301

Burke checks up on Barnabas' past.
== Synopsis ==
Teaser
: We plan for the future, looking forward hopefully and innocently. But there are those who would interrupt our plans, those who would plot against us to destroy tomorrow.
Willie Loomis now regrets having told Barnabas Collins about Burke Devlin's proposal to Victoria Winters, but Barnabas tells him there would have been serious repercussions for Willie if he hadn't told him. Willie continues to protest, but Barnabas intends to permanently remove Devlin as an obstacle to his future plans.
Act I
Barnabas plans to do away with Burke in the same manner as he did Jason McGuire. Willie attempts to make his vampire master see reason: that, unlike McGuire, Devlin would be missed. He points out that any search for Burke would be far more intensive than the one for Maggie Evans and that the Sheriff and his men would be searching all the houses and would find the coffin in the basement (presumably during daylight hours;  Willie doesn't say this but it's implied). With this particular point, Willie finally gets through to Barnabas, who agrees to wait and choose another time to deal with Burke.
Act II
Victoria and Burke kiss outside the main doors of Collinwood. He admits that his proposal was the toughest question he ever asked anyone and wishes she could have agreed tonight. She thanks him for giving her the time to think it over. They kiss again, then go inside the great house. Victoria admits to having never thought of herself as a married woman, or looking after her own children. Now Burke has given her the chance to make that change. She says goodnight and goes upstairs to her room while Elizabeth Collins Stoddard speaks with Burke alone in the drawing room. She is ready to sell him Seaview, and the pair decide to finally bury the hatchet.
Act III
Later, Victoria, unable to sleep with so much on her mind, comes downstairs to talk with Elizabeth. She is thrilled to learn Burke will be buying Seaview and Elizabeth notes the fondness Victoria and Devlin have for one another. The governess confides to her about Burke's proposal, and the turmoil she feels over making such an important choice. Talking with Elizabeth, however, helps her make up her mind.
Act IV
At the Blue Whale, Burke is drinking and telling jokes at the bar when Barnabas comes in. Devlin invites Barnabas for a drink, and Barnabas notes the other man's happy demeanor. Burke points out the way in which he and Barnabas intimate things to one another without coming out and saying exactly what is on their minds. He likens their relationship to a card game, while Barnabas sees it more as a duel. Their verbal sparring leads to a stalemate, which they toast and drink to. Devlin confesses to finding Barnabas interesting and would like to know more about him. He none-too-subtly questions Barnabas' claims of having lived in London with a cousin named Niall Bradford. As the bartender starts to close, the two men bid each other a tense goodnight. Burke makes a beeline for the pay phone, placing a call to London.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Burke (to Elizabeth, after she tells him she will sell Seaview to him): I feel so good about it, I'd rather leave the hard bargaining up to our respective lawyers. We've had our last conflict.
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: Victoria: He [Burke] wants that house so badly.
: Elizabeth: I know. And in a way, I think he deserves it. Burke's changed. He has stability now, something he never had before.
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: Burke: I wonder whether we...really like each other.
: Barnabas: Why do you wonder that?
: Burke: Well, the way we talk to each other, the way we....intimate things without actually coming out and saying what's in our minds...as if we're playing a card game...for very high stakes.
: Barnabas: What an interesting observation…and an interesting simile...a card game. I think of our relationship more as a duel...two superb swordsmen with highly sharpened blades. You thrust, I parry. I thrust, you parry.
== Dramatis personae ==
* Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
* Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
* John Karlen as Willie Loomis
* Anthony George as Burke Devlin
* Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters
* Bob O'Connell as Bob Rooney (uncredited)
* George McCoy as Blue Whale Customer (uncredited)
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* This episode was recorded out of broadcast sequence. The previous episode to be recorded was 304.
=== Story ===
* Willie once swore he would kill Burke after Burke beat him up in the days before he first opened Barnabas' coffin and, ironically, turned into a better person. Here Willie attempts to dissuade Barnabas from killing Burke.
* The sequence in which Barnabas and Burke discuss the real meaning of a duel was a personal favorite of Jonathan Frid. This conversation is also a bit ironic in that, almost certainly unbeknownst to anyone, the characters played by Frid and Anthony George (Jeremiah) will in fact engage in a duel in the 1795 story line, resulting in the death of Jeremiah.
* TIMELINE: It was the "other evening" when Burke and Barnabas discussed Niall Bradford.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* In the teaser, Barnabas tells Willie that "I should think you know that I always get what I go after." This is an amusing statement given that his kidnapping of Maggie and conversion of her to Josette was such a failure.
*Jonathan Frid flubs a line early in Act I when talking about Jason McGuire: "Which made it all the more ideal for his timely devise... demise."
* In Act III, Joan Bennett repeats the line "Then there is something."
== End credits announcements ==
* Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.
==External links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 301 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Everyday - Episode 301 - Burke Devlin Must Die
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 301: Devlin is an obstacle
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 301: 8/21/67
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