We leave Maggie crying in the basement of the Old House while we contemplate Elizabeth's problems. Also Mitch Ryan's. Somehow it seems right that, in a pinch, Joel Crothers got called in to cover Ryan's lines - it's the sort of thing that Joe Haskell would have been happy to do. Last time I watched this episode, I didn't know the story behind it, but this time I notice that the lines do seem more Joe-like than Burke-like, and there's no explanation of why Vicky would happen to be having a drink with Joe.
There's a wonderful line from Carolyn towards the beginning of the show, which goes something like this: "I don't want to interfere with your life. I just want you to be happy." It's the motto of interfering people all over the world.
Oh, gosh, I love the looks on Roger's and Vicky's faces when - horror of horrors - Carolyn calls Buzz. It's as if she's summoning up the devil from Hell. TV being what it is, if Carolyn made a date with Buzz four years later, after all the supernatural disasters that happened at Collinwood, everybody would still be just as shocked as they were on today's episode, with no feeling of incongruity.
Buzz himself always strikes me as badly miscast - but that's a 60s sort of thing. When the 60s were actually happening, everything got watered down for TV, so here we have Buzz, the fearsome I-only-drink-beer motorcycle gang member, looking as though he'd be much happier having some sherry and cheese with Professor Stokes.
