"Dark Shadows" Episode #1.2 (TV Episode 1966) Poster

(TV Series)

(1966)

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6/10
"Who Told You to Build This Prison?"
wes-connors24 July 2011
While Liz (Joan Bennett) goes for some tea, the newly arrived Vicki (Alexandra Moltke) looks around the foyer and drawing room at Collinwood. She opens the bay window and looks down, giving viewers the impression Collinwood is located directly on the edge of a cliff - since this is not true, Vicki may have seen a moth. Liz arrives and comments on Collins ancestor Jeremiah Collins, seen in the portrait hanging over the fireplace. "My great grandfather," she simplifies, "he built this house." Later, Liz nervously tells an inquisitive Vicki that Roger "knew someone in the foundling home" to help arrange her hiring...

For reasons later obvious, Liz is not going to be a reliable source of information. Given the information in this episode, we have two men who could be the man in the fireplace portrait. The Jeremiah Collins who lived in the 1790s is the man, although the Jeremiah Collins from the 1860s would be Liz "great grandfather." The son of Joshua and Naomi, the first Jeremiah originally was planning to live in Collinwood when it was built; the other Jeremiah would be one of Gabriel and Edith's sons. They may have lived parallel lives; we also learn the East Wing of Collinwood was closed "over 50 years ago..."

Meanwhile, Liz' rebellious daughter Nancy Barrett (as Carolyn Stoddard, age 17) dances at the Blue Whale tavern, making fisherman boyfriend Joel Crothers (as Joseph "Joe" Haskell, age 21) jealous. He tells Carolyn she's "had too much." An aside about the police potentially arriving indicates Carolyn is an underage drinker. Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Strake (Joseph Julian) watch Carolyn dance with Robert Viharo (as Harry) and Alan Feinstein (as Mike), both making their one-shot appearances. The former is very likely "Harry Jones" the taxi driver with a flat tire in episode one...

Later, Vicki meets a menacing Roger on Widow's Hill. He warns her, "Stay away from the edge," and receives some startling news… Highlights from this episode are the introduction of two main characters, and the great location footage of Vicki walking outside on the grounds of Collinwood. The main weakness is that the footage of Vicki and Roger on the hill is dramatically different from the studio shot scene; a transitional cut away might have helped. Liz' piano playing is reminiscent of the proto-type character Caroline Barnes (Hope Emerson) from writer Art Wallace's "The House" (1957)...

****** Dark Shadows 1966 ABC #2 (6/28/66) Lela Swift ~ Alexandra Moltke, Joan Bennett, Nancy Barrett, Joel Crothers...
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7/10
Victoria Meets the Collins, and Carolyn Grooves at the Blue Whale
Scarecrow-886 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I think essentially this is the "Carolyn Introduction" episode as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard's daughter, Carolyn, is introduced to the Dark Shadows audience and is immediately established as a teenager wanting to have fun anytime she can once away from the gloomy environs of Collinwood. Dancing to 60s beats from the jukebox of the Blue Whale, bip-bopping and jiggling those hips, with the local boys, smiling and wanting to get some action, all clamoring to groove with her, Carolyn draws your attention. Carolyn, when you first see her, seems to be the hot blonde with rebellious tendencies, but ultimately she just wants to be free for just a little while before having to return to the mansion on Widow's Hill. Elizabeth has sort of fixed up Carolyn with a fisherman named Joe Haskell, a more mature but also boring to the young babe, who becomes bothered at how the other barflies are anxious to hone in on his girl, eventually a fight ignites.

In the previous review I didn't mention that Burke Devlin has hired a PI to dig up dirt on the Collins family, and Wilbur Strake is the one who might unearth some skeletons in the closet eventually. They are meeting in the Blue Whale when the scuffle over Carolyn breaks out, Devlin interfering on Joe's behalf, telling him to leave before police arrive.

Victoria meets Elizabeth who is elusive in why she wanted her to become governess. Elizabeth appears distraught and on the verge of breaking down, eventually hanging her head while playing a depressing melody on the piano. We see here that something is ripping her emotions apart; she is barely holding her resolve.

Carolyn's need for a bit of excitement doesn't necessarily make her a wild child, just a young woman who wants relief from the aura of despair within the mansion walls. Also included in this episode is Victoria's first conversation with a bit more relaxed Roger Collins, both overlooking the cliff into the water crashing into the rocks below. When informed of Devlin's return to Collins Port, Roger is livid and apparently shaken/upset. Why?
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6/10
Welcome to the mansion
movieman_kev6 April 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Victoria Winters finally arrives at the Collins/ huge Gothic mansion where she's greeted by Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch who avoids Victoria's many inquiries and Roger Collins who gets extremely perturbed when she lets slip that Devlin is in town. Meanwhile, Carolyn inavertedly starts a commotion when she dances with other guy that are not her boyfriend ,Joe Haskell, at the local watering hole, The Blue Whale.

This episode continues to introduce the main characters as well as starting up the plot lines. It was a fine episode and kept my attention but i liked the first one a little better.
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6/10
Building mystery - and dancing
Leofwine_draca2 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The second-ever episode of DARK SHADOWS develops on the initial character introductions of the first. The episode does feel slightly padded with a lengthy dance number which is very, well, 1960s, but the viewer is introduced to new characters and more scenes take place at the creepy old Collinswood house. There's a little brawling in the cafe, hints at conflict between characters, and some spooky atmosphere. So the mystery begins...
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9/10
Victoria Winters begins to see what she's in for.
mark.waltz23 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Two future soap opera veterans, Nancy Barrett and Joel Crothers are introduced in this episode, set up in a potential romance as the fun-loving Carolyn Stoddard and the young and handsome Joe Haskell, seen dancing in a mid sixties style to instrumental rock music. In comes Burke Devlin, and the stage is set for him getting information about what has been going on in the past decade. There's a brief scene between Carolyn and her mother Elizabeth, and more conflict between Elizabeth and Roger. But the real mystery is set up to make the audience wonder what Burke Devlin is up to and why Victoria of all people has been invited to be the nanny at Collinwood.

This leads to a meeting between Victoria and Roger where Roger learns that Elizabeth lied about his involvement in Vicky's being hired. Louis Edmonds gives a very powerful, paranoid performance as the concerned Roger who has major suspicions over Burke's Reappearance. The tone is set and the race is on for the shows in the show mysteries to be developed and solved.
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