Diaries of the Dark

I’m gonna do a job on that family. I’m gonna hit them so hard, they’ll wish they never heard of me. Burke meets an “investigator” in Bangor, Maine, hoping his firm has dug up some strong information about the Collins family’s business and property. Burke’s devious plan is starting to come to light as he voices his plan to buy up everything they own so he can hit them where it hurts. He also mentions after talking with someone at the Collins Port Inn, by phone (a parcel is to arrive which identifies his investigator's firm, a detail Burke once kept concealed) that the sheriff searched his room and that a “little boy” was stopped before he could enter (obviously David planning to put the bleeder valve in the room to implicate Burke, the little cretin). Elizabeth just will not accept that her “darling little nephew” could have removed the bleeder valve in an attempt to kill his father. She'll continue to live in denial despite how irrational his behavior is. Vicky informs Caro...

David, the little bastard, has been caught. He is trapped and must figure a way out of the situation regarding the bleeder valve. In a scuffle for the valve, Winters finally locks it away, but David will try to convince Elizabeth that she is out to get him, tell lies, and frame him. It might work considering David is her nephew and all. David is quite the versatile, think-on-his-feet child because he comes up with a way to get the valve out of the drawer. So Elizabeth doesn’t believe her, Carolyn finds the car mechanics book that David was studying in Vicky's drawer, and Vicky now sees the whole picture (David offered her the book “as a present”). I laugh at these developments because to think a kid could be this good and adapt on the fly so well is ludicrous to me. But this is a soap opera so developments like these are par for the course. Sheriff Jonas (I swear he was called Constable in other episodes, oh well…) is feeling the heat from Roger who just will not stop badgering h...

The dishonesty running rampant at Collinwood is what this episode focuses on. Victoria just wants to know why Elizabeth hired her. Liz threatens to evict Roger if he doesn’t support the lie that he recommended Victoria for the job of governess. David is insistent that he doesn’t lie. Roger finds that David is in Victoria’s room, her letter in his possession. Roger lies through his teeth about an anonymous Foundling Home donator he contacted who recommended Vicky for the job. After all David has done to conceal the bleeder valve, Vicky, rummaging for her letter, finds it in David’s dresser drawer, and the show has just gotten a little more interesting. So Vicky, poor Vicky, continues to be kept in the dark and Elizabeth holds the answer, perhaps so adamant in her goal to keep this a secret, it may never be known (even Roger tries to pry from her with no success).

Maggie is still stuck in the damn diner, taking orders for hamburgers, questioning anyone and everyone about Burke Devlin because she senses that he is connected to her pops. Constable Jonas Carter, Carolyn, anybody that enters the Collins Port Inn Diner who might can offer insight. Joe is absolutely fed up with Devlin and has damn near given up on marrying Carolyn. He is excited about purchasing a new boat; it should take a few months (…the poor guy can’t even buy a twenty year old boat in need of repairs). I cracked up when Joe found out through Maggie that Burke needed Carolyn to come up to his room (…for important details in regards to his visit with Elizabeth and Roger) in which he snaps, “He what?!?!” As usual, Burke is center of the universe and everything about the show revolves around him. He talks with Carter about being found near Roger’s car; what I love about the Burke character is he isn’t intimidated by nobody. You can wear a badge, be from the town’s most important ...

I have to admit I take a delight in the Roger Collins episodes more than most because he is such a heel. I use heel because Louis Edmonds has this way of showing the “wheels turning”. I am amused most of all of how the car crash is almost a godsend for him because it is a possible means to get rid of a problem that works as what I consider a cancer on his conscience (yeah, that is if he has one…) Collins Port Constable takes a break from “faulty traffic lights and barroom brawls” to talk with Roger, Elizabeth, and Victoria about the night Burke Devlin stopped by Collinwood to talk with them. There are always little moments that have a tendency to give me the giggles such as when the constable gets onto Roger for waiting so long to contact him and going to Burke Devlin instead, with Collins responding, “I didn’t need for you to come down here to give me a lecture.” Roger the Grouch, barks and snaps, completely annoyed that the constable questions if Devlin could be innocent and that...

Now this was an interesting and enlightening episode that actually says aloud what has been implied. Sam and Roger chat in the diner. Well, Sam wants to talk, while Roger would just as soon he not get anymore involved. Sam admits that they wrongfully accused Burke of manslaughter; their trial testimony was false and he went to prison for nothing. Dark Shadows Creative is trying to get Maggie Evans more involved; because Sam is such a psychological, guilt-ridden wreck, Maggie can become a key figure in Burke's story.  Maggie has a profound influence over Sam...he would probably have fled if she didn’t have a way of talking him out of such a drastic, desperate idea. Burke does seem to not know Sam’s deception, how he was in cahoots with Roger ten years ago. Roger’s callousness in being able to brush  aside what he did to Burke, at the same time incensed that Devlin might have gotten payback (the key is might) for his misdeeds, really reinforces his portrayal as a heel. I have ...

Carolyn may be wavering in her support of Burke. Malloy confronts Burke over his knowledge of private detective, Wilbur Strake, and, like Roger in the previous episode, makes accusations about his wanting revenge against the Collins, not to mention, his possible cause of the car wreck. The secret of Victoria’s past as it relates to Elizabeth is once again addressed (appropriate considering I had just made a recent comment about how Victoria’s storyline had been practically written out and forgotten) and Mrs. Stoddard once again will not allow this topic to occupy her time,   evading questions directed   towards her. You can see that Elizabeth is beleaguered by the Roger car crash, mentioning that she wants Carolyn to pack up and leave before the dirt starts to come out into the open. Burke is certainly prepared for anything Malloy hurls at him, even claiming that he’s in the area on business, eyeing another cannery not too far from Collins Port (a devious grin implies he r...

Roger, instead of going to the police, confronts Burke in his inn room, accuses him of tampering with his car, and brings along Victoria to elaborate what she saw the night he was harmed in the wreck. Sam is furious with his daughter, Maggie (Leigh sans blonde wig for which I’m grateful), for keeping tabs on him, afraid he might leave without her knowing. Roger is ready to lay down the gauntlet on Burke, unleashing his intentions, a sly smile, and his condition (the sling on his arm, bandages on forehead) is a reminder of the wreck. Burke’s reasons for standing near Roger’s car, Vicky’s uneasy position for seeing him by it with a wrench in his hand, and Roger knowing all of this does seem to prove that Devlin will have a hard time defending himself against the charges certain to be sent his way. How will he be able to escape an injustice? This second confrontation, unlike the first, is a more accurate depiction of how Roger and Burke feel about each other. Burke claims to have been...