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 7

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1970: Episode 936

Carolyn goes from funeral to fun when her eulogy attracts the most eligible bachelor in Collinsport! Jeb: Christopher Pennock. (Repeat; 30 min.)

Paul is dead, Jeb is born, Roger is antsy, and Barnabas isn’t feeling too well, himself.

Why Barnabas? Why did they choose him? I’m sure there’s a more literal explanation, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that he was on TV, and that’s free publicity. Snake cults don’t run on love and good intentions. I assume Barnabas’ propensity for immortality is what led him to manage the Leviathan project. Oberon and Haza probably mentioned something else from his resume at the interview. They should have negotiated with Mr. Best and had Quentin transferred from his job cutting lemons at the High Hat Lounge. Neither Barnabas nor Quentin show a lot of management potential, but Quentin routinely caters Jeb’s lunch with his fist. They could have actually held Amanda Harris hostage, threatening a further, extreme coiffure. Josette was only good until a seance would come along. Given that it’s Collinsport, a seance is pretty much guaranteed with greater promptness and regularity than the bus to Logansport. But Barnabas is their guy. 

Right now, it’s like he got drunk and joined the Shriners without realizing what a demand it would place on his schedule. Barnabas comes off like a mid-century Catholic school administrator who’s been to a post-Vatican II educational convention and has to tell the brothers to stick to time-outs instead of running them down with Buicks as proscribed in the Book of Leviathan. David, even hypnotized David, is in need of discipline, but Jeb’s going a tad far. Bill Malloy would probably just have keel-hauled the boy, but ocean travel mellows a man. In all seriousness, if Jeb’s attack on David does anything, it allows Barnabas to display his sense of decency at the outrageous attack. Now that Jeb is aboard, Barnabas no longer has to sub as villain, and he makes up for it in this episode, putting out fires where he can. 

Neither of the Collinwood 1701-D staff (David and Carolyn) have an easy time of it in this one. Carolyn now permanently thinks of her better qualities as Stoddardian, and I can’t blame her. David’s no doubt looking into restaurant management opportunities in Panama, although I imagine pedestrian dangers are even more severe than in Collinsport. Roger suspects foul play, but #1 Dad may be too late on that one. Overall, it’s a bad day for parenting at Collinwood when Roger is the responsible one. Liz is too busy pouring herself a congratulatory Campari and Yoo Hoo for attending a funeral that’s not hers. Parenting has always been problematically demonstrated at Collinwood, and the rest of the series evidences that as Liz and Roger become increasingly distant. Excluding a few warm moments coming up, this sequence is a turning point in the kids’ erosion of trust in their parents. Of course, the story is shifting violently toward Barnabas’ journey rather than domestic travails so there’s not as much time, but Carolyn and David will pay various prices when Gerard attacks. The show can only pretend that this is a loving home for so long. The absent parent is always the preferred one for the kids, even when they’re trying to burn the kids alive. Dark Shadows has always been about sins of the past. With Laura gone, Roger steps up as much as he can, but that’s limited by fact that life at Collinwood got complicated when his ex-wife flamed on, and grew stranger from there.

I know this episode is “about” Carolyn, Jeb, and Carolyn & Jeb -- and about Barnabas’ futile attempts to unsmoke the cigarette of snakecultery. But I’m wondering more and more, “Where is Roger Collins?” In this arc, he’s taken into Quentin’s confidence and fights “on the team” more than he ever has. But even as he ostensibly participates, it’s not to an impressive degree. But what’s he going to do, issue a catty memo? Again, perspective splits between production and story. As far as production is concerned, Roger’s days as a villain are played out. He has to stay because of his plot function regarding David, a successful mini-heartthrob and story catalyst. Roger and Liz also make good civilians to remain vaguely threatened, vaguely unaware, and vaguely available to hear and deliver exposition. But with only +/- 6 parts to spread around per episode, the increasingly supernatural ensemble edges out the mortals.

But within the Dark Shadows universe, itself, what explains it? After you’ve seen your grandfather’s brother come back from the grave and try to kill Burke Devlin’s your son, you don’t have to touch that hot stove twice. Roger’s participation dwindles drastically after early 1969 when Barnabas leaves for the 1890’s. Gone on business for the beginning of the Leviathan arc. Gone again for Gerard’s haunting. In fact, Roger will not be seen after episode 979. For the character, that’s only six more episodes and the show still has nearly a year and a quarter left. A key reason that Dark Shadows feels less and less like Dark Shadows right now and onward? Well, Kitten, you’re looking at it. Liz doesn’t fare much better. She has fewer than 30 episodes left, although she is the first character we see at Main Time Collinwood and will be one of the very last. If the show (as we know it, on 1198) feels like Dark Shadows in its final moments, that’s it.

Because we’re influenced about what makes up the series by when we enter it, for most of us, this makes the latter section of the show feel alien to us. This is purely subjective, however. Start your viewing later, and Roger and Liz are strangers on a series belonging to Barnabas and Julia. Those heads of the family are absent for nearly 20% of it -- nearly 25% if we discount the pre-Barnabas segment.

This transition is all the more dramatic as Christopher Pennock is finding the character. He’s discussed being uncertain about his sure footing as he began as Jeb, but the character is written with the same ALL CAPS WITH WHICH HE ACTS HIM. Where is subtlety in bringing to life a primordial snake god man-messiah? You tell me. Storm and Selby, the other high-water marks on the hottie hunk scale, had the benefit of not speaking for their first months. So, not only did they get comfortable with the ensemble, but their speaking roles were entirely new characters. Few have had to so so much so quickly, and Pennock acquits himself with high style.

This episode was broadcast Jan. 26, 1970.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: JANUARY 7

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1969: Episode 666

Ben stops Forbes from staking Barnabas, killing both him and the Countess in the process. In the present, Willie and Julia fret over how to draw Barnabas back to the present. In 1796, Barnabas helps Ben with disposing of Forbes and Natalie before being rechained in his coffin. Meanwhile, Willie’s trip to the mausoleum is fruitless. Later, however, the ghost of Josette implores Willie to return to the coffin. Barnabas materializes within, eager to escape.

The 1796 sequence ends with high adventure and some deeply satisfying moments, shifting back and forth between the past and the present. Seeing Nathan Forbes shoot Ben... only to have Ben shake it off like a an ineffectual mosquito bite... and come back swingin’?  THAT was fantastic enough for a week’s worth of episodes. But to have him induce a heart attack simply by looming over Natalie? Even better. Rarely has DARK SHADOWS cleaned house in quite that way, The 1790’s has been veddy, veddy good to the franchise and to audiences, and it’s nonetheless time to move on. If there were any real reason to do this sequence, it would be to close the lid on that, clean up the loose ends, and prepare the table for Uncle Quentin. 666 readies us for the insanity of 1897 by using the same kind of insanity to end 1796. We may still be at Collinwood, but the rules are wildly different.

Taking us full circle is the fabulous moment when John Karlen recreates his famous disentombing of Barnabas, and expectations have never been more skewed. Notable also is Grayson Hall’s turn as Julia. Standing in the cemetery, imploring the cosmos to return Barnabas, I am gobsmacked at how that character has changed from the hard-edged, empiricism-driven scientist we met back in 1967.

It’s been an interesting two years.

On this day in 1969, the WALKING DEAD’s Norman Reedus tore his way from his mother’s innards with a piercing shriek. So, happy birthday!