I have to hand to Dark Shadows Creative: the payoff for the mystery regarding "Where is Bill Malloy?" was a humdinger! The mood and sense of gloom and doom is impressive as the stage has been set for the last three episodes regarding Malloy's absence and where he would be found. This episode, the 50th, opens with Carolyn in a rather glum state, unsure of what to do about her relationship with Joe (God, someone put me out of my misery, please..), sitting at the crest of Widow's Hill with Victoria joining her. They also chat a bit about *you know who*, and how worse for wear Elizabeth is about his disappearance. Roger finally returns after being gone for a good portion of the night after leaving the office, saying to Elizabeth that he had went to Malloy's cousin's house to see if he was there. The episode spends some time talking about "ghosts", associating the conversation around Widow's Hill because of its mythos regarding the two suicides and possibility of a third. Well, it won't be a widow found upon the waves swept rocks at the bottom of Widow's Hill, and I don't think it was a suicide either! DSC has now presented a new storyline with several suspects, in particular Sam and Roger--the question is who would be more desperate to rid themselves of a nuisance who threatened to take away everything they hold dear? Elizabeth's anxiety, thanks to Joan Bennett, is all-encompassing, even affecting those around her. Carolyn makes a morbid joke about their ancestral history and Elizabeth snaps back at her saying such things. Vicky tries to console a burdened Elizabeth who yearns for Roger to get home (mentioned above) so she can get some answers...this is a great scene because there is a slight hint that Liz could be possibly insinuating something criminal on Roger's part, with it handled more in performance, reactions, than dialogue. Even without Burke Devlin's presence, this episode is really one of the milestones of the early Dark Shadows era. It leaves us with quite a final image: a body, motionless except for the crashing water moving it about a little, surrounded by rock, Vicky and Carolyn held in horror, screams acknowledging a murder most foul. This is certain to really be a focal event that guarantees total storyline dominance for quite a spell. Also presented in the episode, giving us yet another interesting mystery, Vicky finds DEATH written in pen on her bedroom mirror. She believes it's David, but he says he didn't. If he didn't, who did?
Burke interrupts what could have been a decent dinner between Maggie, her father, and Vicky, and he's sore, agenda-driven, and pointed in defending himself, while also demanding answers...answers Sam is willing to flee to protect. Sam's only link to Burke at all, besides Roger himself, is the letter he wrote to Maggie. He escapes out the back door while the others were in the living room and heads to Collins Port Inn where the letter is kept but the owner will not give it over to him. The letter is Maggie's and she will have to give permission before Sam can get his hands on it. Malloy's death looms large and will not go away--especially as long as Burke steamrolls throughout Collins Port, pissed off and unrestrained. He wants to know Sam's connection to the wrongful conviction and isn't about to just forget his presence at the meeting that night. Maggie just cannot believe that her father had anything at all to do with Malloy's death; Sam and Malloy were fr...
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