Fashion notes first . . .
Vicki is now wearing her mod little suit. She's got a dark sweater on underneath and what appears to be a darker wool suit over that. It's still not working for her.
Every so often someone appears in something that I would swear I had never seen before even though I know full well I have. Elizabeth's outfit looks like a new one to me. It's a floor-length number. It has the feel of one of those hostess gowns, although it's posh enough that I thought for the briefest of moments she was dressing for dinner. Sleeves are bracelet-length. The fabric is dark and glossy. The cuffs and panels of the gown have a diamond-shaped metallic pattern while the rest of the thing have metallic polka dots. It sort of wraps at the waist. Very becoming.
Onto the show . . .
I'm not entirely convinced if this is supposed to be the next day or not. Bennett and Moltke are in new outfits, but Carolyn is in the same thing, so I'm going with this is Day 11 still. We segue into Day 12 with the second episode. Both were directed and written by John Sedwick and Francis Swann respectively.
The girls head downstairs with their spoils. The only name on the sheet that Carolyn recognizes is the firm's. Garner & Garner are her mother's lawyers and she only remembers Richard Garner. Some more exposition on who they are and all that. Vicki's pretty convinced that the B. Hanscombe (and I know I've spelled it like three different ways, but there's no authoritative name to go by) is the Betty Hanscombe from the portrait. She's all excited even though her logic is tenuous. I am totally lost as to how this is any kind of clue, but try telling her that. She phones Sam and he confirms the model's name for her. Vicki doesn't want to consult Elizabeth because she gets wiggy whenever Vicki's parentage comes up, and then in she walks.
I really think Vicki's big problem is that she has no sense of timing. None. Topic A is particularly sensitive with the family just then; Vicki must needs bring up Topic A right away. Person B is persona non grata with so-and-so; Vicki feels it necessary to reveal in so-and-so's hearing that she just did whatever with Person B. When she should tell a small falsehood, she's brutally honest. When she should be honest, she lies rather badly. It never fails.
Instead of asking Elizabeth about the sheet, the name, and so forth, Vicki asks for a couple of days off (after all, she's been there a whole week and a half) so she can go to Bangor to shop. Elizabeth agrees quickly, no doubt thinking that this is one way they can avoid a law suit.
Downtown Collinsport: Vicki and Carolyn hit the diner where the real Suzy (yay!) is tending the counter. I should point out that Carolyn's immediate move is to phone Burke and ask him to join them. Vicki is looking for bus schedules and doesn't hear any of that. I love how Vicki's cynicism resurfaces and submerges periodically. Just when I want to write her off as a total loss, she comes up with some quiet little zinger.
Burke comes on down. Much to Carolyn's chagrin, he makes his preference for Vicki painfully clear. She then tries to damage Vicki in his eyes by mentioning the Bill Malloy story, which only serves to secure his interest. Next thing we know, Burke's arranged to take Vicki to Bangor; I have to say it's pretty damn funny watching Carolyn here. Vicki does her best to be rational, but Carolyn is seventeen going on three so that's no good.
Fake TV driving! Fortunately, it's in the dark so we're spared the goofy rear projection scenery. I love how close the actors always seem to be. Considering how large those cars were in those days, it seems even weirder.
Back at Collinwood, Liz is dealing with the Junior Miss, who suddenly tries to persuade her to fire Vicki. God, that poor woman. It's not bad enough she's got Roger switching gears every two seconds, now she has Carolyn doing the same thing. Understandably, she'd like a more than a mood swing to go on. Carolyn, who lacks anything solid other than "she stole my boyfriend!" flings herself into Liz's arms and sobs. She then does her level best to imply that Vicki and Burke are in cahoots and that their trip to Bangor was prearranged.
In the car, Burke is reassessing Vicki's loyalties. They discuss Bill and there's more vacillation about what she thinks she saw. The reference to "What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor?" gives him pause. As it should, like there are more than two people on this planet who have that as a favorite tune. Blah, blah, blah, more about how she should leave town.
And then there was Garner & Garner! I kind of like these two guys. Richard Garner ably played by Hugh Franklin (Dr. Tyler on All My Children) is the father of Frank Garner, who becomes Vicki's only normal boyfriend. Frank is played by a gentleman named Conrad Fowkes, about whom I know nothing. But I digress. Frank isn't in the picture yet and Vicki has no idea who he is or how Richard is related to him. She's sitting in the office with Garner P?re and opens up the meeting with "Who am I?" Yeah. Like she got in to see the man without some sort of indication as to what this was about. And what the hell kind of an opening question is that? She backtracks after his "and you're asking me that because?" look with the ledger sheet. He readily informs her that there was a Mr. Hanscombe who was the butler and that this is a monthly wage statement. He admits he has no recollection as to the Christian name of the butler, but conjectures that this probably was from an occasion when the family hired in staff from the town. I totally buy this by the way, even if Vicki seems skeptical. Big shindig, you'd go to the locals for extra help in the kitchen or whatever.
He does get very evasive as to where the staff would be cooling their collective or separate heels these days. Supposedly, they all left town after Elizabeth fired everyone. Yeah. I can see why the butler and the higher-up of the servants might have gone in search of greener pastures, but she's supposed to believe that Janie Average who used to come in twice a year to help peel potatoes or fold napkins moved far away? I don't think so. Vicki buys it totally. She makes one last ditch effort to ask if she can speak to the other Garner. Then we meet Frank. Richard clears out and leaves his smitten son with his non-billable non-client.
At this point, Vicki is totally ready to give up and go home. Frank, cute Frank, wants to give it the old college try. He thinks, I might add, like a librarian (that's a compliment, btw) and wants to go to the original files and figure out where they mailed the butler his last check.
And we're back at the Bangor Pine Hotel. The set for the restaurant is suitably fancy. It's clearly not a coffee shop kind of a place. Vicki orders grilled cheese. Okay. This is not a show for food lovers. Burke joins her. I have to say that Moltke looks exceptionally pretty here. She confesses that she thinks the family is keeping her from the truth. Burke shrewdly conjectures that she would like to find a connection between her and the Collins family, which she denies. It's a nice little scene. There's no shouting. It's just two people talking and connecting. He offers to drive her back to Collinsport. Then we have some handholding. She doesn't fight it off either. They really do make a plausible couple.
Enter Frank. He recognizes Burke's name, but he's very nonchalant about it. Frank is just . . . Frank is just a genuinely nice guy. Burke leaves and Frank reports that he's had no luck with the ledger sheet.
Meanwhile Garner P?re rings Liz up to warn her that Victoria Winters has been in and is asking questions. He's in control. He also happens to possess the very same original ledger sheet that Frank is looking for.
