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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 13382" data-attributes="member: 22">16/Jan/84: EMERALD POINT N.A.S.: Secrets v. 18/Jan/84: DYNASTY: Seizure v. 19/Jan/84: KNOTS LANDING: Second Chances v. 20/Jan/84: DALLAS: Some Do...Some Don't v. 20/Jan/84: FALCON CREST: Bitter Harvest v. 21/Jan/84: THE YELLOW ROSE: DeadlineCurrently, the most interesting part of EMERALD POINT is the corruption of Casey Denault, who began the series as a heroic navy pilot and this week blackmails Harlan Adams into making him a vice president of his company. Meanwhile DYNASTY’s principle bad boy Adam has turned over a new leaf in the opposite direction, apologising to Jeff for past behaviour and vowing to do right by Kirby. However, his fresh start appears to be predicated on his future with Kirby and their baby, both of whose lives are hanging in the balance by the end of this week's episode. Over on KNOTS, Ben Gibson’s disappointment at not being the father of Val’s child has caused him to rethink his plans to settle down and he decides to accept an assignment in Central America instead. Adam and Ben’s male broodiness is echoed by, of all people, JR Ewing. “I just ache for more children,” he admits to Sue Ellen in this week’s DALLAS. “That’s never gonna happen,” she assures him curtly. JR, Ben, Adam … it’s an interesting shift, given that it’s usually the feelings of its baby-deprived female characters that Soap Land chooses to focus on.Terry Hartford’s declaration in last week’s FALCON CREST that she is to be “the next Mrs Michael Ranson” is matched by similarly bold claims from Tiffany Case and Peter de Vilbis in this week’s EMERALD POINT and DYNASTY. “Why don’t you just accept the fact that I’m going to be Mrs Harlan Adams and get on with it?” suggests Tiffany to Harlan’s daughter Hilary, even though she and Harlan are no more engaged than Terry and Michael. Meanwhile DYNASTY’s Peter takes Fallon by surprise by announcing at a press conference that she “will soon be Mrs Peter de Vilbis”. Blake is no happier to learn of his daughter’s engagement via the medium of television than Karen MacKenzie was when she found out about her daughter’s marriage in similar circumstances earlier in the season ("It's not Miss Fairgate, it's Mrs Tony Fenice!” yelled Diana at a TV camera after Chip’s arrest). While Blake calls Fallon “a very impulsive young lady”, Karen admits that she and Diana are equally headstrong during a believably tentative mother/daughter reconciliation scene in this week’s KNOTS.Both Bobby Ewing and Alexis Colby find themselves all dressed up with nowhere to go this week. A tuxedo-clad Bobby arrives at Jenna’s place to take her to hear the Dallas Symphony (“tonight was gonna be culture night”) only to find her knee deep in preparations for her imminent boutique opening. Meanwhile Alexis waits in a pink ballgown for Dex to escort her to an opening night at the ballet. When he eventually shows up, he’s wearing a soiled leather jacket and jeans, having come directly from an oil field. Both couples compromise - Bobby by taking Charlie out for hamburgers while still in his tux, Dex by sliding out of his dirty clothes in the middle of Alexis’s living room and encouraging her to do likewise. Dex’s lack of inhibition contrasts with fellow toy boy Peter Richards' meek assurance to Sue Ellen in this week’s DALLAS that “making love with you isn’t half as important as just being with you”.Alexis, Sue Ellen and FALCON CREST’s Michael Ranson are all enticed out of their comfort zones by their much younger lovers this week. Dex takes Alexis to Powder Valley in order to meet hayseed land owner Oscar Stone, portrayed by the same actor who played hayseed land owner Wally Kessell in the DALLAS Season 1 episode “Sue Ellen’s Sister”. Back then Jock Ewing referred to Wally as "an old buzzard"; now Dex calls Oscar "an old coot". Just as the Ewings were trying to persuade Wally to part with his oil rich land, so Dex and Alexis are trying to get Oscar to do the same. To keep him sweet, Alexis takes to the dance floor of Oscar’s local saloon for a heel-clicking hoedown. Over on DALLAS, Peter Richards takes Sue Ellen ice skating in an attempt to prove that they can pass for a normal couple. Alexis and Sue Ellen fare surprisingly well on dance floor and ice respectively. (Refreshments prove more of a challenge, however. Alexis’s saloon bar martini is served on the rocks with an onion while Sue Ellen looks decidedly queasy after eating what Peter describes as "the best taco you ever tasted”). Whereas Alexis and Dex’s evening is deemed a success when Oscar agrees to their deal, Sue Ellen and Peter’s takes a turn for the embarrassing when they run into some of Peter’s friends who mistake Sue Ellen for his mother. A similar faux pas is made when Terry drags an ill-at-ease Michael to a cowboy bar on FALCON CREST. “You mean this guy isn’t your father?” sneers a young guy, hitting on Terry. Terry does nothing to discourage him. “I wanted to see how you’d handle him,” she purrs to Michael later. Peter, on the other hand, is at pains to prove to Sue Ellen that his friends’ comments don’t matter. “They’re stupid, they just don’t understand how we feel!” he protests. “Our relationship is wrong,” Sue Ellen insists, her eyes misting over. While Dex and Alexis’s relationship feels smug and self-congratulatory, there’s something sweetly fragile about Peter and Sue Ellen’s. (Much like Kenny and Ginger’s arc on KNOTS and Mark's and Kirby's in DYNASTY, Peter’s story on DALLAS is working for me this watch-around in a way it never has before.)Of course, the centrepiece of Alexis’s trip to the Powder Valley saloon isn't her country hoedown but a surprise rendition of “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have”. This is the third example of a Soap Land character breaking unexpectedly into song this season. The first, and most impressive, was KNOTS LANDING’s Gary serenading Cathy with a spirited version of "Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women”. He even accompanied himself on guitar. (Interesting that Gary’s song choice, like Alexis’s, should be a cowboy-tinged number written roughly forty years earlier.) This was followed by Blake Carrington’s somewhat awkward half-spoken attempt at Cole Porter’s “Embraceable You” delivered to the brim of Krystle’s hat during their wedding reception.Alexis’s isn’t the only song in this week’s soaps either. In the long-awaited return of Soap Land Song Wars, her Marlene Dietrich homage is pitted against Cathy Geary’s version of Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Has No Pride”. Whereas Alexis’s performance is so carefully choreographed as to be a bit tame, the brief snatch we get of Cathy’s country ballad (it’s interesting that KNOTS seems to be moving her away from Ciji’s soft rock numbers) is quite lovely. Ergo, Cathy’s the winner.However, while fellow working girl Jenna Wade seems to be consolidating her position within the Ewing-verse - this week’s DALLAS sees both the opening of her boutique and the (re)consummation of her relationship with Bobby - Cathy’s is looking somewhat shaky. During the same ep that Gary finds out she has served time for murder, Abby coolly informs her that her services as an extra-marital “distraction” are no longer required. (Somewhat perversely, Cathy ditches her wholesome denim cowgirl look for her clandestine meeting with Abby in favour of dressing like a gangster’s moll from the fifties.)Elsewhere on this week's KNOTS, Abby further embroils herself with the Wolfbridge Group in order to move up the completion date on the Lotus Point construction. It’s an excitingly reckless move that results in Mack being badly beaten in a parking lot. Conversely, Richard Channing’s continued refusal to involve FALCON CREST’s Wolfbridge equivalent, the cartel, in his race track project leads to him being chased by a car and nearly killed in an underground parking garage. While both scenes are effective — Mack’s pummelling is cross cut with Karen waiting for him to show up for their counselling session — FALCON CREST’s has the edge in terms of thrills. This kind of sinister action scene, especially when directed by good old Larry Elikann, is what FALCON CREST does particularly well.There’s an strong ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN-style feeling of satisfaction in watching KNOTS LANDING’s Ben and Mack knocking on doors and staking out offices as they gradually piece together what the audience already knows. “Laura!” gasps Mack at the end of the ep as another piece of the Wolfbridge/Apolune jigsaw falls thrillingly into place.Meanwhile THE YELLOW ROSE continues to confound expectations, wilfully refusing to defer to any recognisable Soap Land norms. This week’s episode picks up where the last one left off, following the story of a dying prisoner on the lam, and the vibe is very much early stand alone DALLAS (specifically the gentler aspects of episodes like “Fallen Idol” and “Home Again”) combined with KNOTS LANDING Season 3 at its most touchingly eccentric (i.e., “The Rose and the Briar”). For much of the ep it feels as if we aren’t even in soap opera territory anymore — but then a subplot kicks in halfway through that couldn’t be soapier if it tried: an interfamily court fight combined with a Julie Grey-style document leak. This culminates in the most viscerally dramatic scene of any of this week’s shows where a pregnant woman (DALLAS’s Mrs Scotfield) contemplates suicide in the ladies room. As if that weren’t unexpected enough, the Champions then amicably agree, almost as an afterthought, to do the Soap Land unthinkable — drill for oil on their own land.And this week’s Top 6 are …1 (2) KNOTS LANDING2 (1) DALLAS3 (4) FALCON CREST4 (3) THE YELLOW ROSE5 (5) DYNASTY6 (6) EMERALD POINT N.A.S.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?