Dark Shadows: 194

"My name is Victoria Winters. The afternoon sun is bright over Collinwood, a cold, fresh wind blows in from the sea. The great house is quiet and peaceful at last, and many fears that once existed have been laid to rest, but traces of fear do remain, especially in the mind of a small boy."

Episode 194 is an untitled episode of the daytime Gothic soap opera series Dark Shadows. It was directed by John Sedwick and written by Ron Sproat. It was produced by Robert Costello and first aired on ABC on Thursday, March 23rd, 1967. In this episode, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard returns home from the hospital in Boston and the Collins family deals with the emotional fallout of recent events.

Synopsis
David Collins is in the drawing room at Collinwood, dressed in his best clothes. He is anxious for his aunt Elizabeth to return home. Vicki comes into the room and notices that David is trembling. He is very nervous about seeing his aunt and recounts how she looked the last time he saw her. He says that she looked as if she were dead. The door opens and Roger and Carolyn walk in with Elizabeth. She is clearly feeling a lot better now after her stay in Boston. David is overjoyed to see her. She barely has time to greet David when Roger orders her up to her bedroom to get some rest. Once she is upstairs, Carolyn asks Roger into the drawing room so she can talk with him. She asks him if there is any problem with the family business. Roger says that everything is fine and wonders what made her think that anything was wrong. Carolyn tells him how Elizabeth couldn't wait to get back to Collinwood, and that she had acted so nervous about being away from the house that Carolyn began to suspect that something was wrong with Collins Enterprises.

Upstairs, Elizabeth sits in bed while David tells her about recent events, particularly events concerning his mother. Vicki comes upstairs and tells David to go back down for supper. Once he leaves, Elizabeth asks Vicki about everything that happened while she was gone. Vicki tells her about Doctor Peter Guthrie and the investigation the resulted in his death. Elizabeth presses her about anything that Guthrie may have found out during the course of his investigation - in particular, mysteries relating to Collinwood itself, but Vicki has no idea. When Elizabeth learns that Guthrie had been poking around in the basement, she begins to grow nervous, but Vicki doesn't seem to notice. Vicki fixes Elizabeth's bed then leaves.

Immediately after she leaves, Elizabeth gets up and gets ready to leave the room. Roger enters and tells her to get back into bed. Elizabeth says that she only wanted to check up on David, but Roger assures her that David is fine. Elizabeth asks him about his feelings concerning Laura, but Roger refuses to believe that the woman who died in that fire even was his wife. Changing the subject, Liz asks about what became of her belongings after she was taken to the hospital. She wants to know the whereabouts of a gold chain with a key on the end of it. Roger tells her that the nurse removed them and he had them placed in her night stand. Liz looks and recovers the key, but Roger asks her about it, she grows extremely defensive.

Downstairs, Carolyn confides in Vicki. She tells her how anxious Liz was to return home and that she was positively terrified to be away from Collinwood. Carolyn wants to know the true reason why her mother chose to remain a recluse for eighteen years. Vicki tries to assure her that Liz was just excited to return home, but Carolyn believes there is more to it than just that.

Late into the evening, Elizabeth sneaks out of her room and goes down into the basement. Using the key on her gold chain, she opens the door to a closet room and goes inside. Ten minutes later, she comes back out and locks the door again. As she turns, she sees Vicki standing on the top steps of the basement. She tells her that she came down to the basement after she heard some noises. Elizabeth lies and tells Vicki that she just wanted to check out the house to make sure that everything was okay. When Vicki inquires about the closet room, Liz snaps at her and tells her to forget what she had seen. Liz makes Vicki promise her that she won't tell anyone that she was down in the basement. Vicki doesn't understand the strange request, but promises to obey Mrs. Stoddard's wishes. Vicki leaves and Liz is confident that she will keep her promise.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on disc 2 of Dark Shadows: The Beginning DVD Collection 6 and disc 22 of the Dark Shadows: The Complete Original Series DVD collection.


 * Opening narration: Alexandra Moltke.


 * Closing still: Collinwood basement.


 * This episode was recorded on March 12th, 1967.


 * This is the 86th episode of Dark Shadows directed by John Sedwick.


 * This is the 51st episode of Dark Shadows written by Ron Sproat.


 * Laura Collins "died" in the fire at the fishing shack in episode 191.


 * Laura Collins caused Peter Guthrie's death in episode 186.

Quotes

 * Roger Collins: I can't believe that woman was Laura. I don't know who she was and I don't want to know.