The whole long scene in the Blue Whale was very soapy. Nancy Barrett acted it well, and I suppose it was a necessary wrap-up to a storyline (the sort of thing that was occasionally skipped later in the series), but if this had been the first Dark Shadows episode I ever saw, it would probably have been my last. I've never seen any episode before #210, though, and I daresay I'd feel differently about the Blue Whale scene if I'd seen the lead-up to it.
I LOVE that scene! But I see it as not just a wrapup of the love triangle that is Joe/Carolyn/Burke; it showed that Carolyn is changing-- growing up, even, and resentful of the label "spoiled brat"-- which I find sad considering that her mother's actions will soon cause her to take a step backwards. But that's me.
I do wish that character development of the original players didn't eventually take a backseat to supernatural plotting.
Jason and Elizabeth are still fun to watch, and I agree with everyone who would have liked to see Dennis Patrick and Joan Bennett play a couple.
For me, it's the continuous banter between them that became tiresome and made me grateful for the Barnabas stuff. Yes, we get that he's villainous, and that he has a good lady cornered. <yawn!>