Thursday, July 14, 2016

Episode 14 - 7/14/66

In his bedroom, David takes what appears to be a car part out of a drawer. He goes into Vicki's room and opens her drawer. When she comes in, he storms out with something in his hand. She demands that he open his door, but he sits on his bed and ignores her. When she threatens to get his father, he unlocks the door.


He denies taking something from her room, but won't say what was in his hand. She says she was counting on David to be a friend. He explains he wasn't taking something from her room, he was going to leave her a present. He gives her a seashell from one of his drawers.


Carolyn bumps into Vicki in the hall. Carolyn scoffs at Vicki's belief that David would truly be her friend. Vicki does the same of Carolyn's belief about Devlin.

Burke runs into Joe at the Blue Whale. Joe refuses to have a drink with him, and says he told the Collins family about Burke's offer. Burke surprises Joe with the news he just came from Collinwood.

In her room, Carolyn continues to wax poetic about Burke Devlin to Vicki. When Vicki mentions that Roger may be meeting with Devlin at the Blue Whale, Carolyn decides to change into something more adult.

Vicki meets Joe in the foyer while waiting for Carolyn. Joe tries to frighten Vicki with tales of ghosts in Collinwood. When Carolyn comes downstairs, she tells Joe she'd rather go to the Blue Whale than a movie.

Back upstairs, Vicki hears a creaking noise. She saw a door close at the end of the hall, and David appears to say that part of the house is closed off. Vicki says that the door was just open, and David says it's always locked.



David tells Vicki that Roger hates her. And that Devlin hates his father. And that the ghosts hate everyone at Collinwood.

Carolyn and Joe arrive at the Blue Whale and see Burke Devlin. She invites him to join them. Joe's not too excited about the situation.

Vicki says she's going to get David a gift. She'll send money with his father when he goes into town that night. David asks her if his father is going out that night and taking the car. She says that is her assumption.


Our thoughts

John: Vicki finally gets a chance to spend some time one-on-one with David. Based on how well he lies, I'm wondering if David Collins is really David Devlin. By the end of the episode, he seems to be behaving civilly with her, so who knows, maybe they will be friends.

Christine: Let's see...David is 9 and Burke was dating his mom before Roger married her 10 years ago. Hmm. You could have something there. I wonder if the "Mechano" magazine David is reading is a nod to this real life Meccano magazine.

John: So I guess we have to wait until tomorrow to see if Roger takes the car. At this point, I think it's pretty clear that David has done something that will likely disable the car, preventing him from taking it into town (and possibly having an accident if Burke truly did something to it in the last episode).

Christine: The thunder sets an ominous tone in this episode and Cobert's music is particularly chilling when the door that leads to the part of the house that's been closed off for over 50 years mysteriously creaks open by itself. David informs Vicki that the door is always locked and the Collinwood ghosts could be responsible for opening it. How else could it have opened?

John: Carolyn's Burke-addiction reaches new heights this episode, as she manipulates her boyfriend Joe to drop her right into Devlin's proverbial lap. And poor Joe's none the wiser.

Christine: We got to hear two hip new tunes on the Blue Whale jukebox today, in addition to the old standby. Here are a few more screenshots from today's episode:

David having a moment of reflection.

David is captured in the mirror as Vicki exits.

Poor Joe: "That's all we needed."

The Locked Door. David's room is on the right, Vicki's is on the left, and that door is always locked.


6 comments:

AndyDecker said...

I never saw one of the original episodes, only the tv-movies amd the later remakes. So reading about the pre-Barnabas episodes is interesting.

But this appears to be so slow. Was the inclusion of the supernatural really planned at the time? This seem to be a bit aimless.

Christine said...

Hi Andy,
Initially the show was intended to be gothic with locked rooms, creaking sounds, and implied ghosts, but nothing truly supernatural. In an interview with Dan Curtis, he talks about how after the first 13 weeks, he knew Dark Shadows wasn't going to make it, so when his children suggested he make the show scarier, he decided to include a ghost in the show. When the ratings shot up, he was encouraged to create more scary, supernatural storylines, which eventually led to the inclusion of the vampire Barnabas. You can find the interview where he talks about the show's beginning and how Barnabas evolved here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U9Hu_Ht2-M

Grant said...

There's a joke about soap operas that says that for some reason, characters are always called by their full names, even when they're being talked about by people who both know the character. I don't know how often that's true, but for some reason it's very true of Burke Devlin. After a few weeks, you can really get annoyed by almost always hearing his full name, instead of any variation of it.

Christine said...

How odd I'd never really noticed, which is probably why I also call him Burke Devlin. To be fair, Burke Devlin has been referred to as 'Burke' by dreamy-eyed Carolyn, and as 'Devlin' by curmudgeonly Roger Collins. Burke Devlin is the character most talked about right now, which may make it more noticeable when you keep hearing about Burke Devlin. You'll soon be annoyed by the repeated use of Maggie Evans. At least nobody refers to Elizabeth Collins Stoddard by her full name very often. Thanks for keeping the comments section lively, Grant.

thingmaker said...

The mysterious door does tend to suggest the hoary "Mad relative-locked-in-the-attic" story... Of course, moving as slowly as it does, the writers may decide what it actually means later.
Here's where I see if my theory that Friday is the day that confrontations and major surprises are revealed... I don't know soaps but I suppose it makes sense that each week end on a hook to ensure viewers return Monday. In this case I predict an accident to Roger in his car, which has been implied to be tampered with by both Burke Devlin and David...

Los Thunderlads said...

In this episode, Vicki makes a joke. Carolyn tells her that she supposes she and Joe will go to a movie- "What else is there to do in this town?" Vicki responds "You could get into a fight in a bar." Not much of a joke, perhaps, but it is the first one she makes in the series, and very nearly the last.