The Dark Shadows Daybook: April 10

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 472

When Roger visits Lang on a hypnotized mission of murder, who will be Ahab and who will be the whale? Roger Collins: Louis Edmonds. (Repeat; 30 min.)

With the Angelique painting missing, Julia and Barnabas take the discovery of Lang’s head mirror in Roger’s bedroom as an indication that Roger is trying to kill the doctor. They show up in time to prevent Roger from stabbing Lang with a harpoon from the scientist’s collection. Lang, however, resists the notion that this is voodoo. After a Stokes encounter, Barnabas and Julia discover that the painting, theoretically with Roger, is back at Collinwood. Lang also suggests that Barnabas might have more luck with Vicki if he looked like someone she’s attracted to.

Is there a way to adequately address the strangeness of episode 472? Yes, but I won’t avail myself of it. Not when there are shallow and puerile double entendre to cite. Because I think it’s intentional. This episode was shot on April 8. A week prior was April Fools day, and there is a possibility that 472 was written then. Or revised. Or sketched out. Or vandalized. Let’s face it, some form of this text was on someone’s desk at that point. The show was just becoming comfortable with itself. They were now immune of the cancellation threat that loomed the prior year. The audience loved whatever the writers did. It was high time for Gordon Russell to have fun. And he did.

Jonathan Frid and Addison Powell have a comic chemistry that belongs in Noel Coward for half of the year and alongside Gallagher and Sheen for the other. Powell begins the episode as a white-haired Gomez Addams, enthusiastically selling Barnabas on his new key to love and survival -- just look like Roger Davis. As long as Barnabas will allow some kind of extreme Roger Davis makeover, Vicki will be his. The details of HOW to look like Roger Davis are just those -- pesky details. And now, Frid gets to do something completely different. His well-worn shtick with Julia and Willie is to suggest an extreme solution that forces them do bug-eyed doubletakes. (Well, takes, anyway.) Finally, the hand is on the other foot as Frid luxuriates in the pleasure of Powell doing the heavy lifting while he roils with deadpan incredulity. The show has finally gotten so implicitly outrageous that Barnabas, who was brought into the fold of conservative, daytime hundrummery to liven it up, gets to be the measure of realism. The recovering vampire from the 1790’s is now the most relatable character for entire episodes. Let that sink in. And it’s only taken about a week or so. When the show premiered, it took that long for characters to join a subject and a verb. Now, Roger is hypnotized, Vicki is obsessed with one man from the past while being the obsession of another man from the past, Barnabas is a (mostly) cured romantic lead, and Julia has gone from trying to kill our hero to being Monk & Ham, Spock & Bones, and very much a smoky voiced Jiminy Cricket to him. She and Barnabas have slipped into an effortless partnership, and as he explains “What’s an Angelique” and she doesn’t use it as a new reason to poison him, we see a series being born.

Then there’s Roger asking to hold Dr. Lang’s harpoon.

I’m not making this up. And there is no way on Diabolos’ red Earth that writer Gordon Russell wasn’t smirking at Standards and Practices’ inability to make effective objections. I won’t say “phallic frenzy,” because we’re in mixed company. But you and I are seasoned sophisticates of the world. We’re not bourgeois. Have the rubes and wet blankets left the room? Good. We’re alone. Between us, “phallic frenzy.”

Of all the props. I mean, of all the props. And Roger keeps asking about it... when he’s not insisting on preemptive care for a stroke. Fortunately, and I’m not making this up, while the whammified Roger is ostensibly there because a prophetic dream told him he would die that night, the dream also said that his death wasn’t for a few hours, so tell me about that harpoon. Let me hold it. You seem to be an expert on harpoons. I still have a few hours left to chat about harpoons before we have to talk about the unseen voice that foretold my doom. Right now, I want to know more about your hobby.

And the more they talk about harpoons, the more ridiculous the word becomes.

Say it.

“Harpooooon.”

It just sounds funny, and that’s on top of the weird connotations. Of course, we’ve already heard that Roger stole away with Angelique’s painting, whereupon he booked a room at the Collinsport Inn for himself and the amorous artwork, locking himself away with it for the afternoon. Um, okay. That’s not even subtext. That’s just text.

The actors admirably play it as straight as humanly possible. Powell later gets to swap the comic dynamic he had with Jonathan Frid, going from playing the nut to playing the norm as he attempts to take Roger seriously and look past the subtext. Somewhere, Leslie Nielson was taking notes. It won’t be long, however, that he’s once again rolling his eyes and proclaiming that he’s a man of science! This is as Barnabas is explaining how Angelique used black magic to torture the doctor. His evidence? Lang’s head mirror was found in Roger’s bedroom.

Only on Dark Shadows (and the TV of the age) would voodoo be the most reasonable explanation for finding a grown man’s personal articles in the bedroom of another grown man. I mean, yeah, it’s true. But it’s also a strange memo from another age. In some ways quaint. In some ways sad. Was Gordon Russell pointing all of this out, if only in code? If he were not a member of the family, he was most inevitably a friend.

This is how to handle political moments. Tuck them so deeply into plots that people tell you you’re seeing things, and it’s all in your fevered imagination, and you need to grow up. Yeah, whatever. It was a repressed and miserable time. This episode is a subtle and comical moment of the Venetian blinds being parted. On purpose. Not on purpose. Not sure. But there. Not literally. The truth is sometimes too important to state literally.

And let’s say that sometimes a harpoon is not a harpoon and that head mirrors get left in bedrooms for reasons other than voodoo. There’s a juvenile part of us that might giggle at the implications, but that chortling passes. When it does, there is a mature part within us that speaks up and wonders if this were code. Because there was a need and reason for code in 1968. That’s a vital history lesson, if only in my mind. That’s a tribute to yet another facet of Dark Shadows. Code is communication. Code is an act of resistance. Even seeing code where none might be is an act of resistance. And there was a lot to resist in 1968. And still, in 2019.

Harpoon.

This episode hit the airwaves April 16, 1968.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: April 5

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 469

Julia and Lang square off when she learns that he may not only have the cure for Barnabas, but his loyalty, as well. Julia: Grayson Hall. (Repeat; 30 min.)

Jeff, Julia, and Vicki open the coffin in the secret room after Jeff reveals that he somehow knew the latch was there. The coffin is empty. In the hospital, Barnabas has excruciating blood pangs, and Lang explains that he may have a permanent cure. Later, Julia visits Lang, who brags that he can care for Barnabas far better than she. As she leaves, Julia passes Jeff Clark. Lang is furious that he is being associated with Clark. Jeff explains that he saw Julia at Eagle Hill. Lang says the bodies there are far too old for his purposes. It’s clear that Jeff is being blackmailed to work for him.

With more than a week of revolutionary plot advancement under the show’s belt, the staff now settles back into a standard pace. In an interview with Violet Welles, I read that she, Sam Hall, and Gordon Russell would plot out the show months in advance, finally getting down to week by week, episode by episode, and scene by scene. The process was surprisingly meticulous. I think the formula breaks down a bit like this:

10% Last scene of the prior episode.
30% Covering prior plot points.
10% Review and advance secondary plot.
30% Revelation of one new plot point in prime storyline.
10% Foreshadowing future plot point.
5% Debate about prior decision or confession.
5% Major new decision or confession.

In this case, we spend a lot of time in the mausoleum as Vicki and Jeff sort of remember segments of 1795. The major new ground we cover is that Jeff is going to graveyards for Dr. Lang… and that the bodies in Eagle Hill are too old for the job. Hint hint. The discoveries, of course, are that the coffin is empty inside the secret room and that Lang may be able to permanently prevent Barnabas from having any relapses.

But is that really a revelation? No. Lang never said that Barnabas is permanently cured. This is the trick that Dark Shadows does. It doesn’t reliably deliver new information. Instead, it reiterates old information with slightly more context. The characters sometimes act like it’s the first time they’ve heard things, but in the case of Barnabas and his blood pangs, he has no reason to be surprised. Barnabas may have “seen” the recent episodes, but not all viewers have. And for more seasoned viewers, the show still entertains by covering old ground in new enough circumstances that it feels like the first time. Usually.

The hot scene in this one is the conversation that Julia has with Lang. This may be Julia’s real turning point. Up to this moment, Barnabas has been a thorn in her side that she’s niggled about to their mutual masochism. She’s poisoned him. Blackmailed him. Lang seems to sense this. He revels in pointing out the legitimate truth that he can care for Barnabas better than Julia. After all, he cured him in less than a day. It feels like two pimps arguing over an, um, employee. They both pretend to have his best interests at heart. They both pretend not to be engaged in vicious combat. One pretends not to be weaker. One pretends not to be gloating over it.

Julia’s loved Barnabas, but not exactly lost him. He was close enough for her to bully, torture, and be tortured by. He was a problem, yes, but he was all hers. Seeing her contemplate losing him to someone who can pull off what she only claims she MIGHT be able to do? Not only that, but someone who offers none of the minuses of romantic jealousy? She’s suddenly behind an eight ball the size of Collinwood. If she gets out from it, her relationship with Barnabas will never be the same. She’ll have to tap into her humanity, not her guile. They might even wind up equals.

On this day in 2063, Dr. Zephram Cochrane and the town of Bozeman, Montana will welcome the Vulcan surveyor T’Plana-Hath on what will be appreciated as First Contact Day. The T’Plana-Hath

This episode hit the airwaves April 10, 1968.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: April 4

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 468

Dr. Lang releases Vicki from the hospital after warning Jeff, on whom he seems to have dirt, to stay away. At Collinwood, Carolyn’s bite marks have vanished in sync with Barnabas’ cure. Vicki is determined to examine the mausoleum and, with Julia in tow, goes there only to discover Jeff Clark also there, compelled to see her. Together, they intuit the location of the locking mechanism. As the door swings wide, they see the coffin within the hidden chamber.

Victoria doesn’t understand.

To some, “I just don’t understand” is a cliche. To others, a theme. In either case, Vicki either does (or doesn’t do) a lot of it, and she does (or doesn’t do) it constantly for two years. But times are changing. At this point in the series, with both art and economics dictating the tonal shift to Barnabas, there is far less incentive to make the stories center on her, much less make her Liz’s daughter. After all, how does that connect to Barnabas or the supernatural? Exactly. It doesn’t.  Rather than crash the character, it opens up new possibilities. There can be real danger surrounding her because she’s no longer central to the storytelling. The writers flirted before with marrying her off, and unless she marries a Collins, that’s always a threat. But her prior suitors, Burke and Barnabas, would always have the upper hand in the relationship because they understand. It’s their job. Not only do they usually know what’s going on, often they ARE what’s going on. In this sense, can she ever find an equal, and if she can’t, can she really find romance?

Enter Jeff Clark. As 468 ends and they peer into the secret room in the mausoleum, we now have a team of outsiders peeling away the mysteries of Collinwood. It’s taken nearly two years, but it feels right.

Jeff is an ideal lover for Victoria because he’s more lost than she is (without having significant neurological trauma). Now, she gets to be the caretaker. She gets to collaborate on solutions rather than simply stumble or be led into them. They have more in common than confusion. Collinsport outsiders, both have found themselves beholden to eccentric wealth for pasts that are unclear to them. Vicki is lost twice -- not only are her parents a mystery to her, but since the trip to 1795, so does the very era. Jeff is unclear on his own past, with false memories of untrue guilt layered on top of the fact that he’s destiny’s forgetful time traveler. We won’t really know that until later in the year, so the fact that he’s being gaslit into thinking he’s a murderer so that Lang can steal his severed head will have to do.

This episode finishes a week of rebooting, down to taking Carolyn’s bite marks away, allowing Barnabas to be a human hero without lingering consequences of his past misdeeds. Having her as Barnabas’ agent just a few doors down from Cassandra’s bedroom would torture even DARK SHADOWS’ logic. It also resets the character to be available for Adam and Chris Jennings.

Happy days all around, and ending with the former heroine confronting the current hero’s darkest secret. Ironic in its timing. Nine months ago, it would have been the TV event of the week. With so much activity on DARK SHADOWS now, it’s just a cliffhanger. Vicki may not understand it, but at least she finally has company.

On this day in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

This episode hit the airwaves April 10, 1968.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: March 27

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1970: Episode 990

Sabrina Stuart, dazed from time with Cyrus, arrives at Collinwood insisting on a seance. As Quentin tries to make Alexis feel at home, they get drawn into recreating the spectral ceremony where Angelique allegedly died of a stroke. Sabrina, seemingly stuck at that point in time, eagerly participates in the ritual and screams “Murderer!” as it goes on.

If DARK SHADOWS had begun with this sequence, it may have been a more powerful, if less atmospheric, way to begin the show than what aired four years earlier. It’s a new beginning in so many ways, but still steeped in its own past. This episode is dominated by recreating a seance that happened before we joined the storyline -- one that took Angelique’s life. They spend a lot of time justifying recreating something so insane, but they ultimately go forward because, from what I can tell, they don’t have cable. Exposition runs heavier than normal, and the appearance of Angelique’s “twin” gives them plenty of reason to fill us and her in on what’s happened so far. She is a blonde Vicki Winters at this point: a stranger to Collinwood who is both foreign yet intrinsic to the home. By all means, bring her up to speed.

Parallel Time. Very rarely has DARK SHADOWS chased its own tail with such passion, but at least it’s for a reason. They were only a few months past one of their most memorable storylines and were shooting a movie. The franchise was riding high, but not so high that they were invulnerable. How do you protect your brand while keeping it moving?

The previous Leviathan sequence had been an experiment in formula-tampering by restoring Barnabas to his earlier villainy. Romance-driven skullduggery has a thrill to it. Barnabas grimly taking orders from Philip Todd just kind of... doesn’t. Following that, Parallel Time was a perfectly harmless place to drop off viewers with the Next Generation crew while the Original Ghouls went to shoot the film. It’s modern enough to be less expensive than a time travel sequence. But because everyone is a short timer, very little actually matters.

But PT does more than just serve as free parking for Dan’s top hat. It’s part of an annual ritual with the show, which is the oft-mentioned soft reboot, resetting the series in a way that allows new viewers to easily jump in. It also gives the writers a fresh slate. Appropriate for springtime, it happens around this time each year. In 1967, Barnabas is about to appear. In 1968, Vicki is back from 1795 and Angelique is arriving in the present -- with Adam, Stokes, Lang, and Nicholas along for the ride. At this time in 1969, the 1897 story is establishing itself. And in 1970, we begin an entire mirror universe.

As an introduction to a show called DARK SHADOWS, it’s a passionate, moody, evocative success. For a continuation of the DARK SHADOWS story? It’ll be good to get home.

This episode hit the airwaves April 10, 1970.