Discuss - Ep #0042

[DarkLady]

In that case, welcome aboard! There's a lot to look forward to. Some other stuff, not so much, but that's the Dark Shadows we know and love.

[Lydia]

Hmm...is there any single bit of Dark Shadows that is universally hated?  It seems as though everything and everybody on the show has some fan who'll defend it or her or him.

Salad, baked potato, steak.  That's Burke Devlin's idea of a fancy meal.  I realize that a good steak can be sublime (even though the very sublimity makes me ponder, while I'm chewing, on the whole phenomenon of eating meat), but "Salad, baked potato, steak" just makes me yawn.  Couldn't we throw some mushrooms on the steak?  Couldn't we have asparagus on toast instead of salad and baked potato?  Or even some hot dish, as immortalized in Kathryn Leigh Scott's Dark Passages?

Thanks for the note about fountain pens, DarkLady.  I don't think I've ever had the misfortune to have to use one.  I tried a quill pen at the Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts once, and immediately appreciated acquired a deep appreciation for modern writing utensils.  But never a fountain pen.  The silver filigree version looks very elegant on the outside, causing the innards, when revealed, to look deplorably utilitarian.

Sam says he has come to Collinwood "to save my soul" - a heartfelt phrase.  And then he can't bring himself to do it.  I like David Ford a lot, but I'm not quite seeing through his skin into the tortured soul in need of saving.

[DarkLady]

I suppose Burke's taste in food is filtered through his experience: five years in prison followed by five years of roaming the world and probably eating everything from insects to caviar and everything else in between.

I'm with you on David Ford. It's like he can't stop blustering even when he's talking about saving his soul.

[Janet the Wicked]

When I was a kid my pop used to cook steak on Friday nights. We'd have salad and fries with it. So Burke's food choices usually aren't all that strange to me.
And when I have a sandwich, I generally have coffee with it.

[Midnite]

I thought a new character was needed rather than a replacement for Bronson, because wasn't Bronson a PI?  I'm pretty sure Burke mentioned paying him a retainer.  But at this point, what's needed is someone believable as a representative of a NY firm that's interested in purchasing outstanding notes and mortgages as investments, so enter Burke's banker.

The tall maitre d' in the Hotel Restaurant was played by Ray Stewart.  Does anyone know who played the waiter?

And when I have a sandwich, I generally have coffee with it.

A container of coffee, and hold the mustard?  

[Janet the Wicked]

And when I have a sandwich, I generally have coffee with it.

A container of coffee, and hold the mustard?  

Well, I wouldn't call it a container. There's no lid.
(And I love mustard! LOL!)

[Midnite]

LOL, Janet

A couple more things--

Burke and Blair ordered scotch and water, which the swanky Bangor Pine Restaurant served separately.  Blair emptied his shot glass into the water and sipped his drink, but Burke gulped his scotch down straight, ignoring the water.  It's because of little touches like this that I find the early eps so endearing.

The tall maitre d' in the Hotel Restaurant was played by Ray Stewart.

I catch Barney Miller now and then on KDOC out of Orange County, and on that series, Ray Stewart (his DS character showed Burke and Carolyn to their tables) played recurring gay character Darryl Driscoll.  There are photos and a writeup about his character here.

Also, he shows up at 5:40 in this BM ep on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5vS4hp9wo