Dark Shadows Commentary
@darkshadowscomment.bsky.social
This account is to promote my blog about 1960s vampire soap opera Dark Shadows. Main is acilius.bsky.social.
In which Barnabas enlists Angelique in the fight against the Leviathans, and Quentin tells Carolyn his right name: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/30/e...
Episode 940: You had dark hair
A shape-shifting monster from beyond time and space has assumed the form of a young man and decided to marry heiress Carolyn Collins Stoddard. Carolyn’s distant cousin, old world gentleman Ba…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 30, 2026 at 9:27 PM
In which Barnabas enlists Angelique in the fight against the Leviathans, and Quentin tells Carolyn his right name: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/30/e...
In which Maggie and Barnabas are getting weirdly cozy: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/29/e...
Episode 939: You find me repulsive
Heiress Carolyn Collins Stoddard is mourning her father, who was recently murdered. She tells Maggie Evans, governess to the children in the great house of Collinwood, that she will not rest until …
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:35 AM
In which Maggie and Barnabas are getting weirdly cozy: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/29/e...
In which we see Sheriff Davenport's gravestone, which reveals that his first name was "Sheriff": darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/28/e...
Episode 938: Memory lane
For the last eleven weeks, the A story on Dark Shadows has been about the Leviathan People, a mysterious race of Elder Gods who are trying to retake the Earth from humanity by enlisting a few peopl…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:07 PM
In which we see Sheriff Davenport's gravestone, which reveals that his first name was "Sheriff": darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/28/e...
In which David is using a wheelchair and Julia takes Quentin to dig up a grave: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/27/e...
Episode 937: The list of the expendables
A monster from beyond space and time has taken the form of a vicious man-child and asked people to call it “Jabe.” A cult devoted to the Leviathan People, mysterious Elder Gods who brou…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:41 PM
In which David is using a wheelchair and Julia takes Quentin to dig up a grave: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/27/e...
In which the Leviathans story keeps addressing an adult audience, even though most of the people watching are age twelve and under: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/26/e...
Episode 936: Behind that closed door
The Leviathan People, a mysterious race of Elder Gods, are planning to retake the Earth from humankind. They’ve started small, putting together a secret cult of devotees in and around the vil…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:09 PM
In which the Leviathans story keeps addressing an adult audience, even though most of the people watching are age twelve and under: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/26/e...
In which there are no tall parts, only tall actors, some of whom are saddled with lousy scripts no performer could salvage: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/23/e...
Episode 935: Call me Jabe
Sheriff Davenport and his new sidekick, mad scientist Julia Hoffman, have come to the top of the stairs above Philip and Megan Todd’s antique shop in the village of Collinsport. The sheriff h…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:06 PM
In which there are no tall parts, only tall actors, some of whom are saddled with lousy scripts no performer could salvage: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/23/e...
In which Christopher Bernau makes an acting choice that saves the episode: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/22/e...
Episode 934: Some plans we could spoil
Last Experience We open with a reprise of the end of yesterday’s episode. Quentin Collins and Amanda Harris are reenacting the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. As in the ancient Greek story, the…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:15 PM
In which Christopher Bernau makes an acting choice that saves the episode: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/22/e...
In which we don't know what Quentin will do next, but we can be pretty sure he won't do what the guy in the source material did (invented homosexuality and personally made it a big hit throughout his homeland): darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/21/e...
Episode 933: Easy street
In the middle of The Odyssey, Odysseus and his companions enter a certain cave and follow a path that leads to the realm of the dead. There, Odysseus talks with several people whom he knew when the…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:31 PM
In which we don't know what Quentin will do next, but we can be pretty sure he won't do what the guy in the source material did (invented homosexuality and personally made it a big hit throughout his homeland): darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/21/e...
In which the show dramatizes two stories from Book 10 of Ovid's Metamorphoses: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/20/e...
Episode 932: Just ourselves, and immortality
For most of 1969, Dark Shadows was a costume drama set in the year 1897. Among the characters we got to know were Quentin Collins, Charles Delaware Tate, Count Petofi, and Amanda Harris. Quentin wa…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:59 PM
In which the show dramatizes two stories from Book 10 of Ovid's Metamorphoses: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/20/e...
In which Julia serves as an usher for characters in both the A story and the B story: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/19/e...
Episode 931: Into strange rooms
Some invisible Elder Gods known as the Leviathans have taken control of a group of individuals in and around the area of Collinsport, Maine and formed them into a cult serving their plan to reclaim…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 19, 2026 at 9:11 PM
In which Julia serves as an usher for characters in both the A story and the B story: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/19/e...
In which we hear too much about Barnabas' motives and see too much of the antique shop: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/16/e...
Episode 930: Indoctrinated by his thinking
The current A-story is about a group of people under the control of the Leviathans, unseen supernatural beings. The Leviathans’ plan involves a mysterious force that has incarnated itself in …
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:06 PM
In which we hear too much about Barnabas' motives and see too much of the antique shop: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/16/e...
In which two characters whose deaths have been faked meet: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/15/e...
Episode 929: The convergence
For the first 55 weeks of Dark Shadows, matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was under the impression that she had killed her husband Paul and that Paul’s associate Jason McGuire had buried h…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:37 PM
In which two characters whose deaths have been faked meet: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/15/e...
n which Julia goes to Coleyville, where she meets a fine actress and admires her work: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/14/e...
Episode 928: Strange, disposable little boys
Antique dealers Megan and Philip Todd have called Julia Hoffman, MD, to the apartment above their shop in the village of Collinsport. They have been looking after a boy named Michael, and Michael h…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:02 PM
n which Julia goes to Coleyville, where she meets a fine actress and admires her work: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/14/e...
In which the differences between Maggie's captivity in a room in the west wing in January 1970 and Vicki's captivity in such a room in October 1966 show us how the show has changed in the interim, for better and for worse: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/13/e...
Episode 927: Reasons don’t matter
Permanent houseguest Julia Hoffman, MD, is in the drawing room of the great house of Collinwood when a secret panel opens and a boy known as Michael comes strolling out. She asks him how he knew ab…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:27 PM
In which the differences between Maggie's captivity in a room in the west wing in January 1970 and Vicki's captivity in such a room in October 1966 show us how the show has changed in the interim, for better and for worse: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/13/e...
In which Michael locks Maggie up as Barnabas once did, and he has four characters serving the function Willie did in those days. But it doesn't work out the same way at all: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/12/e...
Episode 926: I don’t want to know who you are
This episode has the same story as Friday’s. The current A-story is about the coming of the Leviathans, mysterious beings who act through a cult that has absorbed several people in the villag…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:05 PM
In which Michael locks Maggie up as Barnabas once did, and he has four characters serving the function Willie did in those days. But it doesn't work out the same way at all: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/12/e...
In which the show harks back to the story of Adam the patchwork man, and has some fun with Adam's interest in Freud: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/09/e...
Episode 925: Not like other boys
In #891, old world gentleman Barnabas Collins gave a present to antique shop owners Megan and Philip Todd. It was a wooden box. When the Todds opened the box, it made a whistling sound. By #893, th…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:52 PM
In which the show harks back to the story of Adam the patchwork man, and has some fun with Adam's interest in Freud: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/09/e...
In which Angelique has come back, and brought with her some music we haven't heard since 1966: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/08/e...
Episode 924: Afraid of the dark
Mad scientist Julia Hoffman finds that wicked witch Angelique has married a businessman who has a house on an island off the coast of central Maine. Angelique tells Julia that her husband’s l…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:25 AM
In which Angelique has come back, and brought with her some music we haven't heard since 1966: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/08/e...
In which a man named Geoffrey Scott walks onto the set and tells us the lines an actor would have delivered had they cast one as “Sky Rumson.” darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/07/e...
Episode 923: He kindly stopped for me
Yesterday, Amanda Harris told the story of a suicide attempt she made in 1897. A supernatural being whom she calls “Mr Best” thwarted this attempt, and told her that he would arrange fo…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:45 AM
In which a man named Geoffrey Scott walks onto the set and tells us the lines an actor would have delivered had they cast one as “Sky Rumson.” darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/07/e...
In which Amanda tells Julia how she met Mr Best: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/06/e...
Episode 922: The beginning was another ending
For most of 1969, Dark Shadows was a costume drama set in the year 1897. In that year, we got to know rakish libertine Quentin Collins, who brought upon himself and his male descendants the curse o…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:06 PM
In which Amanda tells Julia how she met Mr Best: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/06/e...
In which Chris is such an unlikable villain we can't sympathize with him even when the character he is murdering is played by Roger Davis: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/05/e...
Episode 919/ 920/ 921: The giver without a gift
Centenarian Charles Delaware Tate, once a famous painter, is trapped in his parlor with a man who is threatening to kill him. The man is Chris Jennings. Chris tells Tate that there will be a full m…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:07 PM
In which Chris is such an unlikable villain we can't sympathize with him even when the character he is murdering is played by Roger Davis: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/05/e...
In which Roger Davis sits around and shouts at everyone until his head falls off: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/02/e...
Episode 918: Ways of remaining young
Mrs Acilius and I did our first watch-through of Dark Shadows on streaming starting in the spring of 2020, when there was no live theater to attend. When we got to the episodes introducing Barnabas…
darkshadowscommentary.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:39 PM
In which Roger Davis sits around and shouts at everyone until his head falls off: darkshadowscommentary.com/2026/01/02/e...
In which Stokes has to choose between believing Paul or serving the existing power structure: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/31/e...
Episode 917: People take too much medicine as it is
Professor Timothy Eliot Stokes has parked his car and is walking up to the great house of Collinwood, home to matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and her daughter Carolyn Collins Stoddard, among o…
darkshadowscommentary.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:34 PM
In which Stokes has to choose between believing Paul or serving the existing power structure: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/31/e...
In which we find out that the Leviathans are a "restricted" club: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/30/e...
Episode 916: Julia Hoffman has had her dream
Certain People Six weeks ago, old world gentleman Barnabas Collins was absorbed into a group serving supernatural beings known as the Leviathans. Also in the group is matriarch Elizabeth Collins St…
darkshadowscommentary.com
December 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
In which we find out that the Leviathans are a "restricted" club: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/30/e...
In which Barnabas is visited by three spirits, and realizes he must change his ways: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/29/e...
Episode 915: Emergency Leviathan Broadcast
In #701, old world gentleman Barnabas Collins traveled in time from 1969 to 1897. For the next eight months, ending in #884, Dark Shadows was a costume drama set in that year. On his way back to a …
darkshadowscommentary.com
December 29, 2025 at 11:09 PM
In which Barnabas is visited by three spirits, and realizes he must change his ways: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/29/e...
In which Julia and Chris are an improvement over Vicki and Frank, but Harrison Monroe is a huge step down from the Caretaker: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/26/e...
Episode 913/914: An abominable boy
Episodes 1 through 274 of Dark Shadows opened with voiceovers by Alexandra Moltke Isles, usually in character as well-meaning governess Victoria Winters. What followed was therefore in some sense a…
darkshadowscommentary.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:19 AM
In which Julia and Chris are an improvement over Vicki and Frank, but Harrison Monroe is a huge step down from the Caretaker: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/12/26/e...