Mother's Calling: Episode 130

Laura returns to Collinwood after watching her son swing from behind a bush. Burke learns from Ms. Johnson that Laura has returned and plans to communicate with her. Laura makes her intentions clear to both Roger and Elizabeth...all she wants is her son. Roger obviously seems fine with the idea of letting go of a son he has little regard for, but Elizabeth adores the boy. What I like about this new storyline is how enigmatic Dark Shadows Creative has made the character of Laura. She seems "otherworldly", as if she's in control of some strange power yet revealed. The beginnings of what she is capable of come at the end of this episode, the show's 130th, when David seems under a spell and the Collinwood entrance doors swing open as if two giant hands jerked them. Laura engages Liz and Roger carefully; you can see that she chooses her words wisely, delicately laying out what she wants. She wants David, and I think we see right here that a fight for the custody of the boy will be of major storyline importance in the episodes to come. What I am curious about is where Vicky goes from here. After being so important in the concluding Matthew Imprisonment storyline, her character is left without a current purpose, other than a potential love interest for her employers' worst enemy. Laura's role doesn't seem to threaten Sam so, although he's the one that revealed her presence in Collins Port to Roger, he will perhaps fade from the story along with Maggie and Joe casting them adrift storyline-wise. No one, except maybe Maggie, has deteriorated in importance than Carolyn. Besides her obsessive lust for Burke (which has tempered since Vicky's welfare took precedence over her possible relationwhip with Burke), nothing creatively has benefited her at this point on the show. The current Laura storyline doesn't seem to have an important place for her, although I could see her in a love triangle, as it is obvious Vicky has the hots (and vice versa) for Burke. But, could any character seem more written off the show than Carolyn? There were times her relationship with Joe kept Carolyn afloat while other more interesting storylines played out, but since Maggie seems to have slid into her spot as the young fisherman's new love interest, even that leaves little room for Elizabeth's daughter.

That said, everything will change when Barnabas emerges, but until then Carolyn seems lost in the shuffle. Laura has become the star attraction and now the orbit of storytelling will revolve around her. Amazing that such a character has quickly become so storyline conscious but she has...