Dark Shadows - Episodes 230 - 233

Episode 230 – The Graveyard on Eagle Hill

Willie’s bravery is rewarded with a Barnabas beating when he informs from an outside phone Vicki of where to locate missing Maggie. The graveyard (where the dead of Collins Port and Collinwood are buried) is where Barnabas clearly controlled Maggie to meet him, and only Willie truly knew these plans. A search party (including the sheriff’s department, never seen) splits to find her, with Vicki awaiting at the Evans’ home while Burke searched the backroads and Sam and Joe went to Maggie’s usual haunts. That is when Willie arrives at the door to tell Sam that it would be after Midnight before he could finish working on Barnabas’ portrait, finding Vicki in the house, provoking him to action. The episode is absolute prime Dark Shadows. This is the series at its very best, particularly this era of Barnabas’ reign of terror in Collins Port and Collinwood. If you love your Gothic horror, the golden era of Dracula and vampirism, the fog, tombstones, predator and prey; Dark Shadows was hitting its stride here. I loved the makeup job (clearly their budget was limited so I appreciated the work considering how funds were tight) on Maggie, and being shot in B&W helps a great deal. Her worsening condition, dark circles under her eyes, withering countenance, weak and weary disposition; Maggie Evans seems to be at death’s door and completely under Barnabas’ spell. Barnabas is made up as well, including the vampire teeth and dark eyes. You won’t see Barnabas more evil than right here, totally focused on securing Maggie while Willie arrives to try and get him to leave her in the cemetery so they could get to the mausoleum where his coffin once was left behind a wall in the hidden room. That hidden room would be their hiding place as Burke (Vicki urges him to go to the graveyard to find Maggie at the advice of voice-disguised and frantic Willie) and Vicki arrive in the nick of time. Burke’s emergence as a hero is a nice surprise, something that is often borne out of a developing threat that can corral unlikely folks together. The bite mark on her neck is noticed by Burke when Maggie goes unconscious from the pain of her condition, quite a very nifty hook to drive viewers to see the next episode. At home, Maggie can no longer ward off either Barnabas’ control or those that care about her, with Sam, Joe, Burke, and Vicki all concerned about her. 4/5

Episode 231 – The Curious Neck Wound

Almost the entire episode takes place in the Evans’ home. A doctor arrives to inspect Maggie, noticing her cold flesh, major loss of blood, and the curious bite puncture on her neck. While Sam and Joe worry themselves sick, the doctor must contend with a defiant, unwell Maggie, seemingly fighting him at every turn. This episode is at its best playing up the howling hound outside the house, clearly indicating Barnabas is hellbent on securing his bride, despite how risky that is. While the doctor insists that a transfusion is necessary, and Joe volunteers because he has the same blood type as Maggie, the hound outside continues to beckon Maggie with that effective ending of her pulling on the locked French windows of her room, needing to get out. Although quite a claustrophobic entry in the series at this point, what this episode does well is establish the serious hold Barnabas has on Maggie. Without even being physically in the episode, how his presence is established as quite strong is a credit to how those involved in Dan Curtis’ team, using Maggie’s agony—constantly languishing in bed without any peace, just restless as Barnabas refuses to relinquish his grip, and just that nagging howl outside—as a key component in how he can be absent and yet still very “there”. It continues, too, to reiterate just how evil Barnabas is, and how unwilling he is to give his prey any rest or relaxation. As the doctor and Sam discuss Maggie’s inexplicable condition, and two instances where she had severe blood loss, getting a prescription for tranquilizers filled to help hopefully calm her down so she can sleep, it is obvious that Barnabas will not cease. 4/5

Episode 232 –He Awaits               

The closing scene is so good, and Willie’s change from scared rabbit to sinister grin, this episode rises above serving as padding. Vicki will replace Joe as watch over Maggie when Maggie breaks off their relationship, inquired by a curious Jason McGuire on who made the call that led her to the cemetery on Eagle Hill. Jason is told about Maggie’s worsening condition, being found in bad shape in the cemetery, and the wound on her neck. Jason thinks back to Willie and goes to the Old House to question him about the marks on her arm. While Maggie goes from pleasant conversation with Joe to demanding he leave and never see her again, Willie is elusive and distant as Jason demands answers. Willie’s face bears the marks of Barnabas’ cane, but when Jason refuses to let things go, promising to find out how much he knows about what is going on with Maggie, this grin emerges out of the worry. Willie knows that if Jason continues to pursue the truth about what he knows regarding Maggie’s condition, only bad things await him. Meanwhile Vicki tries to keep Maggie in bed despite her efforts to rise up and out, constantly drawn to the French windows. The best scene, in my opinion, is the windows flinging open and the silhouette of Barnabas momentarily visible thanks to a brief streak of lightning, frightening Vicki and “assuring” Maggie that “everything’s alright now”. Again, without actually featuring Barnabas for the past two episodes, Dan Curtis and his team nonetheless keep him quite alive. It could have been anyone just outside that window because it was just a dark figure, but how it was shot made damn sure to establish the predator is nearby, ready to secure his prey. Maggie’s dismissal of Joe is also key to how much control Barnabas has without even being in the room physically, seemingly working from within her, controlling her mind and emotions. And Willie is also unable to ever quite relax, torn betwixt Jason’s nagging and Barnabas’ control on him. Jason’s plans involving Elizabeth are indeed jeopardized by Willie’s odd behavior and now Maggie’s bewildering “sickness”. While that has been the B-plot of the soap opera, Jason’s investigation into why Willie remains could very well put himself in harm’s way. Jason being in harm’s way is a nice thought indeed. 4/5

Episode 233 –Barnabas Tells the Story of Josette’s Plunge from Widow’s Hill

This is my all-time favorite episode of Dark Shadows. It has EVERYTHING I love about Dark Shadows. The thunderstorm with its ever present lightning, Barnabas startled Vicki and Maggie when at the Evans’ French windows (this is a replay from the previous episode to remind us that he is near). Later when Vicki returns to Collinwood mansion, Caroline is at the fireplace unable to sleep. After some chit-chat about Maggie, they are startled by Barnabas again, inside the forayer, this time apologizing for giving them a fright. It is clever to go for that visual again…it worked quite effectively in the Evans home the previous episode. But what makes this episode especially special is Barnabas describing the winds, the storm, the sea and how ship sailors were victimized by the inclement weather. Barnabas speaks about the wives who lost their fishermen husbands at sea due to the storms, and, eventually, he gets to Josette, without mentioning her by name. He slips with her “bloodless” body on the rocks off Widow’s Hill where she leaped to her death, Vicki catching it and tying it to what is going on with the blood-drained animals and Maggie’s own condition. And Barnabas forewarning Vicki to be careful herself, later explaining that he just doesn’t want her to be in similar shape as what has been going on with other victims. But the way Barnabas says it to Vicki before the fade to black commercial break is quite ominous, realizing she is getting too close to the truth. For me, except for the great trip to past where Barnabas is the hero eventually victimized by Angelique storyline, this episode is Frid’s finest hour as Barnabas Collins. The way the lighting (and lightning) picks up his features, how he tells the story of Josette, who leaped from Widow’s Hill so she wouldn’t face life as a vampire, his inability to keep her from perishing, inside the living room of Collinwood mansion, only candlelight and the fireplace (besides the lightning outside) laminating the space; this is Dan Curtis and his creative team at their very atmospheric best. I can’t praise this episode enough. And it covers a lot and doesn’t abandon the Maggie central story, includes Jason speaking about his suspicions of Willie, planting a seed of anger in Barnabas that reaches quite a fury when he returns to the Old House, and really gets Caroline some much needed screen time, as well as, featuring Vicki in an important conversation with Barnabas. Barnabas vividly reliving the loss of Josette, not elaborating in detail the vampirism part which is really what drove them apart and led to her death, gives Frid some real meat on the bone, painting quite a portrait of back story, given some strong poetic dialogue. His pain, emotional ache, reveals itself although Barnabas is not facing Caroline and Vicki so they don’t see it. He has to save face by mentioning to them that it was how he was told, even as the way he talks about the past does seem very much like he was right there as it all transpired. And that is important: that it feels that way. Frid gets that across, his Barnabas’ inability not to relive it vividly…it was the most painful life experience he had, losing Josette. The viewer later getting a chance to see all of that once Vicki is teleported in time is great and all, but I just love how Frid is gifted this chance for his Barnabas to finally tell the Josette story that he was very much a part of. Frid hit a home run the entire episode…this is just fucking awesome. 5/5