Dark Shadows Diary, Episode 51

Episode 51: "The Legend of Collinwood"
Sept. 5, 1966

Yep, Bill Malloy's dead. Looks like he's been that way for a few episodes and has been lounging around the foot of Widow's Hill waiting for his big scene. Meanwhile, Roger's been steadfastly not giving a shit. In his defense, he seems genuinely surprised when Victoria and Carolyn come running in to report an unscheduled delivery of a corpse at Collinwood.

But Roger also doesn't seem that interested in checking on their story, either. He calls on Matthew Morgan to take a quick look around the property for errant cadavers, which introduces Thayer David to the cast of the show. And by "introduces," he made his first appearance on the show back in Episode 38 (something I totally forgot about in a later diary entry.) I thought about correcting the error, but it seems more honest just to fess up to it in real time. So there.

Just to keep the audience on its toes, Morgan also seems surprised to hear that Malloy is working on his moon tan at the foot of the cliff, which is odd considering he's the one he put him there. Again, I don't think the writers had decided on the identity of the killer at this stage, but I could be wrong.


"Perhaps Burke Devlin drowned himself in a fit of depression," Roger says, speculating on the identity of the corpse. He's a little disappointed to hear that Liz has invited People Magazine's "Sexiest Business  Manager of the Year" Ned Caulder to oversee the plant, and intends on demoting Malloy ... and pushing Roger further out of the managerial loop where he can cause no problems.

Morgan returns to Collinwood to report seeing no dead bodies, which is weird because we just saw one there a few minutes ago. Roger makes a big show of being incredulous, but later calls Sam Evans to see if anyone's laid eyes on Malloy recently. You know, besides Victoria and Carolyn. Liz is also a little suspicious and visits Morgan to ask, again, if he saw anything unusual at Widows Hill. She asks him to take her on a tour of Collinwood's preferred suicide attraction while Victoria and Carolyn try to convince each other they'd imagined the entire thing. You know, 'cause women are all emotional and shit, always getting worked up over nothing (or whatever.) Still, this show is less sexist than STAR TREK.

Morgan points out a lump of seaweed on the beach that must be into Bill Malloy cosplay, because she's convinced her daughter and the governess just confused it for a dead body. Whew! Glad that's settled. Morgan is intent on keeping things quiet, worried that talk of dead bodies and/or ghosts will just contribute to the "Legend of Collinwood" and draw more rubberneckers. Of course, Victoria apologies to them for making a fuss.

Oh, and she points out that David predicted, using his new crystal ball, that Malloy was dead ... and that Roger killed him. Sleep tight, everybody!