The Beginning, Collection Two - Disc 1

Episodes 36 - 44

Airdates: August 15 - 25, 1966


THE PLOT

Burke continues investigating the Collins holdings, and it isn't long before his inquiries are noticed by Elizabeth Collins' loyal fleet manager, Bill Malloy. He reports to Elizabeth, telling her that Burke is not only looking into her business holdings, but everything she owns. When Liz admits to him that she is genuinely worried, Bill decides to take matters into his own hands. He arranges to meet with Burke. But he isn't there to threaten him. He offers Burke a deal. Leave the innocent members of the Collins family alone, and he will do everything in his power to clear Burke's name.

Meanwhile, the issue with David now settled, Roger's paranoia about Burke returns full force. He pressures Sam to refuse a hefty commission to paint Burke's portrait. When Sam is unable to back out of the deal, Roger pressures him again, this time to leave town. When bullying escalates to threatening, Sam finally decides that it might be time for some action on his part...


THOUGHTS

The first part of this disc was very slow going for me. Episodes 36 - 38 reinforced my impression from the previous disc: That with the resolution of the bleeder valve subplot, the show didn't quite seem to know where to go next. I started to become rather bored with the series, and it began feeling like a job to put the disc in to watch an episode. Look back at my reviews of Collection One, Discs Two and Three - the show had me, really had me. Not very far into this disc, it almost lost me again.

In the second half of this disc, it caught my attention again. The Roger/Sam material went from tedious wheel-spinning to suddenly rather interesting, as Sam finally realized that it's he, and not Roger, who has the upper hand in this situation (he promptly forgets that again in the next episode, but it's still interesting). Bill Malloy's investigation was an interesting and unexpected new turn for the story, and after a week or so of forcing myself to watch one episode every 3 - 4 days, I suddenly downed two episodes in one sitting for the first time since Burke found the bleeder valve in his sofa cushion.


Cast & Characters

I think David Ford will be just fine as Sam. I still prefer Mark Allen's version, if only because he did a better job of showing a truly haunted man. David Ford seems to struggle more with that aspect of the character. He's very good when Sam is easygoing, but his performance dips into forced tics when Sam is under stress. Still, he's doing fine in the role, and I'm sure after another couple of discs I will stop mentally recasting his scenes with Mark Allen.

Roger Collins... He isn't very bright, is he? He desperately doesn't want Burke connecting him and Sam. So what does he do? Runs to Sam every chance he gets to pressure him into altering his agreement to paint Burke's portrait, including at least one meeting in public! He's like a cartoon evil mastermind, coming up with plans that seem designed to guarantee his own downfall.

The best character scene on the disc comes in Episode 39... not coincidentally, the episode that got me actually wanting to watch again after several episodes of tedium. The meeting between Burke and Bill is a scene that works on almost every level. It is not a long scene - just a couple of minutes on each side of a commercial break. That fits with the two characters, both of whom are what would be termed "serious men." Bill brushes aside Burke's mask of easygoing small-talk and gets straight to the point. Recognizing the situation, Burke drops the act and meets Bill on his own terms. The result is an excellent scene, very well-played by arguably the series' two best actors.

Episode 40 sees Malloy showing a more ruthless side. He faces down Roger unblinkingly, in a very entertaining scene. But when he questions Sam one-on-one, he begins plying the man with drink. He even says a couple of deliberately unpleasant things to make Sam drink harder, to make his tongue looser. It's effective, but it does cast Malloy in a more unlikable light than had previously been the case. Frank Schofield is excellent as ever, and he manages to show this darker edge to Malloy in a way that feels fully consistent with the character we've been watching all along.


Recasting of the Week

Wow, two discs and two characters recast. At this rate, they'll overturn the entire supporting cast by Disc Eight!

Thayer David takes over the role of Matthew Morgan, and the credits announcer doesn't even blink for him. In fairness, Matthew's role is much smaller than Sam's, with George Mitchell only having racked up three appearances in the preceding 30+ episodes, so it's not as though David has to replace someone who had a chance to really make much of an impression. I suppose if Matthew is meant to be intimidating, burly Thayer David is considerably more dangerous-looking than thin and wiry George Mitchell was. In terms of performance, there isn't much to judge as yet, though he seems as capable an actor as his predecessor.


Gaffe of the Week

Episode 44 ends the disc on a high note, with things definitely happening at an accelerating rate. This episode also sees an appearance by the Collins banker, played by Patrick McVey. Hopefully this will be a one-off appearance, because McVey garbles every other line, stammering and tripping over his own tongue, and seeming to throw off the other actors too. The impression of a grand gaffe is sealed when Joan Bennett leaves the room temporarily and has to struggle with a wobbly door to close it.


Final Note

Though the wheel-spinning episodes just about had me ready to give up on the series, the last 4 - 5 episodes on this disc rekindled my interest. I doubt I'll go back to downing a disc a week, but now that events are actually in motion again, there's probably little chance of my giving up. I'm sure there will be some other rough patches like the one spanning the end of the last disc and the beginning of this one, but it is at least encouraging to know that the series can pull itself out of those patches and go back to delivering some pretty good drama.


Previous: Episodes 28 - 35
Next: Episodes 45 - 53



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The Beginning, Collection One - Disc 2.

Episodes 10 - 18

Airdates: July 8 - 20, 1966


THE PLOT

Elizabeth Stoddard and Roger Collins' anxieties about Burke Devlin's return seem to be confirmed when Burke comes to the house to confront them. Burke does not act like a man seeking vengeance, but his pleasant conversation is marked by multiple inquiries about buying the Collins house and business, and he clearly does have some resentment toward Roger. Nevertheless, he extends an olive branch, asking Roger to meet him for a drink in town to discuss an unspecified "business deal."

But when Roger heads down the steep, windy road to town, his brakes fail. Was it an accident? Was it Burke? Or did someone closer to home have a reason for wanting to see him dead?


THOUGHTS

My last review got so overstuffed with initial thoughts that I forgot to mention the title sequence. Dark Shadows has a truly splendid title sequence, very atmospheric and effective in terms of both the visuals and the music. The waves, beating upon the rocks, followed by a dissolve to the wonderfully spooky main house, with that eerily dissonant main title theme playing over it. It's simple, but hugely effective, and one of the most iconic US title sequences I can immediately think of.

As this disc rolls along, taking us to the start of the series' fourth week on air, we get a bit more of the backstory behind Roger and Burke parcelled out to us. One of the more interesting revelations is that Roger's own presence in Collinwood is only barely tolerated by Elizabeth, and that only because of David.

It does stand out how compressed the action really is. The first disc took viewers across a single night and day. The second disc makes that seem positively sprawling by comparison, with the nine episodes of this disc taking place entirely over the course of a single night! Part of this is a function of the show's theatrical nature. Scenes are long, static, and talky, with an episode cutting between what amounts to only two or three scenes. The result is that 30 minutes of program time encompasses probably about the same amount of time in the world of the show.


Cast & Characters

The cast continue to grow into their roles. As was the case on Disc One, Mitchell Ryan's Burke and Louis Edmonds' Roger continue to carry the bulk of the plot, with the Burke Devlin plot getting even more of the focus than was the case on Disc One. Mitchell Ryan continues to be the cast standout, though he is getting increasing competition for that title from Mark Allen, whose Sam Evans is becoming a genuinely interesting and sympathetic figure; and Frank Schofield, who gives a quietly and consistently excellent background performance as Bill Malloy. Meanwhile, as good as George Mitchell's performance continues to be, I'm seeing one problem with his casting as the character develops: When Elizabeth warns Vicki about Matthew's potential for violence, all I could think in response was how basically old and frail he seemed.

Victoria Winters moves from the spotlight to the background on this disc. She isn't even in Episodes 9, 10, and 17 (not counting the ubiquitous voice over intro.), and she is far less dominant in many of the remaining shows than she was in the first disc. As the other characters become more familiar to us, it becomes less important to have her as our "eyes" into this world. This creates the risk of Vicki becoming irrelevant, particularly with her own storyline being the weakest of the major throughlines at this point. Still, Moltke's performance is improving. She gets some pretty good scenes opposite young David Henesy as the troubled David (who also gets substantially more development on this disc), and she shares a quite memorable scene with Louis Edmonds in Episode 12, reacting to his story about "the widows."


OVERALL

Still very early in the series, we're already getting some payoff from the initial episodes. The episodes of this disc contain major plot developments, and I found myself downing three episodes per sitting this time out. All the characters advance, and all of the actors are improving in their roles.

On the downside, the occasional technical fluffs and forgotten lines are also increasing in frequency.  Louis Edmonds' recovery from mispeaking "100 miles" in Episode 17 is hilarious, in that he actually draws a lot more attention to the fluffed line than if he'd just kept going. Still, the series is improving on all other fronts, and is already delivering on much of its initial promise.

...And still nothing more supernatural than a creaky door and a particularly loud wind in sight!

Previous: Episodes 1 - 9
Next: Episode 19 - 27


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The Beginning, Collection One - Disc 1.

Episodes 1 - 9

Airdates: June 27 - July 7, 1966


THE PLOT

After growing up in a New York orphanage, young Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) receives a job offer from out of nowhere: Come to the small New England fishing town of Collinsport, and act as governess to the troubled young David Collins (David Henesy). The job is sound, the wage is fair, but Vicki has her own reasons for accepting the offer, hoping to find a link to her own unknown past.

She is not the only stranger on the train to Collinsport. Also arriving in town is Burke Devlin (Mitchell Ryan), a man with a past of his own. When Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), brother of Collins matriarch Elizabeth Stoddard (Joan Bennett), hears that Burke is in town, he immediately flies into a panic, certain that Burke Devlin has come to destroy him!


THOUGHTS

"You make it sound like some old English novel!" Vicki protests when Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) urges her not to go up to Collinwood.

That line pretty much sums up the feel of early Dark Shadows. Long before it became a show about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and time travel, this was a soap opera inspired by Gothic romances - more Daphne Du Maurier than Bram Stoker. Those early episodes, long before the introduction of vampire Barnabas Collins, have been relegated to being a mere curiosity. But there is something to be said for the early series' slow build.


The Pilot Episode

The pilot episode is both superb and dreadful at the same time. It is a wonderfully-structured pilot, adroitly introducing the principle regulars and the three major plot arcs for the early part of the series. Pretty much everything that happens in the rest of Disc 1 is set up in this pilot: Victoria's search for her past, her difficult assignment with David, and Burke Devlin's return to town and unfinished business with the Collins family. The script even does a good job of tying all of those plot strands to Victoria's arrival in Collinsport.

On the other hand, the episode suffers from something that's par for the course for daytime television in any era: acting and dialogue that frequently ranges from poor to dreadful. All of the actors are at their worst here. Louis Edmonds is a particular offender, with his Roger Collins being so arch in the pilot (and to a lesser extent, the second episode) that his scenes veer into unintended comedy.


Cast & Characters

All of the performances settle down nicely as the disc rolls on and the actors find their characters. Moltke is a good choice for Victoria. She is extremely appealing, with enough humor to offset the potentially grating naivete required of the character. Edmonds quickly finds his feet - a good thing, since Roger's desperation carries most of the momentum on this disc.

Mitchell Ryan is probably the cast standout. Even in the pilot, he manages to convey an actual character around scenes that too often require him simply to be "gruff" and "mysterious." He also has notably more screen presence than most of his co-stars, and it is not hard to see how he went on to much better things in the '70's. Burke Devlin seems positioned to act as the catalyst for the early storylines, and the scenes revolving around his storyline carry far more interest at this point than the Victoria or David material.

Some of the best acting actually comes from some of the most peripheral characters. Mark Allen's Sam Evans is convincingly haunted, and has a blisteringly good scene opposite Louis Edmonds in Episode 7. George Mitchell and Frank Schofield, as the Collins manservant and the manager of the Collins fishing fleet, respectively, both convey an authenticity as New Englanders, and both make memorable impressions with limited screentime. Of the more major supporting cast, Nancy Barrett does a strong job of seeming genuine even when struggling with strained dialogue.


OVERALL

It's not great television, and I won't be reviewing it using the same standards I use for my Star Trek reviews, or even my Doctor Who ones. To review episodes of a 1960's soap that was practically shot as live using the same scale as prime-time television would not only be unfair, it would be frankly ridiculous.

Taken as what it is, however, and with the right amount of willingness to take some wooden acting and bad dialogue in stride and laugh at the archness of much of it, I have to admit that this is fun. Probably more fun than I expected it to be.

Next: Episodes 10 - 18

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