The Dark Shadows Daybook: March 28

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this day in 1969: Episode 725

A lugubrious luau breaks out at Collinwood! When Quentin’s a zombie, Jamison is Quentin, and Trask is back, will Barnabas say aloha? Gregory Trask: Jerry Lacy. (Repeat; 30 min.)

As Quentin continues to both inhabit Jamison’s body and writhe around in a graveyard, Gregory Trask arrives to recruit Jamison. He sets about conducting an excruciating exorcism as Barnabas looks on, helpless to stop the craven clergyman.

Enter Gregory Trask.

This is where the 1897 storyline kind of runs off the rails... now and then. Like the 1795 storyline, 1897 contains more filler upon actual viewings than in memory. Yes, Trask's a great villain, and there are volumes to say about Clan Trask, but that's counterbalanced by long patches of episodes that take up so much time, it makes me wonder if the character had dirt on Dan Curtis.

But I'm obligated to like the Trasks in their steadfastness as Collins antagonists. I'm about a decade behind on my Big Finish listening, but have they done much with the Trask family per se? That's the parallel story to the Collins chronicles. It's interesting to ponder the DS story from their perspective. A Lovecraftian hotbed of aristocratic menace!

"Yeah, Greg, you gotta go see what's happening at that house they walled up your gramps in. You know, where your dad disappeared. Well, okay, the OTHER house on the estate. You know, they have a vampire up there. And a witch. That's fine, but around kids? Quentin's back. Carl's still dating showgirls. They're hiring all of your ex-employees. Oh, and Quentin's now in the kid's body. No, not like that. Well, after he had the boy almost desecrate the corpse of Gabriel's old widow, all bets were off. Where's Quentin? He's a zombie. Maybe it has to do with all the gypsies they're harboring. Yeah, it's a real normal house up there. You know, your dad built a mortuary out of nothing and did pro bono work as an attorney. Your granddad came to this godforsaken town when the Collins family was keeping occultists on the payroll. Maybe it was to help the syphilitic sailor they thought was a dandy marriage prospect. He was married, but did that matter to them? No. Hell, they were marrying off their sons to island girls that the uncle would sleep with on his own. Now Greg, you're an educator and a pastor. They have two kids up there, looked after by some trampy maid. Kids, Greg. Yeah, they're half gypsy, but let's let that go. Their mom? They locked her up in a tower because that's how they treat the sick. She's running around with a knife, and do they call the cops? Of course not. I say it's self-defense. You have to help that poor woman. Help the kids, too."

Inaccurate, but the truth usually is.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Barnabas is having a hell of a night. Judith, the voice of reason, has Jamison locked up in the drawing room and screaming. She thinks nothing odd about him being alone in the room with a grown man who keeps sticking his head out and saying, "Not yet. Give me just a few more minutes," before ducking back in for more terrified cries of fear and pain.

Fortunately, Barnabas comes from an age of advanced and sophisticated corporal child rearing. If any character in literature is capable of dealing with the middle ground between modern common sense and old school, birch branch pedagogy, it's the man who did wonders with Willie Loomis by way of his instructive cane.

This is what makes Quentin look civilized.

It's the fourth anniversary of the Daybook, written as my third week in corona captivity begins. I got into all of this eight years ago due to nearly two months of self-imposed isolation as I watched all of Dark Shadows in just a few weeks. If anything, this all feels strangely familiar. My only advice, since you insisted, is to keep Dark Shadows on at all times. I mean it. They are the much-needed set of extra voices, rooms, and locations desperately required right now.

They are home. And their home is ours. Be well.

This episode hit the airwaves on April 4, 1969.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: April 4

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1969: Episode 730

As Quentin descends with Jamison into the world of occult chicanery, Edward learns that the past can be a real mother! Laura Collins: Diana Millay. (Repeat; 30 min.)

As Quentin uses occult influence to prevent Gregory Trask from taking Jamison, Laura uses Nora to insinuate herself into the house. This disrupts plans both good and bad, and Edward is stunned and incensed at her return.

Laura arrives in a brazen move by the show, shouting back to the primary supernatural threat from the show prior to Barnabas… which means prior to most viewership. Diana Millay gives a shockingly relaxed, modern performance as the returning Laura. She brims with confidence as a character and as an actor. Arriving at the worst and best time, Laura’s proto-reemergence is classic 1897. The story arc is the show’s first shot at Dickens, and nothing screams Dickens like terrible timing. (Ask any high school student with an essay due on Bleak House.) Children, about to be sent off to an unthinkably cruel boarding school, meet their long-missing mother in the nick of time. But does she offer a more diabolical form of escape?

No wonder the record and sky high ratings were reserved for this storyline. If the 1795 storyline were written for housewives, allowing them to be Vicki (out of place and glamorously persecuted), Josette (except no one else sees it, the blind fools), and Angelique (and hear her roar), this was aimed more at the demographic running home from school. It’s written for kids in front of the tv, and it’s talking about weird parental dynamics openly and from their point of view. This kind of depiction of liberal parent vs. stern appeals to any child with a disciplinarian in the roost… or who wishes there were someone who cared enough to be one. It provides fantasties across that spectrum. And it really layers the truths because it’s not black and white. Yes, we know that Edward is ultimately on the right end of the spectrum. He just has no idea what’s really going on at Worthington Hall. Quentin is also on the right end of the spectrum. Yes, the man wants what’s best for Jamison. He just can’t overcome the fact that he’s the uncle who educates before he schools, and while this is fun, it’s not sustainable. And then there’s Laura. Who’s all about love and fire.

To what degree does Laura actually care for the kids (she did abandon them, after all) and to what degree is she trying to satisfy an evil fire god? Yes! I don’t think they are mutually exclusive for her. And the kids (on the show and as viewers) get a little of everything. Laura is about indulgent passion for her kids. Quentin is about indulgent fun. Edward indulges with structure. He actually cares more than either of the others,because it’s more than a convenience, and yet he lacks the tools to demonstrate it in any way that Jamison and Nora can appreciate.

The clever thing in the episode is how Louis Edmonds’ performance shows that dichotomy. When Nora is terrified of the face in the fireplace, Edward is determined to erase that fear. He attempts it terribly, but he tries. The show then takes us to the conversations that the children don’t see, yet concern them. Say what you will about Edward, but he puts his full passion into raising the children. He stayed at his post when the trainees -- Quentin and Laura -- ran (off to Alexandria). That’s why Quentin only snipes at him.

With 724, Dark Shadows becomes an increasingly masculine show, and I don’t mean that in some two-fisted, brutal, five o’clock shadow-sporting, Bud-swilling, Rowdy Roddy McDowell sense. Yes, men cause a lot of the problems on the show, but often as dupes and doofi and people who think with more romance than reason. But they often have soulful vulnerabilities or elements of amusing self-contradiction that add a puckish dimension to the depiction of men. Only in people like Gregory Trask and John Yaeger do we see purely lustful evil after this point.

And some of this is by contrast. A year ago, Vicki and Carolyn and Julia were all wringing their hands about the Life and Death of Peter Bradford, and, well, okay. Vicki had just returned to see a man torn apart like a dog toy in the jaws of two jealous and competing females. Our hero was powerless in Angelique’s shadow. It was still Vicki’s show, and we all just live in it. But with her story vaguely resolved, it belongs to Jonathan Frid. The beautiful thing about both Frid and Barnabas is that they don’t seem to want it. There’s no preening and scene stealing. Just as Barnabas serves the family, Frid seems to serve the show.

In the service of THIS episode, we have to recognize the entire ensemble. David Henesy is the respectable skeptic not predisposed to believe Nora’s ravings about their returned mother. David Selby effortlessly sells the rapport with Jamison that demonstrates why the later haunting will be inevitable. Diana Millay is the ultimate Weekend Mom, and a believable one. And then, there’s Louis Edmonds.

Good gravy, talk about service to the show. There is no such thing as a wasted Louis Edmonds scene, and that’s never been truer than with Edward Collins. Roger may have the most of his episodes. Joshua has the most mythic importance. PT has those fabulous scarves. Brutus is named “Brutus” and sports a pointy beard, which is its own reward. But Edward Collins is his most prized creation as an actor. Relentlessly stiff, yet never predictable, he’s the spirit of late-Victorian zest and progress. Hilariously so. In this episode, he says both “chicanery” and “humbug,” so there you go. I was so excited, I contacted Wallace, who lamented that balloons didn’t drop from the ceiling. Edward is the prime Victorian male archetype, which is a polite way of saying, “well-written stereotype.” At the same time, he always has the capacity for surprise. When Edward reveals or discovers a new layer of himself, such as when he becomes Edward Collins: Vampire Slayer, I have no choice but to buy it because Edmonds completely justifies whatever the writers cook up. And just wait for the transformation Count Petofi unleashes! Edward’s inner life of meek subservience says everything about Edward’s almost fetishistic adherence to obligation, social codes, and the safety of a rigid limit of options. The man has more structure than a Stephen Sondheim song. And he’s every bit as witty and refreshing. Just watch the fun Edmonds has and you, too, will start giggling in precisely the manner that would merit a severe upbraiding from Edward. Perhaps a strong reprimand. A searing indictment is not out of the question. There’s a likelihood of a thorough caning from an experienced hand. And, inevitably, a healthful diet rich in salubrious roughage.

Hail roughage! Hail Edward Collins, its high priest!

And, whatever you do, be grateful for Louis Godbless’em Edmonds!

This episode hit the airwaves April 11, 1969.

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: April 4

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 469

In the secret room, Vicki recalls the circumstances under which she shot Noah Gifford in 1795.  Vicki, Jeff, and Julia open the coffin, finding it empty.  Barnabas springs up from his hospital bed, mad with the urge for blood.  Lang explains that it is only a relapse, but Barnabas demands more information.  Lang elaborates that the transfusion temporarily arrested his condition, but if Barnabas agrees to his treatments, the cure will be permanent.  Later, Julia visits Lang at the hospital.  He refuses to divulge his plans to Julia, explaining that Barnabas will remain his doctor after he leaves the hospital.  Julia offers a guarantee for Barnabas’ cooperation if Lang will let her participate.  If not, and if she senses danger, she vows to stop Lang.  Clark enters, cutting their meeting short.  Julia leaves and Clark explains that he saw her at Eagle Hill.  Lang is angry because Clark was supposed to go to Stanhope Cemetery, where there is plenty of fresh activity.  Clark wants to quit, but Lang insists that he cooperate or be sent back to the institution for the criminally insane.  Lang knows that Clark and Vicki are attracted to one another, but wants nothing to interfere with his plans.  If Clark defies Lang, the doctor threatens to tell her that Clark is a murderer.

Today, the Dark Shadows actors walked out of the studios to a world where Dr. Martin Luther King was minutes away from assassination.  It would not be until December 21 that astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders successfully broke the bonds of Earth to orbit our moon for the first time in human history.  According to history, one person wrote a letter to NASA in gratitude for that achievement, stating simply, “You saved 1968.”  It was still several months from the murder of Robert Kennedy, but it was very suddenly a world that needed DARK SHADOWS.  And over the next year, it delivered.  Not as a diversion.  Not as an escape. But as a model.

"Maybe we just needed it in the '60s," David Selby told DC Comics back in 2012. "They were shows that allowed you to escape … shows that made life a little easier to cope. I think about New York City at that time and all the things that were going on. The corruption, the racial conflicts, the unrest at Columbia University. There were protests everywhere. Then there was Chicago, and the election in 1968. The assassination of Martin Luther King, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Vietnam was raging. And then you had these shows. I’m sure some sociologist is examining all of this and working it out. But I think those two shows, Batman and Dark Shadows, they fit that expression, 'Whatever gets you through the night.'"

Barnabas, within one year of this episode, will make the most important changes of his life.  He will defy Eric Lang’s directive to murder Jeff Clark. He will destroy Nicholas Blair’s attempts to create a master race. And he will risk everything to venture to 1897 because it is the right thing to do. DARK SHADOWS couldn't save 1968. But it offered a lot more than just a diversion.

It’s also Humbert Allen Astredo’s birthday. And that’s a good thing, too.