History YMMV / DarkShadows

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Was the Ghost of Quentin Collins aware of Vickie's time traveling, and hoping Barnabas would go back to prevent his death to save David? There are times when he arranges for information to fall very easily into the hands of the protagonists. It's unlikely he expected to end up immortal, but he might have hoped to live to old age in the new timeline.

%%* EvilIsCool / EvilIsSexy: Angelique.

* TheWoobie: Although he's not completely innocent, the suffering Willie Loomis goes through [[spoiler:after releasing Barnabas from his coffin]] is well out of proportion with the severity of his misdeeds, and it's hard ''not'' to feel sympathy for the guy. The movie ''House Of Dark Shadows'' seems to realize this and majorly ThrowTheDogABone. [[spoiler: Even though Willie dies at the end, he finally is able to do the right thing he always wanted to do and be Maggie's hero when he helps save her from Barnabas]].
** This sentiment only works if you've not seen the pre-Barnabas episodes (as Willie was introduced in episode 199). Willie spent his first elevens as a KickTheDog style henchman who threatened and terrorized every character in sight. Which made his treatment at Barnabas' very much karmatic given his earlier actions.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The fandom's view of Adam is somewhat complicated. Depending on who you ask he's either a child in the body of an adult struggling with urges he doesn't understand and can't manage, or an Incel stalker with no regard for boundaries or anyone else's wants or needs.

** The portrayal of Roma during the 1897 storyline has not aged well. Although they are portrayed sympathetically, the series uses the now-outmoded term "Gypsy", depicts them stereotypically (fortunetelling, curses, and the like), and has non-Romani actors portray them, all of which wouldn't go over well nowadays. Although, in all fairness, the term "Gypsy" would have been appropriate for the 1897 setting.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler: Is Roger's final abandonment of David simply just the nadir of his deadbeat dad status? Or is it possible he thought David would truly be better off without him and figured removing himself from his son's life was the only course of action?]]

** Angelique crossed it a long time ago when she killed Barnabas' parents and used magic to [[MurderBySuicide force Josette to commit suicide]]. Then, [[EvilIsPetty because he hadn't suffered enough already]], turning Barnabas into a vampire so she can [[BuriedAlive locking him in a coffin for nearly two hundred years while fully conscious]], all because he previously rejected her. [[RevengeByProxy She goes even further many years later]] by ruining the Collins Family Fishery with her own, murdering David's mother at sea, and turning Carolyn into a werewolf. And '''then''', upon being rejected by Barnabas again, she turns the townspeople against the family, burns Collinwood Manor (and their rebuilt Fishery) to the ground, and tries to murder the Collins family herself -- [[WouldHurtAChild including its children]] -- with the intention of keeping Barnabas alive to suffer through it. [[{{Sadist}} All of which she does with the most sickening sadistic glee]].

** Angelique crossed it when she killed Barnabas' parents and drove Josette to suicide. Plus turning Barabas into a vampire and [[BuriedAlive locking him in a box for nearly two hundred years.]]

* EvilIsCool / EvilIsSexy: Angelique.

*** Don't exaggerate, it was only 196.
** [[spoiler:Roger abandoning David.]]

* OneSceneWonder:
** Creator/ChristopherLee as Clarney.
** Music/AliceCooper AsHimself.
* StoicWoobie: Maggie/Victoria.

* BreakoutCharacter: There's a reason this page is pretty much just about Barnabas, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to be a permanent character. He became very popular with the audience soon after being introduced, and the show increasingly centered on him and put him in the middle of the action for almost every subsequent storyline. The pre-Barnabas episodes aren't even remembered all that well in comparison (also corresponding to the GenreShift from gothic soap opera to the ''supernatural'' gothic soap opera the series is now known as).
** Quentin Collins as well, who was [[EnforcedTrope purposely introduced]] to allow Jonathan Frid a personal life again and was the only other ''Dark Shadows'' leading man that managed to rival his popularity.
** Taken to the extreme in the 2012 movie, where Barnabas is now the protagonist.

* PlayingAgainstType: Major movie star Joan Bennett in a daytime soap.

* BreakoutCharacter: There's a reason this page is pretty much just about Barnabas, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to be a permanent character. He became very popular with the audience soon after being introduced, and the show increasingly centered on him and put him in the middle of the action for almost every subsequent storyline. The pre-Barnabas episodes aren't even remembered all that well in comparison (also corresponding to the GenreShift from gothic soap opera to ''supernatural'' gothic soap opera).
** Quentin Collins as well, who was [[EnforcedTrope purposely introduced]] to allow Jonathan Frid a personal life again and was the only other ''Dark Shadows'' character that managed to rival his popularity.

* BreakoutCharacter: There's a reason this page is pretty much just about Barnabas, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to be a permanent character. He became very popular with the audience soon after being introduced, and the show increasingly centered on him and put him in the middle of the action for almost every subsequent storyline. The pre-Barnabas episodes aren't even remembered all that well in comparison.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: There's a reason this page is pretty much just about Barnabas, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to be a permanent character.
** Quentin Collins as well, who was [[EnforcedTrope purposely introduced]] to allow Jonathan Frid a personal life again.
*** Taken to the extreme in the 2012 movie, where Barnabas is now the protagonist.