Alfred Hitchcock Presents Series 2, Episode 10    John Meredyth Lucas    Georgann Johnson, Corey Allen    02 December 1956    24m 31s    5/10

Jonathan

Jonathan has died and his son Gil returns to his father's boat house where he is met by his step-mother Rosine. Gil reminisces about his close relationship with Jonathan, whom unusually he refers to by his first name, about how they won several trophies together playing tennis, while blaming Rosine for taking so much away from him. In a flashback sequence Gil recalls a time when he and Jonathan are rowing back into the boat house when Jonathan suddenly becomes ill. As they sit on the steps resting Gil tells Jonathan he spoke to the doctor and that he knows about his heart condition. After going inside the boat house, Jonathan tells Gil that after being a widower for eighteen years he intends to marry his secretary and urges Gil to return to college and make new friends but Gil feels pushed away by Jonathan and fears their close relationship will be damaged by the new woman being in his father's life. Gil finally explodes and tells Jonathan that no matter who this woman is, he will always hate her and wishes her dead. Back in the present and after Jonathan's funeral Gil decides to grill Rosine about where she was at the time his father had his relapse, as he suspects her involvement in Jonathan's sudden death. He even blatantly asks her "how did you kill him?" before she wonders why Gil himself decided to head off to Mexico around the same time. In the flashback Gil and his friend take a trip to Mexico City but before he leaves, he buys a large bottle of brandy for Rosine and leaves it on the mantle for her. When he returns to the house he is told by the maid that Rosine is not at home so Gil does some snooping around and discovers the brandy bottle hidden in a closet. As he inspects it, Rosine walks into the room and hands the bottle back to him, telling him to keep it. She then proceeds to tell him about how her marriage to Jonathan was destined to fail due to the strong father/son relationship getting in the way and she was prepared to call it off so that Gil could have Jonathan back. She also reveals that she knew how Gil hated her more than he loved his father and that was the catalyst for Jonathan's death. All the while Gil had been accusing Rosine for being the nasty one when all the time it was Gil who had the mean streak....

HITCH'S PROLOGUE: [Hitch is wearing a wig and speaking with an exaggerated accent while chewing gum] "Hiya. I'm not Hitchcock, I'm Alfred, his stand-in. I'm asked to stand here while the lights and the cameras are adjusted and all that something when the old boy just don't have the time. I got the job because I look like him. That's what they say but not to my face. I see them rolling him in. D'ya suppose I'll look like that when I'm his age. [The real Hitch enters the screen from the left as the fake Hitch remains on the right of the split-screen]. [Real Hitch]: That'll be all, Alfred. [Fake Hitch:] Arrivederci, daddy-o. [Fake Hitch walks off] [Real Hitch:] Cheeky fellow isn't he? Unfortunately he may soon be more than a stand-in. We are planning to send out a second company to tour the provinces and Alfred will play my part. Which brings us to tonight's thrilling shocker. It is called 'Jonathan'." HITCH'S EPILOGUE: "Those of you who like to see nasty people receive their comeuppance will be delighted with the result of tonight's tale. Gil took his story to the police and he and Rosine were promptly punished. She for murder and he for intent to murder. There is, however a brighter side to all this. Both have become model prisoners. This concludes tonight's divertissement but please remained tuned to this channel. I am not familiar with the programme which follows, nor the one after that but I have seen the story we are presenting next time and I think it's worth waiting for. Good night."

REVIEW & OPINION Very disappointing. I thought this was an utterly uninteresting and boring episode to be frank. I really didn't care enough about the characters in it to even be the least bit curious to know how Jonathan died. And as for the ending? Couldn't see that coming......... much! However, Hitch's intro was rather amusing and was probably the highlight of the entire episode!

SPOILERS One of the most obvious twists here: I mean, it's so obvious I almost felt like not writing it on this page! But for the record, the brandy that Gil bought for Rosine was spiked with poison intended for her, but instead, she gave it to Jonathan. So in effect it was Gil who killed Jonathan. The spoiler was as obvious as the characters in the episode were boring in my opinion.

THE CAST (click any image to enlarge)

Rosine Dalliford... GEORGANN JOHNSON Gil Dalliford... COREY ALLEN Jonathan Dalliford... DOUGLAS KENNEDY Don... JOHN WILDER Hope Landin... HOPE LANDIN Dr. Mack... WALTER KINGSFORD {unseen} Nurse... NANCY KULP {unseen}

GALLERY (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508186/ [IMDb] Geoff Collins (corrections with Hitch's dialogue) This page was last updated on: 05 April 2020