“I’ve often thought it’s very sad that we live in two worlds that are so far apart in time from each other.”
Last night, assistant jailer and aspiring lawyer Peter Bradford sprung accused witch Victoria Winters from the Collinsport Gaol, so she could break into somebody’s house and steal a key piece of evidence in her case. Then he lied to opposing counsel about it, and indicated that he would perjure himself on the stand if required.
This morning, he feels bad about lying, so he’s planning to go to Reverend Trask and apologize.
I think it’s time for somebody to communicate to young Peter that he should stop coming up with new ideas, possibly through the medium of a prison sentence.
So here’s Peter and Vicki, standing around in — what do I call this, the prison’s living room? This is the only prison set they have, so Vicki spends a lot of time here, just wandering around loose like she’s an indoor cat who you can trust to stay home.
In this scene, Peter’s put on his coat to go out, apparently planning to leave Vicki on her own without a babysitter. It’s not exactly Orange Is the New Black around here.
But today’s episode is full of odd contradictions, challenging the viewer to make sense of it all.
For one thing, Peter’s shouting again. He’s supposed to be the new love interest for Vicki; he shouldn’t be frowning all the time. He’s clearly aiming for intense, and landing on petulant.
So, obviously, he’s the perfect match for Vicki.
Vicki: Peter, please — don’t go through with this.
Peter: Why are you so concerned about me? It’s your life that’s at stake, not mine.
Vicki: Because you’re the only person who’s shown any kindness and understanding to me.
So that’s kind of a big “screw you” to Jeremiah, Barnabas, Naomi and Sarah, but whatever.
But then she says, “I don’t want to see anything happen to you,” which I for one completely agree with. I don’t want to see anything happen to either of you, so if you could please step aside, you’re standing in the way of my favorite TV show.
Then Vicki walks across the room, strikes a pose and says, “I’ve often thought it’s very sad that we live in two worlds that are so far apart in time from each other.”
And apparently, we’re supposed to just accept that as a sentence that a human being actually said out loud in front of a camera.
I mean, I agree that it’s sad. But is it very sad?
Eventually, the conversation turns to the Collins family history that Vicki brought back with her from the 1960s, and Peter opens it up and starts browsing. You can tell that this is a soap opera, because he’s a guy and he’s skimming for personal tragedies, and not baseball scores.
As usual, he opens the book to the exact spot that unlocks today’s plot point. This book must have been published by the same people who made the radio on Gilligan’s Island.
Glancing at the book, Vicki realizes that Barnabas’ ten-year-old sister, Sarah, is going to die of exposure in two days.
You’d think that by now, Vicki would have learned to keep this kind of information to herself. But, no — she insists that Peter go and fetch Naomi, so Vicki can warn her to keep Sarah inside. Nobody on this show ever learns anything.
Then there’s a sequence that really makes you wonder if you actually understand this show at all, or if it could be some kind of coded communication to an underground resistance movement, like the numbers stations, or Duck Dynasty.
We see a still picture of the sun. A church bell starts tolling the hour.
Somewhere around chime three, we see Ben in the cemetery, watching the sun go down.
Then the fog rolls in the way it always does on Dark Shadows, out of nowhere and all at once.
Ben steps up to the gate of the Collins family mausoleum, and looks again at the setting sun. At this point, the bell has rung nine times.
Then it’s back to a still picture of the sun, while the bells keep chiming.
Then they cross-fade to another still picture of the sun, because apparently that’s an acceptable way to assemble a television show.
There’s a ton of studio noise at this point, a bunch of footsteps shuffling around. It’s one of the noisier sunsets. And the church bell keeps on ringing.
Then they cross-fade to another still photo of the setting sun. This sequence takes up a full sixty seconds, just the sun setting in installments. It’s unreal.
They eventually get all the way up to eighteen chimes, and then the sound effect cuts off halfway through the next one, so I guess it’s eighteen and a half o’clock.
Finally, here’s what we waited all that time for — the vampire gets up, and has kind of a gloomy conversation. Ben warns him that people in the village are upset about the vicious late-night plasma runs Barnabas has been making lately.
In a lovely bit of Fridspeak, Barnabas says, “I’m going… not to the village tonight. I have other plans.” These plans involve going to his parents’ house, and staring up at Josette’s window. As usual, these aren’t super well-thought-out plans.
But honestly, Vicki’s plans are even worse. Once again, she drags a member of the Collins family all the way downtown, to give them a vague and unsourced warning about the future. Then they go back home, and the bad thing happens anyway.
By the way, spoiler alert, but Naomi’s also scheduled to die pretty soon, which should also be in the family history. Why is Vicki only reading the book one paragraph at a time?
So the whole episode has been pretty baffling today, and here comes the weirdest part.
Young Sarah is lighting a candle in Josette’s window, hoping that it will bring back her beloved brother, Barnabas, who she’s been told has gone away to England.
And talk about your home run, superstition-wise. She looks out the window, and the very first thing she sees is Barnabas, just standing outside looking up at her! She should hold on to that candle; it’s incredibly efficient.
Recognizing him, she runs downstairs, and out of the house. Just outside the door, she spots her brother, and yells, “It is Barnabas!”
Now, this is going to seem like a total non sequitur, but at this point, I need to remind you that the Eagle Hill Cemetery is five miles north of Collinwood. You’ll see why in fourteen seconds.
We cut to Barnabas, who whispers, “No, Sarah! You mustn’t see me!” and moves off screen to the right.
We hold on this position for a few seconds…
And we see Sarah running by, following her brother.
And now she’s in the graveyard. That’s one continuous shot; she walks directly from the spot she could see from the front door, right into the graveyard.
So either the tide came in and the cemetery is suddenly in the front yard, or we just saw a ten-year-old girl in her pajamas run five miles in 14 seconds. That’s around 1,200 miles an hour, from a standing start. Don’t try this at home; she’s clearly a professional driver on a closed course.
I mean, it’s either that, or the show has just drifted again into full-on avant-garde surrealist cinema. Today’s episode is a complete puzzle — legally, geographically and meteorologically. I give up. The show wins. Anyway, it’s half-past eighteen o’clock; I should have been in bed hours ago.
Tomorrow: That Thing You Do.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
Vicki reads in the book that Sarah will die in two days, on January 26th. This episode aired on January 24th, 1968, so they’re using the typical soap opera convention of syncing the in-story date with the broadcast date. That means that it’s now January 1796, but just last week, Josette read in the family history that she would commit suicide in “winter, 1795”.
Naomi tells Sarah that Josette and Natalie went to Bangor this morning, and won’t be back until later that night. It was established in episode 57 that Collinsport is about 50 miles from Bangor. In a carriage, over mostly dirt roads, a 50 mile trip would take all day; there’s no way they would make the trip there and back in a day. (Thanks to Dark Shadows Wiki for this one.)
Sarah tells Naomi that she’s made a present.
Naomi: What is it?
Sarah: You see, Jer — Joshua — Josette’s been so sad for such a long time.
There’s a slow pan across Barnabas’ coffin, and it looks awful — it’s obvious that it’s been battered around a lot lately. Check out the screenshot below.
Peter tells Naomi, “I’ll take you back to Collinsport, Mrs. Collins.” He means Collinwood.
At the end of Naomi’s scene with Peter, her voice suddenly gets husky. She tries to resist, but she ends up coughing before the end of the scene.
There’s a lot of studio noise as Sarah enters the mausoleum, including footsteps.
Over the credits, the fog machine is just off screen, sending out little puffs of smoke. I keep telling them that mist doesn’t work that way, but they never listen.
Tomorrow: That Thing You Do.
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
Collinsport Geography is so baffling and insane that it is part of what makes DARK SHADOWS wonderful.
The present-day storylines could always claim that people got around in unseen cars, though David got to Eagle Hill without much issue on foot. However, the flashbacks to 1795, 1897, and 1840 ignored this completely — they were just fast walkers in those days.
I have a lot of rambling thoughts on this episode:
I agree Joanne. I understand why in her situation she might be desperate to latch onto a friendly person and attribute that to love, but the fact she doesn’t mention her feelings towards Burke (now and when she returns) makes her somewhat unsympathetic. And again, you don’t need to invest that much time on it, just have her express some doubts every now and then, especially at the beginning.
Vicki’s amnesia regarding Burke is another example of DS moving away from character and focusing on plot. Characters only deal with relationships in front of them and have no internal history.
Sarah is mentioned only in passing back in 1967, despite being Barnabas’ beloved sister, his tether to humanity and protector to Maggie and David. Maggie gets over Joe in a blink after he is hospitalized. The show’s once central question regarding Victoria – her search for her origins, for herself, is never answered.
There’s a moment in this episode when Peter asks Vicki if she loved anyone in her own time. She looks uncomfortable, and says she’d rather not talk about it. Either it’s too painful for her to talk about, or she knows she won’t be able to explain the phrase “plane crash” to Peter. I didn’t mention this in the post because I don’t care about Burke.
“I didn’t mention this in the post because I don’t care about Burke.”
Ha!
Maybe that’s also Vicki’s reason for not wanting to talk about it?
Hey, maybe they had Stargates then, that allowed to cross a long distance in seconds (why not? they had everything else).
I agree with you, I have never really “despised” Vicki like many of the other commenters here…towards the end of her time on the show she WAS quite annoying though. At the beginning the naivete worked for her character, but after a while she started to seem dumb and incapable of making smart decisions.
And the Peter Bradford romance didn’t really make sense either. If you had just lost your future husband unexpectedly and suddenly saw his doppleganger, wouldn’t you feel slightly compelled to have a “second chance” with him? They hinted at that possibility in the first few 1795 episodes, but then that was dropped in favor of the Barnabas/Josette/Angelique triangle and ensuing carnage. I get that the latter storyline was more interesting to everyone, but I don’t think it would have been too difficult to let Victoria and Burke/Jeremiah have a relationship and then when he died, it would have a direct impact on Victoria (like seeing Burke die again). Instead, Victoria was relegated to “onlooker” status and nothing seemed to effect her until she was once again victimized and jailed (sorry, gaoled) as a witch. It seems that at this point, something was always “happening” to her instead of her having a more active role in the story. And yes, it would have been nice to have her mention Burke once in a while…it does seem like she jumped into that relationship with Peter because it was convenient.
You’re right, the locations move around quite a bit in Collinsport…I never paid attention to the time elapsed and the location of certain places, but now that you mention it, they certainly did “stretch” (or compress) time to suit their needs.
I Want to Like Vicki, but something about her character always put me off. At first glance, she seems so sweet and solicitous, but her behavior is actually arrogant and entitled. Like the time she traipsed all over Barnabas’s house without permission. This time she really disgusted me when she completely neglected to credit Barnabas, Naomi, Sarah and Jeremiah for being kind and accepting towards her. Barnabas stuck his neck out for her repeatedly and she doesn’t even mention him? A few episodes ago, she was criticising Nathan’s manners instead of appreciating his concern and offer of assistance. “You have got to believe me” is about the stupidest thing she could have said to these people. Right, demanding people who don’t know or trust you, to accept whatever crazy talk you throw at them. As if she is in a position to insist or demand anything. No wonder they want to hang her.
“You’ve got to believe me” becomes even more enraging when she repeats that constantly as her defense in her trial.
Re: Maggie’s 100-mile trek from Windcliff–I recently read that the original script actually had a brief scene where Maggie was picked up on the road by a trucker, but it was cut for time.
Eighteen and a half o’clock. Wish I had one of those in my day.
Well, don’t understand the plot to save Sarah’s life since she is destine to die. 1795 is a tragedy period, and fans complain about Josette or Sarah or Naomi dying don’t think that is a story line where the most tragic of Dark Shadow story lines occurs.
This,I think, is the one flashback where nothing is changed. Quentin Collins survives the events of 1897 and 1840 is a full-out happy ending. Of course, those flashbacks had active, engaged time travelers with IQs greater than potato salad.
True.
I don’t recall FANS complaining about Sarah, Josette, or Naomi dying. Victoria tries to stop their deaths.
Another soap staple, suspicious topography. Recently on Days of Our Lives, characters flitted from Salem (in the Midwest US) to San Francisco in moments, while others were still engaged in the same conversation in the town square.
I’m glad someone else noticed these little (lovable) gaffes on Dark Shadows. I can’t wait until we get to the lunacy of the vampire/werewolf combo and the havoc it plays on story time!!
that sunset, along with the immediate cloud of fog in ben’s face, had me roaring!!! i love this show!
It’s all Vicki’s fault!
If Vicki hadn’t demanded to see Naomi to warn her about Sarah’s death then Naomi would have stayed home and thus able to prevent Sarah going out.
So Sarah’s death is caused by Vicki trying to prevent her death.
Which, as most seasoned time travelers know, is how it works. Your efforts to prevent something from happening always cause it to happen!
Great point, davidspoffort! Just another instance of the old but oh-so-true saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
Not necessarily. Naomi might have been busy drinking while Joshua was away and didn’t notice Sarah running by. And since she wouldn’t have been warned she wouldn’t have been looking for Sarah. And can you imagine Naomi chasing after Sarah?
Dear Danny —
Your funny remarks on the setting sun traveled two years into the future and made me laugh so hard for so long that my eyes now painfully burned.
William
P.S. — I do like how 1795 started out so bright and pink and now it’s all gloomy and dark. Nice color transition from witching to vampiring.
Speaking of space and time, the show went much faster in terms of days when Barnabas arrived. If you look at the chronology in the Wiki, days used to go on for several episodes before Barnabas came and made sunrises and sunsets necessary.
Hooray! Vicki changed clothes! She must have made a stop at her armoire when she sneaked into the house ‘yesterday’. The green dress is probably able to stand up by itself now. (“Peter! We need more Calgon!”)
Along with all the other non-sensical stuff going on, here’s one more question. Why three vaults in the mausoleum? You would think Joshua would have had one made for everyone including Barnabas, but there are only 3, the ones later used to entomb Joshua, Naomi and Sarah.
The mausoleum wasn’t intended for the family: it was a fake tomb with a hidden room to hide guns during the American Revolution. I assume Joshua and Naomi later chose to be interred there instead of the Collins plot nearer the house in order to be nearer to Barnabas.
Someone had a good, plausible explanation for the three coffins in the mausoleum in the comments of a previous episode: perhaps they were intended for Joshua, Naomi, and Abigail (who was unmarried and seems it would have been always so). Jeremiah, Barnabas, and Sarah would all have been expected to grow up and have families of their own (and presumably their own cemetery plots). The flaw in this theory is that Abigail does die soon, and I don’t believe they bury her in the mausoleum.
Regarding the amazingly close proximity to the cemetery, I want to leave open the possibility that it’s much like the movie “Poltergeist”… At some point between 1795 & the 1960’s, the cemetery was moved & “they moved the gravestones but not the bodies”, and perhaps the desecrated burial ground contributed to making a basic family curse into a legendary one.
That’s the fun thing about fiction…. if something doesn’t make sense, you can practically always come up with some possible explanation that could account for the discrepancy & say “well, the writers just didn’t include that facet of information” or “it was never mentioned because everyone in the story already knew it and so it went without saying.” 🙂
That’s the fun thing about fiction, indeed. The “Poltergeist” reference makes for as good a theory about the graveyard’s location as anything. 😉
Don’t know about anyone else, but I was moved nearly to tears once again by the generosity of little Sarah. How thoughtful of her to fashion such a lovely and gargantuan dildo…err…I mean candle for Josette. And check out that bulbous tip! If Josette grows accustomed to jammin’ with that baby a few times a day, she’ll be over poor ole Barnabas in no time, and likely take to spending an inordinate amount of time in the stables.
Our minds must move in similar dirty ruts ’cause that is exactly what I thought about the “candle”! That Sarah had found Naomi’s “he’s-at-home” somewhere and put a wick on it or something.
Can’t refute that Vicki’s ideas and actions usually end up digging her a deeper hole, but I absolutely REFUSE to criticize her for trying to do something to prevent Sarah’s historical fate. She was trying to save a child’s life! What other GOOD courses of action were available to her? Sitting by and just letting it happen would be unconscionable, I would’ve done the same thing, I don’t blame her one bit.
“He’s clearly aiming for intense, and landing on petulant.” I like it! 😉
In Peter Bradford Vicki has finally met someone as dumb as she is, so love is inevitable.
This shows is TRULY THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING.
Every time you think that things are settling in for some degree of soap-opera “normalcy,” along comes an episode like today where, once again, the possibilities for sheer lunacy and outrageous EVERYTHING become endless.
Sarah and the 14-second hop to Eagle Hill Cemetery. After the writers made such an effort in the past year to establish that the mausoleum and its denizens were comfortably removed from Collinswood, Sarah goes and blows the whole thing up. It was as if the cemetery were directly in front of the front porch of the house.
Also, what up with Barnabas? I guess the writers are giving him a newer, paler, less-alive look. His make-up was ghastly and he truly just looked as if he’d risen from the dead.
The Fridspeak line: “I’m going… not to the village tonight. I have other plans.” I’ve gotten so familiar with Frid’s style and the way he conducts his affairs on the show that I almost new he had blown the line when he got to “going.” It’s always a blast getting to see how he extricates himself from sentences where he’s declared a positive and actually means a negative (or vice versa),
But, as Danny stated above, it’s the SUNSET SEQUENCE that is the most glorious and wonderful thing in this episode. So completely operating by its own rule book. So utterly and totally non-conventional and, well, leisurely. i had to rewind and go back and commit it to memory. It must be savored like a fine, robust, red wine, or one of the locals in the village.
Ekard: You have a dirty mind!
Barry: Jonathan Frid looks like a completely different person with the undead makeup, including the dark eye shadow and pallor, but his facial expressions and body language, too, convince me that this is no longer the normal man we had known earlier, but, now, a walking dead sociopath.
I loved Barnabas’ response when Ben warns him he should stay away from the village and the waterfront and not attract attention: “It’s not as if I had a choice, Ben.” He’s trying to make it clear how much his new existence depends on human blood. Point taken, but he DOES have a choice as to who and how often he feeds. As Danny had pointed out in the preceding blog entry, Barnabas could go, it seemed, weeks between feedings. Perhaps, as he theorized, a vampire’s need for blood is more like a sexual craving than a matter of survival.
This episode blog title, “The New Black,” is appropriatet for at least one reason. When we last saw Barnabas, he was wearing a white cravat. Now, suddenly, he’s wearing a black cravat, which he will wear during the remainder of the 1795 flashback. How did he manage to obtain a new cravat? From where? From whom? I won’t even ask about the handy wipes he had to have used in order to clean himself up following his messy feeding during “Other People’s Blood.”
Did no one notice the first shot of the three sunset pics was reversed? The trees are on the opposite sides and backwards.
When I saw the almost-endless sunset, I thought to myself, “Welcome to Time Filler Theater!”
Sarah calling after Barnabas is her strange little accent sounds like “Ban a bas” without the R. Kinda like Tony Curtis calling out, “I’m Spa ta cus! I’m Spa ta cus!” No R! Hee hee Hee!!
OK, I’ll take a shot at trying to explain the close proximity of the cemetery. (I know, a fool’s errand.) Sarah running into the cemetery is a blooper. She was supposed to stop at where we saw Barnabas, but Sharon Smyth ran too far and ended up in the cemetery set (we know that the sets were right on top of each other). Even if this were true, though, we do see Sarah looking for Barnabas in the cemetery in a subsequent scene after some time has passed. But it still would not be credible for a young girl in her pajamas to walk that far at night in January. On the other hand, by this time in the series, Eagle Hill is, I think, reliably portrayed as being not far from Collinwood (though not just out the front door)–certainly not the five miles originally established in the pre-Barnabas episodes.