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2023 Nostalgia Re-readathon | SVH #99: Beware the Baby-sitter
Margo makes her move...
Margo is making herself right at home in Sweet Valley, setting her evil scheme in motion. She's gotten a job at a day-care center, and is busy perfecting her imitation of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. She's even fooled Todd Wilkins and Mrs. Wakefield into thinking she's Elizabeth. Now it's only a matter of time before Margo takes over Elizabeth's life for good.
Meanwhile, Winston Egbert was baby-sitting for a neighbor. Now the neighbor has disappeared. What's Winston going to do with a baby?
The penultimate book in TGMOAT finds Margo coming completely unhinged, and has a rather irritating subplot of Wacky Baby-sitting Hijinks with a side order of All Adults are Morons, apparently. I think this is the weakest book in the miniseries; maybe this is colored by my adoration of the previous book.
Let's cover the wacky subplot first. One of Winston's neighbors has to go to some unnamed central American country that just had a military coup in order to rescue her husband. She has an eight-month-old baby that she doesn't want to take with her (for obvious reasons), so she stops by to leave the baby with Winston and his parents, promising that she'll be back overnight. There are just two problems with this: Winston's parents are on a weeklong vacation to see relatives, and the baby's mother doesn't come back the next day. Hence, Winston finds himself caring for baby Daisy solo, and for some reason he decides he can't tell any adult person, ever, about this situation. He doesn't want to tell anyone, actually, but he is so comically horrible at caring for Daisy by himself that he relents and tells his girlfriend, who proceeds to invite pretty much every girl in their junior class to Winston's house to assist him. They all instantly fall in love with Daisy, and of course, being girls, know exactly what to do to care for her. (Of course.) Winston and Amy Sutton even make a side bet: if Winston can learn how to properly change a diaper by the end of the week, he gets to dictate the costume Amy wears to Olivia Davidson's upcoming costume party. If he doesn't, Amy will chose his costume.
Winston misses three days of school and returns on a Thursday, carrying baby Daisy in a duffel bag(!). His female friends have agreed to help him watch her while they're at school, each of them taking her for one of the periods. He hides the fact that he brought a baby to school from Chrome Dome Cooper, and they even fool Mr Collins. This whole sequence was just cringingly awful. No adult is going to be that stupid, not even the Sweet Valley adults. But of course they have no idea of this coordinated effort by a group of sixteen year olds, and of course no idea why said kids are taking turns taking care of an eight-month-old baby. I basically had to grit my teeth while reading these scenes; not even the scene where Daisy accidentally unties Bruce's shoelaces while he's rocking out to The Who, and then he unceremoniously falls over his feet when he stands up, was enough to wipe away the absolute cringe of it all.
The main plot follows Margo as she creeps ever close to Elizabeth, sometimes quite literally. She's staking out the Wakefield home, and even greets Alice one afternoon as Liz. She then sees Liz hurrying away from the house and hotwires a car to follow her. She follows Liz all the way to Todd's house and witnesses their happy reunion.( Apparently Jessica kept the note she intercepted from Todd back in #97 instead of tearing it up. Really, Jessica??) Liz is equally happy to be reunited with Todd as she is furious with Jessica for keeping the note from her. Oh, Liz, if only you knew that was the least of Jessica's secrets!
Liz and Todd are blissfully unaware of their witness hiding in the bushes, but Margo has become unhinged to the point of carrying around a butcher knife on the off chance that she can kill Elizabeth at any moment. I'd forgotten this; I thought Margo's plans were much more cold and calculating. But it seems that now that she's close to the twins, she's becoming openly psychotic. The raspy voice she hears in her head is now coming out of her mouth (a creepy notion), and her patience is wearing thin with everyone, not just the twins.
Margo gets a job at the Little Darlings Day Care center, where she starts pumping the kids for information about the ever-popular Wakefields.
James, Jessica's new boyfriend who's also been feeding Margo information about the twins in exchange for money, is starting to second-guess this deal. Margo is creeping him out, and he's both annoyed and frightened by her. He's also starting to care for Jessica. This doesn't stop him from giving Margo all the details about Jessica's costume for the ball, of course, but he does wonder if he did the right thing. (Spoiler alert: no, he didn't.)
The main plot and the subplot intersect when Winston is convinced to take baby Daisy to Little Darlings after her parents have been gone for nearly a week, because he can't take care of her anymore. He talks to Margo on several occasions, and even leaves Daisy with her in the second-to-last chapter. This is where my lone memory of the book comes in: Winston driving Daisy around in his orange VW Beetle. Winston, too, is creeped out by Margo, though he can't put his finger on why. It doesn't help that she shows up to his house one day in the middle of the book, offering to take care of Daisy.
Margo has honed in on Daisy because she's seen Elizabeth interact with the baby and feels that this is the key to getting close to her. She's more right than she realizes, when Liz unexpectedly shows up at Winston's house that same day. For the first time ever, Margo is speechless and unprepared to be so close to her prey. She actually runs away.
The subplot is wrapped up when Winston takes Daisy to the day care center and leaves her in Margo's care, then the baby's parents return. They race to the day care center and have no idea how close they came to finding a dead baby instead of a live one; Daisy's cries have driven Margo to try to suffocate her. But, she's still alive, the parents are happy, and Margo disappears before Winston can talk to her and ask her to keep his secret that his parents weren't home to care for Daisy.
Perhaps the best scenes of the book are at Olivia's costume ball, which is being held at her wealthy boyfriend Harry's house in Bridgewater. All of her classmates come in costume, including the Wakefields: both Liz and Jess independently decide to go as Cinderella, and choose pale pink gowns and shimmery veils. They don't realize they've chosen the same costume until they come face to face with each other when they go down to meet their dates. Both girls have deja vu from the night of preparing for the Jungle Prom; they weren't talking to each other then, either, and of course Jessica knows better than anyone else what else happened that night.
They decide to go to the costume party in their near-identical outfits, but there's no picture taking this time. They mingle with the other guests, but Elizabeth in particular feels very weirded out by everything. She has some surreal moments as well, and these were described quite nicely: how everyone looks just a little bit off, how odd it is to see familiar people in unfamiliar surroundings.
Margo is also at this party, dressed almost exactly the same as Jessica. Only their earrings are different, Jessica at the last moment deciding to wear pearls she was given by Sam. Margo encounters both twins, and is mistaken as Jessica by nearly everyone at the party. She enjoys this so much that I'm not sure why she decides she'd rather be Elizabeth. Margo also snags a dance with Todd - but unlike what the back blurb says, Todd is not fooled by this. He thinks he's dancing with Jessica, but maybe not because Jessica is not usually so forward and touchy-feely. Margo thoroughly creeps Todd out and he quite literally runs away from her.
Josh Smith is also at the costume party, having decided to crash it during his search for Margo. He's seen Liz around town and is convinced that he's seeing Margo, so imagine his surprise when he sees three Margos at the party. He grabs one of them, only to realize that it's not Margo, but some girl named Jessica. The third Margo rushes up in the commotion, and he realizes that Margo is likely stalking these two twin girls and that they're in danger from her. He's kicked out of the party before he can say or do anything, but he's FINALLY stumbled upon the reason why Margo came to California in the first place. We still have no explanation of how he put together Margo's past crimes, which is disappointing, but alas.
Josh, James, Winston, and Liz are all feeling very unnerved by Margo, whether they realize its her or not, and Margo is so far gone that she doesn't realize or care. She wants Liz's life and she's tired of waiting for it, so she puts her plans into motion: she writes a letter to Ned Wakefield, inviting him and Alice down to San Francisco for a two-day business meeting at a lavish hotel. Ned, being a moronic adult in this book, immediately accepts and is excited by the idea.
The setup for The Evil Twin is there, but this was a rather painful way to get to it. I've been a bit disappointed by how sloppy Margo has gotten in this book (or maybe I'm just disappointed with myself for forgetting it? LOL), so I'm hoping #100 is as good as I remember it to be. This miniseries started off strongly, and I'm ready for it to finish the same way.
no subject
I forgot the whole costume ball thing completely. Like nothing about this sounded at all familiar, unlike the Winston subplot which must be how my brain categorized this book and then never looked back. Well, that and James debating pushing Jessica off a cliff. Why didn't Margo just... do that? (We don't know a body would ever be found! No logic need apply here!)
I didn't hate the wacky hijinks, but they're definitely more inline with what the show winds up doing and what the future mini series will do. I figured Collins decided fuck it, if Liz and Penny are involved, it'll work out and if not, they'll lemme know when that happens.
I'm not sure we needed wacky hijinks because Margo herself is so over the top. I don't remember her being quite so... *gestures* whatever this is. I'd forgotten JUST how obsessed she is with the idea of Alice, to the degree of being jealous of Ned, and I do wonder if maybe that's part of why she's so set on taking Liz's life instead of changing plans and going for Jessica. Maybe she assumes Jess is correct and that Alice does have a favorite and it's Liz? But yeah, having her successfully pull off Jessica at the party with everyone but Todd, really, it blows my mind that she didn't just change course. She already knew she had Jessica's mannerisms down (or closer, anyway) and if she's accelerating her plans, why go for the twin you're still in the dark about?
Why am I still wanting logic from a storyline that is batshit bananas?
I will say that the Margo here seems pretty different in a lot of ways from Evil Twin Margo. ET!Margo is way more calculating and even if she's still got obvious issues, she's got a better grip on her temper... and isn't letting the voice in her head talk through her. o_O
It's also weird as hell that this book doesn't mention the fact that it's damn near Christmas, or that we sped through Halloween (we were ROBBED of a Margo Halloween!) and Thanksgiving, if Ned's meeting is set up for a week from the end of the book. The timeline for this arc is all over the damn place.
I did love how freaked out Liz was at the party, though why the hell were the cops NOT called when Josh assaulted Jessica? Seriously, Harry. What the hell.
I'm miffed we didn't get to see Enid and Lila team up in their scheming to bring the twins back together. ROBBED. Universe, I need the deep cut of this happening. Someone. Somewhere. Gimme!
Also gimme the AU where Margo succeeds but can't help herself and starts taking out anyone closer to Alice than Margo would like. Because this Margo is absolutely willing to kill Ned to keep Alice to herself and duuuuuuuuuuuuude.
I'd say no way Jessica kept that letter but also... Jess, why the hell would you hold onto incriminating evidence like that? It's not like reading it was gonna help you in any way. Did love that it was because Liz was cleaning up after Jessica, after remembering her vow not to do so, that got Jessica's mild fuckery exposed.
Less loved Elizabeth's full reaction. Liz. Sweetie. Honey. Sugar. From your perspective, it's really, really obvious why Jessica would keep Todd's letter away from you. At the time he sent it, Jess was still deep in her grief over Sam and her wanting to take away your boyfriend like you took away hers, only at least Todd is still alive makes about as much sense as anything Jessica does. So yeah, I get Liz being hurt, and I know we need them mad at each other again for the next book to happen but I feel like the time to be mad about Todd has either passed OR not been quite long enough, depending. I think my big issue with this is that it's part of the pushing away of Sam and his memory and I realize it's a no win for the series on this.
Lila's on a whole 'nother level here and I love it almost as much as Winston making Amy dress up as a nun. Inspired.
Some of this stuff really works, which makes the stuff that doesn't seem even worse.
no subject
Yeah, and the twins' sparkly pink ball gowns gave me minor heart palpitations - no way could the #100 stepback be a lie!!1!
James debating pushing Jessica off a cliff. Why didn't Margo just... do that? (We don't know a body would ever be found! No logic need apply here!)
Yeah, if James had killed Jessica and Margo had just taken her place, it would've made sense. But no: Margo wants to be Liz, for some reason! I liked the way one reviewer put it on GR in their review of 100, after everyone continuously mistakes Margo for Jessica - read the room, Margo! LOL.
Of course, knowing the 'twist' of Return, we actually get to see this. Sorta.
I didn't hate the wacky hijinks, but they're definitely more inline with what the show winds up doing and what the future mini series will do.
The hijinks just seem so forced. Nothing wrong with a subplot to lighten things up - previous books in this very miniseries did that with varying degrees of success. This one just stank of stereotypes that smell even worse 30 years later.
I'm not sure we needed wacky hijinks because Margo herself is so over the top. I don't remember her being quite so... *gestures* whatever this is. I'd forgotten JUST how obsessed she is with the idea of Alice, to the degree of being jealous of Ned, and I do wonder if maybe that's part of why she's so set on taking Liz's life instead of changing plans and going for Jessica. Maybe she assumes Jess is correct and that Alice does have a favorite and it's Liz? But yeah, having her successfully pull off Jessica at the party with everyone but Todd, really, it blows my mind that she didn't just change course. She already knew she had Jessica's mannerisms down (or closer, anyway) and if she's accelerating her plans, why go for the twin you're still in the dark about?
Why am I still wanting logic from a storyline that is batshit bananas?
Because there was some method to Margo's madness at the beginning. She chose Liz because she saw her in the newspaper and didn't even know about Jessica's existence until the trial was over. Why she doesn't course correct is anyone's guess.
Her obsession with Alice is super creepy!
I will say that the Margo here seems pretty different in a lot of ways from Evil Twin Margo. ET!Margo is way more calculating and even if she's still got obvious issues, she's got a better grip on her temper... and isn't letting the voice in her head talk through her. o_O
I'm glad to see that you, too, were thrown off by the OTT crazy in this book. My memory is bad, but I didn't think it was that bad, LOL! It's reassuring to hear that Margo is more the the way I remember her in #100.
It's also weird as hell that this book doesn't mention the fact that it's damn near Christmas, or that we sped through Halloween (we were ROBBED of a Margo Halloween!) and Thanksgiving, if Ned's meeting is set up for a week from the end of the book. The timeline for this arc is all over the damn place.
YES! I knew Evil Twin took place at Christmas, so I have been completely baffled at how there's no buildup to this in #95-99. This book reads like it's barely even summer, and yet the next one starts with the twins dressing for their last day of school prior to Christmas break. That gave me some whiplash, I admit, but at least the books are FINALLY getting into the Christmas spirit!
I'm miffed we didn't get to see Enid and Lila team up in their scheming to bring the twins back together. ROBBED. Universe, I need the deep cut of this happening. Someone. Somewhere. Gimme!
*remembers their feud over Jeffrey* Seconded x1000.
So yeah, I get Liz being hurt, and I know we need them mad at each other again for the next book to happen but I feel like the time to be mad about Todd has either passed OR not been quite long enough, depending.
Their reconciliation scenes were heartwarming. I honestly thought this second split was caused by Jessica confessing to having spiked the drinks. Anger of THAT would make a lot more sense than keeping a solitary letter from Todd away from Elizabeth. (This doesn't excuse Jessica keeping instead of destroying said letter, tho. Early canon Jessica knows better than to keep the evidence!)
Some of this stuff really works, which makes the stuff that doesn't seem even worse.
You've taken my incoherent ramblings above and summarized them quite succinctly!