Original Airdate: July 5, 1966

VICTORIA

MY NAME IS VICTORIA WINTERS.

THE DEAD PAST DRIPS THROUGH THE CORRIDORS OF COLLINWOOD AND SETTLES LIKE DUST IN ITS CORNERS.

SPURRED BY HOPE, AND SURROUNDED BY FEAR, MY SEARCH CONTINUES – AS LIFE ITSELF CONTINUES.

NOT ONLY FOR ME, BUT FOR EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS STRANGE CORNER OF THE WORLD.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH THEIR OWN FEAR, THEIR OWN HOPES.

After a nice walk through Collinsport, Sam Evans arrives at his house and does something out of time. His watch is off, although it's not obvious how he knows it's not set correctly. He does something none of us modern folk would think to do; he calls the operator to request the time.

SAM

DON’T ROB ME OF MY HOURS.

THERE ARE ALL TOO FEW.

OR PERHAPS TOO MANY.

He goes over to pour himself a drink.

When a figure interrupts him who we didn't even know was in the house: Roger Collins. "I don't think you ought to have that now," he asserts, and it's the pot calling the kettle black.

SAM

TO LIFE, COLLINS.

TO THE LONG, UNHAPPY, AND MISERABLE LIFE THAT LIES AHEAD FOR BOTH OF US.

SUSTENANCE TO MY SOUL.

PROVIDER OF MY COURAGE.

DESTROYER OF MY TALENTS.

Roger interrupts a very fine musing on alcohol to demand where Sam was last night. And then he immediately starts in talking about Burke Devlin. Sam knows Burke came in on the nine o'clock train last night, but refuses to tell us how he knows. Again, news travels fast in Collinsport.

Whatever is shared between the two, it has covered the span of the past ten years. It has drawn these two closer together. Roger insists that Burke has come to destroy him, and Sam agrees, "Revenge and retribution, yes I would say so."

But Sam has a different approach than Roger.

SAM

I AM WHAT I’VE BECOME.

I’LL DO NOTHING.

At the Collinsport Inn, Maggie entertains Burke, who doesn't recognize her. "Black, four sugars?" she asks with a sly grin on her face. But Burke has changed.

BURKE

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT PORTRAIT YOUR FATHER WAS DOING OF ME?

MAGGIE

IT GOT INTERRUPTED BY THE TRIAL, REMEMBER?

No, we don't remember! Maggie goes on to say her pop never felt like finishing it.

MAGGIE

I GUESS HE HASN’T FELT LIKE FINISHING MUCH LATELY, UNLESS IT’S 190 PROOF.

Gee whillikers! That's some strong liquor!

MAGGIE

WHEN I SEE SOMEONE READING THE FINANCIAL PAGE, I FIGURE HE’S MADE IT.

BURKE

YOU NEVER USED TO BE SUCH A NOSY KID, MAGGIE.

In springs Vicki, who says she needs to make a phone call and asks for change for $3. I guess David didn't get the bills out of her purse after all. Although on closer inspection, the purse that she's carrying is not the same purse that David rifled through. I know I'm overthinking this but hey! (That's my purse, I don't know you!) She leaves the room for the lobby.

MAGGIE

NOW THERE’S A BRAVE GAL.

CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYONE WANTING TO LIVE IN COLLINWOOD?

BURKE

AS A MATTER OF FACT, I CAN.

MAGGIE

YOU COULDN’T PAY ME A HUNDRED BUCKS A DAY TO WORK IN THAT SPOOKY JOINT.

BURKE

NOBODY ASKED YOU, MAGGIE.

OUCH! How rude!

Word gets out that Sam went up to see Miss Winters. Roger is quite upset, saying "the one thing we agreed upon is that you'd never go anywhere near that house." Very curious.

Vicki's adventures at the payphone remind us of a simpler time; the phone at Hammond Foundling Home is simply busy and she can't get through. Burke intercepts her as she leaves the booth and she has coffee with the man.

MAGGIE

WATCH HIM, HE’S A FIRE-EATER.

Is this some kind of stock phrase from the sixties or something? That's the second time someone's said that on this show by the seventh episode. I don't mind the phrase, but gee. I suppose in the time of traveling circuses and freak-shows, the vocation might have been a little closer to the forefront of people's minds.

Burke follows some dangerous logic to suggest, or prove, that he's the "oldest friend you have in Collinsport" and Vicki just smiles and goes along with it. Creepy, very creepy.

He betrays his background, or at least, our assumptions about his background, by talking with his mouth full. The things you could get away with on television! The two call each other strange, but it's Burke who has the last laugh here.

BURKE

BUT YOU, YOU LEAVE NEW YORK.

BURY YOURSELF IN A SMALL TOWN, A TOWN THAT WOULDN’T FILL FOUR SQUARE BLOCKS IN MANHATTAN.

VICTORIA

SO DID YOU.

BURKE

UH-HUH.

BUT I HAD A REASON.

WHAT’S YOURS?

Vicki counters, saying she's here to tutor a nine-year-old boy. Oh yeah, David! We almost forgot about him!

Burke continues to press Victoria for gossip, now attempting to change the topic to Roger Collins. So much for talking about clam chowder. For coming from NYC, Vicki sure doesn't seem to have a lot of street smarts. But thankfully she doesn't volunteer too much information.

In the lobby of the Inn, Roger arrives, and Maggie, dear sweet Maggie, tells him that Vicki is having coffee with Burke Devlin.

Dash it all! Burke got to her first!

He runs out of the Inn, leaving Maggie quite confused about what's transpired.

Back in the restaurant, smarmy Burke is telling Vicki a story about sneaking into Collinwood, going through the West Wing looking for ghosts.

VICTORIA

I JUST CAN’T IMAGINE YOU BEING SPANKED.

Neither can we, Vicki. But it happened.

They continue, with Vicki revealing her skeptical nature. Of course Collinwood isn't haunted, "that's ridiculous!"

BURKE

IS IT?

VICTORIA

I’M NOT TEN ANYMORE.

I can't wait to see Vicki experience the real House of Usher.

Maggie spills the beans that Roger was here and the party breaks up. She mentions her father.

BURKE

I DIDN’T KNOW SAM DRANK.

MAGGIE

LOTS OF THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN TEN YEARS, BURKE.

SAM

TROUBLE WITH YOU, SAM EVANS, IS THAT YOU DON’T EXIST.

YOU DON’T EXIST AT ALL.

Truly, Sam drinks like a fish!! I'm worried about him. His place must stink of booze.

Maggie gives her father a warning that Burke is coming, but it's too late.

SAM

DRUNK.

BUT NOT DRUNK ENOUGH YET.

I really feel for Sam here. We're building up the drama, but all together Sam doesn't seem like a bad guy, probably caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Burke feigns that he doesn't know what's bothering Sam, but Sam can't take it, and he shoos him out of the house, finally remembering to lock the door.

Vicki is in the lobby, waiting for the foundling home to call her back. She places three coins into the machine, depresses a button, and asks for Miss Hopewell and the episode fades to black.

Overall this was a great episode, I am coming to really enjoy Sam Evans and everything he's in. He seems a bit of a Renaissance man, one who enjoys language as much as he enjoys art. The new set is great; I love the tilted windows and I can imagine an artist living here. I even laughed outloud at some of the juxtapositions of dialogue. Burke clearly has the upper hand here and he's having a great time cavorting about town turning everyone on edge.

★★★★