Far from the perfect episode or even a really good one, this is still a very entertaining one and among my favorites, simply because of the witty script and the performances of Constance Ford and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Known to classic film fans as the delightfully nasty mother of Sandra Dee in "A Summer Place" and to soap fans as the tough but loving matriarch on the long running "Another World", a role that she played from 1967 to just before her death in early 1993.
British stage and screen legend Hardwicke is very funny as the acidic Uncle Simon who keeps nece Barbara under his thumb in an abusive way that has practically destroyed her life. A nasty confrontation has Uncle Simon falling down the stairs to the door of his laboratory where he has a secret experiments in progress. His quick demise leaves her in charge of the household and the invention in charge of her.
Yes, these characters are both unpleasant, but Ford seems justified in her resentment. She gets to express many different emotions from a deadpan lack of interest in everything around her to glowing hopeful ga labout town as she prepares to leave, only interrupted by the invention and the arrival of attorney Ian Wolfe. The twists are ironic and absurd, but comical in spite of everything. I wouldn't have minded seeing this one expanded a bit, and found out exactly why Barbara spent 25 years of her life taking care of Simon and how she came about to be there.
British stage and screen legend Hardwicke is very funny as the acidic Uncle Simon who keeps nece Barbara under his thumb in an abusive way that has practically destroyed her life. A nasty confrontation has Uncle Simon falling down the stairs to the door of his laboratory where he has a secret experiments in progress. His quick demise leaves her in charge of the household and the invention in charge of her.
Yes, these characters are both unpleasant, but Ford seems justified in her resentment. She gets to express many different emotions from a deadpan lack of interest in everything around her to glowing hopeful ga labout town as she prepares to leave, only interrupted by the invention and the arrival of attorney Ian Wolfe. The twists are ironic and absurd, but comical in spite of everything. I wouldn't have minded seeing this one expanded a bit, and found out exactly why Barbara spent 25 years of her life taking care of Simon and how she came about to be there.