Dark Harbor Screencaps Part Two
Back in the house, Norman helps himself to a drink.
He swaggers up to Alexis and asks her, "Want some?" His gesture encompasses much more than a drink.
She replies demurely, "Sure, just a touch."
But the next scene shows Alexis swigging out of the bottle.
Drunk, she's back to babbling. Norman listens as if it was all very interesting, though he couldn't relate in the slightest to her stories of nannys gone bad.
She apparently hasn't considered that a man who owns only one shirt might not be the most sympathetic audience for her High End problems.
They get giddy, racing along the beach after the "steamers," then playing on a swing.
They settle down a little and we learn that Alexis and David met when she was "losing her mind," and that David rescued her. We assume she means that she was severely depressed.
In the boat house, Alexis and Norman play dress-up.
Alexis announces her name is Tex.
Norman slips on a magenta chenille robe and says his name is Wilma.
Alexis says he's more of a Marilyn, and stuffs a blond wig on his head. Norman adds a scarf and gets into the mood.
He tells the slightly baffled Alexis that her name is not Tex, but Jack.
He breaks into a breathy rendition of "Happy birthday, Mr. President," which simultaneously gives us the creeps and makes us horny.
Alexis looks mostly creeped out.
The play-acting seems to have shocked her back into her cold, correct self.
She comes out of the house, all businesslike with a basket. Norman is staring off into space.
Norman tells her he's had one of his thoughts, and asks her to write it down for him.
She immediately springs into Lady Bountiful mode. Norman dictates a dark, poetic passage, which she writes down as efficiently as a secretary, then she signs it for his collection.
They set off to find the mushrooms for dinner.
Norman asks Alexis how she knows so much about mushrooms. She explains she learned it all from her father, who died when she was seven or eight.
Finally, she admits her father committed suicide, and that she and her mother don't speak. We began to understand the source of her depression, and her coldness.
In the mushroom patch, we hear Norman whisper, "I love you."
We and Alexis are startled, but it turns out Norman is talking to a mushroom, which he is about to pop into his mouth.
Alexis stops him, explaining to him that he has picked an Amanita that is deadly poisonous. She shows him its look-alike, (Amanita muscaria?), which is an aphrodisiac -- the effects are similar to being drunk if a small amount is consumed.
Norman goes back into seductive mode, and slowly tries to put the aphrodisiac mushroom in her mouth.
Alexis: "Behave."
Norman: "I am behaving."
But he doesn't behave. When she touches him casually, he seizes her hand and starts to chew on her.
Finally Alexis pushes him away. He defiantly pops the mushroom into his mouth and she rushes back to the house.
There is something strange about her reaction to Norman. She's definitely attracted, but she keeps freezing like a deer in the headlights.
Back in the house, Norman apologizes to her, and they shake hands. David picks that inopportune time to return. Alexis and Norman spring guiltily apart.
David has brought back only two lobsters, saying he feels ill due to "bad clams" and cannot join them for dinner. Alexis leaves to get a cold cloth for his head.
Norman tells him, "You have a loyal wife."
After that, David rallies to prepare dinner. It appears to be a success.
We wonder what kind of mushrooms are in the dinner.
David asks questions about their day. While he is polite, we can feel his suspicion.
Alexis tells David that she gave Norman the "grand tour." David sarcastically asks Norman, "Did you like it?"
Norman responds with surprising sincerity, "It's nice."
After dinner, David and Norman prepare to leave in the boat. Norman the unwelcome visitor is going at last.
Alexis dozes off in the living room and awakens to find Norman back on the couch. His manner is furtive and unsettling. We picture David's body floating out in the ocean. Then Norman tells her the boat died and they had to row back.
In the boat house, David finds the evidence of the carrying on earlier in the day
Alexis plays the piano while the men sit in the living room.
David says Norman reminds him of a certain time when he thought love was all fireworks and explosions.
He tells Norman it isn't: love is about Time. Only after time has passed, and you can say to each other, "We chose each other above all others," can you say you have known love, which is a secret that can only be known, "Once you've done the time."
Is David warning Norman off? David's words are romantic, yet strange. Is he comparing being in love to being in prison? Norman looks thoughtful.
Alexis hears David's words and stops playing for a moment. Later, as they get ready for bed, she tells David that what he said was nice.
David asks her if her day was good; we get the feeling that he's giving her a chance to tell him that she's been unfaithful, but will forgive her. She doesn't elaborate, and they go to sleep.
In the morning, David's suspicions seem to be back. Finding Alexis up before him, he crankily asks how long she's been up.
She tells him to look in the mirror. The poison ivy has gotten to him; he has raised red patches on his face, and his hands are puffy.
David gets up to check on the boat, but Alexis tells him Norman has taken care of it, that it was a loose sparkplug or something. Norman comes back in shirtless; Alexis is washing his clothes. Their coziness seems to irritate David greatly.
Alexis leaves to fetch Norman's shirt. David hears Norman whisper, "I like your face."
David is startled, but Norman says smoothly he is referring to the face of David's watch.
We wonder what the fuck Norman is up to.
David and Alexis return to their bickering, this time about the phone, which is working again, and Norman snickers.
David asks him what's funny, and Norman replies, "Couples, I guess."
David seems determined to pick a fight. He swills milk out of the carton, the ultimate husband crime, particularly when said husband has a poison ivy rash right next to his mouth.
David taunts Alexis for washing the perfectly clean glass he didn't use, and suggests her hands are dirty, then makes a crack about the boathouse, and the dress-up.
Finally he makes a reference to her pulling down the shades in the boathouse. Alexis realizes David was spying on them, gets mad, calls David a bastard, and tells him to leave to cool down.
David harangues her back, saying it would be convenient if he took off and left her with "Valentino." He ends his tirade with: "Seven years, stuck in a coffin with you." We hear the distinct thunk of a gauntlet being thrown down.
Even though he is being nasty, we've seen enough of Alexis to understand what he is getting at. She is numb, frozen. She hangs onto the past instead of living in the present.
Alexis freaks, then ignores him and washes dishes. He bangs cabinets and refers to the coffin again, to being stuck in it with her... and her daddy.
She starts screaming "Get out!" like a five-year-old having a total meltdown in the K-mart parking lot. David has managed to push one hell of a button.
Norman, who has been silent, tells David to get out.
The men start brawling, then Norman flees with his bag.
David pursues him, and Alexis follows, screaming at David to stop.
They all race to the boathouse. David arms himself with a bit of wood.
Norman runs out of the boathouse, man and wife in hot pursuit.
Alexis finds David on his way back from the mushroom patch.
David says, "He's all yours." We wonder if David has killed Norman.
Alexis tells him to get off her island.
"Alas, the wolf sheds her wool," says David. He walks off.
Concluded in
Part Three. Spoilers Ahead!