Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Dark Shadows Episode 268 - 7/5/67

Liz flips through the family bible, and then suddenly snaps out of her trance-like state, only to find herself serenaded by the voices of the Widows calling her name. She closes her bedroom window, and Vicki enters, asking if anything is wrong. She asks if she can take David to Bangor for the day. Liz asks her to postpone the trip, and points out that tomorrow is her wedding day. She gives Vicki the day off and says she wants to spend the day with David. Roger comes into her room as Vicki leaves and asks why she had Garner look over her will. She confirms that she isn't changing her beneficiaries from David and Carolyn. Roger tells her it's not too late to back out. She says that she's doing what she thinks is best. Roger asks what the family bible is doing in her room. She says she was preparing to write her marriage info in it, and he reminds her that the changes aren't made until after the fact.


David comes into his aunts room. He's upset she didn't let him go to Bangor with Vicki. She explains that she'd like to spend some time with him  before she gets busy. He tells her he'll take her for a walk on the beach, and share the location of a secret cove. She tells him just how important he is to her, and tells him to remember that as he gets older.


Liz waits up for Carolyn, and when she arrives home, she's defiant, announcing that she was with Buzz. Liz says she wants to talk, and Carolyn asks if she wants to talk about the wedding. She tells her that she doesn't want to talk about the wedding. Carolyn continues to act like a spoiled brat. Liz tries to remind her that they used to be close. She tells Carolyn that she's always loved her, and she wants her to remember that always. Carolyn asks how she can throw herself away on a man like Jason McGuire. She says that he's the cause of all the strife between them. She starts to head to bed, as she doesn't want to argue with her mother. Liz asks her to stay with her a little longer. Carolyn picks up on her mother's strange behavior. She suggests that Liz head up to bed. Before she does, she turns back and they share one last glance.


In her room, Liz opens the bible to the family pages in the back, and writes in the day of her death as April 10th, 1967.


Carolyn is in the drawing room when Vicki returns home from dinner with Burke. Carolyn tells her that her mother just went up to bed. She says that it felt like her mother was saying goodbye to her.

Vicki goes upstairs to Liz' room, and when she can't find her, she sees the date of death filled in for Elizabeth in the open family bible.


Liz walks to the edge of the cliff, and hears the calls of the Widows.



Our thoughts

John: Liz hasn't really got all her affairs in order, but she's written her date of death in the family bible. I sure hope she has White-Out handy, since it was only introduced a year earlier.

Christine: She made no mention of Roger's place in the will and I'm surprised he didn't ask. It's interesting to note that Liz wrote down April 10th as her death day when Maggie's disappearance was announced in the The Collinsport Star on April 26th back in Episode 238. Maybe she backdated it to when Jason made her feel like she was dead already.

John: Where can Jason be, a day before the big wedding... You'd think the cast list will have to grow to account for Jason, Barnabas and Mrs. Johnson tomorrow if the whole clan is getting together for the wedding of the century.

Christine: Jason is probably having his bachelor party at the Blue Whale with Willie. If all goes according to Liz's plan, they'll be getting together for the funeral of the century instead.

John: This is one of those rare instances where my knowledge of later events ruins the potential surprise. I can't imagine what the housewives were thinking in 1967. Had they seen the last of Joan Bennett?

Christine: They probably surmised that the show wouldn't write off such an essential character, but had to wonder how Liz would survive.

5 comments:

Paul Haney said...

The date thing always had me a bit confused. Since they only taped about a week ahead of time and knew when the air date was going to be, why not at least be a little more current? I do like the theory that the date is when Jason made her feel dead inside...that thought never occurred to me.

John Scoleri said...

Yeah, Real time is tough to maintain in any serialized entertainment. When you have the events of a single day fill a week's worth of episodes, it's hard to suggest a week went by. Early on, I recall thinking, we're months in, and Vicki's been in town, what, a week? :) One thing I will say is that I miss having the slates at the start of each episode to see how long before airing they were shot, and whether it was the first or a later take...

Dave Dykema said...

I miss the slates too...

Dave Dykema said...

And the April 10 thing was certainly confusing. I realize many times a day is spread out over many episodes, but they said the wedding would be in two weeks--which it is--and everyone watching is saying, "what a minute, it's July! Why April?" Makes no sense. Soap dates are wwird because in many ways they move in real time, because the actors age, yet in may ways they don't. Yet the traditional shows still celebrate Christmas every year, etc.

Jeff Baker said...

For the record, Elizabeth's birthday is the day after Joan Bennett's (in different years.)