So sad. But he did have a very long, full life.

Jason's villainy is already apparent. I couldn’t help hearing you talk about “Liz,” he says. I knew her long ago. He introduces himself as Jason McGuire. Beguiled by his oh-so-charming manner (with a hint of Irish brogue, I’m sorry to say), Maggie is inclined to gossip, but Joe overrides her (out of loyalty to his boss, I guess) and says flatly, She was ill, and now she’s better. Jason asks some more questions about “Liz.” The suspicious Joe is inclined to give him even less information and hints that he and Maggie were just leaving. Jason takes the hint, but Maggie says brightly, Why shouldn’t I tell him? Can Liz have visitors? Jason wants to know. Maggie replies brightly, Everyone in town knows that Mrs. Stoddard hasn’t left Collinwood for eighteen years. All that time! Jason comments. Isn’t that a shame! But he’s smiling broadly all the while. 

I always prefer stories where not everything is explained. The territory for exploration and speculation is that much greater and so much more appealing to the imagination.

No wonder Roger and Elizabeth are happy--at least for now. Both have survived 190 episodes with their separate secrets intact. But will they manage to keep those secrets in future? Elizabeth, for one, seems more anxious about Dr. Guthrie's possibly going to The Basement than about David.

Knowing that David is listening, Vicki gives Burke a very carefully worded version what happened in the fishing shack. Later, when she's tucking David in, he tells her he's glad he decided to stay. Is it because you know we all love you? Vicki asks. After what he's been through, David is actually receptive enough to say--in true David fashion--"I guess so." Vicki gives his hair a good-night tousle.

Yes, Janet, apparently Roger was spending a "semiforgetful" evening in town when his son and heir was in  danger of his life and had to be rescued by others. Apparently he thought his parental responsibilities ended once he'd put Laura on the bus out of town. Burke shows very delicate tact, I think, by leaving the room while Vicki describes the events at the fishing shack. Roger actually almost becomes emotional and goes upstairs to see David.

And a very nice scene ensues: Tentatively, Roger tucks David’s blanket in, which wakes him up. They have a brief talk, and Roger tells David not to worry. It’s all Roger can do to not to have an emotional outburst. He’s actually on the verge of giving David a hug but is able to restrain himself. In fact, he’s behaving so unlike his usual brusque self that David asks him if anything is the matter. No, Roger answers, it’s just that there’s so many things we don’t know.

Joe gives Laura's locket, which he found in the ashes at the fishing shack, to Vicki. He truly must have nerves of steel to look for it. Why did he give it to Vicki and not to, say, Carolyn, who's still the de facto Mistress of Collinwood?

The doctor says that Elizabeth's pulse and heart rates--whatever that means--are increasing. But Joan Bennett is wonderful in this episode. She really shows everyone else how it's done.

Nice work by young David Henesy too. Because of his trance (or whatever), he can't hear Vicki calling him. But possibly with Josette's assistance, he does hear his aunt's cries, and that snaps him back to the present. The poor little guy faces a terrible choice and witnesses real horror.

I also liked the cross-cutting in this episode as we switch back and forth between Elizabeth struggling to speak and David in the fishing shack.

I know a lot of people are interested in the details of Laura's Phoenix-hood and what powers she has, but I'm content just to let the story happen. I was skeptical at first, but by the end the writers and the cast made it pretty convincing.

I agree, Lydia. This was the first time, as far as I know, that anything like this had ever been attempted in what was essentially still a daytime soap opera. But I have to say that this episode is incredibly repetitive. I suppose it aired on a Friday.

Burke and Joe's initial search of the fishing shack seemed a bit cursory.

The writers also seemed to be feeling their way with Josette's attempts to communicate with Vicki. Someone put Vaseline on the camera lens to give us a sense of what Josette's POV must be like when she's looking at Vicki. But other than that, the whole burden is on AM to convince us that Josette is communicating with her. It's almost like an episode of Lassie, but without Lassie, but AM does a good job.

When Joe races out of the Blue Whale, he goes to the town records office--who knew they were open in the evenings?? But when he returns to the BW, he tells the others that he checked Laura Radcliff's death certificate--which says that Laura died at 2:30 A.M.. So tonight is the night they have to worry.

True, a ball of flame would have been much more appropriate, but all they could afford--or do, I suppose--was just have her materialize out of the darkness.