Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 647 - 12/17/68

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Roger lies at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding. Amy brings Liz downstairs to help him. David stands by, watching. Liz tries to revive Roger. She sends Amy upstairs to get Julia. Roger stirs and sits up. He says he's alright. He says someone in the house tried to kill him. He says there was a wire stretched across the steps that he tripped over. He looks and doesn't see it. Liz helps him back to his room and says that doesn't make sense. Downstairs, David coils the wire. Amy comes back downstairs and tells him that Julia is getting dressed.


In his room, Roger tells Liz that he has to find out about the wire. He lies down and says he won't be able to make an appointment in London while strange things are happening in the house. Liz offers to fix him a drink. She goes to his in-room decanter, and next to it she finds a Tarot card. He doesn't recognize it, and says it wasn't there earlier. She's convinced it must be related to his accident. She says that she read that each card means something. She tells him that in the seance, someone warned them.


David comes in to check on his father. He says that Amy said he fell, and asks if he feels alright. He tells David he'll be fine. David asks if it means someone was in the house, like a burglar. Roger tells David he's perfectly fine, and gets up to fix himself a drink. He tells David he'll be fine in the morning, and David hugs him, telling him that he's glad.


Downstairs, Liz calls Professor Stokes to ask him about the Tarot card. He tells her that he was just reading a book about the Collins family. She asks if he'll come to see her in the morning, because she needs his help.


The next day, Amy is sitting on the stairs when David comes in the house. She asks where he has been. He tells her that he was outside. He asks her if she was upstairs again. She says that she was, and Quentin wants him to come upstairs to play the game. David says Quentin made him place the wire on the stairs, and says he won't go up there again. Amy says Quentin won't like that, and will do something. David asks what Quentin can do when there's a knock on the door. It's Stokes to see Liz. Liz comes downstairs and tells David to take Amy for a walk while she meets with Stokes.


Liz and Stokes retire to the drawing room. Stokes asks if there has been another sign. Liz hands him the Tarot card.

David puts on his coat, and Amy says she doesn't want to go out. She says she thinks he's afraid of Quentin. She says Quentin calls him Jamison, because he looks like him. David says that's his grandfather's name.

Liz says she knows Stokes knows what the card means, and if he won't tell her, she'll go to the library to research it. He tells her that the card is a warning. He says it's the tower of destruction, which warns of the coming of great unhappiness to a house. She asks if he's putting it gently for her.


David and Amy return to Quentin's room. David asks if he can hear him. He says he's not going to do what he's asked to anymore, if it's like the last time. He says it's not fair. He asks if he understands, and the Victrola begins to play. Amy says he heard him, and that's his answer. David listens to the music, and then notices the cradle is rocking. Amy calls him Jamison, and says he does want to play the game again. David says he does.


Stokes tells Liz that he'll return with someone who can explain everything that has been happening in the house.

Madam Findley tells Liz that she doesn't want to be told anything about the house; either the history or her personal experiences. She explains that a medium has only her own sensitivities.


She says there has been an accident in the room recently, and asks Amy, on the stairs, if she knows. Amy says she found Roger, and Findley tells her to say no more. She wanders into the drawing room and recognizes that it is where the seance was held. She says there have been spirits in the room, and they left their mark. She goes into a trance.


David comes downstairs, and he and Amy approach the drawing room.

Findley screeches, and asks if there is someone there who can tell her the secrets of the house. She hears something, and asks who it is. She says she cannot hear them. She says they are not in the room, but they are in the house.

David and Amy eavesdrop.


Findley says she must find them, and says the house is a battleground. She asks who they are fighting, and then asks them to lead her to the room. She says they must show her. Stokes asks her if she's alright. Findley comes out of her trance, and says the fight goes on between them, but she doesn't know who yet. She says she will when she finds the room. Stokes ask Liz if she has permission to search the house, and Liz approves. Stokes leaves, and Findley tells Liz that she must find who started the war.


David and Amy rush upstairs and try to tell Quentin that a lady is coming to look for him. David asks what they are supposed to do.


Our thoughts

John: Roger seemed to get up a little too easily after his tumble down the stairs. If only he had asked to round up the usual suspects, he would have caught the guilty party red-(wire)-handed.

Christine: I can't figure out how David rigged that tripwire. I can see how he could have tied one end to the staircase, but how did he attach it to the wall in a way that would leave no evidence? Of course, with David's past history, Roger should have suspected him immediately, especially after his exuberant hug and fervent declaration of how glad he is that he's alright.

John: I'm still not clear if Amy is possessed by Beth when she tries to encourage David to remain Quentin's puppet, or if she's doing that of her own accord. It certainly seems like the latter, despite there being little explanation for that. It's not like we're aware of her having some supernatural predisposition, even if her brother is a werewolf.

Christine: Lest we not forget she only recently escaped a mental institution. I also don't think she's possessed, though it could be she's supposed to be. Regardless, while David is having a troubled conscience about trying to kill his father, she has no such remorse and is encouraging him to continue playing around with an entity that harbors murderous intent toward the family.

John: When Stokes said that he would be bringing someone who could explain everything, I was sure he was coming back with Dan Curtis or Art Wallace. And then I recalled that even those guys probably couldn't explain much of what has happened in Collinwood...

Christine: They really should invite Madam Findley to stay on at Collinwood. Having a medium on site would really come in handy, and I think she and Julia would make an interesting team. We last saw the Tarot featured in Episode 441 when Millicent was conducting a reading. It's rather funny that The Tower card showed up in Roger's room after he had just taken a tumble, considering the image on the card. Incidentally, I couldn't help wondering if Adam is still staying on with Professor Stokes, and if those loose ends will ever be tied up.

1JJ Swiss Tarot has been used in the past on DS

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