“That’s the first time you’ve ever called me by that name.”
Not very much previously, on Dark Shadows: Two days ago, David gave Carolyn the antique toy soldier, which he said would protect her. Then she was visited by the spirit of Sarah Collins, and she realized that the wild stories David’s been telling might actually be true. There, that’s your background on Carolyn’s character arc for the week — steadily building an awareness that David’s “fantasies” might be real.
So it’s a bit disappointing when David walks into the drawing room at the top of today’s episode, and hands Carolyn the toy soldier again.
David: I came to bring you this.
Carolyn: A toy soldier?
David: Yes. You should have it with you all the time.
Carolyn: Why?
Yeah, good question. I have several “why” questions of my own, starting with: Why doesn’t David climb up on a chair and smack her upside the head?
Even on a messy daytime soap like this, the only way to reconcile this scene with what happened in Wednesday’s episode is that maybe Carolyn had some massive head trauma while we weren’t looking. She spent the entire episode talking to David and Liz about this toy soldier.
It’s just maddening. Look at his face. Totally justified.
And then it gets worse. For some reason, the hideously-aged Barnabas appears at the window, glaring into the room. David cries out, but by the time Carolyn turns around, Barnabas is gone. When Liz rushes in, David tells them that he saw a scary old man outside, and Liz and Carolyn share a pitying look behind David’s back.
So Carolyn’s just gone full-on goldfish; as far as she’s concerned, the last two days didn’t happen. This is what happens when you let Ron Sproat write episodes again.
I mean, Sproat’s not a bad writer. I don’t know if you can say that he’s the guy who invented Barnabas — executive producer Dan Curtis deserves at least half the credit for that — but Sproat is the guy who defined who Barnabas is, how he talks and how he thinks. His Barnabas/Julia scene in today’s episode is pure 24-karat dynamite.
But I think Sproat is so excited about the monsters that he’s lost interest in writing for the humans. Last week, Joe Caldwell wrote an amazing character-building episode with genuinely touching moments between David and Carolyn, because Caldwell cares about the human characters. Sproat mostly thinks of them as recap monkeys.
The thing that’s really frustrating is that you can write recap scenes in a way that still preserves the characters’ IQ. If it’s really crucial to remind the audience about the toy soldier, then you have Carolyn say, “Yes, I know, David. You want me to keep this toy soldier, because Sarah said it would protect me.” Is that really a difficult guideline to get your head around?
When David leaves the room, Carolyn tells Liz about her encounter with Sarah, and she says that she’s starting to believe David. This is even more baffling. Apparently now we can’t even keep track of what Carolyn knows all the way through a scene.
So let’s go over to the Old House and check in with the ghouls, because the humans are getting on my last nerve.
And it looks like Barnabas feels pretty much the same way. Julia gave him an extra-heavy dose of anti-vampire juice the other day, and it turned him into the withered old husk that he would be if he’d actually been alive this whole time.
He comes back to the house after taking a walk, and Julia’s waiting for him.
Julia: Where have you been?
Barnabas: I was out for a walk. I wanted to be alone, to contemplate the success of your noble experiments, Doctor, and what I must do about it.
Julia: You didn’t…
Barnabas: No, not yet. Of course not, for my appearance would have altered.
Apparently, he believes that if he bites someone, then he’ll “revert” and get his youthful good looks back. I’m not sure why he believes this, but he’s the vampire, so whatever.
Julia: And who is it going to be?
Barnabas: I don’t know yet. I must find her. There must be someone out there… someone there in the darkness.
Julia’s been lobbying for Barnabas to bite Vicki, for kind of complicated interpersonal reasons. Barnabas insists that he doesn’t want Vicki that way; she has to come to him willingly, as the new version of his dead girlfriend, Josette.
But Julia has an idea for an alternative.
Julia: Don’t you think it’s possible that someone might come to you… willingly?
Barnabas: Willingly?
Julia: Yes. There might be someone who could accept you for what you are, and… submit to your needs?
Barnabas: And who is this person?
Julia turns to face him, and says, “I am.”
So. Damn. Okay.
Cause, that’s…
Damn.
And she means it, too. Look at that smile.
Barnabas: Would you… willingly?
Julia: Yes! Willingly.
Barnabas: Even knowing what would happen to you?
Julia: Yes.
It’s actually to his credit that he’s shocked. That’s how messed up this is; we’ve shocked the psychopath vampire.
Barnabas: You take pride in being a strong-willed woman. You would no longer have a will of your own.
Julia: I’m aware of that.
Barnabas: And you would make that sacrifice?
Julia: Yes.
Barnabas: Well… why, Julia?
She turns around.
Julia: That’s the first time you’ve ever called me by that name.
And I think that might be the moment that really sells this insane situation. I hadn’t noticed that he’d never called her Julia before. Look how happy she is.
Now, obviously, this is not an awesome moment, re: strong, independent female role models who should be teaching young girls of the late 1960s that they shouldn’t give up their careers, not to mention their immortal souls, for a guy’s short-term hunger for body fluids.
But now that I think of it, Julia recently murdered an old friend in cold blood, to cover up for Barnabas’ crimes. I guess she lost the Woman of the Year nomination a while ago.
Still, it’s definitely surprising. We didn’t see this one coming.
He says no, by the way. He may need her services as a doctor in the future, and apparently drinking her blood will invalidate her medical license somehow. I forget if there’s a chapter on that excuse in He’s Just Not That Into You.
But let’s break this down a little bit more. There’s an obvious question here — why does it have to be a woman? The short answer to that question is, “Because a vampire bite is a metaphor for sex.” The long answer is exactly the same, but you add the word “Duh.”
Although “sex” isn’t really the right word. It’s non-consensual. He’s planning to go out and rape somebody.
Vampires — especially sexy vampires, as seen in approximately half of American pop culture output in the last ten years — are not-very-subtle rape fantasy objects. And it’s a particularly nasty version of the rape fantasy, because after it’s over, the victim becomes the rapist’s slave. The initial attack is terrifying, but once you get going, it turns into love.
Now, if you took the fantasy-metaphor part out of that scenario, it would be completely unacceptable. A sexy bad boy with dark eye makeup walks around town, assaulting pretty girls and then making them fall in love with him. And you even see the penetration; they do big exciting close-ups on the “fangs”.
I don’t have a way to process this, really. We enjoy stories that use a fantasy metaphor to turn rape into romance. Deal with that.
And we can’t say that Ron Sproat didn’t consider this interpretation, because it’s the only way to understand what they’re talking about.
Barnabas doesn’t want to bite Vicki, because it would violate the innocent virgin. He wants to marry her, and assaulting her before she agrees to the wedding would spoil everything. When Julia offers herself, Barnabas is shocked, because she’s an intelligent woman who you’d think would have more self-respect than to volunteer for the position of helpless rape-victim slave.
So keep all that in mind as we move on to today’s big cliffhanger. After another frustrating conversation with David, Carolyn decides to go to the Old House, and find out what’s really going on in the basement.
Naturally, the front door is unlocked, because this is a soap opera, and locks are storyline speed bumps.
The basement door is unlocked, too. They made a big deal about the locked basement a few weeks ago, but never mind. Let’s get her downstairs.
So this turns out to be a crazy episode. The beginning was baffling and dull, but now they’re flipping over tables, and there’s a real threat to a character that we love.
Remember, they’ve killed two characters recently. They weren’t core family members like Carolyn is, but still.
And they’re following through on it, too. This isn’t one of those bait-and-switch episodes where they’ve hidden the coffin, or blocked up the secret room in the mausoleum. She goes to the basement. She finds the coffin.
And then there’s this.
Carolyn: You can’t be Barnabas!
Barnabas: But I am.
Carolyn: But… what’s happened to your face? You’re so old!
Barnabas: It won’t be old much longer!
Barnabas holds his young great-great-grand-niece, and gently brushes her hair away from her neck.
“Don’t be afraid of me, my dear,” he says. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt… my own flesh and blood.”
Which is phenomenal. A strong punchline, and a shocking Friday cliffhanger.
Oh, Sproat. Every time I think I’m done with you, you pull something like this. I wish I knew how to quit you.
Monday: The Grateful Dead.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
When Liz sits down during her conversation with Carolyn, the boom mic can be seen at the top of the frame.
Carolyn is sitting in the drawing room, staring at the toy soldier. The camera cuts to David, standing at the foot of the foyer stairs, clearly waiting for his cue. As he walks across the foyer, there’s a noise that sounds like someone’s operating a pump.
David asks Carolyn if she thinks he’s crazy, and she says that he doesn’t. David says “Elizabeth does.” Usually, he refers to Liz as “Aunt Elizabeth.”
Monday: The Grateful Dead.
Dark Shadows episode guide – 1967
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
This episode blew my mind when I was 10. No one was safe from Barnabas. I was still on his side though at 10 years old. I started watching DS in syndication in 1982. I did not like how the resolved the Carolyn issue after 1795.
The past few episodes are gripping and more overtly “Universal horror” than the series has ever been (just a month ago, they were trying to frame Willie or Barnabas was sulking about Burke and Vicki). It’s also very DARK SHADOWS in that storylines or character motivations sometimes make no sense or come out of left field.
For instance, as noted, Barnabas seems confident that taking a victim can reverse the aging effect. Did he read this in the manual? Is the key to reversing my age simply to… consume what currently keeps me alive? Amazing. Also, why does he not even consider it in Episode 348? No, instead, he insists on another hasty, massive treatment. (By the way, Barnabas’s borderline personality traits of reckless impatience and dogmatic insistence on a certain course of action, despite its insanity, will come to define the character for the rest of the series. It’s why I love him — He’s essentially a mentally unstable drama queen who likes to give extensive monologues about his feelings, no wonder teens took to him!)
Anyway, Barnabas makes it clear that he’s going to kill Julia (or worse) if she fails to cure him. She fails. He clearly blames her, but he’s actually fairly gracious towards her afterwards until he discovers her hypnosis of Vicki. The obvious narrative would have been Barnabas killing Julia — just as she’s failed in the one thing she came on the show to attempt. It’s what happens in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS , and I sometimes think that was Dan Curtis’s original plan.
But the show becomes almost farcical over the next two weeks. If you thought there was filler before…
You’re totally right about Barnabas’ dogmatism; I hadn’t thought of it that way. He does tend to get an idea stuck in his head — a suspicion, or a course of action — and then commit to it completely, no matter how reckless or ill-informed it might be.
By any standard of narrative logic, Barnabas should kill Julia — in this episode, he says that he might need her medical services in the future, which means almost exactly nothing.
But the logic of the Dark Shadows world always bends around Julia. The sanitarium apparently doesn’t need her to come back; nobody ever asks her to leave Collinwood; she faces deadly threats on a weekly basis, usually without a scratch. It’s the Hippocratic Oath of Dark Shadows: First, do no harm (to Grayson Hall).
Actually Barnabas saying that Julia would be unable o function as a doctor if she was bitten turn out to be rather prophetic. Later on, when she becomes a victim of vampire Tom Jennings, her strong will goes out the window, she is distracted and unable to concentrate on her doctor duties. So, for once, Barnabas gets something right. lol
With time we learned that Barnabas was most fightening when he had a plan. He had more cunning plans than Baldric, and they made even less sense. Eventually I had to write my own fan fiction in which I finally someone tells him that vampirism is no excuse for stupidity…
And honestly would any of this really happened if Carolyn had managed to bring along the dang doll? How many times does David have to tell her. She should have that thing in a snuggy.
julia has access to many medical supplies. cant she just get her fantasy-boyfriend some plasma from the blood bank?
whoops that would kill the series. nevermind!!
carolyn’s screams are absolutely blood-curdling.
Oddly enough Barnabas’ “drink blood to reverse ageing” cure might actually have a basis in real science–check out this link for some recent discoveries: Can we reverse the ageing process by putting young blood into older people? . Who knows, Tesla coils and bubbling vats full of acid may prove to be a cure for vampirism after all!
Sounds a lot like the legend of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who reputedly bathed regularly in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth. (Hammer would make film of this in the early 70s under the title “Countess Dracula”, starring Ingrid Pitt).
It looked like the vats were actually colored water with Julia dropping plenty of dry ice cubes into them from time to time.
Old Barnabas’ attack on Carolyn really stayed with me, and now I see why. One of the show’s most chilling moments so far.
These past few episodes can be pointed out to anyone who thinks the whole show is just camp, bad acting/effects, and disposable, great shows, and that make up of Barnabas is all kidding aside, flawless.
I admit that I contemplated where Carolyn would keep that toy soldier on her person, and I could not think of an answer that would be anatomically possible. On the other hand, ever since David took the toy soldier to the basement (in his coat pocket) I expected that Barnabas would be brought up short if he saw it because it could only have been given to David by Sarah, and it would remind Barnabas of himself and his own childhood. That might have been Sarah’s intent, right there. No magic about this talisman unless psychology is magic, which it often seems to be.
I realize this is redundant, but kudos again to Dick Smith for the phenomenal Barnabas-aged make up. It’s really stunning. This is a daytime TV soap, not a big budget movie. I don’t recall this level of aging make up in movies of the day. Frid did an even better job the second day of the “old man.” His shoulders were more sloped and movements more in line with a very aged man, aside from the day prior’s subtle change of his voice. Creepy make up and effective acting. Onward to Carolyn’s throat……. Family member? Hmm…..nasty business.
Not knowing anything at all about the future plot mechanics of the show, it really is a lot of fun trying to figure out where the writers are taking us. I had NO IDEA that Carolyn was going to move Center Stage in such a big way. The last scene of the episode is truly phenomenal. I mean, I kept thinking, “Really, are we going here? Is this really where we’re headed???”
I think I may have even gasped when I saw the old man Barnabas’ fangs. It truly has been the most shocking moment of the series for me to date. The cliffhanger for a Friday is an absolute stunner.
While the interplay between Barnabas and Julia is ALWAYS good on some level, I found the business of her throwing herself so unabashedly at his feet a bit of a head-scratcher. I mean, doesn’t she have a sanitarium to run 100 miles from here? Isn’t she a respected doctor that at some point can return to her successful practice? This business of basically making herself Barnabas’ bitch toy should be considered way beneath her. But it wouldn’t be the first time that love has made for an erroneous decision either on a soap or in real life. We’ve all been there, I suppose. I just thought Julia would stay the emancipated, strong-willed, fierce character we’ve seen these past 6 months. Hate to see her throw it all away because of this angsty neer-do-well vampire.
Oh the smart girl’s desperate ploy to move out of the friend zone. Her feelings are out in the open now, she can’t pretend they’re just besties; so she goes for broke. And all the smart girls in similar situations wince and wonder how far they’d be willing to go.
That whole business in the basement at the end is, maybe, the best scene of the series so far. Barnabas entering with “It’s already too late” is absolutely perfect. Nancy Barrett really knows how to scream. And she really REALLY knows how to wear that royal blue outfit.
One thing about the fangs: I was surprised to see them at the end because I thought Frid couldn’t talk while wearing them. Maybe this is a new, more comfortable set?
All right, we get it! Liz went out and bought a kicky, trendy green and purple paisley dress! And it’s faboo. But didn’t she get ANOTHER outfit while she was at Ohrbachs? Seems like she’s been wearing that same thing for days!
Old Barnabas looks fantastic. It’s a memorable look and a memorable episode. But there’s a problem. The unrequited love angle is out in the open now. It seems like even Barnabas realizes that Julia has feelings for him based on this offer. Maybe he’s even touched by it enough that he can’t bring himself to take her up on it. He definitely acknowledges her feelings when he tries to manipulate her later. This will be a problem when Angelique spits out her curse in 1795. She very specifically says anyone who loves Barnabas will die. It’s not anyone whom Barnabas loves will die. Yet Julia lives! This is before they wrote the whole curse thing so they could have changed the wording, making it that those he loved died, which would explain why she survives and also emphasizing his lack of romantic interest in her. But they don’t.
This is one of those episodes you don’t sit in front of the TV doing your nails during. Two pretty big things happen: Julia says I’ll be your blood slut, Barnabas, and Carolyn is the victim of incestuous fang rape. Double whammy! Barnabas won’t bite Vicky because he sees her as innocent and pure. So what does that say about his opinion of cousin Carolyn??? And what is the true reason he won’t accept Julia’s offer? The one he gave is pretty lame. I’m guessing he doesn’t want her to be his blood slave because she won’t want to do the experiment anymore. She won’t want him to become human. Whatever the reason, this was a good one.
Barnabas doesn’t refuse to bite Vicky simply because he sees her as innocent and pure. It’s because he wants her, and wants her to come to him willingly as Josette, as he keeps repeating. He may or may not see Carolyn as “innocent and pure,” but that’s irrelevant because he’s not trying to court her as a lover, and he needs to do something right this moment because Carolyn has discovered him.
I can’t think of anything more horrifying than spending eternity with Julia Hoffman.
Who’s going to fight for David now? With Carolyn in thrall to Barnabus, David should get shipped off to the Maine Sanitarium for Ill-At-Ease-Boys tout suite. (But I bet he isn’t.)
It would certainly remove a pesky thorn from Barnabus’ side.
Watching and reading this again reminds me how much I like this show and this blog!
The reason I enjoyed Julia was that she was surprising. You couldn’t predict what she would do.
I agree with everything Stephen said and Danny’s analysis that the show bends around Julia.
It is crazy that she commits to spending her days protecting Barnabas when supposedly there’s a sanitarium full of patients waiting for her. I guess she really know how to delegate.
Barnabas’s response to Julia does feel like the ultimate “He’s just not that into you” excuse but he does seem genuinely stunned by her offer. He doesn’t quite seem to know what to make of her but it seems that the fact that she truly cares for him is starting to sink in.
Finally, Barnabas going on about how repellent he looks as an old man is as invalid as describing the returned Barnabas as “young”.
A couple things:
Danny, it seems you’re suggesting Carolyn hasn’t seen the toy soldier before, but I didn’t see/hear the scene that way. She says “the toy soldier” as a statement, not a question. David keeps trying to make her hold onto it at all times, and she keeps leaving it behind. I saw this as just another example of that.
Also, re: your blooper that “David asks Carolyn if she thinks he’s crazy, and she says that he doesn’t. David says ‘Elizabeth does.’ Usually, he refers to Liz as ‘Aunt Elizabeth.’” David DOES say “Aunt Elizabeth” here–he just says “Aunt” very quietly.