SGriffin-6

The various pieces of an attempt (or perhaps multiple attempts!) on the life of mean ol' Martin Peyton start to coalesce during this episode--which offers some hope for an upswing in energy level for a series that has fallen a bit into the doldrums by this point.

Gena Rowlands is beautiful and a strong actress, but she doesn't have exactly the right "it" factor to play a character like Rita Hayworth's Gilda (and the fact that George Macready, who portrays old man Peyton, played basically the same role in the original Gilda only emphasizes the lack).

Eddie Jacks is not a bad addition to the cast of characters--but he doesn't have anywhere near the verve of Hannah Cord (Emmy-nominated Ruth Warrick) or Stella Chernak (Emmy-winning Lee Grant). Those characters were on a mission--and their vengeful glares could hold an audience with glee at length.

Another soap opera on the same network (ABC) was beginning to get all of the attention that "Peyton Place" had been garnering back in the fall of 1964. On the same date as this episode, the daytime drama "Dark Shadows" threw its central female character, Victoria Winters, into a time warp--taking her back to 1795, so that viewers could learn how Barnabas Collins became a vampire. NOW THAT'S SOME APPOINTMENT TELEVISION. Folks who wanted to experience something like Hannah or Stella would find it in a new "Dark Shadows" character. As Angelique, Lara Parker, could burn holes through the TV screen with her demon eyes.

"Peyton Place" is kinda still stuck in 1964, and a lot has changed in the US between then and fall of 1967. The only sign of that is the mod multi-color fabric design that Rita uses in this episode to line the bassinet for her imminent offspring.

The show has kinda rushed Steven Cord's budding affair with Adirienna Van Leyden--trying to make the audience believe that he's immediately and hopelessly lured by Adrienne's sexual allure. The problem is that Gena Rowlands is a great actress but doesn't have that"it" quality that draws men like flies to honey. At least, not until this episode, where she is successfully presented as a vamp. Part of this is due to the extra close camera positioning as she tempts Steven--and he succumbs. But it's also because she is appropriately fetishized--including major emphasis on her carefully manicured fingernails. Over most of the past episodes, her "cultured lady" demeanor has been expressed via her constantly wearing white gloves...but the gloves have literally and figuratively come off, and the claws are out.

And while we are discussing the way Adrienne looks, I take the opportunity to mention Rodney Harrington's new haircut, featured in the new close-up of Ryan O'Neal in the opening credits. It is fall of 1967, and the "summer of love" that ushered in the hippy youth counterculture just happened--so Rodney's haircut is not just a fashion statement. His new crewcut very much presents him as a young Republican...meanwhile, Norman's new credit close-up has him in shaggier hair and a leather jacket... and they've also switched demeanors in the credits: Rodney used to be shown smiling, and now he's grim; Norman used to look concerned, and now he's smiling...

With this episode, the major plot threads of Season 3 basically wind up so that we can move onto what they have cooked up for Season 4. Dan Duryea as Eddie Jacks shows promise--a con-artist magnetism that he brings to most of the roles he playes. But: the conclusion of Jack Chandler/Jack Forrest is pretty perfunctory--somewhat the equivalent of "oh, we need to be done with this." Further, we are being asked to believe that Steven Cord has been sexually hypnotized by Adrienne Van Leyden in the course of only a few episodes. (I will grant you that Gena Rowlands is a GREAT actress and is a beautiful woman--but she ain't Rita Hayworth in "Gilda," so the immediate attraction seems somewhat forced.). And speaking of "Gilda," Hayworth's co-star in that film, George Macready, is replaced here with Wilfred Hyde-White now playing Martin Peyton. Surprisingly, Macready brings more charm to the role than Hyde-White (I would've thought the opposite after Hyde-White's triumph as Col. Pickering in "My Fair Lady"). And whomever is creating the end credits is running out of ways to distinguish performers: Dan Duryea is a "Guest Star," Wilfred Hyde-White is a "Special Guest," and Gena Rowlands is a "Special Guest Star." If they have to cast anymore unique performers, I guess they will have to be an "Extra Super Special Guest Star"...