Dark Shadows Episode 438 - 2/28/68

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Ben paces in the old house. Barnabas returns home and asks him where he's been. Ben explains that Bradford had been questioning him, and he stayed in town until the trial was over. Barnabas asks about the verdict, and Ben tells him they're going to hang her. Barnabas asks him if he testified. Ben says he did, and he thinks they believed him until Angelique appeared in the courtroom. Ben says he had testified that she was the real witch, and that she had left Collinwood. When she appeared, he admits to shouting out that she was dead. Barnabas realized that his testimony became worthless. Barnabas tells Ben he has to deal with Trask. Ben tells Barnabas he's concerned someone will find out about him. Barnabas says Trask will become the victim of his own best weapon—fear. He says he will begin with fear, and then Trask will be eliminated.

There's a knock on the door at the main house, and Naomi opens it to find Reverend Trask. He asks if she's heard the verdict, and admits that she is one of the few who might be disappointed with it. She tells him that Peter might find evidence to prove Vicki's innocence. Trask says no amount of time will help her. He asks Naomi for keys to the old house. He says he must cleanse her room of all her belongings. She refuses, and says his presence disgusts him. He suggests that she's upset she chose the losing side. He claims she aligned herself with the devil, and she slaps him. She dares him to strike her, and accuses him of treating women that way. She tells him that unlike Vicki, she can and will fight back. He tells her he can get a search warrant, and she tells him to go ahead. Trask points out that she's already upset her husband once. Ben enters, and Naomi asks him to escort Trask to the old house. She tells him to stay with him while he does what he needs to, and then send him on his way.

Ben lets Trask into the old house. Trask goes upstairs to Vicki's room. He asks Ben if he's going to escort him, and Ben says he'll stay downstairs if it's all the same to him.

Barnabas exits the basement and calls for Ben. Ben tells him that Trask is in the house. He tells him that Naomi ordered him to let Trask in to take Vicki's belongings.

Upstairs Trask can hear Ben speaking to someone. He goes into Vicki's room.

Barnabas says he'll go downstairs until Trask is gone, and tells Ben to stay with him until he leaves.

Trask comes downstairs with Vicki's belongings, and asks Ben who else is in the house. He says he heard him talking to someone, and asks who it was. Ben denies it, and Trask calls him a liar. Ben says he was talking to himself. Trask asks if he was communicating with the witch. Ben says he wouldn't know how to do that. Trask leaves.

Barnabas comes upstairs and tells Ben that Trask wouldn't have seen him even if he searched the house. He says this will be a night Trask never forgets.

Trask returns to his room and stokes the fire in the fireplace. He hears noises outside his door, and calls out asking who's there. He opens the door and hears a woman scream.

He ducks back inside and locks the door behind him. He hears more noises all around him, and then a voice calling his name. It says his innocent victims surround him. The voice calls him a fraud, and says he will never live to see the hanging. Trask calls out that he knows it's the witch, and she can't frighten him. Trask undoes the bundle of Vicki's belongings, and a skull appears to him in the mirror.

Trask commands the evil spirits to leave his room. The mirror returns to his reflection, and then starts to bleed.

The voice says she will live, and he will die. A disembodied hand approaches Trask, and he runs for the door. He cannot escape as the hand grows nearer. He screams and drops to his knees. The voice tells him he is going to die very soon.

Our thoughts

John: How can Naomi think Bradford still has time to save Vicki? Clearly she's not well schooled on how the legal process works.

Christine: I assumed she thought that Peter could appeal the verdict based on Nathan's flimsy claim that Vicki had bewitched him.

John: Damn. I was really pleased with how Naomi was dealing with Trask, and then he had to go and play the Joshua card, causing her to buckle.

Christine: Joshua must have threatened to take her sherry away if she crossed him again.

John: Barnabas had the perfect opportunity to kill Trask, and instead he decided to hide in the basement? Come on! Of course, it did allow for some well deserved Trask abuse, so it's not all bad.

Christine: Yes, he could have easily killed him quickly and been done with it, but his plan is to have him die "slowly and horribly," which is why he refrained from doing so. Also, we would have missed out on the awesome skull reflection, the bleeding mirror, the Disney Haunted House type of sound effects, and the privilege of seeing Trask's bug-eyed look of terror. I was really hoping the floating hand was going to tweak his nose, but you can't have everything. Barnabas is adding vindictiveness to his new set of vampire traits. He would do better to direct that energy towards Angelique.

Dark Shadows Episode 437 - 2/27/68

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Vicki asks Peter if he got the book, and he says he did last night. She thinks it's going to make things worse. He tells her she has to tell the truth, since nothing else has worked. He says the judges will deliver a verdict today, and if they don't try something, she'll be convicted and hung.

Nathan arrives at the court, and Trask invites him in and closes the door. He asks Trasks why he sent for him. Trask makes him sit down, and tells him he's going to call him to testify again. Trask tells him the verdict is coming, but before that he's going to testify that he didn't help Vicki because of his loyalty to Barnabas, but because he was bewitched. He refuses, but Trask reminds him that his future is not yet certain, and he will do as he's told.

Vicki considered being convicted and hanged. She describes to Peter how when she used to have bad dreams, and realize they were only dreams, she wouldn't wake herself up until the very last minute. She tries to wake herself up, shouting that it has got to stop. Peter slaps her as she becomes hysterical, and then she hugs him.

Trask questions Nathan Forbes again, reviewing his prior testimony. Trask asks him if there was another reason he helped her, and Nathan says that he doesn't think he did it because of Barnabas. He said it was as if he had no choice. Trask asks if he felt powerless to resist. Nathan agrees, and says perhaps he had been bewitched. Vicki asks him why he's lying, and the judge intervenes. Trask asks how Nathan feels, and he says he's positive he was bewitched by Vicki.

Peter cross examines Nathan and asks him to look at Vicki. He asks Nathan if he finds her attractive, and he says yes. Peter asks him about the first time they met, and the weakness he mentioned before she slapped him when he tried to kiss her. Trask objects, and the judge overrules it. Peter asks if his uncontrollable weakness led to his helping her, since he was attracted to her. Nathan doesn't deny it. He stops to look at Vicki as he leaves, and hangs his head in shame.

Peter calls Vicki to the stand. He asks her to tell the court the year in which she was born, and Vicki tells them 1946. He asks her to repeat it, and she does. He asks where she grew up, and she mentions the foundling home in New York. She says she left in 1966 to work as a governess for the Collins family. He asks how she came to be there, and she describes how she was in the drawing room, and then everything went black, and when she awoke she was in the woods. She describes how everyone she ran into looked like people she new. She says she's just as mystified as everyone else. He asks if she had any possessions, and she describes the book of the Collins history. Peter presents the book as evidence. The judges are impressed at the quality of the paintings in the book, which Peter explains are photographs - according to Vicki. Peter asks Vicki one last question—if she's a witch, and she says she is not.

Trask points out the book was a handy thing to bring with her. He asks what she was doing before she was whisked back in time, and she says they were having a meeting. He asks what kind of meeting, and she says she was participating in a seance. Trask asks her to tell the court what a seance is, and she says it's when a group of people try to contact the spirits of the dead. Trask says by her own admission she was calling up the dead. He asks if this was the only time she did that, and she admits it was not. Trask tells the court that through her own mouth, she has admitted to being a witch, and she must die.

Peter says it's good that the judges haven't yet rendered a verdict. He then tells her he loves her.

Nathan tells Trask he never thought he'd meet a preacher whose specialty was blackmail. He says he's thinking about telling the judge how he made him lie on the witness stand, and Trask reminds him that he will be the one who suffers if he does. The judges enter, and Nathan tells Forbes he hopes they free her.

Vicki is brought forward to hear the verdict. The judges find Vicki guilty of witchcraft, and sentence her to be hanged until dead.

Our thoughts

John: I love how Vicki's first instinct was to hug Peter after he slugged her.

Christine: I love how Trask rolls his eyes up into his head for that tried and true fanatic look. It's especially wonderful in B&W, as it makes him look like a zombie.

John: It's amazing how for once, Vicki was smart enough to omit details that could only serve to get her into trouble, by not bringing up the seance that sent her back in time. Of course, she couldn't keep her mouth shut when Trask pressed her on what she was doing, and just like that—guilty.

Christine: You'd think she might be able to think of saying they were having a prayer meeting rather than admitting the damning truth. Of course, the whole admission of time travel was a poor idea to begin with, and if she hadn't bewitched her lawyer, she may have had a better defense.

John: So here we are. Vicki's long walk to the gallows begins. How soon before she is hanged, and more importantly, will that be the event that catapults her back to the future?

Christine: At least Peter has promised to love her no matter what happens to her. That ought to make up for the lousy representation that got her convicted.

I'll love you no matter how long your neck gets stretched, baby.

Dark Shadows Episode 436 - 2/26/68

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Vicki tells Peter that she thinks Ben was telling the truth about Angelique being the witch. He asks if she has proof, and she says that she found some items that belonged to Barnabas in Angelique's room after he suddenly and mysteriously fell ill. She said Angelique seemed frightened when Vicki saw the items in her room. Angelique blamed Sarah for the items being in her room, and asked Vicki not to mention it to Sarah. Vicki also says that Angelique had a motive—her love for Barnabas. She could have done all the things that happened to the Collins family because she longed to be with Barnabas. Peter reminds her that Ben's testimony was tossed, and he went so far as to say that Angelique was dead. Vicki says she's frightened, and Peter gives her a kiss.

On the docks, Ben is concerned about what both Barnabas and Joshua will do to him, based on how his testimony went. Nathan shows up and asks him about his testimony. He wants to know why Ben thought Angelique was dead. Ben tells him to go away. Nathan gives him some cash, and Ben gives it back. Nathan tells him that he knows the truth about Barnabas. Ben is shocked. Nathan says Barnabas never went to England. He says Millicent saw and spoke to him. Nathan says he thinks he saw Barnabas as well. He asks Ben where Barnabas is. Nathan tells him that no ships left for England the day Barnabas disappeared. Ben tells him to stop poking around, or he'll kill him. Ben leaves, and Nathan realizes that Ben answered his question; Barnabas never went to England.

Peter finds Ben outside the old house. Ben tells him he tried to help Vicki, but he can't any more. Peter says he's looking for Angelique. He said he checked all the rooms and boarding houses and she's nowhere else in Collinwood. Ben tells him she's buried in a grave. He says it was a ghost that came into the courtroom. Peter asks Ben how Angelique died. He says he knows she's dead, because he buried her. He tells Ben he has to see the grave if he's going to help Vicki. Ben leads him to where he buried Angelique. Peter asks Ben for a shovel so he can see for himself.

Back in her cell, Vicki paces anxiously.

Ben brings a shovel, and Peter begins digging.

Vicki wonders where Peter is, and if he found Angelique.

Peter continues digging. Ben says he didn't bury her that deep. Ben says she has vanished into thin air. Ben says he's got to get away and leaves.

Peter tells Vicki he didn't find anything, not a trace of the body. He says there's only one thing to do. He wants to put her on the witness stand and have her tell the truth. She says they'll never believe her. He says the truth may be her only hope.

Our thoughts

John: Where in Collinwood does 'dead' Angelique hang out, anyway? Clearly not in the shallow grave Ben dug for her.

Christine: If I know Dan Curtis, she's lurking in a portrait somewhere. Angelique is the most frightening and dangerous character on Dark Shadows. There's no stopping her! Plus, she has the ability to drive a person insane with her endless cackling.

John: Wow! Ben almost went full Matthew Morgan on Nathan today.

Christine: What's Nathan up to anyway? Is he looking for Barnabas to thank him for helping solve his marital problems?

John: Considering how many folks Vicki told her 'future-stories' to, I'm surprised she's reluctant to do the same in the courtroom.

Christine: Vicki needs to fire her lawyer, but she's too busy locking lips with him to know that he's not representing her very well. He should have used whatever lousy trumped up evidence they had on Angelique, including the fact that she can't provide a current residence, to create reasonable doubt. If the truth is her only hope, as Bradford says, then there is no hope for Vicki.

Dark Shadows Episode 435 - 2/23/68

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At sunset, Barnabas rises from his coffin. Ben comes downstairs and tells him that Vicki's trial will be over soon, and she'll be convicted. Barnabas says he thought Trask was unable to sway the judge. Ben says that was true until Abigail died. Trask claimed Abigail was murdered by the witch. He says they both know that's not true, and Vicki doesn't deserve to hang for something Barnabas did.

Barnabas asks what proof Trask has that Vicki killed Abigail. Ben says he got Forbes to testify against Vicki, and he lied through his teeth. Barnabas says that something must be done to help Vicki. He tells Ben that he's the only one who can go into the courtroom and tell the whole truth. He must tell how Angelique was the witch who terrorized his family. Ben says she'll prevent him from testifying. He also says that he fears Joshua will send him back to jail. He says as soon as Trask tells the court he's a convict, they won't believe anything he says. Barnabas tells him he must put aside his fears and doubts, and testify on Vicki's behalf. Ben leaves Barnabas alone and angry in the basement.

The trial resumes, and Peter moves to have Nathan Forbes' testimony be stricken from the record based on Naomi's testimony that he lied. His motion is denied. Trask rests the prosecution's case. Peter starts to say that he's not prepared, and Ben walks in. Peter calls Ben to the stand, and he is sworn in. Peter asks him if he was one of the people to protect Vicki. Ben explains that he did, because Vicki is not a witch. Peter asks him how he knows, and Ben says that he knows who the real witch was. He says the witch put a spell on him to prevent him from speaking the truth. Peter asks who the real witch is, and Ben he says Angelique Collins was the witch. He claims she forced him to help her. He had to get a lock of Jeremiah's hair to make a potion to put him under, along with Josette, so that they would be unfaithful to Barnabas.

Peter claims that Angelique had everything to gain, and Vicki had nothing to gain. He asks that the case be dismissed. The judge says they cannot entertain such a motion until the witness has been cross-examined. Trask asks Ben where they can find Angelique. Ben says he doesn't know. Trask asks how he got out from under her spell, and Ben starts to say it must have happened after she... went away. Trask asks where she went. And when she left. Ben says it was the day after Barnabas left for England. Trask confirms that was more than a month ago, and claims that Ben's testimony is all lies. Trask points out that acts of witchcraft have intensified in the past month, AFTER Ben says Angelique left.

Outside the courtroom, Angelique appears.

Ben begins to tell the court of all the things Angelique did, when she appears in the doorway. He tells the courtroom that she's dead, claiming that he buried her in the cemetery. Ben is sent out of the courtroom.

Peter speaks to Vicki privately, and says that she realizes Ben was right, and Angelique must be the witch. He reluctantly agrees to let her testify.

Angelique is sworn in. Trask asks Angelique's opinion of Vicki. She says she always treated her with courtesy and kindness. He asks if she and Barnabas lived alone in the old house, and she says that Vicki lived there, because her husband believed she wasn't a witch. Trask asks her about the day he was called in to exorcise spirits from the old house. She does, describing how Vicki screamed about a fire in her room, and then ran out of the house. Trask asks if there was any evidence of fire in her room, and she confirms there was not. Peter asks no questions, and asks for more time. The judge recesses the court until Monday morning. If Peter does not find additional witnesses before then, they will issue a verdict.

Outside the courtroom, Angelique disappears as the participants leave, and then reappears to laugh after they're gone.

Our thoughts

John: At what point was Vicki's trial going well? Must have been a conversation Ben and Barnabas had offscreen.

Christine: It may not have been going well, but was not going poorly when there was no real evidence to convict her. It took a downturn when Lt. Forbes' lies lent some credence to the accusation.

John: WHAT? Naomi testified, and we didn't even get to see it? What a time for Joan Bennett to have a day off!

Christine: It was pretty disappointing to have her testimony happen off-screen after all the build up from her decision to finally disobey Joshua and testify against his wishes. I guess if they had included her testimony, we would have missed out on the dramatic Forbes-Bradford fight sequence. I would have preferred a Joan Bennett court appearance.

John: That's it, Bradford needs to give up his aspirations of being a lawyer and stick to mopping up jail cells. To not even bother to question the ghost of the dead witch who's all but doomed his client is unforgivable. Unless Barnabas makes a surprise appearance 'from England', someone had better get the hangman on the horn.

Christine: I hope we'll get to find out how Angelique went from floating head to corporeal form.

Dark Shadows Episode 434 - 2/22/68

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Nathan sits at his desk, feeling bad about turning on Vicki. Peter bursts in on him and asks why he lied to the judges. Nathan denies it. Peter tells him he's going to win the case, despite his testimony. He asks him to come to the jail to see Miss Winters. He asks why he agreed to testify on Vicki's behalf, and then changed his mind. He asks how the Collins family is bribing him. Nathan explains that they don't even speak to him. He is no longer welcome at Collinwood. Peter tells him that if Vicki hangs, Nathan will be responsible. They get into a fight.

Naomi finds Joshua brooding in the drawing room. He tells her to leave him alone, and she refuses. They speak of Abigail, and Joshua says it was a senseless death, and Naomi counters that she led a senseless life. She says Abigail loved Joshua and tolerated the rest of the family. Joshua says she led the life she chose. He gets up to go the the shipyards. He mentions he's scheduled to meet with Trask.

Trask tells Nathan that he'll be meeting with Joshua Collins soon. Nathan asks if he'll speak about him, as Joshua plans to write a letter to the Navy about him. Trask explains that he understands his desire that he speaks with Joshua about him. Nathan says he did them a great favor. Nathan tells Trask that Bradford visited him earlier, and asked him to reconsider his testimony.

Trask suggests that Joshua and Naomi make an appearance at the trial, as it would help on an emotional level. Joshua says he's not interested in impressing the judges on an emotional level. He says he assumes the witch will be found guilty without any additional input from his family. Trask mentions that Nathan Forbes provided a motive for Vicki to be responsible for Abigail's death. Joshua says he doesn't care, as Forbes is a liar. Trask says he has done them a great favor, and Joshua should reconsider writing a letter to his superiors. He says that if Vicki hangs, it will be because of Forbes testimony. He says Nathan is outside, and asks if he will see him. Joshua refuses. Trask accuses him of having no respect for his sister's memory. Joshua agrees to meet with Forbes, but tells Trask to leave them alone.

Joshua asks why Forbes asked to see him. Nathan explains that he loved Millicent. He asks if Joshua may have made mistakes when he was younger. Nathan suggests that despite his bad choices, Joshua knows that he's capable of doing his job. Joshua says he understands he should thank Nathan for what he did in the court. He agrees not to send a letter as long as Nathan requests a transfer out of Collinwood.

At Collinwood, Peter tells Naomi that Nathan lied in his testimony. He tells her that if she doesn't testify on Vicki's behalf, she may very well die.

Naomi paces in the drawing room. Joshua comes in as she takes a drink. He says he brought his work home so he could do it without interruption. She tells him Peter Bradford was there, and that Nathan Forbes lied in court, saying Vicki wanted to kill Abigail. She tells him he knows that's not true. She tells him that she has to testify. He says she will not.

She explains that they must make amends for what they have done. She goes to get her cloak, and the threatens to lock her in her room. She tells him that if he tries that, she will get out, and she will never return to the house. Despite his protests, she gets in a carriage and leaves.

Our thoughts

John: Quite a tussle between Nathan and Peter today. Though does anyone really believe that Bradford could have bested Forbes?

Christine: I tend to think they're pretty evenly matched. We finally see Lt. Forbes without his long overcoat, only to realize during the fight scene why he wears it all the time.

John: Gotta love Trask. He'll go to whatever lengths he deems necessary in order to ensure the world is protected from the likes of Witchy Winters.

Christine: He's clearly not as pious as he'd have everyone believe.

John: Naomi finally takes a stand, even going so far as to threaten leaving Joshua for good! But I have a hunch it may be too little, too late, when it comes to saving Vicki.

Christine: Her testimony may not be granted much weight if she goes to court smelling of sherry and keeps calling Vicki's lawyer 'Peter Brandon'.

"I'm afraid that physical love is beyond my comprehension." -Reverend Trask