Dark Shadows Episode 272 - 7/11/67

18 years ago, Jason shows Liz where he buried Paul's body in the basement. In present day, she holds the key and says she knew she'd be a prisoner of Collinwood forever.

Jason denies the allegation, and says there's nothing downstairs. He tells them they can dig up the basement and they won't find a body. Liz goes to call the sheriff, and Roger stops her. He asks to talk to her first. She refuses. She says she wants to be free of Jason. He once again claims he's done nothing wrong.

Liz picks up the phone and asks the sheriff to come to Collinwood because there's been a murder. Jason hits Burke's hand, causing the gun to go off, and then knocks him down and runs away. Burke grabs the gun and chases him outside. Roger says he's grabbing another gun, and several gunshots are heard.

Burke and Roger, armed with guns, search for Jason in the forest. Jason hides in the bushes as Roger goes past him. Burke says he'll follow the cliffs and tells Roger to go towards the road. Burke tells him not to kill McGuire, to ensure Liz can see him turned over to the sheriff. Roger is upset she contacted the sheriff, and Burke brings up how he did time for Roger's lies in the past. He tells Roger if he starts shooting, it had better not be at him.

Vicki tells Liz that the deputies would join the search for McGuire. Carolyn is upset that her mother killed her father, and Liz tells her she didn't mean to. Vicki offers to leave them alone, and Carolyn asks her not to. Liz tries to explain, and Carolyn says she can't hear anything anymore. She bemoans that she was standing at her father's grave when Liz took her down to the basement to tell her there was nothing there. Liz says she went down many times and cried, and Vicki realizes those were the wailing sobs she heard. Carolyn runs out of the room, crying.

The sheriff tells Liz that they'll find Jason. He says from what she told him, McGuire is the real criminal. Roger returns home. She tells Roger she told the sheriff everything. She asks if they're going to take her into custody. Roger tells the sheriff Liz is innocent. She says Jason's denials aren't true. The sheriff asks what she means, and she says Jason denied being involved, and that there's no body in the basement. Burke arrives and the sheriff asks him to help dig up the body. Liz gives them the key.

Burke and the sheriff make their way into the basement, and into the locked room. They prepare to start digging, and the sheriff asks if McGuire is right, and there's no body down there. Burke doesn't understand his skepticism, and they start digging.

Liz tells Vicki that Carolyn will need help, and she's unable to give it to her. She asks Vicki if she heard something. She says she could hear them in the basement, and felt as if the house was being shaken to its foundation. Vicki says it's her imagination. She tells Vicki to beg Carolyn to come and see her. Vicki says she doesn't know where Carolyn is; she's not in the house.

The sheriff says that perhaps for once, McGuire is lying. Burke digs a little more and hits something. He says McGuire was lying—it's a trunk.

Our thoughts

John: I think I may have been right about the body in the basement, or lack thereof. But does that mean that Paul Stoddard is buried somewhere else, or that he isn't really dead? Since they didn't show us his face, it's almost like they want to reveal he's someone we've seen since, but that wouldn't make any sense because obviously Liz would recognize him if he turned up in town under another name.

Christine: You were right when you suggested back in Episode 5 that it was Elizabeth who was crying in the basement. I loved Jason's quick getaway. With all the shots being fired, I would have expected someone to have been shot.

John: I was really hoping that Jason was going to bump into Barnabas, but maybe that will happen tomorrow, since Barnabas has had the last couple of days off.

Christine: I was thinking the same thing. I am hoping he'll get to face the wrath of Barnabas at some point.

John: I love how the sheriff is so lazy, he wants to believe Jason McGuire rather than going to the trouble of digging a hole. And after they've dug less than a foot deep, he's ready to give up, of course by that point, the trunk had to have been exposed...

Christine: Speaking of lazy, Roger was all too willing to agree to stay with Liz instead of helping with the digging. It looks like Sheriff Patterson decided to shave his mustache off.

"I have to be free even if I have to go to prison." -Elizabeth Collins Stoddard