Dark Shadows, The Road to Bloodline: Deliver Us From Evil

By JUSTIN PARTRIDGE

“Don’t live in the dark too long. 
You don’t know what’s waiting in 
there for you.”

It’s Sabrina Jennings vs. the Son of Satan in the blisteringly entertaining Deliver Us from Evil! The latest stop on the Road to Bloodline! Rounding out a quadrilogy of narrative threads that started in Beneath the Veil, then weaved on through The Enemy Within, then most recently tieing through Carriage of the Damned, Deliver Us From Evil brings Sabrina Jennings’ and Cyrus Longworth’s story to a beautiful and terrifying close for now; proving once again this range could support longer serialized narratives, while also just delivering a damn fine single story. Sharply written by Aaron Lamont and given a wide array of impressive effects and transitions by sound designer David Darlington, Deliver Us From Evil is a must own for fans of the Jennings clan, Christopher Pennock people, and discerning audiophiles alike.

Once again, we open with a post-Bloodlust framing device. After having left Collinsport after the revelation that her own sister killed her husband in a lycanthropic rage, Amy Cunningham (the always luminous Stephanie Ellyne) is looking to forget her troubles in Bangor. But the fates have other plans for her as she has a chance meeting with her sister Sabrina (a powerful performance from Lisa Richards) and the two are forced to confront the growing rift between them, leading to Sabrina to tell Amy about the sad, strange fates of Cyrus Longworth and Alfie Chapman (a returning and positively unhinged Simon Kent).

I have gone long on record about these framing devices, but this time, I didn’t feel like it was very obtrusive to my enjoyment or the overall story. Once the sisters are basically trapped together, in a situation straight out of sitcom, it is pretty much all flashback as Darlington deftly transitions us from the “present” to the “past" allowing Lamont’s script to really take off. And don’t let the apparent density of this being a “payoff” episode throw you! Though this whole thing is steeped in Big Finishverse lore, the script takes the steps to get the audience up to speed on what is actually being paid off that way no one is lost.

But long-time listeners or beginners (like me) I think will get an extra little thrill out of seeing all these threads pay off along with all the returning characters. I mean, this single story is cool for people coming in cold, but y’all know how much I love serialization. Sabrina is one again the star of the show and Richards more than rises to the occasion. Pennock also really impresses here, playing up the wounded terror of Cyrus as well as leaning heavily into moustache twirling villainy once the Son of the Dark Lord fully takes over his corporal form. The triple threat of baddies here James Unsworth’s John, Simon Kent’s Alfie, and Brigid Lohrey’s Danielle Roget also add plenty of dark delights for this story as the representatives of the “dark side”. This thing is even graced with an extra bit of star power from our own WALLACE MCBRIDE! Playing all the hits as his returning DJ character, Edgar McBride, which will always delight me to no end.

But I really loved this one, guys! It had a lot of great things for long time listeners on top of just a goddamn entertaining story starring some Dark Shadows mainstays! Kind of a win-win for all us nerds, right? Though I will say, I think listening to the whole cycle would give you that much more enjoyment out of this one, BUUUT there is still a lot to love about Deliver Us From Evil even without all the backstory.

NEXT TIME! Tainted Love! The return of the Kwisatz Haderach of my Heart, Alec Newman as David Collins! And another co-starring role for the mysterious Hallie Stokes! Until then, be seeing you.

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Justin Partridge has always loved monsters and he thinks that explains a lot about him. When he isn’t over analyzing comics at Newsarama or ranting about Tom Clancy over at Rogues Portal, he is building Call of Cthulhu games, spreading the good word of Anti-Life, or rewatching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace for the dozenth time. He can be reached at the gasping Lovecraftian void that is Twitter @j_partridgeIII or via e-mail at justin@betweenthepanels.com Odds are he will want to talk about Hellblazer.