Dark Shadows Before I Die: Episode 50

Vicki goes for a walk along Widows' Hill and runs into Carolyn, who tells her that they're surrounded by ghosts. Vicki says she hasn't seen one yet. Carolyn tells Vicki how upset her mother is about Bill Malloy's disappearance.

David asks his aunt to help him. He can't sleep. She tells him to go to his room and turn on all the lights.

Vicki and Carolyn have tea in the drawing room. Joe calls, but he has no update on Bill. Liz is upset that she also hasn't heard from Roger in hours since she told him to come right home. She tries calling him at the office again. As they sit down to tea, Carolyn mentions 'the three', and says Vicki walked pretty close to the cliff. She doesn't want her to become number three. Liz tells Vicki that two people have jumped from the cliff, and legend has it that there would someday be a third.

Roger returns home and Liz demands to talk to him. He says he's going to eat something first, and Vicki goes upstairs to go to bed.

In her room, Vicki finds the word DEATH written on her mirror. She drags David into her room and asks him who wrote it. He denies writing it. She tells him to erase it, and he blames the Widows. He says they were in his room all night, and he tried to get help from his aunt. Vicki threatens to bring him downstairs to his aunt if he doesn't erase it, which he finally does, though still claiming the Widows were responsible.

Carolyn lost her watch, and asks Vicki to go with her to look for it on the cliff.

Liz asks where Roger has been. He says he always knows where she is, and has for the past 18 years. Roger says he drove out to Bill's cousin's house looking for him, and then came right home. Liz asks if Roger forgot to tell her he saw Bill last night. She says she knows they argued late last night before he disappeared. Roger says it was a business matter. They agreed to meet at the office to discuss it.
Carolyn interrupts them looking for her watch. She can't find it, so she and Vicki head out to Widows' Hill.

Liz runs into David at the top of the stairs. He asks where Vicki was going. Liz says they're looking for a wristwatch. David says she's going to find death.

Vicki screams as she and Carolyn look down on a body washed up in the rocks at the base of the cliff.

Our thoughts

John: Wow. Things just went up a few notches. You can forget 49 episodes of suggestions and innuendo. Dark Shadows has turned a corner, and ended this Friday on the highest point of the run to date. RIP Bill Malloy.

Christine: Horror has come to Collinwood! Vicki's screams, Carolyn's stunned silence, and the body being buffeted by the waves. It was horrifying. It was fantastic!

John: Roger tactfully asks Liz what she knows so he can concoct a story to fit those facts. It will be interesting to see if he suggests that our boy Bill Malloy took a flying leap off Widows' Hill. One thing's for sure. Burke Devlin is not going to be happy about this.

Christine: Is Bill Malloy #3 in the legend of Widows' Hill? The legend that Liz shares with Vicki conflicts with the original story Carolyn told her. Liz said that 2 people threw themselves to their death off the cliff at Widows' Hill, and the legend states there will be a third. In Episode 9, Carolyn tells Vicki that Josette Collins and 2 governesses jumped from the cliff and "the legend goes, Miss Winters, that the body of a third governess will be found, huddled and broken at the foot of yonder cliff."

John: If they hadn't made David out to be such a rotten kid, viewers might be more willing to believe that he's not always responsible for the bad deeds going on in Collinwood. I'm anxious to see if his crystal ball will continue to play into the storyline, or if that was all a McGuffin for this week's shocking finale.

Christine: He may not be lying when he says the Widows are responsible for his misdeeds. It's possible he's being possessed and is not in control when he's being naughty. He was right about Vicki finding death.

Bill Malloy, we hardly knew ye.