“I believe you can do anything — and the meaner it is, the better you can do it.”
So there we were, all set up for the big royal wedding — Barnabas, the young prince of the wealthy and powerful Collins family, marrying Josette du Prés, the ravishing heiress of the Martinique sugar plantations. Young and beautiful and desperately in love, embarking together on their life’s journey.
And then, at the last moment, the bride runs off with the groom’s uncle, which is pretty much the exact reason why you need to hire a competent wedding planner. Have we learned nothing from reality TV?
Ben goes out and checks the stables, and then reports to Barnabas and Andre that Josette’s horse is missing… and Jeremiah’s horse is gone, too. This is astonishing news, for several reasons.
For one thing: why does Josette have a horse? She just arrived in Collinsport about three days ago, and she’s spent the entire time alternating between preparing for her wedding and having spells cast on her. Apparently, there was a slow afternoon where she found the time to make horse selections.
Also: Ben makes this announcement as if it’s impossible for anyone else to take Jeremiah’s horse. I guess he’s the only one who had the keys.
Andre goes upstairs to look for Jeremiah, and Barnabas stands around and tries to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.
Barnabas tells Angelique and Ben that they shouldn’t say anything about this, until he knows what’s going on.
He says, “It would be pointless to upset a great many people, when there is probably a very simple explanation of everything that’s happened,” but he can’t even get all the way through the sentence without feeling like the world’s biggest fool.
Of course, there is a simple explanation for everything that’s happened, namely: You let the crazy lady into your life. Angelique is determined to have Barnabas for herself, so she’s dosed Josette and Jeremiah with love potion and sent them off together.
And look how satisfied she is with herself. Every time Barnabas looks away, she gives Ben a triumphant grin, as if they’ve pulled off this amazing trick together, and they’re both itching to celebrate.
This is not actually the case, because Ben has human feelings. He was perfectly happy to go along with the witchcraft when it was directed at his cruel taskmaster boss. But Barnabas has always been kind to Ben. He likes Barnabas.
And now he has to watch as Barnabas stares at the floor, and tries desperately to think of any possible scenario that doesn’t involve his heart shattering into a million tiny fragments and blowing away in the wind.
So Ben fights back, using the only weapon that he has: sarcasm. As we saw last week, this is one of the rules of Dark Shadows — the henchman is always struggling against the villain who employs him. Angelique’s magic puts a collar and leash around Ben’s neck, but you can’t stop a soap opera character from talking.
Ben: I thought I oughta come ta see ya, and congratulate ya, for doin’ your work so well.
Angelique: Are you impressed, Ben?
Ben: Aye. You’ve got ’em all dancin’ like puppets on strings, haven’t ya?
Angelique: I told you. I always get what I want.
Ben: I used to think the master of this house was the meanest person I ever met. I was wrong. Next to you, Mr. Joshua Collins is a saint.
That hits a nerve.
Angelique: I do not appreciate lectures, Ben. Least of all from a convict.
Ben: What are you gettin’ so angry for? You got what you wanted, didn’t ya? You should be real pleased with yerself.
He’s gone into full Jiminy Cricket mode by now. His name might as well be Ben Loomis; he’s the new Willie.
But Angelique’s work isn’t done yet. Yes, Josette’s out of the picture, but she wants Barnabas to understand that he’s been betrayed.
Angelique: There is much to be done after he finds out. He’ll feel humiliated, and rejected. And I want to make certain that I am the one he turns to.
Ben: Should be easy. All ya have to do is use one a’ them evil spells o’ yours.
Angelique: On Barnabas?
Ben: You used them on others. Why not on him? It would make it real simple for ya.
And here’s the amazing thing — she’s actually shocked by that idea.
Angelique: That’s exactly the reason why I would never put Barnabas under any spell to gain his love. Oh, I could have him that way, yes. But he would not be truly mine. No — he must turn to me of his own free will.
Ben: And if he doesn’t… “turn” to ya?
Angelique: He will.
So that’s the real paradox at the heart of this story. Ben is right about the puppets on strings — Angelique is a manipulator, the only character who knows what’s really going on. She’s become the writer and director of this little melodrama, and she has the power to stage her own scenes.
But the only way that can feel satisfying and real for her is if Barnabas makes the choice himself. He’s essentially the only character right now who’s allowed to have free will.
She’s got a new power to show off today, because naturally her abilities run entirely on narrative convenience. She looks off into space, and she can tell where Barnabas is right now — he’s out in the woods, searching for Josette. Apparently, Angelique has recently installed a new Global Barnabas Positioning System.
So she sends Barnabas a vision, which happens to be one of the weirdest scenes we’ve had in a while, and we’ve had some doozies. Barnabas is in the woods, shouting Josette’s name. He’s brought a couple pistols along, so maybe he thinks she’s been abducted.
He hears someone rustling in the bushes, and he calls out: “Who is it? Speak up, whoever you are! Come out into the open so I can see you!”
The rustling stops, but then he hears a man laughing. It’s a weird, insane cackle — starting with a spirited ha-ha-ha and then moving up the scale from there, to a high-pitched whoop of delight.
“Poor Barnabas,” the man chirps, with a weird sing-song inflection. “Over here, Barnabas!”
Barnabas whirls around — and a man appears, in yet another completely unconvincing Chromakey effect. Barnabas is supposed to be pointing his gun at the apparition, but they’ve got the height wrong again, so it looks like Barnabas is aiming squarely at a spot three feet to the guy’s left.
But that’s not really the point. There’s so much more weirdness that’s about to uncork.
Barnabas: Who are you?
Man: Don’t you recognize me?
Barnabas: I cannot see you!
Man: I’m your uncle, Jeremiah!
Except he’s not. We can see the guy’s face very clearly, and he doesn’t look anything like Jeremiah. He’s got a completely different sing-songy voice, and a tall hat that Jeremiah doesn’t wear.
Obviously, this guy is not Jeremiah. So what is he talking about?
“You are not Jeremiah,” Barnabas sneers. “Your voice is different.”
And then they just go on with the scene, as if this guy really is Jeremiah.
Man: Your Josette is gone, Barnabas. She has left you. Because she does not love you.
Barnabas: You’re lying!
Man: Oh, no! It is true. She’s in love with me.
Barnabas: Stop it!
Man: She has left you… to marry me. Jeremiah!
It’s so weird. I can’t figure out what they think they’re doing right now.
Barnabas: That’s not true! You’re not Jeremiah. Who are you?
Man: She’s made a fool of you! She’s deceived you! She has been unfaithful to you!
Barnabas: Stop it! STOP IT!
Man: Barnabas, the FOOL! Barnabas, the FOO-OOL!
Enraged, Barnabas fires his pistol, but it has no effect.
Then the apparition cackles mockingly, and vanishes.
So, that’s just… wow. I can’t explain that at all. The sing-song delivery reminds me of somebody playing the Fool in King Lear, or the witches in Macbeth — a character that’s so insane that he tells the real truth, because he’s too crazy to understand the consequences.
But claiming that he’s Jeremiah, when both Barnabas and the audience can tell that he’s not… It’s like they’re suddenly doing experimental black box theater in the middle of their 18th century soap opera. It’s an incredibly strange choice to make, to structure a scene like this — a complete surprise that would be impossible for the audience to predict.
So, naturally, I love it. I absolutely love this baffling little scene. The whole purpose of Dark Shadows is to surprise you, and show you things that just shouldn’t be happening on network television at 3:30 in the afternoon. I can’t explain it. But I love it.
Following a woman’s voice that only he can hear, Barnabas leads Andre down to the road to Collinsport, where he finds Josette’s veil hanging on a branch. At this point, you stop trying to figure out what’s going on. You just lean back and let the crazy wash over you.
The first three weeks of 1795 were noisy and bonkers, with lots of outrageous characters and people turning into cats. Today, everything quiets down. This isn’t a huge plot-heavy episode, like many that we’ve had recently.
Weird as all these incidents are, this is actually a character-based episode — we’re watching Barnabas’ internal process, as he realizes the full extent of what’s happened to his fiancee. Because it’s Dark Shadows, we’re seeing that played out with Chromakey ghosts and gunplay, but if you look at the magic spells as metaphors, then this really is a black box theater production about grief and alienation.
Then it’s back to Angelique, who actually believes that Barnabas is ready now to declare his love for her. She really doesn’t have a clue, does she? She thinks this is all going spectacularly well.
So it turns out the puppet master doesn’t really know what she’s doing at all. She wants to be the master manipulator, nudging people into doing what she wants them to do, but she’s got a huge blind spot — she doesn’t understand how other people’s feelings work. She’s so consumed by her own passion and desires that she can’t quite connect the dots so that Barnabas actually falls in love with her.
So look at her face here, as Barnabas returns, clutching the evidence of Josette’s betrayal. She really thought he was going to run into her arms, and she’s devastated that he doesn’t.
Instead, he glares at Angelique, and says, “In spite of what I’ve been through, I still love her.” He turns away, and holds the veil. “No matter what has happened, or what will happen… I will always love her.”
And we close with some classic Angelique crazyface. In her mind, the plan worked perfectly — but she’s a psychopath, and she couldn’t predict how Barnabas would actually respond.
Things are really going to spiral out of control from here. It’s about to get so much worse, for everyone.
Tomorrow: A Witch in Time.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
In the teaser, Barnabas tells Andre, “The Reverend Brooks is very upset; I didn’t know what to tell him.” According to Friday’s episode, the reverend’s name is Alton Brook, not Brooks.
Andre goes upstairs to see if he can find Jeremiah. Just as Barnabas sends Angelique and Ben to their rooms, you can see Andre standing on the stairs, waiting for his cue to come back down and re-enter the scene.
When Barnabas is first seen in the woods, he’s holding one pistol, and the other is tucked into his belt in a way that seems not entirely wise, if he plans on having children in the future. Hearing the ghost’s laughter, Barnabas turns, shouting, “Who are you? What are you doing out here?” As he turns, the second gun slips out of his belt, and he has to quickly grab it before it drops to the ground. This ends up looking extremely rude; check out the screenshot below.
When Barnabas tells Andre about the apparition in the woods, he trips over Josette’s name: “He tried to tell me he was Jeremiah! And that Dojette had followed him.”
After he hears the mysterious voice in the woods, Barnabas tells Andre, “Come, we’re going to the road to Collinport.”
Behind the Scenes:
David Cryer plays the apparition that appears to Barnabas. He’s not listed in the credits, but there’s a cast list in the Dark Shadows Almanac based on the original production documents, which refers to the character as “Ghost in Woods”.
This is Cryer’s only appearance on Dark Shadows. He’d been working on the stage for several years, and had a string of understudy and ensemble player roles in Broadway shows from the mid-60s through the 90s, including 1776, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera and Chess.
According to his IMDb listing, Dark Shadows was his first screen credit. He spent several years on the CBS soap Where the Heart Is, and then had small roles on a handful of other shows, including All My Children, As the World Turns, Dallas, Wonder Woman and Law & Order.
Cryer’s got one more claim to fame — he’s the father of actor Jon Cryer, co-star of Two and a Half Men and Pretty in Pink. (Thanks to sharp-eyed commenter Stephen Robinson for pointing that out.)
Tomorrow: A Witch in Time.
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
So glad you commented on “The Ghost in the Woods” and David Cryer’s performance. It’s so creepy, I’m surprised the show didn’t sign Cryer for another role. He just brings the crazy.
David Cryer looks a lot like his son, Jon, so the scene has a crazy, modern feel when the fake Jeremiah pops up.
I wish I knew if they’d wanted to use Anthony George and couldn’t or if the plan all along was to use a “fake” Jeremiah, perhaps to reveal that Angelique’s magic has its limits.
I’m thinking since it’s never brought up again, or repeated, that AG wasn’t available, maybe due to illness or perhaps they scheduled the taping on a day he had other commitments? Has anyone from DS ever commented on this? Cause it truly is one of the most bizarre things to ever happen on the show – and that’s saying something.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I looked at the taping dates, because I thought maybe they’d already taped Anthony George’s last episodes before this one. But the taping dates are in sequence, AG recorded two episodes later this week. So I have no idea.
The weird thing, now that I think of it, is that the scene wouldn’t actually work if it really was Jeremiah. Barnabas would have spent the entire scene demanding to know where Josette is; it would make him think that they didn’t run away together. So it does need to be somebody else, a random apparition… I don’t know. You can’t make sense of it; it is what it is.
And Stephen — I hadn’t realized that he was Jon Cryer’s father! That’s funny; I’ll add that to the Behind the Scenes section. 🙂
Perhaps Dojette is related to Adele Dazeem
That’s it! You cracked the code.
Apparently Anthony George was unhappy with the ‘new version’ of Burke Devlin (from a wronged but vengeful character with an interesting storyline to being there only as Vicki’s romantic interest) and was going to leave the show anyway. Maybe he only had a certain amount days left on his contract and the show wanted to utilize him for the duel with Barnabas. It’s a shame because the character of Jeremiah was a major part of past references throughout the show and the whole Barnbas/Josette/Jeremiah storyline seems to have been rushed through.
The problem with Burke is that he had one storyline, and when that was done, he had nothing to do. No wonder they had to kill him off, as he was getting boring.
The smart thing would have him go away for a while, and not come back until he got a new storyline.
You’re right – there was a potentially good storyline getting started when Burke was investigating Barnabas’ background in England but all of this was squashed because of Frid’s increasing popularity and the need to make Barnabas ‘look good’ and everyone else up to this point ‘look bad’.
Judging from the persistence of Satan’s pursuit of Angelique in Martinique (from Lara Parker’s novel “Angelique’s Descent”), it is likely that the ghost in the woods was non other than Diabolos himself, or a lesser demon. He was probably relieved to ditch that tacky hooded robe that he sported in the nether regions.
They could at least have had Burke discover a new lead on Barnabas and been flying to England or some place when he crashed.
wow that’s a trip about the cryers. the resemblance is very clear. not only the facial features but the voice/laugh.
In the gothic cluster fuck that is “Dark Shadows” I would point out that Barnabas and the veil mirrors the Nathaniel Hawthorne story “Young Goodman Brown.” Given the mashup of post-Revolution America and the Salem witch trials going on in the 1795 plot, this makes sense as a touchstone.
I’m 100s of episodes behind you and many of your readers, not unlike Vicki. But unlike Vicki I have situational awareness and these 1795 episodes also echo another weird gothic writer of the era. Charles Brockden Brown was writing in the late 18th century and one of early america’s few professional novelists. I’ve been thinking of his lunatic novel “Weiland”, where a man with ventriloquist skills drives a family to murder. I doubt the writers knew about Brown because he was out of print for much of the 20th century. But he would have loved these episodes.
I’m in 1795 with you Neil. Nice to have someone in the same general spot. I have an offline buddy I turned on to the show, but he’s just seen Barnabas released and doesn’t know what’s coming up. I have to be careful with him.
Thanks for this.
Just a post script re my rant about the captions on DS: Today Angelique said, “I told you the course of true love can be altered.” today the captioner got the word “course” right. Either yesterday’s captioner wised up or else today’s captioner is a different person. My experience suggests the latter arrangement. If there are five captioners, they each do an episode per week, and we wouldn’t have the one who does not know the difference between “cause” and “course” until Friday.
Wow, when they find the veil — the background is so white and they are lit so obviously by warm lights, it’s funny to see.
Another solid and substantial ep summary from Danny just chock full of awesome commentary and behind-the-scenes nuggets.
Also, really enjoyed the Neil Meyer literary references as well. This forum just grows richer and richer (like the show itself) the further in we go. I come away with my jaw agape over just how much is crammed into these 21 minute episodes now. So much is happening!
Barnabas (Frid) really seems to be enjoying playing the ingenue these days. Though Frid is starting to be a tad long in the tooth for a true ingenue, there is a brighter pep to his work and a lighter step as we really seems to enjoy not having to play the show’s heavy for awhile.
And, again, the scenes between Angelique and Ben Stokes are money in the bank. Just so much fun to watch. Danny, love how you coined “Ben Loomis,” because that is so spot-on with the dialogue and the way Ben is playing his reluctant henchman.
The “ghost in the woods” thing is an absolute trip. And, of course, would we expect anything less at this point in a show that is so hitting its stride now that we come every day expecting the truly unexpected.
I hadn’t realized that AG was going to leave the show soon until I read today’s blog posts. That is a real shame and quite a head-scratcher. He’s actually really good in 1795 and has turned in some of his best work. What does he leave the show to go and do?
The screen grab of Barnabas grabbing his, er, pistol is truly priceless.
Finally, as I write this it is now March 24, 2020, and the real world pandemic has gripped the world and certainly moved front and center here in the US. When a palpable existential threat looms on the horizon like this, having this show to divert oneself from real-world events is a real blessing. It continues to be a very disconcerting time and as I am certain that a substantial portion of our bloggers here are older, my wish and hope is that everyone stay well and healthy. I know that I certainly want to get to the other 800 episodes that are still out in front of me and hope everyone else is there with me. Stay healthy all!
I don’t know exactly when he started, but not long after DS, AG became the romantic lead, Tony Vincente, opposite JoAnne Tate (can’t remember the actress’s name), on Search for Tomorrow. He was on for several years as the up front male lead and he was really good. He was never hated like he is by DS fans. Because I watched SFT at the time, I find the hating on AG to be pointless and stupid! So he wasn’t right for Burke—so what! He was there briefly and gone! The haters act like he was a foreground character and that the actor was on for years and totally ruined DS. Some people need to get real about how soaps work…
I agree on AG, he was miscast for THIS role, but was a competent actor in general. He did a fine job on One Life to Live later in his career. The fact they needed to recast so quickly led to a bad decision on actor. Sadly that led to hurting the Josette side of the 1795 story and probably was responsible for us getting Roger Davis. If Jeremiah had lived, I think HE would have been the one to defend Vicki and be her forever soul mate.
When Barnabas tells Andre that he saw the figure of a man in the woods and shot at it, neither one of them seems inclined to look around a bit and see if there’s a wounded man lying on the ground.
Barry: I’m writing this as of June 23, 2020. Like you, I find D S a welcome respite from the this pandemic’s continuing rampage and the social unrest we are currently experiencing. I’ve seen these episodes many times before, but I never tire of them, because they allow me to reconnect with my childhood. Plus, Danny’s keen analysis sheds new light on them, spiced by his ingenious humor.
Speaking of humor, I loved Ben’s sarcasm in his exchanges with Angelique in this episode it’s obvious he enjoys talking smack to Angelique. Then, Angelique threatens to turn him into a moth. The very idea just cracked me up!
June 23, 2020 was my covid birthday. I turned 51, and was still a year away from ever watching a single episode of DS. I’m 52 now, and on episode 392! This blog is fun too. I love reading everyone’s ideas and observations!
Interesting that Angelique feels that she’s leaving Barnabas with “free will” as she manipulates literally every person and event around him, narrowing his responses nearly to only those she wants him to have.
I watch these episodes on DVD from the library, and I have no closed captioning.
I thought the voice of the ghost in the woods sounded a lot like Christopher Pennock’s. Though, of course, he didn’t appear until much later in the series, maybe 1970.
I noticed a commonality between Barnabas & Angelique: both want their loves to come to the each of them of “their own free will”
Which seems interesting as they can both influence (?) their intended to by other means.
I don’t know if that was supposed to be that deep (given the merry-go-round of writers, I’m going to say no) but it struck me as a interesting bonding between the two
I saw David Cryer in one of the touring companies of Phantom of the Opera. That was around 2005, give or take. He was either Andre or Fermin, can’t remember which without digging out the playbill! He was really good. So, he had more than just ensemble roles in his career!