Dark Shadows: 1

"My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning, a journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me and link my past with my future, a journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place, to the edge of the sea, high atop Widows' Hill, a house called Collinwood, a world I've never known, with people I've never met, people who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows."

- Victoria Winters

Synopsis
Victoria Winters is a young passenger on a train from New York bound for Collinsport, Maine. She is anxious to meet her new employers, the Collins family, who have offered her the position of governess to ten-year-old David Collins. During the train ride, Vicki reflects upon her time at the Hammond Foundling Home where she grew up. Having never known her true parents, a small part of Vicki hopes that this mysterious port city might hold the secrets to her past.

The train lets out at the Collinsport station. Vicki meets another traveler named Burke Devlin. Burke is captivated by Vicki, but is also very elusive. When she mentions the Collins family, a look of recognition crosses Burke's face. He confesses to knowing the family extremely well, but restrains himself from offering forth any further opinion on them.

Burke offers Vicki a ride to the Collinsport Inn where he has a room waiting for him. When they arrive, he greets the innkeeper, Mister Wells, who remembers Burke from many years past. Burke tries to discourage Vicki from pursuing a career at the Collins family estate.

Working at the inn is waitress Maggie Evans. Upon meeting Vicki, Maggie jokingly refers to her as a "sucker" and gives her a quick traveler's guide view of Collinsport. She talks about the Collins family who live up at the Collinwood estate on Widows' Hill and she appears to harbor the same discouraging opinion of the family as that of Burke Devlin. She tells her that the Collins family controls practically every enterprise the town has to offer and thinks that working for them will quickly turn Vicki into a grey-haired old woman.

Meanwhile, Burke goes to a local bar called the Blue Whale and meets with a private investigator named Wilbur Strake. He has hired Strake to conduct a report on the activities of the Collins family. Wilbur brings him up to speed on the family as well as their business, the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery.

Vicki takes a taxicab to the Collinwood mansion. She knocks on the door and is greeted by the family patriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode is included on the Dark Shadows: The Beginning DVD collection, volume 1.


 * Burke's enmity towards the Collins family becomes one of the driving sub-plots for the early episodes of the series.


 * Closing still: Collinwood foyer.

Quotes
"Welcome to the beginning and end of the world, Miss Winters."

- Burke Devilin

"Take a good look in that mirror right now. Because in two months, that pretty hair of yours is going to be one glorious shade of grey."

- Maggie Evans