Vicki and Frank have dinner in Bangor. Vicki tells her story. Frank says he'll do anything in his power to help her solve her problem.
Carolyn compliments Maggie's dress before she and Joe dance. While dancing, Joe asks Carolyn why she invited Maggie and her father to join then. Carolyn says she was being polite, and wanted Maggie to know there were no hard feelings. At the table, Sam tries to explain to Maggie that there's no chance of a future with Joe.
Frank says he'll start tracking down the Hanscombe's to see what he can find. Frank's father arrives, and tells his son that he's got an important case to work on in the morning. Frank invites his father to join them for a drink. He explains what he's offered to do for Vicki, and his father suggests to Vicki that she not get her hopes up.
Carolyn flirts with Joe, and Maggie explains she has to go. Sam says he wants to walk her home, but after he has another drink. Vicki comes up in conversation, and Carolyn explains that she's gone to Bangor, to get away after seeing Bill Malloy's ghost. Sam is very interested in the details about what Bill's ghost said to her. Carolyn said the ghost told her to stay away from Collinwood, as it's not safe for her there. Maggie suggests Vicki might be lonely in Bangor by herself, and Carolyn says she went with her intimate friend, Burke Devlin. Joe abruptly asks Carolyn to dance again to get her away from the table.
Joe calls Carolyn a liar. He says that once again she only called him because she was jealous of Vicki and Burke. Carolyn storms out on him, and as he chases after her, Maggie smiles.
Frank's father excuses himself, and before he leaves Frank asks to speak to him, asking if he has something against Vicki. His father says he has no problem with Frank's trying to help her, but he needs to remember Elizabeth Stoddard is their client—NOT Victoria Winters.
Sam orders another drink, and Maggie says he promised they'd leave three drinks ago. Sam explains that he needs the drink right now. Joe returns and joins them. He says he brought Carolyn home. Sam asks Joe to see Maggie home, as he plans to take a long walk. Maggie apologizes for being foisted off on Joe. He says it's no problem, and says she's a nice girl for not asking about what happened with Carolyn. Maggie asks why Joe returned, and he explains he wanted to continue his lessons, and asks her to name all of the sails on a ship. She laughs and begins listing them all...
Our thoughts
John: Bob Cobert's greatest hits are back on the Blue Whale's jukebox.
Christine: Just like old times. Don't those catchy tunes just make you want to get up and dance and argue with your girlfriend?
John: How come the word orphan is avoided at all costs? Who refers to them as 'foundlings'?
Christine: An orphan refers to someone whose parents are dead, while a foundling refers to someone who was abandoned by parents that may still be alive. Vicki doesn't really know if her parents are alive or dead.
John: Have we finally seen the end of the Joe/Carolyn relationship? Now that it's clear to Joe that Carolyn only comes running to him when she's jealous, I think he's had enough of her. The only offenses on Maggie's record are the bad blonde wig she started with, and calling Vicki a jerk when they first met. But other than that, she's far less maintenance than Carolyn, so hopefully the change will do Joe some good, provided his job working for the Collins fishery isn't in jeopardy...
Christine: It's a soap opera, so I expect the relationship to go through its death throes before the last gasp. Joe's a glutton for punishment, so I don't think it's over yet.
"Vicki doesn't really know if her parents are alive or dead."
ReplyDeleteLater on, knowing whether people are alive or dead will become a pretty complicated problem on this show...
Yes, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wish Vicki's parentage had been resolved, but in the end I'm glad it was left a mystery.
I am quite fond of these early episodes. Thanks for commenting and inspiring me to revisit them, Acilius!
Orphans and foundlings are not the same thing. Vicki is a foundling. She is not an orphan. It's that simple.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI addressed the difference between orphans and foundlings in my comments. Since that storyline was never resolved, nobody can say with certainty that Vicki was a foundling and not an orphan, so it's really not that simple.
We appreciate when people comment and invite everyone to share their own perspective on the show, however, simply pointing out what you perceive to be mistakes in our analysis doesn't really add much to the conversation.
For instance, if you are so certain that Vicki is a foundling, then why not share what evidence from the show you have to suggest her parents are still alive. That would be far more interesting than simply stating that we are wrong without any evidence to support your viewpoint.
I haven't finished this blog all the way up to the present (not surprising, as it is impressively huge), so there may have already been an entry about this. But it's worth pointing out that there as an unofficial Dark Shadows tale that gave resolution to Victoria Winters' parentage. It was written by Craig Hamrick, based on an outline by Dan Ross (who wrote the Dark Shadows book series under his pen name of Marilyn Ross). Mr. Hamrick finished the tale after Ross' death. It was titled THE SECRET OF VICTORIA WINTERS, and was a pretty short and straightforward story (I'm sure Ross would have expanded it to a full-length novel if he'd had the chance, but Hamrick had a more "to the point" approach).
ReplyDeleteIn Ross/Hamrick's story, it turns out that Victoria Winters was the illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth Stoddard. Not exactly surprising, as that had been the most obvious answer from Episode 1 onward. Ms. Stoddard repeatedly insisting that she didn't know who'd dropped Victoria off at the foundling home had made it VERY clear that she was hiding something, and as it turned out it was the most obvious thing: She was her mother.
Of course, the "Marilyn Ross" books diverged from the TV show in several significant ways, so obviously Victoria Winters' parentage can't be considered canon. But it was definitely what Dan Ross had considered the simple truth for quite a while. It has also been said that crew members on DARK SHADOWS had always considered Victoria to be Elizabeth Stoddard's daughter, and were just waiting for the day when it would be revealed on the show. As it turned out, the instant popularity of Barnabas Collins after his introduction just killed any producer interest in getting around to dealing with Victoria's mystery (which had previously been considered a major focus of the show. That also stopped Dan Ross from dealing with the matter. He'd always wanted to have his "big reveal" novel included in the book series. Unfortunately for him, after Barnabas became the focus of the show, Ross was ordered to stop having Victoria be the main subject of any of the subsequent novels. Since they were considered official tie-ins to the show, Ross had no choice but to obey.
Like I said, this may have already been covered somewhere in the blog. I just thought it might be worth mentioning for readers who weren't aware of the Hamrick/Ross tale. It can still be found online pretty easily.