Thursday, March 1, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 439 - 2/29/68

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Barnabas rises from his coffin and asks Ben if he saw Trask. Ben explains that Joshua kept him busy so he never got to town. Barnabas tells him that Trask's dreams will get worse. Ben asks what he's planning, and Barnabas tells him that he will see. Ben tells him that whatever happens to Trask will be blamed on Vicki. Barnabas suggests that they could keep Trask in the old house. He tells Ben to make arrangements to wall in a part of the basement. Ben says he can't stomach more killing.  He tells Barnabas he'll have to make do without him. Barnabas reminds Ben that he knows too much and he has no choice but to help him. Ben tells him to go ahead and kill him if he has to. Barnabas says he can't hurt Ben, and explains there's nothing either of them can do.


A drunk Ben is in the Eagle with a prostitute, Maudie.


He asks if she knew what happened to Ruby, trying to warn her about being out alone at night. She gives up on him as he's more interested in drinking, and runs into Nathan and a friend (Noah) coming in. Nathan points out Ben to his friend, and introduces him to Maude, who says to look for him in an hour. Nathan tells his friend to find out what he can about Barnabas, and leaves.


Noah joins Ben and asks if there are any jobs available at Collinwood. He then presses him on Barnabas, and eventually Ben asks him what all the questions are about. He grabs him by the shirt collar and demands an answer.


Barnabas runs into Maudie on the docks. He tries to excuse himself, and she tries to convince him to stay. She feigns that she's going to faint, and he helps her. He asks if she's from around there, and she says she is not. She flirts with him, and he tells her she's pretty. He starts to leave, and he warns her she's not safe out tonight. She tells him she'll take her chances with him. He moves in to bite her and she screams.



They struggle, and Nathan hears the commotion. Barnabas hears Nathan and flees. He finds Maudie, and she says the strangler almost got her. She points out his cane, which Nathan recognizes.


Back in the Eagle, Nathan tells Maudie she should go to the police because she can identify the strangler. He asks her to describe him. She asks if he knows whose cane it was, and he tells her that his friend had one like it, but he's in England. Nathan asks her to describe the strangler. She says he didn't want to talk to her at first.


She then describes him as being handsome at first, and the hand that choked her had a ring that Nathan also recognizes as Barnabas'. He asks her not to tell anyone what she saw, and explains that she was lucky he heard her. He adds that she may not be the only lucky one tonight.


Our thoughts

John: Why is it that Ben can't get away from Barnabas? It seems like he could just skip town, and Barnabas would be screwed.

Christine: I wonder if Barnabas knows how to make a vampire servant yet, and if he'll consider it for Ben, so he'll give him less flak. Why is Ben so upset about making Trask suffer? He wasn't so moralistic when he was asking Angelique to turn Joshua into a jackass.

John: I'm curious about why Noah was introduced. His role digging up info from Ben seems less important now that Nathan has linked Barnabas to the strangler crimes.

Christine: Vampire meat, perhaps?

John: Considering we got two new characters introduced today, I'm all but willing to bet they're the equivalent of Star Trek red-shirted crew members. Look for one or both to be dead within a week...

Christine: We can only hope. So, it sounds like Barnabas wants to wall Trask up in the Old House where he takes his repose. Won't that be unpleasant for him to share his resting place with someone he loathes? Why not put him in the room where he'll keep Maggie in the future, or the secret room where Matthew kept Vicki?

John: Sadly, with today's episode, we finally lose sync with the 60s. As 1968 was a leap year, today's episode originally aired on February 29th, rather than March 1st. So for the foreseeable future, our Monday through Friday posts will be off by a day. At least until 2020 rolls around...

Christine: Not to worry. We'll be back in sync with the date when we get to Episode 961.

Did Maude steal Natalie duPrés' ring?

It appears to be the same ring the Countess wore in Episode 406.

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