Dark Shadows Episode 259 - 6/22/67

Liz thanks someone on the phone and then hangs up. She calls for Roger, and Vicki says he just went to town. Liz says she just got a call from the sheriff, and Carolyn has been arrested for almost killing a woman. She was driving drunk and almost hit a woman on the side of the road. The woman saved Carolyn from the car before it burst into flames. Liz says she's fine other than a sprained wrist. Vicki asks if she was alone, and Liz says yes, Buzz was not with her. Vicki offers to go get her, but Liz says a family member has to get her.

Vicki says that Liz should go, to prove that she cares for her daughter. Liz says she's only left Collinwood once in 18 years, when she was very sick. Vicki says she doesn't know why Liz won't leave, and suggests that if anything, she should leave to get Carolyn. Liz asks Vicki to drive her.

Carolyn walks around the sheriff's office, bored. The sheriff tells her that someone is coming to get her. He's shocked when Liz arrives to get her. He says he was expecting to see Roger. He goes to get Carolyn, who is equally shocked to see her mother out of the house. Carolyn dismisses her mother's action. She says she never left Collinwood because of her father, and now she can, as she can forget about him as she gets married again. Carolyn says that her father, and now she, doesn't mean anything to Liz anymore. She calls for the sheriff to lock her up in the cell. He refuses, and tells her she has to go with her mother. Carolyn tells her mother that her plan to try and convince her that she cared didn't work.

Liz tells Jason what happened, and he says there's little she can do for Carolyn. He says there's nothing Liz can do, and she corrects him. He says they agreed that she can't do that, and she says she has to tell the truth or she'll go mad. She threatens to scream it out, and Jason tells her to get a hold of herself. Jason tells her to wash her hands of Carolyn. Liz refuses to stop caring for Carolyn. She tells him that if she doesn't care for Carolyn, then she wouldn't have to marry Jason. She says she wants to scream the truth but she can't.

Vicki hears Liz sobbing, and asks through her door if she's alright. She allows Vicki to come in. Liz apologizes for waking her. Vicki apologizes for making Liz leave Collinwood. Liz asks why Carolyn won't believe her. Vicki points out that Carolyn needs to act like an adult. Vicki says that Liz didn't almost kill someone. She gets Liz to admit that Jason has something over her. Vicki says it can't be worse than marrying Jason McGuire. Liz admits to murdering Paul Stoddard—her husband and Carolyn's father!

Our thoughts

John: Wait a second, is Carolyn Liz's daughter, or Roger's daughter? This drunk driving story sounds all too familiar.

Christine: Thank goodness Buzz wasn't in the car with her. I wonder why she was already drunk before meeting up with him. Was she tanking up by herself at the Blue Whale before their date?

John: Liz' exit from Collinwood is quite the epic shot. Of course it would be more epic if she hadn't sat out for 30 episodes while in the hospital a few months back.

Christine: I think it portrays the intense level of anxiety she has about leaving the grounds, which is quite different than being removed in a catatonic state. The sound of the ocean was a nice touch, though it's funny we've never heard it from the entrance before.

John: The truth is out there! Liz drops a major bombshell, and it's not even Friday! It's a whole new ballgame in Collinwood.

Christine: How satisfying to have her finally blurt out the truth to Vicki, though it remains to be seen if it will resolve the situation with Jason. The first time I saw this episode, I had not yet seen the pre-Barnabas episodes, so my perspective of the police station and Sheriff Patterson is quite different now that I'm aware of all the past events that have happened there. This is the first time he's been seen sporting a mustache.

"...the stones of Collinwood are not impregnable to the thrusts of love..." -Vicki's Opening Narration