Josette is perfection. When Jeremiah tells her he went to Barnabas to spill the beans, she doesn't cry or complain, and she doesn't scheme to make Barnabas believe that Jeremiah was lying. She says: "You had to." What integrity and courage!
After having seen the worst of the Countess Dupres the other day, we get to see the best of her today. I am always enchanted by her line to Josette about having to live for the rest of her life with the furniture to be chosen today. Hers is a quite a different world from ours.
I keep thinking: "Ben, is there
no way you could get the message through to everybody?" But he's not very bright - a kind soul, but not smart - and anyway, who would believe him?
On the surface it may not seem as if DS is "about" anything in particular, but the statements are there as an undercurrent. Everyone has value, and the most (seemingly) ignorant or lowly can be far more decent than their "betters"... also, don't settle for the role others have put you in, and no one's too lowly to learn and better himself.
I suppose that's the corollary to one of the things I like about Dark Shadows: a character can go from good to evil in a second, and you don't have to worry about whether the change fits that character; all you have to do is get somebody to throw a spell on him.