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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 16299" data-attributes="member: 22">23 Jan 85: DYNASTY: Foreign Relations v. 24 Jan 85: KNOTS LANDING: Out of the Past v. 25 Jan 85: DALLAS: Bail Out v. 25 Jan 85: FALCON CREST Acid TestsLet the battle of the bizarro wedding storylines commence: On DYNASTY, Jeff Colby sheepishly introduces his third wife Nicole, whom he can’t actually remember marrying, to his first wife’s family who immediately invites the happy couple to move in with them. On KNOTS LANDING, Gary arrives in Shula, Tennessee where he tries to stop his amnesiac ex-wife from marrying the local dry-cleaner.The scenes dealing with Nicole’s first few days at the Carrington mansion feel like a Hall-of-Mirrors version of Clayton’s initial attempts to acclimatise to life at Southfork earlier in this season’s DALLAS. Just as Clayton’s bid to assert his authority over step-granddaughter Lucy proved somewhat heavy-handed, Nicole comes on a bit too strong where ordering maid Jeanette around. Also, Nicole is as troubled by the prominence of her predecessor Fallon’s portrait in the family home as Clayton was by Jock’s. And in the same way that Bobby impulsively attempted to remove his father’s painting out of consideration to Clayton, Nicole’s drunken pal Bill tries to dislodge the picture of Fallon — only to be reprimanded by Krystle just as Bobby was by JR. “It’s still your house,” Clayton conceded to Jock’s portrait on his first night at the ranch. “You win again,” murmurs Nicole to Fallon’s picture in her last scene of this week’s DYNASTY.Two slow-burning relationships that have been shrouded in ambiguity so far this season are finally consummated in this week’s Soap Land. On DYNASTY, Steven turns up unannounced at Luke Fuller’s door and on DALLAS, Mandy Winger accepts JR’s invitation to Club 1900 — which, when she steps out of the elevator, turns out not to be a club at all but a dimly-lit hotel penthouse. Whereas Steven’s mood is solemn and earnest ("I've thought about us and I know what I want to do, where I want to be and with whom,” he tells Luke), Mandy's is volatile and angry (“You've been using me since you first met me,” she hisses at JR, "I hate you!”). While Luke and Steven stand facing each other in silence, JR lunges at Mandy after she throws a glass of champagne in his face and starts kissing her. Where Luke discreetly closes his apartment door leaving us on the other side of it, JR chuckles knowingly as he lowers Mandy out of shot and the screen fades to black.This week’s DYNASTY also sees the arrival of Lady Ashley Mitchell, Soap Land’s first titled character since Lady Jessica Montford in last season’s DALLAS. Although Jessica lived in London and Ashley resides in Paris, each is the American widow of an English lord. DYNASTY being DYNASTY, Lady Mitchell isn’t quite as down-home as Lady Montford was — where Jessica boasted of wrestling mountain lions in Virginia, Ashley speaks rhapsodically of her vineyard in Bordeaux — but the show is nonetheless keen to depict her as more relatable than her grand title might otherwise suggest. When Blake asks what she misses most about her homeland, Ashley replies without hesitation: “An all-American big juicy hamburger.”The final scenes of Jessica and Ashley’s debut episodes also share some similarities. Just as Jessica forged an immediate friendship with Miss Ellie (or at least appeared to) so Ashley strikes up an instant rapport with Blake (even going so far as to kiss him impulsively, if somewhat chastely, on the lips). At the end of their respective scenes, Miss Ellie and Blake each take their leave of their new acquaintance. ”I’m so happy that we’re going to be family,” smiles Ellie as she exits Jessica's bedroom at Southfork. “Good-bye,” says Blake as he departs Ashley’s suite in Paris. Left alone, Jessica and Ashley repeat these parting words questioningly, before contradicting them. “Family? Oh, I don't think so,” said Jessica back then. “Good-bye? I'm not so sure about that,” says Ashley now. The frames then freeze on Ladies Montford and Mitchell — Jessica scowling malevolently, Ashley smirking mischievously.Two of the best scenes of the week take place between the Ewingverse’s most perennially thwarted couples, Gary and Val on KNOTS and Bobby and Pam on DALLAS. Each pair of soulmates are seemingly destined to be together but are separated by a series of obstacles — the most extreme being Val’s current inability to recognise Gary or recall any aspect of their life together when he approaches her at the coffee shop where she is working. There is a fleeting breakthrough when Gary, watching as Val gets swamped by customers, comes to her assistance, thereby re-enacting the circumstances under which they met as kids all those years ago. Past and present collide (with the aid of flashbacks and two really well-cast actors as the teenage Gary and Val), the couple's eyes meet, and just for a second Val recalls something of her past life — before quickly shutting it out again. Pam describes a similarly transient moment on this week’s DALLAS when she tells Bobby how she felt when she first heard that his wedding to Jenna hadn’t taken place. "I guess I let my fantasies take over,” she admits. "You know, the dream — that you and I would get back together.” Like Gary and Val’s, Bobby and Pam's romance has been impeded by a succession of storyline complications and misunderstandings, one of which is cleared up when Pam explains that she accepted Mark’s marriage proposal not because she was in love with him, but because he was dying. “You were going to marry Mark because he needed you?” realises Bobby. "Now he's gone!” But just as one obstacle disappears, another materialises to take its place. “And now Jenna needs you," Pam points out, her eyes glistening. "Yes she does," Bobby agrees. "Right now, I'm just about all that she's got." Finally, Bobby and Pam are privy to all the secrets that have kept them apart since the beginning of the previous season ... only the information has come too late for them to be together. By contrast, Val’s subconscious is actively erecting barriers to keep Gary at bay — this week’s KNOTS ends with her telling Parker that they should get married immediately.At the beginning of this Soap Land season, two young denim-clad innocents, KNOTS LANDING’s Joshua and DALLAS’s Jamie, showed up out of nowhere on their families' doorsteps. Having just crossed the midpoint of the season, this seems an opportune time to see how they're progressing. Appearance-wise, both are more sophisticated than they were. Gone is the double-denim — as well as, in Jamie’s case, the girlish party frocks Sue Ellen subsequently dressed her up in. This week Jamie unveils her new post-Southfork image — a shorter hairstyle (a tamer version of the sexy Debbie Harry bob currently sported by Abby on KNOTS) and a more tailored wardrobe. Joshua too looks slicker, as befits his current role as in front of the TV cameras. There’s a brief but telling moment this week that would have been unthinkable only a few episodes ago — just before going on air, Joshua checks his appearance in a make-up mirror and nods approvingly. (It’s tempting to imagine Alec Baldwin based this on the behaviour of the KL actresses surrounding him on set.)Having arrived in Soap Land to be with their families, both Joshua's and Jamie’s horizons have now broadened. Joshua has embarked on a promising career in television and Jamie has joined forces with Cliff Barnes to fight the Ewings for two-thirds of their company. Yet both characters are conflicted. Throughout this week’s DALLAS, Jamie expresses misgivings about the path she has chosen. "It's hard for me to fight my family,” she frets. Joshua’s girlfriend Cathy, meanwhile, is worried about Abby’s influence over him. “She’s using you!” she tells him. "She’s helping me!” he insists. Cathy’s right, of course. What’s especially chilling about Abby’s behaviour here is that making Joshua a star is almost a sideline for her — something to keep her occupied while she waits for Gary to get back from Tennessee or for Paul Galveston to make his next move in their ongoing game of cat and mouse. Almost as an amusement, she is feeding Joshua’s ego (“You must know that you’re very special … When the Creator has set you apart, endowed you with special gifts …”), without noticing or even caring that she’s slowly turning him into a monster in the process.Jamie and Joshua’s nearest FALCON CREST equivalent, Lorraine Prescott, is also caught in the middle — between step-daddy Richard and secret lover Lance, whom Richard is currently in the process of framing for attempted murder.DYNASTY’s Ashley, DALLAS's Pam and FALCON CREST’s Maggie are each asked to take sides in an ongoing feud within their respective shows this week. When Alexis hears that Blake has flown to Paris to resume negotiations with the Chinese regarding his South China Sea oil leases, she asks the politically-connected Ashley to keep her informed of his progress. Ashley turns her down. "I'd be thrilled not to be a party to her manipulations,” she later confides to Blake. On DALLAS, Cliff and Jamie ask Pam to join them in their fight for Ewing Oil, but she too declines. "Fighting JR is one thing, but I'd have to fight Bobby too, and that company means so much to him,” she explains. Then comes Maggie’s turn on FALCON CREST. During a particularly dynamic scene (credit goes once more to director Larry Elikann), Richard assigns her the job of reporting on Lance's trial full time: “Think about the premise — ’Spoilt young heir to a wine fortune tries to kill his rich powerful grandmother.’" Following Ashley and Pam’s lead, Maggie refuses point blank to join Richard's crusade. “I am willing to cover the story for you, but I am not going to exploit it,” she says. When that doesn’t satisfy Richard, she resigns. By the end of the ep, she's even testified as a character witness for Lance. Lady Ashley similarly winds up helping Blake instead of spying on him, interceding between him and the Chinese over a diplomatic hiccup. Only Pam remains on the fence — at least until the last scene of this week’s DALLAS when the pilot who claimed he flew Mark Graison to the Caribbean for treatment admits he was lying, and that JR was behind the whole thing. The final shot of the episode — Pam's face contorted with a mixture of shock, fury and disgust - is a freeze frame for the ages.Unintentional tribute of the week: as Jane Greer makes her bittersweet final appearance as Charlotte Pershing on FALCON CREST — daughter Maggie having tracked her down to a halfway house where she has decided to face up to her gambling addiction — the name of Greer’s most famous movie, the film noir classic Out of the Past, is adopted as an episode title by KNOTS.Soap Land’s accused — DALLAS’s Jenna and FALCON CREST’s Lance — both head back to the courtroom this week. For Jenna, it’s for another bail hearing while on FC, it’s already time for Lance's preliminary hearing. Jenna’s lawyer Scotty Demarest warns that the presiding judge is "an ornery son of a gun” while Greg Reardon informs Lance that his case will be heard by "a tough new judge elected on a law and order platform”. In each instance, the message is the same: this is one time the Ewings’ and Channings’ power and influence will count for naught. In the event, Jenna is finally released on bail while Lance, in spite of Angela's testimony that she does not believe he tried to kill her, is bound over to stand trial for attempted murder.However, there’s a twist. At the end of this week’s FALCON CREST, we learn that the judge in question is in Richard Channing's pocket. This is quite an achievement: successfully bribing a trial judge, be it in a murder case or even a mere child custody battle, is something JR and Alexis, for all their resources and ruthlessness, have never quite managed to pull off. For that reason alone, Richard is more than deserving of this week’s FC freeze frame. (Greg Sumner also manages some fancy legal manoeuvring on this week’s KNOTS when he presents Mack with a warrant to search Galveston Industries in relation to the Tidal Basin killings, i.e., Soap Land’s third currently ongoing murder investigation. “How did you manage that?” queries Mack. “Don’t ask,” Greg replies, adding for good measure, “Get Paul Galveston!” Lest we forget, he’s talking about his own father here.)This week’s KNOTS and DALLAS each contains a juicy two-hander scene where one female character gives another some unwelcome advice about her love life. “If you really care about Joshua, you’ll stop seeing him,” Abby tells Cathy. “Our relationship is none of your business,” Cathy replies. ”Joshua is my business,” Abby shoots back. Meanwhile, Sue Ellen is at her jaundiced best during a scene in which she congratulates Jenna on her decision not to elope with Bobby. "You can live here at Southfork and see exactly how the Ewings operate, without being locked in 'till death do you part'. It's a rare opportunity, Jenna … Maybe you’ll do yourself a huge favour and decide never to marry a Ewing."And this week’s Top 4 are …1 (-) DALLAS2 (1) KNOTS LANDING3 (-) FALCON CREST4 (2) DYNASTY</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?