The Dark Shadows Daybook: May 9

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1969: Episode 755

For once, Beth has to explain to Quentin why his clothes are shredded; will Dirk’s surveillance mission on Barnabas be as revealing? Laura: Diana Millay. (Repeat; 30 min.)

In and around Quentin staggering in from the lycanthropic night before and learning that he transformed, Laura confirms her suspicions about Barnabas... by burning his home and having Dirk watch him phase out of the room.

“Gee, Lois, I never see Barnabas and Clark around at the same time.”

Which is pretty much the long and the long of it, since it takes Laura most of the episode to ask. The very brief money shot of the installment is when Beth tells Quentin what he’d been up to the night before -- the night of his first transformation. It goes about as you would expect -- he’s horrified beyond belief, but he must believe it anyway, because how else will David Selby explain the condition of his clothes to Ohrbach’s loss prevention department? Had Quentin been a scientist, like his avuncular namesake, he might have looked upon the situation somewhat differently, but Quentin is good at being a scoundrel, not scholar. It could be for the best. He prides himself on projecting very specific appearances at all times, not just for social propriety, but to escape the strictures of social propriety without anyone noticing. The real horror of a werewolf story lives with the man who can’t control what he becomes. For anyone who says the wrong thing without thinking, no matter the given circumstances, this is an understandable nightmare. For Quentin, that nightmare is just beginning. At one point in the episode, Laura cracks wise to Beth about being familiar with Quentin staggering in from a night on the town as the cock crows. In some ways, Magda’s curse will be even more enduring because the image of Quentin vaguely passed out in the drawing room, clothes in shredded disarray, is probably more familiar to early risers than Quentin pressed and dressed. Barnabas has a constant secret to hide. Quentin has a brief transformation. Thus, less to see, less to explain, less to elicit the concerns of others, and ultimately, a longer lifespan.



Laura might care to differ, and her campaign to out Barnabas makes her the Irwin Allen of such matters. Telling Dirk to casually reveal a mirror or crucifix is way too subtle. Why do that when you can magically set his house on fire, forcing him to dematerialize in front of a window? It’s too bad she’s not in love with him, because it’s precisely the kind of scheme into which Lois would drag Jimmy. And I’m thankful. The show has evolved into the Silver Age comic it was meant to be. If the expected dematerialization and secret wall panel don’t seal it, what will? And it’s clear why they must introduce Petofi. Barnabas is a superhero on a mission, but he’s still squaring off against (enhanced) soap opera villainesses.

Laura qualifies, and as those go, Diana Millay remains great fun. She has the uniquely brittle approach of a self-conscious social climber afraid someone will find out she’s not up to snuff. Angelique simply doesn’t care what others think -- in quite the same way. Perhaps that’s a function of Lara Parker actually coming from blue blood stock, but it’s an approach to a somewhat similar role that still differentiates them. On Millay’s part, that bleeds into Laura’s character. Angelique might one-up someone on the way to a more crucial goal, but for Laura, especially in an episode like this, the one-upmanship is the goal. She observes that her performance as a concerned mother is just that, a performance. It’s clear that she’s perhaps the most ruthless villain on the show, there to burn children alive, sustain her existence, and move on. Mother of the year, folks!

Come to think of it, maybe we don’t need Petofi so soon, after all.

What, what am I saying?

This episode hit the airwaves May 16, 1969.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: May 9

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1967: Episode 234

Barnabas chastises Willie at the end of a cane for potentially alerting others to Maggie’s danger. At the Evans cottage, Sam and Dave Woodard discuss Maggie’s waning condition, and Woodard implies that there may be something beyond the medical that is to blame. Vicki takes over from Sam when he goes to paint Barnabas by moonlight, and she also finds that Maggie swings from thankful for supervision to petulantly resistant. At the Old House, Barnabas becomes restless with posing, and as his attention drifts elsewhere, Vicki and Maggie find themselves besieged by the sound of howling dogs and the start from violently shaking doors. Vicki leaves the room to call for Burke and afterwards, finds Maggie’s door suddenly locked.

For many, this is what DARK SHADOWS really is, as Barnabas rises in villainy and Maggie descends into victimhood. In tone, this stretch of episodes creates the ultimate chicken and egg debate for fans of the show. This realpolitik Barnabas is nothing like the avuncular, cured version with whom Roger leaves the kids as Quentin’s haunting begins. The dissimilarity is jarring. But would we ever have gotten that hero if he had not established himself in such a memorably wicked way? I like both sides of the character, and an episode like this reminds me of why people get hooked. The civility of Barnabas Collins is not an act. He is not a bloodthirsty European soldier posing as a suave gentleman to get his way. He IS a suave gentleman… and one for whom calculated brutality and intimidation are often best practices on the frontier. Don’t forget the world from which Barnabas arrived. The constant threat of invasion. Lethal winters. And untrustworthy house staff who connived for wildly unreasonable things, like dignity and freedom. People like Willie and Ben were major home appliances as much as they were humans. The aftermath -- almost always, the aftermath -- of Barnabas’ savage management methods exists in another context, as well. As sorry as we feel for Willie, we also remember him as a sleazy, thieving, barfighting, leering, vaguely-potentially-rapey weasel. It’s not like Barnabas is knocking around Mr. Wells at the Inn. This is a thug who can go toe-to-toe with Burke Devlin, and even if he knows that defeat is inevitable, goes out swinging. Willie can cower all he likes. He already bought into a world where problems are addressed like this all the time. I’m pretty sure that maritime discipline is designed similarly. As much as Barnabas would probably prefer to have Willie keel hauled, he’ll have to make due with his cane.

Still, this doesn’t mitigate the horror. If anything, the deliberate sense of tactics makes this episode effectively disturbing. Sam Evans is a determined, sharp, resilient parent. If that man is no match for a would-be kidnapper, who is? Steady and sober Vicky is similarly impotent as doors shake and unseen dogs snarl outside. What does Barnabas hope to gain? I suppose his powers of hypnosis are limited. By wearing Maggie down sufficiently, the certainty of Barnabas’ strange ways will be a relief compared to a threatening unknown. Kudos to Kathryn Leigh Scott for her transitions between needy victim and dispassionate conspirator in her own torment. DARK SHADOWS often requires a strange Tao from its actors. Both Scott and Jonathan Frid put that magnificently on display here in 234. She’s the frightened subject of mind control and a willing collaborator who wants to get her way. He’s a gentleman and a general. Both antitheses have elements of the other. DARK SHADOWS may evolve into a comic book about regret and restitution, but it begins as a study in the moral contradictions within us. DARK SHADOWS is literally about those -- the unsavory implications seemingly ignored when the spotlight celebrates what we want the world to see.

On this day in 1967, audiences laughed along with comedy team Eastwood and van Cleef as they mugged their way through the old west and did anything for a buck in Sergio Leone’s zesty romp, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.

This episode hit the airwaves May 18, 1967.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: May 3

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 489

What's five feet tall, wears a Nehru jacket and witnesses things that could destroy Angeliwue's plans to rule Collinwood? David Collins is back in town! David: David Henesy. (Repeat; 30 min.)

David returns to Collinwood to find that his father has married Cassandra. His reaction is predictably disturbed. Later, he sees her kissing Tony Peterson, over whom she’s exercising her control. When he tells her that he’ll reveal the truth, she renders him mute.

As I often am heard shouting to both no one and everyone in my fruitless exercise of helpless rage known as sleep, “I do not want to be David Collins’ wife.” Between a stepmother who wants to kill you, a mother who wants to kill you, a father who often wants to kill you, a governess who goes insane and then back in time, and a governess who goes insane and then to Windcliff, you might wind up being a little needy, too. Not to mention having some trust issues with women. And men. And primordial snake god avatars. Come to think of it, if you don't look like Nancy Barrett or Joan Bennett, forget it. He's not going to trust you. Just pack it in. Maybe Robbie Rist needs a companion.

Even though they seem unevenly matched, David meeting with Angelique allows the show to explore some exciting possibilities for conflict. Angelique relies on imposing fear, and David is relatively fearless, especially when it comes to things that could actually cause him harm.  Roger’s new wife’s greatest vulnerability is the truth. Yes, her rituals are private, but how private is private from a snoop like David? And most of her workings are social. She bends the minds, souls, and everything elses of her victims usually in person, wielding influence more than an uthame. Again, a practice reliant on controlling who knows what about whom. Well, David knows more than Mati Hari, the National Enquirer, and Dr. Manhattan rolled into one. Of course he would return in time to see his hated new stepmom making out with Tony Peterson. Of course. It’s Cosmic Inevitability.

David, however, receives his comeuppance in a way he could have never anticipated when Angelique takes his voice from him. It’s an old trick of hers, but especially miserable for “Mr. I-Saw-What-You-Did,” himself. It’s a juicy moment. While this sequence has Angelique at her most unforgivably toxic, as Lang can attest, that doesn’t stop us from giving a sincere golf clap to the woman who let David see all he wanted to, but took away his power to do anything about it. Again, an instance where Willie is no longer another mask of the Cosmic Gilligan because David has taken His place. It’s a humanizing moment for him, and continues to mature the character.

Both men and women with experience in dysfunctional relationships, and by that, I mean all men and women, can probably identify with either Angelique or Roger as he tries to shuttle her off on the honeymoon. How convenient that they wait for weeks for David, and then the moment he arrives, the situation is so dire that they can’t possibly leave? Life is full of convenient excuses. Roger refuses to see significance in them because if he did, what else would become suspect? If you answered, “all of it,” you win a miniature Digging Man statue.

On this day in 1968, the Kentucky Derby resolved into weeks of controversy when winning horse Dancer’s Image was disqualified for being on an anti-inflammatory.

This episode hit the airwaves May 9, 1968.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: May 9

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1969: Episode 755

It’s nearly dawn, and Barnabas frets over Jamison. Beth says the attacking beast wore clothes or walked as a man. Laura enters, demanding to care for Jamison. With Beth gone, Laura tells Barnabas she will have her revenge. As Barnabas goes to his coffin, the Old House bursts into flames. A spying Dirk sees Barnabas dematerialize. Then, the flames abate. Dirk reports all of this to Laura, who sends him back to the Old House to investigate the secret room there. Dirk finds part of the diary of Ben Stokes, telling all. Meanwhile, Quentin learns from Beth that he is transforming into a wolf by moonlight. At Ben’s grave, Laura and Dirk find more of Ben’s diary. A storm brews. As she reads, Barnabas appears at the height of his power behind her.

Rollicking. At this point, that is one of the only words adequate enough to describe the show’s trajectory. Can swearing vengeance and mutual destruction be next? In two years, we have gone from Gothic soap to (almost) science fiction to a full-fledged Marvel comic. If we break down the tone of DARK SHADOWS’ stories on its timeline, we begin to get a sense of its representative identity as a show. Is it dark, quiet, tense, and subtle or is it a pop colored orgy of the unlikely and the bizarre? Yes! It can be tempting to count episodes and see which tone dominates the series. My money is on the bizarre, starting around spring of 1968 and going through to spring of 1971. That’s sixty percent of the series. Great. So what? Yes, the goofy dominates DARK SHADOWS just like it does LOST IN SPACE, but is a more grounded beginning necessary to get to the goofy? It’s a principle of great horror storytelling. Start us off in a very, very real place, and after we deal with the credibility of that universe, methodically move our emotional investment to a heightened world. Is there a consistent message that pervades this trip? I used to think it was about forgiveness and the past. It is, but if we look at the very beginning and the very end, there is another theme that resounds. Orphans and fractured families live in a citadel of family. No one has won the genetic lottery of the nuclear 2.5 in either 1966 or 1841PT. To grow and to get the most out of what Collinwood can offer, people who have no reason to trust anyone must learn to do so. From Burke to Bramwell, it is the willingness to trust themselves and to trust the hearts of others that wins the day.  

It’s the birthday of Richard Woods and Michael Stroka. Woods was the first Dave Woodard, and for only two episodes. No worries -- he went on to appear in two Coen Brothers movies (MILLER’S CROSSING and THE HUDSUCKER PROXY) as well as films such as IN & OUT and I.Q. Stroka was the first in the second-to-last-ish wave of DARK SHADOWS cast members, making his debut on June 30, 1969. He was exceptional at playing Obsequious Sleaze, and did so to the hilt. You could always count on a Stroka character to entertain, and they were pretty much all the same (and that’s just fine with me). They all shared great smiles, wild wardrobes, and hairdos so increasingly amazing that they could only be topped by a fez, and so they were. He allegedly appeared on an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but I have yet to track it down. He absolutely appeared on BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY (alongside Mark Lenard and Felix Silla) and WONDER WOMAN (in “The Deadly Dolphin,” one of the notorious swimsuit episodes). Everyone dies too young, but especially Stroka. 1997. He was only 58 years old.