Vicki wakes up to who she thinks is Mrs. Johnson watching over her. The woman tells her she's Abigail Collins. Vicki sees she's wearing new clothes, and Abigail tells her they dressed her in one of the servants' clothes. Vicki asks what year it is, and Abigail tells her it's 1795. Abigail asks who she is and what she's doing there.Vicki says her name and says she doesn't know what she's doing there. Abigail asks why she pretended to be Sarah's new governess. She explains that she doesn't understand how she came to be there. Abigail looks into Vicki's eyes and tells her that she can see she is possessed by the devil. Vicki denies it, but Abigail is convinced she's there to harm the family. She takes her clothes to burn and locks Vicki in the room. Vicki opens the window and climbs through it.
Vicki enters the new house, still under construction. She sees Burke, and then realizes it just looks like Burke. He's very accommodating, offering her his handkerchief. He apologizes for not being the man she thought he was. He introduces himself as Jeremiah Collins. He asks if she's the girl who has mystified everyone in Collinwood. He asks where she came from, and she says she can't tell him. He says that Sarah and his sister in law have taken a liking to her. Vicki says that Abigail thinks she's possessed by the devil. Jeremiah confirms that only Joshua listens to Abigail. He asks why she came to the new house, and she tells him she thought she'd be safe. She says she has nowhere to go, and he tells her she'll come back to the house with him, and she'll be safe with him. He says she can't be a witch, as witches don't cry over men they love. Jeremiah tells her to trust him, and he'll protect her. She agrees to accompany him to the main house.
In her room, Vicki paces when Jeremiah comes to see her with her clothes. He tells her to hide them from Abigail. She says she'll need them when she goes back to the place she came from. She says she can't tell him where, because he won't believe her. He accepts that, but says his brother Joshua will believe Abigail, or think she lost her mind. He suggests they make up her backstory.
Joshua takes a drink while Abigail tells him they should turn the woman over to the authorities in Collinsport. Naomi says that Abigail is wrong. She defends Victoria, and says Abigail is cruel, insisting the girl is possessed by the devil. Abigail asks Joshua to make Naomi apologize. Naomi says she won't, and Joshua tries to control her, telling her he'll send her to her room if she continues to speak that way to his sister. Naomi suggests they need a governess, and Jeremiah enters, agreeing with her. He says Victoria is the governess they sent for, and she should stay. Abigail asks why her name is different. Jeremiah says after the accident, she couldn't remember her name, and Victoria Winters came to her mind. Abigail suggests that the woman's beauty has bewitched him. Jeremiah suggests that Joshua is the head if the household, not Abigail. He sends them away and asks to see the governess.
Vicki sees Joshua and is surprised by his resemblance to Roger. He asks about her strange behavior, and Vicki starts to tell him of the accident. He dismisses that, and asks if she can read and write, and her other qualifications. He says she sounds very well educated. He asks where she received her training and she tells him she learned in a founding home in Boston. He offers her the governess role on a trial basis. He offers her $4 a month, along with food and lodging. He tells her to meet Sarah in the nursery tomorrow at 8, and dismisses her.
Naomi enters and tells him he made the right decision. He warns her about eavesdropping, and Abigail enters saying that she was as well. She tells him that Vitoria's beauty has bewitched him, too. She reminds him how their mother told them the face of evil must be crushed when encountered.
Our thoughts
John: Is that Maggie's afghan on Vicki? It sure looks like it, in which case—damn that thing is old!
Christine: It certainly appears to be. I wonder how it came into Sam and Maggie's possession. Perhaps it is due to the rift in the space-time continuum created by Vicki's presence in the past.
John: I love that our first glimpse of Joshua Collins is of him taking a drink. And for once, Louis Edmonds must have loved getting to play a man who controlled the women around him for a change.
Christine: Anthony George is more well suited to playing stodgy Jeremiah than passionate Burke Devlin, while Clarice Blackburn shines as the prim and proper, devil-fearing Abigail. The actors all seem to be enjoying their new roles. I liked how the illusion of Collinwood under construction was created with a few sawhorses and drop cloths.
John: I was worried about keeping track of all of the period characters, but I think I've got a pretty good grasp of it now. Joshua, Jeremiah and Abigail are all siblings, Joshua and Naomi are married with two children, Sarah and Barnabas. The only part that sticks out like a sore thumb is Barnabas. He seems a bit long in the tooth to be the son of Naomi and Joshua, let alone the nephew of Jeremiah. But it wouldn't make sense to replace him with a younger actor—we'll just see how young he plays as we make our way through the 1700s...
Christine: Incidentally, Liz wore Naomi's sparkly earrings to Barnabas' costume party in Episode 280.
John: Additions to our 1795 scorecard:
Present Day/1795
- Mrs. Johnson/Abigail Collins
- Burke Devlin (deceased)/Jeremiah Collins
- Roger Collins/Joshua Collins
My gosh! My grandparents had an afghan like this in the sixties. It was around a few decades later, don't know what happened to it. A very popular style.
ReplyDeleteThey were planning a possible Vicki/Jeremiah romance but Anthony George wanted out of the show at this point. His sudden departure messed up some of what they were planning for the flashback.
ReplyDelete