and Diana have a performance in London; to set the plan in motion, Lee phones Charles from backstage while the play is still on and concocts a story about nearly having gotten into an accident on their drive into London due to a careless young motorist, which left Diana shaken up, and suggesting to Charles that he drive down to London to take his wife home…

…which he agrees to, just like in Dark Shadows episode 15 when Roger agrees to drive into town to meet with Burke at the Blue Whale.

Similar to how Roger in episode 17 is shown to have miraculously escaped with just a sprained arm and a few stitches to the forehead, Charles winds up crashing head on into a tractor that was just starting up the hill; despite that the car ended up a total loss, Charles was extremely lucky in having sustained only a couple of cracked ribs and a slight concussion.

The missing brake valve story on Dark Shadows never really did feel like something that would ordinarily be presented on a daytime serial drama. Instead, thus far Dark Shadows has taken its cue from 1940s film noir for atmosphere, Broadway theater style for acting performances, and nighttime mystery suspense anthology programs for subject matter. Is it any wonder that Dark Shadows would go on to evolve into the cultural phenomenon it would later become? A truly one of a kind blend of widely varying influences.
Marc Masse, Dark Shadows from the Beginning, “Episode 46: Destroy Me, Pt.1,” 3 February 2019

In his post for episode 76, Masse includes the audio of Joan Bennett singing “Sentimental Moments” in the 1955 film We’re No Angels. I’d never heard of the song, and had no idea she sang. Indeed she was not a Singer with a capital S, but her gentle, precise phrasing is perfect for this strange, sad little tune. I think of it as a farewell to Masse and his blog.

Episode 75: The end of our happy day

We open on the top of Widow’s Hill. We’ve seen this place several times, but only in spot-lit night-time scenes. Fully lit and fully dressed, I declare it to be a new set.

The crest of Widow’s Hill in the daytime

High-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins is blissfully staring out at the sea when rough-hewn caretaker Matthew Morgan approaches. Matthew sees only the danger of the summit with its sheer drop to the sea and stones far below, leading Roger to reprove him for his lack of aesthetic sense.

When Roger tells him that the reason he is so very happy is that the coroner has declared that the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy was an accident, Matthew is slow to believe that the sheriff will stop coming around the estate of Collinwood to investigate a possible homicide. Roger assures Matthew that the coroner is the final authority. Matthew brings up Roger’s enemy, dashing action hero Burke Devlin. The sheriff may have to defer to the coroner’s judgment, but Burke is determined to make life as miserable as possible for Roger and the other Collinses, no matter what anyone says. Roger answers lightly, suggesting possible ways Matthew could murder Burke should he present too grave a nuisance. Shocked by Roger’s dark humor, Matthew says “You oughtn’t make jokes like that Mr Collins, people might not understand.” Roger listens to him with a serious look on his face, as if he’s trying very hard to imagine what it might be like to be the sort of person who could go five minutes without making a naughty joke of some kind.

Meanwhile, at the great house on the estate, well-meaning governess Vicki is preparing to go for a long walk. Flighty heiress Carolyn comes twirling up to her and tries to start a conversation. Vicki’s guard is up; episode 73 may have been Wednesday for us, but for Vicki it was just a couple of hours ago. She’s angry and bewildered by Carolyn’s ferocious verbal attack on her at the beginning of the episode, and by her tale-bearing from the middle of the episode that nearly cost Vicki her job. When Vicki tells Carolyn she doesn’t want an argument, Carolyn responds with a startled “Oh!” She’s forgotten all about her earlier nastiness. She makes a nebulous quasi-apology, then tells Vicki about the coroner’s verdict. Faced with Carolyn’s absolute joy at the news, Vicki can’t help but warm up to her. The two of them stand at the window and joke about starting a musical act, in which the two of them will be singers and Matthew will accompany them on the harp.

Carolyn would like Vicki to stay in the house with her until Roger comes back, but when she sees that Vicki is determined to take a walk, she suggests Lookout Point. When Matthew comes in and tells the girls that Roger is on the top of Widow’s Hill, Vicki volunteers to stop there on her way and tell Roger that Carolyn wants to see him.

At the hilltop, we see Vicki behind some foliage, looking at Roger. Roger is still looking out to sea, lost to the world in his elation about the news from the coroner. From this position, she asks Roger if he’s planning to jump. He is startled, and objects that it isn’t very nice to sneak up on someone standing at the edge of a cliff.

Vicki reminds him that he first introduced himself to her on exactly this spot, with exactly those words. He laughs and offers a belated apology. She smiles and accepts it. The two of them have such a sweet little scene together that we might wonder if it really will turn out like Jane Eyre, and the orphaned governess will marry the ranking male of the family. I suppose that was possible, at this stage of the series.

Vicki tells Roger she is on her way to Lookout Point. Roger darkens, asking her why she wants to go there. She tells him Carolyn suggested it. He tells her it might be the place where Bill Malloy died. This does not deter Vicki, and so he urges her to go at once, since the tide will be coming in soon.

Back at the great house, Carolyn greets Roger as a returning hero. She then teasingly tells him that he has stolen a valuable piece of property from Burke Devlin. Roger can’t imagine what she’s talking about. She tells him that he never returned the custom-made, silver-filigreed fountain pen that Burke gave her. Carolyn has to go on at some length about the pen before Roger remembers it. Even when it does come back to him, Roger is utterly unconcerned with the pen, making jokes about the lengths he will go to to replace it. Carolyn explains that it is important to her- she’s responsible for it, and doesn’t want to incur a debt to Burke by losing it.

Roger listens to her as she tries to figure out where he could have lost it. As she narrows it down further and further, a look of terror suddenly appears on his face. He begins to search for the pen frantically, tells Carolyn that finding the pen is far more important to him than it is to her, and is alarmed to find out that she has told Matthew about the pen.

We see Vicki walking along the beach where Bill Malloy may have died. She looks down. There, among the seaweed and driftwood, she finds Burke’s pen.

This is the sixth episode with location footage out of the last eight. A week ago Wednesday we saw a recycled shot of Roger walking towards his office and waving at someone on a boat. Last Friday Vicki and David walked through the woods to the Old House, Matthew also went to the Old House, and the ghost of Josette danced among the columns outside the Old House. Monday Vicki and Roger toured glamorous downtown Collinsport. Wednesday we saw Sam walking along the street a couple of times. Yesterday we saw Burke walking along the street and entering the hotel. Today, Vicki leaves the house to go to Widow’s Hill, then walks along the beach and finds the pen. The series will never let us have that much fresh air again, so we ought to enjoy it while we can.

Episode 74: Speak of angels and they shall appear

Dark Shadows revolves around the unearthing of the long-buried secrets of the ancient and wealthy Collins family. In today’s episode, the members of the family are so spectacularly indiscreet that we might wonder how any of them could keep a secret buried from one commercial break to the next, let alone store up enough to keep them busy for 1225 episodes.

Dashing action hero Burke Devlin unlocks the door to his hotel suite and finds problem child David Collins waiting for him inside. David cheerfully explains how he made his way past the locked door. When Burke tells him that what he has done is illegal, David replies that “Nothing is against the law unless you get caught.” Startled to hear a nine year old express so nihilistic a world view, Burke asked where he heard such a thing. David says he heard it from Burke. Burke says that he doesn’t remember saying it, and that if he did say it he was wrong. David asks Burke if he’s ever killed anyone. “Not that I remember,” he replies- not exactly a reassuring statement, considering that he just told David about something he doesn’t remember. And of course returning viewers will recall that Burke went to prison for a fatal hit-and-run that took place when he was drunk and blacked out.

David goes on to tell Burke everything he knows, or thinks he knows, about the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy. He tells him that he has derived most of his information from voices he hears when he is alone in his room at night. He can’t keep this to himself, even though he expects it to discredit him in Burke’s eyes. He looks forlornly out the window as he struggles with telling Burke:

There is a knock. At Burke’s suggestion, David hides in the kitchen. Burke opens the door and finds David’s cousin, flighty heiress Carolyn. Carolyn is upset with Burke, thinking that Burke is dating well-meaning governess Vicki and that he has yet another girlfriend hidden somewhere in the suite. Burke is relaxed. Carolyn’s obvious jealousy amuses him, and her denials of it amuse him even more. When Carolyn discovers that Burke’s guest is not a girlfriend, but David, their flustered reactions to each other amuse him most of all. Burke puts a glass of fruit juice* in Carolyn’s hand; she holds it, but refuses to take a drink. Eventually Burke’s good cheer wins out, and the three of them are all laughing together.

The tension doesn’t dissipate completely, however, until after Carolyn has brought up a point we haven’t heard about for several weeks. Burke had given Carolyn an engraved pen. Roger had insisted she give it back to Burke. He took it from her with the intention of returning it to Burke the night Bill Malloy died. He mentioned it to Burke that night, but found that the pen wasn’t on him. The whole matter was forgotten until Carolyn raises it here.

Meanwhile, at the great house of Collinwood, reclusive matriarch Liz and her brother, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger, have heard the news that the coroner ruled Bill Malloy’s death an accident. After weeks of attention from the sheriff in connection with a possible homicide, Roger is elated at this verdict. He is so unrestrained in his jubilation that his sister looks at him with renewed suspicion. When she tells him in so many words that it did occur to her that he might have killed Bill, he responds very lightly, saying that she must be relieved she doesn’t have to think about that any more. He insists she drink a toast with him. He puts a glass of brandy in her hand. She holds it, but refuses to take a drink. She tells him that his son David has run off and is probably with Burke. Roger responds that “Today, on this glorious day of days, neither David nor Burke exist for me!” He then goes fluttering off, taking his celebration into the world outside. He almost dances as he puts his hat on:

Carolyn and David are still in Burke’s hotel suite. She makes a telephone call, and comes back with news she is excited to share. Her mother Liz has told her of the coroner’s verdict. Burke, who has responded to everything else with an urbane and chipper demeanor, bursts out in rage, demanding that Carolyn take David and get out of his room. When she complies, we see him looking out his window. Seen from the outside, ex-convict Burke looks like a prisoner dolefully peering through the bars of his cell.

Burke goes to the sheriff’s office to rage some more, Carolyn and David go back to the house to chat with Liz. The big idea is that the Malloy case is now closed. Everyone except Burke is happy about that; he vows he won’t accept it. The audience is in suspense. The show has built the case up so much for the last several weeks that it would seem ridiculous simply to move on. However, there was a previous mystery story, the investigation into Roger’s near-fatal car accident, and the family managed to hush that up. So regular viewers might wonder if this one will end equally abruptly.

*The “Burke Devlin Special,” previously prepared for David on his first visit to Burke’s quarters in episode 29, at the height of the story about the investigation into Roger’s accident.