“You don’t know what you’re saying! The horror of that hand!”
In yesterday’s episode, vampire-about-town Barnabas Collins was down at the docks, looking for a bite to eat. He was just about to feed on streetwalker Maude Browning, but she screamed and fought him off, and it attracted attention. He scrambled away, leaving behind his signature silver wolf’s head cane.
So Barnabas needs to learn one of the fundamental rules of crime: If you’re going to go out and attack people, leave your identifiable accessories at home. This is no time for expressing your individuality; you need to be able to blend. This is why hipsters can’t be criminals.
So it’s time for another gloomy staff meeting at the Old House. Barnabas tells his servant, Ben, that he needs to go out and find the cane, before someone identifies it and follows the trail here. This is just the kind of thing that Ben has been warning Barnabas about for weeks, so you can feel the “I told you so” hovering in the air.
But, as usual, there’s no time to reflect on past mistakes and make better decisions. This is another self-sabotage crisis, and they’ve got to act fast. Barnabas sends Ben out to find the cane — either on the docks, or in the room where Maudie is staying.
Ben: You stayin’ here?
Barnabas: Yes. I’m going to help you, Ben. I’m going to make sure that Reverend Trask is occupied. You know how the Devil makes work for idle hands. Well, he will be busy.
Ben doesn’t respond to that, because what can you possibly say. I don’t know why Barnabas thinks that Reverend Trask will get in the way of Ben finding the cane. They have nothing to do with each other.
Really, Barnabas has two completely different crimes going at the moment. He’s multitasking his atrocities.
But there’s never a dull moment at the Old House — at least, not these days. As soon as Ben’s out the door, Barnabas casts a spell over a candle, which is apparently a thing he can do now. He even makes a little speech about Trask persecuting innocent people, which he delivers without any sense of irony.
Barnabas: There will be nothing but darkness for you. Wherever you go, the light shall leave you.
And he blows out the candle, completing the spell.
And then they do the cutest thing. Trask is reading a book in his room in town, when the candle blows out, kind of. It takes a couple of tries.
He gets another candle to relight it, and that blows out too, after about four attempts. It’s like watching somebody trying to blow out those trick candles on his birthday cake. He looks confused, and no wonder.
Then Nathan arrives — apparently, Trask made an appointment for the handsome Lieutenant to come to his room. Nathan is curious why Trask invited him over in the middle of the night, and I don’t blame him. I know why I’d invite him over, and it wouldn’t be to talk about witchcraft.
I mean, look at Nathan’s pose here. At least one of them is clear on what this Craigslist casual encounter is supposed to be about.
But Trask just wants to talk about the vision he had last night, when he was visited by an evil spirit.
Trask: Wait until that hand appears to you! That hand, alone — floating in the air! Growing larger, larger, until all one sees is the ring!
Nathan: The ring?
Trask: Yes — a ring fit for Satan himself! A solid black stone.
Nathan: In a gold setting?
That’s right — once again, Barnabas has been tormenting people while wearing his easily identifiable jewelry. He might as well be wearing an “I AM BARNABAS COLLINS” T-shirt. He’s just not good at stealth.
Nathan’s been putting things together — Millicent’s claim that she’s seen Barnabas, Maude’s description of her attacker, the cane he found on the docks — and he’s realized that maybe Barnabas didn’t go away to England after all.
For some reason, the idea that his friend is skulking around town and attacking young women seems to make Nathan happy. I’m not sure why, but I guess there’s no accounting for tastes.
But honestly, I don’t care what these two talk about; they’re both so much fun. Nathan is adorable, and Trask makes everything sound urgent and thrilling.
Nathan: Draw that ring you saw for me.
Trask: I cannot draw!
Nathan: You can try.
Trask: I would not put pencil to paper to trace the Devil’s handiwork! Take care, or you will have the vision, and see the ring for yourself!
Nathan: I should like to.
Trask: You don’t know what you’re saying! The horror of that hand!
Oh, they’re lovely. I wish we could have a spinoff with these two, just traveling around in a van and solving crimes.
And then Trask looks over Nathan’s shoulder and sees the hand floating in the air — apparently just hanging around, waiting for somebody to notice it.
Trask cries out, but obviously the vision is gone by the time Nathan turns around to look. Trask starts hearing voices, too, which Nathan can’t hear.
This is basically a bonkers version of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, an 1843 Edgar Allen Poe story about a murderer who gives himself up to the police when he has the unshakeable feeling that his victim’s heart is still beating, just under the floorboards. This episode’s writer, Sam Hall, loves setting up these narrative collisions, where he chucks another story into the mix to see what happens.
So we end up with a scene that really is unlike anything else on television, with Trask arguing with Barnabas’ spectral voice.
Trask: You’re right, it is my imagination… I’m afraid the trial has been — what word did you use? A strain, yes. Being aware of what I have been fighting… perhaps I’ve given in a bit.
YOU’LL GIVE IN MUCH MORE…
Trask: But, I, uh… I’ve learned that, uh…
THAT YOU WON’T WIN! THAT’S WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED…
Trask: No! I’ve learned that whoever fights the Devil has a multitude of warriors fighting with him!
HA HA HA HA…
Trask: After all, I have faith on my side. And faith — faith can be as bread to the starving!
HA HA HA…
Trask: It stops thoughts, which otherwise might tempt you to doubt!
By this point, Trask is stalking around the room, shrieking at the air.
Trask: But that never happens, NEVER! I have no room for doubt! NONE, do you hear, NONE!
I HEAR…
Trask: Where? Where are you? Show yourself! Come to this room! I WILL FIGHT YOU!
It’s phenomenal, just pure theater. This really doesn’t feel like television at all.
Admittedly, I haven’t watched any of the other shows on the 1968 daytime schedule, but I’m pretty sure this is the only soap opera where they cut loose like this. As the World Turns and The Secret Storm didn’t have characters charging around the room and screaming at the top of their lungs, locked in battle with a voice that no one else can hear. This is a Dark Shadows specialty.
And it really feels like theater. It’s very easy to picture this room as a stage set, with Trask playing to the balcony.
Soap opera scenes are usually intimate — the audience is encouraged to feel close to the characters, because we’re watching people in their private moments, and sharing in their secrets. This scene is exactly the opposite.
Trask: Did you hear it?
Nathan: No.
Trask: Then I am alone.
ALONE, YES!
Trask: No, but I am not alone! I have the legion of believers, I have the word! I have the knowledge! I AM NOT ALONE, DO YOU HEAR, I AM NOT ALONE!
So today is another reason to love Dark Shadows. This is a show that can go big, when it wants to. It can transcend the boundaries of television and taste and good sense, to become something much louder and more interesting.
I think people who have never watched Dark Shadows don’t actually realize what television can do. I feel kind of sorry for them. Do you know what I mean?
Monday: Weekend at Maudie’s.
Behind the Scenes:
Resident prop-spotter Prisoner of the Night says that Maude’s room is a redressed version of the set used as Angelique’s room at the Old House, and Peter’s lodgings: “The sloping walls on either side of the window are the same. However, the design of the fireplace has been modified, and the green door is at stage right, rather than at the left side. It has the same brass-colored handle as in Peter’s and Angelique’s rooms.”
Monday: Weekend at Maudie’s.
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
I guess Joel Crothers missed his costume fitting appointment with ‘Mostoller’ that week. I think Barnabas is deliberately using his signature items to terrify Trask because once again Barnabas is going to make this situation all about HIM – helping Vicki is the last the last thing on his mind at this point.
I am afraid that Barnabas does not qualify as a hightly effective vampire. In 1795 he gets caught by his father, who could have just killed him but does not. In 1967 he is found out by Julia, who for some reasons of her own runs interference for him. In 1897 he is unmaked again, and has to get cured and pretend that the vampire was killed, In 1840 he is about to be unmasked by Trask, but luckily Angeique saves his bacon…
One would think that “not getting caught” is the minimum requirement of hightly effective vampires…
Little disappointed you didn’t title any of these entries And Then There’s Maude… : )
If you want to see a little bit of what else was on air for soaps in the late 1960s and you get RetroTV which is one of the options for network channels to add as extras to their main feed. They just recently started airing The Doctors soap opera from 1967.
No doubt it’s wrong to laugh at a scene where a woman’s body is dumped, but Barnabas’s leaving Maude’s body in Trask’s room made me think of a cat bringing in a dead mouse. Though his intentions weren’t friendly, it nevertheless struck me as a vampire’s idea of a gift. Just given spitefully in this case.
“I cannot draw!” Trask seems almost pained by this admission. Really, what’s is so angry about?
Trask looked like he was about to break into Bogie’s “strawberry” monologue from The Caine Mutiny.
I thought the same thing!
Since the first time I saw Lacy was as Humphrey Bogart’s ghost in the film version of Play It Again, Sam, I’m predisposed to see and hear his resemblance to Bogey whenever he’s onscreen. As Trask became more and more agitated, the aggressive defensiveness in Lacy’s voice, the rhythm of his speech, and the wild look in his eyes took me right back to Captain Queeg on the stand. All Lacy needed to complete the look was some steel ball bearings to roll around in his hand while he shouted about not being alone.
“Yes. I’m going to help you, Ben. I’m going to make sure that Reverend Trask is occupied.” Here Barnabas is in the territory of Adrian Monk, the neurotic detective who makes the constant claim that “You’ll thank me later” without noticing that nobody ever thanks him for doing things that don’t actually help anybody in any way.
Trask says that he is not alone because he is in the company of other believers. Most people who believe in God consider themselves never alone because God, rather than other believers, is with them. Trask must have missed that theology lesson at the hole-in-the-tree seminary he attended. But maybe it just never occurred to Sam Hall.
Miles, good point about Trask’s theology. But, maybe that speaks to Jeremiah’s question, of what church are you a Reverend.
And, Danny, it’s “I have the Word,” not “I have the word.” With respect, of course.
The Word is capitalized because Jesus is the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Jerry Lacy is god. There, I’ve said it.
Speaking of prop-spotting, has anyone noticed that the rum tankards at the Eagle seem to have transparent bottoms? I don’t think they made them that way in the 1790s.
Loved this episode! Barnabas’ taunting of Trask, with that maniacal voice that only Trask can hear, is downright frightening. Barnabas clearly enjoys this cat and mouse game he is playing, and Jerry Lacy is great in this scene. I end up almost feeling sorry for Trask– I said, “almost.”
Loved this episode. Barnabas’ taunting of Trask, with that maniacal laughter that only Trask can hear, is downright frightening. Jerry Lacy is so great in this scene that I almost end up feeling sorry for Trask– I said, “almost.”
When Barnabas wants to be ruthless, Jonathan Frid turns him into a vampire as frightening as any other I can remember.
There are only actor credits in the closing – no production personnel or copyright notice.
Since Barnabus and Maude were both standing when he was killing her, he must have deliberately draped her over the bed with her head hanging ghoulishly over the side.
“Since Barnabus and Maude were both standing when he was killing her, he must have deliberately draped her over the bed with her head hanging ghoulishly over the side.” Yes he did, but remember that Barnabas killed Maude in her own room and then took her to Trask’s room–he moved the body anyway, and he did so specifically to frighten (and frame) Trask.
When Barnabas says “Oh, Trask!”, I’m reminded of Laura Petrie saying “Oh, Rob!”
Jerry Lacy is just stupendous in this episode. His look of self defeat when he screams into Forbes’ face, ” I AM NOT ALONE, DO YOU HEAR, I AM NOT ALONE!”
You can see his wheels spinning inside his eyes. He needs to pull himself together, and he knows it. Lacy brings so much to his every scene. He really delivers. I’m new to DS, and you guys keep talking about episode coming up with this person or that person, and I know, from Wiki, that Lacy plays a lot of Trasks.
Well, I’m really looking forward to it! Bravo, Mr. Lacy!