Fashion notes first . . .
The wardrobe people went out and got Roger a new raincoat. It's a checked trench and I think it's pretty much a staple in his wardrobe for the rest of his time on the show. I like it. The material seems to be heavier so it's not going to wrinkle when you look at it. The checks are kind of styling and Edmonds pulls it off well. The trilby needs to go away and die now though.
They've got Moltke back in the dark sleeveless sweater and skirt. She's in long shot a couple of times, and she looks quite striking.
Onto the show . . .
It's Day 6. God, I seriously do not remember the timing of the show being this slow. First episode is by Art; Francis wrote the second one.
Collinwood: Burke barges his way into Collinwood, demanding to see Roger. He's making for the stairs when Liz orders him out. He claims he didn't force his way in and that he won't leave. Now I'm not a lawyer, but while she opened the door, yes, but she did not invite him in. And in any case, she asked him to leave. Since he isn't, I do believe that constitutes trespassing. Considering that Dim George did tell her to call him should Burke show up, you would think she'd be skedaddling for the phone.
Burke is firmly in bully mode here. He starts bringing up his childhood and how she'll have to excuse his non-existent manners. Okay, yeah. Sure. See, he's not seven. He's a grown man pushing forty. If he can afford a nice suit like that, he can afford a copy of Emily Post. Besides nobody's asking him to identify and correctly use a shrimp fork here. Even poor kids learn that you don't bust into people's homes and refuse to leave. It's really too bad Maggie wasn't in the room to hear this crack. When Liz looms over him (about as ominously as a tiny woman like Joan Bennett can loom), he suggests she might have some knitting or gardening to do. It's like 9 PM so what gardening she'll be doing is unclear.
The scene is less than successful. Mitchell Ryan goes up on his line and I think misses his marks because the camera man has to do some fast maneuvering to keep him in the frame. Joan Bennett isn't in top form either. She keeps up with him, but there is aggressive Teleprompter reading.
He spews a lot of classist crap. Mr. Devlin, that's a mighty big chip on your shoulder. No way is it only his good name and the lost five years that he's bitter about. Elizabeth refuses to get into that with him (and to her credit, she's not the snob here) and then he switches back to Bill Malloy's death. Again, another mistake. He makes her an offer on that massive armoire in the corner and she sweetly brings up the possibility of calling the sheriff.
Blue Whale: Roger drags Sam over to a table to debrief him on his statement to the police. The middle-aged Rotarian extras are still there. I realize that technically this is the same day and I should be applauding the continuity, but that's either a really great date or these people are serious drinkers. David Ford is kind of fun in this scene, which is to his credit. He relies heavily on the Teleprompter, but he can still hold his own in the scene. Ha! He puts his drinks on Roger's tab.
Collinwood: Elizabeth totally changes tactics. She opts for killing him with kindness, which is really an artful strategy. Burke has summed up the players in this little drama; that makes sense, of course, but he's got a rather fixed image in his head about who and what they are. She has the sense to see that and by shifting into unexpected behavior manages to get him off his guard. By the time she's done, he's visibly uncomfortable and almost sheepish. I wish I could say that this was a well-played scene, but it's not. Ryan isn't up to form and Bennett's command of her lines is terrible.
Vicki comes by and manages to completely undo all of Liz's work. You can tell he's starting to feel moderately guilty about Vicki though because he apologizes for busting up her big night. He even hints that he'd like to take her to dinner.
Blue Whale: We've been here before. Same old same old. Only thing new is when Sam tells Roger he's willing to leave town now, but Roger's feeling obstinate and refuses to fork up the cash. Oh, oh, there's a new piece of background music in the Blue Whale that I don't recognize, not sure if it's a Bob Cobert piece or what. Then two seconds later Roger reverses course and says he could front the cash, but now Sam's changed [bi]his[/b] mind.
Collinwood: Burke recalls Norway and its sailors fondly (no, not like that). Before he can get into the wonders of Lutefisk, we learn that Vicki had childhood aspirations toward becoming a bareback rider. I swear I'm not making this up.
Liz enters bearing a full tea tray, but hits the hall as soon as she hears the door. It's Roger. Even if he'd agree to the new strategy for handling Burke, there's no time to get him up to speed. More snarkage from Roger to Vicki, but she and Liz take off (not before Burke can more directly ask her out to dinner sometime).
Foyer: Vicki gets debriefed. Vicki defends Burke to a certain extent. Honestly, does this girl ever think?
Drawing room: I'm not going to bother going into specifics. Roger and Burke are so polarized at this point that there is no common ground. Most of this is probably here to get the new viewers caught up, but we've been on this merry-go-round about six dozen times already.
Vicki's bedroom - Liz wants to chat. Vicki is busy writing a letter to herself. She apparently used to put stamps on them and mail them to herself as well, which is sort of sweet and sort of pathetic at the same time. Elizabeth is moved by this. I'd like to point out that this is the first time she's been remotely interested or sympathetic to anything about Vicki's upbringing. Up until now, every time Vicki brought up life at the Hammond Foundling Home, she morphed into Ice Queen Liz.
Drawing room: Not much new. They're now onto Roger's alibi. Burke is appalled to learn that Vicki can back up Roger's statement. I'm telling you this man has almost as much difficulty with reality not matching up to preconceptions as Barnabas. Roger agrees to go and get her.
Vicki's bedroom: Vicki's sob story continues. Liz tries to persuade her to drop her quest. In a rare bit of really solid acting, Moltke sells the anguish and determination that Vicki is supposed to have when she says that she can't let go. I don't dislike Moltke's acting. She gave a decent enough performance throughout her time on the show, but I don't think you can compare her to say, a Nancy Barrett or a Thayer David. In a way, I would have loved to see what a stronger actress could have brought to the part.
Roger gets rid of Liz and does his best to take Vicki through the paces of what he wants her to say to Burke. She's reluctant to say anything that isn't true or that she can't be sure of. Nice angled shot Roger looking down at Vicki in the chair.
Drawing room: Burke accuses Liz of siccing Matthew on him. She, of course, thinks he's crazy. I like how Wallace and Swann have managed to tie Burke and Vicki together thematically. They've both emotionally committed to their respective courses of action and neither is capable of letting go. You get the sense that should either let go, that they'd fall apart. Burke needs to believe Liz is the enemy. If he sees her as anything else, then he would need to go back and question everything else.
Roger comes in with Vicki, who does her best to stick by Roger. This damns her as far as Burke's concerned, of course. Not much else plot wise. The camera man treats us to a shot of the non-existent ceiling. Bennett finishes up by directly reading off the Teleprompter. Even Louis Edmonds is doing his share of that. Burke finally leaves.
These were two very lack luster episodes as far as the performances went. Up until now the worst has been the Teleprompter reading and the occasional flub, which usually the actors have managed to correct. But all said and done, it generally wasn't so bad. When people talk about live soaps, this is the kind of thing that I think probably usually went on. What happens in these two episodes is distinctly worse. The actors went up, referred to wrong character names at the worst possible times, missed marks, got more confused. It's not quite as bad as what will come, but it's not good.
