Posted by Luciaphil on February 12, 2002 at 15:36:33:
In Reply to: Liz and Roger Clueless posted by Joeytrom on February 12, 2002 at 07:56:36:
Liz and Roger are deep up a river called Denial. In their case, I like to think that it's a survival technique after decades of living in that house.
Two of my favorite moments takes place quite early in the series. At one point (not using spoilers because I'm going to keep this vague), Vicki, who has heard strange and spooky noises and who has asked the inhabitants of Collinwood about them to no avail, finally corners Roger and gets him to admit he's heard them too. You get the feeling that if asked about them again, he'd go back to swearing up and down that "it's just the wind".
Then later on, Liz and Roger are talking alone. Hesitantly Roger asks Liz about ghosts and just as hesitantly Liz answers him. It's an intensely private moment and then they go back to "everything's normal".
So they've got Barnabas who's nice and polite and who's improving a property for free. They have David, who doesn't have a strong record with telling the truth and who has a history of emotional upsets. It's a lot easier for Roger to push to have a kid he doesn't want sent away to school and just as easy for Liz not to have to confront 1)a felon in the family, 2)the fact that she hopelessly misjudged her cousin, and 3)scandal.
Not saying that they are consciously thinking these things, just that it's the program running in the background of their minds.
Luciaphil