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 In
the story of Santa Barbara, the arrival of Lady Elizabeth Peale
has nothing accidental, as she tries to make it believe. Only Lionel
Lockridge knows about her coming. Several time before she appears in
the show, they converse on phone. Lionel takes a great care not
to reveal the identity of his interlocutor, simply calling her "my friend".
And
this is a few episodes later that the face of Elizabeth Peale appears to
us. She
arrives at the Santa Barbara museum, to replace at the
last time her father. Indeed, Sir
Richard Peale being sick, it is his daughter who comes to make the
conference on his behalf.
As
of the first day, her way crosses that of Lionel Lockridge, like that of
his eternal rival, C.C. Capwell. And as of their meeting, our friends
play the game and do as if they cordially hate each other. Lionel insults
Elizabeth, whom he claims to hate, besides just like her father.
Elisabeth, very affected by Lionel's remarks, is quickly
taken under the protection of C.C. Capwell, who invites her to settle at the Capwell
mansion. Because C.C. and Richard Peale
are long time friends.
Elizabeth's
arrival in Santa Barbara is far from being anodine. Her
objective is to help Lionel, her friend (and perhaps her former
lover) in the rescue of the Amanda Lockridge. The Amanda Lockridge, baptized
with the same name that Lionel's grandmother, is a sailing ship chartered
by the Lockridges, which would have sunk in the Santa Barbara bay,
during a violent storm. The boat was returning from Europe with on its
board Master paintings (one Leonard de Vinci for example) which
would have allowed the Lockridges to findagain the first place in the
Californian high society. Lionel needs Elizabeth to give again
light to these engulfed treasures. Elizabeth's role is to create copies
of the Master paintings, because there are too few chances that they
have not suffered from the time and the ocean. And to make
their story being credible, they need that everyone to be unaware of the
links which unite them and that is for this reason that Lionel does not want
his son, Warren, to take part in the rescue.
Moreover,
while she settles in the Capwell mansion, Lady Elizabeth Peale will
poke the jealousy of Gina DeMott. Conscious of the tensions she
creates between them, Elizabeth enjoys trying to seduce C.C. Capwell.
But it is finally Brick Wallace who wakes her
heart up. Highly interested by Brick, she initially proposes him to sit for
her. She thus sees an excellent
mean to admire his body when she wants to, and
especially a possibility of to seduce him. And despite Brick's many refusals, Elizabeth persists.
Only listening to her desire, she even goes until proposing him a lot of
money if he agrees to be a model for her. And Brick always refuses to yield to
her harassment. He explains his refusal by recognizing that he is
engaged
with Amy Perkins and that he is destabilized by too enterprising women.
And there, Elizabeth cracks and begins to cry in front of Brick. She realizes
that she does not know who she really is. She opens her heart to
him, letting him see some deep wounds. She recognizes she always tried to
impress her father, who did not care of her, and that she always fell
back upon him or other painters not to have to face the light.
Elizabeth
finds again the confidence she had lost thanks to Warren, that she helps
thereafter during his fugitive escape, while he is pursued for the
murder of Channing Capwell Junior. Once
her
work completed at the side of Lionel, Elizabeth Peale leaves Santa
Barbara, after however having attested the authenticity of Lionel's
paintings.
Portrait
written for this site by Lilian
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