Strange Paradise

Strange Paradise is a Canadian occult-supernatural soap opera of 195 episodes, initially launched in syndication in the United States on September 8, 1969, and later broadcast on CBC Television from October 20, 1969, to July 22, 1970. The production was the brainchild of producer Steve Krantz, in an attempt to capitalize on the phenomenal success of ABC's daytime serial Dark Shadows. To develop the series, Krantz hired actor-writer Ian Martin and veteran TV and radio producer Jerry Layton, both of whom were given screen credit for the creation of Strange Paradise. With the CBC and American broadcasters Metromedia and Kaiser Broadcasting handling distribution and co-production, the series was produced in Ottawa at CTV affiliate CJOH-TV and aired for 39 weeks, presenting three separate 13-week story arcs.

Plot

The series’ protagonist is billionaire Jean Paul Desmond, a tragic character whose absolute refusal to accept the death of his beloved wife Erica on the remote Caribbean island of Maljardin leads him to a blasphemous defiance of God. He strikes an ill-fated bargain with the spirit of his sinister ancestor, Jacques Eloi des Mondes, which drives the story for the series’ first thirteen weeks. Other characters in the cast include Raxl and Quito, a pair of devoted and mysterious servants; Holly Marshall, a runaway heiress; Reverend Matthew Dawson, a conflicted minister; Evangeline "Vangie" Abot, a local mystic; Tim Stanton, a struggling artist; Erica's sister Allison Carr, a female doctor; Dan Forrest, an outraged business associate; and Holly's mother Elizabeth Marshall, a social-climbing widow.

After its sixty-fifth episode, Strange Paradise was substantially re-tooled, jettisoning the majority of the cast and moving its setting from the Caribbean to Desmond Hall, the family's ancestral home in North America. The stories presented in this overhauled version of the series involve the "mark of death" driving Jean Paul to murder, the disappearance of Jean Paul's brother Philip, the machinations of a witches’ coven against the Desmonds, the influence of the Serpent God at Desmond Hall, and ultimately the final showdown with the powers of darkness. The unifying thread which binds all of these elements is Jean Paul's struggle to lift the curse which plagues the Desmond family. Additional characters in the Desmond Hall cast include Jean Paul's kindly cousin Ada Thaxton and her brooding son Cort, Laszlo Thaxton, Ada's conniving second husband, Irene Hatter, the town gossip and a witch, Emily Blair, a shy researcher invited by Philip, Susan O'Clair, whose destiny and those who are around her draw her to Desmond Hall, Helena Raleigh, an actress and Erica's doppelganger, and Julien Desmond, Ada's long-lost father.

Episode 64

Raxl and Quito search for the boat. Jacques instructs Erica to stab the silver pin into Holly's heart to capture her soul. After entrancing Holly, Erica closes in on her final victim.

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  Erica shows her pendant to Holly

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  Holly is hypnotized

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  Holly is completely under Erica's control

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  mesmerized, Holly follow Erica

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  Erica prepares to kill Holly, but hesitates.

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  Elizabeth saves Holly, who upon seeing Elizabeth being stabbed, wakes up from the trance, and screams in terror.