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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 169752" data-attributes="member: 22">05 Apr 90: KNOTS LANDING: The One to Blame v. 06 Apr 90: DALLAS: Jessica ReduxFollowing the memorable use of ‘You Are So Beautiful’ at the end of last week’s KNOTS, this week’s ep also opens with an ironically placed musical number — Bobby and Betsy’s lip-synching performance of ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ by Fats Domino cross-cut with Pat being rushed down a hospital corridor on a gurney. It’s an eerie juxtaposition, particularly when Bobby points at Val while miming the line “You’re the one to blame” (a point of view later endorsed by Julie Williams: “You married that man and all of this is your fault!”). It recalls a sequence in the KNOTS Season 2 episode “Hitchhike” where Sid is arrested for rape at the same moment his daughter Diana is singing ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ in her school talent show. After running down Pat and verbally abusing Cally at the end of last week’s eps, Danny Waleska and JR Ewing are both all remorse and hangdog expressions. “I wanna apologise for what happened,” Danny tells Frank from his prison cell. “It was like a nightmare, you know? I’m sorry.” “I’m truly sorry for what I said,” JR tells his wife. “You know I want this marriage to work.” While Frank near throttles Danny through the bars of his cell (“That wasn’t the nightmare, man — I’m the nightmare!”), Cally is more forgiving — up to a point. “If you ever do something like that again,” she tells JR, “I am gonna leave and … I’m gonna let everyone know I’m leaving and I’m gonna let them know why.”Karen Mackenzie and Clayton Farlow officially become targets this week. The Mackenzies raise the alarm after Karen finds an anonymous gift of some racy underwear in her dressing room. The Farlows go on the alert after realising that the poisoned drink that killed Atticus Ward last week was intended for Clayton. In each case, Mack and Miss Ellie take the situation more seriously than the potential victim they’re married to. ”You’re overreacting,” Karen insists when Mack suggests she quit her job. “You’re under-reacting,” he replies. “This whole thing is ridiculous — why would anyone wanna kill me?” protests Clayton after Ellie arranges with the sheriff to have a couple of deputies posted at the entrance to the ranch. Dianne’s blithe dismissal of Karen’s situation results in the line of the week: “One little pair of panties does not a death threat make.” Her suggestion that OPEN MIKE “do a show about fans who stalk celebrities” leads to the accusation she is “exploiting Karen’s problem.” A similar accusation might be levelled at KNOTS itself, which is mining juicy drama (and black comedy) from a scenario presumably inspired by real-life events, at least in part. The fact that the accusation of exploitation comes from, of all people, Jeff Cameron adds, in hindsight, an extra layer of irony to the situation. The panties turn out to be a red herring — a gift intended for Sue, Karen’s Ellen Degeneres-lookalike floor manager, from her husband. This discovery has the effect of luring the Mackenzies into a false sense of security; they remain blissfully unaware that Karen is still being stalked by superfan Wayne, who this week follows her to a restaurant and swipes her sunglasses to add to his shrine. While the Mackenzies breathe a sigh of relief, the Farlows are shocked to discover that Clayton’s formerly incarcerated sister Jessica is on the loose and possibly responsible for the spate of geriatric murders in recent episodes. When Karen initially called the KNOTS police about the panties, they suggested she consider moving away from the cul-de-sac: “This kook is already onto you.” She refused. When Val has a mini-breakdown after realising Danny has changed the locks to her house, Gary proposes they “go back to the ranch and forget about this place.” She agrees. Upon receiving a sinister phone call from Jessica, Clayton follows suit and decides to leave Southfork. “I’m not gonna stay here and put the rest of you in jeopardy,” he tells the family. In spite of his protests, Ellie insists on accompanying him and they move into a hotel.Elsewhere in the Ewing-verse, Mack isn’t exactly overjoyed at the prospect of having “a lying, cheating, kneecap-snapping cop” like Tom for a son-in-law. JR feels pretty much the same way about having “a money-hungry little vampire” like Michelle as his daughter-in-law. Whereas Mack tries to accept the situation, even practising the speech he intends to deliver to Paige (“You gotta live your own life, kid, all I can do is love ya”), JR attempts to run Michelle out of town with the time-honoured combination of intimidation and cold hard cash. “You can leave town one of two ways,” he informs her. “One, with a smile on your face and lots of money, or you can be ridden out on a rail carried by a couple of good old boys I know.” Unusually, this is the first Michelle has heard of her own engagement — and she couldn’t be more delighted. “Do you think you can buy me off?” she asks JR. “I’m in the catbird seat and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Once he’s gone, she lets out a jubilant cry of “I made it!” Alas, when she broaches the subject with James, he casually informs her that he invented the engagement simply to annoy his father: “He was meddling in my life just like he always does, so I decided to shake him up.” In reality, he has no more interest in marriage than Paige did before all that talk of meatloaf and microwaves turned her head on last week’s KNOTS. “Look at my father and Cally,” he reasons. “Look at my mother. All marriage does is make you lie and cheat.”When Greg learns of Paige’s engagement, he makes her a counter-offer, complete with a diamond ring: “I propose that you and I move in together.” She responds by pressing the sharp end of the ring into his palm. “What do you think I am — the flavour of the month?” she asks before turning him down flat. Meanwhile, Michelle concludes that she’s “fine to sleep with, but not to marry.” She finishes with James and, when she receives a conveniently out-of-the-blue, out-of-town job offer (much like the one Paula received on last week’s KNOTS), she takes it. Only after her plane has left the ground do we realise that JR was behind the offer. “Goodbye and good riddance,” he says.While Greg starts digging for dirt on Tom, JR already knows everything there is to know about Stephanie Rodgers — she’s a closet jellybean eater!KNOTS and DALLAS end with parallel reveals. Who’s that posing as Karen’s new security guard? Why it’s her secret stalker Wayne! Who’s that standing over Clayton and Ellie’s hotel bed dressed as a chambermaid? Why it’s his psychotic sister Jessica! (And she’s wielding a syringe  — how very Mary Frances’s boyfriend Robert of her.)And this week’s Top 2 are …1 (1) KNOTS LANDING2 (2) DALLASI already knew I loved it, but I'm still surprised at how good it is.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?