Dark Shadows, Episode 16

“16.” Dark Shadows. ABC. 18 July 1966.

Elizabeth gets off the phone with Bill Malloy and relates the message to Victoria: Roger is alive. Victoria is glad Roger’s accident wasn’t fatal, but Elizabeth is starting to suspect that Roger’s wreck wasn’t an accident.

At the Blue Whale, Devlin is sitting far too close with Joe and Carolyn. The fact that he insists they call him ‘Burke’ doesn’t help matters. Joe is polite but frosty with Devlin. Carolyn, on the other hand, implies that the idea of Devlin’s possible beating and kidnapping of her is getting her extremely hot and bothered.

Back at Collinwood, we learn that Matthew Morgan had a car accident seventeen years ago and ever since then has been obsessively maintaining the cars. Elizabeth calls Morgan to the house to ask about when he last checked Roger’s car; a fact that Morgan interprets as Elizabeth being upset with his work. He blames Roger for this new status quo and threatens to kill him. When he calms down enough to talk, he states that he personally checked Roger’s brakes two days ago and they were perfect. All possible evidence points to sabotage, but now the question is who was responsible?

Over at the Blue Whale, things have gotten awkward. Carolyn is fully ignoring Joe and attempting to coax Devlin into dancing. Devlin decides to stop waiting for Roger and leave, prompting Carolyn to suggest they slip off to the movies. That is the final straw for Joe, who storms out into the night. Carolyn convinces Devlin to help her track him down.

News of Roger’s accident has spread. Elizabeth tries to call the theater in efforts to reach Carolyn but Victoria breaks the news to her- she went to the Blue Whale with Devlin. Elizabeth is most put out by this and calls the Blue Whale.  Bob Rooney, the barkeep, tells her that he saw Carolyn duck out of there with Devlin in tow to parts unknown.

Questions asked: What is wrong with Carolyn? Was Roger’s car really sabotaged?

Review:  Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Carolyn? Flirting with another man while your date is a few inches to your left is just bad form. Also, the same issues still stand that Devlin might be bad news. He does let her down easy and makes it clear he doesn’t want any part of her, a fact that Carolyn seems to ignore. She seems desperate to appear on missing posters, isn’t she? Plus, did everyone at the house just forget the whole car might be sabotaged? How did Malloy know Roger was in a wreck? Reporters start calling the house, but how did they know? From what we’ve seen, Collinsport is not exactly a metropolis. How can so many reporters be in one small town at once?