Original Airdate: July 1, 1966

VICTORIA

MY NAME IS VICTORIA WINTERS.

THE GREY LIGHT OF EARLY MORNING BRINGS NO RELIEF FROM THE TENSION THAT INHABITS THE OLD HOUSE ON TOP OF WIDOW’S HILL.

BUT AT LEAST THE NIGHT HAS PASSED, A NIGHT THAT WAS TOUCHED WITH A FEAR I’D NEVER KNOWN BEFORE.

AND NOW IT WILL BE OVER.

FEAR WOULD BE ENDED, AND SO WOULD HOPE.

Vicki is packing her bags to leave for NYC. She's had it, after a night of senseless interrogation and sleep punctuated by ghostly wailing, she's ready to head back to NYC. But Carolyn won't have it.

CAROLYN

VICTORIA WINTERS.

YOU’RE QUITTING, AREN’T YOU?

VICTORIA

UH-HUH.

CAROLYN

BUT YOU’VE ONLY BEEN HERE ONE NIGHT!

VICTORIA

WELL, IT SEEMS I CAN’T TAKE IT.

CAROLYN

AND HERE I THOUGHT I’D FOUND A FRIEND.

…

OH VICKI I KNOW IT WAS ROUGH LAST NIGHT BUT..

NO ONE KNOWS THAT BETTER THAN I.

VICTORIA

WELL, I’LL TAKE YOU UP ON THAT COFFEE.

And we're well set up for a good rapport between the two young women. They go off for their coffee.

David comes creeping out of the room (where does he learn it from, his father?) and goes to Victoria's room.

Suspenseful music plays and we're sure something bad is going to happen. Vicki's only been here one night and already he feels out of place here. He shouldn't be here. He even goes to the window and I'm thinking he's going to jump -- and then --

He calls out for Mother. Surely any boy would yearn for his mother -- who is assuredly not dead as we found out last episode. He vandalizes the suitcase and we cut back to Carolyn and Victoria, who is relaying the 2 AM incident where she met David.

Victoria relays that she heard sobbing last night and Carolyn is incredulous but also refuses to validate Vicki's experience. She responds with a cold, "Maybe you were dreaming."

Roger comes in and kisses Carolyn, to which she responds "Delicious!" ...Eyuck. Maybe it's just rich people things.

He presents a letter for Vicki from home and the only thing I can think of is WOW -- The post gets there fast. Overnight letters. I'm impressed. Also, the mail go there at 8 AM or whatever ungodly hour of morning it is. Hard-working post office there in Collinsport.

Roger says he hasn't seen David, but doesn't seem worried. "If you see him," he continues, "give him a kick for me, will you? There's a good girl." Oh boy. With fathers like these...

Vicki asked Roger if he heard any sobbing last night.

ROGER

DREAMS, MISS WINTERS.

NOTHING BUT DREAMS.

HAPPY BREAKFAST!

CAROLYN

YOU SEE, VICKI?

ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE US JUST ‘CAUSE OF A DREAM?

Vicki sighs, as well she should, because the even the music is hinting to us that everyone's playing her as a fool.

Upstairs, David furiously goes through her room packing her things. Poor Vicki didn't bring much, really, for starting her life anew in Collinsport.

In the miraculous fastest letter delivered ever:

CAROLYN

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, ANYTHING IMPORTANT?

VICTORIA

JUST NEWS.

SHE SAYS ALL THE CHILDREN MISS ME.

VICTORIA

WELL, I’LL JUST HAVE TIME FOR A GOOD LONG LOOK AT THE VIEW BEFORE I GO UPSTAIRS AND GET PACKED.

CAROLYN

YOU’RE CHICKEN.

VICTORIA

I SUPPOSE I AM.

The pair share a tearful moment when Vicki starts in with the hard questions.

VICTORIA

CAROLYN, IF YOU HATE IT HERE SO MUCH, WHY DON’T YOU LEAVE?

She responds with a thoughtless line, one that I'm sure won't be her last.

CAROLYN

OH, YOU DON’T KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE.

VICTORIA

OH, DON’T ENVY ME.

CAROLYN

WHY NOT?

WHEN YOU CAN JUST PICK UP YOUR BAG AND WALK OUT OF HERE.

YOU GO HOME TO A NORMAL FAMILY –

But Vicki takes the wind out of her sails when she reveals the letter came from a foundling home.

VICTORIA

THAT’S RIGHT, I’M ONE OF THOSE KIDS.

She continues, describing the letter that was left with her when she was abandoned. "Her name is Victoria. I cannot take care of her." She describes the conditions of her abandonment, including that $50 came for her each month postmarked from Bangor, Maine, noting that Collinsport is only fifty miles from Bangor.

CAROLYN

OH, VICKI, THAT’S A REAL STRETCH.

VICTORIA

WHEN YOU’RE AS DESPERATE AS I AM, YOU GRAB FOR ANYTHING.

SO DON’T EVER ENVY ME – BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOU BELONG.

AND YOUR NAME IS MORE THAN JUST A SEASON WHEN YOU WERE DROPPED ON THE MOST CONVENIENT DOORSTEP.

Upstairs, David continues to rifle through Victoria's things. Was he hoping to get a few bucks from her purse?

He looks out the window and sees Victoria heading toward the promontory, getting that last big breath of ocean air before heading upstairs.

A mysterious man appears that I don't recognize from my post-Barnabas viewings. I suppose he was recast?

VICTORIA

WHO ARE YOU?

SAM

THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION.

ONE I’VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT ALL MY LIFE.

WHO AM I?

WHO ARE ANY OF US?

WHY ARE WE HERE IN THIS GREEN AND UGLY WORLD?

YOUR NAME IS VICTORIA WINTERS.

VICTORIA

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

SAM

WHEN A MAN HAS CRUISED ALONG THESE CLIFFS AS LONG AS I HAVE, AND GAZED OUT TO SEA, FEASTED HIS EYES ON THE BEAUTY HERE, FASTENED HIS EARS TO THE KEYHOLES BESIDE, HE LEARNS A GREAT DEAL.

Sam Evans reveals he knows a lot about her. All he wants is for her to tell Roger that "Sam wandered along the shore last night and came to Widow's Hill this morning". He additionally wants her to tell that to no one else in that "ghost-ridden house of tears".

He continues, relaying the tale of Josette Collins, saying that everyone despised her because she was different, a stranger. He adds, "even the house hated her." Could he be trying to make a comparison between Josette and our heroine here?

Curiously, when Victoria is asked whether she believes in ghosts, she refuses her own experience, echoing what Roger and Carolyn have said to her this morning. Sam compares Elizabeth to a ghost, and it certainly opens up some lines of thought.

By the way, this room is a new set for me and I really like it. It's bright and modern, unlike the rest of the house.

Was it common to iron in the breakfast room? At any rate, it provides a distraction for Carolyn in the coming scene.

The two talk about Elizabeth. Victoria had been shocked to learn from Sam that Carolyn's mother hasn't been off the hill in eighteen years.

VICTORIA

WHY DID SHE DO IT?

CAROLYN

BECAUSE OF MY DAD.

HE LEFT, YOU KNOW.

TOOK OFF.

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO AND MY MOTHER, BEING A SENSIBLE WOMAN, DID THE NATURAL THING.

SHE DECIDED TO WAIT FOR HIM.

AND WHERE DO YOU WAIT?

AT THE HOUSE.

LOGICAL, ISN’T IT?

Such a sad story, if it's true. Vicki leaves to go upstairs and pack her things.

Vicki is almost there when gosh darnit Carolyn shows up again. She shares her conspiracy theory that there may be a connection between the two of them because of that shared time frame: eighteen years. Vicki doesn't think much of it, and to be honest neither do I. But time will tell.

Vicki goes into her room and we find that David has found Vicki's letter and cruelly quotes it back to her while keeping it from her before crumpling it. The audience is shocked and outraged until David reveals that it's the "widows" who "told me to send you home". Oh dear, David is being haunted! That would certainly explain a lot.

Vicki meditates a moment on what's happened before Carolyn comes in. She is not too shocked to find what David has done.

VICTORIA

IF I GO, THEN ALL I HAVE IS THIS.

CAROLYN

MAYBE YOU’LL THINK OF ANOTHER ANGLE SOMEDAY.

VICTORIA

YES, MAYBE I WILL.

…

CAROLYN; HELP ME PUT THOSE THINGS AWAY, I’M GOING TO STAY.

CAROLYN

YOU BET!

I really enjoyed this episode and thought it was well-composed. We learned a lot about some major players, and the plot was moved forward. And of course, Vicki has decided to stay at Collinsport. What more could you ask for?

★★★★