Episode 143 - 1/11/67

In the night, David calls to his aunt Elizabeth. He says he's scared, and points to the painting. Liz hasn't seen it before. Vicki rushes in and asks what frightened him. He said his mother's face came out of the painting. Liz consoles him and tells him he had a bad dream. Liz asks where the painting came from, and Vicki says Sam painted it. She explains how it ended up in David's room, and Liz offers to take it away. David stops her, saying that he wants to keep it. They tuck him back in and turn out the light. He gets up and walks over to the painting to stare at it.

Downstairs, Liz asks why she gave David the painting. She can't explain why. She says that Laura was frightened by it, and suggested it not hang in David's room. Vicki brings up the fact that if Laura takes David, she won't be needed. Liz says that she's not convinced that going with Laura will be good for David.

David pulls out his crystal ball, and then stares into the painting.

The following morning, Sam starts a new painting when there's a knock on the door. Vicki has brought David to see him. David thanked Sam for his painting. He says he loves it because it's scary, and asks Sam why he painted her in the fire. Sam tells David never to ask an artist why he paints a certain subject. David wants to know why he painted a picture that matched his dream. Sam asks David to explain his dream. David describes how she's surrounded by fire as it gets hotter and hotter. Sam suggests they might travel on the same psychic wavelength. Sam sends David to the kitchen to get cider and cookies. He tells Vicki that David's nightmare matches the visions he's been having. He shows Vicki his latest painting, with another woman and fire. Once again, there's a blank spot in her embrace. Vicki describes how she felt compelled to take the painting yesterday. David returns from the kitchen and he and Vicki leave. Sam downs a few drinks, and then returns to the canvas and, in a trance-like state, begins painting.

Vicki and David return to Collinwood, and she tells Liz that they saw Sam Evans so David could thank him for the painting. There's a knock at the door; a detective has arrived to speak with Laura about the woman who died in the fire in Phoenix. Liz offers to take him to the cottage where she's staying, and he first asks her to review some personal effects recovered from the fire. She's able to identify a locket that was a family heirloom. Vicki sees it and says Laura was wearing one just like it the other day. Liz says it's one of a kind, but Vicki points out that it even had a lock of David's hair. The detective opens up the locket to find a lock of hair and a picture of young David.

Our thoughts

John: So David is frightened by the painting of his mother standing in fire. Shocking. I'm amazed his aunt let him keep it.

Christine: Yeah, the whole thing is just nutty. Perhaps David is dreaming all this is happening.

John: Oh good lord. Another painting with a David silhouette, and still, nobody can see it?

Christine: Vicki says it looks like she's holding something and wonders what it's supposed to be. I mean, really it could be virtually anything shaped like the head of a small boy. So, what is compelling Sam to paint the portraits? Why is the female figure looking more haggard? What made Vicki want to bring the portrait home and made David want to hang it in his room? Laura did not want to have it around, which makes it seem like she's not behind the compulsion. Do the Collinwood ghosts have something to do with it? Or is Laura just pretending not to like the painting so she can use it as a portal for her big, floating head to travel through to give David the stink eye whenever he is defiant?

John: The detective who showed up at Collinwood is definitely not a local. I don't think his case is going to go away as quickly as the investigation into Bill Malloy's death did.

Christine: So how could Laura be wearing a locket that was burned in the Phoenix fire? What are we supposed to make of this information? She showed the locket to Vicki in Episode 139.