8

Carolyn admits she loves Joe, but turns aside when he asks her to marry him.

Synopsis Edit

Opening narration

My name is Victoria Winters. The devils of a forgotten time have found their home on the crest of Widows' Hill and the great house echoes with their pain. It's a lonely and frightening world, but for me, it's a place of hope. A place where the winds of the past can bring the answers for the future.

Teaser

Elizabeth discovers the window in Victoria's room has come open and goes to close it. As she does, she sees some papers lying on the floor, among them the most recent letter from Victoria's friends in New York (5) which she begins to read when Carolyn comes in, noticing the letter. They discuss Victoria, Carolyn asking why Elizabeth had hired Victoria rather than going to Lewiston or Bangor. Elizabeth sticks with her story that Roger knew someone at the orphanage, but Carolyn seems to have doubts. She tells her mother that she suspects Victoria went to town to call the foundling home to find out if she told the truth. Carolyn leaves and Elizabeth goes back to reading Victoria's mail.

Act I

Miss Hopewell reveals to Victoria that she didn't know of Roger Collins until after Victoria got the job offer and that she’s just as curious as Victoria is, and no one on the staff has ever heard of Elizabeth or Roger or any of the Collins family. Elizabeth, in a fit of anxiety about the past, wonders if she made a mistake in hiring Victoria, who likes to look in shadows, and considers terminating her employment. Carolyn begs her not to, because she finally has a friend.

Elizabeth asks Carolyn if she needs Victoria since she has Joe Haskell, telling her she can be free of Collinwood now that Victoria is here. She tells Carolyn that if she does not fire Victoria it will only be because of Carolyn.

Act II

Joe arrives with flowers for Elizabeth and Carolyn and good news: he has earned a promotion off the boats and into the cannery office that means $25/week more and regular working hours. That places his boat purchase next year. He and Carolyn kiss passionately and she tells him she loves him, so he ruins the moment by asking her to marry him again, which instantly turns Carolyn sour. Elizabeth comes in with the tea service and Carolyn tells her Joe has good news to give her as Joe berates himself silently over his ill-timed proposal.

Act III

Elizabeth is very happy to hear the news, but Carolyn begins to suspect that Elizabeth strong-armed the promotion. Joe mentions that when he saw Bill Malloy last night he said nothing, and Elizabeth, looking guilty, says that maybe he didn't decide until this morning. Carolyn notes that Bill Malloy and her mother talked for a long time this morning on the telephone. Joe asks Elizabeth if she had a hand in the promotion, and Elizabeth flounders around, saying Joe's name came up and then asking the rhetorical question if it was wrong for a business owner to approve a promotion. She insists that Bill came up with Joe's name on his own and she enthusiastically agreed, but then blows it when she says that it had nothing to do with the fact it would make it easier for the kids to get married. Carolyn tells her mother to quit trying to marry her off, and Joe tells her he is on Elizabeth's side. Just then a knock on the front door interrupts them and Carolyn flees the drawing room to answer the door, closing the drawing room doors behind her. It is Victoria, who forgot she had a key. She and Carolyn talk in the foyer and Carolyn throws a hissy-fit, finally admitting she's scared at this chance to flee Collinwood.

Act IV

Elizabeth goes to see what is happening in the foyer, but it is empty. Joe tells her that Carolyn always reacts badly when he brings up marriage, and Elizabeth says it is probably the famed ghosts of Collinwood that scare her away. She goes to get Carolyn, but Joe asks her to stay, telling Elizabeth that he met Burke Devlin last night at The Blue Whale after he brought Carolyn home (3). He also relates that Burke offered to pay him for information. Elizabeth is none too pleased when Joe says that Burke knows about him, Roger and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is visibly shaken when he says that Burke knew "everything" about Victoria, which amounts to who she was, what her job was, where she came from and "all the rest of it." Elizabeth wants to know what he meant by the last statement, but is interrupted by Carolyn. Elizabeth continues the questioning, and Carolyn tells her Victoria is back and in her room. Elizabeth is so unnerved that she leaves the kids alone to go see Victoria. Carolyn laments that whenever she likes someone she always seems to do her best to push them away. Upstairs, Victoria admits that she called the foundling home to speak with Miss Hopewell. Elizabeth says she doesn't like being checked up on, but Victoria says she didn't like it, but the fact was no one there had ever spoken to her or Roger. Elizabeth tells Victoria that she is very important to Carolyn and has been (past tense noted!) to her also, but Victoria is free to leave any time she wants. Victoria says she doesn't want to leave, but it is difficult when she doesn't understand what is going on. Elizabeth says Victoria being at Collinwood is 'very important,' but she cannot allow her to question and investigate everything she says, and that Miss Hopewell was wrong, that she was hired on a recommendation given to Roger. Victoria considers this and Elizabeth tells her she will consider the matter closed and wants Victoria to be happy at Collinwood. She then leaves Victoria alone to consider this.

Tag

Back at the foundling home, Mrs. Hopewell dictates a letter to Victoria. She says that she received a visit from a man who claimed to be a magazine writer, but finally admitted to being a private investigator, hired to find out information about her almost identical to their earlier conversation. His name was Wilbur Strake and she asks Victoria if she knows him, or who hired him to find out these facts?

Memorable quotes Edit

Elizabeth: Is it suddenly a crime if the owner of a business approves a promotion?

Carolyn: Approves? or suggests?

---

Victoria: Mrs. Hopewell, when I got the letter offering me this job, you'd never heard of Elizabeth Stoddard.

Mrs. Hopewell: No, I never had.

Victoria: What about her brother, Roger Collins? Have you ever heard of him?

Mrs. Hopewell: Well, not until recently. After you left, I made inquiries. I found someone who lived near Collinsport; Bangor, as a matter of fact. She told me all about the Stoddards and Mr. Collins. Why? Is anything wrong?

Victoria: Was it he who recommended me for the job?

Mrs. Hopewell: Not as far as I know.

Victoria: Then who was it?

Mrs. Hopewell: Well, as far as I know, no one.

Victoria: That doesn't make any sense.

Mrs. Hopewell: Vicki, I have been just as curious as you. I talked to every member of the staff.

Victoria: And it wasn't Roger Collins?

Mrs. Hopewell: No. Vicki, that letter that you got from Collinsport was the first time anyone here had ever heard of Mrs. Stoddard or Mr. Collins. Or anyone connected with them. I'm afraid that's not very much help, is it?

Victoria: But you're wrong. It's a great deal of help.

Dramatis personae Edit

• ← Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard →
• ← Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs. Hopewell
• ← Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard →
• ← Joel Crothers as Joe Haskell →
• ← Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters →
• ← Gwen Van Dam as Secretary (uncredited) →

Background information and notes Edit

Production Edit

• Final appearance of actress Elizabeth Wilson and the character Mrs. Hopewell.

Story Edit

• Some people may think Joan Bennett fumbled over her lines in the scene with Carolyn and Joe, but the character is obviously caught in a lie and trying desperately to get out of it, digging a deeper grave in the process.

Bloopers and continuity errors Edit

• It seems Joe's math is off quite a bit. He just got a $25/week raise (which seems like a lot, especially by 1960s standards) and claims he'll now be able to save an extra $500/year. Wouldn't that be an extra $1,300/year, as there are fifty-two weeks in a year? Unless he only works five months out of the year (of course, being a fisherman in Maine, that may be the case!).
• As with the previous episode, Victoria addresses Hopewell as a Miss, rather than Mrs. She remains "Mrs" in the end credits, however.
• When the credits end, Bob Lloyd doesn't say "Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis production".
• When "Beginning Collection 1" was first released to MPI's exclusive "Dark Shadows On DVD" club in January 2007, the tag scene at the end of Act III when Mrs. Hopewell dictates her letter to Victoria and the closing credits were edited out of this episode. The disc jumps from the scene in the bedroom right into episode 9. Prior to the club's release of "Beginning Collection 3" in May, MPI put out a press release that the set ("Beginning 1") was going to be released to the public in late August (in between the club members' release of "Beginning Collections 4 and 5"). Based on a phone call and an email from MPI, the original plan was to release the Beginning sets to the public AFTER all 6 had been released to club members. Whether the "early public release" was for this reason or not is unclear. However during this time, club members were able to exchange their "defective" disc in Beginning 1 for a replacement with the scene restored, free of charge. When the collection was finally released to the public that August, the copies sold by retailers were also newer copies with the scene restored.

End credits announcements Edit

• How well do newlyweds really know each other? Watch the fun when recently married couples play 'The Newlywed Game', premiering Monday afternoon at two, one o'clock central time on ABC.

External Links Edit

Dark Shadows - Episode 8 on the IMDb

The Collinsport Historical Society - Dark Shadows Diary - Episode 8