Thursday, December 20, 2018

Dark Shadows Episode 649 - 12/19/68

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Findley finds the storage room, and the entrance to the secret room. She crawls in and says she can feel their presence. The door slams shut behind her. She asks who's there, and why they are haunting this house. She demands that they make their presence known, and the Victrola begins to play.


She says she wants to help them, and the music stops. She assures them they need her help, and asks them to let her help them. She offers them peace. She says if they won't let her help them, then she demands that they let her leave. She assures them that she's not afraid, and lights a candle. She senses that someone died in the room. The candle is blown out, and she says that they exist in darkness. She says she'll wait for them, but they must appear to her.


Julia tells Liz that Roger will be fine. Julia says that Roger claims someone tried to kill him. Liz says there wasn't any wire on the stairs. Julia suggests Madame Findley may help them understand what's going on. Liz says she's worried that she's been gone for hours, and Julia reminds her it's a large house.


Unable to leave Quentin's room, Findley asks why they want her to stay in the house. She lights the candle again, and sees the cradle begin to rock. She asks whose child it was. The phone rings, and she picks it up. She can hear someone breathing, but they don't speak to her. She then realizes that the phone is not connected.


Liz says she's going to look for Findley. Julia asks her if she's supposed to interrupt her work, and Liz says, no, but it's been too long.

Findley tries to convince the person at the other end of the phone to speak to hear. She then walks to the cradle and rocks it. She smells a woman's perfume, and decides a woman's spirit exists in the room. The phone rings again, but she refuses to answer. She demands that they appear to her.


Julia goes upstairs as Liz comes out saying she can't find Findley anywhere.

The phone continues to ring. She picks it up and tells them to leave her alone. They say something and she responds that she's not going to die. She says her will is stronger than theirs. She steps in front of a mirror and sees the reflection of a skeleton.


Chris Jennings paces in his room thinking about the dead waitress. He goes to the window and looks up to the sky. He realizes the moon will be full tomorrow, and thinks he can't let it happen again. There's a knock at the door, and it's Joe. He lets him in, and Joe denigrates the place he's staying in. Joe tells him he may be leaving town for good. Chris asks why. Joe explains that he thinks it might be best if he was somewhere Maggie wasn't. He says he applied for some jobs in Boston. Chris says he was hoping Joe and Maggie might get back together. Joe suggests the odds of that are slim. Joe tells him he saw Amy. He tells Chris that he should try to get up there more often. Joe then points out he ran into a medium at Collinwood who told him he would die soon. He says Amy saw a pentagram on his face. Chris is disturbed, but tells Joe not to worry and promptly kicks Joe out of his apartment. He says he can't let it happen to Joe tomorrow night.


Liz gets off the phone and tells Julia that Stokes hasn't heard from Findley either.

Findley gets stir crazy, locked in the room. She pounds on the door, cries, and calls for help. She says she can't be frightened and the chandelier starts to swing. The Victrola starts to play again, and she asks what it means. A desk lid slams shut, and an empty chair turns to face her. She screams.


Chris Jennings arrives at Collinwood. Liz says Amy is in bed, and he tells her he's there to see Julia. He says he needs medical help. He says he'd like sleeping pills, and she says he can get them without a prescription. He says he needs something stronger—something that would last more than 24 hours. He says that it's vital that he sleeps tonight. She tells him he looks rested, and he says he's desperate to get the pills. She says when someone is desperate for sleeping pills, she's hesitant to provide them. She says she can give him something to give him the sleep he needs.


Liz comes in and says Findley's car is still outside. Julia points out she's at the top of the stairs. Findley doesn't respond to her, and tumbles down the stairs. Liz and Julia scream, as Findley comes to rest at the bottom of the stairs.





Our thoughts

John: I get that they need to move the story along, but I didn't buy that Findley would break so quickly. At least not without a close encounter with a ghost like she finally got towards the end of the episode. I think she'd be too excited to be in such a spiritually-rich environment to lose interest and go stir crazy so quickly.

Christine: I completely agree with you on that. It was very entertaining watching her take charge of the situation at the beginning of the episode and disappointing to see her fall apart so easily. It does lead me to wonder about the ghost of Quentin Collins.Why did he feel the need to lock her up and torment her when she only expressed a desire to help him? I guess he's just a mean old ghost.

John: Does anyone understand how the moon works in Collinwood? A full moon every couple of days? Either a werewolf's best friend or worst enemy, depending on their disposition. Of course, if you thought your cousin was at risk, wouldn't it be easier for you to just skip town for a few days?

Christine: Yes, I'm also having trouble understanding the lunar calendar in Collinsport. Perhaps that's why we always see the high tide in the opening titles. As I recall, Chris' past practice was to head up to the mountains during that time of the month, so it's odd that it wouldn't occur to him to do that now.

John: Nice, albeit obviously a stunt-Findley tumbling down the stairs. Still, it was nice stunt work. Julia's screams, on the other hand, could use some work. Too bad Liz' more accomplished screams couldn't drown them out.

Christine: Oh, c'mon! You didn't find her chimpanzee-like screams terrifying? I'm assuming Findley's wide eyed stare indicates that she's dead, but did she die from the fall, or was she dead already when she showed up at the top of the stairs? The impressive stunt work was carried out by Alex Stevens, who we last saw diving through the window of the Blue Whale in Episode 640.

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