Fashion notes first . . .
I really wish they hadn't gotten so much into this real time experiment. It's painful to watch. And when it means that the only fashion comment I have is that the sight of David Ford in an open-necked shirt is pretty scary, well, it's sad. It is though. It's also too tight a shirt. Not sure what the wardrobe babe was thinking, but it wasn't a good thought. They had half a dozen other men on cast who would have looked perfectly yummy showing a little skin, and they pick David Ford?
We open with way too much exposition. Basically, Joe phones Carolyn and spills about finding Vicki up in Burke's room (strike the comment I made in the previous column about his lack of loquaciousness). Carolyn hangs up and she's upset. David is busy eavesdropping. He actually doesn't care much about Burke's dinner companions. Angelique was less self-absorbed than this kiddie. David is curious about where his father is and whether or not the plans are still on to send him away, but hey, a chance to needle his cousin? Who could pass that up?
As you will have gathered from the fashion notes, the role of Sam Evans is now being played by David Ford. It's not an announcement that thrills me with great joy. I'm not sure what the deal was. David Ford reads off the Teleprompter almost right away so it wasn't that. Mark Allen was this big teddy bear of a man, but he pulled off the dual part of drunk and artist. I have a hard time buying David Ford as anything but an actor trying to play a drunk and an artist. Anyhow, he's in the hotel restaurant and spots Joe there. I'd feel sorrier for Joe if he wasn't so busy hinting and grinning about Burke's "company."
Burke is gamely doing his best to eat his way through his two steak dinners. When Sam shows up, he tries to get him to finish what would have been Vicki's. Sam is pages behind on everything (Burke's date, Roger's accident, etc.) so we have some more exposition. In a half-assed way, he tries to get out of painting Burke's portrait.
Carolyn is standing in the foyer counting the minutes and probably imagining Vicki and Burke in a series of physically impossible postures. As I reread these last two paragraphs, it occurs to me that there is a whole different series of interpretations to be made about these people and who was jealous of who (or is it whom?), but there's not enough HoYay! to justify any of these alternative scenarios so get those minds right out of the gutter. Heh. Anyhow, I feel sorry for Vicki. Sometimes two years age difference can really seem like twenty. Poor thing walks into the door and straight into the Freeze. Understandably, she doesn't get Carolyn's anger or jealousy at all. I love it when she calls Carolyn an idiot. Go Vicki.
I'm assuming we're meant to find it sad and pathetic when Sam tells Burke he promised Maggie he'd cut back on the hooch. There's much back and forth about Sam trying to quit the job, but it's neither exciting nor heartfelt so we'll move on. Sam wanders back down and hooks up with Joe. His big tip o' the day: marry Carolyn and leave town. Much Teleprompter reading on Sam's part.
The object of this discussion has regained the use of her mind and apologizes to Vicki. She admits to being jealous. She interprets her behavior as yet another example of mental illness. Somebody buy this family a copy of the DSM. I'd explain it as immaturity, but whatever. Vicki is a lot nicer about it than I would have been. Left alone, Vicki tries to phone Burke (no clue as to why) and catches little David eavesdropping. It wouldn't be Collinwood if someone didn't warn or threaten Vicki on the hour. I guess it's his turn.
A little later, Elizabeth comes into the drawing room doing her wringing hands thing. In one of her more intelligent moves yet, Vicki tells her she wants to quit. Elizabeth talks her out of it. Why, I'm not sure. She wants Vicki to stay. In the middle of all this, Sam phones and leaves a cryptic message before hanging up.
The scene shifts to the hotel restaurant where Roger is looming over Sam and deconstructing his telephone call. He's particularly emphatic that Sam not call him at home. Ever. He also wants Sam to break off the commission pronto. Roger is in my favorite mode: nasty and sarcastic. For a nice change of pace, he's also pretty focused. I think he's realized that he has to stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Finally.
Elizabeth has a rather confused notion of Vicki's importance to Collinwood. If I understand her thought process, she believes Carolyn hasn't accepted Joe's proposal because she doesn't want to leave Liz at Collinwood alone. Now that Vicki is at Collinwood, that obstacle's gone. David is going to learn about love and warmth. What Roger gets out of this deal or just why Vicki is the only person who can accomplish all this is unclear. Vicki, however, agrees to stay. David "Information is Key" Collins thinks this is a bad idea and in a rare change of pace, expresses this belief loudly and emphatically.
Because she's just spent an exhausting evening not having dinner with Burke, Vicki asks permission to head back into town and go to the flicks. Elizabeth agrees and decides to deal with David. He's back into total denial mode (about eavesdropping, lying, trying to kill Dad, ever misbehaving). She ain't buying. He's still obsessed with being sent away, although you get the sense that it's mostly just an automatic reflex on his part. Elizabeth lays down the law and you can see her making a breakthrough. It's a tremendously well-acted little scene. Henesy and Bennett have remarkable chemistry here. It gets turned into him being smarmy and possessed all the time later on, but now? Now he's a scared little boy who has the sense to realize that his aunt is the best and sanest thing in his life right now. Unfortunately for David's mental health, Roger comes in spewing bitterness and sarcasm.
In the coffee shop, Vicki shows up. DC was being extremely cheap or whatever because we don't even have a non-speaking extra around. I hate this. Like going concerns just leave their place of business completely unstaffed for hours at a time so that the patrons can fend for themselves. Sam's there too and there's an overly dramatic and non-essential scene between he and Vicki.
We close with Roger drinking. He yells that he doesn't care about David and then starts railing on about her, his family, the house, and finally storms off. Man, right now, I'm thinking that David's upbringing in Augusta must have been something else if this is what his father was like every time he had a bad day. Elizabeth places a long distance call to a Ned Calder and then the credits roll.
Odd ending to a couple of episodes that frankly I think could have done with some severe trimming.
