Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 603 - 10/16/68

Amazon Prime members can stream today's episode free!

Elizabeth is in the drawing room looking at a model mausoleum when Vicki comes in. She tells Vicki to ensure that her wishes are fulfilled, and asks that if she dies before it is built, Vicki won't let her be buried underground.


Vicki says she won't promise her because she's not going to die. She says both Dr. Hoffman and Windcliff both say she's in excellent health. Vicki tries to convince Liz to help herself. Liz tells her they will build the mausoleum on the cliff, and someone will always need to be in the house to hear the bell when she rings it.


Roger enters and chastises his sister. He asks what she's hiding, and she tells him it's a model of her mausoleum. Roger tells her that the contractor who built it knew he was humoring an insane woman. She says that she will pay for it and Roger smashes the model. Liz runs off, and Vicki tells him that he shouldn't have done that.


A voice calls to Liz in her room. It's her own voice, telling her she can't hide from herself. The voice tells her to get ready.

Vicki tries to fix the model, as Roger explains that everything went wrong after he married Cassandra. He says neither of them have been lucky in love, but at least she didn't marry Clark. There's a knock at the door and Roger gets it. It's Jeff, who he leaves outside when he goes to get Vicki. He asks her if she wishes to see him, and she agrees to.


Liz tells herself that they will find her dead in her bedroom, tonight.

Jeff tells Vicki it's good to see her. He offers her the engagement ring, saying it's hers. He puts his hand on her shoulder and she tells him not to touch her. He says she has every right to be angry. She says that she made up the man she loved, because the man she loved wouldn't have done the kind of things that he did. She says that if he loved her, he could have told her why he acted the way he did. He tries to convince her that everything he did, he did for her. She doesn't understand, and asks if he'd like to try and explain it to her. He says that he will, later. She rebuffs him.


Roger goes to Liz' room. He knocks on the door but there's no answer. He goes in and finds that she's not there.

Jeff tells Vicki that he tried, and he said everything he planned to say. Before Vicki can truly tell him off, Roger comes downstairs and says that Liz is gone.

Liz wanders through Eagle Hill Cemetery. She looks around, imagining that this is where she will be buried alive.


Jeff offers to help Roger look for Liz. Roger asks Vicki to search the house with Mrs. Johnson.

Liz kneels near the grave of Peter Bradford. She grabs her chest.


In the woods, Roger calls to Liz. Jeff asks why she'd come to the woods on her own. Roger explains that Liz is troubled. He suggests that they split up, adding that she may have gone to Widow's Hill.

Liz says she's alright, and then she hears her voice telling her that she will be found dead lying on a grave. Jeff finds her and when he tries to help her, she tells him that he's dead. She passes out and he realizes that she's lying on Peter Bradford's grave.


Vicki comes downstairs when Jeff comes in carrying Liz. He tells her he found her in the graveyard, and that she fainted. Vicki says she has no pulse or heartbeat—that she's dead!


Our thoughts

John: Since when does Vicki run around Collinwood in a little black dress with her hair down? Did she know that Jeff would be stopping by? Or did she perhaps have a date with Barnabas?

Christine: Maybe she just got back from the concert in Bangor Barnabas promised to take her to in Episode 583.

John: Sadly when Roger crushed Liz' model mausoleum, we saw that it wasn't a particularly high quality construction. Despite that, Vicki was still having trouble reassembling it correctly.

Christine: Was anyone else searching online for the Stoddard Mausoleum Playset, complete with bell that actually rings? Add a few Dark Shadows action figures and imaginative kids can have hours of entertaining fun! Collins Family Mausoleum, chained coffin, and stakes sold separately.

John: Liz is dead? Sure she is. Who was the last person to die for the duration of the closing credits of one episode to the opening credits of the next?

Christine: Of course she's not dead. Haven't you seen Premature Burial? It's no wonder Liz was so worried about being buried alive. Vicki has declared her dead even though her chest is rising and she's obviously still breathing!

3 comments:

Paul Haney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul Haney said...

There was no playset, but I did own the Dark Shadows board game, complete with glow in the dark skeleton and Barnabas fangs!

John Scoleri said...

That's one of my wife's key memories of Dark Shadows as well. Speaking of DS merchandise, I recently picked up a set of the Dark Shadows ViewMaster reels, only to find that they feature elements of the story just past what we're watching now - so I've set them aside for awhile to avoid spoilers!