Dark Shadows (TV Series) Episode #1.83 (1966) User Reviews

The 'pen gate' saga continues...

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 8 June 2018]

Episode 83 continues the saga of pen-gate with Roger stealing the recovered pen and having long and protracted conversations about it with Victoria and David. This material takes up the entire episode and isn't particularly exciting; more filler than anything else.

"This Is One of Your Bitter Days"

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 20 November 2011]

After taking the incriminating fountain pen from David's room last episode, Roger (Louis Edmonds) puts on a sharply tailored suit and buries the pen outside in the dirt. Inside, David (David Henesy) and Vicki (Alexandra Moltke) can't find it and, encouraged by Roger, assume each other took the pen. Maggie is relaxing at the "Collins Port Inn" when Joe arrives. Trying to follow-up on their dance at the Blue Whale, Maggie invites Joe to dinner, but he declines. Restaurant customer Douglas Reid enters and Joe decides to go look for Carolyn at Collinwood. Learning from Vicki that Carolyn is out, Joe reconsiders Maggie's invitation. Feeling accused by Vicki of stealing her pen, David prepares a sinister surprise for his governess...

This is the first episode for which there is, presently, no known "master" tape. Fortunately, "kinescope" copies were made of these episodes for delivery to ABC stations not carrying the show at the regular time. The copies were in "black-and-white" even after the show switched to color, which made them more obvious. But even now, you can see the difference. Also note MPI Home Video showed an unnecessarily "restored" opening production slate. Due to several missing master tapes, these kinescopes meant copies of all but one episode of "Dark Shadows" were saved. Contemporary daytime shows did not fare as well, and the show being prepared for syndication in 1971 helped keep the episodes from being erased immediately...

**** Dark Shadows 1966 ABC #83 (10/19/66) John Sedwick ~ Louis Edmonds, Alexandra Moltke, David Henesy, Joel Crothers

I guess the pen is mightier than the script.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 9 July 2020]

We have to deduce that somewhere between the end of the previous episode and this episode that Roger pocketed the pen and buried it in the dirt somewhere along the wooded paths of the Collinwood estate. Vicki blames David for losing it, but Roger does the first work he's done since the first episode, slyly seen with a shovel. Even though Roger's face is not seen, the Sherlock Holmes like jacket he later throws in the entry way was clearly seen in the opening scenes. David shows a bit more of a sinister side once again, having just been bratty and sassy in recent episodes. We're out of the mansion for a bit with Maggie and Joe, creating the possibility of a Maggie/Joe/Carolyn triangle, even though Carolyn is not present. Poor Joel Crothers didn't really get meaty material during these early episodes, a far cry from his leading hero days on "Somerset" and "The Edge of Night". I just can't wait until we get past the pen and move onto the real Gothic plots.