Discuss - Ep #0006

[Watching Project]

Robservations #6

[DarkLady]

WELCOME, MATTHEW MORGAN!

Or at least Matthew Morgan the First, George Mitchell. He did the best Down East accent of anyone except Thayer David. Again, it's interesting to speculate on how Matthew's character would have developed if Mitchell had stayed on. He does a great job with Matthew's back story--you can almost smell the "stink" of the cannery. I can't help thinking that Vicki is too inquisitive for her own good. But we hear for the first time about how "Miz Stoddard" laid off all the servants just before she hired him--eighteen years ago....

Finally, David meets someone he can't afford to be rude to! Elizabeth has the patience of several saints put together as she tries to reach him. Friends of Roger may be interested to note that the first book in the Rover Boys series was published in 1899! Roger wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye then! The last one came out in 1926. But it's just typical of how behind the times everything at Collinwood is.

THE LOCKED ROOM! THE LOCKED ROOM!!! And we're only in Episode 6!  

And a fashion note: I remember those awful straight-line dresses with the big buttons. Nobody looked good in those.

[MagnusTrask]

Thayer David's brilliant, but I prefer all the original actors in these 1966 roles, including... who?   George Mitchell.   All this is like a tightly-written film.  It doesn't drag at all, if you're anxious to look in on some rare, early television drama with a sort of tough edge to it, and aren't peering around corners in Collinwood for creatures to pop out.   I believe Art Wallace wrote all of this, for a good, long time... that's when there was a purpose and vision, and it didn't spin its wheels or drag.   

[DarkLady]

Great observation, MT! It's interesting how so many of the elements that will be so important later are already in place so early. The writing is very good, and probably because it was all done by one person, and he was terrific at it.

[Janet the Wicked]

WELCOME, MATTHEW MORGAN!

Or at least Matthew Morgan the First, George Mitchell. He did the best Down East accent of anyone except Thayer David. Again, it's interesting to speculate on how Matthew's character would have developed if Mitchell had stayed on. He does a great job with Matthew's back story--you can almost smell the "stink" of the cannery.

You know, I see him in so many other things. He's always popping up somewhere. Today I was watching The Twilight Zone, and there's George Mitchell again! Fine actor.

[Joeytrom]

They replaced actors a lot in the first year of the show and never did afterwards.  It seems they decided to stick with whoever they hired after the second year or so.

[Lydia]

OK, somebody tell me how smart Vicky is.  Because I didn't see it today.  When Elizabeth came down to the basement and found Matthew Morgan and Vicky, Vicky told her, "I was trying to explain!"  She wasn't.  She was just saying, "You're hurting me!" and stuff like that.  And it should have been obvious to the meanest of intelligences that she should hold off on asking Matthew about Elizabeth.  And she should have known better than to listen to Carolyn.  When Elizabeth was telling her about how anxious David was, that was not the right time to change the subject and ask about questions about how she came to be hired.  Honestly, Vicky was reminding me of a certain governess who won't be seen on the show for nearly three years.

Nice conversation between Elizabeth and David, especially coming right after her dealing with Matthew and Vicky - a complete turnaround from dictatorial to sympathetic.

We're getting told lots that Collinwood is up on a hill.  Looking at the picture of Collinwood with the huge flat lawn, I find it hard to believe, but never mind.  I like the picture that is put into my mind by Carolyn talking about the curves on the drive.  And was she saying that there's a bus stop at the gate for going into town?  I never thought it was that long a trek, but I guess I was wrong.

[DarkLady]

I've always thought that Collinwood was several miles from the riffraff of Collinsport. I do think it's at the top of the hill, even with the huge lawn. I suppose that if the Collinses could afford to build that great big house, they could probably afford some landscaping too.

And yes, it seems that Vicki's top priority is not governessing but snooping.

[MagnusTrask]

Vicki's muddling her way along like most people I think, screwing up fairly often when forced to deal with sudden surprises and humans who react in unexpected ways.   She's more on the hot seat than we are; we have the luxury of observing from a much less tense and more relaxed vantage point.  She probably didn't remember the fact that she hadn't been explaining to Matthew, and thought she had been, because it was in her mind to start explaining the very next moment.

I suppose it was a calculated risk to prod Matthew further, because being at Collinwood was becoming not worth it to her, if she didn't get her past explained.  I don't think she was thinking that way about coming to Collinwood at first, but her real prioroties are surfacing, especially since it's not so nice a job, as she's finding out.   To Vicki's credit, unexpectedly to me anyway, the risk paid off.   Matthew softened, and made with the data.   

I suppose it was predictable that it would tick off Liz to be questioned and researched as Vicki's doing.   An objective observer like you or me knows, but when you know your heart's in the right place, and you know you don't mean any harm, your path can take you someplace where all of a sudden you're being rude or presumptuous without realizing it until it's "too late".   I could see Vicki's and Liz's good intentions colliding, with both being surprised because it was all happening so fast, for one thing.   After all, I'm all the way up to episode 9, and I think it's still just Vicki's and Burke's second day in town.  And think how young Vicki is.

How about that, Lydia?  I don't necessarily disagree with you.  If you'd said Vicki was brilliant in this episode, I'd probably have argued the other side...

[Midnite]

The book Vicki was reading:  America Sails the Seas

Rather than The Rover Boys series, David might have enjoyed The Hardy Boys, which is what little Midnite preferred back then at his age and younger.

When Elizabeth came down to the basement and found Matthew Morgan and Vicky, Vicky told her, "I was trying to explain!"  She wasn't.  She was just saying, "You're hurting me!" and stuff like that.

She tried as hard as anyone could to explain while confronted with a mean stranger holding a poker menacingly, but the sentence you recall is the only one he allowed her to finish--

Vicki:  "What do you want?"
Matthew:  (checks locked door) "What are you doing down here?"
Vicki:  "I was looking for..."
Matthew:  "Who are you?!"
Vicki:  "Now just a minute. I wasn't..."
Matthew:  "I asked you a question, Miss, and you better answer me. Who are you and what are you doing in the basement of this house?"
Vicki:  "I wasn't, I wasn't snooping around..."
Matthew: (grabs her and raises the poker) "I want the truth, Miss."
Vicki:  "Please, you're hurting me!"
Matthew:  "You want to hurt Mrs. Stoddard, don't you?"
Vicki:  "No..."
Matthew:  "Ah, you people, fooling around..."

I'm thinking that the worst that could happen to Vicki for asking probing and unwelcome questions was that she'd be fired from a job that she didn't want in the first place but felt compelled to take.  Apparently it was a worthwhile gamble (as Magnus mentioned) because an answer to just one of them might offer a clue to her identity, whereas remaining silent could mean that she'll never get any answers at all.  That makes her smart, not to mention brave, in my book.

If we can believe David's account of his father's words and behavior, we can add emotional and physical abuse to the list of the Great House's secrets.

[Lydia]

Comments from Magnus and Midnite have been noted and deeply appreciated.  They don't change my opinion, and I don't see any point in arguing the issue further - not in the discussion of this particular episode, anyway - because nobody's going to change anybody's mind.  But at least I know now why I'm not going to change anybody else's mind.

[MagnusTrask]

Oh, I can make a long speech, then have my mind changed by one sentence someone's posted...

[EmeraldRose]

Here's the milestone celebrating the first appearance of George Mitchell as Matthew Morgan. I think GM's Matthew was more menacing than Thayer David's. I agree that GM was a fine actor. He guest starred in practically every TV show in the '50s and '60s! As much as I like GM as Matthew, I think that TPTB made one of their best decisions by casting TD in the role. I can't imagine GM playing all the different roles that TD did. TD was a brilliant actor!

This was also the first time we saw the Collinwood basement and the locked room. It would take quite a few months before we realized the significance of that locked room. 

Vicki ended up being right about where David was hiding. Elizabeth showed lots of patience and understanding towards David. 

[Lydia]

Vicki ended up being right about where David was hiding.

Yes, and having previously told Vicky that David would not be in the basement, Elizabeth did not explicitly acknowledge to Vicky that Vicky had been right.  That bothered me.

[Janet the Wicked]

Love how Vicky pulls the string on the overhead lamp in the basement and the light source comes from somewhere else, BECAUSE THE LAMP IS DEAD! Next scene with Matthew, there's a bulb in the lamp and it is glowing. Shades of things to come, folks.

Liz and David - Now I know he is the last of the Collins men and that Liz hopes to mold him into the next master of the house, but watching these episodes, you can see that she genuinely loves this kid. And watching JB working with DH, I get the feeling that JB must have been a wonderful, caring mother. I hope that's true.