Dark Shadows - Maggie's a "Little Under the Weather"

Episode 229 will definitely continue to conjure similarities to Dracula (1931) as Maggie is certainly Mina to Barnabas’ Dracula. Maggie’s situation is worsening as her illness during the day and spitfire nastiness at night show a clear indication that there is something quite wrong. Her father, Sam, and boyfriend, Joe, are perplexed at her change in behavior and mood swings. Barnabas knows, obviously, as he is the proponent of this darkness overwhelming her. By episode’s end, Maggie is complete darkness, that wonderful light totally gone after she dismisses Joe outright, ordering him to leave, in essence, “firing the babysitter”. Sam was convinced by Joe to go get a drink after attempts to help Maggie during the morning and early afternoon fail, as she insisted a doctor visit was not wanted. But Sam had to see what was wrong with his daughter even if she was persistent and defiant that no doctor visits her. And the doc tells Sam that she has lost a lot of blood, planning to examine blood tests to determine if he can figure out what is wrong with her. Maggie unable to get up without collapsing during the day, only to seemingly recover at night at the flick of a switch, is a sign that there is more to this whole situation than Sam or Joe could ever have  anticipated.

No Barnabas in this episode as it alternates between Sam and Maggie’s home and The Blue Whale as Burke and Vicki have a night out together. Vicki tells him that Willie is employed by Barnabas and Jason is now employed by Liz, leaving Burke bewildered at these events. And then Sam appears with worries about his daughter, only magnified by Joe’s arrival with news of Maggie’s outburst towards him. Vicki, in a nice bit of intuitive reasoning (and cool continuity for the viewers as connections between Maggie and Barnabas are crucial if the vampiric attacks are to cease before she can be fully vampire), sees parallels between Maggie and Willie, remembering that the latter was suffering similar conditions as the former. These deductions are important, even as the soap opera fundamentals look to drag this major storyline out as long as possible. This isn’t House of Dark Shadows where 90 minutes explains months of plot development. I thought that closing shot of Maggie, dark circles under her eyes and this evil overtaking her face, was quite well done. That whole shot of her nearly smiling sinisterly after Joe is told to leave is successful if just because the point is to point out that Barnabas’ influence has nearly taken from Sam and Joe the woman they love. 4/5