The Horror of the SPOON

[onyx_treasure]

     I will have nightmares for a long time to come.  Elizabeth Stoddard coming at me with a spoon is too horrific to contemplate.  Poor helpless Paul  is too weak to fight the SPOON.   All is lost.
   I'm sorry folks but they really needed the fictious Dr. Reed with a hypo or men in white coats holding a straight-jacket to pull this off.  Elizabeth holding a spoon menacingly just makes me giggle.

[Raineypark]

On the other hand.....if it had been a WOODEN spoon.....and if it was Paul Stoddards MOTHER waving it around......now THAT would be something to scream about!! 

(I'm still giggling at "painted wallet size portraits" onyx_treasure!!)

[Luciaphile]

It's funny becaues I read this before I watched the tape of today's episode and I was thinking ooookay. What on earth is onyx_treasure talking about.

Then I'm watching the tape and out comes Paul looking literally like hell and Elizabeth starts pushing the meds on him and it all made sense

I have to say though (and I will say more when I write up the column) that Elizabeth is quite the dedicated soldier for the cause there. Quite interesting the way she's able to switch instantly from that gushy, gracious, warm persona right back into cold-as-ice "what ever made you think, even for a moment, that I wanted you back?" persona.

What I think is even more intriguing is that I don't really think these are new qualities to the character. More of a moral center pre-clown dream, perhaps, but not the hugest personality change.

[ROBINV]

No one does icy better than Joan Bennett.  Even when she's playing the kind, loving wife and mom, as she did in the original FATHER OF THE BRIDE, I think she's far more interesting as a bitchy character.  Witness Judith in 1897--the cold way she had her husband walled up after lulling him into a false sense of security--classic Bennett!

As for that wooden spoon, memories came roaring into my head--my twin friends who lived next door when I was a kid, and their elderly grandmother who had a huge wooden spoon hanging on the wall.  She used it for cooking her delicious Hungarian signature dishes, but when any of the three of us misbehaved (and those blasted twins ALWAYS bonded together and snitched that *I* was the bad one), she'd take that spoon and apply it to our bad little behinds!  When we were good, Grandma Weiss used to give us shot glasses filled with Hershey syrup--yummmmm!  And it probably explains why I'm a chocoholic to this day.

Getting back on topic, I loved it when Joan Bennett segued from nice to evil and back.  The only one who rivaled her in that talent was Jonathan Frid's Barnabas.

Love, Robin
 

[dom]

On the other hand.....if it had been a WOODEN spoon.....and if it was Paul Stoddards MOTHER waving it around......now THAT would be something to scream about!! 

LOL. I guess there's a little Sicilian blood running through the Collins' veins.

domenico

[Gothick]

I actually thought the whole thing with the spoon worked, *in the context of the episode*.  I did think that DP was chewing up the scenery there and not just a bit, which did give it a camp edge.

I agree with Luciaphil; what we're seeing now is more of the "inner Liz" than we've seen since around Spring 1967.  Remember how when Liz came back from her Laura-induced illness, she gave Roger a dressing down about minding his own business?  She was so icy in that scene I had to pour antifreeze over the TV set after I played the tape (OK, I'm exaggerating, but not by much).

She could also mete out some pretty brutal fare to Burke Devlin in the early months... entirely understandable since he was plotting to destroy Collinwood and everything the family stood for.

I often find myself snapping my fingers a lot during Joan's scenes in this storyline.  Just love my LeviaLiz!

Gothick

[Debra]

I love seeing Elizabeth in these scenes!  She plays the "evil" woman part out so good!!  I hated seeing her as the helpless victim all the time, especially where Laura was concerned.  And as Naomi Collins, she was also a victim, but a victim of her own demons such as  becoming an alcoholic and not being able to stand up to those around her.  This time she's the boss and she seems to be loving every minute of it!

I think she relished playing the stronger woman after she got a taste of it with Judith Collins.   I think she's great at it too!

Deb

[Philippe Cordier]

Elizabeth's line that grabbed me was (and I misquote):

"Did you really think that I would ever have wanted you back here?"

Now that was real ... (I've heard that exact same tone of voice in real life a few times ...).

I don't mean to make too much of this, but a lot of the acting on DS -- not to mention daily soaps in general -- is "canned."  Moments like this are worth pointing out, in my book ... as examples of real emotion, real feeling (I wonder what life experience Miss Bennett may have been calling to mind to show such authentic emotion ... ).

And oh, I do remember that wooden spoon ... accompanied by the tone of voice mentioned above ...

 


(Fortunately, it was more of a threat in our home than an actual instrument of punishment ...)

[Raineypark]

And oh, I do remember that wooden spoon ... accompanied by the tone of voice mentioned above ...(Fortunately, it was more of a threat in our home than an actual instrument of punishment ...)

Oh, absolutely!!  My mother never actually hit anyone with the wooden spoon.....all she had to do was open the drawer and rattle the spoons around and we'd run, shrieking, for safety!!!

My Aunts, on the other hand.....

[Anubis]

Boy do I remember the phrase, "I'll get the spoon!"  That line sends shivers to the spine of all Italians.  Even though I don't remember actually getting hit with it.  Although ours had a crack in it.  I never would ask how it got there.  Maybe just from making the gravy.

[dom]

"GRAVY"!

You're makng me home-sick!

Sicilian Dom

[Birdie]

Sooon, nothing try the razor strap.  It hung in the kitchen as a reminder to watch your step.  Actually, I remember being on the receiving end of the strap a few times.  My mother still has it hanging in her kitchen.  Scary, huh,  Let's just say I don't have a spoon or strap.

Birdie