Welcome, Cyrus's underground lab! It's always fun to see how they recycle elements from previous sets.
That tall, weedy gent who tried to steal Angelique's address book before Chris Collins stopped him turns out to be _Doctor_ Cyrus Longworth, a research scientist. Like our own Julia Hoffman, he has a laboratory, apparently in a windowless maze in the basement of his house. In this first appearance of the lab, we can see that Cyrus also has a guinea pig and a black and white rabbit in cages. The lab also has that essential piece of scientific equipment, a large oval mirror. (Strangely, the previously blond Cyrus has unaccountably become a redhead, which makes him look all the more weedy and dithering--I suppose that's why they did it [and they had to wait till after Jeb Hawkes's Positively Last Appearance in Carolyn's dream].
Chris finally gets his secretive friend to explain what his work is--then wishes he hadn't. In his usual stilted and formal style, Cyrus explains his work. And welcome to the bottles of the infamous red and green formulas! He looks up, hoping for Chris’s agreement and approval, but Chris has turned from him in dismay. You have misunderstood everything I said, Cyrus huffs, and now I regret saying anything at all. I’m glad you did tell me, Chris replies somberly, because I’m all the more worried now that I know you’re obsessed with a purely private, impractical idea. It’s not impractical! Cyrus insists. If it could be used--and it could be if you had given me Angelique’s address book with the chemist’s name. I’m glad now that I didn’t, Chris says unrepentantly. Angelique believed in my work, Cyrus reveals. In fact, she got me started on these experiments. Separating good and evil, Chris mutters. There is no doubt in my mind which of the two appealed to her.
Now we know that it's really Alexis Stokes. Maybe she had a job that allowed her to travel. But maybe she ran out of funds, since we will learn that [spoiler]she hitched a ride from Genoa on a friend's yacht.[/spoiler] I was in Florence, Alexis explains. I didn't know that Angelique had died but felt "compelled" to come to Collinwood; I felt I was needed here. Hoffman offers her Angelique’s old suite. I would like that, Alexis replies. Quentin agrees to it, so Hoffman takes her upstairs. Alone, Quentin confides to his friend the decanter, I wish Alexis didn’t look so much like Angelique. Then he thinks, I’m reacting as badly as Maggie did: She has come from far away--but how far away? I wonder.
Hoffman leads Alexis down the hall to Angelique’s room. Maggie Collins, the Mistress of Collinwood, timidly peeps out of her door to watch them go by.
As Cyrus and Chris continue their conversation, we learn that Dr. Reese is alive and well in PT--and manages to stay that way because he stays off screen. But he's not in Cyrus's good books because Chris tells him that the good doctor disapproves of "black magic."
Hoffman brings Alexis to Angelique’s parlor, where a white baby grand piano has suddenly materialized. The room is beautiful, Alexis enthuses. It is exactly as _you_ left it, Hoffman tells her. Alexis protests, but Hoffman says, You don’t have to lie to me. I have always known you would come back. That’s impossible, Alexis insists. She is not like others, Hoffman says. Alexis agrees dryly but insists, Angelique is dead, and I am Angelique’s sister--and tired. I left my luggage in town (people are always doing this at Collinwood). I need to borrow one of Angelique's nightgowns. Don’t talk like that to anyone else, she warns Hoffman--they might be distressed. Hoffman gives her Angelique's favorite, a pink number with cap sleeves made of marabou feathers (actually not nearly as awful as it sounds).
Hoffman runs into Maggie in the hall and tells her, without once looking at her, that Alexis is staying at Collinwood on Quentin’s orders. Maggie goes downstairs to find Quentin but finds only the empty decanter. What is happening to him? she wonders. What is happening to all of us?
Later, Quentin (who indeed has had more to drink than is good for him) hears Alexis playing "Ode to Angelique" on the piano and flips out when he sees her; she explains about the nightgown and that she was sight-reading some sheet music she just happened to find. It’s all right, Quentin says. It’s just that you look so much like Angelique, particularly in this room. It’s almost as if two people have blended together and then become one. Or as if the past and the present have blended together and become one, Alexis suggests. You miss her too, she adds. Perhaps we can comfort one another. Maggie arrives just in time to see Alexis in the nightgown with Quentin’s hand on her shoulder. She rushes down the hall, and Quentin runs after her, but Alexis doesn’t seem disturbed at all as she sits back down at the piano.
Quentin comes downstairs to find Maggie. His speech slurred, he tells her, You mustn’t think what you were obviously thinking. It’s insane for you to believe that Alexis is Angelique. Can you explain _this_ to me? Maggie retorts, finally showing him the note in Angelique’s handwriting. It’s obviously a practical joke, Quentin replies. No it isn’t, Maggie says. _She_ wants me out of this house! She’s dead! Quentin insists. It is Angelique’s handwriting, isn’t it? Maggie asks. I refuse to discuss it any further, he says flatly, then instantly adds, Why didn’t you tell me about it? Please, look at the note again, Maggie says. MAGGIE, ANSWER MY QUESTION! he shouts at her. WILL LOOMIS SWEARS THAT IT IS ANGELIQUE'S HANDWRITING! she shouts back. She explains more quietly, I showed it to Will the next day. This sets Quentin off because, as he says, You showed it to a “drunken neighbor” first and not your [currently drunken] husband. I can never find my husband, she points out--he is never here. You’ve had plenty of opportunities, Quentin blusters as he walks away from her toward the french windows. Maggie says, Quentin, even when we are alone together in a room, you are still so far away. She goes on: I am beginning to understand now, Quentin. You know she is not gone. You can feel her presence in every room of this house. She is still running this house. She still tells everyone what to do. Nobody makes a move without her approval first. No one, not even you! Quentin tells her to stop, but she says, Angelique is not dead! She is more alive than any of us! I forbid you to say her name! Quentin orders. I refuse to be treated like a child, Maggie retorts. I know what I heard and what I saw. You’re being unfair, Quentin says, not giving anyone a chance. Like they gave me a chance? she shoots back. No. This is Angelique's house, not mine. You are Angelique's husband, not mine. Unfortunately Quentin suggests, If you don't like it, you should leave. Amazed at the brilliant simplicity of this idea, Maggie takes him up on it and walks out without another word. Quentin follows her to the door, screaming her name, then comes back as Alexis descends the stairs. Shouldn’t you go after her? she suggests. Maggie’s behaving like a child, Quentin fumes, but then relents. He has just gotten to the doors when they hear the sound of Maggie’s car (a stick-shift) vrooming off. It’s too late now, Quentin says blearily as he stumbles back to the drawing room. Alexis regards him remorsefully.....….
[KLS was also commuting to Tarrytown to work on “House of Dark Shadows”!]
