Pillow Talk


connie20starring Steve Kanaly and Michele Scarabelli

Ray is busy trying to scrub the remnants of Connie’s graffitti from his front door when his telephone rings. Rushing to answer it, he is delighted to find that it is his wife, Jenna. Jenna tells him that things are going well between her and her daughter and that she plans to leave her in a Paris school while she returns home to Ray.

Ray is overjoyed at the news… but at the same time he notices that a photo of Jenna is missing from the largest of the photo frames on his sideboard.

It doesn’t take him a moment to realise who has taken it and this, in turn, highlights to him that he still has a tiny problem that needs resolving before his wife returns home…

A short time later…

Ray arrives at Connie’s apartment and knocks on the door. When he says who it is, Connie is quick to let him in. Ray begins by threatening Connie with the Sheriff if she continues with her continual mix of advances and paint-inspired vandalism. That’s when he notices that Connie has restyled her hair to match that of Jenna. More than that, he realises when he sees the missing photo, she is even wearing the same clothes and make-up as his wife had worn for the photo.

“If you don’t want me the way I was…connie22
so I thought if I looked like her…”

Ray rapidly comes to the conclusion that Connie really is crazy. A threatening tone underlines his voice as he warns Connie to stay away from him and to stay out of his life.

connie21Much later…

Ray’s antique clock approaches midnight as a furtive shadow encroaches upon the darkness. The moonlight that breaks through the windows enhances the outline of a gorgeously feminine silhouette creeping about in the gloom. Stark moonbeams dance across her beautiful face as Connie Hall reaches the foot of Ray’s stairs.

((If this sounds remarkably familiar to the previous episode’s “pillow game”, it’s because it’s supposed to be!))

With deft footfalls, Connie slowly makes her way up the stairs without a sound…

Ray is asleep on his bed as the bedroom door opens and Connie stands for a moment to watch him. With her silent footfalls slowly turning from the cautious to the mischievous, the young woman spies a nearby pillow as she reaches the side of the bed closest to Ray. With a girlish grin, Connie grasps the pillow. She clutches it like a shield before her… The girlish grin turns into the cutest smile… In the sweetest voice, Connie calls Ray’s name…

Ray stirs from his sleep and, as his vision clears, he recognises Connie’s sweetly smiling face. He sees the moonlight gently caressing her cheeks… the moonbeams that cause her eyes to sparkle… and the stark reflection from the blade of the knife as it hurtles down towards him..!!

connie24

THE MICHELE SCARABELLI FACTOR

connie23Connie Hall does not handle rejection very well. Neither does she like the idea that she might be crazy. Admittedly what Ray did was wrong and the way he callously disregarded her feelings as he practically tossed her aside was totally unforgiveable. But to attack him with a knife in the middle of the night? That’s just a tad over-the-top!

To be fair to Connie, she has tried to keep Ray – even so far as to practically throw herself at him and even to dress up like his wife – but the leap from graffitti on his door to murder seems a little extreme..!

Continuing on the strengths of the previous episodes, Michele marvels once again as Connie. The scene in which she sneaks into Ray’s house – almost mirroring the previous episode’s more playful events – is particularly effective, even down to the pillow! The ability that Michele has to guide the character from the sweet young woman, to the hurt young woman, and onto the revengeful murderess is really quite eerie.

The cliffhanger of the episode results in a freeze-frame so that the viewer doesn’t know whether Ray will survive or whether Connie will escape but this type of cliffhanger ending is typical of episodes of Dallas. However, it is difficult to imagine how Michele could top the exceptional performance she has delivered up until now, but the same thing has been said before and each time she always outdoes herself.

Tune in the same time next week…