Episode 43 - 8/24/66

Bill Malloy comes to see Maggie at the restaurant. He asks if she's noticed anything strange about her father recently. He says he's worried about him. He mentions the long talk they had last night, and that he learned that Sam has some important information. Maggie asks if it involves Roger Collins or Burke Devlin. Maggie said her Pop blew his top when she mentioned calling Roger Collins to ask what was up. Burke asks if Sam ever said he was afraid of Roger Collins, and then tries to call him.

Vicki stops in after walking down the hill from Collinwood. Maggie fixes her a soda, and Bill returns from trying to call Roger. Vicki asks if Bill had seen Carolyn. She said that Mrs. Stoddard wants him to call her. He says he'll be in touch, but she's not going to like it, and then heads to the Blue Whale in search of Roger.

Maggie asks if Vicki has heard anything about her Pop up at Collinwood. She asks if Vicki has met her father. Vicki doesn't think so. Maggie talks about her father starting to drink 10 years ago, right after selling a bunch of paintings for a lot of money, but she doesn't know who he sold them to.

Joe arrives at the Blue Whale looking for Carolyn, and finds a drunk Bill Malloy. Joe mentions that Mrs. Stoddard is trying to find him. Bill asks Joe to join him for a drink, but Joe declines, as he's still working off his own hangover from the night before. Bill says he thought he had problem 20 years ago, and he thought he buried them like Elizabeth Collins did with hers. Joe mentions his problems with Carolyn, and Bill tries to convince him that he's at no risk of losing Carolyn to Burke.

Maggie asks Vicki to join her and her Dad for dinner. Vicki accepts the invitation, and as she's leaving, passes Sam Evans. Maggie says he just missed Vicki, and Sam says he's met her, but she hasn't met him. She mentions Bill Malloy is at the Blue Whale, and Sam leaves to meet him.

Bill tells Joe he should take Carolyn out of Collinwood. He tells Joe not to make the same mistake he did, alluding to not making a move, and then watching as someone else swept in. Sam enters and asks to speak to Bill privately. Sam asks what he told Bill while drunk. Bill asks if he wants him to repeat what he said in public, and Sam says no. Sam asks what Bill thinks he has learned, and Bill says, "much too much."

Joe arrives at Collinwood. He wanted to report back to Liz that he saw Bill Malloy. The phone rings and it's Carolyn calling from Bangor. She mentions Carolyn having lunch, and Joe realizes it was with Burke. Vicki tries to convince Joe that he needn't worry about Burke.

Back at the Blue Whale, Sam speaks of torment. Bill asks if it's been 10 years of torment—the same time Burke, Roger and Laura were in a car wreck together. Sam tells Bill he went up to Collinwood to tell Liz the whole story, but couldn't. He then walks out on Bill, who realizes he may be the one who needs to tell Liz what he believes.

Our thoughts

John: Aha! It sounds to me like Bill has always had a thing for Liz, but failed to act on it. He then watched as Paul Stoddard swept in and has regretted it ever since. And now he's going to have to tell her something about her brother that may cause her to hate him.

Christine: I wonder if she doesn't already know. She doesn't seem to exhibit a lot of affection for her brother, though protecting the Collins family name from scandal is a priority for her, so I expect she might try to encourage Malloy to keep his info to himself.

John: I'm also thinking that we're going to find out Roger Collins is the patron who bought all of Sam's paintings 10 years ago... as a form of payoff. And maybe they're all behind that locked door in the basement of Collinwood.

Christine: And Paul Stoddard is locked up in there sobbing at night because he has to look at them? Have you seen Sam's artwork?

John: I cannot help but wonder if Sam really couldn't bring himself to tell Bill what happened 10 years ago, or if he just forgot his lines.

I tried. I swear I tried. I just couldn't remember my lines.