> Mark wrote:
>
> << Whoa!!! I didn't mean to suggest there were any sexual undertones between
> Neil and Marianne. Intimacy and sex are two different things. Doesn't
> Marianne say something like "of course we have a relationship. A
> relationship doesn't mean hopping into bed together!" >>
>
> I think there were very definite sexual undertones in the Neil/Marianne
> relationship. All coming from her, however. It was quite subtle, but she
> often gave him a particular, longing "look" (not sappy, but rather sad )- as
> though she were fully aware of the futility of it all. But Neil's self-
> absorption and attention to his job blinded him to it.
I don't think Neil was at all blind, or uninterested. It seemed
to me that the show was setting up a sexual conflict between Neil and
Willie over Marianne, as well as one between Marianne and Neil about her
becoming a Sandbagger (which she looked well qualified to be). Marianne
was more interested in Neil than Willie. Neil looked to me to be
interested, but haunted by Laura, and reluctant to reach out. Instead he
was playing dog-in-the-manger by keeping Marianne away from Willie.
Gayle