Confetti Check A-OK Part 2

Confetti Check Continued

On the trip to look at the house (townhouse?), we
still see a little of the playful Ed, but he’s
beginning to be preoccupied as SHADO takes over his
life. From there on it’s a dual story of the birth of
SHADO and the demise of a marriage. I’ve already
pretty well dissected the scenes between Ed and Mary.
There are bits and pieces of other stuff I find
interesting.

Alec was the first one Ed recruited. Somehow, I’m not
surprised. And we get a little background for him –
combat pilot and Air Force Intelligence.

Judging by the wardrobe, the night of the meeting with
Henderson and the first night we know of that Straker
didn’t call to let Mary know he would be late aren’t
the same night. Experience tells me that his
forgetting to call is not all that surprising nor does
it mean anything. One of the things I’ve observed
over the years is that men tend to be far more single
minded than women and to the exclusion of everything
else when they are really concentrating on what they
are doing.

We get to see HQ partially completed. And they built
a whole high-rise to hide the excavation.

We get a good look at just how close Straker and
Freeman are. There is the joking about Straker
looking like a female technician from Dublin. “It’s
nice to see you smile again, Ed.” And although he
doesn’t strike me as the type to confide about marital
problems, Straker tells Alec of his problems with Mary
and asks for advice. This episode is really the best
look we get at the relationship between Alec and Ed.

Straker gets high marks for noticing Mary was dressed
up the night she tells him she’s pregnant (obviously
Ed got home occasionally!). And he took in the
special decoration Mary had done, even as tired as he
must have been. You notice he almost fell asleep
while driving home that night.


Sitting here watching this I got to wondering what the
time frame was when they were shooting the conflicts
between Ed and Mary. Was it on only one or two days?
Could you imagine - go change clothes, Ed walks
through door, Ed and Suzanne argue. Go change
clothes, Ed walks through door, Ed and Suzanne argue.
Almost all of the scenes shot in the house were
emotionally charged. It must have been really
difficult to keep up the intensity. I’m impressed.


There are a couple of things I wish were clearer in
the story. What was the time frame involved for the
whole plot of the episode – a year, two? What was
said when Straker made the transition from wearing a
uniform to civilian clothes? But even as late as the
3 AM homecoming Straker is still telling Mary he can’t
tell her what he’s doing, so I assume that she still
thinks he’s in the military. I know other people
think she may not have, but the “I can’t tell you” is
what makes me think that.

The “staff” meeting in Nina’s apartment is interesting
because of who is there. It’s Straker, Freeman, Ford
(although in the first episode he said he’d only been
in SHADO a couple of years – oops!), the two guys
usually seen in SkyDiver (Jon and the strawberry
blonde dude), Nina, of course, and one other woman
with long dark hair. Anybody have any clue who she
was supposed to be or just an extra body?

It may be bad form, but I’m going to quote myself,
from my initial comments on this episode.

<Moving to the hospital. Straker stands staring out
<into the rain. The whole world cries for him as his
<marriage stands in shambles, his wife and child in
<danger. What is he thinking? This was the point of
<the epiphany. He’s not just worrying, which I thought
<as a kid. In another episode, Straker tells Foster he
<solves a lot of problems by just sitting and thinking
<about them. He’s thinking about his problem. He now
<knows he’s hurting Mary badly, however much he loves
<her. She made him mad enough he lost his
<soon-legendary control, slapping her. This is the
<point where the Straker we know is born. He realizes
<the only thing he can do for Mary out of love is let
<her go. He can’t give enough of himself to be a
<decent husband. As awful as it is, and as much as he
<loves Mary, saving the world from UFOs is more
<important to him than his marriage or his life. Only
<his job is important and he shuts himself off from
<emotion. Cold logic will make his choices. End of
<episode. We now know everything we need to know about
<Straker.

The thing that I would add to this is the one other
thing Straker had to have considered as part of the
equation. He had to be thinking about what he almost
did - he almost violated his oath and almost blew
SHADO’s security in the heat of emotion. That, added
to the other considerations mentioned above, would
have made the decision inevitable for a man as
duty-bound as Ed Straker.

Ed waves to the baby in the nursery. It’s cute when
he pretends he’s just smoothing his hair as someone
goes by. But the moment is painful and bittersweet
because we know what happens to that baby. Mary asks
for Ed when she wakes up after the emergency
C-section. Only Dad is there. It’s surprising that
Mom isn’t there, but then they would have had to pay
the actress more.

Alec has had to drag Straker away from the hospital.
He gives Straker a cigar in the car with his
congratulations, then lights it. There is our tie in
to the opening scene.

Back at the present Alec’s seemingly casual lighting
of a cigar rescues his friend from the reverie.
Straker covers his pain. He does for his subordinate
what he couldn’t do for himself, he orders Grey to
take a week’s furlough so he can spend time with his
wife and new babies. But when Straker goes in and
sits at his desk, the cost of his decision is there in
his face.

--- In [hidden email], Diorite Gabbro <diorite@...> wrote:
 
> Sitting here watching this I got to wondering what the
> time frame was when they were shooting the conflicts
> between Ed and Mary. Was it on only one or two days?
> Could you imagine - go change clothes, Ed walks
> through door, Ed and Suzanne argue. Go change
> clothes, Ed walks through door, Ed and Suzanne argue.
> Almost all of the scenes shot in the house were
> emotionally charged. It must have been really
> difficult to keep up the intensity. I'm impressed.


They'd had previous experience - both appeared in a BBC dramatisation
of "Portrait of a Lady" in 1968, with Suzanne Neve as the "Lady" and
Ed Bishop as "Caspar Goodwood", suffering from unrequited love for
her. All of their scenes are emotional rollercoasters ;-D

Just a thought, but maybe this is why Suzanne Neve was cast as Mary
Straker? They certainly had on-screen chemistry, when it came to
the angst department, that is! ;-)

 

 
> Back at the present Alec's seemingly casual lighting
> of a cigar rescues his friend from the reverie.
> Straker covers his pain. He does for his subordinate
> what he couldn't do for himself, he orders Grey to
> take a week's furlough so he can spend time with his
> wife and new babies. But when Straker goes in and
> sits at his desk, the cost of his decision is there in
> his face.


And in the lack of a wedding band...... :-)

The episode order puts 'AQOP' before 'CCA-OK', presumably for no
other reason than this was the production order. It would make more
sense to have them the other way around, but I'm sure it has far more
dramatic effect in the wrong order...!?! ;-/


Thanks for the reviews Diorite, do keep going! :-D



Sarah

Sarah wrote:
"And in the lack of a wedding band...... :-)"

Straker never wears a wedding ring pre-break-up judging by "Identified"
but this lack of one wouldn't signify anything in the context of the
late 60's in the UK. It would have been highly unlikely for any man in
Britain to wear a wedding ring at the time - it just wasn't a UK
tradition - although it's not uncommon now. Although Straker, and Ed
Bishop, were American it probably wouldn't have occurred to a British
writer or member of the crew to give him one.

Regards
John

--- JS <[hidden email]> wrote:

Straker is wearing a wedding ring during the flashback
in Confetti Check, so he did wear one when he was
definitely married. When we see Straker in Identified
in the scenes after he arrived at the studio he isn't
wearing one. I think the divorce happened between the
events in the Confetti Check flashback and the 1980
events of Identified.

Diorite

I don't wear my wedding ring - I persevered for a couple of months but
I was always fiddling with it as it did not feel comfortable. I stopped
wearing it as I was concerned with my constant fiddling I might lose it.
Wifey bought me a chain to wear it around my neck.

Regards,
Barry