Friday, June 8, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 509 - 6/7/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Sam enters his house. A door closes, and he calls to Maggie. He feels a draft, and finds an open window that he was sure Joe had closed. He shouts out, asking who's there. He stumbles around the room, checks the bedroom, but there's no sign of Maggie. He turns around and hits a bloody Adam with his cane, who is holding a butcher knife poised to strike.


Adam steps out of the way, and Sam explains that he's blind and can't see him. Adam moves further away and drops the knife. Sam says he can't see. When he asks who he is, Adam replies with his name. Sam asks what he's doing, and Sam reaches out and grasps his arm. He realizes Adam is hurt, and he offers to help fix up his arm. He sits him down on the couch, and asks his name again. Adam says his name, and Sam realizes he doesn't speak English. Sam goes to the kitchen, and Adam gets up and approaches the knife. Sam returns with a pan full of water. Sam tells Adam to come to him and give him his arm. He tells Adam it will hurt, and he begins to wash his wounded arm.


There's a knock at the door and Adam panics. Sam tells him to stay cool, as it's probably just Joe. Adam steps back as Sam lets Professor Stokes in. Sam introduces him to Adam. The Professor says Adam appears to have been in an accident. Stokes picks up the knife on the floor and Adam makes it to the front door and leaves. Sam asks Stokes to stop him from getting away. He calls to Adam to come back.


Stokes says Adam is in trouble. He matches the description of the man who kidnapped Carolyn Stoddard. Sam points out that the kidnapper jumped off Widow's Hill. Stokes tells him that Adam will not be coming back. Stokes says when he and Sam last spoke, he wasn't fully communicative with him. He tells Sam that if he has a dream that begins with a knock at the door, and if someone, particularly Barnabas Collins is at the door, to call him immediately. After he leaves, Sam walks to the window, not realizing that Adam is outside looking in.


Cassandra has stopped in to see Tony. He asks her what she wants, and she asks him to light her cigarette. When he pulls it out and lights it, she mentions how, as soon as he does that, he forgets what he's doing.


He tells her that he will help her. She says he's going to meet Professor Stokes. She gives Tony a key that will open the door to the Professor's place, and then she opens a compartment on a ring and puts it on his finger, saying it will close all doors forever.



Stokes thanks Vicki for meeting with him on such short notice. She tells him the portrait disappeared last week. He says he may know where it is. He asks why she bought the portrait of Angelique, and she says she didn't know it was Angelique at the time. He tells her he believes she traveled back in time, and asks her to tell him all about it, to help save Barnabas' life. She asks if it's Cassandra. She says they look so much alike. He says Angelique was a witch, and Vicki says she was blamed for it. She adds that Abigail Collins called upon the witch hunter, who Stokes identifies as Trask. Someone rings the doorbell, and Stokes asks Vicki to sneak out the back. He says he will use her as a spy in Collinwood.


Tony rings the doorbell again. Stokes allows him in, and he introduces himself as Arthur Hailey. He tells Stokes a story of having bought a house, and he hands him the key Cassandra gave him, which Stokes identifies as a gold Coptic cross. While Stokes examines it, Tony paces nervously.


Stokes pours himself a brandy, and tells Tony that the key would have been used to ward off witches. Stokes leaves his drink on the table and goes to the kitchen to get some cheese. Tony takes the ring and pours the contents of the secret compartment into Stokes' drink. When Stokes returns, Tony talks about the key, and they sit down to drink. Stokes drinks from his cup, and Tony drinks from his. Tony stands up, chokes, and falls over in pain.







Our thoughts

John: Where did Stokes get a cameo portrait of Trask? Do you think he was able to pick up on Tony's resemblance to the good old witch-hunter?

Christine: I was surprised Vicki recognized him from the silhouette, so I don't know how Stokes would have picked up on the resemblance without the telltale hat. I thought it was strange the way Sam determined that Adam was injured by feeling his bloody wounds, and then took it upon himself to blindly clean them, rather than call a doctor, or basically anybody else in a better position to help. On top of that, he talked to him like a child that he had known all his life. It was bizarre.

John: Is it a coincidence that the writers gave Tony the alias of Arthur Hailey, just weeks after the real Arthur Hailey's novel Airport was published?

Christine: Probably not. It's possible they wanted us to believe that Tony is a book nerd who came up with the alias from the novel. His fictional neighbor, Mrs. Bland, was less inspired.

John: Stokes is pretty crafty, figuring out Tony's plan and turning the tables on him. Of course, according to Cassangelique, it seems like Tony should have shuffled off this mortal coil...

Christine: It looks like Cassandra will need to get a new poisoner. She should have advised Tony not to turn his back on the poisoned sherry until it was consumed. I love how Stokes keeps talking about cheese while Tony is gagging and choking. He may have been on to Tony because he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, after going on and on about his wife. At least he had the foresight not to wear that feminine poison ring that Cassandra placed on his finger, which would have been a dead giveaway. 



Dark Shadows Before I Die Round Robin Nightmare tracker:
  1. Wide-eyed skull
  2. Guillotine
  3. Lang's Headless creation
  4. Skeletal bride 
  5. Educational Bat-footage
  6. Giant spider-web 
  7. Mounted wolf's head 
  8. Carolyn's tombstone

1 comment:

Paul Haney said...

Just watched the new Blu-ray release of the 1975 movie The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud last night and had an Addison Powell sighting! He plays a relatively normal character in the film, however he still looked and sounded exactly the same as he did on Dark Shadows.