Aug. 9, 1966
The highlight of this episode of Louis Edmonds' extended snark-a-thon, which drenches his every scene with acidic sarcasm. Faced with the undeniable fact that his son tried to murder him, Roger has retreated into a bitter resignation that is so extreme that it might have looped around and become denial. He's not only written off his son, but life in general ... but he has no significant plans to do anything about it. Tomorrow is another day, and it will probably look just like all of those that came before it, so fuck it ... let's have some sherry.
Not much really happens in this episode. The odious Sheriff Carter returns to broadcast his incompetence to the world. The fingerprints taken from a wrench found inside Roger's car have come back from the lab (which has to be some kind of land speed record) and show that David handled the tool BEFORE Devlin. Carter is convinced David was behind the wreck, tells Bill Milloy about his suspicions and marches up to Collinwood to launch a formal investigation.
He begins by apologizing for doing his job, and tells Liz "I could be wrong. I've made mistakes before. Lots of times." I'm sure prosecutors LOVE having this guy on the witness stand. Liz resets the bar for Bullshit Alibis when she tells Carter that nobody was responsible for the wreck, saying the part "fell off by itself." Sure, Burke used the same story in the previous episode, but Carter shouldn't be stonewalled so easily. He gets the hint and drops the investigation, going off into the night in search of a ham sandwich that doesn't have mustard.
This episode manages to squeeze in a few nuggets of information, thanks to Roger's surly whining. First, David's mother's name is Laura, a fact that stays true throughout the series. Also, Roger suggests it's likely that Burke is David's father. Laura and Burke were in a relationship not long before Roger's rival went to prison, and it's within the realm of possibility that Laura was already knocked up when she got married. This plot point never comes to anything in the series, though. David Henesy would go on to play a number of Collins ancestors, and their similarities would be a little strange if he had no Collins blood. Also, Laura the Phoenix seems to have a thing for killing Collins kids. It's safe to say that Burke Devlin's feelings are just collateral damage in her story arc.
Collins men weren't exactly noted for their fidelity to their wives. Who's to say that maybe one of the Collins men who resembled David might not have had his wicked way with a woman who was one of Burke's ancestors, thus explaining the resemblance? (DS did a fair number of things that caused us fans to engage in "willing suspension of disbelief.")
ReplyDeleteThe two married men I can think off hand were the Quentin, and I think Quentin in the 1940's had a sympathetic adultery both him and his wife were not getting along. Quentin of tho 1897 I think cheated on his wife Jenny and she went insane, so his affair looks worst. As for Barnabas he was not legally married when he had the affair with Angelique not certain if he was engaged at the time. Lots of the husbands were like Edward just in bad marrieds but I don't remember who all had extra-martial affairs.
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