LIFE AFTER PRIME-TIME: THE TRANSFIGURATION OF BETH CHADWICK

I suppose what I do here at Toobworld Central could be considered fanfic.  I do write fanciful suppositions on the off-screen lives of TV characters, both before they first appeared on our television sets and after their final fade-out.  (And sometimes even after that, I might find a way to keep them around!)

But usually it’s more a scholarly analysis in hopes of splainin away any discrepancies – what I call “Zonks” – that either crop up within a particular series, or in relation to other TV shows.

And sometimes I just happen to see a picture of an actor out of character which offers me the chance to let my imagination wander.

Take for example, Beth Chadwick…..

‘COLUMBO’
“LADY IN WAITING”

From the IMDb:
A mousy heiress murders her brother, pretending she thought he was a burglar. Lt. Columbo unravels her alibi.

Beth Chadwick has lived all her life controlled first by her father, then after his death, by her brother Bryce who manages the family business. Now she has fallen for Peter Hamilton, who works for Bryce. But, as usual, Bryce objects to her choice and threatens to fire Peter. So Beth decides to murder her brother and to do it in such a way to let it to appear like an accident. Lt. Columbo realizes at once the truth and starts looking for evidence.
Written by Baldinotto da Pistoia

For years I’ve had in mind a plot development for Beth Chadwick which would pick up soon after her prison sentence had begun.  I’ve been thinking about this since I was in college and an ardent fan of ‘Star Trek’ – Unbeknownst to Beth Chadwick when she murdered her brother, she was already a few months pregnant with Peter Hamilton’s child.  As a lawyer, Hamilton knew how to win custodial rights of the child after it was born while Beth remained in prison to serve out her full 20 year sentence. 

By the time she got out, their love child was basically an adult and wanted nothing to do with her birth mother, having been raised by Peter Hamilton and the woman he eventually married.  Whoever Mrs. Hamilton was, she raised the child as if it had been her own.  That was the only mother she knew growing up.

Here’s how ‘Star Trek’ comes into play: down through that bloodline the family continued until hundreds of years later Beth’s great-plus granddaughter was born.  Her given name was Janice Lester, and she had been in Starfleet Academy with James Kirk.  Janice had resented the fact that she never earned a captaincy for herself, probably never knowing that she had been found deficient psychologically to be given such responsibility.

O'BSERVATION: I know they're not played by the same actress.  Sandra Smith was Janice Lester; Susan Clark was Beth Chadwick. Not all of my theories of relateeveety depend on double vision.....

This really had nothing to do with Beth Chadwick herself, as she would be long dead by that point in time.  But it shows that I’ve been thinking about Beth Chadwick’s life after prime-time longer than was probably warranted without getting too creepy about it……

Beth Chadwick served her full sentence of 20 years because she showed no remorse and was exceedingly cold during the court proceedings.  This means she was released from prison around the mid-1990s. 

O’BSERVATION:
The imposition of a twenty year sentence is not an original part of my flight of fancy.  For the “Ultimate Lt. Columbo Site”, Nathan Sikes of Birmingham, Alabama, devised a list of possible trial outcomes for each of the ‘Columbo’ killers during the series’ NBC run. 

(The only conclusion by Mr. Sikes to which I take exception is for my favorite murderer from the show – Nelson Brenner AKA Steinmetz as played by Patrick McGoohan – from the episode “Identity Crisis”. 

Here was Sikes’ decision:
NEVER TRIED -- Brenner was sprung from LAPD custody and became a fugitive of justice.

I had in mind a more fitting, televisual, conclusion to that case.  Black Ops agents killed Brenner before he could go to trial and spill damaging secrets about the Agency.)

At any rate, I accept Mr. Sikes’ ruling of a 20 year sentence for Beth Chadwick.

During those twenty years of her incarceration, Ms. Chadwick had plenty of time for soul-searching.  She embraced Catholicism and sought absolution through confession of her sins.  

It could be - in keeping with this post trying to stay focused on 'Columbo' episodes only - that Beth was greatly influenced by the prison visits from a Sister of Mercy who had met the Lieutenant on a later case.  It could be that he recommended that she visit Beth in prison and offer her spiritual guidance. Inspired by this nun, Beth also took courses while in prison to become a spiritual counselor.  Maybe.

Once she was had served her sentence and was released from prison, Beth continued her counseling as a lay person in connection with the Church in Los Angeles.  She had no interest in returning to her old life, and even had she wanted to, what was there left to it?  Her mother was dead; Peter Hamilton had remarried; and their love child had grown up not even knowing her.  The business was probably sold off to another agency, perhaps to Winston Advertising, if we’re to keep this all within the “Columboverse”.  (The Winston Advertising Agency appeared in the previously mentioned “Identity Crisis”.)

And so now we come to the jump-off point for this fanfic inspiration.  Here to the right is a picture of Susan Clark, who played Beth Chadwick, the “Lady In Waiting”, as she addressed the CBG’s 40^th Anniversary Gala.

But what if we look at this picture as being one of the reformed Beth Chadwick giving a lecture as part of her lay work in rehabilitation, perhaps at a fundraiser for the organization she works for.

This has all been conjecture on my part.

What say you, Team Toobworld?  If you’re a fanficcer, would this be something that might interest you?

If you do write it up as a story, make sure you send me a link to wherever you post it so that I might read it.

BCnU!

O'BSERVATION:
My thanks to Sister Georgeann Vumbaco for being a sounding board for this idea.....