Discuss - Ep #0088

[Watching Project]

Robservations #88

[Janet the Wicked]

There’s really no sense in saying much about that thing Vicki had on, except that if it isn’t uglier than that lemon yellow chiffon thing she will wear, it’s damn close.

It seems to me that Liz and Roger are treating Vicki’s ordeal pretty darn lightly.

Carolyn’s reason for wanting Vicki to stay is that Vicki’s the only person she can talk to about Burke. “Can you imagine the mess I'd have been in without your advice?” There are plenty of times in these early eps where I just want to slap Carolyn. But I guess her behavior is understandable, since she’s at that age where the entire world revolves around her, but really. Get a grip, kid.

Now if Roger believes his son to be an “incipient psychopath”, why isn’t the kid in therapy?

[DarkLady]

Vicki's robe is pretty awful, isn't it? But not more awful than Elizabeth's yellow caftan thingy.

If David is an incipient psychopath, maybe he should be institutionalized, not just in therapy.

I think Elizabeth is treating Vicki's ordeal more seriously than Roger is. Maybe she's too dignified to use the secret passage--which I'm sure she knows all about--but she was the one who made Roger go with her to the room where David trapped Vicki.

And yes, Carolyn's reason for wanting Vicki to stay is that Vicki is the only person she can talk to about Burke--but you'd think she'd want to sympathize with Vicki for even just a nanosecond.

Well, at least Vicki has decided to confront David--which is more than his family seems willing to do....

[Lydia]

Vicki's robe is pretty awful, isn't it? But not more awful than Elizabeth's yellow caftan thingy.

I must respectfully disagree with you.  Vicky's robe is possibly the worst thing I've seen on the whole series.  All the other bad garments give the sense that somebody with a sense of style designed them.  Not necessarily with the sort of sense of style that I'd want to be caught dead within a hundred miles of - but some thought went into them.  Vicky's robe looks like something that was bought at the Woolworth's and that was given to the foundling home a decade or two before she was born.

Yup, everybody is treating Vicky's ordeal shockingly lightly.  Even Roger is recommending she leave only because he wants her out.  David tried to kill his father, and now, despite what the family may choose to think, there is no indication that he had any intention of ever going and letting Vicky out.  But life goes on as usual at Collinwood.

I was surprised to see the seaweed still on the floor of the room in which Vicky had been locked.  Bill's ghost appeared to be non-corporeal, but the seaweed has a physical presence.  I was reminded of an old story about ghostly seaweed, and started thinking about the fact that Bill's ghost appeared in a place that was not particularly near anyplace where his corpse had been.  But I guess it's no big deal.

Here's a version of the seaweed story:

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_telltale_seaweed.html

[DarkLady]

I wasn't surprised to see the seaweed on the floor--the writers had to make sure it was still there so Roger and Elizabeth could find it later. 

Spoooooooky story, Lydia! It reminds me of the one--no seaweed, however--in which a mysterious young girl hitches a ride with a guy, who lends her his sweater. She gets out of the car at a deserted house, but the young man is so smitten that he forgets to ask for his sweater back. After asking a lot of people about her, he finds out that she died years before--and finds his sweater, neatly folded, on top of her tombstone.

Okay, I'm willing to concede that Vicki's robe looks like something from John's Bargain Stores (if anyone remembers those). At least Elizabeth's caftan had a few stylish features, however unfortunate they were.

[Janet the Wicked]

Vicky's robe is possibly the worst thing I've seen on the whole series.  All the other bad garments give the sense that somebody with a sense of style designed them.  Not necessarily with the sort of sense of style that I'd want to be caught dead within a hundred miles of - but some thought went into them.  Vicky's robe looks like something that was bought at the Woolworth's and that was given to the foundling home a decade or two before she was born.

You're right. I kept trying to figure out what kind of fabric it was made out of. It looks like a combo of old newspapers and a garbage bag.

[MagnusTrask]

Now, do I go back to #88 just to investigate the badness of someone's robe that I took absolutely no notice of before?

[Janet the Wicked]

Go into Complete This Phrase for this episode. I know there’s at least one capture of Vicki wearing that thing.

[Lydia]

Magnus, there's a capture of the ghastly robe in the Robservations as well, about halfway down the page.

[MagnusTrask]

Thanks Janet, Lydia!  I'm watching 91 as soon as I go offline, so I may as well scan through 88.   It just makes me feel as if I must be nuts, though!   Like most of my life...

[alwaysdavid]

Vickie tells the Stoddards about the ghost and she decides once again to leave.  Roger comes in and agrees.  His hands shake is visable as he passes the tea.  It makes one wonder if the actor or the character is the one hungover. 
Roger and Elizabeth talk about ghosts and Roger infers that they too have had experience.  They go to the room under the eaves and find the seaweed which Elizabeth disposes of in the drawing room fireplace.
Now Roger calls David a sociopath.  What a loving father. 
Vickie decides to leave it up to David whether or not she stays and wants to know why he hates her.

[michael c]

i thought i knew vicki's wardrobe inside and out so i had to view episode 88 to see what all the fuss was about...

i had forgotten about this number. it is pretty ghastly although i don't think it would have set off any alarms if i hadn't read this. alexandra was tall and slender but some of the wardrobe really makes her look dumpy.

as the series progresses her sleepwear gets increasingly diaphanous until we hit the explosion of orange tulle we get for her nocturnal wanderings in 1968.

[DarkLady]

In those days, any self-respecting heroine wore only tulle nightgowns! 

[MagnusTrask]

If this robe had been shown in color, it probably would have struck me as ugly.  In B&W, it's just a sort of vague greyness that recedes totally into the background for me.  Now that I'm looking at it, it seems like something she threw on herself while painting, not even necessarily an item of clothing.   It looks a bit as if it's got paint spattered on it.   

[Lydia]

Magnus, it isn't just the color.  The fabric looks thin and cheap, and, as I think michael c was saying, the cut of the robe makes Vicky look dumpy.

(Edited to add: Re-reading your post, I'm not sure mine was necessary, but it's too late now.)