Dark Shadows: The Beginning: Collection 5 (1966)

I guess it's only fair that once I start singing the praises of the last couple of Dark Shadows collections that the following collection would annoy me to no end. While there are lot of interesting discoveries in The Beginning: Collection 5, there is also the annoying return of drawn out story-lines, the revisited conversations that plagued the first couple of collections, and now there's the added bonus of complete 180 degree character changes.

The Beginning: Collection 5 is devoted entirely to the mysterious reappearance of Laura Collins, wife of Roger Collins. Laura has returned to obtain full custody of her son David, yet while Roger is quick to agree his sister, Elizabeth Stoddard, is not so willing to let David go without a fight. She has never been a fan of Laura, and finds her impatience in obtaining custody of David to be rather strange, as does everyone else. Laura continues to press the issue that she doesn't have much time, but is never willing to explain exactly what her rush is, only one of the many strange things about her behavior. Laura's growing impatience and annoyance with those in and around Collinwood begins to spark even more controversy as she begins making usual threats that result in strange occurrences. First it's a threat against Sam Evans to cease from painting the pictures of her in fire, a threat which results in Sam's hands becoming seriously burned. Then a threat against Elizabeth Stoddard, who makes it clear to her that she will not be getting David without a fight, minutes later Elizabeth is stricken with a strange trance that leaves her completely paralyzed, as if dead.

With almost no hope for Mrs. Stoddard's recovery the family brings in para-physiologist Dr. Peter Guthrie, who believes Mrs. Stoddard's condition might be the result of a power not of this world. A power Victoria Winters and Carolyn Stoddard begin to suspect might belong to Laura. Meanwhile Laura is continually getting restless as everyone continues to press her for answers to everything that has been happening since she returned, even her hold over Burke Devlin and Roger Collins has begun to stretch thin as her blunt unwillingness to answer their questions seems to only further produce doubt in their minds that she can be trusted. But even while Laura becomes a prime suspect in the bizarre occurrences in Collinsport, there is still no explanation as to how or why she's doing it, and even more importantly, how can she be stopped.

I have a real love/hate feeling for The Beginning: Collection 5; love because some of the episodes really help to advance the supernatural atmosphere of the series, and the introduction of Dr. Peter Guthrie adds a new interesting aspect to Laura Collins storyline. Unfortunately while the first half the collection begins on a high note the second half ends in a rather annoying manner. Once again the storyline begins to seriously drag on as the viewer is constantly subjected to unnecessary repetition of both questions and conversations between the characters. How many times does everyone have to discuss why Peter Guthrie is at Collinwood? How many times does Laura Collins have to be asked the same questions by the same people before they realize she's not going to give them any answers? How many times to we have to hear that Laura is running out of time, when no explanation is given as to why? After a while it's clear the repetition is all but a filler to extend this Laura Collins storyline as far as it can possibly go without ever advancing it to a conclusion.

Also rather annoying is the character's continuous 180 degree change of opinon from one episode to the next, and sometimes it's as quickly as a few minutes in one episode. One minute Roger Collins is ordering Peter Guthrie to leave Collinwood and take his nonsense with him, the next minute he's admitting there actually might be something to Guthrie's experiments. One episode Victoria Winters is for something, then the beginning of the next episode she appears to be almost against it! It's the strange and seemingly incoherent change of mind combined with the repetition of many of the episodes that begins to make The Beginning: Collection 5 hard to bear at times. Throw in the complete and utter naivete of all the characters to the blatantly bizarre actions and personality of Laura Collins and this collection really pushes you to be patient, but it's all one step closer to the famed Barnabas Collins!

7/10