Dark Shadows 26

“26.” Dark Shadows. ABC. 1 August 1966.

Victoria holds the bleeder valve in her hand as she finally connects the dots and asks David why he tried to kill his father. David’s response is to pounce on her. She manages to fight him off and throw him out of her room. Locking the valve in a drawer, she blocks her door with her body as David takes up a similar position out in the hall.

Downstairs, Roger and Sheriff Carter are having it out. Roger thinks the only reason Devlin isn’t in jail is because Carter has either been scared or bought off by Devlin. Carter tells Roger where he can put his opinion but Roger makes is clear that unless Burke Devlin is arrested, Collinsport will have a new sheriff. Roger wants Devlin’s room searched that night. Carter laughs at the order, because only a complete idiot or some kind of maniac would keep the only bit of evidence that could convict them in their room, right?

David runs from the Victoria’s door and finds Elizabeth. He’s in a panic, with the excuse being he had to get away from Victoria. When Elizabeth asks why, he says because Victoria hurt him for no good reason, plus she might even say something crazy like he sabotaged his father’s car. Elizabeth listens to all of his ranting and sends him on his way.

David runs into Victoria in the hallway. He very smugly tells her that Elizabeth won’t believe a word she says, so she shouldn’t even try.

Back downstairs, the search warrant has finally gone through but Carter wants to finish his sandwich first. Roger insists on coming with him and conducting the search personally, but Carter finally finds his backbone.

Victoria finds Elizabeth and tries to tell her what happened. David eavesdrops. Victoria makes it clear that while she did strike David, it was purely in self-defense. She starts to mention finding the bleeder valve, but Elizabeth interrupts her. No, she insists, it was Burke Devlin and Devlin alone who sabotaged Roger’s car. She also outright denies Victoria’s finding the valve and simply writes it off as hysteria.

Questions asked:  Can Victoria convince anyone of the truth?

Review:  Wow, David just went nuts rather fast, didn’t he? Although at this point the only thing keeping him free of jail is a combination of laziness and stupidity from other people. Constable Carter has also been demoted to Sheriff, possibly because of that the whole contaminating evidence thing. We finally see the plot beginning to move in a new direction. Overall good, but how can they maintain this status quo?