No fashion notes except that Roger's Wal*Mart raincoat makes an unwelcome reappearance.
John and Ron brought us the first episode and Lela and Francis the second.
So it's the same day as it was in the last column. It's presumably the end of Vicki's exciting day in the big city. She's in the same restaurant eating dinner with the very delectable Frank Garner. Frank has no intentions of giving up on helping her with "the case" mainly because Frank is head over heels in for our Miss Winters. Vicki decides that this would be a great opportunity to talk about seeing Bill Malloy's ghost. It's a What the Hell? kind of moment. I'm not sure where it's coming from. It's possible she is trying to deflect an obvious pass. Maybe she missed his hints, but there isn't anything really vague about Frank's intentions. The other thought I had was that this is the first real instance of Vicki unconsciously putting herself firmly in the story. She does this a lot later on. It's as if she's determined to be the heroine of her own gothic novel.
Frank is taken aback A positive response would have sent him over the moon and he's pragmatic enough that he could have taken a straightforward rejection. What do you do with a confession of ghost witnessing that comes from out of the blue? He gamely plunges ahead. I love the way Conrad Fowkes plays this scene. He's partly wondering if he got some wacko version of the Freeze or if she's serious. The facial expressions are priceless. Meanwhile, Moltke is deadpanning everything. She's not an actress with a lot of range although I'm not sure how one would play this scene credibly.
There is a lot of exposition. I would probably be screaming about it were it not for the fact that it has been a good long time since I watched the show.
Frank handles the whole thing beautifully. Where are the Frank Garners in real life? Or are they like the Lloyd Doblers of this world--a creation of screenwriters? Man, I'd totally date him. Nice looking, intelligent, polite, considerate, gainfully employed. Vicki is far too young to realize that these men don't come along every day. She is set on getting back to Collinwood for a fresh round of terror.
Enter James Blair (for what is John Baragrey's final DS performance, I think) and Burke Devlin. Frank is polite if unenthused at Burke's arrival. It turns out he'd hoped to drive Vicki back to Collinwood. He also takes this time to get the skinny on Burke's relationship with her. She says they don't have one, which isn't totally true, but I suspect she honestly believes that. Frank keeps pressing. Does she have a boyfriend? He's very happy to hear her answer in the negative.
Over at the other table, there's some dreary dialogue about the Logansport Cannery. Now, I can find entertainment in watching paint dry, so you know that when I say something is boring, it's really boring. James Blair doesn't approve of all this revenge business. He's all for profit, mind you, but Burke's emotionalism are getting in the way of the profit. Not good.
I'm a little unclear about just why Vicki bothered to check in at the hotel to begin with. She evidently drove up, checked in, had two meals, and is now checking out. Presumably paying for the room she hasn't slept in. Maybe it's on Liz's dime??? Anyhow, I gather her sad little plaid suitcase is hanging out in the lobby. She meets Mr. Blair, who stands up upon her arrival (I can't remember if he bothered to do that for Carolyn, but I want to say no). Burke goes off somewhere for some reason and leaves her with J.B.
The main purpose of this scene is to deal with that damned pen. That stupid silver filigreed fountain pen. Yes, that pen. See, J.B.'s ostentatiously signing some contracts with it. After Vicki picks her jaw up off the floor, she tells him how she had one just like it. We learn that this is no ordinary Bic or Papermate product. It's not even a Montblanc. No, it's one of six in the whole world. There's some story about how Burke had them made for his business associates in South America, where four of these suckers are. J.B. has the fifth and Burke has the last remaining pen. Okay. He also suggests that if Vicki does indeed have one just like his pen, perhaps she'd better mention it to Burke, who's lost his. Vicki lies. Her pen had a different pattern. It's one of the few times where she does this successfully with no immediate disastrous consequences, so it's noteworthy.
Suddenly the idea of driving back to Collinsport with Burke doesn't sound like a really good plan to Vicki. Why? I'm not sure. Even if her suspicions are correct, it's not nearly as dangerous as agreeing to keep on working as David's governess, but there we are. She stalls and goes to make a phone call. Actually, her whole handling of this mess is totally bizarre. She tries to reach Frank first. He's not in. Then she calls Collinwood, gets Roger, and begs him to come get her; she's in danger. Now bear in mind, it's late. There are the sounds of one humdinger of a storm in the background. Lord only knows how much booze the man has been imbibing. I think I'd rather take my chances with a murderer who has no reason to suspect me than a ride home with Mr. Roger "DWI" Collins. Roger, I might add, is really unenthused about the thought of driving a couple of hours through bad weather to go pick up Vicki. Then she goes into her theory about the stupid pen and Burke's probable connection to Bill's death. Suddenly a two hour drive in a storm to pick up Vicki is a great idea!
In the meanwhile, Burke is hanging around waiting for her to get her stuff together. Vicki is usually chronically late to begin with (it's a nice little character trait they kept up with throughout her run on the show). He's not happy about the bad weather and he'd like to leave A.S.A.P. This would be when Vicki tells him, oh, she's decided to do some sightseeing. Burke seems okay with this. He's miffed, as anyone would be that she didn't come to this conclusion oh, earlier, when he would have been able to beat the storm, but he accepts her decision.
Why Vicki feels it necessary to leave that night is beyond me. There are buses. There are trains. She had been prepared to ride the former when she first suggested this little jaunt to Liz. Stay the night and take the Greyhound back. Instead she calls Roger to get him to give her a lift? Where's the fire?
Second episode is a Take 2. I rather like this episode. The reasons are numerous, but chief among them is the fact that is is (wait for it) raining. Yes, that's right. Raining. Not just thundering in the background for hours. Honest-to-goodness sounds of rain. The stuff that usually accompanies thunder and lightning. I believe this is the second and possibly last time we will hear rain. If they ever have any techies at one of the Fest, I'd love to know what was up with that.
Roger picks Vicki up and is all charm and reassurance. Heh. I know I shouldn't enjoy it when he's being fake with Vicki, but I can't help it. She's just so clueless sometimes.
Fake TV driving. No need for rear projection because they're supposedly driving late at night. Vicki is requisitely sitting right up next close to Roger, presumably so that she's in frame. We also get the f/x of actual water on the windshield. Hold me back! I guess when you only have four actors in an episode you can do that. There is much exposition that Vicki relates about the pen, its origins, its rarity, and Burke's undoubted connection to Bill Malloy's death. I'm really not sure this plays out the way it was intended to. She had found the pen, taken it, used it for awhile, all the while knowing that Lookout Point was where Bill died and did she ever once think about going to the police? Hell no. Now she suddenly decides this is a clue?
Roger has his hands full. He's trying to calm her down; he's trying to persuade her to keep her trap shut; he's also trying to drive. He turns off onto a back road because the main road was tough going on the way down and he thinks it might be flooded out. It's quickly established that the back road is remote. Vicki seems surprised at this. Hello? I know she's from NYC, but that's why back roads are called back roads.
Chez Collinwood, Elizabeth entertains a midnight caller. A dripping George Patterson who is enrobed in an enormous rain slicker comes on in. She's far more gracious than I would ever be at the arrival of a large, sopping wet man, who needs the phone. The roads, we learn through a series of calls to never-seen police officers, are a mess, particularly the back roads.
Uh oh, the back road to Bangor is out. Elizabeth damns anyone who'd take that route in this weather a total fool. Whatever. She hasn't driven in nearly 20 years, how the hell would she know. Also, people opt to take alternate routes for all sorts of reasons: distance, traffic, conditions, etc. It's not like it's an exact science.
Then in the next scene there's Vicki kvetching to Roger for taking the back road. Sweetie, the man drove out in the middle of the night in a storm to come get you because you were too cheap or too stupid to stay the night and take a bus home. Also, you're new to the area. You don't know jack about the local conditions, the choice of routes, or the area in general. You don't get to complain.
Roger wins my heart by casually telling her that this might be the start of a Nor'easter, which sometime last for days. She has some more suggestions, but again, where does she get off? Like she has the first clue. Roger determines that the road ahead is too deep to drive through, if in fact they are even on the road. He leaves a note on the dashboard (she complains about that too) and escorts her to the conveniently located abandoned shack that's nearby. Considering what we know about Roger and what many viewers probably suspected, he's really very gallant with her.
At Collinwood, the lady of the manor retires completely unaware that her brother decided to drive to Bangor.
The Shack: I'm not sure, but I think this is the cottage set, considerably more dressed down. I thought it was scarily reminiscent of a friend's farm that I just stayed at. Roger finds a lamp that has some kerosene and gets a fire going in the stove. There's some odd flirting between the two of them. I think it has something to do with Roger wanting to lighten the mood as much as possible and probably take both their minds off of the fact that they're stranded in the middle of nowhere, but Vicki decides to point out that he's already married. While this is true, it sounds strange given the situation and the fact that they have already gone on a date. I would have thought she would have brought that up way back before he took her out for drinks and dancing. You know, random casual flirting with a married man in order to lighten the mood of a tense situation being more acceptable than dating a married man. But again, who the hell knows with her.
Roger really doesn't want to chat about his marriage. I can't say that I blame him. It sounds like it was a bad depressing scene all around. The woman is hospitalized somewhere. It's not clear whether it's a mental hospital and/or a rehab facility. They fought like cats and dogs. Not my idea of great conversation for those cozy moments when you're hanging out in a Blair Witch-esque run-down shack in the middle of nowhere.
Vicki then tries to get to know Roger. What does he want out of life? It's all very weird. I know she's supposed to be an orphan and is presumably less socialized than someone from a conventional nuclear family, but honestly. It's a what-the-hell-can-she-be-thinking moment. Roger gives a flippant answer and then brings the conversation around to Burke and Bill and her leaving Collinwood. None of what he's saying makes a lot of sense. We know it. He knows it. She seems swayed. He gets a little too intense, demanding she promise her silence. He's shaking her, begging her to think of his safety. He even calls her an idiot, which has me smiling. Yes, his behavior is deplorable, but so in a very real sense is hers.
Enter George in his rain slicker. He's there to get them to safety having seen Roger's note. Vicki is pensive. You can tell she's unconvinced by Roger's theories and that she's finally putting two and two together. Of course, this is Vicki so she'll probably come up with thirteen rather than four.
