August 9, 1966--Episode 31
Jan. 21st, 2010 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_collinsport_reviewMy name is Victoria Winters.
They're having a moment of quiet at Collinwood, but Roger still remembers how close he came to death.
Roger comes downstairs, and after lingering for a few moments, Elizabeth comes in the front door. She tells him Matthew has gone to town to look for David. Roger tells her she can tell him not to bother. Elizabeth asks why, and Roger says she's missed quite a few things, and that David tried to kill him. Elizabeth says that's not true, and asks where David is. "Where all criminals belong," Roger says, "under lock and key."
Elizabeth asks when David got home, and Roger says it was about three quarters of an hour ago. Roger asks why, when she phoned to tell him David was missing, she didn't tell him the reason.
Elizabeth says she wasn't sure. Roger doesn't believe that, and they go over the whole valve thing again. Elizabeth says that maybe it was something that looked like the piece. Roger dispels this hope by showing her the piece and telling her it came home with David. When Elizabeth asks how David could have done it, Roger doesn't recognize this as an existential question and says that all he needed was a wrench.
In the police station, Jonas calls his invisible deputy Harry and tells him to try to get a hold of Bill. This is an easy task for Harry, since Bill is right there. Jonas says to send him in.
Jonas has a problem, and he wants Bill to help him with it. He wants information on the Collins family. "Roger. His sister Elizabeth. All of them." [At the moment the nameless "all of them" consists of Carolyn and David, and this makes me think of the early Gilligan's Island theme, when the Professor and Mary Ann were described as "and the rest."]
Bill asks why Jonas is asking him, and Jonas says because he manages their fishing fleet and cannery, and he knows them better than anyone else in town.
Bill doesn't think that's a good reason. [It's a good reason for Jonas to ask him; it's not a good reason for him to tell Jonas anything.] This somehow segues into who tampered with Roger's brakes, and they both know it was Burke. Bill further knows that Burke had a P.I. in town before he arrived---and Jonas knows that, too! Jonas knows the facts of the case, but he doesn't have enough to do anything. Then he tells Bill to just answer some questions about one member of the Collins family: a nine year old boy named David.
In the drawing room, Elizabeth engages in her favorite hobby: staring out the French windows. Roger comes into the house and Elizabeth asks if he stopped Matthew in time. Roger did, but doesn't see what difference it makes. [Well, Roger, it might make some difference to Matthew, since hardly anyone likes to be sent off on a fool's errand even if they are being sent by the Collins family.]
Elizabeth asks if Roger told Matthew anything. Roger didn't. Then she wants to know who else knows about David trying to kill him. Roger doesn't care about who knows. All he can think about are the nine years he's spent living with that boy, and how they're over now.
Elizabeth says that David is still his son, and Roger says--guess what! That David's a monster and that he's been nothing but trouble to him since the day he was born. [I find this unlikely, unless by "trouble" Roger means he wasn't his wife's center of attention after David's birth. Because can you see Roger changing diapers, or even feeding David?] David and his mother have both been nothing but trouble. He tells Elizabeth that life with David and Laura was hell. [I'm almost positive this is the first time we've heard David's mother's name.]
Once again Elizabeth says that David is Roger's son. [When do you think it's going to sink in that Roger doesn't care if David is his son?]
This time Roger questions that. He married Laura right after Burke's trial, and Laura was Burke's girl. [Oh, really?] David was born almost eight months after they got married, and every time Roger looked at David, he saw Burke, and he hated him. He won't deny that.
Elizabeth is sure David is Roger's son. Roger asks why? Is it because he's deceitful, dishonest, because he tried to kill his own father?
We make one more pass around the "maybe he didn't know what would happen" subject. Roger says he's known David nine years, whereas Elizabeth has only known him for two months. And do you know what those nine years add up to? Roger holds up the infamous bleeder valve.
In the police station, Jonas asks Bill what David said. Bill asks if Jonas realizes that David is just a kid. [Well, he mere moments ago he describe him as being nine years old, so I'm going to guess that yes, he does know that.] Bill says that David and Roger must have had one humdinger of a fight because David said, "I hope he dies."
Jonas asks if he thinks David could really hate his father. Bill equivocates by saying he doesn't like him, and asks Jonas what he's getting at.
Jonas asks what they argued about, and Bill tells him Roger talked about sending David away.
Both men are appalled at the idea that David could have tried to kill Roger, but Jonas is thinking it.
Jonas tells the story of how David dropped and picked up the wrench, and that David's fingerprints are on it. Bill says that of course his fingerprints are on it, he handled it. Jonas tells him he never did like Burke for the crime because he's too smart to have gone through with it after being seen. [Then why were you just agreeing that you'd like to arrest Burke for it?]
Bill says that the car did crash, and Jonas says that he thinks Burke's story is true. Then he shows him a picture of some fingerprints, with Burke's fingerprint covering part of David's.
Bill says that doesn't prove anything, and Jonas agrees. Bill asks what Jonas intends to do about it. Jonas doesn't know.
Roger is standing around the drawing room when Elizabeth comes in. She's been up talking to David, who wouldn't answer her. She pleaded with him to tell her it wasn't true, but he wouldn't say anything. [I can understand that. After all, he's told all kinds of other people it isn't true, and they haven't believe him.]
Elizabeth doesn't know what to do, but Roger does. "David isn't a normal child, for whatever reason." [Yes, for whatever reason.] He needs special help.
But, Elizabeth protests, he's so frightened. Roger says he should be frightened. Once again, Roger wants to send David away. But this is his home, Elizabeth says.
If he were older, he'd be sent to prison, Roger says, and Elizabeth answers that he isn't older. Roger says if he told the sheriff, he'd call the juvenile authorities.
Elizabeth tells Roger he's wrong, that David shouldn't be sent away. Roger tells her that David tried to kill him! Kill him! and now she wants David to go on living there so he can try it again.
Elizabeth has an answer for that. Maybe David didn't know what would happen!
[Are you starting to suspect I'm making this up? If it was me reading this, I'd be suspecting that, but I swear to you, I'm not.]
By now even Roger is fed up with this same argument. He asks Elizabeth what's next, a loose rock? Some rat poison in his coffee? He's tried to be as forgiving as possible--
Elizabeth--along with the rest of the civilized world--doubts this. But Roger has been trying to deal with David for nine years! [No! Really??]
Finally--finally!--Elizabeth asks Roger what he thinks those years were like for David, surrounded by a hate he didn't know how to deal with or even understand. Not that she's trying to excuse David, but she wants to help him. She then (metaphorically) throws the infamous bleeder valve in Roger's face and says it adds up to more than nine years, it adds up to a boy lying on his bed, trembling with fear, afraid of everything and everyone.
I'm to be blamed for that, Roger says, and Elizabeth essentially says yes, she's seen how Roger treats him, driving him deeper and deeper into his own fears.
And that excuses him? Roger asks again, and Elizabeth says, again, that nothing excuses him, but he's been forced to live his lifetime with Roger's guilts.
Guilts? Roger challenges. Just what does she mean by that?
Elizabeth backs down. She shouldn't have said that. But she wants to help his son
Ah, but maybe David isn't his son!
[I'm getting a headache. Will somebody please slow down this merry-go-round so I can jump off?]
Elizabeth will have none of that. He belongs to them--and she points at the portraits in the drawing room--Jeremiah, Isaac, Benjamin. David is the last of the line, and he needs their help. Elizabeth has made up her mind.
What does she expect him to do? Roger asks
To remember that David's not a criminal, and to leave him alone while Elizabeth and Victoria give him the happiness he deserves.
Just then, Jonas comes to the door, looking for Roger. Jonas comes into the drawing room, and Roger starts making veiled remarks about the family.
Roger asks if Jonas has arrested Burke, and laughs at the irony of it if he has.
Jonas says he never liked Burke for the crime, and Roger cuts him off to say how right he was, and go on and on about how unjust they were to Burke. Elizabeth is getting very angry with him.
You remember the wrench? Well, Jonas could be wrong, but--
And before he has a chance to say anything else, Roger asks if it's about David. [At this moment Roger has less to worry about from David than he does from Elizabeth.]
Yes, Jonas says, there were prints on the wrench.
This time Elizabeth interrupts him to tell him that the whole thing was just an accident.
Now Roger is angry--and surprised, which goes to show he wasn't paying attention earlier.
Elizabeth says that the caretaker told her that the valve had been loose in the past and should have been fixed. He didn't want to say anything because of the accident.
"You mean it fell off by itself," Jonas half-asks, very skeptical.
Yes, Elizabeth says, and tells Roger to show him the valve. Roger, who is sulking, has to be told twice.
[The valve, by the way, sort of looks like a bullet.]
Jonas asks where it was found, and Elizabeth tells him by the side of the road, exactly where it fell. [I don't know how she knows that.]
Jonas, no dummy, says that what she's telling him is that she wants him to drop the whole thing, and Elizabeth says that since there are no criminals involved, there's no point continuing the investigation.
Elizabeth, double-checking, asks if there will be no further investigation. Why should there be, Jonas asks, when there's nothing to investigate? And now he's going to go home because he promised to take his wife to the movies.
Elizabeth shows him to the door, with Roger still sulking in the foyer doorway. As he's about to leave, Jonas tells Roger to give David his regards.
Now both Roger and Elizabeth are furious. Roger starts to sulk his way upstairs, but Elizabeth tells him she had no choice.
Roger says again that David is a monster, and that someday Elizabeth will regret protecting him.
*
[What can one American jeep patrol do against Rommel's mighty Africa Corps? Watch for Rat Patrol, Monday nights in color starting in September, here on ABC.]
They're having a moment of quiet at Collinwood, but Roger still remembers how close he came to death.
Roger comes downstairs, and after lingering for a few moments, Elizabeth comes in the front door. She tells him Matthew has gone to town to look for David. Roger tells her she can tell him not to bother. Elizabeth asks why, and Roger says she's missed quite a few things, and that David tried to kill him. Elizabeth says that's not true, and asks where David is. "Where all criminals belong," Roger says, "under lock and key."
Elizabeth asks when David got home, and Roger says it was about three quarters of an hour ago. Roger asks why, when she phoned to tell him David was missing, she didn't tell him the reason.
Elizabeth says she wasn't sure. Roger doesn't believe that, and they go over the whole valve thing again. Elizabeth says that maybe it was something that looked like the piece. Roger dispels this hope by showing her the piece and telling her it came home with David. When Elizabeth asks how David could have done it, Roger doesn't recognize this as an existential question and says that all he needed was a wrench.
In the police station, Jonas calls his invisible deputy Harry and tells him to try to get a hold of Bill. This is an easy task for Harry, since Bill is right there. Jonas says to send him in.
Jonas has a problem, and he wants Bill to help him with it. He wants information on the Collins family. "Roger. His sister Elizabeth. All of them." [At the moment the nameless "all of them" consists of Carolyn and David, and this makes me think of the early Gilligan's Island theme, when the Professor and Mary Ann were described as "and the rest."]
Bill asks why Jonas is asking him, and Jonas says because he manages their fishing fleet and cannery, and he knows them better than anyone else in town.
Bill doesn't think that's a good reason. [It's a good reason for Jonas to ask him; it's not a good reason for him to tell Jonas anything.] This somehow segues into who tampered with Roger's brakes, and they both know it was Burke. Bill further knows that Burke had a P.I. in town before he arrived---and Jonas knows that, too! Jonas knows the facts of the case, but he doesn't have enough to do anything. Then he tells Bill to just answer some questions about one member of the Collins family: a nine year old boy named David.
In the drawing room, Elizabeth engages in her favorite hobby: staring out the French windows. Roger comes into the house and Elizabeth asks if he stopped Matthew in time. Roger did, but doesn't see what difference it makes. [Well, Roger, it might make some difference to Matthew, since hardly anyone likes to be sent off on a fool's errand even if they are being sent by the Collins family.]
Elizabeth asks if Roger told Matthew anything. Roger didn't. Then she wants to know who else knows about David trying to kill him. Roger doesn't care about who knows. All he can think about are the nine years he's spent living with that boy, and how they're over now.
Elizabeth says that David is still his son, and Roger says--guess what! That David's a monster and that he's been nothing but trouble to him since the day he was born. [I find this unlikely, unless by "trouble" Roger means he wasn't his wife's center of attention after David's birth. Because can you see Roger changing diapers, or even feeding David?] David and his mother have both been nothing but trouble. He tells Elizabeth that life with David and Laura was hell. [I'm almost positive this is the first time we've heard David's mother's name.]
Once again Elizabeth says that David is Roger's son. [When do you think it's going to sink in that Roger doesn't care if David is his son?]
This time Roger questions that. He married Laura right after Burke's trial, and Laura was Burke's girl. [Oh, really?] David was born almost eight months after they got married, and every time Roger looked at David, he saw Burke, and he hated him. He won't deny that.
Elizabeth is sure David is Roger's son. Roger asks why? Is it because he's deceitful, dishonest, because he tried to kill his own father?
We make one more pass around the "maybe he didn't know what would happen" subject. Roger says he's known David nine years, whereas Elizabeth has only known him for two months. And do you know what those nine years add up to? Roger holds up the infamous bleeder valve.
In the police station, Jonas asks Bill what David said. Bill asks if Jonas realizes that David is just a kid. [Well, he mere moments ago he describe him as being nine years old, so I'm going to guess that yes, he does know that.] Bill says that David and Roger must have had one humdinger of a fight because David said, "I hope he dies."
Jonas asks if he thinks David could really hate his father. Bill equivocates by saying he doesn't like him, and asks Jonas what he's getting at.
Jonas asks what they argued about, and Bill tells him Roger talked about sending David away.
Both men are appalled at the idea that David could have tried to kill Roger, but Jonas is thinking it.
Jonas tells the story of how David dropped and picked up the wrench, and that David's fingerprints are on it. Bill says that of course his fingerprints are on it, he handled it. Jonas tells him he never did like Burke for the crime because he's too smart to have gone through with it after being seen. [Then why were you just agreeing that you'd like to arrest Burke for it?]
Bill says that the car did crash, and Jonas says that he thinks Burke's story is true. Then he shows him a picture of some fingerprints, with Burke's fingerprint covering part of David's.
Bill says that doesn't prove anything, and Jonas agrees. Bill asks what Jonas intends to do about it. Jonas doesn't know.
Roger is standing around the drawing room when Elizabeth comes in. She's been up talking to David, who wouldn't answer her. She pleaded with him to tell her it wasn't true, but he wouldn't say anything. [I can understand that. After all, he's told all kinds of other people it isn't true, and they haven't believe him.]
Elizabeth doesn't know what to do, but Roger does. "David isn't a normal child, for whatever reason." [Yes, for whatever reason.] He needs special help.
But, Elizabeth protests, he's so frightened. Roger says he should be frightened. Once again, Roger wants to send David away. But this is his home, Elizabeth says.
If he were older, he'd be sent to prison, Roger says, and Elizabeth answers that he isn't older. Roger says if he told the sheriff, he'd call the juvenile authorities.
Elizabeth tells Roger he's wrong, that David shouldn't be sent away. Roger tells her that David tried to kill him! Kill him! and now she wants David to go on living there so he can try it again.
Elizabeth has an answer for that. Maybe David didn't know what would happen!
[Are you starting to suspect I'm making this up? If it was me reading this, I'd be suspecting that, but I swear to you, I'm not.]
By now even Roger is fed up with this same argument. He asks Elizabeth what's next, a loose rock? Some rat poison in his coffee? He's tried to be as forgiving as possible--
Elizabeth--along with the rest of the civilized world--doubts this. But Roger has been trying to deal with David for nine years! [No! Really??]
Finally--finally!--Elizabeth asks Roger what he thinks those years were like for David, surrounded by a hate he didn't know how to deal with or even understand. Not that she's trying to excuse David, but she wants to help him. She then (metaphorically) throws the infamous bleeder valve in Roger's face and says it adds up to more than nine years, it adds up to a boy lying on his bed, trembling with fear, afraid of everything and everyone.
I'm to be blamed for that, Roger says, and Elizabeth essentially says yes, she's seen how Roger treats him, driving him deeper and deeper into his own fears.
And that excuses him? Roger asks again, and Elizabeth says, again, that nothing excuses him, but he's been forced to live his lifetime with Roger's guilts.
Guilts? Roger challenges. Just what does she mean by that?
Elizabeth backs down. She shouldn't have said that. But she wants to help his son
Ah, but maybe David isn't his son!
[I'm getting a headache. Will somebody please slow down this merry-go-round so I can jump off?]
Elizabeth will have none of that. He belongs to them--and she points at the portraits in the drawing room--Jeremiah, Isaac, Benjamin. David is the last of the line, and he needs their help. Elizabeth has made up her mind.
What does she expect him to do? Roger asks
To remember that David's not a criminal, and to leave him alone while Elizabeth and Victoria give him the happiness he deserves.
Just then, Jonas comes to the door, looking for Roger. Jonas comes into the drawing room, and Roger starts making veiled remarks about the family.
Roger asks if Jonas has arrested Burke, and laughs at the irony of it if he has.
Jonas says he never liked Burke for the crime, and Roger cuts him off to say how right he was, and go on and on about how unjust they were to Burke. Elizabeth is getting very angry with him.
You remember the wrench? Well, Jonas could be wrong, but--
And before he has a chance to say anything else, Roger asks if it's about David. [At this moment Roger has less to worry about from David than he does from Elizabeth.]
Yes, Jonas says, there were prints on the wrench.
This time Elizabeth interrupts him to tell him that the whole thing was just an accident.
Now Roger is angry--and surprised, which goes to show he wasn't paying attention earlier.
Elizabeth says that the caretaker told her that the valve had been loose in the past and should have been fixed. He didn't want to say anything because of the accident.
"You mean it fell off by itself," Jonas half-asks, very skeptical.
Yes, Elizabeth says, and tells Roger to show him the valve. Roger, who is sulking, has to be told twice.
[The valve, by the way, sort of looks like a bullet.]
Jonas asks where it was found, and Elizabeth tells him by the side of the road, exactly where it fell. [I don't know how she knows that.]
Jonas, no dummy, says that what she's telling him is that she wants him to drop the whole thing, and Elizabeth says that since there are no criminals involved, there's no point continuing the investigation.
Elizabeth, double-checking, asks if there will be no further investigation. Why should there be, Jonas asks, when there's nothing to investigate? And now he's going to go home because he promised to take his wife to the movies.
Elizabeth shows him to the door, with Roger still sulking in the foyer doorway. As he's about to leave, Jonas tells Roger to give David his regards.
Now both Roger and Elizabeth are furious. Roger starts to sulk his way upstairs, but Elizabeth tells him she had no choice.
Roger says again that David is a monster, and that someday Elizabeth will regret protecting him.
*
[What can one American jeep patrol do against Rommel's mighty Africa Corps? Watch for Rat Patrol, Monday nights in color starting in September, here on ABC.]
