Dark Shadows Diary: Episode 14

Episode 14: "We're All Pals Again"
July 14, 1966

Burke Devlin returned to Collinsport after a ten-year absence to settle an old score with Roger Collins. He might have saved himself the trouble, though, because it looks as though Roger's son is going to beat him the the punch.

David begins the episode with a little technical research, some plundering and a jovial facade that would shame Devlin's previous "nice guy" performances. Victoria catches the rascal plundering through her drawers, but he's less interested in rifling through her (probably dull) undergarments than he is in planting evidence for a future crime. We seen him reading a copy of "Mechano Magazine" shortly before attempting to stash some kind of automotive part in the governess's bedroom.

The boy covers his ass by insisting he was trying to giveVictoria a gift. He shows her a seashell he claims he was trying to leave in her room, but neither of them bring up the issue of why it was necessary to deposit the shell in her underwear drawer. I guess Victoria would prefer not to think about it.


Carolyn is busy running a game on her boyfriend, Joe Haskell. After convincing him to take her to The Blue Whale instead of the movies, she arranges for a not-so-accidental meeting with Burke Devlin. Carolyn makes goo-goo eyes at the family rival, and Devlin quickly joins them for their date. Joe is understandably upset, but doesn't do too much about it. Devlin and Carolyn insist they spent the night mending fences with the Collins family, but this doesn't give Joe much of a reason to enthusiastically entertain his girlfriend's crush.

As Carolyn is busy making the audience hate her, Victoria keeps her regularly scheduled date with danger. She sees a locked door to the west wing open and close by itself, and suspects David is playing a trick on her. When David steps out of his room behind her, it's clear he wasn't responsible ... but she's not willing to accept David's claims of ghosts, either. David continues his sham friendship with Victoria, who offers to have her father bring him home some gifts from town later that night. When David learns Roger is driving to town, he gets ... well, not weird. He's already pretty weird. But he withdraws immediately, leaving Victoria with the automotive magazine, a car part and the possibility of a criminal charge.