“What kind of life do you lead, Mr. Jennings?”

Two weeks ago, Dark Shadows entered a period that I’m calling The Great 1968 Wrap-Up, a long overdue narrative house-cleaning. Soap opera storylines are always a bit of a tangled web, but if you’re not careful, the structure becomes so dense that it collapses in on itself, and becomes a dangerous gravitational singularity.

For example:

• Barnabas Collins isn’t a vampire anymore, because his life force is shared with
• Adam, a Frankenstein monster who’s trying to start a family with
• Eve, a female monster who’s animated by the life force of
• Danielle, a French Revolution-era murderess, who’s madly in love with
• Peter, the 18th-century lawyer who’s traveled through time to follow
• Vicki, the Collins family governess, who was just left at the altar by
• Jeff, who’s discovered that he’s actually a reincarnation of
• Peter, and he’s not very happy about it.

Obviously, that’s a complex set of facts and relationships for the audience to keep in mind, especially because the one thing that absolutely everybody knows about Dark Shadows is that it’s the story of Barnabas Collins, who yes he is a vampire, what are you even talking about that he’s not a vampire anymore?

So that’s the level of mess that we’re dealing with here. We’re currently two weeks into this massive clean-up project, and we’ve now reached the stage where they’re just strangling cast members and leaving them in the closet.

Continue reading Episode 627: Bad Moon Rising →