July 15, 1966
It's Friday on a daytime drama, do you can bet something huge is going to happen ... relatively speaking.



David is not reacting simply out of boredom or casual cruelty. After overhearing his father threaten to institutionalize him, he's worried his time at Collinwood is coming to a close. And he really, really doesn't want to leave. In the last episode, we saw that he removed a part from Roger's car, and has placed the item (as well as a magazine about automotive maintenance) in the care of Victoria. She thinks she's made a friend in David; he knows he's found a patsy in the new governess.
Both Roger and David show uncharacteristic signs of rationality in this episode. Roger tells Victoria that he wanted her to leave Collinwood for her own safety. He does a stellar job of selling this line of bullshit. (I almost believed it, myself.) On the off-chance that Roger was in danger of becoming likeable, he stops to warn Victoria about trusting David. "You can't buy friendship from David," he says of his own son. "He has none to give. Give him enough time ...he'll destroy you."
Victoria managed to almost reach David, who comes close to having a change of heart about his plot to murder his father. After revealing his true feelings for Roger ("I hope he dies!") he ambushes him in the foyer, possibly looking for some sign of love or compassion. At this point, it's not too late to turn back. But Roger doesn't know he's being tested and fails miserably, dismissing David on sight. He leaves Collinwood, on the way to a business meeting at the Blue Whale with Devlin, when his car spins out of control. Liz gets a call about the accident, ending the week on an unlikely note: the caller (whoever they are) can't tell Liz about the condition of her brother. If I remember correctly, Roger walks away from the incident with a few bumps and bruises. I wouldn't think you'd need a doctor to disclose that bit of information, but Dan Curtis rightfully wanted us to tune in again the following Monday. Thanks to DVD, I don't have to wait that long.
3 comments:
The Beginning Collections are timeless. This DS gal really used to have it out for David. The kid really irritated me but I've been looking at these early episodes again. He's really good at being a parricidal terror. I think this is Henesy's best acting.
Possessed by Petofi in 1897 is another winner for me.
Although the build-up to Roger's car accident seemed to take a century, the aftermath did grant us two great revelations: one, David is an absolute sociopath whose masterful manipulation and murderous schemes only slow when he senses that he might be imprisoned for them. Two, Roger's scar! Seeing it fade from episode to episode was more exciting than the astonishingly gradual exposure of David as the mechanic (complete with engine diagrams) behind the car crash.
The early episodes are fascinating for how dysfunctional the Collins family was compared to other family dramas or comedies of the time, such as The Donna Reed Show, The Brady Bunch, Leave It To Beaver, or My Three Sons. Can you imagine a father wanting to institutionalize his kid, a kid trying to kill his father, or a teenage girl taking up with a motorcyclist to spite her mother and prevent her second marriage? Only show I can think of from that period that might have gone that far out was maybe Peyton Place--also produced by ABC--but since my mother wouldn't allow me to watch it, I can't say if the families on that show were equally screwed up.
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