Episode 150 - 1/20/67

Roger watches the last remnants of the painting burn. Vicki enters the room and says Sam has left. She asks Roger where the scream came from, and Roger says it sounded like  it came from the fireplace. He then denies they heard it. He tries to suggest a logical explanation for the scream, and Vicki asks what the logical explanation is for David's face being in the painting. Roger pours himself a drink and says he plans to forget about the painting. She says he's going to have to deal with David.

Liz enters and asks what they're discussing. Roger says she missed the fireworks. He says he destroyed the painting. Vicki says Liz should be told everything, and Roger says he'll decide that. She leaves to check on David's dinner. Roger describes how Sam arrived to see the painting, and how David's portrait had been added to it. Roger says that sometime between the morning and evening, the painting was completed. They may never know how, but he doesn't care. She says that she thinks he made a mistake by burning it. He hasn't taken David's reaction into consideration.

David comes into his room with a wrapped gift. He turns around and immediately notices the absence of the painting. He looks around the room for it.

Roger and Liz are in the drawing room when David runs downstairs screaming asking where his painting is. Roger says it had to be destroyed. David starts to cry and Liz consoles him. David says he burned it, and runs to the fireplace. He says that now he'll never know what it was trying to tell him. He screams that they all hate him and runs upstairs. Liz sends Vicki after him to try and calm him down. Liz says she's going to tell Laura she can't see David any more.

David is in his room crying when Vicki comes in to check on him. David says everyone's against him.

Laura sits in front of the fire, entranced, when there's a knock at the door. She gets up and lets Liz in. Liz says that she's convinced Laura returning to Collinwood was a terrible mistake. She says she doesn't think Laura should see David any more. Laura doesn't agree. She wants to talk to David, and Liz says it's not a good time. She explains that he's upset, as Roger finally destroyed the painting.

Vicki watches over David as he lies in bed. He asks Vicki if she remembers the story his mother told him the other night. He asks her to tell the story while he tries to sleep. She says she's not sure if she can remember it, and then begins to recite it word for word.

Laura looks out her window towards the main house.

Liz returns and tells Roger that the outcome will be determined by whichever of them is stronger. She says that he's ducking the problem. Vicki comes downstairs and tells them David is asleep.

David cries in his sleep. He wakes to his mother's voice, and he sees her standing in the room. She gives him a handkerchief to dry his eyes. She says she's missed him. He dries his eyes, and when he looks up, his mother is gone. But her handkerchief remains.

Our thoughts

John: I think the big throwdown between Liz and Laura is yet to come, but it should be a good one.

Christine: At least Liz doesn't smoke, but she should probably be careful not to get too close to the fireplace.

John: Vicki did a pretty good job telling the Phoenix story, considering she wasn't in the room when Laura told it.

Christine: Is Laura possessing Vicki? Laura's hanky does not seem to be able to wipe away those sticky glycerin tears from David's face.

John: The powers of the Phoenix are mysterious, to be sure. Sometimes she manifests herself as a big floating head, and sometimes in her normal human form. The presence of the painting seemed necessary the first time. Perhaps Roger's burning it set her spirit free to roam the house.

Christine: It could be that the portrait was keeping her at bay so that only her big head could get through. David ran away from Laura the last time he saw her, but when she materializes in his room in the middle of the night, he seems at ease with her and agrees to make up for lost time. Perhaps the painting was stoking his fear, and now that it's gone, he's comfortable with his firebird mom.

Happy Birthday, John!