Fashion notes first . . .
It's funny, when I think about Vicki, I picture her in an A-line sleeveless dress. So it seems weird to see her in a long-sleeved blouse and wrap-around skirt. It's not a bad look, but I'm just not used to it.
We are treated to Mitchell Ryan in a smoking jacket. Very modest, very plain smoking jacket, but he's looking very dapper in it.
Elizabeth has on another hideous suit, although this one at least doesn't drag her chest down. The jacket cuts straight across the lower waist and has a big collar and those cloth-covered buttons. My problem with it is the bulk of it. Joan Bennett was not a large woman by any means and the suit makes her look bigger than she should. It's kind of akin to some of the things they put poor Grayson Hall in.
Burke has a glen plaid blazer. Single breasted jacket. I really like how Ryan wears these clothes. He still looks rugged and all, but he can really wear a suit. Unlike his successor.
Not to be outdone, Roger is wearing tweed and a striped shirt. I'm so pleased to see the Wal*Mart shirt gone (although no doubt it will reappear).
In case you haven't gathered this from the plethora of fashion notes, we are, at last, past Day 2. Yes, that's right. A new day has dawned at Collinwood. I can't quite recall if Art "24" Wallace's experiment in real time is over or not, all I know is that Victoria's third day has arrived. "¢â‚¬ËœHurrah!' said the baby elephant." I find it supremely ironic though that in the voiceover, we're told "the events of a shattering night seem like the vague memory of a forgotten dream." Um, no. We've had about four weeks of the shattering day and night and it seems very very vivid to me still.
I'm quite happy about these two episodes. We've got the kitchen set. We've got Bill Malloy. We've got reasonably decent performances all around. And we've got Suzy! More on her later.
All I can say is that the aftermath of the car accidents I have known has never been this exciting. Okay, I will freely admit that no one has ever tampered with my brakes or those of my acquaintance. However, let's face it. Car accident=talks with the insurance people, who suddenly become rather mean even when it wasn't your fault=talks with auto mechanics where you suddenly discover just how ill-built and expensive your car really =many, many conversations with everyone you know where they recount their own heinous car accidents. Tip for the less socially inclined: when you're at one of those boring parties or meetings with total strangers, nothing stimulates conversation like car accident stories and experiences with traffic cops.
Unaware that they are not acting in the spirit of true realism, Carolyn and Vicki are more concerned with the cause of the car accident. Carolyn is in big-time denial about any possible connection Burke could have with it; didn't you hear? He's a really great guy! Vicki is upset, but then less than three hours of sleep will do that to you. Hell, less than three hours of sleep can get you teary-eyed over burnt toast. They then spend some time discussing bleeder valves and the likelihood of one falling off accidentally. And then, now this is actually interesting, so wake up. Vicki recounts the tale of Burke in the garage again. Man, it's worse than Rashomon, because every time we hear this, she's got a newfound perspective on it. The same words leave her mouth and now the implication is that she's deeply suspicious and that Burke was clearly up to something. Contrast that with the prior night and she was all "I don't know. I don't want to say anything." The chick's got no problem talking about the man behind his back, but heaven forefend she should say it to his face. Then two seconds later, she inexplicably says that she believes him. Yeah, I'm lost too.
Bill shows up at Burke's hotel room. I figured out the apparent obsession with donuts on DS. Regardless of the stupidity of these as a breakfast food that you would order in a diner or from room service, they can sit around all day without looking worse for wear, simple enough to eat, minimal prep. Burke's eating them, by the way. It's less clear to me when he complains that talking to Bill has resulted in a cold breakfast. Krispy Kremes hadn't made their way north enough back then. He's worried that the chocolate glaze is less than piping hot? While we're discussing props, let's talk about the coffee cups featured in the diner and in the hotel room. Either the hands of Mark Allen and Mitchell Ryan are that massive or those are really dinky cups. They look rather like demitasse cups. But I digress. Bill, unconcerned with undersized china and Burke's tepid donuts is more interested in discussing attempted murder. Burke lights up--yes, that's right boys and girls, he smokes. As will a surprising number of characters in these early episodes.
Bill is Elizabeth's self-appointed bulldog #2 and unlike me, he doesn't get distracted by the furniture, the food, or Burke's vices. He's got a long memory too and we learn that Burke was pretty specific and pretty vocal on the day he got convicted. He has been making inquires as well, and has much to say about Wilbur Strake (for those of you who have already forgotten, Wilbur was the private detective who wished his wife could wiggle like Carolyn.
I find the devotion of the Hammond Foundling Home pretty impressive. Vicki has received three letters in three days.
Carolyn is practically having a nervous breakdown over the possibility of Burke's involvement in the accident. She claims it's because if that's true, it means she's responsible because she brought Burke to the house. I think it goes deeper than that. See, I think all this is going down while Carolyn's having an identity crisis. Prior to Burke's arrival, it wasn't like she was chomping at the bit to be Mrs. Joseph Haskell. You don't start flirting with the would-be local lowlifes and dancing in what you think is a provocative fashion with them while you're on a date with your steady unless you have commitment issues. Carolyn knows she doesn't want to marry Joe. Beyond that, she has no idea what she wants or where she fits. She thinks she wants some strong male to come along, throw her over his shoulders, and take her away from all this, but I don't think she's thought further than that. So she's decided that Burke is The One for her.
Elizabeth is in her icy, regal mode. I love this scene. She informs Carolyn that Roger's car accident was no accident. that Burke is guilty, and that the constable will take care of it all. The phone rings. She answers it, and without missing a beat, tells the reporter straight-faced that of course the wreck was an accident and why on earth would they want to involve the police. Hangs up and then again, without missing a beat, goes back to blaming Burke. Heh.
What Elizabeth wants at the moment is to get Carolyn out of town. We have a couple of nice moments where we get a sense of what Carolyn's childhood was like. She went to public school. The kids made fun of her--well, duh, rich kid with the crazy mother--natural target. Before we can get much deeper into childhood memories, Vicki comes in with her missive. Turns out a guy named Strake's been poking around in Vicki's past. Vicki presses the issue. Elizabeth doesn't like any of this. Not one bit. She licks her lips the way she does when she's about to lie through her teeth. Despite being tag-teamed by Carolyn and Vicki, Liz gets high-handed, denies all knowledge of Vicki's past, and strides grandly out of the room.
Back at the hotel, Burke suddenly cops to using Strake. We get into less than scintillating details about a cannery for sale in nearby Logansport. At times like this, I really wish Wallace had come up with a more glamorous industry for the Collinses to be involved with than the cannery. It's hard to dress up sardines as anything other than sardines. I know I've tried in my stories. Fish is fish. I hear cannery, and I instantly recall hearing from fellow students about summers in Alaska or Maine spent in a never-ending stink all so they could make some bucks. Bill finally leaves Burke to his donuts and we see Burke call someone named Bronson (sadly, not Charles) about a meeting in Bangor.
The next episode starts and I'm sadly afraid my buddy Art is not done with real time, because it's later that same morning. Maggie's lounging around the house in her nightgown. (Apparently that myth that Maggie was a morning person we hear so much about when Barnabas comes to town hasn't been created yet). Burke shows up and there is more talk about coffee than even someone like Agent Dale Cooper could stand. Interestingly, the location of the kitchen is not by the front door, but instead is near where Maggie's bedroom eventually will be. I'm a little unclear as to why Roger's accident is so troubling to Maggie. Her father wasn't involved so why should she care? KLS looks particularly pretty in these scenes.
And then there's Suzy! Suzy, for the non-initiated, is another non-speaking recurring character. She's the waitress at the diner. Cute, blonde, perky. I like her for the same reason I like Bob Rooney: their consistent presence does much to create the feeling that Collinsport is a real place.
Donuts and threats with more coffee. Roger and Sam can't leave well enough alone. Both are totally panicky about the other's encounters with Burke. It's also occurred to both of them that the other is the only link to their involvement with the trial. Roger's all about getting Burke in the poky once again. It's too bad they're not in Pine Valley. Roger would have no problem getting Burke indicted, tried, and convicted there. Under the misrule of the current head writer there, it would be no problem. Unfortunately for him, Art Wallace is aware of the Constitution so I don't think that it's all going to go down the way he'd like.
Sam comes home to find Burke in his living room. These people are more concerned with coffee than Tim Horton. I'm sorry, I'm addicted to caffeine and all, and I do know the value of a good roast and a well-made pot of coffee, but there is a limit to how much I can talk about the subject. I realize that Maggie probably pushes coffee on Sam so much because it's better than the other available beverages and also because it has the reputation of sobering people up. I also get that there are some rather large elephants in the Evans Cottage at the moment that preclude normal conversation. But. There are other inane conversational topics out there besides "this is good coffee!" "how about another cup of coffee?" "I made a fresh pot!"
On the other hand, it's a well-done, if ugly scene. I really like the edge that all three performers have here. I'm hardly a charter member of the TLATKLS society, but KLS gives Maggie a great deal of depth. I don't care for the opening sassy, trashy J-E-R-K Maggie any more than I do the "I don't understand" Maggie, but right now? Right now, this is good. She's shrewd and desperate in turns. She fits the profile of the enabler. You can see the cracks in that good ol' Maggie faĤade. Then we've got Mark Allen's Sam. I never really cared for David Ford. Mark Allen sells the occasional lyricism as well as the nasty, brutish drunk. You can tell his Sam can be an ugly drunk just as you can see the artist underneath. And Mitchell Ryan is just really, really good. The purported reason behind his visit is to have his portrait painted. What Burke wants, you see, is to have one of those dead ancestor things that they have in Collinwood. And then I get why he's always in those suits. You have to dress the part, you know.
Unaware that his old friend and enemy is planning out the decor for his desired place of residence: Collinwood, Roger arrives at Collinwood after a busy hour with the insurance people. Again, I have to plead ignorance of contemporary practices. Before my time. Now all I know is that contacting the insurance involves a lengthy call to some anonymous voice on the 800 number as you have to go over at length every detail of the accident. And no matter how much you wrote down at the time? Never enough. My idea of North is that it equates to Canada and now they want you to tell them if you were going north, northeast, northwest, south, southeast, southwest, etc.
Roger's quite gleeful at Burke's probable arrest. Carolyn is totally against all of it. It's an illuminating moment between these two. I don't actually think Roger hates Carolyn or anything--I get the feeling he's fond of her in a vague way, and enjoys her adoration, but seriously? if his back was against the wall? there's no deep or abiding love on his part. Carolyn is having that bittersweet experience we all go through in some way or another--the one where you realize that someone isn't quite the hero you thought they were. She hasn't quite reached that point of total acceptance, but dreamy Uncle Roger is diminishing in her eyes.
I'd just like to point out that it's not even noon yet and Roger's having a celebratory drink. Out of curiosity, I went to the Alcoholics Anonymous site and answered their quiz the way I thought Roger would. He didn't do all that well.
Back at the home of another alcoholic, Burke admits that he won't be leaving town any time soon. I like the fact that Sam's not exactly surprised by this.
