Dark Shadows - Willie Releases Barnabas Collins

Episode 210 unleashes the vampire on Collinsport/Collinwood!
5/5

Willie lustfully gazes at the "costume jewelry" ornating the coat of Collins' ancestor, Barnabas, in a painting that hangs near the doorway to the foyer in the mansion. Willie knows that his body is perhaps somewhere in the mausoleum of the Collins ancestry cemetery, successfully evasive when Jason has questions about his behavior, his elusive nature a clear sign he's up to something. While Jason can't get a handle on what Willie is scheming, he nonetheless secures blackmail money from Elizabeth for his nefarious fellow. Elizabeth, as per agreement, wants Willie out of the mansion and off the property, but Jason can't seem to find Willie now. Willie, meanwhile is off to the cemetery, locating the mausoleum where Joseph and Naomi Collins are buried, trying to pry open Naomi's coffin with no success. Noticing a handle on her coffin and a nearby lion face ornament above her name and date of birth and death, Willie orchestrates a rope and pulley device in the hopes of forcing Naomi's resting place, desperate to see if he can raid any jewelry available on the body! But the handle in the lion face ornament's mouth is a string pulling open a hidden door that reveals a secret compartment housing a chained coffin...for many that would be a sign not to pursue any further, but Willie is undaunted. As expected, Willie grabs a spike and hammer, forces open the lock, unchains the coffin, and shockingly discovers someone inside still alive, wearing the very black-oval ring seen on Barnabas in his painting in the Collins' mansion! The hand with that ring grabs Willie by the throat as his face twists in terror.

This is the historically significant episode of "Dark Shadows" a long time coming. There was a lot of emphasis on the Collins family, Victoria, and Burke Devlin for the first 200 episodes but you could consider episode 210 a reset. This episode really sets off the Gothic Soap as a cult classic, introducing an iconic character that would only give those already established more meat on the bone going forward. Already, as evidenced by Jason's despicable hold over Elizabeth due to a past mistake she cannot seem to ever escape, there are soap opera entanglements already developed outside of Barnabas now having been released from his tomb. Victoria and Elizabeth both have serious ill will towards Willie who leaves a bad taste when around them, so he has already been built as a creep Caroline, in particular, wants nothing to do with. Jason promising to get rid of him, seemingly in control of the situation now that the money (in an envelope) is in his possession from Elizabeth, becomes difficult as Willie, always ever so greedy and not above raiding graves for their jewels/treasures, leaves the premises. And as demands for Willie's departure continue and ring in Jason's ears, the desired results, once the money was provided, don't come as expected. And as Dark Shadows fans know all too well, Willie won't be leaving too soon. This episode was mainly about Willie and his efforts to satiate his greed, the money Elizabeth was giving him not enough, and how it led a chained Barnabas set free. Barnabas, the vampire, was freed from the tomb and the show would be all the more interesting because of it. Good Gothic atmosphere in the grand tradition of Universal when Willie is at the cemetery, in the mausoleum, and the continued threads already in place had a really strong new arc at the forefront. Although Barnabas would now be the featured star of the show, the remaining cast would benefit also from his presence.