Discuss - Ep #0194

[Lydia]

Robservations #194

[Lydia]

We never left Collinwood in this episode, and that was nice.

What a fine scene between Elizabeth and Roger!  Well-written, well played.   Sibling interaction - some of it friendly, some of it antagonistic - with Joan Bennett and Louis Edmonds filling in the details via their acting.  That final "It's good to have you home" (I can't remember the exact wording) from Roger was perfect.

If Elizabeth's great secret was that she was keeping a madman in her basement, I think he's probably a dead madman now, unless Bill Malloy, as devoted to Elizabeth in death as he was in life, has been bringing food to the inmate - and, I hope, entertaining him with spirited and unprintable renditions of What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor.

[MagnusTrask]

Vicki, in the basement, flummoxed as to what to say to satisfy anxious Liz, and having just said something that upset her, says "I didn't say that"!   It reminds me of Monty Python's Terry Jones in Erik the Viking calming the populace's fears about their city sinking fast into the ocean, by calling out very reassuringly, "This is not happening!"... while standing waist deep in ocean water.

After seeing it again tonight, that Roger/Liz scene in the bedroom was more interesting because I saw it as Liz commenting [spoiler]on the fact that each had his/her killing, and that it won't do for either of them to pry into the other's business.[/spoiler]   Roger can't understand this without knowing her secret, so he sees it as just a one-sided exertion of authority, just when he was getting all mushy about her.   I wonder if their parents went warm and then abruptly cold on them in this way, and I wonder if that's why Roger has problems empathizing with people.

[DarkLady]

Poor little David is actually trembling with anxiety at the idea that his aunt Elizabeth might not be well yet.

But once Elizabeth is home, her fear and worry only get worse as she asks Vicki and then Roger whether Dr. Guthrie or anyone else went to the basement. Great scene with Elizabeth and Roger concerning the key! Poor Roger really is all at sea about the change in his sister.

Speaking of Roger and Elizabeth's parents, [spoiler]we will meet their father, Jamison, a long time from now.[/spoiler] But I seem to remember that Roger went to boarding school, as was proper for a young boy of his time and place and social standing. So he probably didn't get much in the way of parental affection, let alone parental hugs. If anything, he most likely regarded his father as a rather distant presence. If so, it's certainly no wonder he has trouble relating to David.

[Watching Project]

The Robservations caps for this ep have been posted. 

[alwaysdavid]

If Elizabeth's great secret was that she was keeping a madman in her basement, I think he's probably a dead madman now.

I was thinking the same thing.  I also wondered why Vickie hadn't taken the chance to explore the basement freely while Mrs. Stoddard was gone.
Roger calls Carolyn kitten again after comparing her to her mother in earlier episodes.
Elizabeth makes Vickie promise to tell no one she was in the cellar apparently meaning that she does not want Roger or Carolyn to know. She must now believe that Vickie is trustworthy since she has dropped her quest into why she was hired and how.

[MagnusTrask]

I liked Mrs. J's much-earlier moment outside the room, when just after just having heard the weeping, she saw the dust and undisturbed cobwebs on the lock.   Obviously, no one had gotten any food or water in to whoever it was for ages.... probably years.   She's converted to a belief in the supernatural in one instant, and not a word has to be spoken onscreen!