“I’ll never forgive myself for not killing him when I had the chance!”
Daphne: Why are you so sad, Bramwell?
Bramwell: I’m not sad.
Daphne: You mean, nurse me back to health?
Bramwell: Of course.
Daphne: But you know that isn’t possible.
Bramwell: Not only is it possible…
Daphne: You know I’m going to die, don’t you?
Bramwell: Whatever makes you say a thing like that?
Daphne: Because I know it’s true.
Bramwell: It isn’t true! You must not think such things!
Daphne: I’m not afraid, Bramwell.
Bramwell: Daphne, please.
Daphne: No, Bramwell. You listen to me. I think I’ve known from the beginning, from the look on Dr. Fletcher’s face, and from the way everyone’s reacted. It’s not an easy thing to conceal.
Bramwell: You imagine this. It’s not so!
Daphne: Bramwell, how much time do I have?
Bramwell: Now, don’t talk like that!
Bramwell: We’ll go away as soon as you’re better!
Daphne: No, it was only a dream. That’s all it was, it was just a dream.
Bramwell: Don’t talk this way, Daphne. We’ll make it work, we’ll make it happen, I swear we will!
Daphne: Bramwell, while I know how much you mean that, it’s too late. Can’t you see that?
Bramwell: No.
Daphne: You see life as Catherine does. You’re so alike, and that’s the reason why you belong together.
Bramwell: Daphne, you mustn’t say these things!
Bramwell: I cannot let you do this! If I hadn’t been so blind and selfish, this would never have happened!
Daphne: You mustn’t feel that way.
Bramwell: I’ll never be able to forgive myself for this.
Daphne: Bramwell, you’ve got nothing to forgive yourself for. You’ve only got a responsibilty for yourself, to make the best possible life for yourself that you can.
Bramwell: Not without you, my darling. Not without you!
Bramwell: I’ve given her nothing to live for, and now she’s dying.
Catherine: You mustn’t blame yourself.
Bramwell: But I do.
Monday: Infrequently Asked Questions
About the Collins Family Curse.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
In the foyer, when Morgan says, “It surprises me a bit,” the camera switches to Catherine while they’re still zooming out from a closeup to a two-shot.
When Daphne is talking to Catherine, the music cue changes a moment too soon, anticipating Daphne’s turn for the worse before it happens.
Morgan tells Julia, “If Quentin finds him, he’s going to kill him. It seems that Gabriel made him promise he would do it. Before Gabriel went into that room, he promised Quentin that if he came out mad, that he would kill him. Until this point, Gabriel — Quentin hasn’t been able to bring himself to do it.”
Monday: Infrequently Asked Questions
About the Collins Family Curse.
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
Sorry, I’m a bit nauseated. Must have been something I read.
Or watched.
The Way That I Mustn’t Feel But Can’t Help Feeling. Why do I hate this so much? Bramwell and Catherine are just getting away with infidelity. Barnabas and Julia got away with murder. Why is this so much worse? Why would I rather watch the fountain pen story on an infinite loop than watch the last 20 episodes of this again? I guess I’m angry that this is how it ended, among all these people, rather than among the ones I cared about. That after waiting 40 years to see the last episodes, this is what I got.
This is why I am so glad that Danny created the blog. I was so angry when the show took this turn back in 1971. I couldn’t believe it. I stopped watching for a month or so but tuned back in once the cancelation notice was issued. Now I have others who share my pain. (Lol)
Well, Barnabas and Julia always convinced themselves they were acting for a greater good, or for scientific discovery or whatever. They weren’t gazing into each other’s eyes and insisting nobody else was real when they didn’t have the excuse of being a vampire or a mad scientist in unrequited love but wasn’t going to act like a dip because of it.
Catherine and Bramwell just throw fit after fit, not caring whose stuff they break, or whose hearts, or if the whole damn world burns down as long as their audience of each other doesn’t walk out. It’s That Couple you knew in college who spent their entire course of study fighting, breaking up, cheating on each other, getting engaged, and on and on while the rest of their friends finally just went to finals and got jobs because every version of their relationship was exactly like every other version of it.
Me: I can’t even with this.
Bramwell: You will even with this.
Well, she IS right about Catherine and Bramwell belonging together. At least they continued to promote that theme.
“When Daphne is talking to Catherine, the music cue changes a moment too soon, anticipating Daphne’s turn for the worse before it happens.”
I remember this happening on One Life to Live during the live-to-tape half-hour days. The very dramatic music cue came in too early, then when it was supposed to come in there was a long hesitation. To Erika Slezak’s credit, she kept a straight face, and this was very early on in her tenure. I know she wanted to laugh.
How do we know the music didn’t trigger her turn for the worse?
Jonathan Frid does an excellent job of delivering the opening narration for this episode. Not only is his voice crisp and urgent, but it also has a particular sound that establishes the narrator as a distinct character in his own right. In its tiny way, it is one of the finest performances in the series.
The rest of the episode, on the other hand…
I think I can explain why it seems worse when Daphne gives her blessing to Catherine and Bramwell than it does when characters get away with murder. For a hundred episodes or so, Daphne has been the most consistently appealing character on the show, and since coming to Parallel Time she is the only one who is enough like her Regular Time counterpart that we can identify with her point of view. It’s as if Vicki had taken her brains with her when she went to 1795. All she’s managed to do in PT is to marry Bramwell, and in this episode she tells him, and us, that their marriage was a dead end and that we should all forget about it.
On the other hand, when characters get away with murder, those murders are supposed to haunt their consciences and shape the relationships they have with their co-conspirators. And there’s often the prospect that an old murder will come back to bite someone who apparently got away with it, either in the form of blackmail, of evidence that could expose the guilty parties to prosecution or, more often, of a vengeful ghost.
Morgan: Julia, are you still in there? Julia! Gabriel, is Julia still in there? GABRIEL! ARE YOU IN THERE!
I don’t know quite why, but this struck me as pretty funny.
Bramwell: Daphne, what are you trying to say?
And then you probably heard me, yelling “NO! NO, NO, NO!” But, of course, she did, the whole damn unselfish treacle sweet ‘Go and be happy with your true love’ crap-o-rama.
Bramwell: If I hadn’t been so blind and selfish, this never would have happened.
No, it still would have happened, but you mightn’t have felt so guilty. At least we get some satisfaction that he’s suffering.
And does anyone else think that Bramwell’s ears are kinda pointy? Makes him look like a hobbit with indigestion.
Catherine: I spent all day in my room. Thinking about her. About us… about how different everything would have been if only one of us had behaved unselfishly.
Sure, NOW you’re angsty. If Daphne wasn’t sick, you two would be off to the gah-zay-bow for more ‘Oh, we must not do this!’ ‘Yes, we must, for no one else exists!’
Bramwell: Catherine! Get Doctor Fletcher. Get him immediately!
But I admit I still feel sad for poor Daphne. She had a whole life ahead, spending Bramwell’s money and looking the other way while he two timed her.
Julia: But I don’t understand!
Gonna let this next mangle pass, I’ve heard too much Fridspeak and Storm-garbling to be too harsh with Prentice. At least he didn’t try to go back and repair it.
Melanie: Because the only thing I can trust you to tell me is LIES!
Standard Time, Parallel Time, past, present and future, Julia stays true to her character. You got to admire that kind of consistency.
Julia: Morgan, we’ll have to hold the lottery again.
I thought the lottery was one time for the generation. Where did this amendment come from? Morgan spent the night (though he wasn’t chosen); Gabriel took a turn (but cheated out); were these exceptions set down in the rules? Or has Brutus been manifesting himself to referee for 160 years? He must be, because he’s also keeping the candles in his bedroom lit – notice that the candelabras are burning when Julia and Morgan enter.
Yes, there are 2 candelabras each with five candles all lit in Brutus’ bedroom. Before entering, Morgan was carrying one lit candle. All of those candles were lit, despite Morgan mentioning they’d be safe in the daylight. It’s interesting there don’t appear to be any windows anywhere in Justin’s bedroom nor his accounting office of death.
It looks like the popular opinion is Gabriel deserves the death penalty. As head of Collinwood, Flora must have issued the hit on her own son—regrettable perhaps, but necessary. Gabriel’s last wish before entering Brutus’ locked room was for Quentin to agree to kill him should Gabriel come out insane. Julia, Morgan, Quentin, and the servants were ready to help make Gabriel’s wish come true, while also taking the law into their own hands. That meant there was absolutely no need to call the police, as Julia dutifully noted. I’m sure it wouldn’t take them long to bury the body. After all, they’d all gotten plenty of experience doing that kind of work previously. Hopefully they have a few of those cool-looking decorated coffins in stock like Justin’s. The Collins can then issue a PR announcement stating that another Collins has gone to England.
I found it curious that Gabriel was ready to choke his Mommy Dearest, while Julia got a bump to her noggin.
The biggest problem with burying Gabie baby will be finding a clear spot on the grounds that doesn’t already contain a corpse.
And maybe ‘G-Note’ has a certain order in which he wants to murder the family, or certain ways in which he wants to do it. (Julia… with the letter opener… in the drawing room.)
Crazy people, huh? Wattaya gonna do? 🤪
Was this excerpt between a dying show, that once had so much life and potential, and its maker?
lol! In that context the lines “No, it was only a dream. That’s all it was, it was just a dream” seem so much more poignant, as DS was inspired by a dream Dan Curtis had.
Cut to Quentin in the shower…😀
Oooh! DS Clue!
Was it Melanie in the Tower with a knife, Melanie in the Tower with a ligature, Melanie in the Tower with a knife and ligature, or Melanie in the Tower with a knife AND Gabriel in the Tower with a ligature, or Melanie in the Tower with a ligature AND Gabriel in the Tower with a knife, or Gabriel in the Tower with a knife, Gabriel in the Tower with a ligature, Gabriel in the Tower with a knife and ligature, or was the ghost possessing somebody to blame? DS Clue might be a winner!
And now for a Public Service Announcement from the MSOD Foundation:
Angelique: Hi, I’m Angelique Valerie Miranda DuVal Bouchard Collins Blair Collins Rumson…
Josette: …and I’m Josette DuPres.
Angelique: We may not see eye to eye on everything…
Josette: In fact, since that little “prank” you played on me at Widow’s Hill, I haven’t really seen “eye to eye” with anyone on anything.
(The two do a forced awards show co-host laugh).
Angelique: We may joke with each other about a lot of things, but the one thing we never joke about is Mysterious Soap Opera Disease, or MSOD.
Josette: There’s still no effective treatment for MSOD, but with help from generous donors like you there is hope.
(Music: “In the arms of the Angel Fly away from here. From this dark cold hotel room. And the endlessness that you fear….”)
Griffin: I’m Doctor Griffin Munro. Here at General Hospital in Port Charles, we see many patients with MSOD — and there’s nothing we can do for them. As a smokin’ hot doctor and tortured ex-priest, every time I see a patient with MSOD in the ER there’s nothing I can do other than go to the hospital chapel, fall to my knees, scrunch my face up in the one expression I use for every emotion, and scream, “Why, God, WHYYYYY!!!”
Dr. Monica Quartermaine: Thanks to a generous donation from the descendants of Bramwell Collins in a parallel track of time where people made different decisions, we’re opening the Daphne Harridge Collins wing at General Hospital to explore cutting edge treatments to delay — and perhaps one day cure — the scourge of MSOD.
(Angelique, Josette, Griffin and Monica are now standing together)
Josette: But we still need more support. If we can get one $100 donor every minute for the next year, we can set up an endowment to guarantee the future of the Daphne Harridge Collins Center for MSOD. Won’t you please donate? If we average one donor a minute, that’s —
(Fade out as they sing:) Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes! Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear…
Are donations to the DHCCFMSOD tax deductible?
If only the show had MSOD and looked better and better as it expired. No such friggin’ luck–
The music cue mistake made me instantly think of the Far Side cartoon where “the little forest animals knew there were no predators around because of the pretty, tinkling music cues, not the dark, predator music.”
Why doesn’t anyone seem very concerned about homicidal Gabriel Collins unaccounted for on the estate, looking for family members to kill? I lost track of how many times people traveled between the mansion and old house…
Melanie telling Julia to essentially cram it gave me life!! I get so sick of Julia’s high horse all the time! It made watching this pointless episode worth it.
Cut to Quentin in the shower…😀
My local ABC affiliate in Dayton, Ohio, was one of the stations that quit Dark Shadows about five or six months before the network pulled the plug. As a kid, i was so sad and angry. All these decades later, I realize WKEF was right.