Show207
Love is Strange: Why would Dana go back to Sherwood after the way he treated her throughout the story? Submitted by H. Mason 3/30/15
Character Name: Lynn Bowman's actual name is Ruth Malecki Sherwood. jfh 28May2018
As in the previous episode, there is a "gaslight" element here - manipulating events to make someone doubt his sanity. DOD 1/21/18
"A Fairly-Late-in-the-Game Winner." Perhaps the seventh season's best episode, even though "TCOT Deadly Verdict" (#185) is understandably more famous. This episode is a throwback to the more noirish and less legally convoluted episodes of the first two or three seasons, with its drunken protagonist who has possible memory problems, a possibly dead and probably deceitful wife, and supporting characters who are not at all what they appear to be. Toss in several very good performances (by Peter Breck, Richard Erdman, Michael Ansara, et al.) and the fact that the dreaded "staircase" set is nowhere in sight and you have a fairly-late-in-the-PM-game winner. Submitted by BobH, 27 January 2018.
+ Sorry. I have to disagree with your comment regarding Peter Brock's "very good performance". To me he overacts to the extreme whenever he has to show any emotion. Kilo, 9/17/2018.
I've noticed a lot of interior neon signs in this -- and other episodes. Inside the hotel, in this episode. IN another episode (with Adam West) a bookstore had several neon signs showing the various sections of the bookstore. --yelocab 01JUL19
Questions: Did anything happen to Maggi for not revealing that Ruth was still alive? Did Bill Sherwood have to return the insurance money since Ruth did not die in the plane crash? Submitted by H. Mason 3/30/15
+ Ruth did eventually die, so the insurance money woulld be paid out, Sherwood was not the murderer so he would still be the beneficiary. jfh 28May2018
As for Maggie, keep watching for TCOT Disquieted Dressmaker. If I were running the insurance company I would ask for the money back -- $15,000 (per 11:10 of the 2012 Paramount DVD), which has "the same buying power" as $114,000 in 2016. Surely the insurance company would have tried for more-positive identification of the burned body than the beneficiary's say-so, especially for all that money. At the least, would have used dental records. lowercase masonite 3/30/16.
+ Dental records are only useable if the deceased had visited a dentist ante-mortem, if that dentist is known, and there are extant pre-existing records for comparison. jfh 28May2018
I assume that the husband could be trusted to identify his own wife--considering the other supporting facts: the ticket in her name, the luggage. If one were planning insurance fraud, hoping for a plane crash seems an impractical plan. --yelocab 01JUL19
I think Sherwood could make a good case for keeping the $15,000 - he acted in good faith and the insurance company did not use due diligence, as noted above. I do wonder if there is a case against Maggi. She knew her sister was alive- if she knew about the insurance payment, would she have any legal obligation to speak out? Many interesting legal points here. DOD 1/21/18
Edie was fleeing Chicago to both run off with the $200,000 and to escape her accomplice. Her ultimate destination was Los Angeles, so why did she want to first fly from Chicago to St. Louis? Why not a nonstop to LA? Per Kabat's testimony (39:49), "There were policeman all over the Chicago airport." I assume that Edie could have changed her appearance and used an alias to flee, rather than risk essentially handing over the $200,000 to a stranger. And if Ruth didn't want her husband to find her, then why return to, and stay in, LA? Especially when she found out that Edie wasn't going to reclaim her luggage from her. lowercase masonite, 3/30/16.
So many good questions. Edie was only going to St. Louis because she got Ruth's ticket. She may have had her own ticket to LA--whihc she gave to Ruth(?). Also, Going to STL would have helped confused her trip to her accomplice. Maybe they planned to meet up later to exchange luggage (but why give your luggage with $200,000 in it to a stranger?) And there still would have been a record of Edie having a ticket to LA, which her accomplice could have discovered. --yelocab 01JUL19
And just how did Edie plan to retrieve the loot? The ticket switch really doesn't make sense, but does get the plot rolling.
I found Maggie to be one of the least likable characters in a PM episode. Her snide, haughty assessment of her former brother-in-law was one thing, but knowingly participating in covering up her sister's survival was a nasty bit of abuse. She didn't get her hands on the bank loot, but I wouldn't have put it past her character to use it if her sister had given it to her ... or let on that she had it! -- MikeReese, 1/29/2021