Thursday, June 30, 2016

Episode 4 - 6/30/66

On Victoria's first night in Collinwood, Elizabeth stops her brother Roger from entering her room. He claims he only wanted to ask her about Burke Devlin. It soon becomes clear that Burke may have returned specifically to harm Roger. Carolyn overhears the two arguing and also wants to know more about Burke Devlin. Convinced that Victoria may know more, Carolyn is sent up to get her.

Roger gets his way, and proceeds to give Victoria the third-degree on Burke Devlin. She finally has enough, and excuses herself, threatening to take the morning train back to New York.

Back in her bedroom, she hears the haunting sobs of a woman echo through the halls. She goes out to investigate, and finds no one in the parlor as the sobbing stops.

We then meet David, who creeps down the stairs and states his hatred for Victoria.

 
I have great news for those of you who are following along on this journey. After several days worth of comments whose quality exceeded my own ramblings about the first few episodes, I was able to convince my sister Christine to participate in the blog in a more formal fashion. She's in large part to blame for it existing, having sent subtle hints over the last few months that the 50th anniversary was approaching. You see, she knew I already had the entire series on DVD. Years ago, she made me feel better about having bought them all by borrowing and actually watching them. And when the deluxe coffin box set was released, she acquired a set of her own. I can't think of a better way to experience Dark Shadows than with someone coming in relatively cold (me) alongside someone already well versed in the history of the Collins clan. I hope you'll agree!

John's thoughts

Louis Edmonds' Roger clearly has some interesting secrets—secrets that Burke Devlin is privy to (or responsible for)—and they somehow involve his sister, too.

I loved it when Carolyn joked (referring to her uncle Roger), "At the stroke of 12, he turns into Dracula." I wonder if anyone at the time would have given a second thought to a vampire showing up on the scene.

For the first time, the entire episode takes place in the Collins home.

And while it wasn't quite as I had predicted, Victoria did technically meet David in this episode.


Christine's thoughts

"The fear of darkness is only for children." -Victoria Winters

A loud boom. Unknown feet ascend the staircase and make their way to Vicki's room. A hand reaches out to grasp the doorknob and...the camera pans up to Roger's face as we hear Liz castigate him. Something about hearing Elizabeth's muffled voice behind the door as Vicki listens to them argue reminds me of Madame Blanc from Suspiria and makes the scene more chilling than it otherwise would be.

Although some of us began viewing Dark Shadows at Episode 210 with the first volume issued on DVD, Collinsport was actually a thriving fishing village with well developed characters and mysterious goings on long before that, so don't be fooled into thinking that you have to wait until April 17th before anything interesting happens at Collinwood.

When Liz gets Roger downstairs, she lays into him: "Roger, that girl was brought here to care for your son. Your son, Roger, not you." He replies, "What's coming now, a lesson on morals?" Despite this exchange, Liz leaves poor Vicki in her jammies and robe alone with Roger in the drawing room even after he says, "Miss Winters, you wouldn't mind keeping a lonely man company for a little while, would you?" He then proceeds to hit up his favorite brandy bottle before informing her that "Pain sometimes proceeds pleasure, Miss Winters, or are you too young to have discovered that?"

So the theme of today's episode is that Roger Collins is a creep. We are assured of that fact because it is stated several times that he is really a nice fellow. Roger's pet name for Carolyn is Kitten. We should not read too much into that, right? Carolyn lets slip to Vicki that Roger's wife is still among the living and the less said about her the better. More intrigue.

David's entrance makes us hope he will live up to our expectations of being delightfully demonic. He's really hitting it off with Vicki.

2 comments:

Grant said...

For a moment at a time I always confuse David Henesy with Billy Mumy, who of course was also all over TV at the same time. And these early photos show that that isn't a strange mix-up. That and David Collins' spooky behavior (think IT'S A GOOD LIFE).

Los Thunderlads said...

Interesting how the early episodes tiptoe towards the supernatural. Burke, Roger, and Carolyn all use the word "ghost" metaphorically, to refer to unresolved conflicts from the past that are still causing problems in the present. Liz and Vicki, each in her turn, responds by saying there are no such things as literal ghosts, only to hear the first person assert that there absolutely are. Giving this same little conversation to both Liz and Vicki is one of the ways the show tries to establish Liz and Vicki as mirrors of each other, of presenting Liz's current life as a possible future for Vicki and of Vicki as a revenant of Liz's past.

The sobbing sounds Vicki hears in this one are the first occurrences that would have to be explained as the act either of a ghost or of someone trying to make Vicki believe there are ghosts. The next such moment will come in episode 14, and there will be several more in the weeks and months ahead. This tiptoeing is what the Dark Shadows wiki on fandom tracks as "Ghostwatch."