Jeff of Earth-J > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)August 4, 2025 at 9:10pm
1176-1180 aired the week between X-mas and New Years, so they're taking advantage of kids being home from school to do a lot of recap this week in an effort to regain viewers. I'm glad to see the "stairway" back in the plot; I wish they would have played that aspect up more. I think what I wanted to say about Stokes is that this also isn't the episode I was thinking of when I said he's in one more. Now that he's back in 1840, they just kind of forget about him for a while. He'll show up again in... I dunno, I forget. (I could check my episode list, but it doesn't really matter all that much at this point, I suppose.) 1178 is the last time we'll see Roxanne Drew.
I remember years ago, a friend in an office I'd freelance in would describe the ongoing plot of Arrow to me. And it sounded SO preposterous as she described these plot developments, one on top of the other, that I had to break down and try the show. I guess that's the strategy of the writers here, too. It works!
I've watched up through episode 1180. The trial has been amped up, as Quentin needs to find a new lawyer. Gerard says he's searched for one, but none would take his case. He eventually seems resigned to defending himsef.
Meanwhile, Julia and Angelique have followed hints from the ghost or Roxanne to Trask's funeral home; Barnabas is bricked up in an alcove in the basement.
Meanwhile, at the trial, Trask and Dawson are reveling in Trask's testimony. Quentin wants to postpone cross examinging Trask, revealing that he *does* have a new lawyer, but he hasn't been able to make it there yet. But then, suddenly, Barnabas appears!
Trask is visibly shaken, and feigns illness and asks to be excused. When the trial reconvenes the next day, Barnabas gets a lot of seance evidence strcken from the trial. In private, he's basically promised to "haunt" Trask. (He also explains to Quentin that Angelique and Julia found him in the basement and freed him -- a dramatic moment they probably decided they didn't have time for to hit the story beats they wanted in this four-day week -- especially with the Friday cliffhanger.
And about that Friday cliffhanger -- at the end of the episode, a new face shows up at the trial, intending to testify: It's Joanna, the dead woman -- looking very much alive!
GASP!
Jeff of Earth-J > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)August 9, 2025 at 4:12pm
Trask is visibly shaken, and feigns illness and asks to be excused.
I've seen through episode 1183 now, and apparently Dark Shadows is... a soap opera? Joanna, a character long thought dead, has turned up alive. This has turned Quentin's ongoing trial upside down. But she also may be a romantic rival for her sister, who fell in love with the man she was having an affair with when she "died." (And we see in flashback that Samantha was the cause of her seeming death!) And at Collinwood, Gerard is double-dealing with two (at least two!) women, Samantha and Daphne, and is about to throw outlived-her-usefulness Sam over for Daph, whom he's slowly hypnotized into loving him. At the 1183 cliffhanger, Daphne tells Quentin that she'll be marrying Gerard! Dun-dun-DUNNNNN!
JD DeLuzio > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)August 11, 2025 at 9:51am
Wasn't it always a soap opera (albeit with gothic trappings)? Or am I missing some irony here?
Dark Shadowsstarted as a soap opera with gothic trappings, but eventually evolved into something quite different. After the introduction of vampire Barnabas Collins, the focus shifted to horror, the supernatural and even science fiction (time travel). What Rob is referring to is that, here lately, it has reverted to utilizing common soap opera tropes again (infidelity, love triangles, etc.). It is often remarked that Dark Shadows's audience comprised housewives and schoolkids, but I dispute that to an extent. I believe the housewifes were watching during the Barnabas/Josette/Maggie/vampire phase, and the schoolkids came for the "far out" time travel stories and the "dreamy" Quentin Collins. There might have been some crossovers, but I believe those two audiences were largely sequential.
The revelation that Samatha killed Joanna (or at least thought she did) is huge. In 1182 Joanna is giving off a distinct "Ophelia" vibe, but I don't think it's obviuos enough to list under "sources."
Replies
1176-1180 aired the week between X-mas and New Years, so they're taking advantage of kids being home from school to do a lot of recap this week in an effort to regain viewers. I'm glad to see the "stairway" back in the plot; I wish they would have played that aspect up more. I think what I wanted to say about Stokes is that this also isn't the episode I was thinking of when I said he's in one more. Now that he's back in 1840, they just kind of forget about him for a while. He'll show up again in... I dunno, I forget. (I could check my episode list, but it doesn't really matter all that much at this point, I suppose.) 1178 is the last time we'll see Roxanne Drew.
Oh, that makes perfect sense!
I remember years ago, a friend in an office I'd freelance in would describe the ongoing plot of Arrow to me. And it sounded SO preposterous as she described these plot developments, one on top of the other, that I had to break down and try the show. I guess that's the strategy of the writers here, too. It works!
I've watched up through episode 1180. The trial has been amped up, as Quentin needs to find a new lawyer. Gerard says he's searched for one, but none would take his case. He eventually seems resigned to defending himsef.
Meanwhile, Julia and Angelique have followed hints from the ghost or Roxanne to Trask's funeral home; Barnabas is bricked up in an alcove in the basement.
Meanwhile, at the trial, Trask and Dawson are reveling in Trask's testimony. Quentin wants to postpone cross examinging Trask, revealing that he *does* have a new lawyer, but he hasn't been able to make it there yet. But then, suddenly, Barnabas appears!
Trask is visibly shaken, and feigns illness and asks to be excused. When the trial reconvenes the next day, Barnabas gets a lot of seance evidence strcken from the trial. In private, he's basically promised to "haunt" Trask. (He also explains to Quentin that Angelique and Julia found him in the basement and freed him -- a dramatic moment they probably decided they didn't have time for to hit the story beats they wanted in this four-day week -- especially with the Friday cliffhanger.
And about that Friday cliffhanger -- at the end of the episode, a new face shows up at the trial, intending to testify: It's Joanna, the dead woman -- looking very much alive!
GASP!
Trask is visibly shaken, and feigns illness and asks to be excused.
I'm not so sure he was feigning illness!
I've seen through episode 1183 now, and apparently Dark Shadows is... a soap opera? Joanna, a character long thought dead, has turned up alive. This has turned Quentin's ongoing trial upside down. But she also may be a romantic rival for her sister, who fell in love with the man she was having an affair with when she "died." (And we see in flashback that Samantha was the cause of her seeming death!) And at Collinwood, Gerard is double-dealing with two (at least two!) women, Samantha and Daphne, and is about to throw outlived-her-usefulness Sam over for Daph, whom he's slowly hypnotized into loving him. At the 1183 cliffhanger, Daphne tells Quentin that she'll be marrying Gerard! Dun-dun-DUNNNNN!
Wasn't it always a soap opera (albeit with gothic trappings)? Or am I missing some irony here?
Dark Shadows started as a soap opera with gothic trappings, but eventually evolved into something quite different. After the introduction of vampire Barnabas Collins, the focus shifted to horror, the supernatural and even science fiction (time travel). What Rob is referring to is that, here lately, it has reverted to utilizing common soap opera tropes again (infidelity, love triangles, etc.). It is often remarked that Dark Shadows's audience comprised housewives and schoolkids, but I dispute that to an extent. I believe the housewifes were watching during the Barnabas/Josette/Maggie/vampire phase, and the schoolkids came for the "far out" time travel stories and the "dreamy" Quentin Collins. There might have been some crossovers, but I believe those two audiences were largely sequential.
The revelation that Samatha killed Joanna (or at least thought she did) is huge. In 1182 Joanna is giving off a distinct "Ophelia" vibe, but I don't think it's obviuos enough to list under "sources."
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