Dark Shadow Diary, Episode 41

Episode 41: "Whiskey in the Jar"
Aug. 22, 1966

There's nothing like the threat of impending doom to sober a man up. Sam is bright eyed and bushy tailed following a game of alcoholic one-upsmanship with Bill Malloy that left him in a drunken stupor. Roger doesn't have much confidence in Sam when he's not blind, stinking drunk, so he's not enthused to learn the artist got dazed and infused and potentially shot his mouth off about their 10-year-old conspiracy.

Then again,Sam isn't also that thrilled with his own behavior, either. He knows he said something stupid, even if he can't remember exactly what. Sam is a walking spoiler alert even without the aid of alcohol. When Maggie finds her father (again) waxing darkly poetic, she quickly deduces that Roger Collins is to blame for his growing sense of paranoia.

Maggie calls Collinwood to speak with Roger, but he hangs up the telephone without offering her as much as a syllable. I like to think Roger understands himself well enough to know that his general demeanor would only alienate her, even if he had nothing to hide. Besides, he's a little preoccupied with his current strategy of  manipulating Liz into championing his cause at home. He winds Liz up by telling her Carolyn has set sights set on Devlin, then stands back and lets her do her thing. Liz is not one to be out manipulated, and immediately calls Joe Haskell to arrange for him to visit Collinwood (and, presumably, "reason" with his girlfriend.)

Maggie's telephone call doesn't go unnoticed, though. Roger and Sam are equally riled by her attempted interference. Roger makes another trip to Sam's house to remind him to keep his mouth shut. He makes vague threats against the artist; Sam returns the favor, but conveniently waits until after he leaves to do so. Recognizing the futility of threatening a man out of earshot, though, Sam makes a trip to Collinwod ... and is met at the door by Liz.

There hasn't been much happening on DARK SHADOWS in the last few weeks, but that doesn't mean the show hasn't been moving forward. There's been a growing sense of doom throughout the show, and it's obvious that someone is going to die. In this episode Sam rips up his portrait sketch of Burke Devlin, he and Roger lob threats at each other, Liz begins to draw Joe's attention to his girlfriend's romantic intentions on the family rival, and Victoria has been pushed around by just about everyone in the cast. In theory, any one of them is eligible for a ride in the bone wagon, but the show has been implying that Devlin is headed for a fall. It's interesting that the show decides to go in another direction: I don't know when Bill Malloy checks in at Eagle Hill Cemetery, but it's probably sooner rather than later.