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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 4786" data-attributes="member: 22">24/Nov/81: FLAMINGO ROAD: The Intruder v. 25/Nov/81: DYNASTY: Fallon's Father v. 26/Nov/81: KNOTS LANDING: Aftermath v. 27/Nov/81: DALLAS: The SplitWith Ted Dinard, Kristin Shepard and Sid Fairgate all now dead and buried, Constance Carlyle is the sole survivor of the great Falling Down outbreak that rocked Soap Land in the spring of '81. This week, she starts to regain the use of her legs but swears physiotherapist Steve to secrecy lest she loses her hold on husband Field ("Why throw away a lemon till you've squeezed it dry?"). She does celebrate the occasion by taking Steve to bed, thereby elevating him to the position of Soap Land's latest "in-house stud", a role only recently vacated by Michael the Carrington chauffeur (and previously held by Roger Grimes and Ray Krebbs back in the day).While Blake Carrington greets Cecil Colby's private jet in DYNASTY, FLAMINGO ROAD newcomer Michael Tyrone (aka DARK SHADOWS' Quentin Collins and FALCON CREST's Richard Channing) touches down in Truro. Steven Carrington describes Cecil this week as "maybe the richest man in the country", but with holdings in "hotels, airlines and oil", Michael must surely give him a run for his money. It looks like Michael's about to get even richer too, as he reveals his scheme to bring gambling to Truro.The snag is that Sam Curtis intends to bid for the same piece of land that Michael needs to put his plan into action. Enter Michael's secret weapon: Sam's ex-wife, Vanessa, now Michael's mistress. Andra Akers, the first actress to play Sally Bullock in DALLAS, becomes the second actress to play Vanessa, the character having briefly appeared in FLAM RD's first season. Viewed from a "DALLAS Through The Looking Glass" perspective, this means that Mark Graison was once married to Mr. Eugene's wife - which doesn't seem too implausible. Akers' version of Vanessa is a blast - a thrillingly brittle blonde seductress. Her performance here suggests she'd have been much more fun wheeling and dealing with JR and Bobby over Venezuelan oil tankers than Joanna Cassidy was.Another interesting bit of double casting I never caught before: The reporter who prompted Miss Ellie to get her shotgun out of the hall closet in "Survival" (DALLAS Season 1) is now the architect (well, she did advise him to find another job) who tells Ray Krebbs the land he's invested in "ain't worth a damn" - thereby proving Donna's silent looks of disapproval to have been right on the money. On F'LINGO RD, Sam Curtis is more vocal in his attempts to dissuade Titus and Claude from becoming involved in Michael's land deal - "One of these days you are gonna wish you had never seen Michael Tyrone … When he is through with you, he'll toss you to the alligators without blinking an eye!" - but his words fall on deaf ears."You look at all this and you know why men have fought wars over land," says Michael Tyrone of the property he's after. David Selby is the perfect actor for this kind of stuff - brooding, dangerous, and able to evoke an underlying sense of both tragedy and madness. He can elevate a competition for some land we've never heard of before into something almost Biblical. And even though the details of Michael and Sam's past relationship are sketchy, their showdown in the final scene of the episode feels like a confrontation between Cain and Abel.All we really know of Michael and Sam's relationship are Sam's line, "I've known him all my life," the fact that they're now business competitors and that each has a history with Sam's ex-wife. Their triangle is mirrored in this week's DYNASTY by Blake, Cecil Colby and Blake's ex-wife Alexis. Ostensibly Blake's best friend, Cecil clarifies that "the relationship between Blake and me has been based mainly on business." As Vanessa does with Sam, Alexis seems interested in rekindling her old passion with Cecil - but while Vanessa huskily murmurs seductive gibberish as she unbuttons Sam's shirt, ("There are two schools of thought about warm Gulf breezes - some say they're hottest when they blow off a storm, others say they're hottest just before dawn, when the night is the darkest") Alexis and Cecil's sparring is a tad more elegant ("Don't con a con-artist, darling" … "How deliciously May-December").Michael has Vanessa do to Sam what JR had Afton to do Cliff at the end of last season's DALLAS - seduce and then drug him. This results in Sam missing the auction and Michael swiping the land from under him. Having got what he wanted, Michael abruptly dumps Vanessa. "I don't need you anymore," he tells her coldly. "You've served your purpose." "I don't deserve this!" she screams, the violins on the soundtrack going as haywire as she does. "Not after what I've done for you! I'll make you pay for this!" Afton makes a similar declaration about JR this week: "I hate him. I wanna get back at him." Unlike Vanessa, however, she is able to follow through on her desire for revenge. To this end, she teams up with Cliff and introduces him to Vaughn Leland. To be sure, Afton is no longer the naive little blonde we were introduced to in Season 3. Who would have predicted when she first appeared that she would be turn out to be savvier than Kristin? (Or that both their offspring would end up living at Southfork in 2013, come to that.)At first glance, DYNASTY's Claudia and KNOTS LANDING's Abby are two characters with little in common. However, when each takes inventory of their lives this week, the results are remarkably similar. "I lost Sid too," Abby reminds her occasional nemesis Karen, "and I don't know where my children are, and now I don't even have a job to go to. I don't have anything or anybody. I'm alone." "I've got nothing," Claudia tells her rival Krystle. "Nothing. I don't have my husband, I don't have my daughter, I've got me. Look at me. It isn't very much, is it?"The sight of a drunken Steven Carrington being magnetically propelled from the Carrington library all the way through the house and grounds towards the swimming pool, just so that he can hit his head on a railing, almost drown and be rescued by a passing Nick Toscanni just might be Soap Land's weirdest visual to date. He is then rushed to Soap Land Memorial Hospital where he takes Sid Fairgate's place in intensive care."Aftermath" deals with the, um, aftermath of Sid's death, and the whole episode rings emotionally true: Karen coping by ruthlessly keeping everyone, including her children, at arm's length, just as she did when Sid was in the hospital. Eric sitting alone in his dad's car and crying. A desperately eager-to-please Michael following his mom around till she just can't take it anymore. Karen lashing out at Gary. Gary shouting at Val: "I'm sick of being forgiven by you and I am SICK of the way you accept everything!" Karen finally breaking down with Ginger and Kenny's newborn baby in her arms.KNOTS being KNOTS, the build up to the delivery of the Wards' baby is unconventionally conventional: we witness the timing of the contractions, the packing for the hospital, the sweating, the pushing, the panting - all the things you ordinarily don't see with Soap Land pregnancies because of the mother being contractually obliged to fall down a flight of stairs in her seventh month. And it's only taken me 32 years, but I finally really, really like Kenny and Ginger.Following Sid's funeral, this episode of KNOTS skips forward five weeks, thereby putting it vaguely in the same timeline as DALLAS - which is convenient for the phone call Miss Ellie makes to Gary in the following night's episode of DALLAS. It's kinda weird to see Gary and Val in their own kitchen, but on another show. They're noticeably a lot more tanned than they were in the previous evening's KNOTS - especially Gary, who is suddenly the same colour as Peter O'Toole in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Gary might be sick of the way Val accepts everything in KNOTS, but her blanket acceptance apparently doesn't extend to a summons home to Southfork. ("Gary, you know what happens every time you go back there.") This request from Miss Ellie is prompted by a missive from Jock in South America dividing Ewing Oil up into voting shares (Gary now has 10%). It's unclear what the implications of this development will be, but the scene where Miss Ellie reads out Jock's letter to the family is full of soapy import. In fact, a sense of urgency pervades all of this week's DALLAS, as if someone has turned up the heat under the entire episode.Karen pelting Gary with blows in KNOTS when she finds him sitting at Sid's desk isn't the only bit of violence in this week's Soap Land. The future Mark Graison knocks the future Richard Channing to the ground in the final scene of FLAMINGO ROAD after Richard/Michael impugns Vanessa's honour, and Mitch and Dusty Farlow both sock JR after he refers to Afton and Sue Ellen as, respectively, a tramp and a nymphomaniac.Like FLAMINGO ROAD, this week's DALLAS ends with a great mano a mano confrontation. This one takes place between JR and Dusty at the Cotton Bowl. Having mostly been on the back foot so far this season, it's kind of breathtaking to watch JR let rip at Dusty so savagely, taunting him for what is essentially a disability. And however good Larry Hagman is in this scene - and he is very, very good - Jared Martin matches him. In stage fighting, it's up to the person on the receiving end to really "sell" the punch - it's their reaction that's going to convince an audience that the blow has connected - and that's what Martin does here. Every psychological jab, every twist of JR's knife reads on Dusty's face, even as he struggles to keep his dignity intact. "Hell, she can’t go without it forever," says JR of Sue Ellen as Dusty turns and starts walking away. "Maybe she won’t have to. I’ve seen ya daddy. Maybe she’s stayin' with you because she’s not goin' without it. There’s only one person who’s man enough to keep that lady happy and on the Southern Cross. AND THAT SURE AS HELL AIN'T YOU!" Those last words and the laugh that follows are majestically ugly, and maybe a little unhinged.FLAMINGO ROAD has a great ending too, reminiscent of DYNASTY's two weeks ago. Everyone assumed Alexis was going back to Mexico, but then she pulled the rug out from under Blake's feet with the revelation that not only is she staying, but: "I'm moving in!" Similarly, Sam expects Michael to return to Miami. "What - and leave when things are just getting interesting?" Michael replies. "No way, Sam. You better get used to seeing me around here. I'm making my home here - up on Flamingo Road!" The episode ends Sam walking away from Michael, just as DALLAS's does with Dusty walking away from JR.Song Wars: Last time Lane Ballou went head to head with KNOTS, she totally annihilated Karen and Diana's "Put On A Happy Face" routine. This time, however, her uncharacteristically uptempo choice of country sway-a-long "Could This Be Magic" (nothing to do with Barry Manilow or Take That) is entirely upstaged by Jason Avery's brilliantly incomprehensible trumpet version of "The Sound of Music", punctuated by a sweet little giggle at the end.And the winner is … KNOTS LANDING2nd: DALLAS3rd: FLAMINGO ROAD4th: DYNASTY</blockquote>

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