Discuss - Ep #0003

[Watching Project]

Robservations #3

[MagnusTrask]

WELCOME, BILL MALLOY!
Good character, good actor.

Did Carolyn just tell Vicki that she's got a thing for her uncle?   And did Vicki smile at this, and treat it as (much as I hate the word) "normal"?   I think so!   Uncle Roger "sends" her, apparently.   But Liz would rather she dated Joe.  I wonder why?!

[michael c]

yes in the early days carolyn's attitude towards her uncle had a distinct "ick" factor.

at it's best i guess that roger was supposed to be cultured and debonair in comparison to the yokels that populated collinsport in general. but still it was weird.

[DarkLady]

Weird, certainly, but it's always made me laugh that somewhere in these early episodes, Carolyn describes Roger as "European," which back in those days meant suave and sophisticated.

[Janet the Wicked]

Man, I wish I had these episodes to watch.

[Lydia]

The plot thickened today.  I like the small-town connections that were made: When Roger is looking for Sam Evans (whose full name I'm not sure we've heard yet, but never mind), he knows to go to the coffeeshop because Sam's daughter works there.  And I'm sure Bill Malloy knows what Roger's car looks like, so he knows Roger must be at the coffeeshop.

I like Vicky's pajamas.  They're a nice un-Gothic detail in this Gothic soap opera.

Carolyn is so terribly, terribly young.  It helps that Nancy Barrett is so small: I get the impression that Carolyn hasn't reached her full height yet.  Elizabeth said that Carolyn and Vicky were about the same age, but it doesn't seem that way.  I suppose from Elizabeth's vantage point they do seem to be the same age.  (And never mind that I'm about as old as Joan Bennett was in 1966, and older than Elizabeth is supposed to be.)

Carolyn's reaction to when the drawing room door apparently opened of its own accord was interesting.  "You'll just have to get used to that sort of thing happening in this house."  It started me thinking about the weirdness of Carolyn's life so far.

Mitchell Ryan was having a little trouble with his lines today.

[DarkLady]

Vicki's pajamas are an interesting fashion note. I'm sure that at the foundling home, the girls were issued very plain, very practical sleepwear, and Vicki probably couldn't afford any new clothes for her new job. I've always been struck by the difference between her humble pajamas and Carolyn's lacy, frilly and obviously expensive nightgowns and robes. 

[spoiler]But later, as our story progresses, Vicki will graduate to romantic-heroine nightgowns herself.[/spoiler]

Carolyn's weird life: Yeah, I'll bet she's hardly ever left Collinsport and graduated from high school by the seat of her pants, in contrast to the much more studious Vicki. That alone would keep Carolyn really immature, besides her sheer inexperience of the wider world. I'm sure nobody ever thought of sending her to college. Interesting that Elizabeth wants to marry her off seemingly right out of high school, but I guess there aren't that many options even for the daughter of the Mistress of Collinwood.

[michael c]

people used to get married much earlier than they do today...my parents got married in 1964 fresh out of high school(and no they didn't "have to"). so carolyn's talk of marriage isn't that surprising.

still what i'm always struck by here is carolyn's complete lack of direction. a general driftiness that will bring her into ever mounting troubles in the upcoming weeks and months. needless to say there is NEVER any talk of career or job at this point(would this have been considered socially unacceptable for a girl of carolyn's high born status?)but there is also no talk of college, or finishing school, or a trip abroad that would have been de rigueurfor a young lady of social prominence. her mother just lets her loaf around acting petulant.

joe haskell is about as foxy as they come, but this doesn't exactly matter to liz(and apparently little to her daughter either)it would cetainly mean "marrying down" for carolyn but i guess liz just wanted her "happy" and out of the house for some reason.

not until 1970 when [spoiler]she decides to mount an exceptional career swishing a giant feather duster around an antique shop do we see the slightest bit of ambition on carolyn's part that doesn't involve landing some highly unsuitable man.[/spoiler]

[Midnite]

And I'm sure Bill Malloy knows what Roger's car looks like,

That Shelby Mustang would definitely stand out.  Does anyone know what color it was?

[Lydia]

No idea, Midnite.

mscbryk, I've been looking into my own family history recently, and have been surprised by how old some of my female ancestors were when they got married.

Nancy Barrett said in one of the interviews on the DVDs that she struggled with why Carolyn didn't go to college, and in the interview she didn't mention any good rationalization for it.  I think she said she that the song she chose for Carolyn was Girls Just Want To Have Fun.  Maybe Barrett felt her only option was to emphasize Carolyn's youthfulness and immaturity.

[DarkLady]

Maybe Carolyn was right not to go to college. Diana, Princess of Wales got no further than high school.

[Gothick]

[spoiler]Wasn't it implied that Carolyn took over the running of the Cannery and the business decisions during Liz's illnesses in 1967 and 1968?  I seem to recall some tense scenes between Kitten and Uncle Roger... and then there was the deliciously icy way in which she dealt with Mr. Blair and little Harry Johnson in '68...[/spoiler]

G.

[DarkLady]

Good point, Gothic. Even though (for whatever reason) she is not the future Mistress of Collinwood herself and everyone seems to regard David as the heir, she must have absorbed some of her mother's management style and methods from observation alone. Maybe Elizabeth offered her the job and she turned it down.

[Lydia]

The [spoiler]cannery-running Carolyn[/spoiler] is quite a few episodes into the future.  I'm not sure I see any signs of that Carolyn in the episodes we're watching now.

[michael c]

[spoiler]the carolyn-running-the-cannery episodes were a subplot of the early 1967 laura collins storyline. when liz is hospitalized in boston carolyn is temporarily put in charge of the house and the business...and boy do some deliciously catty scenes between her and uncle roger come out of this turn of events.

however once liz returns the subject of carolyn's involvement in the business never comes up again. certainly by 1968 ordinary plots like the running of a business are sent into oblivion.[/spoiler]