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2
Number

2

Timeline

1967

Narrator

Alexandra Moltke
(as Victoria Winters)

Writer

Art Wallace

Director

Lela Swift

Broadcast

June 28, 1966
(Tuesday)

Recorded

June 14, 1966
(Tuesday)

Video

Complete: Disc 1
Beginning 1: Disc 1

2 Gallery
We have 27 images of Dark Shadows 2

On Widows' Hill, Victoria meets Roger, who seems disturbed when she reveals that Burke Devlin arrived on the same train as she did.

Synopsis[]

Opening narration
My name is Victoria Winters. Collinwood, the great house on top of Widows' Hill, is a dark and frightening place to end a journey. The ghosts of yesterday seem to tell me to run. But I'm here now and there's no turning back.

Teaser

Victoria steps into the foyer of Collinwood and looks around. Elizabeth takes her letter from her. Victoria asks how many rooms there are in the house and Elizabeth tells her there are forty rooms, but not all of them are in use. One man does all the heavy work around the place and they do the rest themselves. Elizabeth goes to fetch some tea while Victoria looks around the drawing room and at the crashing waves below the house.

Act I

Elizabeth returns with the tea and sees Victoria looking at the portrait above the fireplace. She tells Victoria that Jeremiah Collins, her great-grandfather, built the house and was a very strong man. The east wing was closed over fifty years ago and they only use part of the rest of the house. Victoria asks about David and is told he's likely to be different from any boy she's ever met. Roger is heard coming down the stairs and out the front door, ignoring Elizabeth's call to come into the drawing room. Victoria is told about her daughter Carolyn, who's about her age. At the Blue Whale, Carolyn dances with various guys, to the dismay of Joe Haskell. Strake tells Burke that everything about Carolyn is in his report.

Act II

2C

Joe and Carolyn at the Blue Whale

Carolyn accepts a dance from Harry which makes Joe angry. Strake tells Burke that Joe is Mrs. Stoddard's choice to marry Carolyn. When Carolyn starts dancing with yet another guy, Joe tries to get her to leave, but a fight breaks out. The bartender calls the police, but Burke breaks it up right away and sends Joe to take Carolyn home. He asks Joe to return to the bar once she's safely home. Burke tells Strake the fight is just beginning.

Act III

Elizabeth shows Victoria the room she'll be staying in, in which she herself slept in until she was married. Victoria asks why she was selected for the job when Elizabeth had never seen her before. Elizabeth tells her that Roger knew someone at the foundling home who recommended her. Victoria says that when she asked, no one claimed to have heard of the Collins Family at the home. Elizabeth postulates that she asked the wrong person. The front door is heard slamming and Elizabeth goes downstairs. Victoria sits on the bed and thinks. Carolyn angrily storms into the house and asks why Jeremiah had to build this prison. Elizabeth comes into the drawing room, thinking it's Roger, and is surprised to find Carolyn home so early. She asks what the matter is, but Carolyn only tells her she's tired and unable to enjoy herself.

Act IV

Carolyn finishes telling her mother what happened at the Blue Whale. She's upset because she's wanted to get out of Collinwood since she was a little girl, but also wants Elizabeth to stop trying to marry her off. Elizabeth tells her she won't be alone anymore and Carolyn is surprised Victoria actually came. Victoria comes downstairs and says "Boo!" to the portrait hanging in the foyer. She goes outside and stands at the cliff of Widows' Hill. Roger approaches her and tells her she wouldn't be the first to jump, if that's what she was contemplating. He introduces himself and she asks him to confirm Mrs. Stoddard's claim that she was recommended to him for the job. He tells her that whatever Elizabeth claims must be true. She asks about David and he says he doesn't really know what the boy likes. She explains her troubles getting to the house and Roger reacts frightened and runs off whens she mentions that Burke Devlin gave her a ride from the train station.

Victoria returns to the house and finds Elizabeth playing piano in the drawing room. Victoria watches as Elizabeth collapses, then sneaks off unseen back upstairs.

Memorable quotes[]

Carolyn: When I was ten years old I used to dream that a white knight would come along and rescue me from this dungeon. I guess white knights have gone out of style.

Strake: Ooh, I wish my wife could wiggle like that!

Burke: You go home with him (referring to Joe Haskell), Miss Stoddard, before I take you over my knee and paddle you right here in the middle of the dance floor.

Roger: I hope you won't be too lonely here.
Victoria: If I am, I'll blame it on you.
Roger: Me?
Victoria: Mrs. Stoddard said you were the one that arranged for me to come here.
Roger: Hmm, you don't say?
Victoria: It's true, isn't it?
Roger: If Elizabeth says so, then it must be true.

Elizabeth: Miss Winters, David is likely to be different from any boy you've ever met.

Roger: Did you know that on a cloudless day you can see twenty miles out to sea? When I was a boy I used to bring a picnic lunch out here and dream for hours.
Victoria: Maybe I can do the same with your son.
Roger: With David?
Victoria: Doesn't he like picnics?
Roger: I'm not exactly certain what he does like, Miss Winters. But if you intend to follow that plan, do yourself a favor. Stay away from the edge.

Dramatis personae[]

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

  • David Collins is referred to by name for the first time. The drawing room is referred to by name for the first time.
  • Joe Haskell and Carolyn Stoddard make their first appearances.
  • The bartender at the Blue Whale has a line in this episode.
  • Roger's glasses can be seen sticking out of his breast pocket. He won't be seen wearing them until 45.
  • Announcer Bob Lloyd states that "Dark Shadows has been a Dan Curtis Production" for the first time. This will change to "Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production" beginning with 7.
  • Actress Nancy Barrett makes her first appearance. She would remain with the show until its final episode in 1971.
  • The earrings Elizabeth wears in Act I later return as part of Josette Collins' jewel collection. Willie Loomis eventually gives them to Maggie Evans in 497.
  • Elizabeth plays Prelude in C Minor, Op. 28 No. 20 on the piano, composed by Frédéric Chopin.
  • The Blue Whale jukebox is a Seeburg Select-O-Matic 100 model.
  • First appearance of the "Petofi box", on a hallway table outside Vicki's room.
  • The Blue Whale is as crowded as it will ever be again. Including cast members and extras, there are a total of fifteen actors on set.
  • This episode by far uses the most actors of any episode. Including cast members and extras, there are overall eighteen actors appearing onscreen in this episode.

Story[]

  • Elizabeth states that Collinwood has a total of 40 rooms.
  • The east wing of Collinwood was closed off 50 years ago.
  • Elizabeth's great-grandfather Jeremiah Collins built Collinwood.
  • The portrait of Jeremiah Collins hangs in the drawing room over the fireplace.
  • The first thing Liz asks Vicki to do at Collinwood is to give her back the letter she wrote to Vicki at the Hammond Foundling Home offering to hire her as governess.

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

  • The ending of episode 1 was re-recorded as the beginning of this episode.
  • Victoria's suitcase moves closer to the front door in between the teaser and the first act.
  • The boom microphone briefly can be seen dropping into frame as Victoria asks what kind of a boy David is.
  • The jukebox at the Blue Whale has been moved to the right of the set, where it will remain for the rest of the series, with the exception of four episodes (137, 189, 190, 893).
  • A dark shadow crosses Victoria when Elizabeth is showing her the drawers in her room.
  • For some reason, the foyer table gets moved back between the third and forth acts.
  • The audio on Victoria's "Boo!" isn't synced properly.
  • As seen when Victoria travels through time to 1795, Joshua Collins built Collinwood, and Jeremiah did not have any children.
  • Elizabeth states that the east wing has been closed off, but later in the series it's the west wing that is referenced as closed off.
  • Blue Whale bartender Bob Rooney identifies himself as "Joe" while on the phone to the sheriff's office to report the fight that has broken out in the bar.
  • As Carolyn dances at the Blue Whale, when the camera is positioned at a low angle it reveals several stage lights across the top of the set.
  • At the Blue Whale, as Harry moves from the jukebox toward Carolyn's table, several top-of-set stage lights can be seen along the way.
  • As Roger moves forward to the edge of the cliff to greet Victoria, his footsteps sound as though they are treading on a bare floor.

End credits announcements[]

External Links []

Dark Shadows - Episode 2 on the IMDb

The Collinsport Historical Society - Dark Shadows Diary - Episode 2

Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 2: Wouldn't be the first, you know

Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 2: 6/28/66

Gallery (27)[]

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