At the diner, Maggie surprises Burke Devlin by knowing how he takes his coffee. He didn't recognize her as Sam's daughter, who he hadn't seen since she was a little girl 10 years prior. Vicki shows up to use the phone to call the foundling home, but the line is busy.
Back at Sam's place, Roger is shocked to hear that he spoke with Vicki outside the Collins house. He calls home to see if Vicki is there to corroborate Sam's claim to have only told her to tell Roger that he came by. Once again, Roger storms off, this time in search of Vicki.
Burke chats Vicki up over coffee. At first he prods her on why she went to work at the Collins house, and when she threatens to leave, he eases up. He no sooner starts asking her about Roger, and if Roger sounded anxious to see him.
Roger arrives at the diner looking for Vicki, and before he goes in he runs into Maggie. When she explains that Vicki is inside having coffee with Burke Devlin, Roger turns and leaves.
Burke tells Vicki that Collinwood is haunted, and truly seems to believe it. Maggie lets them both know that Roger was just outside—and left without coming in.
Sam is at home drinking and talking to himself when Maggie calls. While on the phone, Burke shows up. Sam is far less excited to see Burke than Devlin is to see him.
Back at the diner, the episode ends as Vicki finally reaches the foundling home on the phone.
Our thoughts
John: So I guess it was Sam's house Roger went to a few episodes back. I just assumed it was Devlin's, but I guess if he had a place, he wouldn't have gone to the hotel with Vicki.
Christine: Something happened 10 years ago that leads Sam to believe that Burke is back seeking revenge. Sam appears to have a sense of guilt and remorse while Roger is terrified of what Burke plans to do to him. Whatever happened must be truly awful to have prompted Sam to begin drinking to excess, and to cause Burke to seek retribution against his one time good friend, Roger.
John: While Devlin tells Maggie he doesn't like playing games after she described how he liked his coffee, we see him smile for the first time when he recognizes Maggie. Of course he quickly devolves to his normally rude self. When he talks to Vicki, Mitchell Ryan either flubs his lines or has chosen the strangest intentional delivery for them.
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| Rough day for Mitchell Ryan who's looking for where he left his line. |
Christine: Dark Shadows is well known for its bloopers and here's a fine example. Burke's enjoying a simple "cump" of coffee with Vicki and getting really flustered. I think she's got him tongue tied because he's secretly attracted to her. He tells her that there's nothing wrong with her having coffee with him, unless she's heard "deep, dark, angry things" about him and then offers her a doughnut while he tries to remember what he wanted to say. After gazing off into the distance, he awkwardly jokes that he spends his days "robbing widows, killing infants...uh foreclosing all the mortgages I can find," and then asks again if she'd care for a doughnut and offers her the one he just bit into. It's no wonder she gets up to leave. He's making us all feel a little uncomfortable.
John: Roger turns a different shade of white (in black and white) when Maggie tells him Vicki is inside talking to Burke. I was expecting an interesting confrontation, so I was quite surprised when he turned tail and ran.
Christine: Roger is spineless, but we can expect he will not be able to avoid the confrontation for long. What will Burke do to exact revenge and why is he seeking it?
John: Perhaps Roger stole his doughnut...
Sam, Burke and Roger seem to be Frenemies from way back. Burke even knew Maggie as a kid.
ReplyDeleteBurke tells Vickie he got caught at Collinwood when he was a kid while he was Ghost Hunting and got a whipping. That must be when his fetish for spankings started.