Rewatching Knots Landing

[Karin Schill]

Tonight it was "Distant Locations"...

In this episode Val's disappearance looms large over the people in Knots Landing.

It brings out different sides in them. Guilt in Lilimae. Wondering what he did that wasn't enough in Ben. Gary gets distracted. Abby gets jealous but also feels sort of responsible for the babies disappearing so she hires a detective. Karen is upset about her condition and uses Val's disappearance as an excuse to take out her anger on Ben. Joshua makes his first TV appearance and the response is immediate...

Yet they all worry about her.

Meanwhile Val goes to Nevada and takes in at a motel. Holding another woman's babies undoes her and well she goes out to pick up a man. She acts like Abby and tries to steal someone's husband but unlike her, that woman fights back and Val leaves the bar in shame. The next morning she washes Val away and is transformed to Verna. She goes shopping for cute little dresses and regresses back to the young girl she was before Gary. She goes "home" to Tennessee and takes a waitress job. Over all it seems like Val escapes from the pain and her self-loating and by becoming someone else who is in many ways a younger version of herself.

Joan van Ark does a marvellous job transforming from Val to trampy Val to Verna. Those scenes when she stands in front of the mirror putting on make up and washes her face are just so poignant and memorable.

 

[Mustard]

But yes it gets to the point where Val doesn't trust anyone anymore and decides to leave Knots Landing in the middle of the night. She is slipping...

Val is very strong, but this stolen babies situation came very close to breaking her completely. Such was her grief, Val actually became in her mind a completely different person (Verna Ellers), as it was her only way of blocking out the pain of Val losing the babies.

 

[Karin Schill]

I agree with you. Val needed to become Verna to block out the pain.

So tonight it was "14 with a bullet"...

Karen is having surgery and at the end of the last episode she had a touching moment when she said goodbye to Gary and Abby. She and Abby even hugged and again stated that they are family. It was a nice scene.

Karen and Mack also had a nice moment at the end of last episode.

Then in this episode things kept varying between serious and funny. It was like light stuff and heavy stuff mixed together.

The heavy stuff being Karen's surgery and removal of the bullet from her spine. The surgery was a success and Karen didn't become paralyzed but yeah considering what happened to Sid I can understand why she was frightened beforehand.

The light stuff being Cathy and Joshua chasing each other around with whipped cream like a bunch of teenagers. They are obviously the young couple in love now.
Also Val and Parker making out in the closet.

Galveston also took care of the detective Abby had hired that was going to lie to Gary about where Val was. We don't know if he was just beaten up on or killed. Whatever it was it made him miss his evening meeting with Abby.

 

[Seaviewer]

I was puzzled by the episode title. Was Karen in Room 14 at the hospital? It does happen that it's the fourteenth episode of the season.

 

[Karin Schill]

Okay so tonight we watched two episodes "Lead me to the altar" and "Fly away home"...

I figured it was about time to get rid of the Parker plot and Shula, Tennessee.

So well Gary finally got through to Val and managed to stop her wedding to Parker and bring her home to everyone who loves her. Yet it was not a happy homecoming as Val had to face some harsh truth such as that she and Gary were divorced. Her memory is still not back completely and she didn't remember Ben or Joshua at all when she came home. She did recognize Karen and Laura.
I love that scene when Val is day dreaming about Gary and her dancing when she tries on her wedding dress. It's romantic somehow.
I also love when Gary gave her the flower and made her run with him.

Joshua and Cathy broke up. Poor Cathy she is so in love with Joshua that she can't see that he did her a favor when he broke up with her. She would have been better off just going on that tour her manager suggested for her.

I totally remembered the scene when Kelly flashed her legs at the truck drives to get help changing that tire but not what Ben discovered about Empire Valley.

Mack keeps investigating Paul Galveston unaware of that he is in fact Gregory's real father.

I must say that I loved the scene when Greg confided in Laura who Galveston really was a few episodes earlier. For once I actually felt sympathy for Greg. It must have been horrible to have been that 10 year old kid who lost his dad and then wasn't allowed to mourn because this other dude showed up and just wanted to take his place just like that.

The second episode closed on Abby giving Paul Galveston a stroke or heart attack and not calling for help since she thought he didn't need it. Ouch!

 

[Daniel Avery]

Yes, the title "#14 With a Bullet" is a play on it being the fourteenth episode of that season, and episode 114 overall. In the days of radio DJ's, they would often refer to hit songs rising quickly up the Billboard charts by its current position, with "with a bullet" as a way of saying the song is headed higher on the charts very quickly. Of course in the case of this episode, it's referring to the bullet needing to be removed from Karen. I always thought it was a clever episode title, the sort of in-jokes that Bernard Lechowick loved to do with episodes during his and his wife's tenure on the show.

 

[Seaviewer]

The "with a bullet" part I got. The #14 is a lot more obscure. As it happens I did keep a list of the episodes but I would imagine in the days before episode guides it would have mostly slipped under the radar.

"Fly away home"...

That one was more obvious, being from a nursery rhyme. I used to avoid reading the synopsis for the upcoming episode but I liked to see the title and speculate on what it meant. That one made me happy.

 

[Karin Schill]

Thank you for the information. All very interesting observation about the episode titles.

Okay so tonight it was "The Deluge"...

Paul Galveston is dead and we finally see his mysterious wife, who is Greg Sumner's mom and it's...
Ava Gardner!

The first time I watched this I wasn't really aware of who she was as she had already been dead for a few years. But now I know and her performances in classic movies such as "Mogambo" and "The Night of the Iguana" immediately comes to mind. Considering that "Mogambo" was filmed on location in Africa it's a funny intertextual reference that Ruth Sumner Galveston has spent time in Africa photographing the wild animals!

Anyway Greg is being pushed to take over after his father. Meanwhile Karen and Mack are close to figuring out what's special about Empire Valley...

Karen has also started to dig into Val's babies death. Go Karen!

Joshua has developed an ego and wants to take over Reverned Kathruns entire show. He leaves it to Abby to fire him.

Ben and Val make up.

 

[Seaviewer]

Considering that "Mogambo" was filmed on location in Africa it's a funny intertextual reference that Ruth Sumner Galveston has spent time in Africa photographing the wild animals!

Nicely observed.

I was always aware of Ava Gardner's status as a movie star but not really familiar with her work so that's a new thought to me.

 

[Karin Schill]

That's cool. I think that's one of the best things about discussion forums like this, that talking to other fans enables you to notice new details about your favorite shows that you might not have thought about before and it opens up new perspectives.

So tonight it was "A Piece of the pie..."

Greg stepped down as senator and took his rightful place as chairman of Galveston Industries. Poor Laura wasn't told before and was pissed off with him.

It was kind of funny to see everyone's shocked reactions to the new of Paul Galveston's death. I mean between Ben's gaping mouth to Mack rubbing his forehead and hiding his face to Gary's solemn face with concealed anger. Yep it was fun!

I guess William Devane must love riding. They've had several scenes of him on horseback by now and he seems good at it too.

Poor Cathy didn't even get a proposal but was just told on the air that she was going to marry Joshua!
Gosh that man gets more and more dominating for each episode that passes by. As a teenager I used to think he was cute. But now I can totally see what a controlling jerk he is!

Oh and Val's twins have been found but they don't know it yet...

 

[Daniel Avery]

Oh and Val's twins have been found but they don't know it yet...

The twins probably don't even know they're lost. So, is that the episode where they have the credits roll over the image of the "found" twins in their high-chairs? 'Cause I can imagine half of America doing this:

 

[Karin Schill]

Yeah it was the episode where they rolled the credits over the "found" twins in their high-chairs. If it wasn't obvious enough already!

So tonight it was "A Man of good will"...

Greg tried to push Gary and Abby out of Empire Valley by lowering Gary's credit rating with the help of a computer hacker. But the whole thing backfired on him when Galveston left all of Empire Valley to Gary in his will...

Joshua goes one step too far when he tried to decide which wedding dress Cathy should wear. Seriously I think every girl should have the right to chose her own wedding dress!

Karen finally realizes that Eric doesn't want to run Knots Landing motors. It was a touching moment when they went to visit Sid's grave together.
Only I seem to recall that the stone looked different the last time they were there...

 

[Daniel Avery]

Greg tried to push Gary and Abby out of Empire Valley by lowering Gary's credit rating with the help of a computer hacker.

I loved the banter between Laura and Greg about his ability to manipulate data via those Empire Valley satellite listening devices/whatnot. I can't recall the exact wording, but Greg joked that if he wanted to delete Abby's credit rating, he could with a "di-di-dum" (computer noise as he punches buttons). If he wanted to delete Abby Ewing entirely, "di-di-dum". "Where do I sign up?" Laura joked. The scene was later immortalized in the opening titles.

Of course once Gary inherited Empire Valley, his reply was "I think our credit rating just improved!" Little does he know what lurks beneath the gesture...

 

[Karin Schill]

Oh yeah that was a funny scene with Laura and Greg. Also nice spotted that it ended up in the opening credits. I haven't thought of that before. But will make sure to look for it now when I know.

So tonight it was "For better, for worse"...

Cathy and Joshua finally tie the knot and I remember the first time I watched this I thought their wedding was super romantic with the horse and wagon ride at the end. I am not that fond of Cathy's wedding dress though. 80's fashion did leave something to be desired IMHO.

Gary is asked by the man who asked Sumner to take over to be a spy in the Empire Valley project. The former diplomat apparently has some double dealing going on.

Karen finally tracks down Doctor Ackerman at a bridge tournament in Vegas but she misses the wedding.

Mack finally gets to meet Eric's new girlfriend. She's african amerian, which isn't a big deal today. But I guess it might have been in the 1980s. Anyway Mack is cool about it.
Also I think the actress looked familiar. I wonder if she might have played Dominique's daughter on Dynasty?
Just checked IMDB and yes I was right it was the same girl.
Her name is Troy Byer and it said she's actually bi-racial (black mother, white father).

 

[Karin Schill]

Tonight it was "Four, No Trump"...

And yes we didn't see Donald Trump in the episode so "no Trump" seems accurate!
Just joking of course...

On a serious note, in this episode Abby's kids has an accident and although they are fine it makes her think about how she would feel if she lost them. Her bad conscious about Val's babies gets the better out of her and she turns to Greg for help to find the twins. She wants to reunite them with Val.

I also really like how Abby was opening up to Greg and told him about the time when her kids were kidnapped by her ex. It's that kind of stuff that helps building character depth and it's great that the writer's keeps reminding us about things we already know and can remember at times.

Gary gets deeper and deeper involved in Empire Valley and finds himself lying to Ben and Mack.

Karen questions Ackerman and she could tell that he was lying about the babies but she has no proof. Val cries to Karen about the babies and how she knows them are alive. Karen believes her but can't tell her that so she just tries to comfort her and tell her to hang in there a bit longer.

Ben and Val spends the night together but then Val pushes him away.

Karen meets Eric's girlfriend at dinner. I loved the "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" Inter-textual reference to the 1967 movie that Mack did by the way.
Cool also how Lilimae told Eric to stop being old fashioned and that there was no problem with him dating Whitney.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Eric wanted so badly for someone...anyone to express some kind of discomfort or objection to his choice of girlfriend. He wanted to feel like the "wronged party," or at least a star-crossed lover like Romeo to Whitney's Juliet. You could see the disappointment when everyone marveled at what a cutie Whitney was, and how no one voiced any objection to his dating an African-American girl.

 

[Seaviewer]

no one voiced any objection to his dating an African-American girl.

I was disappointed that they didn't do more with the character. She was a law student IIRC so she would have fitted right in. But I guess they made their point and moved on.

 

[Karin Schill]

Oh yeah I definitely agree with you both about Whitney. They could have done more with her character. But I guess it was all about proving a point and moving on...

Okay so tonight it was "The Long and Winding Road" which of course means that we've finished season six...

This episode was brilliant. From rewinding to the point where Ackerman shot his brains out up until the moment when Val sees her babies but they are still out of reach from her, it was all building up to that moment. The big pay off of the season.

The episode kept moving towards the climax of the season in a subtle way as we were moving closer and closer to the conclusion.

I remember being shocked when Ackerman blew his brains out the first time I saw it. His act seemed so horrible. Sure he was guilty and would have gone to jail but to kill himself?
I was also wondering how Karen would manage to find Val's babies now as she'd worked so hard to locate them and now all her work seemed to be for nothing.

Then Mack breaking into Ackerman's files. It was hilarous in a way how he had left his ID when he was arrested. He clearly didn't want to alert the press.

Ben playing a bagpipe?
I didn't know he was Irish. So that was new to me. Anyway this was one of the funniest scenes of the episode with Ben running away to bail out Mack from jail and not being able to tell Val what was at stake, just that she would be happy. Then Karen calling. Poor Val sure was confused. But yeah it was funny...

Oh and another funny scene. Greg tries to patch up his relationship with Laura and asks her to marry him. But she's already married she tells him. Then he turns around and the police gives him a ticket and tells him he has a nice car.

Then as we reach the end, Mack and Ben finally remembers that they visited the Fishers. That visit was so clearly a plantation for things to come. So they head off to find the babies and Karen brings Gary along. Meanwhile Abby finds Val at the beach and lies to her about how she find out the babies are alive. The strained car ride with Abby and Val when Val insists on listening to the country music on the radio and Abby sighs is so hilarious.

Not to mention Ben and Mack arguing about how to find the house and Mack quipping "You should have let me drive!"
Karen tells Gary "If it wasn't so serious it would be funny" It's like the writer's know they are having a bit of humor tossed in here and it totally works.

All the while you are left wondering who will arrive first at the house and if the Fishers will manage to escape. Eventually Mack, Ben, Karen and Gary gets there first and Karen and Mack goes to talk to Sheila. Gary tells Ben "If those were my kids..."
They keep throwing us lines like that and the audience knows it's Gary's kids and are just waiting for him to find out!

Then Val and Abby arrives on the scene and she tells Gary "Don't ask". Val finally spots her babies and then they drive away and we are left with that freezeframe!

The episode closes and a voice tells us it's the last episode of the season...

But they don't tell us when Knots Landing will be back and when the fall comes it's not back yet. So I write the TV station that broadcast it. No answer. Eventually someone sends in a question about it to a tv guide's Q & A section and it turns out that TV3 has not bought in any more episodes of Knots Landing. So this is it. If you live in Sweden this is most likely how much of Knots Landing that you have ever seen. Because no TV channel has ever broadcast more as far as I know. But if you are a fan like me you have found a way to watch the rest too...

Still imagine being stuck on this cliffhanger for three years?

That's how long it took until I could see more of the show!

 

[Karin Schill]

So season six is over and before we move on to season seven, I'd like to take a moment to sum up the season...

I loved:

- Val's babies storyline.
It was great drama that had an emotional pull and I loved how they let you follow the storyline first from Val's perspective and later how it switched to Karen looking for the truth. Then in the middle of all this is Gary, who doesn't know he's the father of the babies and Abby who in one way was responsible for their kidnapping by talking to the wrong person but at the same time didn't want the babies to be kidnapped and too wanted to reunite Val with her kids and in the end did so.

- Val turning into Verna and Gary bringing her back home
Again it was very dramatic how Val thought she was Verna and went back to her roots where she felt safe and then the only one who could reach her was Gary. The way he stopped that wedding was brilliant.

- Ava Gardner
I love the old Hollywood glamour she brought to the role and the show for her guest stint.

- Gary & Abby making up
I'm glad they reconciled and stayed married as they were an entertaining couple.

- The addition of Alec Baldwin
Joshua is a great character and I liked him and that Val had a brother. Even though he acted like a big baby at times. Joshua that is.
Also great stuff with Lilimae.

- Joshua & Cathy
Finally a great love interest for Cathy. Lisa Hartman and Alec Baldwin has great chemistry and I enjoyed this pairing. Although as an adult I can see that he is very controlling of her and doesn't treat her right.

- Lotus Point
I like that Abby, Karen and Gary all work together. The new offices are nice.

- Karen & Mack making up
I love that they were reunited and solved their problems and also how Gary and Val tried to make them see that they belonged together.

- Ben & Val making up
I know I am a sucker for all the romance and couples on the show. But yeah definitely like this one.


I liked:

- Greg winning the senate seat
Lots of storyline possiblities with this one.

- Greg being Galveston's son
I didn't see this twist coming originally. I like how he told Laura the truth.

- Gary and Galveston surrogate father/son relationship
I think Gary missed his own dad. Galveston missed being close to Greg.

- Karen's surgery was a success and that they remembered Sid
It was a bit over the top how the bullet was slowly killing her. But it totally worked in the context it was in.


I disliked:

- Empire Valley
This project seemed to take forever and I remember that Gary got screwed over in the end which may have affected how I view it.

- Parker
I don't know what Val saw in him!
I mean she could have had Ben...

- Laura being sidelined
Earlier on when they had episodes that were more self-contained they used to switch the focus between the couples. But now when it's more of a serialized drama it seems like Laura is not at the center of any of the major plots this season. She is mostly just Sumner's sidekick/girlfriend/secretary.

- They failed to bring back Joshua's father for his wedding
Where was he? I think Jonathan should have been there.

So over all it's been a really solid and strong season with great storylines and great acting all over. Great cast.

 

[Daniel Avery]

They failed to bring back Joshua's father for his wedding
Where was he? I think Jonathan should have been there.

He received an invitation, though. On the cover of the invitation was a photo of Cathy in her wedding dress, so when he opened the envelope he keeled over from a stroke and was dead before he even hit the ground.