Discuss - Ep #0150

[Watching Project]

Robservations #150

[MagnusTrask]

Now that the painting's gone from David's wall, do we see a bright hole in the wall where some of that shimmering came from?  Probably they just shined a light on it, but I think they did something less sloppy than that.  The light would have gone over the edge onto the wall.

[spoiler]First of three of Laura's poppings into people's bedrooms, where no one is sure afterward that she didn't just creep in silently on foot, when they weren't looking!    This may be my favorite thing about Laura, the silent, casual poppings.   I don't think any of the three victims of this ever told anyone else about them.[/spoiler]

I enjoy thinking of Diana Millay silently and quickly trotting out of the shot, when the camera switches briefly to David's face, when she's supposed to be disappearing from David's room...

Time Tunnel promo!   ABC had good shows in the 60s and early 70s, before they decided they just had to be #1.

End:   I think David was supposed to drop the handkerchief, and then the swooping creepy Theramin-ish sound effect was supposed to happen... but that Henesy just wouldn't drop it.   So they do the sound once, then twice, gap... then he drops it on the floor, then third time for the sound effect!  I don't know why the dropping of a handkerchief rates any of this, though.

[DarkLady]

In this episode, we learn that Elizabeth occasionally walks the grounds of the estate. At least she gets outdoors sometimes!

Whether Vicki realizes it or not, she tells David the story of the Phoenix in almost the same words that Laura had used when she told the story.

Time Tunnel was one of our favorite shows!!

[alwaysdavid]

David is devastated to learn his painting is gone. His Aunt Elizabeth decides Laura cannot see David who becomes upset.  Elizabeth has her way with humans but what will happen when she deals with the supernatural. Laura appears in David's room and her sister-in-law is none the wiser.

[Lydia]

Roger was all ready to rationalize away the whole portrait business.  The scream was just the wind in the chimney.  They would eventually find out that somebody had snuck in and finished the portrait, and never mind the fact that in yesterday's episode Sam Evans noticed that the new paint in the picture was drier than was possible given how recently the blank space had been filled in.  Suddenly I'm wondering about Elizabeth's and Roger's father.  He apparently did not live to a ripe old age.  What supernatural memories of the events surrounding his death might Roger be burying?  For that matter, the events wouldn't need to be supernatural.  If Roger saw his mother splitting his father's head open with a broadsword and then heaving his father's body off of Widows Hill, I think Roger would manage to turn it into natural causes somehow.

Whether Vicki realizes it or not, she tells David the story of the Phoenix in almost the same words that Laura had used when she told the story.

Yes, if I had been Vicky, I'd have embroidered it a little, and thought of ways to soft-pedal the part of the story involving death, but Vicky, who has decided David should not be with Laura, supported Laura by telling the story as Laura told it.

End:   I think David was supposed to drop the handkerchief, and then the swooping creepy Theramin-ish sound effect was supposed to happen... but that Henesy just wouldn't drop it.   So they do the sound once, then twice, gap... then he drops it on the floor, then third time for the sound effect!  I don't know why the dropping of a handkerchief rates any of this, though.

I think the dropping of the handkerchief - the physical separation of it from David's hand - emphasizes the fact that this is a real, physical thing, brought in by Laura, who, we are given to understand, was not a physical presence in David's room.  It seems that now that the picture is gone, she can access David - probably just by staring into the fire the way she was doing when Elizabeth knocked on her door.  But Laura's handkerchief didn't leave David's presence when Laura did.  Maybe, if I think about this long enough, I'll get an idea as to how it could be that Laura's locket was in the fire in Phoenix and was also there at the cottage for her to show to Vicky.

[MagnusTrask]

I think the dropping of the handkerchief - the physical separation of it from David's hand - emphasizes the fact that this is a real, physical thing, brought in by Laura, who, we are given to understand, was not a physical presence in David's room.  It seems that now that the picture is gone, she can access David - probably just by staring into the fire the way she was doing when Elizabeth knocked on her door.  But Laura's handkerchief didn't leave David's presence when Laura did.  Maybe, if I think about this long enough, I'll get an idea as to how it could be that Laura's locket was in the fire in Phoenix and was also there at the cottage for her to show to Vicky.

During the next episode, I realized the significance of the handkerchief, but I think Laura was physically present.   Maybe the handerchief is evidence of that, and of course it's there to make ECS take David seriously, and not assume it was a dream.

Good idea, about the portrait having kept Laura out until now.

[spoiler]I think that in Phoenix, Laura duplicated herself, burning her old self and moving on.   I doubt that the new Laura appeared sans clothing, since this is the supernatural, not a SF story about cloning or something... so if clothing can be duplicated, so can a locket.[/spoiler]

[Lydia]

But Magnus, I'm not sure that it worked the way you indicated in your spoiler.  It is clear, however, that there was a lot that I just didn't absorb in this storyline the other time that I watched it, so maybe I'll be convinced later on.