Thursday, January 11, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 404 - 1/11/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Barnabas waits for Josette in the garden. He wants her to leave Collinwood immediately, but cannot tell her why. Millicent arrives and tells him that the Countess has forbid Josette from seeing him. Millicent tells him that she thinks Josette is afraid to meet him because she still loves him. He dismisses the notion, but says he must warn her because she's in danger. Barnabas decides he must meet Josette by accident. He tells Millicent that she can take Josette for a walk, and he could meet them. She says her relatives would not approve, and he asks if they would approve of Nathan bringing her home late last night. She tries to explain it was an innocent meeting, and Barnabas tells her not to take Nathan so seriously. She tells him she's old enough to know how men are, and ultimately agrees to help arrange a chance meeting with Josette later that day.


Barnabas brings a judge to meet with Vicki. With a young guard in the background, the judge asks Vicki if she denies all of Trask's charges. She does. He tells her that he doesn't believe in witchcraft, and he knows Trask is a charlatan. He wants to expose him in court for what he really is. The judge asks her if she had any acquaintance with the Collins family before she arrived, and she hesitates before saying no. He asks about her accident on her way to Collinwood. She says that there was an accident. He asks where she lived before Collinwood, and Barnabas interjects that she was raised in a foundling home in Boston. The judge asks Vicki to confirm this. He asks the name of the foundling home so he can find others to corroborate her story. Barnabas testifies on her behalf, and the judge says he only knows of her since her arrival in Collinwood. Vicki tells the judge the truth—that she comes from the future where she worked for descendants of the Collins family. The judge says he can't bring such a story to court, and she says no one can help her. Barnabas tells her he'll find someone to defend her, and that she'll be free very soon.


He leaves her alone with the young guard. He gives her a locket that he tells her he bought from another guard after he saw them take it from her. He says he knows she's innocent, because he heard her crying at night. He offers to defend her, as he's studying to be a lawyer.


Millicent and Josette are ambushed in the garden by Barnabas. She refuses to speak with him, and he sends Millicent away.


He tells Josette she must leave Collinwood immediately, as she's in danger. Josette says she must stay for a suitable period of mourning for her husband. Barnabas tells her that her marriage to Jeremiah took place under the spell of a witch. He asks if she willingly stole herself away from him; if she deceived him. She says that it all seems like a dream, even when it was happening. He tells her a witch cast a spell over her, and even now is plotting against her. She asks who it is, and he tells her the knowledge is too dangerous. Suddenly, they hear the sound of a bat, which approaches them out of the darkness.




Our thoughts

John: It's one thing for Vicki to tell her wild tale of time-travel to Barnabas, or even to a lawyer who might represent her, but why would she talk about it in front of one of her jailers?

Christine: Vicki needs to shut up about the time travel already. You'd think she'd know not to bring it up when she's about to stand trial for being a witch.

John: So, being tried as a witch is now an ideal way to meet eligible young men. Angelique should try it out sometime.

Christine: Angelique only has two sets of eyes for one man. Enter dreamy-eyed Peter Bradford to put a smile back on doomed Vicki's face.


John: They certainly upped their bat game with a zoom in on an almost real looking bat for a change!


Christine: They did it to appease discerning kids like you. They must have heard you complaining about the bat in the last episode. Angelique will be none too pleased to have her bat eyes see that Barnabas is meeting with Josette. I wonder what she'll do to punish him for it.

4 comments:

Paul Haney said...

Addison Powell (who plays the lawyer) will later have a different, much bigger role on the show.

This is the first episode for Roger Davis as Peter Bradford. Davis will also go on to play other roles later in the series. 1968 was the year that he married actress Jaclyn Smith. Of course, she would later gain fame, along with DS actress Kate Jackson, as one of TV's Charlie's Angels.

Grant said...

One of my few complaints about the "Dark Shadows Every Day" blog is that the host and x amount of the commenters have a real problem with Roger Davis, not just as an actor but as a person! (Or at least, the kind of personality they keep picking up on when they see him on the screen.) It wouldn't bother me so much except that you hear it when almost ANY episode of his comes up, and that's a lot of them.
(About the only exceptions are during the 1897 timeline, when he gets to play a genuinely spooky character himself. That's when they DO kind of like him.)

Kenn said...

There’s been so much negative written and said about Davis by cast members who are (or were) such wonderful people with no ulterior motive. When even Joan Bennett and KLS have major problems with someone.... well it lends a lot of credence to it.

Anonymous said...

The cast had problems with Roger Davis because he was, in fact, a horrible person. He was borderline (a charitable assessment) violent with cast members; including 10-year-old David Hennesy. and 60-something year-old Joan Bennett who he threw to the floor in one case. He also interfered with lighting and scene-blocking.

I could go on...