Episode 61 - 9/19/66

Burke invites himself in for dinner with Maggie, Sam and Vicki. Sam is against it, but Vicki and Maggie are fine with it. Burke asks Sam to fix him a drink, and he begrudgingly does. Burke suggests they talk about his manslaughter trial. Vicki mentions they were talking about it. Burke asks Vicki to tell the story. Burke then offers to tell his side—the one the jury didn't believe.  He says Roger lied on the witness stand. He wasn't driving when they had the accident. Burke says he was driving when they left, but Roger Collins made him pull over and took over driving. Sam goes into the kitchen to get more alcohol, and when Maggie goes to check on him, he's gone.

Sam shows up at the hotel. He asks the manager for the letter Maggie left in the safe. He gets it out, and says he'll give it to Sam as soon as he talks to Maggie. Sam protests, but the manager stands by the hotel rules.

Burke says he thinks Sam had something to do with Bill's death. Maggie refuses to believe it. Burke asks if Bill talked to her about her father, Burke and Roger before his death. He then asks Vicki if she was at Collinwood the night Bill died. Burke tells the girls of the meeting, and that Bill said he could clear him of the manslaughter charge. Burke says there's a reason Bill invited Sam to the meeting, but Burke doesn't know what it is. And now Sam is running. Burke leaves, and the girls continue to talk about Burke's claims. Vicki convinces Maggie that perhaps Burke is mistaken. She agrees that must be the case, but can't explain why her father ran away.

Burke arrives back at the hotel and the manager mentions how Sam was there. He mentions how Sam tried to get the letter Maggie left for him in the safe. Sam pops in and suggests they go up to Burke's room for a private talk.

Our thoughts

John: We finally get the story of the accident from Burke's perspective. The Laura situation is cloudy, in part because characters bounce between referring to her as Roger's wife and girlfriend. I thought that at that point in time, she was still with Burke, but he makes no such mention of that when he tells his story.

Christine: I was also under that impression and was surprised to hear Burke say that Laura was Roger's girlfriend at the time they were having their drunk fest at a tavern the night of the manslaughter. It's hard to understand why Burke would join his former girlfriend and best friend on a date and get completely blotto. The fact that Roger and Laura got married a week after Burke was convicted seems to have some significance that remains to be revealed.

John: Welcome back Conrad Bain! I guess the hotel doesn't have rules about maintaining the privacy of others. Or perhaps the rules just apply to guests. Tough luck, Sam!

Christine: He suggests to Burke that the letter Sam wants back is probably full of some incriminating evidence. I'm surprised Burke wasn't all over that.

John: Burke rather rudely invites himself in for dinner, and then doesn't even bother to stay. I hope at least Vicki and Maggie chow down in tomorrow's episode!

Christine: It's rather disingenuous that he says he hopes he hasn't ruined their dinner party.

John: So I just happened to notice that at some point the slate was broken and taped up. I don't recall it always being this way. It sure would be interesting for someone to go back through and find out when that happened. Someone who focuses on this level of detail...

Christine: Isn't it fortunate there is someone on board who can provide such useful information, in addition to noting when portraits are being shifted around the Collinwood drawing room and which musical tunes are available on the Blue Whale jukebox. Surely you can't find this level of detailed information on any other Dark Shadows site. I have tracked the first appearance of the broken slate to Episode 56. Since this was the first episode taped in the new studio, I am guessing that it was broken during the move.