The Dark Shadows Daybook: January 7

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1971: Episode 1190

When Quentin escapes from jail, will he and Daphne tie the knot before Gabriel ties her down forever? Daphne: Kate Jackson. (Repeat. 30 min.)

Gabriel’s attempt to kidnap Daphne is ineffectual, and the lass escapes. Meanwhile, Joanna stumbles upon Gabriel and Melanie in PT as she searches for Daphne. Nonetheless, Gabriel seizes Daphne from the shadows.

Of course, the 1840 storyline is contrived. Of course. It’s not the character study of 1795 nor the lusty, sprawling bacchanal of pure imagination of 1897. True to its industrial revolution-era setting, it’s a piece of clockwork, cleverly designed to include the apotheosis of Barnabas Collins among dozens of other storylines. The network of interlocking agendas becomes deeply impressive, three steps back, and yet I cannot accuse it of seeming contrived. It simply feels like the owner of the hand of destiny is showing his receipt and telling us all where we can get one. Quentin is out of the way for Trask and Gerard, leading to a witch trial where Barnabas takes up rhetorical arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, winds up with Angelique shot.

Which has its own clockwork beauty of dark and ironic inevitability.

Elements of 1190 are so emotionally mature that I wonder if the show is still Dark Shadows. Joanna Mills quickly concludes that Quentin just is not that into her, and she frees him. Good for you. In this case, she defies the jealous lover stereotype, and for all of her blandness, gets the Victoria Winters Award for intrepid house snooping, while Daphne is doing the same thing in hidden corridors that seem designed to store old paintings on the walls. Staying steady among the rampant Dutch angles (“Boff!” “Pow!” “Insinuate!”), Joanna even has a moment to stop by the ultimate secret passage, the Parallel Time room, where Christopher Pennock and Nancy Barrett star in the costume version of The Lost Weekend. The portrait of an alcoholic is convincing, and it will need to be. 1841PT is easily understandable as the show’s downfall when you consider that it gave them, realistically, nothing connected to the prior four years of world building. Yes, running dry on ideas, we’ve heard it. Running even drier on Frid-as-Barnabas? Clearly. It’s simply a shame that no one thought to extend a tendril of continuity between the universes again. Needn’t even be a big gun.

When the PT cutaway happened today, I found challenge in mustering extreme enthusiasm, even though the final result (1841PYT) is a gem of a storyline. The highlight of the episode, reliably, is Christopher Pennock, the James Cagney of the DS ensemble. Here, he plays two Gabriels, and neither gent is a prize… but in totally different ways, implosive vs. explosive. The difference is arrestingly subtle, down to movement (no, not the legs) and tempo-rhythm. This is the case where relentless training really pays off.

Meanwhile, away from the wistfully sad portrait of a charming alcoholic’s mastery of rationalization, the other Gabriel seems to appear in this episode as sponsored by Ronan Farrow’s most paranoid suspicions. Pantingly lustful, even a priapic Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy would try spiking Gabriel’s Ovaltine with saltpeter. And yet, there is such a goofy quality to Gabriel’s authentic melodrama — straight out of Love Rides the Rails, complete mit tied-up damsel — that any sense of transgressive violation just seems like… it ain’t gonna happen. He eventually rejects Daphne’s come-on in a disappointing burst of common sense. He makes up for it, however, by showing off his counterfeit good-guy badge while commiserating with Joanna. It’s an orgy of irrelevance. At this point, they’re both short timers for totally different reasons. But so are we all in the world of Dark Shadows. However, the show is a möbius strip, and the twist is coming up — some time after 1841PT and before the next episode, #1, in Main Time, so far behind us that it’s the next stop on the horizon.

This episode hit the airwaves Jan. 15, 1971.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: JANUARY 8

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 406

Can Angelique cure Barnabas of the curse before he escapes to Josette and rises again? Angelique: Lara Parker. (Repeat. 30 min.)

After cursing Barnabas, Angelique immediately regrets her choice and tries to cure him, despite his desire to flee to Josette. Meanwhile, Josette’s neck bleeds exactly where Barnabas’ own bat bite wounds are. Angelique tries to restrain Barnabas, explaining to Ben that if he rises, he’ll become one of the living dead.

The threat of indentured servitude didn’t do much to dissuade Ben Stokes from murder, but at the time, he didn’t know he’d also have to referee for Barnabas and Angelique. Through serving as marriage counselor-by-default, he comes across as the real hero of the episode, and in a weird way, so does the witch, herself. There is a nuance in the Dark Shadows story that gets lost, and it’s in 406. Angelique really wants to undo her curse. Is it selfish? Well, in the words of Mother Theresa, isn’t everything? Your Honor, in defense of Angelique Collins, I submit that she had been shot at the time said curse was laid. Who among us does not have fairly strong feelings about a musket ball burning a hole through his chest and ruining his best neglige? She didn’t know she’d wake up and still be married to him. If she had known, she would have cursed him with the scent of bay rum and to always like her friends, no matter how late they stay over watching reruns of The Real Housewives of Logansport while drinking his Drambuie without replacing it. But she didn’t know, and that’s why he’s becoming a vampire.

Nothing on the show is as simple as it would seem, nor is it easy. Angelique continues to haunt Barnabas with the kind of searing hatred that can only be attributed to true love. I continue to wonder about her inability to remove the curse in 1796, but then kind of be able to in 1897, and totally be able to in 1840. My guess is that her powers increase and diminish depending on her standing with Diabolos and how much energy it takes her to travel. The Angelique that cures Barnabas without so much as a Samantha Stephens nose-twitch has the benefit of being on Diabolos’ good side over 45 years of wandering the countryside generally doing evil and staying out of church. Those batteries are full, as is the case for any magic user who hangs around Michael Stroka for long. But when we later meet her, the temporal journey has taken a lot out of her… and she has no interest in mercy. In that timeline, she skipped 1840 without Barnabas’ return. Warren Oddson speculated on Angelique’s timeline in a fantastic essay in the 1840 Concordance. In it (to my memory), he posits that Angelique’s timeline goes... 1795-1840, 1968, 1897, and finally 1970. This means that the 1840 Angelique is possibly the most powerful version -- not as experienced, but not as ravaged by time travel, stints in Hell, and diabolic deals for parole.



As their history continues, Barnabas only tries to kill her occasionally, kind of like an incredibly patient parent who nevertheless has a breaking point. For the most part, he puts up with her rather successfully when we know full well she’s only one tiki torch away from being a stain on the road. Her insistence on curing him in this episode, to the extent of trying to keep him from packing and leaving, must have influenced his indulgence, despite his statements to the contrary. I feel for Angelique. We’ve all had moments of overreaction followed by the inability to retract it. What follows (for the series) is not only continued anger at Barnabas, but anger at herself, as well. His survival is a constant reminder of her wrath, and the memory of her wrath is the memory of its inspiration. He won’t love her. But he also won’t have the decency to die and stop reminding her of the curse. Of course, she is the curse’s ultimate victim, and perhaps that is as much a motivation for the cure as anything. Say what you will, but she loves him.

This episode was broadcast Jan. 15, 1969.