A lonely woman who waited years to marry the man she loves finds out a horrible secret about why he stalled for so long.A lonely woman who waited years to marry the man she loves finds out a horrible secret about why he stalled for so long.A lonely woman who waited years to marry the man she loves finds out a horrible secret about why he stalled for so long.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAlfred Hitchcock's daughter Pat makes her only fourth season appearance in this episode, appropriately enough playing a character named Pat.
- SoundtracksFuneral March of a Marionette
Written by Charles Gounod
Featured review
Another excellent episode!
Our two main characters are Helen and Phillip...now let's get the elephant out of the way first. I think the storyline is supposed to paint Helen out as being much older than Phillip but imo they pretty much look the same age.
Anyway, Helen and Phillip are dating but the strange thing is that Phillip just doesn't want Helen to meet his mother. And I want to throw in another tidbit on this aspect once I finish the review. He keeps stringing Helen along but there's always something coming up for why he doesn't want the two of them to meet. I must admit when I first watched this episode my mind probably went into the usual dirtbag territory. "I don't want you meeting my mother because she's gonna ask "Why are you dating her when you're already married and have children?!" No, I think the secret Phillip's holding is far worse than being married with kids.
Poor Helen keeps on trying...she goes out to the house and she sees a lady fleeing from the house and the lady says that nobody's at home. Helen doesn't know what Phillip's mother looks like so she naturally thinks she's being rejected in such a cruel way. She even tells Phillip about how crushed she was to see his mother running from the house to get away from her. Ah, but Phillip's always got stories up his sleeve and he comes up with something to smooth Helen's crushed feelings down. He even presents her with a book that his mother sent to her because she felt sorry for Helen having to read "War and Peace".
But time's ticking and honestly Helen's probably given Phillip more time than a lot of women would give him. Especially since Helen knows she'd like to get married. Pat's friend even reminds her that she's not getting any younger and at least Pat can play the field. Helen's stuck with a man that's really not big on taking the next step.
Helen works up the nerve and decides to end things with Phillip. But Phillip realizes he's about to really lose Helen and doesn't want that. The two end up getting married. Helen's at Phillip's house and she's very nervous because today's the day she will finally meet Phillip's mother. One can sympathize for all the nerves she must be having. Helen's about to get quite a shock. No, she's not gonna go into Phillip's mother's room and see a corpse decked out like Norma Bates. But she goes into the room and she's very puzzled when she sees an obituary on the desk. It's an obituary for Phillip's mother. She clearly doesn't understand....she's been dead for 7 years. Phillip's real side is about to come out. He doesn't see Helen as being a wife or even a girlfriend. She's just a replacement mommy for him. I absolutely love Don Dubbins performance in the last scene. It's absolutely iconic imo.
Let me touch base on that side remark I made up top. It seems sad to me you really wouldn't be able to do an episode with a storyline like this in today's times. You can try it but it wouldn't be believable. Helen would be pulling out her phone and googling Phillip in a heartbeat and it wouldn't take long to probably come up with an obituary. I know I avoid social media like the plague but let's face it, my name is gonna pop up when it concerns obituary references if you google my name.
Anyway, this is another delightful episode. Again, somebody please put this wonderful series on better quality dvds. Both Alfred shows are so underappreciated and it's pretty sad since both are such high quality.
Anyway, Helen and Phillip are dating but the strange thing is that Phillip just doesn't want Helen to meet his mother. And I want to throw in another tidbit on this aspect once I finish the review. He keeps stringing Helen along but there's always something coming up for why he doesn't want the two of them to meet. I must admit when I first watched this episode my mind probably went into the usual dirtbag territory. "I don't want you meeting my mother because she's gonna ask "Why are you dating her when you're already married and have children?!" No, I think the secret Phillip's holding is far worse than being married with kids.
Poor Helen keeps on trying...she goes out to the house and she sees a lady fleeing from the house and the lady says that nobody's at home. Helen doesn't know what Phillip's mother looks like so she naturally thinks she's being rejected in such a cruel way. She even tells Phillip about how crushed she was to see his mother running from the house to get away from her. Ah, but Phillip's always got stories up his sleeve and he comes up with something to smooth Helen's crushed feelings down. He even presents her with a book that his mother sent to her because she felt sorry for Helen having to read "War and Peace".
But time's ticking and honestly Helen's probably given Phillip more time than a lot of women would give him. Especially since Helen knows she'd like to get married. Pat's friend even reminds her that she's not getting any younger and at least Pat can play the field. Helen's stuck with a man that's really not big on taking the next step.
Helen works up the nerve and decides to end things with Phillip. But Phillip realizes he's about to really lose Helen and doesn't want that. The two end up getting married. Helen's at Phillip's house and she's very nervous because today's the day she will finally meet Phillip's mother. One can sympathize for all the nerves she must be having. Helen's about to get quite a shock. No, she's not gonna go into Phillip's mother's room and see a corpse decked out like Norma Bates. But she goes into the room and she's very puzzled when she sees an obituary on the desk. It's an obituary for Phillip's mother. She clearly doesn't understand....she's been dead for 7 years. Phillip's real side is about to come out. He doesn't see Helen as being a wife or even a girlfriend. She's just a replacement mommy for him. I absolutely love Don Dubbins performance in the last scene. It's absolutely iconic imo.
Let me touch base on that side remark I made up top. It seems sad to me you really wouldn't be able to do an episode with a storyline like this in today's times. You can try it but it wouldn't be believable. Helen would be pulling out her phone and googling Phillip in a heartbeat and it wouldn't take long to probably come up with an obituary. I know I avoid social media like the plague but let's face it, my name is gonna pop up when it concerns obituary references if you google my name.
Anyway, this is another delightful episode. Again, somebody please put this wonderful series on better quality dvds. Both Alfred shows are so underappreciated and it's pretty sad since both are such high quality.
helpful•110
- glitterrose
- Jul 22, 2022
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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