Idle Thoughts--Shell Game (Episodes 843-843)

I must first apologize for my very lengthy absence from doing these. Still trying to adjust to a hectic schedule and two jobs. It was a choice between sleep and doing the column, and sleep won out.

Fashion notes first . . .

It amazes me that Mostoller manages every damn time to find one ugly ass dress after another for Grayson Hall. No matter what the time period, she invariably selects something that just makes you go "eh." The lavender color on this one wasn't too bad, but that lace jabot thing has just got to go.

Did rather like Petofi's hat and the fur trimmed jacket. Shades of Edward Gorey.

The other reason that I was opting for sleep was the knowledge that Amanda was with us again. I'm sure Miss McKechnie is a truly wonderful person and a talented actress, but I'm so not seeing it here. Anyhow, the clothes. That dress. That . . . that so very pink dress. One best suited for a formal dinner party (admittedly among people of no taste) and not for wearing all day, every day. For pete's sake, the hookers dress better than she does. And WTF is up with that damn long curl hanging off the side of her head?

I strongly suspect they were going for this:

Eternal Question

And that would be the celebrated Miss Evelyn Nesbit (maybe they were seeing DDT there as Harry Thaw???)

Speaking of DDT, I realize that his mock Parisian "I'm an artist" floppy tie is authentic enough, but everytime I see him I think of the Toulouse character in The Aristocats.

Onto the show . . .

I realize it happened in the earlier episode, but color me very bored by Aristede's "ingenius" trap. I mean, I'm sure Goldfinger or Dr. No would find it brilliant, but I'm thinking where's Pearl White when you need her.

Thank God, I missed Angelique's bitchfest on Beth because that's just painful to watch. Of course, I also missed a chance to finally figure out exactly where Blondie's head was at when she decided to get engaged to Quentin. I was with Petofi there (I can't believe I'm writing that) in saying the hell? until he concluded that she was in love with Quentin.

Then he suggested that they might form an alliance, implying that it would be an alliance in every sense of the word and I nearly vomited. Scary visual picture. Make it stop, please.

Continuing on the subject of Petofi, I find myself very amused by his home. I mean, it's a frigging cave. They can call it a mill or whatever, all they want. The man is living in a basement/cave place. He's got a settee and antimacassars and things, but he's still living in a cave. I had a similar reaction the time I was driving in the country and saw these people who had taken their entire living room set (floor lamps too) and arranged it all out on the front lawn in conversational groupings.

I forgot how truly annoying Roger Davis is to watch. His co-stars must have absolutely loathed having to perform with him. Imagine if you bruised easily.

I see they got some renewed use out of the Evans' cottage set.

Okay, I'm missing what's so intensely frightening about Amanda seeing DDT's new boytoy. I mean most people reserve the bloodcurdling scream for witnessing dead bodies, axe murderers, vermin, etc. Here's a very pretty young man. I might gasp if he just appeared out of nowhere, but scream bloody murder? No.

Now there's a step down in employment if I ever saw one. Beth, honey, this is not the way to go here. It's not like you're going to get what you want by working for Petofi and given that extremely creepy subtext, I got the strong feeling he expects you to put out. It is so not worth it.

I just finished rereading Donald E. Westlake's What's the Worst That Could Happen? (not the movie, the book) and I have to say that his take on the I-Ching is so much more interesting and amusing that this crap we're being fed.

And WTF is up with that damn long curl hanging off the side of her head?

Can I just say that the hair styles in general on this show are  an abomination?  They're so contrived and overdone they look more like 18th century France than almost-20th century Maine....I'm waiting for one of them to have a sailboat in her curls ala Marie Antoinette!! 

Thank God, I missed Angelique's bitchfest on Beth because that's just painful to watch. Of course, I also missed a chance to finally figure out exactly where Blondie's head was at when she decided to get engaged to Quentin. I was with Petofi there (I can't believe I'm writing that) in saying the hell? until he concluded that she was in love with Quentin.

Angelique loves nothing and no one.  She's obsessed with Barnabas, period.  And nothing he says or does to hurt her changes that.....which is what makes this idiotic (Quentin Must Marry Me!) plot twist one more felony on the part of the writers.   

So nice to see Idle Thoughts again! 

rainey

Thank God, I missed Angelique's bitchfest on Beth because that's just painful to watch. Of course, I also missed a chance to finally figure out exactly where Blondie's head was at when she decided to get engaged to Quentin. I was with Petofi there (I can't believe I'm writing that) in saying the hell? until he concluded that she was in love with Quentin.

Then he suggested that they might form an alliance, implying that it would be an alliance in every sense of the word and I nearly vomited. Scary visual picture. Make it stop, please.

     I think Angelique deserves to wake up beside a sweaty,fat old man in a poodle haircut.  This makes me think of the poem with the line "have some Madeira, my dear".
     Thanks for the column, I always enjoy them.

I thought Amanda's scream at seeing the "created" man a quite reasonable reaction.  Aside from the shock of seeing someone draw a sketch and suddenly the person is there, alive, in front of you, in this case there is the added implication that this is how she herself was created.  That would have to be a horrifying realization.

I never could understand Beth going to work for Petofi, though.  When Barnabas wanted her to check out if Julia was there, she said she was afraid of him.  However she wants to react to what happened with Quentin, I don't see her suddenly offering herself as a slave to Petofi.

This is the second time Im watching these 1897 episodes and I still don't get the reason why Beth is trying to get in good with Petofi. It has been quite a while so maybe there's something there that I forgot but for now it doesn't make sense.

There's something though about that "gleam' in her eye that says that maybe she thinks he'll do her a favor (like splitting up Quentin & Angelique) if she decides to work for him.

About Amanda's pink dress, I was waiting for someone to comment about it.  The funny thing is that this is the same dress that I wore when I was a brides maid at my cousin's wedding back in the early 80's.  I'll never forget those big puffy sleeves!

Glad to see you're back writing again!![clap]

Cassandra[/font]

This is the second time Im watching these 1897 episodes and I still don't get the reason why Beth is trying to get in good with Petofi. It has been quite a while so maybe there's something there that I forgot but for now it doesn't make sense.

There's something though about that "gleam' in her eye that says that maybe she thinks he'll do her a favor (like splitting up Quentin & Angelique) if she decides to work for him.
Cassandra[/font]

Beth, god bless her, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I don't mean that she is stupid (although she's certainly not incredibly bright), but rather she lacks that killer edge that she needs if she's going to run with the Collinwood crowd. She's smart enough to know that.

I think you're exactly right in believing that she's working for Petofi in the hopes that he'll be able to get her or teach her how to get what she wants. The way I read the scene, that seemed to be part of the unspoken communication between them.

Of course, the fact is that she needs a killer edge even more with Petofi than she did for the Collinwood crew.

Luciaphil Wrote:

I think you're exactly right in believing that she's working for Petofi in the hopes that he'll be able to get her or teach her how to get what she wants. The way I read the scene, that seemed to be part of the unspoken communication between them.

Of course, the fact is that she needs a killer edge even more with Petofi than she did for the Collinwood crew.

You're so right about that!  I couldn't help but laugh at that line she said the other day when she approached  Petofi about working for him, - "I want to make myself over in your image!!!"  The poor woman, what's gotten into her?  Either she's lost it completly to say that or she's alot smarter than most of us give her credit for.