The Dark Shadows Daybook: April 13

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date: Episode 996

 At Collinwood, Alexis meets Trask, startling him.  He is extremely evasive as to why Quentin took Any out of the house.  Trask insists that they must leave.  A knock at the door reveals a returning Quentin, who tells Trask to relax.  He’ll call Cyrus Longworth.  Yeager doesn’t pick up, instead checking on a formula in a safe… a formula emblazoned “Do Not Touch.”  He also takes a sword cane that Cyrus conveniently has at home.  At the Eagle bar, Cyrus interrupts two flirting lovers — Eagle barmaid, Buffie Harrington and her sometimes-boyfriend, Steve.  He attacks the latter and throws Steve out. Buffie says that his new attack is worse than the last time.  Cyrus says he’ll be back with a generous check.  In the drawing room of Collinwood, Quentin questions Mr. Trask as to why a locked drawer opened and its musical contents vanished.  He pushes Trask to associate Bruno or Angelique with Dameon Edwards’ murder.  Trask threatens to leave, and Quentin warns him not to as he goes to visit Cyrus.  True to his word, Yaeger brings a check to the Eagle, but it’s a check from Cyrus.  He threatens Buffie not to associate Cyrus with the payoff.  On the docks, Yaeger locates the Steve and begins to beat him.  Yeager flees when Quentin bursts onto the scene.  Steve pursues Yaeger while Quentin returns to the Eagle.  There, Buffie, also a former Collingwood employee, tells Quentin of Cyrus’ check.  After Quentin leaves, Yaeger appears and strangles her in retribution for telling Quentin the origin of the check.

These episodes have a dizzying amount of plot, especially given that so little feels like it’s going on.  An episode about a forged check takes me back to the dark days of 1966 when the show was about a pen.  But it was the first show to be filmed after a ten day hiatus used to film HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS.

Props must be given to guest star Elizabeth Eis, who played several parts throughout the show, starting out in the Leviathan storyline.  A stunning brunette, she was very much in the mold of the “Curtis Type,” but never quite found footing as a recurring character.  She was certainly good enough for Broadway.  She played four parts in the original Broadway production of ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, as well as understudying Ophelia.  What could top that but an appearance in the Bon Jovi video for “Living in Sin.”  Steve was played by George Strus, who was not only in SHAFT, but also SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT, which is up there with 1776 for DARK SHADOWS alums.  Along for the ride in that film are the fabulous Lisa Richards and Alex Stevens!