Sam shows up at the diner, drunk, to see Maggie. Mr. Wells, the man at the front desk suggests they have a cup of black coffee while Maggie is on her break, as he doesn’t want her to see Sam drunk. Wells brings up Burke and Sam finally agrees to that cup of coffee. Wells tells Sam that Carolyn Stoddard came by to meet with Devlin, and then they left together, arm in arm, back to Collinwood.
Elizabeth offers Burke another drink, and asks Carolyn to come out with her to help get ice. In the foyer, Elizabeth interrogates Carolyn for details about Burke, and she lays out his entire ‘plan’. Elizabeth asks if he left the letter out for her to see, and she confirms that she had already considered that, and knew that wasn’t the case when he got a call from Venezuela. Burke continues to proclaim he’s just visiting.
From the diner, Sam calls Collinwood to reach Roger. Elizabeth answers, and when Sam hears Devlin in the background, he hangs up.
Elizabeth says it’s unfortunate what happened between them. Burke says the past is the past. He then asks what Jeremiah Collins might pay to build the house today. A quarter million? She says it’s not for sale, and he tells her everything is for sale. He asks about Roger again, saying he wanted to come by to see him, and let him know he’s not back for revenge.
Back at the hotel bar, Sam keeps drinking.
Back in Collinwood, Burke describes how you can’t run from what you are. Growing up in a shack near the water, he wanted to get out of Collinsport. Being stuck in jail for five years changed him. He compared his time to Elizabeth not leaving Collinwood for 18 years. He says when released from prison, he said nothing he could do to Roger would make up for the pain they all lived with, so he decided to forget it.
Carolyn answers a phone call from Joe. She says everything is great, thinking everyone’s concerns about Burke were all for naught. Elizabeth comes into the foyer and asks Carolyn to go find Roger to meet with Devlin.
Our thoughts
John: We somehow missed Conrad (Different Strokes) Bain working the front desk at the hotel in the premiere episode, so we're fortunately able to give him recognition here.
Christine: I didn't recognize him with the fake mustache and authentic New England accent. I do think he should have waited for Sam to swallow his coffee before informing him that Carolyn went to see Burke. I thought Sam was going to choke.
John: So Burke has almost got me convinced that he's really not planning revenge... almost. He's one sneaky devil, that Devlin. Can't wait to see him face to face with Roger. Not to mention to get to the bottom of what the heck happened 10 years ago that resulted in Burke getting locked up for five years.
Christine: Elizabeth handles the meeting with Burke like a champ, though she also appears to be falling for the Devlin charm, wanting to believe he's not out for revenge. You think Roger will be able to be calm when he meets with his old friend? I hope not.
John: There are several odd musical cue repeats in this episode, as if the actors were missing their marks. And I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to answer the phone at Collinwood when Joe called.
Christine: There's an interview with Dan Curtis on one of the discs where he relates that the music cues were played on records. It's possible the music man was dropping the needle at the wrong time. Someone didn't have the mic in place in one of the scenes in the drawing room and the camera was bouncing all over the place on Burke. It must be a Monday on Dark Shadows, and here we are beginning week 3 with only...242 weeks to go, is that right? Dark Shadows' bloopers are part of what's endearing about the show, and it's truly amazing what the cast and crew were able to pull off while filming live.
5 comments:
"He's one sneaky devil, that Devlin." I wonder if they named the character Devlin on purpose because of its similar sound to the word "devil."
Bring Dark shadows series back to TV
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE bring Dark shadows series back finish where it lefted off.
It seems you may get your wish. The CW is developing a continuation of the series called Dark Shadows: Reincarnation. It will be an hour long drama and it's reported that Dan Curtis' daughters will be involved with the show.
Here is the Deadline announcement if you want to know more.
Conrad Bain does a sensational job in his scenes in this episode. The script can't have looked like much- just a bunch of monologues rattling off information, punctuated by insistence that Sam keep drinking coffee. But the way Bain develops Mr Wells' voice and mannerisms steadily throughout them, you can't look away from him. No wonder he went on to have such success.
What a contrast with Mark Allen's woeful attempt at playing Sam Evans. Sure, the writers never gave Allen much to work with, but they didn't give anyone else much more, and so many of the others managed to find something to hold your attention and enlist your sympathy. Allen's Sam just whines- sometimes he whines out pompous pseudo-intellectual claptrap, sometimes he whines his way through crude threats, sometimes he just whines out plain old self-pity, but it's always a whine.
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