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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 3833" data-attributes="member: 22">23/Feb/81: DYNASTY: The Bordello v. 26/Feb/81: KNOTS LANDING: Moments of Truth v. 27/Feb/81: DALLAS: The New Mrs. EwingIt's Bizarro Week in Soap Land - midgets become supermodels, suburban baby showers are gatecrashed by terrorists, and the first half of this week's DYNASTY is taken up by a long sequence where Walter and Steven visit a whorehouse in order to alleviate Steven of his "problem".DYNASTY's bordello resembles Lute-Mae's in FLAMINGO ROAD - a quaint Western saloon bar vibe with pretty girls in negligees hanging out on the balcony as if life as a sex worker were a never-ending slumber party. The atmosphere of both establishments is more homely than whorehouse, with nary a hint of violence or disinfectant. Given that these are typically sanitised Hollywood takes on prostitution, DYNASTY's has the edge in that its bordello proprietor, Lucy, embodies the "wise maternal madam" persona far more convincingly than the airhead that is Lute-Mae. Plus the scene between Steven and Sarah Pat is very sweet (and all the more interesting when you know she'll be back to bite him in the ass in the season finale), and there's some lovely character stuff with Walter. As with Pamela Sue Martin's pool playing in the pilot, those really are Dale Robertson's hands playing Mozart's "C Major Sonata" on the piano, accompanied by a nice little reminiscence abut his mother, akin to Michael's in last week's episode.A neat bit of soapy synchronicity: Last week, JR's financing of a (conveniently bloodless) coup in Southeast Asia resulted in Ewing Oil's and the cartel's wells being returned to them. This week, Denver Carrington's Saudi Arabian oil wells are nationalised - thus putting Blake in the exact same position that JR was in at the end of last season (give or take a zillion dollars or two). He subsequently exhibits a darker side to his personality - humiliating Steven, sabotaging Matthew's rig - which leaves Krystle seriously disillusioned. "How beautiful it is here," she broods, "and how ugly sometimes."Elsewhere, this DYNASTY episode is dotted with atypical behaviour, which only serves to make the characters more rounded and interesting. Fallon, having behaved outrageously towards everyone since the series began, exhibits a more tender side during a scene with Steven where she gently persuades him not to return to New York. Doris, Krystle's tactless former colleague whom we met at her bridal shower, proves to be more perceptive than one might have suspected when Krystle, feeling responsible for what Blake has done to Matthew, turns to her for help. "Which one of them are you in love with?" Doris asks. The biggest turn around of all is when Krystle then pawns a necklace bought for her by Blake and gives the money to Matthew to help him keep his business afloat. They end up kissing on his couch before she breaks free. "I can't give you anything else that belongs to him," she says.Is "Moments of Truth" the worst episode of KNOTS LANDING thus far? The women of the cul-de-sac trapped together in a hostage situation - it should work, and every time I watch it I think maybe, this time, it will ... but it never does. I can't exactly put my finger on why. I think it's to do with the direction - somehow we never really get a sense of time passing, so the tension doesn't build, and the climax, where Karen and Val grapple with one of their captors over a gun, is clumsily staged.Most perplexingly, the female characters are largely underused: Ginger whimpers, Val is relegated to hair-stroking duty, and Abby's description of Laura as "all teary-eyed and helpless" proves disappointingly accurate (that one slap notwithstanding). This leaves Karen free to emote as if it were an Olympic sport (when she's not secreting her wedding ring in various bodily crevices) - and it falls to wicked, wicked Abby to man up and show some genuine guts. If the episode belongs to anyone, it's Donna Mills.Holed up at the Averys' house, the cul-de-sac men politely take it in turn to go nuts. Kenny flips out first. Then Gary gets his macho out of the hall closet and flattens a pushy reporter (is there any other kind in Soap Land - Elmo Tyson notwithstanding?). Finally, Richard and Sid have a shouting match which is quite good.The bad guys in "Moment of Truth" remind me a lot of the trio who kidnapped Bobby in the first season of DALLAS. Both gangs are a one-girl/two-boys combo, with the woman, in each case a flinty-eyed red-head who has a sexual history with at least one of the men, clearly in charge. It's kind of a Ma Barker/Baader-Meinhof Mash Up - with the added implication that poor, plain-looking women are inevitably eaten up with resentment towards their wealthier, better-looking counterparts. "I bet your wife's hands don't look like these," snarled Bobby's kidnapper Fay in DALLAS. "People like you," sneers Rose, Fay's KNOTS equivalent, "rich pretty privileged people, you buy what you want. People like me, we never could and it gets harder every day."In other bizarro news, Lucy Ewing Cooper becomes DALLAS's next top model despite not knowing what a portfolio is. Having landed the job, she spends the rest of the episode communicating solely via high-pitched squeals and burbles. Meanwhile, Uncle Bobby becomes a state senator less than two weeks after taking up politics as a career. His first order of business? To hire his family's arch nemesis, Cliff Barnes, as his legal counsel. While this makes no real world sense, it at least sets a precedent for Bobby inviting Cliff to join Ewing Oil in Season 11."The New Mrs. Ewing" is Dr. Elby's penultimate episode and his advice to Sue Ellen seems to signal a turning point for her character: "Trust your instincts. Put the past where it belongs. It's time to move on." So far, Sue Ellen's idea of moving on amounts to initiating a motel room affair with a married man, but hey - it's early days.The most fun bits of this week's DALLAS: Leslie sabotaging a meeting between JR and the cartel (which now includes Marilee) and a couple of classic soundbites from Ellie and Jock: "You both sicken me!" and "I am Takapa!" The latter comes during a family gathering to mark Ray and Donna's nuptials - the fifth Soap Land wedding in nine weeks. "Welcome to the Ewin' family, Donna," Sue Ellen smirks after Jock's outburst. Good to see her "new start" doesn't yet preclude making ironic asides during cocktail hour.And the winner is … DYNASTY2nd: DALLAS3rd: KNOTS LANDING</blockquote>

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