17

David has a nightmare about Roger's car accident; Bill Malloy is certain the crash was caused deliberately.
== Synopsis ==
: Opening narration
: My name is Victoria Winters. There is no sound in Collinwood. There's only the strangeness of the people around me: the strangeness of the woman who's brought me here; a woman who has not left her house in eighteen years; the strangeness of a small boy and the merciless devils that torment him.
Teaser
Waking up but still hysterical from a nightmare, David gets out of bed, opens the window, and steps up on the ledge as if to jump. Elizabeth enters and rushes over to grab him just in time before he falls out. Elizabeth tries to comfort him as he sobs with regret over having killed someone, but won't say who it was. 
Act I
Having brought Roger to the office of Dr. Reeves, Bill Malloy decides to return to the scene of the accident to have a closer look at the car while the doctor finishes treating Roger. While Dr. Reeves is filling a prescription of pills for pain relief, Roger recounts how his brakes failed. 
When Roger mentions that Bill Malloy came along soon after his car went off the road, Dr. Reeves notes that it was a good thing Malloy wasn't walking up the hill to Collinwood at the time, then recalls the accident from ten years before involving Burke Devlin. Reeves had been the doctor who had treated the man who was struck and killed by Burke's car. Roger pointedly asserts that he had nothing to do with that accident, that it was all Burke Devlin's fault. Dr. Reeves reminds Roger that he knows the details, having attended the trial. 
Act II 
David is on edge and unable to sleep. When the wind blows his window open, causing it to bang repeatedly like a shutter. He sits bolt upright calling for his aunt Elizabeth, who quickly returns to close the window, saying that she probably hadn't closed it tightly enough earlier. 
David wants Elizabeth to stay with him and asks her not to turn out the light. He also gets his aunt to promise to not tell his father about his nightmare. David realizes he said something while dreaming and asks Elizabeth what it was he said. She at first dismisses it as "a lot of nonsense," but when he says he'll try to get to sleep once he knows, she recalls that he seemed to have been in a fight with someone who was hurt. David is still unable to get to sleep, so Elizabeth suggests he put on a robe so they can go downstairs to await the arrival of his father and Mr. Malloy. 
Bill Malloy returns to the doctor's office and mentions that he saw what he wanted to see. Malloy assumes a guarded demeanor as Dr. Reeves begins musing on the trial from ten years before, even speculating on the reason for Burke Devlin's return to Collinsport. Once he and Roger have stepped out to the waiting room, Malloy tells Roger he knows what caused his car to go off the road and is positive it was no accident. 
Act III
Using a hand-drawn sketch of a hydraulic brake cylinder system, Malloy points to a part that was missing, the bleeder valve, to illustrate for Roger how his brakes failed. Roger immediately suspects Burke Devlin, who had been at Collinwood for a visit earlier that evening. Malloy admits that it's possible, but also cautions that neither of them can prove it. 
In the drawing room, Elizabeth talks with David about their ancestor and Collinsport founder Isaac Collins, but David's thoughts are drifting elsewhere. Thinking at one point that he hears the sound of an approaching car, David runs to open the drawing room window and then asks Elizabeth if she's sure that his father wasn't badly hurt. He then asks if she hated her father and also wants to know how she felt when he died. "Such a strange question," observes Elizabeth. When Roger's car is heard coming up the drive, David runs from the drawing room saying again and again at the top of his voice, "I don't want to see him!" 
Act IV 
Roger advises Bill not to mention anything about the valve to Elizabeth, adding that he wants to handle the matter in his own way. When Elizabeth opens the double drawing room doors to greet them, Roger puts on a casual demeanor and remarks about being like a soldier home from the war before inviting Bill into the drawing room for a short drink. 
David is in the foyer, having been hiding in the darkened corner under the stairs; he moves forward to listen in on the drawing room conversation after Elizabeth has closed the doors behind her. Elizabeth voices her suspicion about Burke Devlin having something to with Roger's accident, adding that Miss Winters had found him earlier in the garage looking at his car. Roger's own suspicions are confirmed, and Bill reminds him that they have a constable in town to handle such matters. Roger then asks if Miss Winters is upstairs in her room. 
Elizabeth talks to Bill about finding Carolyn. Roger plans to go to Victoria's room to interrogate her again. David lurks under the stairs.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Bill: Do you know much about cars?
: Roger: You put the key in the ignition and the car starts. You turn it off and it stops. That's about it.
----
: Dr. Reeves: Maybe you don't realize just how lucky you are. A few stitches in your forehead, just a few contusions in one arm, bruised and sprained. By all the rules, I should've been signing your death certificate instead of helping you into a jacket.
: Roger: Well, I'm sorry to be breaking the rules, Doctor.
: Dr. Reeves: Well, that's all right. I get a bigger fee this way.
----
: Roger: (to Isaac Collins' portrait) Well, Isaac, what would you do if somebody had tried to kill you?
== Dramatis personae ==
* ← Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard →
* ← Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins →
* ← Frank Schofield as Bill Malloy →
* ← David Henesy as David Collins →
* Fred Stewart as Dr. Reeves →
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* First appearance of the character Dr. Reeves, portrayed by Fred Stewart. 
=== Story ===
* On the same night he is treating Roger, Dr. Reeves also has a patient named Lucy Cameron, who is due at any time to give birth. After she has gone into labor, Dr. Reeves takes a phone call from Mr. Cameron, whose first name is not mentioned.
* Isaac Collins crossed the ocean in a small sailing ship during the year 1690; he landed in Frenchman Bay.
* Elizabeth loved her father very much. He died over 20 years ago.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* The music cue at the end of the teaser starts at the wrong speed, which causes it to run over the waves sound effect at the opening credits.
* Actor Louis Edmonds says the accident happened "a hundred miles" down the hill, then corrects himself with "seemed like a hundred miles - a hundred feet".
* When Bill Malloy is in the doctor's waiting room, the boom mic is briefly seen.
* As Bill leaves the office, the shadow of the boom mic is seen moving across Dr. Reeves.
* A teleprompter can be seen reflected in the glass doors of the cabinet in Dr. Reeves' office.
* A studio light is visible outside the window in Dr. Reeves' office.
* As Roger and Bill talk in Dr. Reeves' waiting room, someone can be heard walking noisily across the studio.
* As Elizabeth promises to protect David, the camera zooms in and momentarily goes out of focus.
* In Act III while discussing with David their ancestor Isaac Collins, Elizabeth says the real-life location of Frenchman Bay as "Frenchman's Bay."
* Isaac Collins lived at the end of the 17th Century and beginning of the 18th Century, but in his portrait, he is wearing clothing from the latter half of the 19th Century.
* As Elizabeth sees Bill to the drawing room door, the shadow of a boom mic passes over Roger.
* When Roger steps over to the portrait of Isaac Collins, part of the examination room from the set of Dr. Reeves' office is seen through the windows of the drawing room.
== End credits announcements ==
* '' made its debut one year ago with top recording stars performing where the fun is. Come along for a real good time next, here on ABC.
* Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis production.
==External Links ==
Dark Shadows - Episode 17 on the IMDb
The Collinsport Historical Society - Dark Shadows Diary - Episode 17
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 17: Such a strange question
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 17: 7/19/66
== Gallery () ==
0017