DARK SHADOWS 522
DARK SHADOWS 522
“You’ve gotten yourself into
a mess this time, my lovely, Angelique. Where are you? Where?”
Grayson. The narration talks
about two conspirators (Barnabas, Julia). The reprise is slightly different. The
shot on Barnabas as he shakes his head is closer and we also get a reaction
from Julia as he shows up at the Drawing Room door that wasn’t in the last
episode’s end cliffhanger.
They’re getting better at
matching scenes and dialog, however, when Barnabas shakes his head, this time
we get a side view or a front view or both whereas last ep, the nod was from
behind. The dialog is slightly different, mostly around the line about Vicki’s
upsetness and how she would feel about the picture having faded, which proves
Roger knows nothing: Vicki would probably be delighted. “She’d be upset at the
present condition,” or something like that this time out whereas last time it
was different. Still, this matches up better than most reprises of late. Roger
also gets “I don’t understand why Cassandra would lock it in a closet,” which
was not how the line about him being bewildered by this action was in the last
episode’s ending.
One thing I keep forgetting
to mention but will do so now: this era may be most maligned and even by me
(hanging plot threads, overacting, repeating storylines, bad acting, many
flubs, etc) however, it really moves much faster than any other era thus far.
I mean we have episodes that
revolve around a trial of Barnabas and Trask exorcizing Angelique and then
we’re on to Blair’s arrival and the vampire Tom later on…in some ways it might
reflect a panic on the part of the writers to steal…urgh, write, borrow new
ideas and then abandon them as they felt these things didn’t work. IT might
even MOVE TOO FAST in this time of the show but I prefer that to the sleep
inducing endless Burke plotline or the forever Angelique curses in 1795.
Sometimes, however the plots
move so fast in 1968 that they don’t fulfill their true potential. On the other
hand, things seem inconsistent (Stokes’ compassion for one) and sort of knee
jerk (Adam, most of). Thing is : I don’t know which I prefer. I hate being bored and goodness knows, the
Burke, Jason, and even the Willie and Barnabas intro have many episodes that
bored me, made me sleepy, put me to sleep, and didn’t really keep me into DS.
As noted above many times.
And if we were lucky, maybe every ten episodes, something GREAT or even good
happened. Here, the show gives us something new almost every episode or every
two episodes. True, sometimes it’s a screaming loud obnoxious Willie…and also
true that many of our favorites still seem like guest stars (the entire present
day Collins family from Liz to David to Roger to Carolyn) in their own show…and
also true that our heroine Vicki is made stupider and stupider as is Maggie.
Also true that Vicki seems to
appear every five eps or so and saddled with a Jeff who is angry at her most of
the time or groping her the other half of the time (he’s also played by, I’m
sorry, probably the worst male actor on DS). He IS handsome though. So this
time in the show is shaky at best but it is very watch-able, unlike what I
thought in the past. Don’t know if I’ll feel that way once the retched Eve
arrives…
Back to our show: No new bits
in the reprise but slight changes here and there in dialog and shots. Blair
definitely calls Barnabas Mister Collin at the door (no S).
Roger introduces Nicholas to
Julia and Cousin Barnabas. Cassandra had written to him about Collinwood.
When Roger and Blair go into
the drawing room, Julia gives a disgusting look to Barnabas as if she MIGHT
think this is his fault! Or maybe it’s me reading into it. But it’s almost as
if she wonders, “Just how many enemies do you have,” kind of criticism.
As they talk, Blair, funny,
states to Roger, “I don’t have…LITTLE…vices,” which could be taken to mean he
has large vices.
More chat from me: I have to
get this off my chest now or I’ll forget to: Blair is not Angelique. That’s not
a bad thing. I think it was purposely done. As we’ll see in the upcoming two
episodes or so, the writers and maybe the actor separated him from Lara’s witch
by many means. For one, Blair isn’t outwardly evil and passionate. He is but
not in the same way Angelique wears her heart on her sleeve and acts in the
moment to punish and be cruel.
In many ways, she’s the worse
of the two because she feels and then hurts…like a wounded tiger or something
but even tigers act out of nature.
Angelique acts out of
impulsivity and power and evil. Blair…is more subtle most of the time or as
subtle as a DS villain/monster can be.
He might need info from Willie or Tony but he’s not about to make them suffer at
all. He might try to keep the ghost of Trask in his power but when he fails to
do so, he isn’t dead set on getting revenge on him right away.
Angelique might have an
ultimate goal: get Barnabas to love her or have him suffer or pay or die or
become a vampire again…but she always acts in the moment: cursing Liz or some
other thing like making Tony fall in love with her. There are probably a dozen
other ways she can handle these people and situations but she doesn’t. Nicholas
on the other hand will keep as covert as he can.
The truly GREAT scene when he
finally FINALLY tells all to Julia (as if he were a DOCTOR WHO VILLAIN in their
first scene) is truly stunning and scary because Astredo is a great actor in
this role and because Nicholas has kept it all penned up for maybe 50 or more
eps). Blair has an ultimate goal. He might not kill Willie or Tony or make them
suffer needlessly BUT as he says he has no little vices….implying he has
greater ones and he does. He might not want to kill anyone now…BUT he has plans
to make the entire human race secondary and maybe GONE entirely.
Angelique is not as cruel as
to make the entire world suffer—she’s much more about her own needs and desires
on a smaller scale than Blair’s--- so things get turned on their head. She
doesn’t want to be horrid to the whole world, just those who stand in her way
or have what she doesn’t or who can be used as pawns (like Sam was).
Blair on the other hand seems
to want to change the world…in an evil way…and cause world wide pain in an
almost devil in the Bible Biblical manner.
As we saw in the Trask
exorcism, Angelique no longer seems the reluctant witch…in 1795 it seemed
almost as if she longed to be a normal girl without these powers but only these
powers could make her rise in her station.
She no longer needs to worry
about stations much but she’s so consumed by hate this time out and not love
(she will probably realize this in 1897 and by 1840 (!) she will use her love
to be a stronger ally to Barnabas and his other friends) that she misses this
point: she just wants revenge and anyone who gets in her way (Sam, Carolyn,
Liz, Roger) will get something or be used by her.
In many ways she is more
human than Nicholas. Also in the exorcism we realize that she is a willing
subject of the devil, something that is always shaky in DS terms. Sometimes she
does good (well she does at times and sometimes she even professes that she
doesn’t want someone to suffer needlessly…usually to suit her terms and her
conditions and her needs).
Now she seems that even if
she were offered some way out of the devil enslavement, she would not take it.
She resists Trask 100 percent …and seems to have failed. Blair, for a long
time, I thought WAS the devil. DS never really tells us exactly what he is in
any one ep…devil brother to Angelique…a demon? What does that mean?
And if so, why do he and
Angelique both seem later on to compete to please Diablos (DS’s substitute for
the devil, maybe they were afraid to use the devil as a character…or maybe
Diablos is one of the devil’s underlings whereas Nick and Angelique are Diablos’s?)
But I’m rambling again and getting far too far ahead of the show…
And make no mistake about
it…DS is now about the villains MORE than the heroes. Even Barnabas seems to
take a back seat to Blair and Angelique for a bit.
Back to our show two: Before everyone retreats to the drawing room,
we see a big piece of wood, presumably one of the doors to the drawing room.
Also as Roger introduces Barnabas to Nicholas, he says, “This is my cousin
Barnabas Collin.” Or maybe it is the S
sounds silent? Julia takes a brandy.
Nicholas also makes the same
mistake, following his lead, “Mister Collin…” Or maybe it is my hearing? Cassandra wrote to
him about Collinwood.
He is from Martinique and
just came from there and asks Barnabas if he’s ever been there. Barnabas says,
“Not recently.”
Blair considers himself a
citizen of the world and can’t wait to see the expression on Cassandra’s face
when she sees that he is here so he’d prefer it to be a surprise. Roger says, “I
can’t understand you…”
He tells Julia that she
didn’t like his sister. Julia states she barely knew her. Is that true? She
knew her enough to go to Stokes’ house together and come back laughing up a
storm.
Blair also second guesses
Barnabas, telling him that he feels that he had some relationship or feelings
about his sister. It is how Barnabas is watching him that let him in on that.
Barnabas denies it. Blair tells them that his sister has a pattern of alienating
people. He also in veiled threats reveals that whatever happened to her can be
undone. It turns to
Barnabas tells Julia that
Angelique has no blood brother. This must be a brother spirit, a brother devil.
He also flubs, “At least, he has…” then says, “Angelique has no blood brother.
But her brother’s spirit, her brother devil.”
We hear someone says SHHHHHHH
or someone sneezes or sniffs very loudly.
The portrait is back
upstairs, Roger took it there when he went up with Blair SO why are they speculating
that Blair will find it when it’s right in front of him in Roger’s hands?
Julia smiles, “It was as if
Angelique were almost dead.” They feel
they have to get the portrait. Roger took it upstairs WITH Blair.
When Julia asks what they are
going to do and that Blair might find the portrait, Barnabas gets an IDK.
Barnabas tells Julia, “Call
Stokes. Tell him EVERYTHING.” Julia
goes to make the call. They will go see him tonight.
Thus starts one of the
strangest hanging threads ever. Does tell him everything mean tell him that
Barnabas was a vampire?
Stokes knows an awful lot
already including that Angelique was the witch, although I’m not sure he knows
that name, only that she was Cassandra. He seems to know she knew Ben so I
think he also knows that name Angelique, too.
He knows Barnabas was her
target and he knows that something terrible turned Barnabas into a monster. The
only thing they can be talking about is that Blair has arrived AND that
Barnabas was a vampire!
Stokes even knows about Liz’s
problem so it can’t be that. AND later on in this ep, Julia beeps her car horn
and Barnabas bids ado to Willie and the pair of them leave for Stokes. Remember
that the next time we see Barnabas and Julia, or for that matter Stokes.
Roger seems to be waiting for
Nicolas to react to his first line and both seem to have forgotten those lines.
Roger shows the portrait to
Blair; Roger trying to apologize for the reactions of his family to Cassandra.
Blair calls Cassandra very young and is sure she will turn up. He explains that
he and she was more than brother and sister, they are great friends. Roger gets
an IDK why I said that when he says that Cassandra never mentioned him, in
other words how can they be so close and great friends.
Roger tells him that he will
bring the portrait to a man in town but he’s not very good at restoring
paintings. Blair insists that he not bring it to this man; instead he would
like to try to restore it. “Don’t let him touch it.” Blair will try. Blair says he’s done a great
deal of restoration, “A hobby of mine.”
He will try. As he says that, suddenly the scene cuts abruptly to the
Old House (a shot of it).
Willie has his rifle at
ready. Adam is still on the loose they remind us. Barnabas tells him to put the
gun away. Julia beeps the car horn from outside (unseen of course). We rarely
see any cars any more.
Barnabas tells Willie that
they are not to get involved with Adam. After he leaves, Willie rants about his
great ability to remember everything
that Barnabas ever told him. Karlen is excellent here, talking to himself and
mumbling about Barnabas’ orders.
Joe is watching Willie from
the window and tries to get Willie to let him in. Joe threatens to break the
door down. Willie smiles confident in his rifle but then thinks maybe Maggie is
in trouble or hurt. He opens the doors to let Joe in.
Joe vs Willie over the fact
that Willie seemed to know Adam. When it comes to Adam, Willie says, “IDK
anything about that.”
Joe says, “Adam doesn’t like
you---that means he knows you.” Willie
tells him the same lie about Adam turning up and him giving Adam food. Adam
hates Barnabas.
When Joe tells Willie that he
knows Sam was killed by someone named Adam, what is it Willie says? “Yeah, I
heard tell that, yeah?” What? Or, “Yeah, I heard in town that, yeah.” WT?
Willie also gets another two IDKs.
Willie breaks free from Joe
and threatens him with the rifle. Joe tells him to tell Barnabas, “I’ll be
back.”
Nicholas in his room alone
talks to the portrait and calls Cassandra by her real name, “Angelique.” Though Barnabas thinks Nicholas knows where
Angelique is, he does not.
Oddly, the haunting Angelique
music starts, is very distracting, then stops. As it does, Blair looks up as if
he’s seen something on the ceiling…or had heard loud distracting music. THEN,
the music starts up again, just as suddenly as it stopped.
Willie is in the cellar of
the Old House bricking up the wall that the skeleton of Trask is behind. He has
a voice over and a terrible joke about this giving him the willies. He thinks
that is funny, The Willies, the repeats in his mind. We see a stage hand enter
the scene from the left and leave just as fast. Willie thinks his whole life is
pretty funny.
NOTE: When we last saw
Willie, he locked the latch on the inside of the Old House door. Unless between
the time we saw him and switched to Nicholas in Roger’s or his own new room at
Collinwood is longer than we thought and there is an unseen scene where Willie unlocked
the door, then Blair has the power to open the lock from OUTSIDE. Willie also
didn’t think twice about someone coming inside after we know he locked the door
so maybe there’s an unseen scene where he went outside again and unlocked it or
left it unlocked again?
Even though Willie locked the
door, Blair comes into the Old House.
For the first time, we see
the cellar door from the point of view of someone coming up from the cellar. It
must be on a wall we’ve never seen before. From it, one can see directly across
to the main door of the Old House. It feels strange. Blair has a hat, umbrella,
and gloves. Is he Doctor from DOCTOR WHO? Or the Master?
Blair sees Willie and claims
he knocked, “Didn’t you hear me knock?”
Willie says, “I don’t know
ya.” The subtitles says, “I don’t know
yet,” in Willie answering when Blair asks, “Are you afriaad of me?”
Blair flubs, “Do you trust
me, Willie? If you trust me, tell me your name.”
Willie thinks his flub is
pretty funny judging from his reaction. He tells him his full name, “Willie
Loomis.” Willie will tell him all he
wants to know and then forget it all. Willie smokes. Willie tells what he knows
of Cassandra, “She’s a witch.”
At this, Blair mumbles
something that sounds a lot like,
“Stupid bitches.” He makes Willie sit
and sleep. Blair goes down stairs, knowing it was Trask that made Angelique
vanish, thanks to info from Willie. He seems to think that Trask cannot defeat
him. Mic or mic shadow on the far left on the ceiling. He sees the skeleton.
The credits are ten seconds of logo.
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