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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 244088" data-attributes="member: 22">Day of the Assassin (KNOTS, 11 Mar 93) v Dead But Not Buried (KNOTS, 18 Oct 90)Given that Day of the Assassin is the penultimate episode of the entire series, it’s striking how little of the action takes place in the cul-de-sac (just one scene). Plus it’s virtually a Mackenzie-free zone. Mack is entirely removed from the main storyline — Tom Ryan has assumed the heroic investigator role — while Karen appears only once, briefly, in New York when Mack comes to make amends. Rather than married couples in suburbia, the emphasis is very much on corporate intrigue and violence — Nick beaten up in an alley, Greg shot in his office, Treadwell doing unspeakable things to the lovely Vanessa,  a bomb on a plane.Anne and Nick team up again, getting into dangerous scrapes like they used to, but because their capers are now part of a bigger picture (i.e., Treadwell’s scheme to take over the Sumner Group, killing everyone who stands in his way), rather than just happening in a comedic vacuum, the urgent bits feel more urgent and the funnier bits are funnier. (Anne’s disgust as they squeeze past the dumpster of a fish restaurant while fleeing the bad guys kind of reminded me of my favourite bit from Star Wars, the trash compactor scene.)Apart from Gary and Kate (who are more interesting as a couple when they’re separated than when they’re together), most of the soapy relationship stuff is generated by the eight-sided love/lust triangle that exists between Treadwell, Vanessa, Tom, Paige, Greg, Anne, Nick and Claudia.The closing minutes — Tom trying and failing to stop the Sumner jet from taking off with a bomb on board, followed by perhaps the most exciting “Next on KNOTS …” preview ever — are heart-poundingly good.In both Day of the Assassin and Dead But Not Buried, Paige and Tom are officially Not A Couple but end up having a sexy snog anyway. In Day of Assassin, he’s her self-appointed bodyguard who offers her a bed for the night, after he’s escorted her to a business dinner at a prophetically named restaurant:[ATTACH=full]23551[/ATTACH]One thing inevitably leads to another, but then they are interrupted by the lovely Vanessa who is trying to escape Treadwell's evil clutches. In Dead But Not Buried, Paige returns Tom’s engagement ring following their aborted wedding, he accuses her of sleeping with Greg, she realises he’s mixed her up with her mother and delivers a funny, sad, ironic speech about how she’s “always wanted one of those little old grey-haired, rosy-cheeked, rounded tummied ladies who worked in the candy store behind the counter for my mother. No such luck.” I don’t know why I’m continually surprised by how good Nicollette Sheridan is, but her delivery of this speech is just lovely, and of course, Tom can’t resist her.Dead But Not Buried kicks off with a satisfyingly hammy conclusion to the "My Love Always" story with Karen shocked to discover that Jeff Cameron is a) not dead and b) a serial killer. After Jeff is carted away by the police, Season 11’s other psycho funster, Danny Waleska, is found floating face down in Abby's former swimming pool.Each licking their wounds after being terrorised by their respective loony, Karen and Gary (“It was like being raped,” he says of being force-fed alcohol by Danny) have the kitchen conversation which culminates in the famous Pollyanna speech, oft shown on reunion shows as one of Michele Lee’s Best Bits. It plays a lot better within the context of the scene where her idealistic rant comes as a response to Gary’s bitter cynicism. It’s interesting that she says, “I liked being a Pollyanna.” I guess she's referring back to the days, not just when you could send cash in the mail, but when she would wear sundresses with a flower in her hair and take on the likes of JR as much for the fun as the principle of it, before crime syndicates, shoulder pads and psychopathic son-in-laws entered her life.Dead But Not Buried is also The One Where Paige Evicts Anne, and she ends up sneaking into the Sumner Group and sleeping in Paige’s office. I was a little surprised this happened so early in the season; it means Anne is fending off homelessness for the best part of a year. At the end of the ep, she receives the salacious photos and blackmail letter that will bring Nick into her life the first time around, leading to lots of wacky, New DYNASTY-ish capers.And the winner is ... Dead But Not BuriedBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]qwBN-RiRzOY[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

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