When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
We hear it all the time… but what I can say is that Season 3 of Hotel was a wild ride!
But one thing I have to mention to address the elephant in the room which is the title and tagline of this post… The being handed lemons part is in reference to the fact that at some point in production, one of the actors died.
Anne Baxter, who played the St. Gregory’s owner, Victoria Cabot died. Now, I didn’t find any production notes about it, although I wouldn’t know how to find that out other than to look at IMDB or TV Guide… but since this show is from the 80s, I don’t know that it would be on the internet, but one never knows.
Anyway, either Anne Baxter filmed a handful of episodes and then found out she was sick, or what happened in the show could basically be what happened in real life.
Victoria Cabot had a stroke and died in the show.
Possibly, one of the reasons why this season seemed all over the place was Anne Baxter probably died sometime in the middle of the season’s filming, or merely was incapacitated and later died. So any episode that had her as a central character had to be played earlier, or postponed to not have long stretches of her absence. That made it so the dramatic tension from the character’s death happened at the end of season 3. It also offered a clean break and for the status quo to be changed… and good golly it was…
But before I get there, I suppose I should explain what I meant when I told you that this season was a wild ride.
Remember in the post: Talking More About TV and Storytelling when I expressed annoyance at the fact that things would happen in Hotel that seemed pretty cut and dry, and then the next episode it was like that thing never happened?
Believe it or not, I’d foreshadowed Mrs. Cabot’s death in an earlier paragraph by saying that sometimes people die unexpectedly or are unable to continue in their role… perhaps because of sickness.
So essentially, if we’re taking away the fact that this story is a TV show, and they had to work around Anne Baxter’s untimely death, the entire Shadows of Doubt duo and the other handful of episodes which came several episodes after those could have been things that were meant to go before Shadows of Doubt, and then this handful of episodes leading up to the finale were possibly written later after Anne Baxter was already essentially off the show or dead.
Of course, the main situation I am referring to is Christine and Peter… I know, you’re shocked.
We all know Christine and Peter like each other.
But, since they work together, Peter especially is not wanting to admit that his affection for Christine is more than just friendship and comradery. Shadows of Doubt forced the two to talk about their feelings, and they were on the right track, but since it’s a TV show, and the whole thing with Mrs. Cabot- they backtracked. Or, they sort of did.
What I mean by that is they were heading in a good direction, but they got mired in a fog.
And that fog is what happens when you don’t define the relationship. And somewhere between the Shadows of Doubt episodes and the season finale, Christine realized that she unequivocally loves Peter and wants them to be together- so much so that she turns down a proposal from a really nice guy who’s a doctor.
Her feelings are so real and pervasive that she can’t bring herself to get past the kiss and cuddle stage of a relationship. Even in scenes where you think she’s been intimate with a guy she’s seeing, the very next scene puts the kibosh on that, saying that she called it a night, apologized, and walked out. I’d say that’s enough to make a choice and realize that there’s a reason why she has been doing this with every guy for a while.
Peter is a hard nut to crack… now, I only took Psych 101 so I can’t begin to unpack everything he thinks and does… That being said, I’m going to try.
In the second to last episode of the season, Peter’s long-lost brother comes to town with a conference and we learn that their mom was sick and their dad was busy pickling his liver. And the older brother (I don’t remember his name to be honest) was fighting with their dad one night down by the lake. The father pushed the brother and the brother shoved him away in self-defense. Unfortunately, the father hit his head or something and died… the brother felt responsible and fled, sticking Peter with the responsibility of taking care of their mother.
Peter had to grow up really fast, and it caused a lot of resentment and hardship.
And from his backstory, we know that for a time, he was married to a woman who became an alcoholic and it messed both of them up pretty bad. Then there was the New Orleans thing where he worked in a hotel and was seeing a woman who ended up being the boss’s wife (he was unaware at the time)- so when they got caught, Peter was canned and had to work abroad in Europe because he’d been blacklisted.
So from my limited psychology research, I would say his attachment style is Avoidant. Probably Dismissive Avoidant.
And if we’re doing love languages, I would say he’s Acts of Service which oddly enough is what my sister got when she took it. Sounds about right, gotta be honest. She does all kinds of nice things for me but I can’t remember a single time when she’s told me she loves me out loud.
I, on the other hand am a Words of Affirmation type… and apparently Christine is too. She needs to be told, “I love you.” And she needs to be told she’s appreciated. But ultimately, she has to feel the same about the person.
And Peter was it for her. But unfortunately, he has a hard time expressing his feelings. However, I say that and he does a lot of nice things for her. He goes out of his way to get her a lovely work anniversary gift. He rescues her from several bad situations. He held her hand when she had that health scare. And he also does a lot of small things.
I would say I am the secure attachment type, but I suppose I will take a quiz and find out.
A Few Hours Later:
The first quiz I took asked the questions in a certain way, and because of that, I had a hard time answering them honestly, and the answer I got was at 23% out of a hundred for I think Fearful (Disorganized) Avoidant. But 23% is rather low to pin me to that, and without paying a fee, I couldn’t look into it any further… so I took another quiz. And on this one, I got the option to pick Single, and it was so much easier to answer the questions… so I got Secure. Which sounds about right.
I mean, it’s not that I never worry about being abandoned or cast aside. And I am a relatively private person, so I will only share so much at first, and then as time goes by, I open up and am pretty darn honest about my past, where I see my future, and my feelings. I’m very open to that. It can be hard to get past the first barrier, but once you do, I become more and more of an open book. I will assess my relationships and reflect upon them, but I have no problem doing that.
Any fears I might have tend to pale in significance to my feelings and the sense of rightness. 2013 Cindy would have answered these questions very differently, but I was in a world of upheaval in 2013, some of which were relationship-based…
Anyway.
You might be wondering why I treated you to that kind of minutia. Well, it’s because we all love differently and sometimes, when other people in your life have a different love language or attachment style, they express their feelings (or not) in various ways. With Peter and Christine, she craves being loved. She wants to know where she stands. Peter doesn’t know how to tell her he loves her, so he tries to show her. But they don’t connect until he thinks of a way to both show and tell her that he loves her. And believe it or not, while Christine was extremely stubborn about sticking to her word and deciding to leave the hotel and go home for a while unless Peter was able to let her know that he cared- she did it because she needed to. On the other hand, she believed that if she let him go, left the hotel and Peter did love her, then he would find a way to bring her back. And if he didn’t, then, well, at least she’d know and she could move on with her life.
See, here’s the thing…
I know I said that I have a “Secure” attachment style.
And I do.
I am pretty secure in all my relationships. And I want to have relationships. I don’t fear them. I know what I need and am willing to tell the other person what I need. But I am not selfish enough to refuse to listen to feedback from other people and hear their needs.
That being said, I am an introvert and it can be hard to get to know me at first.
I want to make friends, but I don’t really know how. I’ve never been great at making friends. My friends tend to find me. But when they do, and I am able to evaluate the relationship and decide that it’s true and lasting, I don’t let go easily. I am willing to fight for it until I am made aware that their focus is somewhere else and after some conversations, it’s made clear that we’re in two different places and the other person will be involved elsewhere… It stings, but that’s how life works sometimes.
Another thing is that if I get feedback that the other person cares way less than I do, I have to reevaluate and usually, after a while, we mutually, peacefully agree to move on. Again, it sucks knowing that you care more than the other person. But just because one person cares less than you, it doesn’t mean that everyone you meet will hurt you.
I’ve mentioned the break up of my friend group before so I won’t dwell upon it. I mention it only for the sake of clarification.
Was I angry and hurt at the time? Yes.
Was I devastated for a bit? Yes.
Did I eventually realize that if I cared less than they did, it was better that we ended our friendship? Yes.
Am I still angry, hurt, devastated? No.
Do I hate that person? No.
Hating her would be childish. Besides, what good would that do me? It’s over. Me hating her won’t make her my friend again.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6MayCam9s8MAaEOqO9H8pS?si=4xUCtuiZRdqIuzQt_s4NsA“Holding onto what is gone won’t heal it.”- Hanson (One More)
Hate and revenge are such a waste of time and energy and I have no patience for either…
But all the same, “I know when it’s time to go.” Taylor Swift (It’s Time to Go)
(I’m super on brand.)
I suppose I should tell you what happens in the episode. So part 1, that Mike guy proposes to Christine. She turns him down because she loves Peter.
Peter is getting ready to leave for a conference out of town but they connect and she tells him that she couldn’t accept the ring and he expressed relief. And he wishes he didn’t have to leave for the conference. He kisses her and says they’ll talk when he returns.
He goes to the conference and returns. He goes right to Christine and kisses her and they agree to meet for lunch. They talk. He tells her that he has a brother. She didn’t know that because he’s literally never mentioned having siblings.
He explains why his brother is a tricky subject for him. She understands, but it’s the first little hint that perhaps Peter will never be able to open up enough to let her in.
She’s known him for three years and he never once mentioned his brother. What else is there that he has been dealing with (or not) that is affecting him? If they are going to be together, shouldn’t they be open and honest with each other?
But in one of the next scenes, they are back at her place making out, so that’s good.
But then, they start talking about work and it’s one of those conversations where it SOUNDS like it’s about work, and it sort of is, but between the lines, it’s about trust and their relationship.
Subtext. And they fight. Long Story Short it was a bad ti-ime. (Hopefully, you got that I was referencing TSwift again).
But then they kind of work it out, but not completely. Peter works things out with his brother. He finally tells his brother, “I love you.” Which makes you think that he can now say it to Christine who really needs it… but no.
Alas, he almost says it. He says most things but that. He goes to her apartment and tries to work things out with her. But she basically says, “I can’t do this anymore. If you can’t tell me how you feel and we can’t work this out, then I don’t think I can sit on the other side of that office door from you and work alongside you like there’s nothing between us. Because I feel so strongly for you. So strongly that I don’t want anyone else. I can’t bear to let anyone get close to me because of you. But if you don’t feel the same, or you can’t trust me enough to open up and tell me what you feel, trust that I care about you, and don’t want to hurt you, then I have to move on. I’m going to leave the St. Gregory. I don’t want to. This place is everything to me. I’ve grown so much here. It’s family. But even that can’t make me stay if we’re going to keep pretending that we’re nothing to each other.”
He makes an effort to say what he feels, but he stops just short of it, and Christine gets irritated and sends him away.
But it’s so heartbreaking because he pauses on the outside of the door, wanting to knock, but not wanting to risk rejection or her ire any more than has already transpired.
When he finally starts to walk away, it’s slow, as if he wants her to open the door and call him back. But she doesn’t, at least not so he can hear it. On the other side of the door, she puts her head to the wood and if my horrible ears heard correctly, she said softly, “Please don’t go.”
That was hard to watch.
And she was all ready in the next episode to leave.
Peter was a wreck, but he still couldn’t tell her he loved her. And by this time, she was angry and hurt, and devastated that this thing she had longed for was over before it began.
The hotel threw her a going-away party. Peter didn’t show up until the last minute only after Mark refused to let him miss it.
And oh my goodness, everyone in the hotel knows that Christine and Peter are having a lover’s quarrel and that only one of them is admitting that they love the other…
Megan made a comment in the first episode of this arc that the way Peter looked at Christine warmed her heart. She liked to see them happy.
When Julie got called up to the administrative floor in part 3 to perhaps take over Christine’s job when she left… it was painful to watch. You could tell that he was lost and frazzled… and that while he thought Julie deserved a chance, he wanted everything to be how it was. Nothing was really said, but when Julie talked to Megan about it later, they shared this look like, “This is awful.”
And Mark, in part 2 even went to Christine’s apartment to try to console her and tell her that the thing she and Peter have is so pure and so deep that it makes him want to find someone and settle down.
He said something like, “He loves you, Christine. We all know it. Whether spoken or not, you two have it in buckets.”
And good gracious, Billy did everything but drag Peter to her house and force him to say the L word.
In one of their conversations, Billy was like, “Boss, I know you’re going through a tough time, but things would be a lot better if you would just admit to yourself what we all know… that you’re crazy about Christine and you don’t want her to leave.”
And he says something like, “I’ve tried and she won’t listen.”
“Probably because you’re not saying the right things. Women need to be told. Even if they already know. It’s three little words.”
And Billy asks if he’s said he loves Christine in those words.
And he hasn’t.
In part 3, at Christine’s going away party, there’s a moment where Billy says how much they’re going to miss her… and then says something to her like, “It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“I think the bridge has burned.”
“Bridges can be rebuilt.”
“But they have to be rebuilt from both sides, Billy. I can’t go on being the only one trying.”
At some point, she loses it when talking with Megan because Megan has Dave and she says something like, “You have love, so you have it all. And that’s what’s important.”
It was hard to watch.
And then there was the moment where Peter finally arrived and he was talked into giving the speech, I think by Mark… and what he said was actually really sweet, although he was clearly heartbroken and awkward in that moment.
He basically said that the hotel is like a family. And in the three years Christine had been there, she’d become much more than his assistant, she’d become his friend and confidant. With her leaving, one role could be filled. The other can never be filled and there will forever be a hole there.
He raises a glass to her and she actually looks moved, but then he abruptly leaves as if it were all he could do to say all that and everyone notices. Its real awkward.
Then, Peter goes to grab a drink. Billy sits next to him and tries to get him to admit that he loves Christine and that he needs to fight for her.
Anyway, at some point, Christine is in her apartment writing a letter to Mrs. Cabot which is explaining why she’s leaving. Essentially it’s everything where she’s in love with Peter but she doesn’t know that he loves her and she can’t wait for him, blah, blah, blah…
“I’ve tried…” he keeps saying. But even though he isn’t exactly wrong, it’s like, dude, you’re almost there. JUST SAY THE FREAKING L WORD!
Later, after the party, Peter goes to her apartment after getting a piece of advice from Billy.
It finally sank in.
The first time, he tries to talk to her but she’s like, “I thought you were my cab.”
“Perhaps I can be.”
“It’s too late, Peter. I can’t do this anymore. It hurts too much. I have to get out of here.”
And he leaves, sort of.
He actually (I don’t know if he did this before, or after he got to her place) got the advice to take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left, he was told to write all the reasons why he should let her go. And on the right, all the reasons he should fight for her.
At the end of the day, the reason he should fight for her was that he loved her.
And when her cab gets there, Peter parks his car in front of the cab, blocking it in. He takes Christine’s bags out of the cab’s trunk, and pays the driver to leave.
She’s kind of like, “What now?”
And he tells her what he just did with the list. And then he says, the reason he can’t let her get away is that he loves her.
They talk and kiss and she tells him that she loves him too.
“It’s going to be so embarrassing walking into work on Monday after they just threw me a going away party and gave me a beautiful attaché case.”
“They’ll be happy you’re staying.”
“I gave notice on my apartment…”
“You can stay in my suite at the hotel or I can take you home with me.”
“But first, let’s get some things out of the way.”
(I paraphrased the conversation because my memory isn’t that good.)
And they go upstairs to her apartment and kiss and I think you can guess where that leads.
And dear me the show lingered on them together.
Near the end of the episode, the two go to the hotel to visit Mrs. Cabot and tell her that they’re in love and together… and here’s where stuff goes down.
They get there and the lawyer who handles Mrs. Cabot’s affairs is there. You can see their faces fall when they notice that Victoria isn’t around… and the lawyer looks so serious.
He tells them that Victoria had a stroke and that she didn’t suffer. He told them how much they both meant to her, and how much she loved the hotel… and he handed Peter a letter from Mrs. Cabot which he told Peter to read as soon as possible.
Long story short, the letter was Victoria telling Peter that she thought of him as the son she never had. And that she wanted him to run the hotel as part owner, and she handed over her share of the hotel to him. She gave him the penthouse she lived in, and aside from a few gifts to her family, she left everything to him.
She wanted him to take care of the hotel and make it the greatest hotel in the world. She told him that since she thinks of him like the son she never had, she has to tell him she hopes by the time she’s gone and he’s reading her words that Peter’s awakened to the fact that all he needs in life and love has been on the other side of a door from him the entire time. She’s basically like, “You love Christine, you idiot. Tell her you love her. Never let her go.”
She wrote that she wanted the two of them to continue running the hotel together and that she will always be with them as long as the hotel stands.
She signed it, “Love, Victoria.”
My poor heart.
And that was pretty much the end of the episode.
All in all, I think they did a great job of making the best of a bad thing. And now, the interesting thing is what will happen with season 4. More on that later…
One thing I really love about what they did with these last few episodes is that they still maintained consistency despite having something bad happen. The last episode of the season was heartbreaking, but also, there was joy and hope. I loved that when the writers, “went there” and put Christine and Peter together, they kept them there. They had them get together just in time… and they now had each other to hold when the going got tough.
He didn’t avoid her.
She knew just how much support to offer.
And that is a tricky thing to learn.
So, from the bottom of my heart, I salute the writers. (to borrow and paraphrase a quote from one of my favorite MacGyver episodes…)
I hope you all have a lovely day, and I will probably be writing again once we get to the end of this arc we’re watching… Stuff is going down that I can’t quite process enough to write about.
Perhaps I will write about status quo changes…
Who knows…
Cindy Says: Let's Brainstorm 