Downstairs at breakfast, Roger apologizes to Victoria and delivers a letter that arrived for her in the mail. Carolyn is upset that Victoria is threatening to leave, as she clearly likes having someone her own age in the house.
We learn that Victoria was named after the season she was left on the doorstep of the foundling home, and that starting 18 years ago, and until she was 16, she received money in letters postmarked in Bangor, not far from Collinsport.
Victoria goes for a walk, and runs into a stranger who suggests that she leave. He asks her to tell Roger that Sam was there.
He tells her the story of Josette Collins, who would cry herself to sleep at night, before jumping from Widows’ Hill, giving the house the nickname "The House of Tears.”
Back in the house, Victoria asks Carolyn about her mother, and is told that she hasn't left the house for 18 years—waiting for her husband to return. Carolyn also points out the coincidence of Victoria receiving money 18 years prior.
David tells Victoria, "The widows told me to send you home," before storming off. Despite that, she decides to stay.
Our thoughts
John: Okay, so maybe Roger wasn't overstating it; David is a pretty obnoxious kid.
Christine: The disturbed little tyke is capable of doing some real damage. David has some definite mommy issues and seems to be lashing out. Roger's lack of affection for him probably doesn't help. Roger's apology to Vicki at breakfast seemed sincere and all is forgiven. He really is a charming and decent fellow today.
John: It's nice to get some background on Victoria Winters (I can't bring myself to call her Vicki yet—maybe next week). I'm anxious to see how this part of her story develops, as the question of her parentage was never something I gave any thought to, coming into the series so much later.
Christine: Vicki tells Carolyn her family was a cardboard box and a piece of paper with 10 words written on it: "Her name is Victoria. I cannot take care of her." That's pretty rough. Especially since she still hangs on to that little scrap of paper. It's pretty cruel the way David taunts her with it before crumpling it and tossing it at her feet. Little monster indeed.
John: I find it funny how they talk about Elizabeth's husband, who just 'walked out the door' 18 years ago, as if there's a chance of his ever returning.
Christine: So Liz hasn't been off the hill for 18 years, when Carolyn's dad took off 6 months before she was born, which also happened to be when 2 year old Vicki started getting money from an unknown benefactor. We can be certain that Liz had the baby at Collinwood, but we can only speculate whether or not Vicki could be Carolyn's big sister, or why she was dumped at the foundling home in a cardboard box with a note. I guess she'll have to stay at Collinwood to find out.
John: I was also pleasantly surprised to see Josette mentioned in this first week; I had always assumed she was part of the mythology introduced when Barnabas arrived on the scene. But I guess it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise—they don't call it Widows' Hill for nothing.
Christine: Strange Sam is quite the poetic guy. Just don't ask him who he is, or you'll get a profound answer that may keep you awake nights: "That's a good question. One I've been trying to figure out all my life. Who am I? Who are any of us? Why are we here in this green and ugly world?" He confirmed that there are definitely ghosts haunting Collinwood, and he seems pretty credible, so it's possible that the sobbing Vicki heard the night before was Josette Collins crying her heart out for loneliness. Let the haunting begin!
John: Wait—that wasn't Elizabeth crying? (Insert Robert Cobert 'surprise' stinger here)
2 comments:
With my wife, I've just begun watching the entire series - if we don't die first... So, it's nice to have found your blog. At our rate, we will catch up eventually, and may wind up ahead. The episodes are certainly short enough that watching two a day is not painful.
Good to have some suggestion of a supernatural element by the end of the first week of shows. It would actually be better than having the sobbing in the night be Roger's wife, locked in the unused wing like the mad Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.
I remember literally running home from school to get home in time for Dark Shadows when I was a kid. Of course I was mainly looking forward to seeing some Barnabus fangs or, better yet, an actual werewolf. My wife was watching from somewhat earlier in the run so she has some recollection of the earlier stories and seems to recognize an astonishing number of actors... But she never knew of the red and green card series which were a vital part of schoolyard life for me.
David is a Scary, Violent, little Boy. Glad Victoria didn't leave, but I might have. Sam talking about Josette surprised me, too. And I didn't remember that Victoria got her last name from the time of year she was left at the Orphanage.
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