Fashion notes first . . .
KLS looks horrible. I'm not sure why; she was a very pretty young woman, but I guess this is proof that everybody has bad days. Her face seems puffy and her hair is lank. They have more eye makeup on the poor girl than she does when she's being fanged. I'd say she just rolled into work after a hard night on the town except that I don't think Maggie's that kind of girl.
Eeek. Far more of David Ford's bare chest than I need to see. It's framed by an ill-fitting denim jacket and an open-necked shirt.
Sarah Johnson's first appearance is everything I remembered and more. I love that poorly fitting bad black wig. On her, it works. She's got a pill box hat and dark suit (which you just know is black).
Vicki wears her hair up, which is good. It's a much more grown-up look. The cardigan, blouse and skirt combination with the white shoes is not so good.
Onto the show . . .
Finally, it's Day 7.
Diner: Maggie is filling the sugar containers, which is comforting to see. Usually in those kinds of restaurants, one is never sure about the state of the condiments. Carolyn pops in looking for Burke. Maggie doesn't know where he is, moreover, she doesn't care. She expresses this sentiment, which immediately raises Carolyn's hackles.
Carolyn has this love/hate relationship with outside validation that's intriguing. Vicki doesn't have this problem. In fact, it's the opposite situation for her. Vicki does what she thinks is right. If that doesn't mesh with what others want or expect from her, she doesn't buckle. In some respects, that's a bad thing. It's part of the reason why Roger loathes and fears her. At the same time, she usually doesn't try to match up her beliefs with those of others. In contrast, Carolyn has this almost obsessive need to align the views of others with hers. She's willing to buck the system entirely when it comes to say, Joe. But now she thinks Burke is a great guy, and freaks out when anyone else thinks differently. It becomes a personal stake with her to make sure that everybody's on the same page with her. Even now, when she's ticked at Burke, it's still a big thing that an acquaintance expresses dislike for him.
Interestingly enough, Maggie is being distinctly hard-edged at the moment. I like it a lot better than her usual Little Mary Sunshine attitude toward life. She's not truckling to Carolyn either, which I also like. She hammers home several points:
1. Liz deemed Burke capable of murder
2. An awful lot happened to these three men ten years ago
3. Burke is a creep
The creep comes in to a frosty reception.
Police Station: Sheriff Patterson is questioning Sam. Not going to get into the specifics. Again, stuff we've all heard before. Most noteworthy is his use of an "it's purely routine" method of inquiry reminiscent of Columbo.
Then it happens: the entrance of one of my favorite DS characters of all time: the one, the only Mrs. Sarah Johnson--and she's out for blood.
Diner: Maggie stares daggers at Burke's back. He's eating something, not sure what, but he's actually eating it. Carolyn tries to get information out of Burke. For her pains, he informs her she's the one honest person living at Collinwood. He references Ananias, which goes straight over her head. In a classic exit, he leaves the room, brushing her off like a bug.
Police Station: The divine Clarice Blackburn is perfect in this role. She's got this character down before she even opens her mouth. Mr. Malloy (she doesn't call him "Bill" although she and George are on a first name basis) was murdered and she wants the murderer to pay. She references the phone call that he received. She isn't buying the suicide theory at all (he gave specific instructions about his breakfast for the next morning). She won't give credence to the accident theory. No, he was murdered.
She starts to get teary-eyed. In a lovely little bit, George goes to get her water, realizes that there aren't any cups, and abandons the attempt at comforting her by getting right back to the matter at hand. I don't know whether that was deliberately scripted or Dana Elcar's improvisation because the prop guy fell down on the job, but it works so well that I don't care. Mrs. Johnson opines that one of the Collinses did him in. There's a fairly deep emotional reaction on her part that seems to suggest a deeper relationship than that of employer/employee.
Diner: Sam sneaks up on Maggie, who by now is by herself. Some back and forth about the letter. He also tries to establish some kind of an alibi for the night of the murder, which alarms Maggie. George and his hat come in and Maggie instantly and tartly informs him that her father left the house at 10:45.
Hotel suite: Burke's on the phone plotting to take down the Collinses when Carolyn stops by. He talks a good deal about Roger and Vicki. When I saw the scene, I thought that his several mentions of Vicki and his disappointment in her involvement weren't registering on Carolyn, but subsequent scenes appear to prove me wrong.
Diner: Maggie has absolutely no problem lying to the sheriff. None. To my surprise, and to Sam's credit, he does. He goes back to his original story and George takes off. Sam then returns to lying to her.
Hotel suite: Carolyn is reeling from Burke's version of events. Oh, man, someone needs to buy this girl a copy of Wuthering Heights, because she's living the role of Isabelle Linton. She tries to defend Roger, but the most Burke will concede to is that Roger probably didn't cold-bloodedly kill Bill.
I do love the production slates. Here we can see Louis Edmonds wearing those awful black plastic glasses getting into character while a bored technician holds up the slate.
Cannery: They use the same film footage of Roger's "Casual Male" jaunt from the dock into the cannery. He's ensconced at the desk and working when Carolyn drops in. I'm sure you can all guess what's on her mind. No surprise that Roger affirms his innocence or that she's both reassured and troubled. Then in an odd move, Carolyn obliquely suggests that Roger exercise his charm on Vicki.
Drawing room: David is hanging out and reading from the family album. He runs off to hide when Vicki comes in, but she's getting shrewder about flushing him out. Augusta comes up and he shares some of his less-than-fond memories of his childhood.
Cannery: Roger and George. The former is genuinely surprised to learn that Matthew went after Burke. There's also some ill-advised and weird dialogue from Roger about killing Burke.
Drawing room: David's brief moment of sanity lapses as he starts attacking Vicki for making trouble for Burke. He's in the act of trashing the room (literally) when Roger shows up. David takes off and Roger is all apologies and charm to Vicki. He explains his behavior as unforgivable resentment toward her. Can she ever forgive him? He asks her out to dinner. Yes, that's right. I do believe this commences the business of Roger and Vicki's dating, thankfully it will be short-lived because it's just a very weird thing. She accepts and in the middle of their rapprochement chooses to bring up David's recollection of Roger and Laura's epic fights.
I'm not saying I was a paragon of tact and wisdom at twenty, but sometimes Vicki is so damn dumb. The guy just apologized, but she's already seen he's Mr. Mood Swing. Is it any of her business or is this really the time to bring up his marital troubles?
Anyhow, he holds it together and pretty much tells her he's not about to discuss his wife or his marriage with her and she leaves. As you should all realize by now, David's been lurking in the foyer and comes on in for a little chat with Dad. It's by far the best scene (barring Mrs. Johnson, of course) that I've seen in awhile. David is spoiling for a fight, but to his surprise Roger sides with him. He claims he's being nice to Vicki so that she'll be nice to David. He feeds David's self-justifications and apologizes for being neglectful to him. Very skillfully and gradually, Roger leads David to the right conclusion and asks that David not let him in on the details.
Foyer: Carolyn's in a snit. She declares Joe a square (for not being psychic and knowing without a word of notice that she would want to have lunch with him. He calls and then she's fine. Vicki handles her friend's little meltdown with aplomb. Going by what we've seen today, I think it's safe to say that mental stability and the Collins family go hand and hand.
Drawing room: Just in case, David hasn't quite gotten it, Roger hammers the point home: he's not David's biggest threat. It's a conversation from one sociopath to another really. Roger may be a calculating bastard, but oh man, does he have David's number.
