Episode 107 - 11/22/66

Frank Garner arrives at the sheriff's office, concerned about Vicki. His father tells him that she left after questioning, and he's confident Roger's alibi will clear him as a suspect. He also says that the sheriff will be interviewing Sam Evans.

The sheriff returns, and Sam Evans arrives shortly thereafter. Sam asks who the other men are, and the sheriff says Roger Collins' attorneys. Sam asks what Roger has done, and the sheriff says he hasn't said he's done anything at all. The sheriff notes that someone tried to run down Vicki, and Sam was the last one to see her. The sheriff asks why he asked Vicki to meet with him. He says everyone is interested in what happened to Bill Malloy. The sheriff asks what Sam did after she left. He says he had another drink, then went for a drive, and no one saw him. Sam says he didn't attempt to murder Vicki. He asks the sheriff what his motive is. Frank excuses himself, and the sheriff dismisses Sam. As he leaves, he calls for one of his deputies to keep an eye on Sam.

Vicki is alone in Collinwood, and turns on all the lights in the drawing room and closes the window. The wind howls outside, and there's a knock at the door. She reluctantly approaches it, ultimately asking who it is. When Frank calls out, she's relieved. She lets him in. Frank asks who other than Roger would try to hurt her. She says David wouldn't try to kill her. Frank asks about Sam Evans, who can't account for his location last night. She says Sam wouldn't hurt her. She did say Sam was upset that she wouldn't share what she knew about Bill's possible murder. She mentions how Burke felt Sam may have had evidence to clear him. Frank spins that into Sam being a possible suspect if Roger and Sam were working together 10 years ago. Roger might have tried to break into her room, and Sam may have tried to run her down. Frank goes heads back to the sheriff's office, but not before making dinner plans with Vicki.

Liz comes downstairs asking about David. Vicki says he's likely at the old house. Liz asks if she'll go check for him. Liz calls Matthew and asks if David is with him. He's not, so she asks Matthew to search for him by the cliff. She also says Vicki is checking for him at the old house.

Mr. Garner asks the sheriff how long it takes his men to check a simple alibi. Frank arrives and asks where Sam Evans. He tells the sheriff that Sam may have withheld information in Burke's manslaughter case. His father pulls him aside and asks him not to bring up the manslaughter case. Frank says that's a motive Sam Evans has to hurt Vicki.

Sam returns to the sheriff's office and asks why he had to come back a second time. He confirms Sam doesn't have a car. He asks why he had Maggie's car last night. Sam says he already said he has no reason to harm Vicki. The sheriff says what if Vicki had information that could harm him. Information related to the manslaughter case. Sam says Vicki has no information that can harm him. The sheriff tells Sam he thinks he's hiding something.

As Vicki explores outside the old house, Matthew pushes a stone from the roof which crashes just inches in front of her.

Our thoughts

John: How quickly Vicki forgets that David locked her in a room to die. But it turns out he may not be the only one in Collinwood (other than Roger) that might want to see her harmed.

Christine: I also thought it odd that she had no reason to suspect David after he locked her up. Vicki tells Frank she's alone in the house. I was thinking Liz must be out visiting Matthew at the cottage, but then she came down the stairs a little while later. So I guess she wasn't alone after all.

John: Frank is a regular Perry Mason. He's going to stir up the pot, unaware that his father would just as soon not dig up all of Collinwood's ghosts in the process.

Christine: Let's not lose our heads here. Frank may try to emulate Perry Mason, but he's no Mason. Perry Mason would have had Matthew pegged as a suspect right away and wouldn't be wasting time chasing down the Sam Evans red herring. Maybe it's just an excuse to hang out in Collinsport so he can get to know Vicki better over dinner. Will they be dining at The Blue Whale or The Collinsport Inn?

John: Matthew has been turning up as a possible suspect in a number of ways these past few weeks, and now we actually see him try to kill Vicki. It's only Tuesday, so I expect we're going to be seeing much more of him before the week is out. Let's just hope Vicki makes it out unscathed.

Christine: Why would Matthew want to kill Vicki? Has Roger enlisted his help to keep his own hands clean? She had a strangely subdued reaction to nearly being crushed by the urn.

Episode 106 - 11/21/66

Vicki arrives at the sheriff's office. Mr. Garner is there, acting as legal counsel for Roger. The sheriff asks him to leave, and Mr. Garner says he'll be staying for the questioning. She asks where Roger is, and the sheriff says they're holding him, but he needs to ask her a few questions.

He asks her to identify the pen. She explains that she found it at Lookout Point, two or three days after Bill died. Mr. Garner interrupts to say that Roger might have lost it at any time in the interval after Bill died. Vicki then says she took the pen back to Collinwood. She had it for a day, and then it disappeared. She left it in David's room, and when she went back for it, it was gone. She said Roger and David were in the house. She thought David had stolen it. The sheriff asks if Roger had seen the pen, and she confirmed that he had. Garner interrupts trying to mount a defense, and the sheriff threatens to remove him from the office.

The sheriff asks when she understood the significance of the pen, and Vicki says it was when she saw Blair's pen in Bangor. He explained how rare it was, and that Burke had a duplicate. The sheriff asks if she thought Burke dropped the pen on the beach. She said she was, until she found out that Burke had given it to Carolyn, who told her that Roger took it. She said that Carolyn told Roger that she knew about the pen, and he came to her to tell his version of what happened that night; that he had been at Lookout Point, but that he didn't have anything to do with Bill's death. He was already dead when he arrived. She said she wanted to believe him, but she didn't know what she believed until someone broke into her room in the middle of the night. She said she screamed, and then Roger entered. He told her she imagined it. Garner says she could have been dreaming, and the sheriff gives him a last warning.

Vicki also describes the car attempting to run her down last night. She says she ran back to Collinwood and phoned Burke. The sheriff asks why she was walking back to Collinwood at night, and Vicki describes her meeting with Sam Evans. He wanted to know what she knew about Bill Malloy's death, and when she didn't answer his questions he was angry. Mr. Garner asks if he can ask a few questions, and the sheriff allows it. He asks her to confirm that she can't identify Roger as the one who broke into her room, or who tried to run her down. She asks if not Roger, then who?

The sheriff says he may ask her to come back to make a formal statement. As she's leaving, Mr. Garner stops her to say that his son is coming to town to help him with the case, and he was looking forward to seeing her. Carolyn shows up and she's upset. Her mother told her that Roger was being held in connection with Bill Malloy's death. Carolyn asks Vicki to wait for her, and goes in to see the sheriff.

The sheriff asks Mr. Garner to explain what's going on. Mr Garner explains that the sheriff is going to ask her a few questions. He shows her the pen and asks her if she had seen it before. She said it was her pen, given to her by Burke Devlin. She says it was lost, and she describes how Roger took it from her to return to Burke. He asks her when he lost it, and she says it was the night Bill Malloy died. He tells her Vicki found the pen on the beach at Lookout Point. She asks if Vicki told him that Roger killed Bill Malloy. She says she must have a grudge against her uncle Roger. The sheriff says Vicki was almost killed by someone last night, and he asks where her uncle was at 8pm last night. Carolyn breaks down, and the sheriff asks Vicki to come in and take Carolyn home. The sheriff asks that she stay in the house and try not to be alone. The girls leave and the sheriff calls for Roger to be brought in to his office.

Roger enters the sheriff's office. He tells Garner he hopes he's prepared to sue for false arrest. The sheriff asks why Roger buried the pen. He explains that was foolish of him. He says he buried it because it would lead people to the wrong set of conclusions. The sheriff says that he didn't want it known he was at the place Bill was killed. Garner interrupts Roger to say he doesn't have to admit anything, but Roger continues. He explains that he arranged to meet Bill, and when he arrived he found Bill was already dead. The sheriff asked what happened next. Roger says he want to his office. The sheriff asked why he didn't contact him, and why he lied the following day. He says he didn't want his sister to be embroiled in everything. The sheriff explains that lying to a police officer in an investigation is against the law. Roger asks what he intends to do about it.

The sheriff clarifies that he hasn't yet accused Roger of anything, and then asks if he has a full set of keys to Collinwood. Roger says he only has a handful of keys. The sheriff asks if he has a key to Vicki's room, and Roger sees where the questioning is leading. Rather than answer, he claims that Vicki imagined the whole thing. The sheriff asks if he has access to his sister's keys. Roger says that he surely could have broken into Vicki's room but why would he. The sheriff asks where he was at 8pm, and Roger explains he was driving around, alone, with no destination, and no one saw him. He then asks if that's when Vicki was almost run over. He does claim to have stopped for gas after 8pm somewhere outside Clearwater. He tells the sheriff to check on that, because he's told him the entire truth.

Back at Collinwood, Carolyn is distraught. She tells Vicki that she can't believe her uncle Roger would try to hurt her.

Roger says he couldn't harm anyone, let alone his governess. Roger asks how long they have to stay. The sheriff asks about the meeting with Bill. He says Burke has a theory, Roger denies there being any truth to it. The sheriff asks why Bill called the meeting the night he died. Roger dodges the question. Roger proclaims that someone may be trying to kill Vicki, but it's not him.

Our thoughts

John: Garner isn't a very good lawyer. Rather than paying attention and taking notes while Vicki answers the sheriff's questions, he's attempting to try the case in the sheriff's office.

Christine: Perhaps Garner Jr. would have handled the case better.

John: Why does the sheriff asks Garner to explain to Carolyn what he's going to do, when all he's going to do are ask her a few questions?

Christine: Maybe he thought it would calm her down to have Garner speak to her, thus avoiding any female histrionics.

John: Roger goes to great lengths to proclaim that he's telling the entire truth, but who would believe him after he had already been caught in a myriad of lies? Whether or not he's guilty of murder, he's certainly guilty of lying to the sheriff investigating Bill's death, and hiding evidence. Surely that's enough to lock him up for a little while...

Addendum:  Legal analysis by an anonymous person who does not play a lawyer on TV

One might wonder about the level of professional competence displayed by Mr. Garner, the attorney summoned by accused murderer Roger Collins. Because of our limited perspective at this point, an attorney reviewing Garner's competence would mostly have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Deciding on whether the specific acts of a TV Lawyer are competent depends on what advance preparation and investigation have been performed by the TV Lawyer, and what facts are known to the Lawyer.

Garner could be a bumbling idiot - or maybe he just reflects the inaccurate depiction of lawyers and legal proceedings characteristic to TV shows and movies. I'd say the jury is still out on the question of Garner's competence. While there are some reasons for concern about his legal abilities, there's not enough evidence to make a firm conclusion either way at this point.

This brief addendum will review the competence of Garner using a "TV Lawyer Competency Rating" (TVLCR) scale. This WAG scale is based on my estimation of how a general audience might rate a TV Lawyer's performance. I have supplemented these TVLCR scores with some comments reflecting real-world practices.


ISSUE 1: OBSERVING THE INTERROGATION

The episode starts out with Mr. Garner at the sheriff's office where the interrogation of witnesses is about to begin. The Sheriff invites Garner to leave, but Garner points out that he has a right to be present.

During the interrogation of Miss Winters, Garner jumps in a couple of times to try and score some rhetorical points. This causes the Sheriff to threaten to throw Garner out of the office. Realizing that being present for these interrogations is in the best interest of his client, Garner seems to try and hold his tongue. However, he does interrupt the questioning of Winters one more time, which causes the Sheriff to give him a final warning.

TV LAWYER RATING: Competent. Garner asserted his right to be present to hear the statements of the witnesses even though the Sheriff wrongly tried to get him to leave. Garner advocated points advantageous to his client and pushed the envelope with the Sheriff. While these types of interruptions aren't necessarily helpful in a real-life interrogation, they are certainly what people expect from a competent TV lawyer!

ISSUE 2: PARTICIPATING IN THE INTERROGATION

Garner gets permission to ask Miss Winters some questions. He immediately scores points by getting her to acknowledge that she did not see who was trying to break into her room, nor did she see who was driving the car that she thought was trying to run her over.

Garner then makes the classic cross-examination mistake of asking "one question too many." He does so by confronting Winters with the conclusion that since she didn't see who committed the acts, there was no proof that Roger Collins was the person who did those things. However, this misstep only serves to give Winters the opportunity to blurt out: "If it wasn't Roger, who was it?"

At least it didn't happen in front of a jury, where this kind of "one question too many" mistake can be embarrassing (not to mention devastating to the client's case). Garner should have stopped asking questions after he elicited the helpful facts. Later he could have used these facts, at the appropriate time and place, to argue the conclusion he wanted to draw from the failings of the evidence.

Instead, Garner asked that "one question too many" which allowed the witness to advance a negative conclusion. Posing the supposed "lack of proof" as a question also gave Winters an opportunity to volunteer other harmful facts that had not yet come out (although that did not happen in this instance).

While supporters of Garner’s tactics might argue that he was using the interview setting to test the waters, and that it was a less risky situation to ask "one question too many", I don't buy it. Unless you know the witness is going to say "and I don't think he did it", there doesn't seem to be any meaningful benefit to confronting the witness with a fairly weak conclusion that doesn't necessarily follow from all the facts.

TV LAWYER RATING: Incompetent. All Garner accomplished was getting the witness to essentially say: "Who else could have been the murderer except your client?"


ISSUE 3: EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

Things really seem to go off the rails when Roger comes in. We know that Collins is being held by the Sheriff, although only for questioning. Why isn't Collins read his rights? Why is Garner just sitting there while the client talks and talks?

An important missing piece of information is whether Garner had had an opportunity to speak with Collins privately prior to the interrogation by the Sheriff. If that had occurred, then hopefully Garner would have advised Collins about the right to remain silent and inquired into the statements that Collins would be making.

Interestingly enough, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona was issued only about five months before this episode aired. So the expected TV "reading of your rights" does not occur. Throughout the seventies, the Miranda warnings (i.e. "you have the right to remain silent...", etc.) would become a staple of police shows and movies. Indeed, these scenes were repeated ad nauseum to the extent that it created a general misimpression that an arrest was illegal if the police did not read a person their rights. (In reality, Miranda warnings are not required to be given simply because someone is being arrested. Further, the failure to give the warnings does not render an arrest invalid, but it could result in statements being declared inadmissible.)

Given the typical inaccuracy of the legal proceedings depicted on television shows and in movies, it is no surprise that Dark Shadows does not incorporate breaking legal issues that were only several months old at the time of the episode (this isn't a "ripped from the headlines" legal show like Law & Order, after all).

That being said, as Collins is making a variety of statements to the Sheriff, Garner jumps in with the advice: "You don't have to admit anything you don't want to admit." Not bad for a TV lawyer, especially during that era, but the better advice would have been: "You don't have to make any statements at all — and SHUT UP like I told you during our meeting at the jail."

In real life, the client ultimately makes the decision about whether or not to make a statement to the police. A lawyer must make sure that the client is properly advised and understands the risks of making a statement. From what I saw in this episode, Roger Collins strikes me as just the type of client who would have disregarded his lawyer's advice in this regard, even if Collins had been properly advised by Garner prior to the interrogation by the sheriff.

TV LAWYER RATING: Incompetent. How can Garner just sit there and let his client say all those things without even being read his rights?


OVERALL EVALUATION

Garner strikes me as the go-to civil attorney for the Collins family who got dragged into this murder case just because they are familiar with him. Based on Garner's poor competency rating as a TV Lawyer, Roger Collins should fire him and instead reach out to Raymond Burr or Andy Griffith.

Episode 105 - 11/18/66

Burke stops in to see the sheriff, who happens to be reviewing Bill Malloy's autopsy report. Burke is surprised to hear that the case is not yet closed. Burke tells him that Vicki Winters has concrete evidence to offer, and that half an hour ago someone tried to kill her. The sheriff asked who, and Burke says he knows who. He then describes Vicki's experience the night before, and implicate Roger as the one who broke into her room.

Roger arrives home, and Liz asks where he was. She asks if he ran into Vicki—almost figuratively. Roger says he wonders where Sam Evans was this evening.

The sheriff says Burke is willing to believe anything bad about Roger. Burke also mentions the near accident tonight, and suggests Roger was responsible. Burke asks the sheriff to play along, as he's expecting to produce the necessary evidence to prove Roger's guilt.

Liz asks why Roger would ask about Sam Evans. He brings up the portrait he gifted her. She tells him he's wrong. Sam Evans couldn't have been the one who tried to get into her room. Roger suggests no one tried to get in, but Liz believes her. She reminds him of the ghost of Bill Malloy, and of the seaweed they found. They hear a call, and she sees it's the sheriff. She asks Roger to open the door, but he stares at it from across the room as they knock.

He opens the door to the sheriff, and Burke steps forward to join him. They adjourn to the drawing room, and Roger offers him a drink. Burke asks to see Vicki. Liz says she sent her to bed with a sedative because she was hysterical. Roger says it's all nonsense. He explains that Vicki sees ghosts. Burke asks about the pen she found. He tells the story of the pen he gave Carolyn. He says that Roger took it, and somehow lost it before he got to the meeting the night Bill died, only to be found by Vicki where Bill was murdered. Roger admits to losing the pen. He says someone may have found it, and then lost it before it was found by Vicki. Roger suggests Bill may have found it, and dropped it before he slipped and fell from the cliff.

Burke asks if Roger admits to telling Vicki that he went to meet Bill and then found his dead body. Roger again says that Vicki imagined it all. Roger asks to see the pen. Burke says that he knows that's a safe question, because he stole it from Vicki. Roger suggests that Burke produce a pen that Carolyn and Vicki can identify. Burke pulls a pen from his pocket and brandishes it in front of Roger. Roger asks where he got it. He says it couldn't be. He says it resembles it, but he can't be sure. Roger says the resemblance was purely superficial. The sheriff requests that Carolyn and Vicki come to his office to see if they can identify the pen. Roger says there must be thousands of those pens, and Burke explains there's only one in the country. The sheriff and Burke leave, with Burke offering Roger pleasant dreams.

Liz asks Roger if he'd care to explain, and he says he wouldn't. She asks why he didn't tell her about the pen. She tells him that she's going to have questions for Carolyn and Vicki in the morning before they go to the sheriff's office. Roger leaves.

Roger finds his way to where he buried the pen. He lifts the rock and digs in the sand. He scrambles before finding it. He has a look of relief until he hears Burke say, "Thanks Roger, you saved us a good deal of trouble." He stands up to see Burke and the Sheriff looking over him.

Our thoughts

John: Perhaps the most exciting surprise ending to a week since the show started! How can Roger possibly weasel his way out of this mess now, with the sheriff and Burke catching him in the act of digging up his buried treasure.

Christine: Caught red handed! Liz may have to leave Collinwood to visit him in jail.

John: I was almost sure that Burke was going to use Blair's pen to fabricate evidence against Roger, so I must admit I was pleasantly surprised he did so with the sheriff's advance knowledge.

Christine: I was surprised that the sheriff was game even before hearing Burke's plan. Burke must have told him the plan in the cruiser on the way to Collinwood.

John: I sure hope David was able to watch today's events unfold in his crystal ball! He wouldn't want to miss it. Can't wait to see where next week takes us. We're halfway to the arrival of Barnabas Collins, and the show has proven to be far more entertaining than I had ever expected going in to these early episodes.

Christine: Yes, it's too bad that the early episodes weren't initially released, causing fans to think they weren't worthwhile or entertaining. It is interesting to learn the history of the characters and see the evolution of the show.

Episode 104 - 11/17/66

Vicki joins Liz in the drawing room. She explains how someone tried to get into her room last night. Liz says she'll have Matthew put another lock on her door. Liz asks if Roger checked the door to the closed off portion of the house last night, and then goes to see. Vicki calls the Collinsport Inn to reach Burke, but remembers he was going to Bangor.

She then calls Sam Evans to speak to Maggie, returning her call. He says she's not there. Sam says he asked Maggie to call Vicki. He tells her he wants to tell her something about the Hanscombe portrait, and arranges for her to meet him at The Blue Whale tonight. She also asks him to tell Maggie she found out more information about what they had discussed previously.

Liz comes downstairs and tells Vicki the door to the closed off section of the house was still locked, so the intruder hadn't escaped that way. She then calls the cannery to reach Roger, who isn't there, and asked him to call her immediately.

Roger returns to Collinwood and Liz asks why he hadn't called her, She asks why Roger didn't speak to her in the morning about Vicki's experience. Roger describes Vicki as having an overactive imagination. Roger also tells Liz that Vicki thinks she has a vital clue as to who murdered Bill Malloy. Just then, Matthew comes in to tell Mrs. Stoddard that he installed a bolt on Vicki's door. Roger once again suggests that Vicki should leave Collinwood for her own safety. Roger asks where she is and Liz says she's left. Roger leaves to see if he can find her.

Vicki meets Sam at The Blue Whale. He admits he used her interest in Hanscombe to get her to meet him. He wants to talk with her about what she discussed with Maggie. He said Maggie told him that she had proof that Bill Malloy was murdered. Vicki doesn't want to discuss it with him. Sam also said that he understands she could connect Bill's death with the accident 10 years go. He demands that she tell him what she told Burke. She refuses to. He offers to drive her back to Collinwood, but she chooses to walk.

While walking back to Collinwood, a car comes around the corner right at her.

In Collinwood, there's a frantic knocking at the door. Liz lets Vicki in, who describes a car that tried to run her down on her way back to the house. She asks Liz who would want to kill her. Liz asks if she could recognize the car and she says no, the lights were too bright. Liz says it's too bad Roger didn't find her, and Vicki says that maybe he did. Liz leaves to get something to calm her down, and Vicki calls Burke and tells him she was almost run down. It sounds like Burke is on his way to Collinwood.

Liz brings her some drugs to take, and Vicki hesitates. She doesn't want to take them, but she ultimately does. Liz sends her upstairs to lie down.

Our thoughts

John: Roger gets to dust off his old, "Vicki would be safer if she left Collinwood" plan. Liz seems to be warming up to the notion, while surprisingly not just dismissing Vicki's claims.

Christine: You'd think with such a small staff and only family at Collinwood it would be easy to track down who might be responsible for trying to break into Vicki's room.

John: Sam Evans' behavior sure should have raised Vicki's suspicion of him. I can't figure out what the possible upside was—that maybe she could link him to the death and/or accident?

Christine: His involvement in the matter Bill Malloy called the meeting to address before his untimely demise has still not been resolved.

John: Okay, Roger once again is the number one suspect in the attempted run-down of Vicki. But let's think outside of the box for a second. 1) It could have been Burke, on his way back from Bangor, hoping Vicki would think it was Roger attempting to kill her. By the time she got back to Collinwood on foot, he could easily get to the Inn to be there to take her call. Of course that leaves us with the only other possible option, 2) jealous Carolyn trying to take out her only competition in town. Does anyone else even have a car? Certainly not David or Mrs/ Johnson. The sheriff is probably safe to cross off the list. I guess Matthew also has access to a car. Hmmmm.

Christine: You neglected to mention the most important thing about this episode...a fancy new slate! Also, it appears that the cast got a week off from 11/7-11/11.