This release (described as a "mini-series) from 2018 comprises four individual hour-long episodes. I think I listened to one of them, but was too concerned with where (or even if) they fit into continuity to really enjoy it. Maggie and Quentin were not lovers in Big finish's "main range" Dark Shadows series, so maybe this takes place in the future...? Or in an alternate dimension...? In any case, I recently finished watching the "Parallel Time" storyline on television in which Maggie and Quention were lovers, so I'm much more receptive to this notion now. It used to be that I dumped all Dark Shadows-related material into the catch-all main thread, but now that I've broken "Séances and Sources" out into a thread of its own, all bets are off. I plan to continue this discussion at the rate of one episode per week for the next three weeks.
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THE GIRL BENEATH THE WATER:
"As Maggie Collins welcomes her children home to Collinwood to celebrate her husband Quentin’s 65th birthday, she is blissfully unaware of the cruel magic at work underpinning the heartwarming scene. In a battle for reality, Maggie and Quentin must come together to protect their children against an ancient magical force that knows no mercy. But in doing so, they risk losing everything they love. For who can be trusted when you can’t trust yourself?"
This story obviously takes place in a future, but is it the future? Quentin and Maggie are now the master and mistress of Collinwood, and they have two adult children: Ronan (recent callege graduate and spendthrift), and his older sister Emily (mid-twenties, mother of three girls, the responsible one of the two). Also living at Collinwood are Brewer (the butler), and Bailey (the maid). There are obvious (to the listener) gaps in their memories, and reality seems to subtley shift around them.
There is a painting on the wall which neither of them can remember how they got it or how long its been there. It is of a serene waterscape, but Emily points out a girl (drowned?) just below the surface that Maggie had never noticed before. As the story progresses, the painting seems to change... dark clouds on the horizon, increasingly roiling water, that type of thing. Also, Brewer and Bailey seem to know more about what's happening than they are letting on.
I really can't say any more about it without giving too much away, but I'm really curious about what will happen in the next story.
THE SAND THAT SPEAKS HIS NAME:
A mistake from Quentin’s past casts a dark shadow over his and Maggie’s weekend getaway in New York City. A Golem is loose, threatening innocents and only Quentin knows how to stop it. But first, he must learn how and why the creature has come back to life, a task which takes Maggie and Quentin on a quest through the hidden supernatural network of the Big Apple. Will Maggie’s foray into the perilous life Quentin used to live drive an irreparable wedge in their relationship? Will the rampaging Golem give them the chance to find out?
This story follows on from "The Girl Beneath the Water" and takes place when Quentin and Maggie are engaged to be married. How can that be when the previous story took place long after they were married and had kids? Don't worry too much about that. "The Sand That Speaks His Name" takes the interesting tack of being dually narrated by both Quentin and Maggie. Circumstances lead them to the catacombs far, far below the Waldorf Astoria in New York city, where they meet The Librarian, who starts them on a quest into Quentin's past. Someone has impersonated Quentin Collins and taken something from a safety deposit box of his that will loose a Golem upon the city. Years ago, in 1927, Quentin's partner Mathias Woods' soul was trapped within the Golem, and now Mathias' grandson Tommy Lee is out to free it. Stuff happens and [SPOILER] Mathias ends up trapped in his grandson's body. [END SPOILER] Then they learn that the portrait which keeps Quentin young has also been looted. The person who stole it mystically speaks through Mathias/Tommy Lee, then releases him. After that, Quentin and Mathias begin to tell Maggie the story that will lead into "The Hollow Winds That Beckon."
THE HOLLOW WINDS THAT BECKON:
A sunny day of fishing is interrupted by dark clouds as Quentin and Maggie find themselves swept up in events beyond their understanding. They’ll do their best to escape a mysterious island, even if their failure means joining those who have failed before them - the ghosts on the waves.
Okay, so I was wrong that "The Sand That Speaks His Name" leads directly into "The Hollow Winds That Beckon." No matter. The highlight of this one is unrevealed details of Maggie's early life, as Quentin restores a boat that used to belong to Maggie's father and they take it out on the waves. Incidentally, I keep forgetting to mention it, but Maggie somehow "runs" Windcliff Sanitarium, as administrator, I assume, but she refers to the inmates as "my patients." In the Dark Shadows main range, she owns and runs the hotel where she used to work in the coffee shop. Also in the main range, she is Joe Haskell's widow. She is here, as well, which becomes an important plot point later on in the story.
An unexpected storm blows in while she and Quentin are out on the waves, and they end up on an island neither of them can identify. There they meet a castaway named Jacquélope who says she has been there for seven years, but has actually been there for much longer. She welcomes them to the the damned island. "An 'Island of the Damned,'" Maggie parrots, but Jacquélope corrects her: "No, a 'damned island,' as in 'I wish I was off this damned island.'" Jacquélope later tells them that she is a muse, but she actually turns out to be a siren, and that both Joe Haskel as well as Sam Evans have visited the "damned island" in the past. Jacquélope has the ability to assume Maggie and Quentin's form as well as their memories, and the young lovers learn quite a bit about each other in the process.