Audio - Dark Shadows: Bloodlust Episode 7
...on this night, a vampire, a witch and a werewolf will plot to tear her plans to shreds...
Angelique and Barnabas have rested after the night’s traumatic events and, while Quentin is in town looking for information, they discuss Maggie Evans and start to bicker as Quentin returns. He has no new information, although people are not too keen to talk to him after he defended Angelique and Barnabas, and Barnabas says they need a pre-emptive strike before Maggie’s group gets more organised. Angelique points out that Maggie is not how the men remember her but has changed, is stronger and more vicious and Barnabas retaliates that they need to use that fear to frighten the townsfolk into giving up their fight against the supernatural. Quentin ignores the squabbling and tells them about a special meeting the Sheriff has planned to discuss the events of the previous night as she believes Maggie’s group maybe getting out of control. Quentin adds that he will go to the meeting to try and steer things back into “sanity”. Angelique warns him against revealing his true nature to the townspeople. Meanwhile, Ed is in jail when his ghost wife Susan appears to him, worried that he has beaten up a defenceless person, Trask, to try and protect the town. Susan disappears as the sheriff arrives to take Ed to the special meeting, the sheriff saying that she won’t be accused of muzzling one of Maggie Evans’ followers.
The sheriff brings the meeting to order and says that last night was different to all the other events she has seen over the years, with a group of vigilantes attacking people in the cave under Widow’s Hill and remarks on the growth of fear of violence in the town, talking about the recent attacks. Mike Devereux accuses the police of not doing enough and this is picked up by Kate Ripperton who says that some lines of investigation are being ignored... supernatural lines. Jackie, Cody, Tom and Harry are also at the meeting, thinking that the grown-ups are now all acting like children. The sheriff is trying to calm the crowd and stop more vigilante action, inviting the injured Trask to speak. Maggie apologises to Trask but says that the group is trying to stop the attacks and keep Collinsport safe and the meeting degenerates into a rabble again.
Kate Ripperton volunteers Frankie to chair the meeting as an impartial and he calls on Maggie to speak. Maggie goes back over the details of the murders and states that she believes a vampire, a witch and a werewolf are loose in the town, responsible for the attacks and will not stop until her group stops them...
This episode became a powerful head to head between two strong points of view, as Maggie and her supporters faced off against the Sheriff and the wonderful writing has to take centre stage, managing to remain almost impartial with neither side being painted as “good or evil” as the cases were argued. The acting of the two women, Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) and Lachele Carl (Sheriff Tate), also has to be commended as they were both very believable, the Sheriff on the side of law and logic and Maggie making her case against the supernatural. The fear and bias in the rest of the crowd added to the realism, as this is how any fired up community would act when threatened. The only character I had an issue with this time was Kate Ripperton who seems to be stirring for the hell of it, without any concern of repercussions and I don’t believe that, even as a news hack, she would put loved ones in danger just for the story. I also didn’t quite understand the need for the introduction of another new “old” character but this may well become apparent in the next episode so I will give it the benefit of the doubt for now.
Given the multiple cliffhanger ending of this episode, it will be very interesting to see what the aftermath of the meeting throws into the mix next time.
Image - Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows: Bloodlust is available direct from Big Finish.
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