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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 3414" data-attributes="member: 22">18/Dec/80: KNOTS LANDING: Kristin v. 19/Dec/80: DALLAS: Trouble at Ewing 23The chief link between these two episodes is that they're the weakest of their respective seasons thus far.On paper, "Kristin" sure sounds good: DALLAS's most infamous supporting character comes to California to wreak havoc on the cul-de-sac. Except she doesn't, not really. She just does what Annie Fairgate did in the pilot, (gets arrested, bonds with Val, sleeps with Kenny) only in a slightly different order. The main problem is, Kristin is hobbled by her inability to talk about her two incredibly juicy secrets, the ones that in 1980 made her such a hot booking for KNOTS in the first place - she's the one who shot JR, and now she's carrying his baby!! Indeed, most the references to DALLAS characters in this ep fall a bit flat. When Kristin tells Val and Gary what good friends she and Lucy have become over the last year, we should want to laugh out loud at the sheer outrageousness of the lie, but we don't - there's no one on screen to share in the joke. And Gary's call to Dallas in which Bobby fails to mention Kristin's murderous impulses? One can only assume that because Bobby was not present for the scene where Kristin "confessed" to the rest of the family, that they somehow forgot to mention it to him and/or he's been so stunned by the news that Ray is now his brother that he just wants to get Gary off the phone as quickly as possible. Still, it is interesting to hear Gary and Val's attitude towards Sue Ellen (resoundingly negative) in light of their recent encounters with her on New DALLAS. Only in her last two scenes, after Ginger finds her with Kenny, do Kristin, and the episode, really come to life. In her bedroom scene with Val, she comes as close as she ever has to dropping the charade to reveal what really lies beneath her mother's Geisha training. (On the other hand, one might ask that as Kristin was so perfect as a two-dimensional comic book character on DALLAS, do we really need to see what exists beneath the surface?) By next morning, the mask is back in place, accompanied by a pair of shoulder-pads - a fashion first for KNOTS. Shoulder-pads are becoming more common in DALLAS too. Pam even wears a pair to bed this week.Elsewhere on Seaview Circle, Ginger has started seeing Karl, the divorced dad of one of the kids in her class. Karl's a little meh, all onion soup and jazz clubs, and I find myself wishing she'd hooked up the father of Denny, the cute little ad-libbing black boy from Season 1, instead. Might have been fun to watch all the neighbours pretending not to freak out each time a big '70s Afro drops by the cul-de-sac. Better are the few scenes of Richard discovering the pleasures of unemployment - game shows and gardening, inertia and indifference - while Laura looks on anxiously. At the end of the episode, we see Sylvie belting out a song in Kenny's recording studio. Cutting edge it ain't. In fact, it sounds just like a big ballad from a Broadway show. Did this kind of thing really get to No. 23 in the US charts in 1980? Given that Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life" was Number 1 (forever) only three years earlier, it probably did. Small wonder that Lisa Hartman doing Pat Benatar cover versions will be greeted as a music revolution in a few seasons' time. For the most part, "Trouble at Ewing 23" is a very interesting, if low-key instalment. The stock musical score suits the slower pace, infusing even a prolonged shot of Ray opening his mailbox with a sense of foreboding. (Not-quite-a-crossover alert: the front page of Ray's newspaper features a picture of Dave Culver. On KNOTS the night before, the actor who plays Dave Culver is seen talking to Kristin - about Washington, of all places.) There's something of a calm-before-storm vibe regarding JR and Ellie's measured reactions to Ray joining the family. When Sue Ellen, once again the would-be Lady MacBeth she was in "Reunion", worries about her darlin' being pushed out of the family bosom in favour of his brothers, JR pats her on the head and tells her to keep working on her tan. (Funny how Sue Ellen gets more Southern whenever she and JR are back together.)Cliff and Donna, celebrating their seven-week anniversary, make an intriguing couple. We never see them in bed together, but it seems more likely than not that they've progressed to that stage - the 1980 night owl version of Donna isn't yet the conservative she'll become. Donna's very interesting at this point - a strong, independent woman not defined by her relationships with men. That makes her pretty unique amongst females on Old DALLAS.The scene where Donna pays a visit to Ray's new house reminded me of the first time she sees his next new house in Season 9. On both occasions, she declines his offer of a guided tour, preferring instead to cut to the chase. Here, that means breaking the news about her and Cliff. "I got tired of being alone," she explains to Ray before admitting, "it's not the same." The scene feels poignant, romantic and grown up, all at the same time. It's towards the end of the episode that "T@E23" runs out of steam. In the last fifteen minutes, a stand-alone plot abruptly takes over the show: an unknown man is threatening to blow up Ewing 23 unless he receives $5,000,000 by 3pm. We're in the same territory as "Kidnapped", Season 1, as Bobby tries to deal with the extortionist by the book (raising the money, involving the police) while JR prefers more a more devious, deadly approach. Unlike the wacky gang in "Kidnapped", the blackmailer remains fairly anonymous. What we do learn about him is intriguing - he had been one of the crew on Ewing 23 until JR shut the field down at the end of last season, just to spite Cliff. As with Mort Wilkinson's refinery last week, this is another example of the trickle-down effect of the Ewings' arbitrary decisions. It's an interesting theme but isn't developed.The closer we get to the bomber's 3pm deadline, more the episode suddenly starts to drag. There's a strange, lingering scene of Bobby looking out over Ewing 23 as if he's about to cry before heading to the airport where it takes an age for the Ewing jet to land. The generic score is cranked up to eleven but fails to connect with the visuals. Then it all goes "Swan Song" slow-mo, as JR emerges from the plane flanked by armed guards. Gillis (the bomber) pulls a gun, is shot and Bobby lets out an elongated "NOOOO!" (a bit like his Swan Song "PAAAAM!" only with a different vowel). With his dying finger, Gillis detonates the bomb, unleashing some endearingly terrible (and I mean terrible) FX. Despite the odds, the genuinely distraught look on P Duffy's face manages to sell the freeze frame.And the winner is … DALLAS - but as 1980 draws to a close, neither show is exactly firing on all cylinders. And with two new pretenders snapping at their heels, they better pull their fingers out ...</blockquote>

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