and it also feels like the end of an era
To be honest, I had expected a little dip after this, but Peyton Place continues full steam ahead.
First, there's the aftermath of Hannah Cord's testimony, and they all deal with the situation in their own ways.
Norman, Catherine's favourite, falls apart because he thinks his mother was insane. He even decides not to have any children because of that.
Steven, although embittered (as expected), approaches the situation more pragmatically. He's a Peyton now, and he's going to get what's rightfully his.
Betty:
She must have been a monster!
Steven:
Really? She was just a simple part of American aristocracy. Not too bright, very gay, arrogant charm, perfect manners, cold smile, and a will of iron.
Rodney's reaction was the strangest: "I don't think I've ever loved her".
Well I guess they didn't want him to upstage his brother's drama.
Leslie can't wait to rub Peyton's nose in it but the old man doesn't blink, and he even comes up trumps during their insult fest.
Hannah Cord leaves Peyton Place (there's a goof when she refers to Martin as "Steven", apparently they didn't bother to edit it out) and burns her bridges in a soaptastic fashion.
She also tells Steven that she really saw Lee Webber pushing Anne over the cliff. At that point, she had no reason to lie about it.
Unless, as Steven put it, it was a vicious farewell gift: the knowledge that he had freed the man who killed his sister.
Chris Webber also firmly believes that his brother dunnit, so I'm going to take him of the suspects list.
What ensues is a plan to kill his brother, but Lee counter-plots it by setting up Steven Cord. It was very exciting because "who's going to open that door? Steven or Sandy?"
I was overwhelmed by a feeling of sadness when Chris Webber stepped on the bus to Far-Away-From-Peyton-Place (California, I think).
I declare, he was in a much better shape when he still believed that Anne Howard had blinded him.
Now he's just a shell of a man, completely broken.
The Cords move in, and Rodney moves out of the Peyton Mansion. Leslie Harrington is furious and declares war on the new residents.
When I started to watch Peyton Place I thought Leslie was going to be the partriarch character, and I guess he was until old Peyton took over.
But he's such a lousy bum, and always so transparent in everything he tries to achieve. Basically, he's a
Lee Webber with more money.
And speaking of my favourite devil:
It's Michael Culhane!
Catherine's scandal hasn't changed Peyton one bit, and as a chess player he keeps plotting his next moves. Lee is completely unaware of the fact that Peyton is convinced that he's Anne's killer.
Well, since that mystery has sort of fizzled out, I've decided to "let it go". There's no indication that someone else was involved, and Lee can keep insisting that he's innocent.
But whoever it was who dunnit:
thank you!
If there's anyone who belongs in the Peyton mansion, it's Betty Anderson Harrington Cord.
That beautiful contrast of the grey interior (caused by smoke and ash) and those few colours, colours that didn't exist after the sixties.
Another pretty picture, just for the heck of it:
Leslie Harrington and Jack Chandler share a dark past, and they're both getting nervous that Elliot Carson might find out what it is...(what is it??)
