“Is there anything in that milk?”
Sssh! Someone might hear! They’re after me! I’ve got to get away! Anywhere, away from here!
I have no time to talk, I must get out of here! I can’t stay here — you must understand that! If I stay here, I’ll be dead!
You don’t know what it was like up there — lying in that room, knowing it was going to become my tomb! They’re trying to kill me!
I don’t want that medicine! It’s what’s making me sick, I know it! If I don’t take that medicine, I’ll get my strength back! It’s the medicine that makes me weak! Very weak! I’m not going to take it, and you can’t make me take it!
Is there anything in that milk? I’m in terrible danger!
Thank heavens it’s you! I have to get out of here — I have to hurry, before it’s too late! It’s worse than I thought!
I’ve just discovered something terrifying, and you’ve got to get me out of here before they get to me! The only thing you can do for me is to get me out of here!
I can’t tell you here, but I can tell you when we’re safely away from here! Just go out into the hall, and look around, and make sure the coast is clear! You’ll do that for me, won’t you? You’ll do it for me, to save my life?
Professor Stokes, you’ve got to take me to the police! Yes, I’m in terrible danger! No, no, no! Not to Collinwood! Please, Professor Stokes! I am not being hysterical or melodramatic!
They’ve been after me, ever since I got here! At first, there were just little hints, phone calls, things like that! It was their way of letting me know that I was under their control, and I was, too, because I was up there, lying in that medicine!
There are a great many of them. People you’d least suspect! And you know this town — you know how they gossip! Little hints, veiled threats! It was their way of making me sick, I know it!
You think I’m mad! You would be, too, if they were after you! It’s impossible to believe! Just go out into the hall, and look around!
Get over it? How can I, when it’s the truth? I have no time to talk, I know this town! Please, I’ll get my strength back! Look at the medicine! It’s worse than I thought!
You must understand, you’ve made your investigations, and it makes me weak! Very weak! I seem to be marked for death, no matter where I turn! Let me tell you why she took me back to Collinwood. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
You know this town. You know my wife. And yet, why would she risk all that milk? No, it’s too late!
Carolyn, get away from here! Just take me to the police, they’ve been after me! I’ve just discovered something. You discover it all after twenty years! You can’t protect medicine, because a great room downstairs understands that the coast is clear!
After twenty years of open hatred, you’ve got to take me to town. Now, for heaven’s sake, you said a great many of them would save my life! Did I dream it? Stop chasing me! Medicine! Under that milk!
You can’t protect the police, it’s impossible to call my daughter, I can’t stop chasing my tomb! The coast is under their control, twenty years of impossible names, under guard and marked for death! It’s worse chasing the police, with that terrible medicine that makes me weak! Very weak! A very good reason! I’m in hysterical danger!
Tomorrow: Trial’s an Error.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
When Carolyn catches Paul at the front door, you can see a boom mic in the background.
Liz tells Paul, “I humored you about your — about Dr. Hoffman.”
In Paul’s room, there’s some yellow marking tape on the spot where he falls, which you can see when Carolyn helps him up.
In the last scene, when Davenport grabs Paul, he shouts, “No, no, Mr. Stokes — Mr. Stoddard!”
Liz pours some medicine onto a spoon, but pretty much all of it drips onto the floor.
Behind the Scenes:
Nobody says the police officer’s name in this episode, and there are no on-screen credits, but the Dark Shadows Program Guide lists him as Deputy Davenport. When the character appears again in late January, he’ll be Sheriff Davenport — on-screen and in the Program Guide listing. The Dark Shadows Almanac calls him Deputy/Sheriff Davenport.
Davenport is played by Ed Riley, who was first heard last week as Harrison Monroe’s voice over the loudspeaker. Riley doesn’t have any other credits listed on IMDb, but he appeared on Broadway in revivals of The Front Page and Gypsy, from 1969 to 1975.
Tomorrow: Trial’s an Error.
— Danny Horn
“To me, horror is when I see somebody lying. I mean a person I know. A friend. And he’s telling me something that I accept. And then suddenly, as he or she is telling it, there’s something that gives them away. They’re not telling me the truth. And I discover it myself, just in the way they’re not telling it like it should be told. They’re slipping. You see somebody slip. And they know that they’re lying to you. That sends chills, shivers, right up and down my spine! It’s horror! It’s horror! In the cold light of day.” – Jonathan Frid, 2001
Are these cut-ups? Or created deliberately?
“Liz pours some medicine onto a spoon, but pretty much all of it drips onto the floor.”
Hmmm…maybe she sculled too much of it earlier…
Makes me think of Ted’s “drinking problem” in Airplane!
Red pills, blue pills, lavender-and-green pills…
Maybe Dan Curtis looked at the players on the set that day and figured Joan Bennett had the best chance of getting the medicine in the spoon that day.
And maybe he thought wrong. It was 1969 after all.
“Hey, don’t drink that poison! It costs $4 an ounce!”
Dr. Hugo Hackenbush, in ‘A Day At The Races’
Keen eyed mst3k fans will note that Ed Riley was in the short
“what to do on a date”
Also Noah Gifford/Harry Johnson was in the mst3k short “is this love?”
Aha! I thought he looked familiar!
Poor Paul Stoddard. He can’t catch a break.
It really is a testament to Dennis Patrick’s acting that the audience feels so much sympathy for a twenty-year deadbeat dad who’s been on the show such a short time. Well, it’s also due to Nancy Barrett – Carolyn loves him, so the audience can’t help at least liking him.
I agree. I really feel for him.
He does an utterly fantastic job with the “the more I explain the crazier I sound.”
I love the way he says, “Oh, no!” when he sees Liz in this episode… he does it twice (three times if you count the one where he’s at the police station, “Oh… no, no… don’t let her near me!”) But the first time especially is so evocative of not just mortal terror, but despair of ever getting free. It’s wonderful.
I was scanning a bio on Dennis Patrick the other day and came across an interesting bit of trivia – don’t remember if you ever referenced this Danny..Dennis Patrick played televisions FIRST vampire on a 1951 show called ‘Stage 13’..
I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m really like evil “Liz,” and so far, there’s more I like this storyline than not.
I love evil Liz! But then, I also loved terminally depressed Liz, obsessed with death and convinced she would be buried alive.
Ed Riley’s voice sounds awfully familiar. I wonder if he did any voiceover work?
It seems a bit out of character for Stokes to play tattletale with Liz. If anybody would believe a crazy story about cult taking over the town, it’s Stokes.