DARK SHADOWS 550
DARK SHADOWS 550
“There was a man who had a
unique dream. Believed that he could create a human being. He believed that his
creation would have the strength of a lion and the mind of a genius. Two months
ago his dream became reality. An incredible experiment was performed and it was
successful. The result was that you began to breath…to live. Do you understand
me, Adam?”
One thing that occurs to me:
if Blair is seen to be so much stronger that Angelique…why doesn’t he pop up to
help her or debate her in other storylines?
AND why is it that in 546 he
thinks she’s been born in 1774 when clearly she’s not…at least in light of
later storylines that are thrown up by writers concerning her as Miranda Duval
in the 1660s?
Maybe a few things: maybe is
unaware of that or of her having had other lives; maybe he just considers
Angelique being born in her Angelique life; maybe he’s not as powerful most of
the time as she is. She also did not debate him so maybe she wants him in the
dark.
Of course, she had other
pressing things happening to her at the time and other concerns. But it is
interesting to note that maybe Blair is not as powerful as she is at other
times.
I never really felt
comfortable with her as second banana to him to be honest, it seems to dilute
her and there will be more of this as she returns as a vampire…
Vicki. A gloomy day.
Carolyn calls to Professor
Stokes and there’s some talk about…a
chicket? Cricket? Stokes phone is 4099, same as Collinwood. Carolyn wants to
him take Adam. She gets an IDK what to do.
“Miss Stoddard, are you much
given to melodrama?” This proves he
doesn’t know her at all! Of course, she is!
He tells her not to answer
that, he will answer it himself. WHAT? Carolyn has a nice voice over against
Adam’s voice over into the theme. “Adam, Adam, I don’t know what to do.” A clunk at the end of the theme.
In the drawing room, Stokes
puts his watch away and drinks. Vicki comes in all light and cheery, telling
him there is a terrible domestic tragedy going on in the kitchen (We never
learn what but it involves Mrs. Johnson and Carolyn apparently).
Stokes has been waiting for
ten minutes for Carolyn. In odd dialog, Stokes was waiting ten minutes for Carolyn
and she “sent back word” he was to have a sherry. Sent back word by who? David?
Another servant?
Vicki asks for his help and
he gets “not too nice” about that. Vicki tells him he won’t have to hear
anything from her about it and moves to leave. He stops her, telling her she
would be a bad spy if she lets an old man’s crustiness make her forget her
mission (he’s acting like TWO B words) and asks her to forgive him. Vicki also
got a I didn’t know you were here.
She tells him Cassandra has
left Roger.
“He has my
congratulations.”
She explains further, making
him, at first, rejoice she is gone but worried that Blair is not. He even
thinks it calls for another sherry, “Perhaps her reign of terror has ended.”
Carolyn arrives and explains
that if Mrs. Johnson left while her mother was “away”, her mother would never
forgive her. Stokes has a late afternoon lecture and so must hurry this along.
Carolyn asks if Vicki can leave them alone and Vicki says, “Secrets.” Stokes says something silly like, “Of
course” and that he wouldn’t allow it if
it were anything else. What does that SHI$ mean?
Oddly, the sub titles say
Vicki mentions a Chuck when clearly she said the name Jeff.
Carolyn tells Stokes that
Adam is changing, becoming a man. She gets a IDK whose fault it is. Carolyn
also gets TWO I KNOWs.
WHY DOESN’T SHE WARN HIM
ABOUT BLAIR FINDING OUT ABOUT ADAM? That would save them all a lot of trouble.
Nice Music. Vicki and Jeff.
They are outside on the terrace. Vicki’s favorite day of the month is September
24th. Jeff proclaims that is the day they will be married. Huge Mic
shows up to the upper left. “I don’t know who I am,” he tells her.
What is that metal thing
behind the stone column rail behind them? He asks her if she loves Jeff Clark
or Peter Bradford and she says both. Jeff says, “I don’t know why you love
me.” He gives her a ring. She gets a I
KNOW.
SAY, WHAT DOES HE DO FOR A
LIVING ANYWAY? Does he have an income? Jeff also tells her the ring is so old
fashioned, “It reminded me of you.” She
tells him to put it on her 3rd finger of the left hand. They kiss
unaware that high above Adam is watching them from a window in the West Wing.
Stokes goes to Adam alone. He
tells him much trouble is caused by kindness. Nice Message Two.
Adam, when he first sees him,
calls him his good friend. He taught Adam to have a firm hand grip. But Adam
feels the Prof didn’t teach him right. He’s discovered he is different and
Stokes sees that Adam is different somehow other than what Adam is talking
about. Stokes gets a “Adam, this conversation we’re having…Frankly, I don’t
know what we’re talking about.” Stokes
believes in love for some people.
NOTE: I feel like Stokes is
handling all of this very, very badly. When Adam tells him he will make Carolyn
love him, he goes on about how Carolyn is sophisticated and has freedom, money
and will marry someone with similar background! This is entirely the wrong way
to handle Adam and this situation.
When Stokes asks him where he
was two months ago after asking what is the first thing Adam remembers (seeing
Barnabas), Adam says, “I do not know. You do.”
TWO MONTHS AGO, Adam was
created and Stokes has to tell him this. Adam presses Stokes for more info but
Stokes does not want to tell him. YET he does tell him. A man who wanted him to
have the strength of a lion and the mind of a genius made him.
Stokes tells him that all of
“US” will help him. In time, he will be like other people. Carolyn doesn’t know
the full truth about Adam. None of “us” will tell. There is another DVD JUMP
here that I did not see on Amazon.
Adam recites some of Eric
Lang’s tape message but Stokes has no idea what Adam is talking about. He kicks
Stokes out, “You are not my friend.”
Stokes is sorry. He talks to
Carolyn. Adam would not leave.
At the moment, Adam is no
longer his friend. Harry will have to bring food to Adam. Carolyn likes Adam
and feels sorry for him. Stokes says he feels sorry more than he could have
believed possible.
Adam looks in a mirror and
because he feels he is ugly and that Carolyn does not love him, he finds the
knife used for his food and raises it up high over himself and plunges it down
toward his stomach. The credits are two
seconds with no music.
Review: It’s hard to dislike
this episode because it so furthers Adam’s storyline but there are so many mean
messages going on here it’s hard to like it, too.
Rodan is excellent as Adam. He
almost made me cry real tears. Honestly.
Stokes, despite some really
stupid lines, stands out, too.
Barrett is fine as Carolyn is
torn between friendship for Adam and confusion and fear at his love toward her.
Even Jeff doesn’t ruin the ep
this time out. A sad episode though and another suicide attempt…
It’s also been so long….when
and how did Stokes find out about Adam being created by another man (Lang is
not mentioned but talked about during Stokes great explanation about how Adam
was made).
The credits are three seconds
long and still say 1968.
When Jeff proposes to Vicki, she sits down on a bench. You can see the boom mic at the top of the screen, following her as she sits.
A moment later, Jeff spaces out in the middle of his line: “Well, don’t look like that; I’ll think you’re going to say no. I, uh — I had enough trouble…” (He consults the teleprompter) “with the… effort just to ask you.”
There’s a tape edit when Adam is talking to Stokes, just as he says, “If both live, Barnabas will be free.”
Behind the Scenes:
When Carolyn calls Professor Stokes, the camera cuts to a close-up on his telephone, which is labeled “Collinsport 4099”, as if that’s an important clue that we’re supposed to pay attention to. A little over a month ago, Julia actually mentioned that Stokes’ phone number is Rockport 6868, so apparently the producers are under the impression that the audience is desperate to know how to get in touch with him.
They used this prop phone in Collinwood in episode 44, with the same number, so apparently Collinwood and Stokes share the phone number.
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