My Top 10 Dark Shadows Episodes

With Halloween rapidly approaching, I thought I'd list my Top 10 Dark Shadows episodes. 10 out of 1,225? Talk about making tough choices! Going in story order, here's #1: After weeks of both Victoria Winters and the audience being led to believe Roger Collins was responsible for the death of Bill Malloy, Vicki realizes the culprit is Matthew Morgan... and she's trapped in his cottage with him.


#2: The demise of Laura Collins. The original Phoenix storyline was one of the absolute best and a great favorite of mine. It was the series' first great foray into the supernatural, with twists and turns, lots of mysteries, and a brilliant performance by Diana Millay as Laura. Everyone was given something wonderful to do, with a nice balance being found between characterization and the supernatural elements.

With Laura having returned to reclaim her son David, the implications become more and more ominous when Victoria Winters and Dr. Peter Guthrie discover that Laura is an immortal Phoenix and she plans a fiery death for both herself and David. However, warned by the ghost of Josette Collins, Vicki arrives in time to prevent David's death as Laura is consumed in flames. Epic stuff! 

#3: Barnabas Collins arrives at Collinwood. This probably seems like an obvious choice and for good reason, it's an absolutely fantastic episode. After the successful Phoenix arc, the series went full steam ahead with the supernatural by introducing the Collins family's darkest secret: a vampire. Unleashed from his coffin after nearly 200 years, Barnabas arrives at Collinwood claiming to be a distant cousin from England. Introduced to Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and Victoria Winters, Barnabas is suave and charming, with a spellbinding performance by Jonathan Frid.

Although added to the series as the villain to end all villains, Frid's sympathetic portrayal of Barnabas would not only save the show from the cancellation axe, but would have the entire country falling in love with him.

#4: Dr. Julia Hoffman discovers Barnabas Collins' secret. Having survived Barnabas Collins' kidnapping, Maggie Evans was hidden at Windcliff Sanitarium to undergo treatment by Dr. Julia Hoffman. Julia soon discovered clues to the identity of Maggie's kidnapper, and visited Collinwood posing as a historian. Her suspicions about Barnabas proved fruitful; he was a vampire and had taken Maggie in an attempt to turn her into his lost love Josette.

This episode is amazing on so many levels. Julia has no fear of Barnabas and even openly challenges him. Barnabas, however, is terrified of his secret being exposed--especially now that he has fallen for Victoria Winters--and he goes to Julia's room to kill her... Only to find Julia waiting for him. "I've been waiting for you, Barnabas Collins. I've been waiting a very long time."

Grayson Hall's Julia was a tremendous addition to the series. A powerhouse character actress, Hall's multi-layered performance endeared her with viewers. And Julia soon became just as popular as Barnabas.

#5: Sarah appears to Barnabas. The ghost of Sarah Collins (beautifully played by Sharon Lentz) first appeared as a mysterious little girl who helped Maggie Evans escape from Barnabas Collins. Sarah soon befriended and found a kindred spirit in David Collins, while also appearing to Victoria Winters, Carolyn Stoddard, Sam Evans, Willie Loomis, Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Dr. Dave Woodard. The one person she would not appear to, however, was her older brother Barnabas.

With Barnabas and Julia's uneasy alliance having deteriorated, Sarah intervenes when the vampire tried to kill the doctor once and for all. And little Sarah Collins was not happy. Barnabas is overjoyed to see his beloved sister, but Sarah reminds him of a rhyme he once taught her: "That evil is wicked as well understood, the wicked are punished so you must be good." She refuses to stay with him, and promises to never return; that will be Barnabas' punishment. It is an incredibly powerful scene in which we see Barnabas left in tears.

Meanwhile, Vicki still cannot deal with the reality of Burke Devlin's death. And we're afforded a lovely moment with Elizabeth Collins Stoddard adamantly telling Barnabas that she won't stand by and watch Vicki mourning a dead man for the rest of her life.

Episode #364 hits the ball out of the park and scores on several levels as David, who has up to now been disbelieved concerning his fears of Barnabas, is vindicated when Julia confirms everything. Which leads to the family holding a seance in the hopes of contacting Sarah in the following episode, and beginning one of the series' greatest story's ever.

#6: Angelique curses Barnabas. When the character of Barnabas Collins became far too popular to kill off (as originally planned) the DS production team found themselves faced with a dilemma. How to continue with the character? With a stroke of genius, it was decided to take the series back in time and show how Barnabas became a vampire in the first place.

During a seance to contact the ghost of Sarah Collins, Victoria Winters disappeared and found herself in 1795 surrounded by a sea of familiar faces. A clever twist ensured that no new cast members were needed; the present-day characters all had counterparts in the past. However, there was one new, very important addition: Angelique Bouchard, the maidservant of Josette du Pres and former lover of Barnabas, played to perfection by Lamar Rickey Hawkins. Angelique was soon revealed to be a witch, and she would stop at nothing to win Barnabas back.

Wicked spells abounded, with Barnabas nearly choking to death, Joshua Collins being transformed into a cat, and Josette and Jeremiah Collins eloping. Barnabas finally agreed to marry Angelique after she cured his sister Sarah from a spell she herself placed upon the little girl. The doomed marriage came to an end when Barnabas discovered Angelique was responsible for all the tragedies at Collinwood, and he determined to kill her.

An electrifying confrontation left Angelique shot by Barnabas' flintlock, and Angelique--believing she was dying--had one final thing to say to the man she loved: "I set a curse on you, Barnabas Collins! You wanted your Josette so much, well you shall have her--but not in the way that you would have chosen. You will never rest, Barnabas, and you will never be able to love anyone--for whoever loves you will die! That is my curse, and you will live with it through all eternity!"

Moments later a bat appeared in the room, and attacked Barnabas, sealing Angelique's curse by turning him into one of the living dead.

#7: Angelique attacks Barnabas. After Victoria Winters returned to the present, Angelique followed and, donning the disguise of Cassandra, married Roger Collins and initiated a deadly Dream Curse intended to revert a now cured Barnabas Collins back to being a vampire. Angelique's plan failed and she fell victim to warlock Nicholas Blair's (played by the amazing Humbert Allen Astredo) punishment. In a clever twist of poetic justice Nicholas transformed Angelique into a vampire.

Episode #605 was right smack in the middle of the series' homage to Frankenstein--the Adam and Eve storyline--and Angelique revealing herself to be one of the undead to Barnabas is a definite highlight. There's also the added bonus of Dr. Julia Hoffman and Professor Timothy Eliot Stokes (played by the wonderful Thayer David) keeping Nicholas distracted while Barnabas searches his house. An awesome combination of epic proportions.

#8: Quentin's ghost takes over Collinwood. With a chilling twist on Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", David Collins and Amy Jennings discovered a sealed off room in the west wing of Collinwood. The two children unleashed the malevolent ghost of Quentin Collins, and were soon possessed. Things spiraled out of control as Quentin's insidious presence eventually forced the Collins family to abandon the ancestral mansion. Quentin's maniacal laughter filled the house as his music played and echoed over sweeping shots of the empty rooms. One of the series' scariest and most effective episodes ever!

#9: Judith's revenge. In order to save the life of David Collins and rid Collinwood of Quentin Collins' ghost, Barnabas Collins traveled back to 1897 using the mystical I Ching wands found in Quentin's room. This began the series' most epic storyline, which saw it reaching its height in popularity with 20 million viewers tuning in! Originally only meant to last a few months, 1897 was extended to nearly a year and saw some of the most imaginative storytelling and richly drawn characters ever.

My favorite moment of all was Judith Collins Trask's delicious vengeance against her cruel, philandering husband, the Reverend Gregory Trask. Trask, having employed black arts practitioner Evan Hanley to gaslight Judith, had her committed to a sanitarium in which to gain control of the Collins family fortune.

Judith, upon being released, had learned the truth about Trask. That he forced Hanley into placing a spell upon hapless school teacher Tim Shaw to murder Minerva Trask. Together with Tim, Judith set a plan in motion to remove Trask from the equation once and for all. Knocking Trask unconscious via a drugged glass of brandy, Judith and Tim left the so-called Reverend in Quentin's abandoned room. Trask awoke to find to his horror that Tim has sealed the entrance with bricks. Through a small hole, Trask sees Judith who tells him he will now have "all the time to meditate he would like." Tim places the final brick in the wall.

Brilliant retribution for a thoroughly loathsome character! And the late, great Joan Bennett is fabulous!

#10: 1995. Time travel had become a much anticipated staple of the series, with journeys to 1795 and 1897, and even a Parallel Time of 1970. In an imaginative and clever move, the writers took Barnabas and Julia not to the past, the present or sideways in time... but to the future. Escaping from Parallel Time, Barnabas and Julia found themselves in the year 1995 in a completely destroyed Collinwood.

Although this storyline only ran for a short couple of weeks, it was one of the best, with great mysteries around every corner, beloved characters older and completely insane after the horrific events of 1970 left Collinwood in ruins, and the terrifying ghost of Gerard Stiles to contend with. The image of Stiles sneering at Julia from a window scared me witless!