The mysterious and long-absent Laura Collins is sitting motionless by the fire in her current residence, the cottage on the grounds of the great estate of Collinwood. A knock sounds at the door. As always in this situation, it takes Laura a moment to rouse herself and begin moving. When she does, her movements are disconnected and robotic, as if she is reassembling herself. This image, coupled with what regular viewers have seen in previous episodes, suggests that what we see when we look at Laura is never more than half of a person. Part of her, maybe most of her, exists in the form of energy that somehow inheres in the fire.
Laura opens the door to instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank Garner. Frank identifies himself as the representative of Laura’s estranged husband, high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins, in their divorce. She tells him she doesn’t want any money or property. All she wants is custody of their son, strange and troubled boy David. Since Roger is eager to see David go with her, she doesn’t see the need for a lawyer of her own.
Frank points out that as one of the heirs to the Collins interests, David stands to become a “very wealthy young man.” Laura suggests that all of David’s assets be put in a trust that she cannot access. When Frank asks how she will support David until he comes into his legal majority, she says vaguely “I have… resources.” When he presses the point, she assures him that “where I plan to take [David,] he’ll have no need for anything the Collins family could give him.” Since the Collins family is presented in this episode as “very wealthy,”* that would suggest she is taking him someplace where money cannot be exchanged for goods and services. This is, to put it mildly, an intriguing prospect.
Throughout her talk with Frank, Laura makes it clear her priority is to settle the divorce and leave with David as soon as possible. Frank says that lawyers can usually settle business among themselves more quickly than they can with people unrepresented by counsel and asks if she wants the matter settled quickly. Laura answers that she wants that “more than he can realize.” She asks Frank to represent both her and Roger, to draw up the papers to finalize what they have discussed, and to get it over with.
Before he can leave the cottage, Frank has to break some bad news to Laura. The police in Phoenix, Arizona, are still investigating a fire that destroyed the apartment where she lived in that city and killed an unidentified woman who had a key to it. There might be a hearing. If so she will have to return to Phoenix to testify, perhaps on short notice.
Laura chose to live in Phoenix. She has told versions of the legend of the phoenix both to David (#140) and to Maggie Evans (#128,) who was waiting on her table at the restaurant in the Collinsport Inn. Furthermore, Maggie’s father, drunken artist Sam, knew Laura when she lived in town ten years before and hasn’t been in touch with her since. When Maggie told him that a customer had told her the legend of the Phoenix, he clearly knew that Maggie was talking about Laura. So she has been fascinated with the story for years. In the version of the legend she related to David, it was in the context of a description of a mystical land like those which figure in the stories of the Holy Grail, which “some call Paradise,” and which is her true home. So when Laura implies that she plans to take David someplace where there is no buying or selling, we listen up.
Frank leaves, but before Laura can resume her stupor beside the fire someone else knocks. It is well-meaning governess Vicki. Vicki tells her that her boss, reclusive matriarch Liz, has ordered her to keep Laura away from David. Laura asks if Vicki will obey this command. Vicki says she has no choice. It’s her job, after all, and besides, Liz has been very nice to her.
Laura asks how someone who herself grew up in a foundling home can keep a child from his mother. Vicki recaps all the strange things that have happened since Laura came back. Regular viewers know that these events are signs of supernatural activity. We know this because we’ve seen transparent figures superimposed over shots and have heard theremin music playing on the soundtrack. But Vicki hasn’t been watching the show, so even though she tells Laura almost everything she has seen and heard Laura can provide more-or-less plausible explanations for all of it.
Vicki is unconvinced, but still goes back to the great house and tells Liz that she won’t be able to follow her orders. Laura is David’s mother, after all, and does have her rights. Liz is so angry that she can’t look at Vicki, and stares directly at the teleprompter throughout the entire scene.
Liz demands that Vicki say she will do as she has commanded. Vicki looks down, and even after Liz has repeated herself more than once she still doesn’t say that she will. The closeup on Vicki before Liz sends her away to check in on David is quite a powerful moment. In a couple of seconds, Alexandra Moltke Isles shows very clearly that Vicki is ashamed to be disobeying Liz, embarrassed to be yelled at in the drawing room, and yet determined to continue in her course of action.** It’s a remarkably efficient performance.
Vicki leaves the room. The camera stays on Liz as we hear voices in the foyer. Roger crosses paths with Vicki. He enters the drawing room and asks Liz why Vicki is upset. Liz dismisses the question, and Roger compares her to Lucrezia Borgia. Irritated, Liz says she is in no mood for his jokes. “Who’s joking?” he replies.
That’s a startling moment. Roger spent the first several months of the show trying to get Vicki out of the house, if necessary by manipulating David into murdering her (#68.) Now, he’s expressing sympathy for Vicki, apparently spontaneously. It’s true that the motive for that hostility was rooted in a storyline that has been partially resolved, but it is still interesting that Roger actually seems to like Vicki now.
A knock sounds. Again the camera stays on Liz in the drawing room while we hear Roger greet Frank in the foyer. It was a week ago, in #147, that we first heard characters speaking while off-camera. I wish they had done that more often. They need all the tricks they can find to create a sense of space, to make us feel that their little sets are actually a huge mansion, a rolling estate, and a whole town.
Frank tells Roger and Liz about his conversation with Laura. Roger is delighted that the only thing Laura wants is custody of David and urges Frank to draw up the papers at once. Liz, outraged, declares that custody of David is the one thing Laura can’t have, and forbids him to draw the papers up at all. Faced with this disagreement between Roger, his client of record, and Liz, who is actually paying his fee, Frank can do nothing. He excuses himself. On his way out, Roger whispers to him that he should prepare the papers- he promises to handle Liz.
The telephone rings. It is a report that the authorities in Phoenix have examined the charred corpse found in the burned ruins of Laura’s apartment. They are positive that it is the body of Laura herself. Roger and Liz are bewildered by the news.
*In other episodes, especially those focusing on the “Revenge of Burke Devlin” storyline, they seem to be gasping along on the brink of total financial ruin. But today, we hear about nothing but how terribly rich they are, so that’s what we’ll go with.
**This is puzzling for regular viewers. In #148, Vicki expressed a determination to keep Laura away from David. The information she shares with Laura is the basis for that determination. It isn’t at all clear why she doesn’t stick with it. For that matter, if she can tell Laura everything she knows when she regards Laura as a menace, why can’t she tell her benefactress Liz that she is thinking the same way she is? It could be that Ron Sproat, who wrote #148, and Malcolm Marmorstein, who wrote this one, didn’t talk to each other, and the producer was too busy with other things to catch the inconsistency. Whatever the cause, Mrs Isles gives such strong performances in both episodes that I’m inclined to treat them as self-contained stories so far as Vicki is concerned.
Dark Shadows Commentary 