the revenge of burke devlin – Page 2 – Dark Shadows Commentary

Episode 138: You should know about the Grim Reaper

The authorities in Phoenix, Arizona have asked the sheriff in Collinsport, Maine to inform high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins that they have identified the charred body of a woman as that of Roger’s wife, mysterious and long-absent Laura. The body was found in what was left of Laura’s apartment in Phoenix after a fire destroyed the building, and the woman was Laura’s age, height, and build. Since Laura was the only person associated with the building whose whereabouts were unknown, the identification of the remains as hers seemed secure to the Arizona authorities.

It seems less so in Collinsport, as Laura is no longer absent. She’s been back in town for days. She has been staying at the Collinsport Inn, where she met several old acquaintances. They recognized each other and engaged in conversation. She has come to the great house of Collinwood, where she talked with Roger and other members of the family, and will be staying in the caretaker’s cottage on the grounds of the estate. Only her son, strange and troubled boy David, has expressed any doubt as to her identity, and no one takes that doubt literally.

If the sheriff knew that he was living in a soap opera, he might suspect that the woman who has come to town is a previously unknown evil twin posing as Laura. If he knew that his particular soap is loaded with supernatural storylines, he might try to figure out what sort of uncanny being she could be. But he seems to be under the impression that he lives in the world. When at one point Roger tells him to “Stop being melodramatic,” it doesn’t occur to him that he has no choice but to be melodramatic. So, all he can do is ask Laura if she knows who the dead woman might have been. When tells him she doesn’t, he leaves.

Roger is eager to divorce Laura and send her away with their son, David. After the sheriff goes, Roger expresses his consternation at the news of the fire. Laura has nowhere to take David. When she tells him that she never planned to take David to that apartment, but that she had “made a commitment to another place,” he is instantly relieved. He does not ask where that other place is. His interest in where Laura or David will be or what they will be doing is exhausted the moment he learns they will be far away from him.

Someone else is visiting Collinwood tonight who wants more from Laura than Roger does. That is Roger’s nemesis and Laura’s ex-boyfriend, dashing action hero Burke Devlin. Flighty heiress Carolyn has gone to get Laura’s bag from the Collinsport Inn and bring it to her aunt. While in town, she met Burke. When she told him of her errand, Burke volunteered to help her carry the bag. Now she and Burke are in the drawing room at Collinwood. They kiss, and he persuades her to let him carry the bag to the cottage. When Carolyn says that she is jealous of his interest in her aunt, he assures her it’s “all business.” She tells him he can’t fool her, to which he replies “Yes I can.”

Burke kisses Carolyn. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die.

As Carolyn, Nancy Barrett plays, first, excitement as Burke moves in to kiss her; then, a mixture of frustration and confusion, as she begins to suspect that he is only using her to get to Laura. Regular viewers have seen Burke several times after a flirtatious scene with Carolyn, and each time he has switched immediately into hard-driving businessman mode the moment she wasn’t looking. With her performance in this scene, we start to wonder if she is about to catch on that he doesn’t have any feelings for her.

Roger finds Burke and Carolyn in the drawing room. He is furious with Burke for coming to the house, and with Carolyn for inviting him in. He and Burke rage at each other. As Roger, Louis Edmonds does a superb job of simultaneously conveying white-hot rage at Burke and a much colder anger towards his niece. Up to now, Carolyn has responded to her uncle’s prohibitions against seeing Burke flippantly, but this time she seems to accept that she has gone too far. After Burke leaves, she kisses Roger on the cheek and whispers “Goodnight, uncle,” sounding genuinely chastened. Roger is usually a difficult man to take seriously, but Edmonds’ tremendous performance in this scene leaves her with no choice but to give a hushed reaction.

Placing this scene after Roger’s blasé reaction to his wife and Burke’s cynical toying with Carolyn makes the point that Roger and Burke are more excited about each other than either ever is about anyone else. The show embeds their emotions in the “Revenge of Burke Devlin” storyline. Burke is trying to send Roger to prison, and is scheming to enlist Laura in his efforts. Ten years ago, Burke was imprisoned because Roger and Laura testified that he was driving his car, with them as passengers, when he ran down a pedestrian and left him to die. Before the accident, Burke and Laura had been a couple; the day Burke was sentenced, Laura and Roger were married. Now Burke hopes Laura will say that she perjured herself, and that Roger was driving.

Burke’s plans never quite make logical sense. Were Laura to confess to perjury, she would be in as much legal trouble as Roger. Even if she struck a bargain to keep herself out of prison, she would certainly not advance her goal of taking David by alienating Roger and branding herself a criminal. It is difficult to see what incentive Burke imagines that she has to join him.

At the cottage, Laura is sitting by the fire, staring off into space. When Burke knocks on her door, she continues staring. In Laura’s scenes by fireplaces, the spooky music, the slowly panning camera, and Diana Millay’s rigid posture all combine to create the impression that what we see when we look at Laura is only a fragment of a human being.

Laura stares off into space. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die.

Once Laura lets Burke in, he talks her into closing the door, pushes himself close to her, and insists on telling her about the demands he will be making on her. He wants her to testify against Roger, to restore the years he spent behind bars, and to love him. When she tells him that the things he wants are not in her power to give, he refuses to take no for an answer. Over her objections, he takes her in his arms and forces a kiss on her. As Burke kisses Laura, the door opens and Roger appears with a gun.

Burke kisses Laura. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die.

Burke’s demand that the past be undone and his attempt to force Laura to feel love for him show the unreality of his ambitions. He claims to represent “Honesty and the Truth,” but everything he clamors for is an empty fantasy. So much so that we wonder if what he really wants might be something quite different from what he keeps saying he wants.

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 60: Double, double

Soap operas are supposed to have a weekly rhythm. Fridays bring a whirlwind of flashy, unexpected events, building up to a big cliffhanger. On Monday, the cliffhanger is resolved and the flashy, unexpected stuff is sorted out so that new viewers can find their way into the show. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you experiment with new storylines that may or may not go anywhere, and on Thursdays you set up for another boffo Friday.

At no point in its run did Dark Shadows adhere to this pattern. This week, for example, has had four relatively fast-paced episodes on Monday through Thursday, then slows down for a Friday episode consisting of a couple of leisurely conversations. Conversations in which the audience is presented with a lot of basic exposition, but still, a big shift down in dramatic intensity from the four days leading up to it. A bit later, after writer Art Wallace leaves the show, there will be weeks with no apparent structure at all, certainly no boffo whirlwind Fridays. After the show becomes a hit and Sam Hall takes the lead among the writing staff, every day will be a whirlwind, and every commercial break a cliffhanger.

One of today’s conversations takes place in the home Maggie Evans, the nicest girl in town, shares with her father, drunken artist Sam. The other takes place in the sheriff’s office.

Maggie has brought well-meaning governess Vicki home for dinner. They talk about Vicki’s quest to learn the secret of her origins and about the manslaughter case that sent dashing action hero Burke Devlin to prison ten years ago. Meanwhile, Burke has barged into the sheriff’s office and is demanding information about the ongoing investigation into the mysterious death of plant manager Bill Malloy. The sheriff gives Burke more answers than it would be proper for an investigator to give a member of the public in real life, but nonetheless frustrates his need to dash into heroic action. Burke leaves the sheriff’s office, and barges into the Evans cottage as dinner is served. The Friday cliffhanger is Burke asking if he may join the Evanses and Vicki for dinner.

I suppose you could call this one of Art Wallace’s diptychs. Both conversations feature insistent questioners and reluctant responders. Burke improperly demands information from the sheriff. The sheriff parries his demands, observing Burke’s reactions as he sizes him up as a suspect in the case. The sheriff remains very much in control of the situation. As in previous episodes, we see that the sheriff alone exercises power in the sheriff’s office. By contrast, Sam loses control entirely in the face of his two questioners. Again as in previous episodes, we see that Sam has no power to resolve a conflict, whether at home or anywhere else.

That’s the dramatic content of the episode. The expository content is much more involved. Vicki looks through Sam’s paintings, and finds a portrait that strongly resembles her. When Sam tells her that the painting is 25 years old and that the model was a Collinsport girl, Vicki is excited, thinking she may have found a relative. Sam tells her he doesn’t believe that’s possible. He had heard that the model, whose name was Betty Hanscombe, had died a few months after he painted her portrait, years before Vicki was born, and that she had no living relatives.

Vicki and Maggie hold the portrait of Betty Hanscombe — Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die

Note that Sam had only heard that Betty died. She had left town before then, and had no close connections to anyone with whom Sam was in touch. He could easily have heard wrong. So experienced soap opera watchers will brace themselves for the possibility that Betty Hanscombe will make a surprise entrance at some point and reveal herself to be Vicki’s mother and someone else’s secret half-sister.

When Maggie and Vicki ask Sam about the manslaughter case, he becomes agitated. Trapped into telling the story, he takes a drink and looks away from the young women. He tells essentially the same story high-born ne’er-do-well Roger had told his sister, reclusive matriarch Liz, in episode 32, but with some details added.

Burke and Roger were extremely close in those days, ten years ago. For a moment, Sam seems to be having trouble finding the words to express just how close. Along with Burke’s girlfriend Laura, they went drinking one night at a bar on the road between Collinsport and Bangor. Witnesses at the bar testified that Burke was so drunk they had to carry him to his car, and that he insisted on driving. Roger and Laura were his passengers. Burke himself admitted that he blacked out and couldn’t remember the drive. At some point, the car hit and killed a man named Hansen and kept going. At the trial, Roger and Laura testified that Burke was driving when his car hit Hansen. Burke thought that he might have got out of the driver’s seat and handed the keys to Roger before the accident. Burke was convicted, and publicly swore that he would avenge himself on Roger. A week after he was sentenced, Roger and Laura were married.

So that’s the basis for “The Revenge of Burke Devlin” storyline. I’m not a criminal lawyer, but I wonder if Burke wouldn’t have been guilty of manslaughter no matter who was behind the wheel at the moment of the collision. By all accounts, Burke drove drunk, and was drunk in his car when it killed someone. If at some point he stopped driving and handed the keys to someone else whom he knew also to be drunk, that would indeed add to that person’s culpability, but I don’t see how it would clear Burke’s name. To do that, Burke would have to change the events themselves.

To make sense of the storyline, perhaps we can revisit the tale of the night of the accident. Two lovers and their friend were in a car involved in a hit and run. Afterward, one lover turned against the other, and took up with the friend. Everyone thought the lovers before that night were Burke and Laura, and that the friend was Roger. But if the men were lovers and Laura were the friend tagging along on their date, Burke’s frantic campaign to alter the past and Roger’s grim determination to hide it take on a new significance.

The cast of the show and its writing staff were largely drawn from Broadway, where in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s many playwrights had hits with dramas in which some people try to rewrite history and others try to conceal it in desperate attempts to erase unconventional sexual relationships. Indeed, when Sam stumbles in his attempt to find words to describe the bygone intimacy Roger and Burke shared, we can’t help but remember that Sam is played by David Ford, fresh off a long engagement as Big Daddy in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It is by no means fanciful to wonder if that stumble hints at the suspicion of a relationship Tennessee Williams would have found interesting.

Miscellaneous:

At the end of his post about this episode on Dark Shadows from the Beginning, Marc Masse goes on at length about other things you might have seen on television in mid-September 1966. This is not my favorite feature of his blog, but this time it includes a couple of irresistible bits from commercials featuring Dark Shadows cast members. Here’s a still from a spot in which David Henesy sells cereal (with a side of racism, but it’s hard to imagine that was his fault):

Screenshot by Dark Shadows from the Beginning

The same post features an audio clip of Thayer David selling NyQuil. Here’s the commercial: