Ah... Those Timeline Discrepancies

[Elizabeth]

What's up with Roger's whereabouts always changing? In "Family Rivalry," he tells the Kings that he is going to Dalhousie in Halifax. Yet in "Ties with BInd," Alec says that he will send Olivia a wedding present from Brazil. To confuse us even more, only a few episodes later, in "Vows of Silence," Alec has just returned from visiting Roger in Halifax!

Seems like whenever it comes to Roger or his son, the writers conveniently get forgetful or just plain wacky.

[Timothy]

Seems like whenever it comes to Roger or his son, the writers conveniently get forgetful or just plain wacky.

It doesn't help that those episodes were written by three different writers.

[irishcolleen]

What's up with Roger's whereabouts always changing? In "Family Rivalry," he tells the Kings that he is going to Dalhousie in Halifax. Yet in "Ties with BInd," Alec says that he will send Olivia a wedding present from Brazil. To confuse us even more, only a few episodes later, in "Vows of Silence," Alec has just returned from visiting Roger in Halifax!

Seems like whenever it comes to Roger or his son, the writers conveniently get forgetful or just plain wacky.

This is just a guess, but Roger said he accepted the position for that fall. If Jasper and Olivia's wedding took place that summer, maybe Roger went back to Brazil for a bit before taking the position at Dalhousie that fall.

[Gwendolene]

This is just a guess, but Roger said he accepted the position for that fall. If Jasper and Olivia's wedding took place that summer, maybe Roger went back to Brazil for a bit before taking the position at Dalhousie that fall.

How long does it take to get to Brazil by steamship? It seems to me that he would spend the entire summer getting to and from. Maybe he decided to go for a weekend.

[weatherman15]

This is more of a character discrepancy than a timeline discrepancy, but since we're on the subject of Roger and Andrew King...

Does anyone find it odd that Hetty King always feels so strongly about keeping the King family together and in Avonlea (i.e. Olivia mustn't go to England, Ruth should not have left), yet she never really has an issue with Roger living away from Avolnea during the entire course of the show's run?

Perhaps I should go find or create a topic on the multiple personalities of Hetty King...

[hannikan]

What's up with Roger's whereabouts always changing? In "Family Rivalry," he tells the Kings that he is going to Dalhousie in Halifax. Yet in "Ties with BInd," Alec says that he will send Olivia a wedding present from Brazil. To confuse us even more, only a few episodes later, in "Vows of Silence," Alec has just returned from visiting Roger in Halifax!

Seems like whenever it comes to Roger or his son, the writers conveniently get forgetful or just plain wacky.

This is just a guess, but Roger said he accepted the position for that fall. If Jasper and Olivia's wedding took place that summer, maybe Roger went back to Brazil for a bit before taking the position at Dalhousie that fall.

This is what I thought. He still had commitments in Brazil with the mining company that needed his attention. I think he would have started the Dalhousie job in the fall. This could also explain why Andrew is back in Avonlea (at school so not visiting) in Misfits (although that really seems like winter). I think Hetty would have supported Jasper and Olivia's living abroad if she thought Jasper would be as successful at his career as Roger was. Since she had little faith in Jasper she was negative about it. Also if it hadn't coincided with the changes coming to PEI simultaneously (Carmody expanding, the cannery burning down, Sara and Felix leaving, etc) she might have felt less strongly about it, too. In HCMK I think her fears should have been more tied to the war itself and Olivia and the children traveling alone during wartime reminding her of Blair taking Ruth away and then getting TB.

[StoryJan]

Does anyone find it odd that Hetty King always feels so strongly about keeping the King family together and in Avonlea (i.e. Olivia mustn't go to England, Ruth should not have left), yet she never really has an issue with Roger living away from Avolnea during the entire course of the show's run?

Perhaps I should go find or create a topic on the multiple personalities of Hetty King...

I don't find it that odd. In Hetty's eyes, the King family men were expected to become somebodies; Alec took over the farm, and Roger was able to travel and study the world. As an unmarried woman, Hetty's career options were very limited, and I think she enjoyed living vicariously through Roger. Remember- she had to grow up very quickly when her mother died, and what dreams she clung too, I believe she invested in Roger. I think she viewed her sisters in a more traditional light. She expected Ruth and Olivia to marry local good ol' boys, and Blair Stanley and Jasper Dale never measured up to her high expectations. She was able to bully Olivia, but Ruth didn't put up with it. It's true Hetty's character has a lot of inconsistencies, but I think her greatest character fault is her hypocrisy. It's part of her make-up and makes her interesting.

[hannikan]

Does anyone find it odd that Hetty King always feels so strongly about keeping the King family together and in Avonlea (i.e. Olivia mustn't go to England, Ruth should not have left), yet she never really has an issue with Roger living away from Avolnea during the entire course of the show's run?

Perhaps I should go find or create a topic on the multiple personalities of Hetty King...

I don't find it that odd. In Hetty's eyes, the King family men were expected to become somebodies; Alec took over the farm, and Roger was able to travel and study the world. As an unmarried woman, Hetty's career options were very limited, and I think she enjoyed living vicariously through Roger. Remember- she had to grow up very quickly when her mother died, and what dreams she clung too, I believe she invested in Roger. I think she viewed her sisters in a more traditional light. She expected Ruth and Olivia to marry local good ol' boys, and Blair Stanley and Jasper Dale never measured up to her high expectations. She was able to bully Olivia, but Ruth didn't put up with it. It's true Hetty's character has a lot of inconsistencies, but I think her greatest character fault is her hypocrisy. It's part of her make-up and makes her interesting.

That's a good point, too. I think she was living vicariously through Roger because, as she tells Andrew, women weren't allowed in university in her day. I think with Olivia it was more that she thought Olivia would be sort of a child (her child) forever, she would never go out on her own (either by marrying a man or having a career). Hetty was afraid of being totally alone without Olivia since she wasn't married and had no children of her own. She kept Olivia dependent on her, criticized everything Olivia tried to do on her own, because Hetty was afraid of her being strong enough to leave Hetty all by herself. It's true Hetty is full in inconsistencies but so are real people.

[Shelly]

Does anyone find it odd that Hetty King always feels so strongly about keeping the King family together and in Avonlea (i.e. Olivia mustn't go to England, Ruth should not have left), yet she never really has an issue with Roger living away from Avolnea during the entire course of the show's run?

I don't either. Roger was practically the "golden boy", after all. In her eyes, he could do no wrong. I could say other things, but those things delve into NC-17 territory. Instead, I'll agree that Hetty probably lived vicariously through Roger. He had all the opportunities she either didn't have or didn't take.

Alec took over the farm, but at times Hetty was critical of him for various reasons, namely his parenting.

Ruth married an outsider, likely against Hetty's wishes. After her death, Hetty held Blair Stanley responsible. She probably did expect her and Olivia to marry preferably either another farmer or someone well-to-do who was willing to settle down.

Olivia was more like a daughter to Hetty than a sister. After all, Mrs. King died when Olivia was very little; Hetty practically raised her and kept tight reins on her, even as Olivia entered adulthood.

Isn't there a thread on Hetty around here?

[weatherman15]

I can see your viewpoints... thanks for the input! I certainly have to agree that hypocrisy is definitely what makes Hetty King Hetty King. And that's really not unusual at all since we tend to find people like this all the time in real life. Since Hetty is living vicariously through Roger, than I guess she can't find any fault with him, since she rarely finds any fault with herself. (The times she does, such as in "Strictly Melodrama", she does get knocked off her high horse, very similarly to Felicity... oh here's another thread to find/start...)

I'll close the door on this here since I'm the one who started this tangent.

[hannikan]

Yeah I think it would have been totally different if Blair was from Avonlea (or at least the Island), then she probably would have loved him. She really only hated him because he took Ruth away and she was jealous that Ruth chose to leave with him. And it's kind of ironic that Hetty favored Roger but was so critical of Jasper because they have a lot of similarities, they're both big nerds. I wonder if Jasper hadn't had his stutter and been clumsy what Hetty would have thought of him. Look at how much she like the smooth talking Jeremiah Dale.