Fashion notes first . . .
I'd like to begin by going on record with an apology to Mr. Curtis. I've always assumed that they used Ohrbachs because they were too damned cheap. Until just recently though the credits on the old episodes of Ryan's Hope (which airs just before my VCR tapes Another World) proudly declaimed that their fashions were provided by Ohrbachs. So maybe it was a network thing.
Vicki has on what is either a skirt/blouse combo or a dress. I can't tell because over whatever this monstrosity is, she's wearing a shapeless cable knit cardigan. I can tell you that the skirt features buttons down the front; they're running in a triangular fashion down from the waist with the result being that poor Alexandra Moltke once again looks larger than she was.
I love Elizabeth's dress. It's knit and belted at the waist. It has this great collar, bracelet length sleeves and in addition to her pearls, a brooch, and earrings, she's got this great checked shawl to go with. Very smart looking.
Matthew has on a rather unattractive sweater vest. Oh for the days of George Allen in his pea coat.
Onto the show . . .
It's Day 6! We open on the kitchen set, which I've always liked. The prop guy has come up with toast for little Davy to be eating. He's full of questions for Vicki. Namely, he'd like to know all about the screams he heard last night and the fact that he saw Vicki and Carolyn come running into the house. Vicki evades the subject. Then there's a debate about the existence of ghosts. Again, please note that Vicki's coming down on the side of rationality in a big way. There's also a lovely little zinger on David's part, "When you're dead, I won't even come to your funeral." Instead of responding with something along the lines, of "No, you probably won't, maximum security prisons tend not to give the inmates day passes for the funerals of non-relatives, but you can always send a donation to whatever charity appears in the death notice," Vicki looks pensive. As she wants to keep her job, this is probably the wiser move.
Vicki tries to break through, but David isn't having any, thank you very much. Also sounds like Laura did a right thorough job on this kid. Nothing warms the cockles of the heart like a parent who turns a child into an ally for her fights with his father. He's also quite the little cynic, Roger in embryo as it were.
Elizabeth pleads ignorance about the screaming and floats back out to do whatever it is that she does during the day. You know, if I were Vicki, I'd be thinking long and hard about the total ease her employer displays in lying.
David expresses a fondness for his Aunt Elizabeth. It's a sweet moment that he then promptly ruins by proclaiming his willingness to kill anyone who hurts her. Another thing that is interesting. She positively seems to inspire this kind of warped devotion. You have to wonder.
In pops Joe, who tries to be pals with David. You would think they would have all learned by now how unsuccessful an approach this is. David is a Burke Devlin shipper all the way by now and has no use for Joe. Bill Malloy is missing. We've heard this all before. Vicki takes Joe into the drawing room and discloses all that went on the night before.
Ha! Liz catches Davy eavesdropping and lets him have it.
Liz and Joe: Where is Bill? It's not like him to disappear like this; we've called everywhere; where could he be? blah, blah, blah . . .
Me: Hello? Police? Have you thought about the cops?
Liz and Joe: Carolyn's asleep. Poor little rich girl had quite the ordeal looking at what was surely a clump of seaweed.
Me: Ha! Must be nice being able to sleep in like that. Dead body or no dead body.
Joe: leaves
Liz: Calls the police and speaks to George
Me: Finally. About bloody time. Nooooooooooooo!!! Where is my Jonas? What happened to Jonas? Not George, the dim bulb! Wait, maybe this was that other guy. The one who appeared like he might actually have a brain.
Schoolroom: It's geography time! I approve. I was just talking to my hairdresser about how I have very few memories of learning geography and that now my ideas of states are things like "somewhere in the middle" and "to the right of North Dakota, I think." This is the kind of subject they stopped teaching for like two decades. It's good to see that the future scion of the mighty Collins family will not have to guess about the location of Calgary. He's a bright kid. I have to give him that. He knows most of the answers even if he does produce them sandwiched in between grisly discussions about cadavers.
Unfortunately, little David isn't all that interested in the directions in which rivers in North America flow. But can you blame him? Continental divide or dead bodies? Which would you rather discuss?
Drawing room: Turns out Roger was late to work because he made Matthew walk on the rocks with him looking for dead bodies. At least that's better than my usual (true) excuse of "I slept through both of my alarms." I mean, that's a solid excuse for being late. What could any employer say to that one? "Um, that's all well and good, Roger, but you really should do that on your lunch hour." I think not. Matthew tells Liz to keep the girls away from Widows' Hill as it's an unnatural place.
Davy has a fairly interestingly detailed idea of how Roger killed Bill. Vicki, still laboring under the delusion that David is normal, tries to impart the horror of what he's suggesting. She also explains that were Roger guilty of such a crime, he'd be in prison for life. David finds this a splendid notion.
Drawing room: Liz calls Matthew on his story. He finally cops to having seen and moved Bill's corpse. She's upset and furious and heads straight for the phone.
Film footage of Roger on the docks looking very jaunty. He's got a light tweed sport coat slung over the one shoulder and he waves at someone he knows as he walks into the cannery. There's a valiant attempt to match up this footage with the videotape. Unfortunately, the sport coat he's now got is much darker tweed. He has a secretary named Miss Black, who is apparently AWOL, as Roger is forced to pick up his own phone. It's Burke. Yawn. About Bill. Again. Roger apparently feeling the same ennui I am, isn't biting and calls him on the inappropriate gift of the crystal ball. More verbal volleys from both sides and Roger finally hangs up. Phone rings again, but Roger refuses to pick it up.
Drawing room: Liz is trying to get a hold of Roger to tell him the news. Matthew is pretty damn implacable. Oh, I love this: Bill was afraid of the water and couldn't swim. Not a problem for our friends in Kansas or Nebraska (located in the middle) or for those who work in non-marine-based industries, but I'm guessing a slight issue for someone who managed a fishing fleet and had to go out daily.
Anyhow, Matthew explains that he was trying to protect Liz. If she wants to call the police, fine, but he would like to know what she'd like him to say. Liz just wants him to tell the truth. Matthew tells her he's not too bright and maybe she'd better tell him how she wants him to tell the truth. Heh. The look on her face. Anyhow, she's all for a full disclosure with no particular slant.
Roger is using Bill's absence as an opportunity to try out some of his new ideas for the business. Burke barges in before we can get more of a sense as to what this are. Lots of shouting. I have to say that Burke, although looking pretty yummy in a single breasted dark wool suit, is coming off as the ass du jour.
Enter George Patterson in all his mentally challenged glory. It's Dana Elcar. I like to think that we're supposed to infer that Jonas really did get kicked out of office by the Collins family for his behavior in the Affair of the Bleeder Valve of Roger Collins' Master Brake Cylinder. I'm sure there's a more prosaic solution like the actor playing Jonas got a part in a play or something, but I can dream.
The office: Burke plays darts. Badly. Burke is doing his thing and Roger does his best to poke holes in Burke's theories. This is the beginning of my rather intense dislike of Burke. I mean, I know all about Roger. I know what he did to Burke. I know, for that matter, what really happened with Bill. But. Burke's holier-than-thou yelling and bluster isn't about Bill. I think I could forgive him if it were. It's all about how Bill's disappearance effects Burke. That's all it is. Roger's a right bastard, but so is Burke. And right now? I'm rooting for Roger.
Drawing room: Early George is no smarter than Late George. Mathew apologizes for moving the body. George manages to freak the hell out of Liz and Matthew by talking about autopsies.
Roger holds his own with Burke. He scores a good point by mentioning that Bill was drinking a lot that day. Burke finally spills about Bill's deal.
Drawing room: George is trying to think. Always a laborious process. They're going to use the tides to figure out where Bill's body is now and where it was before. George is already looking for motives. Me? Me, I'm thinking that Francis' choice of geography for David's lesson was really quite apropos.
Sturm and drang back in Roger's office. Liz calls and Roger seizes this as an excuse to end the Burke interview. Upon his arrival at Collinwood, rather than explain to her brother that Bill is dead, Elizabeth chooses to inform him that the police would like to question him.
Francis penned both of these.
