Why does Maddie try to call David first?

[Anne]

Hello all,

after re-watching "tale in two cities" this weekend, I started wondering why Maddie calls David first right after she learnt she was pregnant?
Would that mean she thought David was the only possible father right from the start and if that so why did she tell him he was not the father in a couple of episodes after??
Or would that mean that at that particular moment she didn't know the exact date of the conception yet but as she loved David she thought he was the only one she wanted to share the news with?
And then why such a big change of mind after she heard David's answering machine? Did she think at once that he might not be ready to hear and accept the new situation here? Or was she just the one who couldn't figure out how to deal with David's reaction over the situation ?

I'm looking forward to reading all your opinions on that subject,

Anne

[beesnbears]

Anne

I have often wondered the same thing.

I think you are right in that Maddie wanted to tell David first. I think she felt in her heart that the baby was David's, but had not had the ultrasound where she was told the date of conception. That is why she tells David when she returns that the baby is Sam's. I never thought she was trying to deceive David with that bit of news. As far as her hanging up when she gets his answering machine, I think she was still doubting David's commitment to her and the somewhat crude announcement on his machine scared her off!

Even though I don't agree with the writers move to have her marry Walter, her believing the baby is Sam's lends to one of her reasons for doing so.

The killer is that we are told that the baby was David's after all and they do not know it.

Cherrio!!

[jpen]

Totally agree, bees. Also, I think she just couldn't bear to tell him on an answering machine and NOT hear his reaction. (Of course, she doesn't get to hear his initial reaction anyway, because Bert tells him.)

This is another of those "What if" moments...WHAT IF he had been home?!...that make me groan. I know, I know, ya gotta have 'em--increases the drama, keeps people coming back, etc.--but criminy sakes, can these people just not get a break??

I know this is a bit off-thread, but a few other "what ifs"...
-What if Sam hadn't opened the door...
-What if David hadn't gone back to the bar in the airport on his way to Chicago...
-What if Maddie hadn't met Walter on the train...

On some level, the "what iffing" is useless, because the show wouldn't have been what it was had the writers made different choices at any of these points (for better or for worse). But to the extent that these characters and their travails are "real" to us, I think we can't help but ask the question (well, I can't help it, anyway).

[Anne]

Thanks both of you for your thoughtful comments, I hoped more would come though
Hopefully it will be one the numerous questions to discuss about in the rewatching section...

cheerio,

Anne

[lin212]

Hey, guys, I would like to ask a technical question that has always made me scratch my head. It concerns all the talk about the ultrasound. Maddie slept with David 48 hours after she slept with Sam. Would it have been possible (especially in 1987) to definitively narrow down the date of conception so precisely? Sorry, just one of those things that bothers my noggin.

[beesnbears]

Good question Lin212!!

I had my first child in 1985 and I don't remember them telling me the exact date of conception. They still figured the approximate birth date the old fashion way. Ultrasound was used for checking heartbeat and development.

[jpen]

Lin212, I'm so glad you brought this up--this has always bugged me, too! I had my last child in 2006, and they still couldn't pinpoint a conception date closer than +/- 3 days, so they certainly wouldn't have been able to do it in 1987! Given the 48-hour "window," I really don't think they would have been able to establish paternity by anything other than a blood test after the baby was born (any medical folks--please correct me if I'm wrong).

Of course, if Maddie didn't think she had proof that the baby was Sam's, out goes the whole "logic" (and I use the term loosely) of the marrying-Walter storyline. Guess this is one of those things you have to file under "suspension of disbelief."

[lin212]

Exactly. So really there was no way that Maddie "knew" that the baby was Sam's. I think she conveniently decided to convince herself of that. It just made things easier (in her mind). There is one telling bit of dialog that sticks in my mind. Maddie is arguing with Walter about the wedding and bachelor party. She is telling Walter how David tortures her. Then she says, "I thought I found a way to stop all that". I find that a curious statement - maybe revealing the reason she married Walter.

[jpen]

Ooh...interesting. I think she really is convinced that the baby is (most likely) Sam's--when she tells Walter about it (in "Tracks") she seems sad; and certainly, if she thought there was any possibility that the baby could be David's, I think she would have told him so at the end of "Maddie Hayes Got Married." (She says to David, "I wish with all my heart that this was your baby growing inside me.")

I think her comment to Walter reflects her "solution" to the problem of trying to be with David when she thinks she's carrying someone else's baby--the "Hayes backside"--i.e., ignore or circumvent the problem and hope it goes away. But you're right, the comment is ambiguous...

Gosh, I love this show. Just keeps ya guessin', doesn't it?

[lin212]

I feel that Maddie's decision to marry Walter had more to do with David than the fact that she believed the baby to be Sam's. I don't think that the baby's paternity would have made a difference to David - he loved her and wanted her. She didn't even give him the chance to express his feelings about the situation. In Maddie Hayes Gets Married, he even jokes that he would have been happy to help her out of this mess by marrying her. I believe that she was afraid of the power of their relationship and her inability to control her passions where David is concerned. Therefore, she came up with what she thought would be the ultimate wedge between them - a husband. This was her perfect solution.

[rose35]

maddie calls David first because she believes he's the father in the beginning i think. But once the smart mouth on the A.M. i thinkscares her off.
Back then i dont think they were so far advanced to pin point the actual conception, but today is the only way to do so thorugh IVF procedures? cause i know for me thats how i knew But even with maddie sleeping with 2 men i think within 24 hours, the only way to really know who the father was ,was thorugh a blood test. She didnt want David to be stuck with her and a child of Sams also i believe. AHH i feel like i'm talking about real people! LOL

[stayedinmostly]

I think she calls David first not because she's thinking about conception dates and paternity, but because she has news and she is lonely. Now that she has something concrete to say, her instincts are to call him first.

Her evening has been the classic experience which makes you dread being single: going to a party without a date of her own, meeting smug marrieds from her past, meeting a new person who should be suitable but is of no interest to her. I think even without the pregnancy she's going to make that call to David.

Think of the number of times David and Maddie have ended up going to events together to provide moral support for each other. She is just really missing him.

*Sigh*

[iluvdavid]

I still don't believe in today's world you could pinpoint date of conception within a couple of days...or maybe I'm wrong but I know that possibility wasn't around 25 years ago!

[iluvdavid]

If she was missing him so much she should have gone home! Really, how much could you think?