DARK SHADOWS 181

 

DARK SHADOWS 181

 

“You and David don’t count.”

“It’s a terrible waste not to love the people that love you.”

 

Carolyn immediately gets an IDK. Vicki gets one quickly, too. She relates how quiet it is in the house as Roger has gone to visit Liz in Boston. Carolyn also relays that Mrs. Johnson is spending the night with her sister. Guthrie and David both get IDKs and Vicki gets three more! Carolyn has a warm scene of her looking in on David and accidentally waking him up and they have a nice talk where she seems to understand now that she loves him and he’s trying to figure out what she means. He later writes about an imaginary sister in a composition for Vicki in yet another nice scene between the two of them. David’s PJs seem to match his bed sheets? Guthrie gets an IDU and a IU. Carolyn also gets an IDU (I don’t understand). Joe visits the Public Library and we see inside it, a sign out front and stock footage of the street again. Frank is discussed but not seen. He does not come back to the house, which is odd. Perhaps he’s had enough? Which isn’t like him at all but…

 

There’s also some banging as Carolyn talks to David in his bedroom (we once again see the post in the room but it seems closer to the door) and there’s a loud bang as Vicki talks to David near the fireplace. The crew makes loud shuffling noises during Carolyn and Vicki’s first scene, too.

 

Apart from this being a superior episode of Dark Shadows, it must be noted that no one does fear like Moltke and Barrett as they are alone in the house and someone knocks on the door (it’s just Guthrie and the writers are trying to enliven an episode that is a lot of character development AND plot explanation but they needn’t have bothered as this episode is fantastic. WHY couldn’t DS continue in this vein (no pun intended)…with a trouble family that sort of loves each other plagued by supernatural threats. Instead, the show becomes the Barnabas and later Angelique and later Quentin show. Not that that’s a bad thing but I wish the show had kept some of what it has here.

 

To top things off, Josette’s ghost is talked about by Vicki, Guthrie, Joe and Carolyn, who all know about her and her helping them. BUT the topping on the cake is David is haunted by an image of himself in the fireplace fire! And he seeks Vicki out for comfort and hugs onto her (he also cried out for his mother, sadly). Joe’s found out a boy died in the fire with one of the previous Lauras…and that his name was David!

 

Another superior episode! Everyone does a great job here.

 

      181

      A zoom in on Collinwood window. The narration says something about having

      knowledge doesn't help but only brings more fear and this is almost a DS

      anthem. Vicki is reading and that's a good thing but Carolyn mentions how

      silent the house is...again, why don't they get some TVs in Collinwood?

      Roger has gone to Boston to see Liz. Johnson has gone to stay with her

      sister. Carolyn feels alone in the house because Vicki and David don't

      count! She's being a dick again. No, really. Carolyn wonders how sad it is

      that she has to rely on her Uncle Roger for security. I swear one time I'd

      love to have seen one of these helpless DS females turn into freaking

      WONDER WOMAN and kick the ¤¤¤¤ out of some villain or maybe each other. In

      any case, the stepping sound outside and the knock on the door create much

      tension for the two helpless heroines until they open it and find...Dr

      Guthrie and Joe. The Doc reiterates that they must work to keep David away

      from his mother no matter what. He also tells them they have to keep David

      or get him to make up his mind that he will stay at Collinwood forever.

 

      Carolyn, in a nice scene, enters David's room while he's sleeping and

      covers him some more but accidentally wakes him up. His PJs look like wall

      paper again. A long time ago the two of them agreed to leave each other

      alone. David remembers that she once called him a spoiled monster and that

      she called him "a menace to the civilized world" to Vicki. Carolyn tries

      to get David to see that she loves him but doesn't say that outright. He

      can't understand at first and tells her that he has Miss Winters and his

      mother for that. Carolyn asks him if he believes that people can change,

      grow up, and be different. He doesn't think she has but she agrees that

      maybe she is not so grown up and that maybe she's the spoiled brat and the

      menace to the civilized world. Carolyn kisses him on his forehead. As she

      moves to leave, David asks her, kindly, "Are you okay?" The entire thing

      is a nice scene and the DS writers should have done this kind of stuff

      more often and should also have realized that this core family group, Liz,

      Roger, David, Carolyn and Vicki should have been kept on no matter what

      and EVERYTHING should have related back to them and eventually Barnabus

      and Julia. When things went too far south and too far into weirdness and

      that family core was lost, DS was never as good.

 

      We see a library and outside shots of the street. The inside of the

      Library is pathetic and looks like an office or some combo of the other

      sets we've seen. Joe finds the same article from the book the Old Man lent

      him and Guthrie. He will get the library to make a photo static copy (!)

      for him. Note: we see no one else in the small "library" and it looks very

      cheap.

 

      David and Vicki are going over an essay or story he wrote and correcting

      any mistakes, one of which David admits too kindly!!!!! She thinks it is a

      good story. David tells her if someone's real in your imagination or

      something, then it is real enough for you. Apparently, from their talk,

      David wrote about a sister he had or wishes he had. He would love her IF

      she loved him. Vicki is sure she would. It's not stated but David asks

      Vicki about an older sister and how he and she would relate. He gets a bit

      upset but pulls out of it !(!!!!!)! He thinks he should have stuck to the

      original directions Vicki wanted for the composition but she doesn't mind

      and thinks it is good. Then he wonders what Carolyn would be like if she

      had a brother. The entire thing seems to relate back to the conversation

      he had with Carolyn last night. This is also a nice scene here.

 

      Of course, horror intrudes. Joe calls Vicki and flubs, "Tell him mom,

      I'mon my mom" or something. As David is about to do his math near the

      fireplace (uh oh!), he sees an image in it. It is clear that it is a photo

      of David Henesy! David tries to run away but runs into a returning Guthrie

      who tries to comfort him but Vicki has to comfort him and he hugs her. At

      first, he was crying out for his mother. Joe tells Vicki and the doc that

      when Laura Radcliff died in the fire, a child named David died in her arms

      in the same fire!

 

      The credits fade out on Robert Costello's name and then fade in...and

      almost fade in too much as they go on...we see a glistening light

      effect as they roll.

 

      Okay: SO what was the David face? Was that the ghost of the first (or

      would that be the second David?) David trying to warn our David? Was it

      Josette trying to make David afraid of his mother? Or was it Laura

      herself? Any ideas anyone?

 

      This ep is pretty good. The threat makes itself felt even though Laura is

      not in it.

            

 

https://darkshadows.fandom.com/wiki/181