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625
Number

618

Timeline

1968

Narrator

Louis Edmonds

Writer

Sam Hall

Director

Lela Swift

Broadcast

November 15, 1968
(Friday)

Recorded

November 8, 1968
(Friday)

Video

Complete: Disc 66
Collection 11: Disc 2

625 Gallery
We have 30 images of Dark Shadows 625

Eve gives Jeff the letter he wrote in 1796 which causes him to postpone his wedding to Victoria until he can dig up Peter Bradford's grave.

Synopsis[]

Teaser

Happy is the bride the sun shines on. And this day on the great estate of Collinwood should be a happy one indeed. But as the guests assemble to celebrate a marriage, there are certain signs of dark clouds nearing the sun. For a book mysteriously has appeared, a book that Victoria Winters carried with her into another century. A book which she left there. On the terrace, the groom waits nervously to go in and take his marriage vows while one woman secretly watches determined to stop him before that time comes.

Elizabeth helps Victoria get dressed for the wedding while Jeff paces nervously on the terrace. Eve appears with the note Peter Bradford wrote and gave her in 1795. She tells him the letter is proof he is really Peter. He agrees to let her read the letter and when she gets to a mention of Victoria she shows him that the letter is in his handwriting. Eve smugly tells him the guests are waiting.

Act I

Eve tells Jeff they can leave and be together. When he refuses her she tells him he can find more proof at Peter's grave. Eve leaves as Roger appears to take him inside, but Jeff tells him he can't go through with it and must see Victoria. Inside Elizabeth helps Victoria put on Naomi Collins' wedding veil and she tells Elizabeth she feels like she really is a part of the family. Elizabeth tells Victoria she will always be a part of the family. Roger comes up and tells then Jeff wants to see Victoria and Victoria goes to see him. She knows something bad is happening.

Act II

Elizabeth grills Roger on what is wrong and he explains that he does not know what is going on. Elizabeth and Roger talk about expectations and Roger worries that Elizabeth will relapse into melancholy. Outside Jeff tells Victoria he loves her, but that he needs to postpone the wedding. He shows her the note and points out the handwriting and date. She asks who Danielle is. He tells her this is proof he lived in 1795 and says he cannot marry her if he really is Peter Bradford. He tells Victoria about Eve. He tells her he knows nothing of Eve and what she wants. Victoria says as long as he does not love her now that it really doesn't matter if he lived before, but he says he needs to go to the Old Cemetery. She tells him it doesn't matter to her, but he leaves.

Act III

Roger and Elizabeth talk in Victoria's room and Roger prepares to leave, but Elizabeth asks him to stay with her. Elizabeth suddenly feels that Victoria needs her and leaves to be with her. At Eagle Hill Jeff locates Peter's grave and begins to exhume him after an internal debate over whether he really needs to know. On the terrace Victoria tells Elizabeth that Jeff is gone and she does not care that he is gone, but there will be no wedding today. Roger offers to tell the guests to leave while Elizabeth tries to comfort her. And Victoria ties all the troubles back to receiving the Collins Family History Book and says that the past is catching up with them. Roger gets to the cemetery while Jeff is digging up Peter in his tuxedo and threatens to call the police. Jeff opens the coffin with Roger watching and discovers it is empty.

Memorable quotes[]

Victoria: (to Elizabeth) The past does follow us, doesn't it? No matter how independent we think we are, it follows.

Victoria: I'm not going to disappear. Collinwood will always be home to me.

Roger: Vicki may need you more now than ever.

Elizabeth: I prayed that for once everything would be well.

Victoria: I don't understand. You, you never let me understand.

Elizabeth: Nothing ever works out for any of us, does it?

Jeff: Is there a law against opening your own coffin?

Dramatis personae[]

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

  • During the end credits, the thunder sound effects continue to be heard.

Story[]

  • After Jeff tells Victoria that if he is Peter Bradford he can't marry her, it is unclear why he couldn't or wouldn't marry her since the letter he wrote tells of his love for Victoria then and will always love her and they will be together in death or in a new life. It would seem that if he is indeed Peter he would still love her no matter what. [Addendum: Jeff does say that he needs to find out "what he is" before he can marry Vicki. During the conversation with Vicki, Jeff suggests that he can't let himself marry Vicki if he isn't "real."]
  • When Elizabeth talks to Victoria in her room and mentions how she is like part of the family, it would have been a good time to reveal to Victoria that she is Elizabeth's daughter. This was to have happened in a later episode.
  • INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Jeff: What will I find in Peter's grave?

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

  • Victoria was hanged in 1796 before Peter Bradford, but the date on the note and his tombstone both says 1795. (In 660, the same tombstone is seen but with an amended death year 1796. The '5' seen here having been amended with felt tip to show a '6'.)
  • As Elizabeth and Victoria talk, squeaks can be heard as if someone is rolling a cart.
  • Also in the scene when Elizabeth and Victoria are talking, there is the sound of a door closing (before Roger arrives), and in one shot, the figure of a person can be seen moving behind Vicki. During the scene, someone off-screen also can be heard saying , "Please."
  • Joan Bennett flubs when she says she can't be calm and emotional like Roger, when she's meant to say, "calm and unemotional".
  • The clock in Victoria's room says 5pm for a very long time.
  • A leaf appears to plague Marie Wallace whilst on the terrace.
  • When Elizabeth joins Vicki on the terrace, a loud squeaking noise can be heard.
  • It's not clear how and why Roger shows up at the cemetery to find Jeff. At least in the conversation we see, with Vicki, Elizabeth, and Roger, Vicki does not tell Roger that Jeff went to the cemetery.
  • After being in the ground for almost 200 years, the coffin of Peter Bradford is in remarkably good condition given the amount of rain Collinsport receives. [Although we know that Collinsport has the most dry thunderstorms in Maine.]
  • The sound effects when Jeff pounds on the coffin with his crowbar are not in sync with the visuals. Also, at one point, the coffin lid moves upward slightly when Jeff works on it with the crowbar, and he puts his hand on top of it to hold it down while he pretends to be trying to pry it open. At one point, Jeff also is pounding the crowbar onto the top of the coffin, not under the lid, which is what one would do to pry it open.

External Links []

Dark Shadows - Episode 625 on the IMDb

Dark Shadows Everyday - Episode 625 - Cold Feet

Gallery (30)[]

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