KNOTS LANDING

[allmc2008]

I'm finally at Seasom 9 episode 6.

The who-done-it somehow confused me to what Lotus Point is. What exactly is it? 

[Vee]

It's been a stressful few months IRL but I am finally getting back to Knots S6.

I still have a lot of questions about the apparent BTS turmoil over Empire Valley. It seems a lot of TPTB incoming and outgoing say the story 'got out of control' and either got changed or sped up or something. But it's clear the Peter Dunne, etc. team that leaves after this season already had a lot of very specific ideas about whatever this storyline is (a military conspiracy, etc).

[kalbir]

So happy to read you're doing better. Looking forward to your thoughts on the remainder of Season 6, especially the Ava Gardner episodes. Her arc was one of the highlights of the series for me.

Edited January 5, 2023 by kalbir

[allmc2008]

I remember a few months ago when I watched those episodes. I called a friend who watched the whole show and I asked, "Why is the show going into x-files territory?" He replied, "Oh, Empire Valley".

 

I found it fascinating but oddly out of place. Didn't Garry blow it up with people still in the complex?

[Soaplovers]

I think it was an environmental issue that resulted from Gary blowing up Empire Valley.

Lotus Point was a family resort with environmental friendly elements.

[Vee]

Alright, where were we. Season 6, Episodes 12-14 (Uncharted Territory/Weighing of Evils/#14 with a Bullet):

• Much of the work over these next episodes is the product of either longtime series writer Richard Gollance, one of its top directors Nicholas Sgarro, or both and it shows. There's a lot of Bill Duke-esque playing with deep black shadows and silhouettes that make the atmosphere in key scenes of intrigue or conspiracy on par with other top primetime shows of the time like Miami Vice. (There's also some incredible work with neon, color and blinding lights in Cathy's club Isadora's in Ep 14.)
• Val’s look and hair have completely regressed to her Dallas or pre-Dallas days in Shula, Tennessee as she fully takes on the identity of Verna Ellers. It's disturbing yet fascinatingly cryptic to peek in on Val as she listens to radio news of her own disappearance in blithe disinterest while ironing in her new apartment. You wonder what if anything breaks through or bounces off the surface of her psyche, but JVA doesn't give any of the game away that I can see for several episodes. It was fun to see Lilimae, Joshua and Cathy analyzing Nashville Junction for clues, a sort of literary investigation of symbols, characters and themes to try and track Val. I could do with a lot more of that. But do people really not recognize Val in Shula? She is a bestselling author who’s been doing a lot of TV and it doesn't seem that remote to me.
• Joshua's star is rising at the TV station (alternately referred to as Pacific News Service and Pacific World Cable) throughout these eps, beginning with Abby rifling through his newfound fanmail and hilariously sniffing out small-dollar donations. What's interesting is that it is ultimately good intentions that begin to take a reluctant Joshua down the road towards high-profile evangelism: Both Ben and Abby pressure him into continuing to address the public for Val's sake, though Cathy and Lilimae chafe at Joshua's growing link with Abby. Due to the ongoing drama and Joshua's smooth way with the live shot, Abby and Pacific are acquiring more stations countrywide in a manner you couldn't possibly do today - it's a nice snapshot of the emergent TV/cable landscape of the '80s. As Joshua is enthroned on TV, his congregation grows at the network. P.K. Kelly has a great line about it: "Heavy metal religion. I don't get it." I'd thought Kelly would fade out of the show by now after Ben's first firm rebuff and their discussion of lost loves, but she appears to be becoming part of the recurring workplace characters like Jezik or some of the folks at KL Motors dating back to Season 2 or 3. Her gracefully but pointedly tossing out the update on Ben's out of state searching for Val is well played by Wendel Meldrum.
• Speaking of Kelly, there's an unexpected and very candid attempted seduction scene with her and Ben here just before he skips town in search of Val. They half commit to having sex and half don't with him already undressed in bed as she comes to him, even after I thought the issue was settled some time ago. But here they're very matter of fact about wanting each other and almost go for it, then ultimately sort of fluff it off without much drama. I thought that was interesting and refreshing.
• Gary gets in deeper and deeper with Galveston over the big Empire Valley project in these eps to the chagrin of his wife and neighbor, moving and shaking all over the state and trying to hook Sumner and Laura on it. There's an interesting echo of early Silicon Valley dreams with the talk of the Valley being the computer industry capitol going forward; Karen and Abby are not thrilled about EV and Gary's Bill Gates dreams (or his invocation of Jock Ewing, again, while he and Galveston get closer; the parallels and deliberate daddy issues in play with all the men involved here are fascinating). Karen and Abby uniting to freeze out the EV investors is a hoot - I like watching them work together in concert at Lotus Point.
• At first it had been so long since I'd watched that I'd legit forgotten why Greg might opt out on Empire Valley, and the spoiler that Galveston is his father. It all came back when, in a big surprise scene, Galveston confronts Greg in his own darkened bedroom, cutting a very spooky silhouette (although even here they've yet to come out and say Galveston is his dad, it's pretty obvious going forward). Greg's reticence re: Empire Valley now makes for another brilliant twist. This new and at times very labyrinthine umbrella story with Galveston, the Valley, etc. (I still don't understand what is going on with the wacky Tidal Basin murder stuff, but I'm into it for now) works so well because once again it is rooted in character, and particularly into continuing to dig deeper into the hidden core of the Greg Sumner character. The dying Galveston is searching for a surrogate scion in Gary Ewing (much as Gary searches for a surrogate Jock and a man to model himself after) after son Greg spurned him, while all the while Greg made his own way in life by joining up with the equally corrupt Wolfbridge Group, emulating his father's criminality for a time before pulling himself out with a bullet.
• Greg and the increasingly scarce Laura are always fun to see canoodling as he deflects again about his hesitance over Empire Valley. I think there is a bit of a cute improv from Devane about their reading poetry in one of these eps.
• James Westmont returns, finally, as Abby is in crisis. He appears there for about two minutes simply to tell her to dummy up about the babies. Is this his last appearance? Why now and why so briefly? Did the actor get another gig?
• It's clear Empire Valley is a going military and/or CIA concern of some sort - there's great camerawork as Galveston and his men of power conspire and clash over his handling of the region and Gary. The question, as I keep mentioning, is who under the outgoing Peter Dunne regime planned what and when here, versus how the writers claim it “got out of hand” when the show changed hands at the end of the season? There is a lot of BTS fog of war around this period in particular from interviews (not just about Empire Valley but also about Joshua/Alec Baldwin, who different PTB and cast at KL claim was always intended to do only one year, or... not), but Tommy Krasker's indispensable blog, on which I have only read select pieces of his discussion of Season 6 so far to preserve some of my virgin experience, suggests that Dunne and Richard Gollance both left before the final third of the season, with Dallas man David Paulsen coming in next season with a mandate from above to 'get rid of Empire Valley.' There is a suggestion Michael Filerman or others could have been involved but there seems to be no clear or set answer. It seems impossible that the outgoing Dunne team did not write this material with EV as a military/intelligence surveillance hub, and I actually think it's very ahead of its time given what we deal with today with illegal surveillance scandals. Whether it gets more cartoonish later in the final half of the season or in S7, I can't say yet but I don't have a problem with it thus far.
• Karen’s soapy bullet-time illness has given her limp noodle puppet hands which hilariously thunk about as she tries not to mow someone down in the neighborhood while a horrified Michael watches. The secret is out! There's a very sweet scene as she finally, tenderly confesses the full details to Mack which is beautifully played by Lee and Dobson for softness and candor and his quiet refusal to accept she will die, and they both forego the theatrical bombast they're so good at. I don't mind their higher speeds, but it was a nice change and a subversion of what we'd expected.

Abby: You know, I'm glad we had this chance to chat. It's important for me to know where my business associates stand.

Galveston: And where's that, Cookie?

Abby: In the nineteenth century.

• Episode 13 (Weighing of Evils) is another ep credited to Scott Hamner, late of Y&R and PC fame among other shows, the son of the famed Earl Hamner. This one also gives us the famous "don't call me Cookie" scene with Abby and Paul Galveston, their first real clash comes with some classic Knots cross-cutting, between Abby and Galveston/Gary and Greg as each of them digs at the opposing player about Empire Valley for distinctly different reasons. Abby's attempts to learn more about the project are blocked by Galveston's extreme and noxious chauvinism, which is rendered much more matter-of-factly and less crashingly mustache-twirling than it might be today. It was simply a sign of the times back in the mid-'80s. Either way, it's great stuff.
• I could swear the exterior shot of Karen's doctor's office is the same exterior location as either Michael and Peter’s Burns-Mancini practice on Melrose Place, D&D Advertising from the same show or perhaps both in the same area in Wilshire.
• Laura looks amazing decked out in B&W for dinner with Greg and thank God she's finally changed her hair. It's commitment drama for her and Greg as she tries to disengage from their deeper relationship while Greg zeroes in for more, having finally gone for a divorce. Greg has moved to saying ILY quicker than I'd expected, but I guess it's been sneaking up on him for awhile given his understated and increasing preoccupation with Laura and needing her by his side throughout this entire season and part of the last, despite it having begun as strictly no strings - he went looking for her in a drunken spiral around the time of the election, he wants her in D.C. with him. "I want someone that I can face things together with," Greg tells her. "Jean and I could never do that." Laura wants to believe, while Gary cannily gets Abby to work Greg on Empire Valley. Abby in turn blackmails him over the incident with the break-in at his opponent Bob Caulfield's office! I always thought Abby swung it and did the break-in entirely without Greg's knowledge and I still do, but I guess it's a card she can play nonetheless.
• More smart KL cross-cutting at the MacKenzie house: Eric confronts Karen about her illness and has a candid discussion re: her putting her affairs in order with the dealership, etc. while Michael vents to Mack in the kitchen. The boys grill Karen and Mack about their convenient reunion and who knew what when. There's very earnest emotion from the sons even if Pat Petersen's performance is a little ropey - you buy into it because it's played without any irony in the writing and is very heart on the sleeve, and you deeply care about the characters. The show is still as much a neighborhood family drama in these times as it is a soap, with deeply rooted family relationships. Karen's goodbyes to Gary and Abby before her operation are also great - I was glad it was not some camp bitchfest like a Spelling soap but that Abby truly cared. Sid was never mentioned here among any of the three of them but you know it's in their minds given the nature of the operation and the circumstances.
• Joshua and Cathy do the Special Olympics, meeting with a ton of disabled children on a swim team! Odd but okay. "I don’t think you’ll be able to control it," Cathy warns him later as he gets in deeper with his TV fame. Alec and Lisa Hartman's chemistry is still pretty intense, and it's notable that Joshua is already dressing better in a smart turtleneck vs. his vaguely Mormon missionary attire early in the season. It's equally interesting that Abby is now positioned as the snake in the garden to tempt Joshua to go deeper at the pulpit for her own financial gain, and their chemistry is strong too. Are Joshua and Abby gonna fool around? Incidentally, I did not know Abby was an English major. 
• Episode 14 (#14 with a Bullet) is a Peter Dunne episode with a very meta title and has a very cinematic almost music video-esque opening with Mack alone in a church, directed to the hilt again by Nicholas Sgarro. It all plays out over a voice-over of Karen's body being tested and prepped for surgery, then has a cut to Joshua and Cathy happily horsing around at the Avery house. Smart contrasts.
• Apparently I was just naive enough about Abby and the P.I. a while back - I had bought that she was truly hoping to find Val, trying to control the situation in typical Abby fashion (like Wolfbridge before her and the immortal exchange she had with Gary about lying and 'not thinking of it that way') and then let it spun out, and maybe she was, but now she's seemingly all in on keeping Val gone for good (because hey, Val's happy in Shula). I can't buy her doing that re: the babies if not Val, but I guess Cameo Jim Westmont was pretty convincing. Apparently Abby did ask the P.I. about if Val had the babies, so there's that, I guess. We'll have to see how it evolves. The Verna/Parker romance is a bit fast for me but I am enjoying seeing JVA play a Val who is not so weighed down by life.
• No sooner did I say 'please tell me Abby does not sleep with this creepy P.I. to keep Val away,' they subvert it. KL descends completely into crime opera as Paul Galveston and his legion of goons bring the hammer down on the sleazy P.I. (is he dead or alive?) and so far I'm here for it tbh. I was mildly shocked to learn Galveston is apparently not behind Val's baby theft, as he seemingly comes across Scott Easton's papers by happenstance - I still don't understand what lobbyist Easton's solo endgame was to do all that for Abby Ewing, if he wasn't doing it for Galveston. I hope we find out. Abby draped in furs sorrowfully resigning herself to fùcking the creep to keep her secret was an interesting beat, and is nicely cross-cut with Karen's surgery - the shot when Galveston lumbers in from the darkened shadows to reveal himself to Abby is beautiful. 
• Strands in this crazy umbrella continue to weave together as Abby spots Galveston getting out of Greg's limo after the old man pressures his son re: the deeply weird Tidal Basin murder saga. Greg then immediately dimes his dad out to Mack, which I liked. This leads to a fairly bonkers car chase action sequence in which Mack and a terrified Ben and perpetually-haranagued Jezik confront an old Wolfbridge goon on the highway. This goon, now apparently working for Galveston because hey, why not, looks like Gary Cole if you squint but in fact it is actually longtime Hollywood stuntman Tom Morga! Horror buffs will know Morga, who has been in anything and everything, has the unique distinction of playing Jason Voorhees, Leatherface AND Michael Myers onscreen. So really, he could totally take Kevin Dobson IRL.
• Speaking of surprise cameos: I knew I recognized the sadly-late Judith Barsi as the little girl in the diner in Shula, along with a very young Patrika Darbo. Later we get Val alone in the darkened diner, feeling lonely and glum with no idea why. She shrugs it off when asked by the friendly line cook, but it's the first chink in Val/Verna's seemingly-opaque shell. People swear by this Verna storyline so much and I'm enjoying JVA's performance, but beyond the initial breakdown and metamorphosis episodes I'm not super hooked on this part of it yet.
• Most of Karen's surgery plays in silence among the men of the family, which is nice. The genius of the post-surgery sequence is that even though I know damn well Karen's not paralyzed and I'm willing to bet most viewers had chanced that wager live, the incredible close-ups and cutting which focus entirely on her eyes, waiting for them to finally blink confirmation that she's not crippled for life, is still incredibly tense and gripping. Mack's maximum cheese thumbs-up freeze frame to the Almighty back in the church at the end of the ep can be forgiven.

A final bit of trivia re: all the fog of war about BTS turnover this season and next, etc. from Krasker's blog and about longtime show producer Michael Filerman:

I really wish @Khanwas here to dig into some of this with us. I imagine if he ever comes back his head will explode seeing what I did when I finally got to KL.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Vee

[kalbir]

Knots Landing is not the type of soap you'd expect to go into action thriller/James Bond territory but I think they got Wolfbridge in Season 5 right. Empire Valley started good in Season 6 but was a mess in Season 7 and Jean Hackney in Season 8 was awful.

Edited January 8, 2023 by kalbir

[DRW50]

@Vee Thanks as always for your writeups, which always add such detail with the behind the scenes info and casting and directing discussion (I had no idea poor Judith Barsi was on Knots). Learning about the turnover and meddling helps me to understand why this period begins to have story I found to be very predictable and hollow, no matter how well-crafted, like Joshua. The real meat is in the complex central characters like Abby, Greg, or in these years, Gary. 

I never quite saw the Verna story as a masterpiece either. I think it works best as a breather for Val that reminds you of her trauma in a way beyond what we usually got with her.

[kalbir]

@DRW50 When would you say Knots Landing started tanking and when did it start to go off the rails for you?

I'd say the tanking started in the aftermath of Val being reunited with the twins and it started going off the rails in the aftermath of Laura's death.

[Vee]

I intend to stick with the show though I'm well aware of people's opinions of some of the middle-later years being up, down or worse. I'm very curious to see the Lechowicks' work, Paige, the Williamses, etc. and what works for me or doesn't. And as I think I discussed with @Chris Ba while back (apologies if it wasn't you, Chris) I am fascinated to see the results, good or bad, of the bizarre 'wife swap' in Season 7 with Dallas and KL's showrunners. Didn't Dunne or one of his regime's people go do the infamous dream season at the mothership? That'll be worth a look too. I may be exiting a golden era but I know it's not all bad for KL going forward. And even when it is I expect it'll be interesting.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Vee

[DRW50]

That's a difficult question, because I think the show rebuilt itself several times. For me the best seasons were 3-7, and nothing is ever the same after Laura is killed off and Mack , Val, Gary, and Karen also become significantly more one-dimensional as characters. The show as a whole becomes more one-dimensional. They also start running into dangerous territory with Abby, but fortunately Donna Mills took care of that and left.

There are still good moments in that period, but it's a different show...still a show that I found watchable, and fortunately I was able to accept Paige (if I couldn't have I just would not have been able to make it as a viewer anymore). Some of the new characters, even if they are more typical '80s gloss and lack the depth of someone in the early years, keep me involved (Frank, Pat, Linda, Anne, Paige, even go-nowhere characters like Paula).

Aside from some pet peeves of mine (anything involving baby Meg, anything involving Olivia whining, anything involving DIRTY COP DIRTY COP DIRTY COP), I'm able to be involved in stories, even if I don't really like the stories very much for themselves. There are some fun interactions, sharp dialogue, etc. I think the show plugs along in that vein until around season 12, which is a much stronger year for me, maybe the best since season 7.

The season 12 finale and the whole feel of season 13 is just too much, too much for the show to ever recover from. I know a lot of people enjoy the back of 13. I might try it again someday, but I'm in no rush. 14 I sort of half-watched, and I'm not in much rush there either. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by DRW50

[kalbir]

Thank you for answering and I agree re Laura. While Val was the long-suffering heroine, Abby was the villainess, and Karen was the anchor/tentpole of the group, Laura was the heart and conscience of the group. Laura kept everyone in check and did not hesitate to call anyone out and put them on blast. Her absence left a huge hole in the show.

Donna Mills was smart to leave when she did.

Nicollette Sheridan wasn't a regular cast member until Season 10, but did you find that Paige ate the show during the final five seasons?

[DRW50]

I don't think she did as much as she could have, but she was certainly a very dominant presence.

[Soaplovers]

Laura was the voice of the audience.  I always contend that the Lathams wrote in specific tropes (Karen the moral one, Val the long suffering victim, and Abby the villianess) and Laura was not a character you could fit into a trope.  

Donna Mills did say in an interview on either Arnesio or Joan Rivers that she felt Abby ran her course.  I think it was a nice way of saying she was struggling to keep Abby human and redeemable with the Latham writing making Abby act bad for the sake of acting bad.

In the later seasons, Paige was the only next generation character to take off so the show had no choice but focus on her (show dropped the ball with Olivia, Jill, and Linda..imho).  And I did like the show did create a semi believable friendship between Kate and Paige... but Kate only worked in connection to the core characters (whenever she had her story like her relationship with the environmentalist or with the hot drifter Alex..it fell flat).

[Vee]

No, she wasn't. I wouldn't call her the conscience of the canvas though (Laura has had many ups and downs morally) so much as the candor. Laura has always been no bullshít.

In addition to the crazy showrunner swap coming up and then the arrival of the Lechowick era, I'm very intrigued to see the apparent fraught introduction of Paige and her evolution, as well as how the kids grow to adulthood and either take on stories that work or, for the most part according to the audience, don't.

I know Stacy Galina only came on supposedly because they were impressed by her playing poor Mary Frances. Why that character (who was great in her first run with Danielle Brisebois in the role) wasn't just kept alive is beyond me.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Vee