Episode #1.9 (1966) User Reviews (3)

"A Good Bomb Is What We All Need"

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 24 July 2011]

"The past can be a prison," mentions Vicki (Alexandra Moltke) in her opening narration, and we find Malloy (Frank Schofield) frantic about Burke. He goes to Collinwood to warn Liz (Joan Bennett) about the "ghosts" from the past. "There are no ghosts here," she tells him, to which Malloy replies, "A ghost won't die, Liz." Meanwhile, Carolyn (Nancy Barrett) connects Burke with the man who threatened to spank her in episode one. Vicki reveals she had coffee with Burke, finding him attractive and a little dangerous. Clearly interested in the older man, Carolyn plots to visit him at the hotel...

Carolyn is teasing Vicki about Widow's Hill, substituting governesses for widows. We never see the niece of Bill Malloy mentioned herein. Malloy has a fatherly interest in Carolyn and wants her to leave Collinwood as much as Liz. Malloy is a widower who had no children of his own. His wife died in 1956, around the time Roger and Laura left town (draw your own conclusions). With Liz' blessing, Malloy took over some Collins Enterprises duties in 1935, from her recently deceased father Jamison Collins. We are meant to feel an undercurrent of the unrequited love Malloy had for Elizabeth Collins...

****** Dark Shadows 1966 ABC #9 (7/7/66) Lela Swift ~ Alexandra Moltke, Joan Bennett, Frank Schofield, Nancy Barrett...

Is Carolyn Stoddard really Victoria's friend?

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

I don't know how to figure out Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett), the peppy young daughter of Joan Bennett's Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. She seems to genuinely like Victoria Winters, but for some reason, is back and forth of whether or not she wants Victoria to remain. She's also a bit of a conspiracy theorist, rubbing Burke Devlin's presence in her mother and cannery manager Bennett Hadley's face. Victoria doesn't seem to be able to handle Carolyn's constant harping at her, and at one point, even insinuates that Elizabeth plans to fire her.

There's no real action or revelation in this episode, only insinuations, and nothing really concrete. Burke is mentioned and not seen, and at the end of the episode, Carolyn is at his hotel calling his room. What is she up to? And how will this impact the Collins family? It's obvious that while Carolyn is not a villainess, she is the show's initial antagonist. It's a chatty episode that gives a bit of necessary details, but not a really important episode.

Plot-heavy episode

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 8 February 2018]

Episode 9 is a plot-heavy episode of DARK SHADOWS, light on atmosphere but helping to flesh out some important characters. The focus of attention this time around is Burke Devlin, who turns out to be a former jailbird. Victoria, meanwhile, is told an eerie ghost story about the number of suicides which have taken place from the town's clifftop.