Thursday, August 11, 2016

Episode 34 - 8/11/66

Vicki meets Burke Devlin at the Blue Whale, hoping to find out about her past. He says he's got the report up in his bedroom. He asks Vicki to join him for dinner, and she says she'd rather go right to his room.


Joe awakens from a drunken stupor to find Carolyn standing over him. She goes to get him coffee, and tells him how she's made an enemy of her with his drunken confrontation with her mother.


Back in Burke's room, Vicki explains that she's not afraid of Burke. She wants to know why he was curious about her. She tells him she wants the information in the report more than he does.


Carolyn fixes Joe a sandwich. During the discussion, Joe finds out that Burke wasn't responsible for Roger's accident. He's still clearly jealous of Burke, but Carolyn finally kisses him, before asking him to apologize to Burke.


Burke orders some steaks to be delivered to the room. Vicki is disappointed that she didn't learn anything by reading the report. Vicki shows Burke the note that was left with her at the foundling home. Vicki tells Burke about the letters she received growing up, postmarked in Bangor. Burke tells her there are going to be unpleasant things at Collinwood, and that she should leave. When she says she can't leave, he say's that in that case he'll have to help her.


There's a knock at the door which Burke assumes is the food. Vicki goes to wash up, and Burke answers the door to find Joe. He's there to pay Burke back for covering his bar tab. Vicki comes out, and Joe is surprised to see her. After Joe leaves, Vicki decides to go before the steaks arrive.


Our thoughts

John: Vicki certainly doesn't waste any time negotiating her way to Burke's bedroom to get her hands on that report. It seemed like she was prepared to do whatever it takes to get that.

Christine: She's being "Champagne Vicki" as opposed to "Malted Vicki."  Burke seems really hungry. He can't stop talking about food. Lobsters, steamed clams, steaks. I guess he's got the beer munchies. He lets Vicki know that if she's worried about calories, she can skip the butter sauce because it's just as good without it.

John: How long is Vicki going to carry around the scrap of paper left with her at the foundling home? It's not like she doesn't have the message memorized. Did she think people wouldn't believe her, and she'd need proof?

Christine: That little scrap of paper is the only connection she has to her family, which is why she hangs on to it. I'm still waiting for her to whip out the cardboard box her parents left her in at the foundling home. She must be keeping that stowed away somewhere. Either Burke changed the message or he read it wrong. Back in Episode 5 the message read, "Her name is Victoria. I cannot take care of her." According to Burke it says, "Her name is Victoria. I can't take care of her." In other anomalies in this episode, Carolyn tells Joe that Jeremiah is her great-grandfather, however, Elizabeth told Vicki in Episode 2 that Jeremiah was her great-grandfather. Perhaps Carolyn is confused about the Collins family history. We also found out that Jeremiah was drunk more often than sober.

John: I can't believe Vicki let Burke order steaks, and then decides to leave before they are delivered. I would have thought she'd at least be polite and stay through dinner. He did let her read the report, after all...

Christine: I thought that was pretty poor manners too, but if she had stayed and ate her medium-rare steak, salad and coffee, she might have been more apt to...entertain Burke a little longer. She did promise to have dinner with him another time. Today was couples day on Dark Shadows. Robert Cobert's "Happiness, Romance, Love, Curtains Out" cue was getting a lot of play. After yesterday's gratuitous camera zoom on a young lady's chest, I wonder if the show is turning up the heat in an effort to attract more viewers. This is the first time Carolyn seriously locks lips with Joe, although she looks a bit nauseous while doing so. After he'd been out drinking himself silly, he probably had some noxious breath, so it's understandable.

What time is it? Coffee time for Hangover Joe.

Coffee + sandwich = Joe thinks it proves Carolyn loves him

You want steak or lobster? I can't expect any hanky panky if I don't feed you first.

Joe pays up for a night of drinking while being secretly pleased to find Burke with a girl who's not Carolyn.

2 comments:

Acilius said...

"Miss Winters, you amaze me." Me too! Any woman as young and attractive as Vicki in a town as small and gossipy as Collinsport would be the scandal of the month if she went unchaperoned to a bachelor's hotel room. When the woman lives with and works for the richest family in town and the bachelor is their sworn enemy, "indiscreet" isn't any fraction of the word needed to describe her boldness.

Anonymous said...

The amusing thing about the confusion about how they're related to Jeremiah is that later episodes would show they aren't descended from him at all, since he died without having any children!