Knots Landing S1Ep2 -Community Spirit: The " Ghost of Lives Past" Episode

Welcome back to the Knots Landing Takeover!

Discover the multi-layered saga of Gary and Valene Ewing as we untangle their gripping narrative from "Knots Landing." Witness how Gary sheds the initial deadbeat dad persona, revealing his complexities and Ewing family burdens, while Valene steps up from her secondary role in "Dallas" to become a vital powerhouse in the spinoff. Their past, fraught with persistent shadows and skeletons, provides a rich canvas for our discussion on the lingering presence of bygone troubles in our lives.

The drama intensifies as we recount the uproar ignited by Ewing Oil's venture into the heart of a tight-knit Californian community. At a pivotal town meeting, Gary's oil expertise unexpectedly positions him as a beacon of resistance, and we scrutinize the intricate power play between the Ewing brothers and Karen's fervent activism. The episode sheds light on the intricate tango between big corporate ambitions and environmental stewardship, painting a vivid picture of small-town resilience in the face of a towering dynasty.

Our journey culminates with the personal entanglements and dark secrets surfacing amidst an environmental standoff over beach drilling, where love, betrayal, and the quest for self-identity all clash with the thunderous roar of political agendas. Laura's strength and resilience become a beacon, illustrating the universal struggle to release the past's grip and sail towards a future brimming with hope. Join us as we weave through these tales of confrontation and courage, offering a glimpse into the very essence of human drama and the profound lessons it imparts.

If you love Soaplore, check out

Televisionofyore.com for a blow by blow recap of iconic t.v


Join the Vintage Primetime Soap Opera Social Club on FB

Transcript

JETTA: 0:00

He's like oh, karen, karen, karen, karen, I've been looking. Oops, wrong name, laura, Laura, laura, I've been looking forward to this. Welcome, or welcome back to Soap Lore, the official gathering place for newbies, novices and OG diehard fans of the Golden Age of Primetime. I'm your host, jett, viewing and reviewing the iconic Primetime Juggernaut Knots Landing, season 1. Have you ever had a problem that wouldn't just go away? Is there a person in your life who lives rent-free in your head? You ain't the only one baby. Today we're reviewing Season 1, episode 2, community Effort, aka the Ghost of Lives Past Episode. So, whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy until the kids play outside out of sight. Tell them no questions, suggestions or concerns for the next half hour. Everyone else in earshot should be cool, quiet, want to pack your teens and leave because we're discussing Primetime Americana. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soap Lore. Hello, gorgeous, Welcome back. Party people to another fun-filled edition of Soap Lore Knots Landing Takeover. I hope your day is shaping up well and if you're listening at night, good luck tomorrow.

JETTA: 1:25

The little spinoff that could Wow. As someone who's a self-proclaimed TV kid, it has come to my attention that I know very little about spinoffs. I went ahead and looked on Google, google like top spinoffs of all time. I didn't realize 90% of those shows were spinoffs. Did you know that NCIS was a spinoff of Jag? I had no idea that the facts of life was a spinoff of different strokes Crazy, right. So the spinoff genre is uncharted territory for me personally and in my mind a spinoff is a show that follows a popular character from a hit series to a new location for school, new career, acting, maybe they got married, they joined the army, something like that. It's always a major major character At least it was in my mind but a big character, someone like Gary and Valene, who we've only met a couple times. This is brand new to me. Gary and Valene Ewing. I have decided before the show started I said her name 14 times to remember it is Valene, not Valvane, not Vidaljev, not Veneta, not Venetian Valene. God almost called her Valvane again.

JETTA: 2:39

Either way, I have to have to shape up and I have to admit that I may have jumped the gun a little here, may have harshly judged the California Ewing's just a little bit, only knew these characters through the context of Dallas and they were only on the show a couple of episodes. So in order to give not slandering a fair chance in my mind, I have to let bygones be bygones. So my impression of Gary was and is that he's a no good deadbeat dad who abandoned his young, fragile wife and baby because of pressure. Becoming a Ewing, whatever that means, a Ewing man was too much for him. I get that, but it I get that where it's concerned. I understand you have a lot of pressure, but as far as I'm concerned you're still a deadbeat, maybe not a deadbeat husband he has no opportunity to change that but a father, absolutely your daughter's 18 years old. I still hold that opinion. He's still very much a deadbeat. That hasn't changed. However, I have to admit that no one is anything at all overnight. Takes a series of events to turn you into the person you are, and I think his overall lack of confidence in deadbeatery is like a chronic belief versus a choice. He's not deciding that. He's just going to be an ass for the rest of his life. He's just. He believes he's such a screw up he can't move through his life, and it has shown for the past 18 years. As far as we know.

JETTA: 3:59

This episode dives a little deeper into the psyche of Gary and his country, y valene, this one in the series. We only have a few particulars concerning Gary. As far as we know, gary is the second son to John Ewing Ross and Ella Ewing. He once was a budding artist, kind of prolific If he was drawing that at six or seven he was pretty good illustrator, loves horses, hates oil, father of Lucille, aka North Texas, lowly to Ewing. And a strange husband to valene, the Vidalia onion queen I'm sorry, I can't help myself. Vidalia, her being a Vidalia country queen is just, it's a compliment. I promise I'm not making fun of her, I am, but I'm not All right.

JETTA: 4:44

So he despises his family, as far as we know, sort of. He's never held a job for long term. He seems to be a little bit of a no man. He's recovering alcoholic, favorite brother to Bobby Ewing and possibly favorite son or if not favorite, the most compatible, most like his mother, ms Ellie Ewing.

JETTA: 5:03

Now, all of this, of course, is eclipsed by the perception of him by the Johns, as I call them the John Ewing's and that would be jock, aka John Ross Ewing the first and JR John Ross Ewing the second. Both believe in large part that Gary is just too soft. He's always been too fragile. He ain't cut from the same clock. Bobby seemed to have gotten whatever he needs to be Ewing man, jr certainly has it, jock certainly has it. But you know, gary, gary was defective, according to them, that's at least the perception he had, and this poor guy has, like, internalized this perceived failure of being a man or being a Ewing, and he struggles to cope with that every single day. He struggles with it and he hates it, hates his last name with a passion. That's what we know about him so far. That's not a lot. So you want to add to this equation Gary and all his deep, dark feelings.

JETTA: 5:57

You add Valene, whose origins are unknown In my mind. I like to think she grew up in a little country town that had a Vidalia fair every summer and one year she was picked as a Vidalia onion queen because she's super country. Last episode I left this off. She showed up in gloves y'all In 1979, she traveled in gloves. If that's not Southern Belich, I don't know what is. Anyway, we don't know much about her, but we do know she was about 15 or 16 when she married Gary and got pregnant with Lucy. Now, 15 or 16 is young. Even for back in the day, it makes me wonder she was some sort of runaway. How old was Gary at the time? How did they bump into each other? Either way? She was a kid when she met him, married him and moved out to South Fork.

JETTA: 6:39

So shortly after their marriage and moving out to South Fork, gary decides, right after Lucy's born, that oh, this is all teem too much, can't be no husband, I can't be no father, I can't be a ewing. Let me just skedaddle Moutta here. He bounces and he leaves his teenage bride in newborn at South Fork to fend for themselves. Now Valine is trying to do the right thing, but she's 15 or 16, mind you. She gets run off by her brother-in-law, jr. He threatens her life, tells her she better not ever show her face in Texas again and he's going to kill her. Stay out of Lucy's life, get on, run on, girl. And she does. Eventually she throws caution to the wind and says eff it, I'm going to make my way back to Dallas despite the threat on her life.

JETTA: 7:24

This just so happens to coincide with this brief but albeit impactful return of Gary Ewing, which results in them secretly hooking up for a year and the spin-off. We speak up. They decided at some point during that secret love affair year that their love was worth it. It deserves a second chance and they want to go. They want to do it right this time. Let's go on and get married, gary. They're going to get married about the time he has a birthday and during this time, valene's mommy instincts are way too strong to ignore and she decides, despite the threat on her life she's already sneaking around Dallas. She might as well strike up a relationship with her strange daughter and foster a healthy relationship. At the end of the day, she was on one runoff. She didn't leave. There is a difference. There's a Trump card there. So, like I said, she and Gary decide that they're going to marry right around the time of his birthday.

JETTA: 8:15

And this is also right around the time that Ellie, his mother, who has a really hard time on his birthday every year, decides that God, her oldest son was such a bastard. He's such a horrible, terrible person. She's just meditating on how trash he is, but how wonderful her second and third sons are. Luckily for her, her third son, bobby, her baby. He's doing fine. He don't really need much from her, but Gary, gary, on the other hand he does. She puts two and two together, decides to gaslight her granddaughter into finagling a meeting between she and her baby boy, her second born, which is about the time she finds out Ellie that is, finds out about this secret wedding.

JETTA: 8:55

Riddled with motherly guilt, ellie decides that the least she can do the very least she can do, for being a passive bystander in the destruction of these kids' confidence and self-worth, is provide he and his lovely repeat bride with a fully loaded, fully paid for, fully furnished home in suburbia by way of Southern California. That's all we know about them thus far. So it's the first time ever for Valar Val almost called Valerie Val and Gary's relationship that they have some sort of support system through Bobby and Ellie. And now they have space to go. They're out of Texas, they're not under that Ewing umbrella, not really. So they have the time, they have the space for the first time ever of letting their love flourish as it wants to. So, besides the secret second wedding, most of the heavy lifting is done, with the exception of Lucy not knowing they're married. They don't have to worry about a mortgage. They don't have to worry about the Ewing's breeding down their next air, far enough away to live their life, which is a wonderful thing.

JETTA: 9:59

Gary's been picked out his whole life, so it's like he needs that space to not run away and not drown himself in all of his problems and boos and drugs. He wants to stay on the straight and narrow. He feels like this is a great place. Val had a couple concerns, but not landing Seems like. I mean not for nothing. We can unleash trilies, we don't have to worry, we don't have huge burdens on our shoulders, we can just sort of live our lives. That's all fine, well and good for him. But I was thinking about this. Valene has been looking over her shoulder for the past 18 years, hoping and wishing that Gary would come back or that she could visit Lucy. She was at. She was essentially abandoned too. She's had to fend for herself and you can see that she's not fully secure yet in Gary and Gary's not fully secure in himself.

JETTA: 10:42

But this, this episode isn't about. This episode is about deciding whether or not the past is going to run over you or if you're going to stand up and take care of it yourself. The past can be a powerful force in your life. It shapes our identities, our values, our beliefs, our dreams, but it can also be a burden. It can be a source of pain, regret and guilt. How you relate to your past can determine how you live in the present and what you create for your future. This is in the forefront of their minds.

JETTA: 11:10

You can choose to see the past as an anchor that grounds you. A lot of people it's a source of comfort and it's the thing that that is the most them. But for others it can be an anvil that crushes you to the ground. When your past is your anchor, when you don't forget where you come from, there's a lot of stability, security and wisdom that comes from that knowledge. If your past is an anvil, it'll weigh you down, it'll limit you, it'll hold you back. The choice is your. So not always an easy choice, often a very, very difficult one. But you can either embrace the past as a source of strength or let it go a source of suffering. They are in the perfect Condition to do either.

JETTA: 11:51

Or so Gary starts working for, said his neighbor vows at home with most of the women folk Most of the girls on this show seem to work from home, or not at all. Mmm, can we get a moment of silence for a living wage, please, god bless it. I Think about this office. This is my Roman Empire. I think about the cost of living of days ago and it just makes me hang my head a little bit. Anyways, rip a living wage in the USA.

JETTA: 12:22

The past comes knocking when a headline about Ewing oil drilling off of knots landing beach, all of a sudden, the people of knots landing are starting to see these ships come in. And they're not tuna ships, they're not other boating ships, they're just different. They look a little bit weird and, before you know it, what splashed across the paper is that it's Ewing oil Digging up oil and their beautiful ocean side town. Needless to say, the community ain't having it and they're gonna call this meeting. They want everybody at the gym and Gary's reluctant to go. He's already feels away. He's like dang it. We got this far away from it. Now my neighbors are gonna think that I'm in this. They think that we came to set up this new business and, sure enough, his neighbor, mr Avery Richard Avery definitely thinks that he's a lawyer and he's like aha, caught you, ewing, and Gary's blowing it off like dude. I have nothing to do with this. If you don't, you don't know the half of it. Whatever you think you know Diluthae by like 10,000. I have absolutely nothing to do with my people ever.

JETTA: 13:22

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, jr sends some random guy named Chip he's a rep for Ewing oil, I guess on the California side send them to California to smooth things over. Jr's heard about this meeting. They want to see how much resistance they're gonna get from the town folk because I suppose if there's enough resistance they're gonna have to figure out something else. Luckily for them, there's only like 20 people who show up to this meeting, including a very reluctant Gary who came because Val Val Convents him to come. I'm wondering if Chip is a friend of a friend's son or something, because this feels like an nepo job to me. This kid right before he walks into the building he bumps into Laura and rich Avery. Laura's body immediately tenses up. She's like, oh shoot, they know each other from a girl her past has come knocking up at her door. He's like hey, laura, basically asking why she goes to them. Her husband comes walking up and it seems like she's super nervous. She's like hey, um, hey, honey, this is Chip. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

JETTA: 14:26

Chip and I were both counselors at camp back in the day and Retchers like, oh, that's so cool, can I sit in your car? Richard is one of those people. He strikes me as one of those people who's so comfortable with themselves that they don't really they're not really reading the room, but I love it. Like I said, he comes across as a sleazy car salesman, but a good way, like he's harmless, he's fun at parties and things like that. So he goes and he sits in the guy's car and he's like, hey, hey, maybe we can get lunch. That was good thinking telling him we would camp counselors, maybe we can get together sometimes. And she's like, absolutely not. They go into the meeting 14 seconds into this planned meeting. It is abundantly clear that this guy knows absolutely nothing about nobody or anything Pertaining to oil. He never even seen an oil rig in his life.

JETTA: 15:09

My girl, Karen, has come prepared. She is the one in the neighborhood who she's. She knows the happenings and the going. She's next door. Before next door was next door, but in a good way. She's not messy, nosy, but not messy. So immediately she's like hey, chip, so where do you guys at Petro Luxe, what are you gonna do about the noise pollution and the just the considerable pollution that comes from drilling, Chip. You know, I don't know, we're gonna minimize it. We're gonna minimize it. She's like how, chip? I really don't know, but it's a question I'll take to this. Yeah, I'll ask around. So then she's like okay, cool, so what are you gonna do about the storage? You know, when you drill oil? You got a story somewhere. Is it gonna be on the beach? Is it gonna be like blocking our view? Is it gonna bring down her property value, chips? Mmm, I don't know, mmm, maybe I don't know, I'll find out. And by this point they're like what do you know?

JETTA: 16:03

And this is when good ol Gary Ewing comes in and there's, he's sitting there, all uncomfortable anyway, because he didn't want to show up. But there's something about this guys laissez-faire attitude, about this whole meeting, that seems to get under Gary's skin. And so, gary, all of a sudden, it tapped into his subconscious. Suddenly his oil knowledge is plentiful. Not really what it seems like to me. Honest to God. It seems like Gary could tell right away how sleazy this was, and he just had a bad feeling about it from the giddy up. He knows how his family works.

JETTA: 16:34

So he's like before anyone starts drilling, you survey several different properties. Can you tell us why you chose this property over the other ones you surveyed? Chip, of course, is like I don't know, that's a great question, I have no idea. And everybody starts like hey, yeah, that's a great question, gary. So he proceeds. He's like Okay, well, we need to see copies of all the other land you surveyed and we want to know why you pick this one. If there's a better one, you better do that. So the guy's like hey, no, no, no, no. So they end the meeting and the guy comes over to make his introductions and he's smiling all cheesy at everybody and our girl, karen, introduces Gary as Gary Ewing and he goes Ewing. Hmm, it starts clicking.

JETTA: 17:16

Chip goes to make phone call on the pay phone. He calls JR and he's like the meeting was fine. Nobody I mean they're not really, there was only 20 people here. But there, did you send someone ahead of me, did you send another rep? Jr is like no, I didn't send anybody else. He goes there was a kid here named Ewing and he he was kind of getting everyone all riled up. So JR is like oh, don't even worry about it, I'll be there tomorrow morning, don't even worry about it. Gets on the first thing smoking, and heads to California to steal the show and make an appearance as a big bad brother.

JETTA: 17:48

The next morning Karen is talking to Gary while he's at his car. She's trying to convince him to be the chairperson of the new committee so that they can fight Ewing oil. She sees very clearly that he is not his family. He's ready what he's ready to do, what must be done or at least she thinks he is and he's like I don't want any part of this. He tells her Listen, I'll consult on the project. I really don't want to be involved in it. She's like I understand, but just please, at least come to the rally at the beach this weekend. He's like cool, cool, cool, I can do that.

JETTA: 18:18

So as he leaves for work, karen starts pressing valine. Like I said, she's a nosy neighbor, but she's not nasty about it, she's just curious. She starts pressing valine about Gary's reluctancy. Valine starts to tell her that Gary and his family don't really get along. He wants to separate himself from that and before you know it it's practically big old 1970 style super three block long car stretch and limo comes pulling up and out pops JR. And when I say, my whole heart lit up seeing him.

JETTA: 18:56

He is positively adorable this episode. He's just big Texas fun. And he's like hey, there goes my favorite sister in law. He does this thing so well I'm trying to put it into words. It's where clearly he knows he's the bad guy. Clearly he knows about lean case stand him and vice versa. Feeling is more than mutual. But he's so used to putting on this charm that when he does it it feels authentic, even though you know he's full of it. So he walks over and he's all impressed with Karen. He's like Dang, she's fine, she's bad, low key. Karen is feeling the same way about him. They make the introductions and Karen introduces herself as his enemy and he's like I wouldn't say all that, babe. She tells him yeah, of course you want to put oil on my beach, I'm your enemy. I like, just I like things out in the open. The entire episode, she and JR, karen and JR, have this sort of hate love thing going on. The chemistry is off the charts and so much fun to watch.

JETTA: 19:55

I would implore you to watch this. Good luck finding it. You can find it on Etsy, cool. If you can watch it on, you have to buy the DVDs. Figure it out, find it out. Or you know what. Some of you OGs go look through your attic. I bet you have it on tape somewhere. It's worth the watch.

JETTA: 20:11

Anyway, jr convinces valine through a series of backhanded compliments Go ahead and get on the phone and call Gary to go ahead and come home. Mind you, gary is at work First, second, third day on the job. Last thing he needs is for his brother to come home and basically check him. That's the only reason JR is there, but he's having fun doing it. You can tell right away that JR is used to being the big brother. There's always kind of this tension between, like the big, the oldest child, and the youngest, but I think in this case Bobby knows how to stand his ground, so JR can't ever really get too much over on him. He knows how to do this to Gary. He knows by showing up and basically putting a little bit of pressure on Gary he can make him crumble. So that's what he does. He's sitting and he's oh, this is such a nice house, valine Must be so nice and I have to pay any bills and I'm like a high pot meat kettle.

JETTA: 21:03

Gary comes home and at first he's standing 10 toes down. He's not intimidated, he's just annoyed. Jr. What do you want? Jr tells him. I just want to make sure you're not going to make this difficult for us. You know I'm doing this for mom and daddy. I don't want you taking money out of mom and daddy's pocket. Gary's like dude, so they'll make 10 million instead of 15 million. I'm sure they'll manage. What do you really want? Jr's tired of playing with him. He's like listen, boy, you better not interrupt this, for me I can make your life real hard. I can tell your daughter that you and your new wife are out here living without her. How's that going to look? Immediately, he starts to fold in on himself. You can see where Gary's. That's what I was talking about earlier. This kid doubts everything he does, especially when it comes to his wife and when it comes to his kid. So he starts to fold in on himself a little bit once JR leaves and Valene steps in.

JETTA: 21:59

The thing I love about this is that through her very minimal introduction at Dallas, through her couple of episodes, she managed to find her voice and stand up to him, even when it was really difficult. But of course she was. She has nothing to lose. She'd been on the run for 18 years. She's like so be it If I got to die, if I got to catch a bullet, so that I can be free of this burden and have a relationship with Lucy, the last at least. Lucy will know that I cared and I wanted her. So, with this newfound power, this newfound voice, she, she immediately runs to Gary's side and she's like listen, he wouldn't have gone on a plane and come all the way out here If there wasn't something about you that he was nervous about. You got to remember that. You got to remember there's something in you that he sees that he knows One day it's going to come on out. All we got to do is finesse that baby. I'm telling you, he's only here to mess with your head. Do not let him ruin what we got going on. He's like yeah, bet, lucky for them, they're going to have dinner with their new friends at Farragate, so they go over. That's Karen and what's his name? Karen and her husband, whose name escapes me at the moment.

JETTA: 23:05

So everyone's talking about this whole beach drilling fiasco and Karen keeps pressing them, like you know so much, gary, surely there's something we're missing here. How do you think we can get our hands on those piles. Explain us, explain to me what you were talking about with those with the surveying and whatnot. So what he explains to them is basically what we would call today fracking, where you drill sideways and sometimes that's a little bit difficult. Doing it in the water was probably the cheapest method. It could get messy, it could be whatever. It would just basically be easier to conceal anything in the ocean and it's probably a lot cheaper. But it doesn't mean it's the only way to do. It does not mean it's the only way at all. So they start thinking and Karen's thinking. Well, jr is looking at me like I'm a whole snack. I left this part out.

JETTA: 23:53

There's a scene where he comes after he tells Gary to get his life together. He goes outside and he sees Karen watering her marigolds or whatever, and she's got on. She's. I guess it's like a tank top and shorts. It looks fine. It could be a bathing suit and shorts. Either way. Her shoulders are out and he likes what he sees. She kind of likes that he likes what he sees. He tries to spit game at her, but she's like buzz off JR. So she knows that he likes her. She kind of thinks he's cute too, she. She admitted as much to Laura, so she's thinking that she's listening to what Gary says and they all come up with this idea to draw JR out of the California offices for a few hours ie Karen while Gary goes in to handle business. Brilliant idea for the first time in his life he's going to use the Ewing name to gain some leverage for himself and his family. It's impressive because this is the first time in Gary's life where he is not allowing the past to be an anvil that crushes him. He's allowing it to be the leverage. He's allowing it to be like the motor for his boat so he can go ahead and handle business. The past is working a number on our good friend Laura though. So Laura's at her house.

JETTA: 25:04

This is at a different point in time. She's talking to Karen. They're just kind of chit chatting. They're actually gossiping a little bit about Gary and Valene. Karen wants to know the story there, like why they're hesitant? What's going on? Laura feels her and like okay, so they used to be together. Then he left for a while and then they got back together and they're scared that their marriage isn't gonna work so they don't want to bring the girl into it until then and Karen's like this I know she's a good person, she's like they don't need to worry about that, they're solid, they're good.

JETTA: 25:31

But then the phone rings and surprise, surprise is chipped. I don't know how phone numbers are passed around in Natsalini. It doesn't seem like anybody needs to pass it out, they just people just happen to know. Last week Annie managed to find Val and Gary's number, which there's no way it could have been listed at that point, but she managed to get it, so I'll give them this. Maybe Lauren and her husband are in the phone book. That makes a lot of sense.

JETTA: 25:55

Anyway, chip calls trying to set up a little lunch thingy thing. Laura's like stop calling my house, no, and what's her name? Karen says you don't expect me to eavesdrop on the conversation and I talk to you about it. I like her style. She's upfront, nosy. So Laura's like yeah, chip is, you know he's reaching out to me. And Karen says oh, from that summer? Oh, okay. So I'm like oh, does everybody know? Just just, we're scaring at the summer camp and that's how she knows about everything. What is going on with this? But again, laura is visibly disturbed. She's having a visual reaction every single time. This man calls.

JETTA: 26:39

Later on her husband comes home and he's got a real rough day at work. The partners aren't giving him the respect he's been there. He went to law school for crying out loud and he's still the lowest guy on the ladder he's not having. And he's like hey, babe, why don't you reach out to that chip kid and then maybe he can introduce me to JR and we'll see if something can come of that. No, two reasons she doesn't want to do that. First off, that means if you're working with JR you're working against the neighborhood. We don't need that sort of smoke and that's just not a great idea for the neighborhood. He's like I don't worry about that. But then it's the chip part. She's like I really don't want to call him. He's like don't worry about it, just just, I just need an intro, that's all I need. See if you can work something out.

JETTA: 27:21

So she has to eat crow. After she told the dude never to call her again, she has to reach out to him and set up a little lunch date. She goes to his office for lunch and I'll tell you what Ewing oil is paying big, big bucks. So, guy who knows absolutely less than nothing about the project at hand and how it works, because his office has, like, it has a front and center, he has a whole office part, he has a lounge part. He even has a secret room where he can do dirt. You know what I'm saying.

JETTA: 27:49

So when she arrives at their meeting, he sends his secretary away and he's like oh, karen, karen, karen, karen. I've been looking, oops, long, wrong name, laura, laura, laura, laura. I've been looking forward to this. Why don't we make ourselves more comfortable? And this is where he opens that other door and we, the audience, can see there's like a couch, basically a casting couch, in the back room, and she's just rolling her eyes. She's like doesn't it make you sick that I don't even want to do this? He's like no, this turns me on, actually. So they go in the room and do what they do.

JETTA: 28:23

We are left to assume that there's some sort of hookup against Karen's better judgment, but she does it anyway. I mean. Well, on the other side of town perhaps, or maybe not, I guess it would be in the same office Karen has reached out to JR to set up their lunch date, so they go to lunch. His office is freed up and Valine wearing these pigtails. It's so embarrassing, but I just I don't understand what they're trying to do with her. I understand she was 15 when she had the baby, but Lucy's 18, so she's a full grown woman in her 30s, but she's wearing a very childlike hairstyle where it's a two pigtails it's like a half a path down, but it's two pigtails and I don't know, I don't know they. I feel like they make this woman look goofy. If we have seen her on screen 20 times, she's look goofy. At least nine or ten of them. That's side the points.

JETTA: 29:14

She drops Gary off. She gives him yet another pep talk. You know, gary got this, you got this, babe. He goes up to the office. He tells receptionist, my name is Gary Ewing and I'm here to see my brother JR. Receptionist oh he, I'm so sorry he's out to lunch. Would you like to sit and wait? He goes oh, yeah, sure. So instead of sitting and waiting in the lounge like a regular poor, he decides oh, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna go sit in the office. So he gets up. He's walking towards the office and the secretary tries to stop them. He goes no, don't worry about it, dear. We read some paperwork to go over, not the fun stuff. I'll check it out first and then JR can just join me. So she's satisfied with that because after all he's a Ewing cool. He goes into the office, he digs through all the paperwork, finds what he needs, slips it in his coat pocket and he leaves.

JETTA: 30:00

Meanwhile now, on the other side of town I guess, jr has himself a do-dirt apartment. He loves to keep a condo. Y'all know that. You know he'll keep a bad one in a condo. And Karen did not disappoint. She's got her hair up, shoulders out, baby oil down. So he's just admiring her and she's playing her part as the femme fatale. She's slinking, she's lingering, she's talking in that come hither voice and he's drinking it all up or having a good moment.

JETTA: 30:29

He's starting to think things are really going well. She's pouring a drink for him. He decides he wants to step up and try to touch her shoulders or whatever, because she's got him out. You know, phone starts ringing, ring, ring. Phone rings once, four times, ten times. She's actually gonna get that, aren't you gonna get that in her. Come, I'm not a seductress, but she's doing it in her. Come here, their voice. He ignores it. Then eventually he goes over and he answers the phone. He's like hello, karen, karen, did you tell Gary you gonna be over here? And she's looking like who. She pulls a chip. Hmm, me, hmm, that's weird. So she grabs a phone and she's like hello, yes, okay, uh-huh, I see, thank you. Quick hangs up.

JETTA: 31:23

Jr thinks they're gonna get back to business and she, all of a sudden she goes from femme fatale to Karen, the third grade soccer mom. Just alright, yeah, this has been so much fun. I gotta go. You know cereal, gotta buy cereal, gotta go the grocery store, gotta take care of the kids. Totally flips the script and he's like wait a minute, I thought we were hanging out. And she goes you know, you invited me for lunch. We had lunch, it was so much fun, but I gotta get home. It's almost time for the kids to get out of school. She just totally flips it as if nothing ever happened and about this time he's like oh, okay, okay, okay, she pulled the old kid over on your boy cat dog, it, she got me.

JETTA: 31:59

Finally, the day on the rally is upon us and the entire town, as far as we know, has shown up to protest. Petro Luxe Slash Ewing Oil Drilling off of their beautiful, impeccable hometown beach. Now a couple different things happen. Like I said, this episode is all about the past coming back to either haunt you or launch you into the future. So Lauren Rich arrived at the rally and Rich is still pressing her about you know this meeting with JR. They see JR. Jr is standing off to the side with Chip Chip's a kid from text from his company. So Richard tells her hey, why don't you go talk to Chip and then I'll talk to JR? She doesn't want to, but she does it. So they walk over and they're making their introductions. Laura says to Chip hey, chip, you haven't met my son yet, why don't you come over and meet him? They walk off, leaving JR and Richard to have a little chitter, chatter, chit, chit. Immediately, richard's like Hello, mr Ewing, my name is Richard Avery, I'm a lawyer and I want you to know I don't feel the same way my neighbors do about your drilling part, your drilling project. And JR is like Well, hey, hey, hey again, would you say your name was. So they start having a little business to meeting.

JETTA: 33:10

Meanwhile, laura is walking Chip over to where her son is building the sandcastle and Chip already knows the score. He's like oh, your husband wants to work for him, doesn't? He's like, yeah. So then he decides Okay, well, if you're willing to do what you did the other day for me, he's trying to see if he can get round two, three or four out of her.

JETTA: 33:28

So she starts to get upset. He starts to get disrespectful. Does your husband know who you really are? Is that even his son? She's had all she can take. She can't stand this kid from the giddy up and he keeps running his mouth. So she reaches out to slap him across the face. I'd like to say he would deserve every piece of that palm that hit his face. He was so out of line. She slaps him and by this point her husband has clocked that there's actually an issue. He didn't notice that she was uncomfortable before, but he sees it now. So he goes over to put a stop to it. So he's like hey, hey, what the heck's going on? Chip doesn't care. Chip is still being extra disrespectful. He's like oh, you know, your wife's just basically telling him what a good lady his wife is. Richard tells him to scram, get out of there, or whatever, something to that.

JETTA: 34:11

And by this point Laura is in full blown tears. She's so upset like she's humiliated, she's disgusted, she hates the guy. She hate that she had to do what she did to do. And Richard is honey, is this about the summer camp? Did he want to do round two? So immediately my jaw hits the floor, I'm like, wait a minute. Summer camp, round two. Summer camp seems to be their code for whatever her past is. They've already decided which. Okay.

JETTA: 34:39

So now, with that information, take that back to the first time she met him outside, or the first time that he appeared, chip, that is, outside of the original rally. When she turns to her husband and says we were counselors together at summer camp, she was really telling him we hooked up in the past and he's from that time in my life. So when you flash forward to that moment that they're sitting on the beach, he already knows all that. It's gone down. So the first time I'm watching this I'm like, oh, that's so dope that he is supportive of her and he tells her Listen, honey, you know I, you don't have to, you don't have to put up with that kind of stuff. That's your past, this is you now and she goes. I know, but you wanted me to introduce him, introduce you to him. And he goes.

JETTA: 35:23

Oh, and I guess he wanted round two. She tells him, yeah, and that's you know, they talk a little bit more, but she admits she's like Well, I did it because you told me basically to do that. And he's like honey, I never want you to do anything that's going to humiliate you. If you're uncomfortable, I'm uncomfortable. If you're humiliated, I'm humiliated.

JETTA: 35:40

We're in this together and they're all kissy, kissy, loving, and at first I thought that's really sweet, like way to go. First off, she doesn't have to swallow down this secret, he knows what it is. But then I started thinking about it. She was very uncomfortable the first time they met and, for whatever reason Richard is not very tuned in to her body language because it was she stiffened up, she stopped talking. It was very, very clear that she was uncomfortable by the sky for him to then ask her to call and she said I don't want to do it. He already knows what it is, he already knows what her past is and she's already told him who this dude is. If I'm reading into the situation correctly, which I feel like I am, that's so screwed up.

JETTA: 36:22

So while I thought, I was thinking to myself, it's so cool that this is one of the first shows that I've seen where all the couples really seem to enjoy each other. But they got a little bit of baggage on the side. This is their little bit of baggage on the side. He knew she wasn't a fan of this kid from back in the day, so maybe he thought that she was just embarrassed about her past and didn't want to talk to him. He didn't think anything else would happen. But now he knows we'll see where this goes.

JETTA: 36:48

Very interesting, not for nothing. Laura's past is not going to be an anchor for her. It's not going to be an anvil. She can let it go so long as no one keeps popping up and as long as her husband respects the fact that when I say I don't want to talk to this person, please don't ask me to put in a good word for you so you can get a new job. I don't want to do that. I have to compromise my values. And then another thing like I said, the kid chip was like. Is that even your husband's son? That's when she paused before she slapped him across the face. So I'm wondering what the circumstances surrounding their union really is. Seems real juicy. All right, let's get to the grand finale.

JETTA: 37:26

So at this point. Gary has secured the receipt. He broke into the office. He actually didn't break any. He walked into Ewing's office, took what he wanted and left.

JETTA: 37:36

Valene spots JR, before Gary does, and she waltzes over to him Looking like a grown woman, no pigtails. She has a fistful of change and she's like here, jr, here I was like what's this darling? She tells him go take this change. I want you to go call my baby, tell her that me and her daddy are married. We don't even care. We were going to tell her sooner rather than later what she's doing.

JETTA: 37:55

In this moment. She is stripping him of the power. She's not letting him dangle anything over her head. So he sees the thing. He's like okay, yeah, you're real slick. So at this point he already knows that Laura was Yoki-Doke, valene's in bold, and he's figuring pretty quickly that oh, gary must have found something in my office. And he tries to intimidate Gary. But Gary's not having it. He's like JR, there's a whole other field miles away from here, miles away from people. You can drill there, no problem, you're going to do that. So JR could have folded. He's been found out. He's been cornered. Ever the supervillain. He flips it on its side and entertains the hell out of me and the audience in the process. So this rally is on the beach. They have a stage and a microphone system. So he jumps up there and he's like good people of north landing.

JETTA: 38:48

I recently and I do mean recently, just now been presented with some information that has me concerned. I'm paraphrasing here guys, it is unnecessary for us to drill on your beach, and ewing oil will be backing out immediately. Also, chip blah, blah, blah is fired. Now, mind you, chip just got half his face blown off by Lord's hand and slapped to death. Then he got fired in front of God and everybody, unbeknownst to him, and he's like what, for what? I mean not for being horrible at your job, but to save face. Jr then announces that there's another field we're going to. It's going to cost me a great deal of money, but I care more about the environment than I do the money. We're going to move to this separate field and we'll get it all worked out.

JETTA: 39:34

And the towns, people are cheering hip, hip, hooray, hip, hip, hooray. They're celebrating beautiful, whatever. So as the end of the show goes, people start to gather around. The cast starts to gather around and Gary and Baline are smiling at JR and he's like Gary, you're a genius, I love this, I love the idea of an environmental oilman. So he looks over at Chip and he's like Chip, you're going to be my new PR man. He's like dude, you just fired me. Okay, whatever, do you want the job or no? Yeah, yeah, I'll take the job. You're going to be my new PR man. I want you to call Time Magazine and I want a whole expose on me being the environmental oilman Changing the whole face of Ewing oil.

JETTA: 40:13

He turned lemons to lemonade, to lemon cookies, to medallions, to gold coins. Baby, he flipped that thing six times right then and there. Then he looks over at Gary and he's like Gary, I can't believe you got one over on me. You're finally starting to act like Ewing. Gary looks at him disgusted. He's like you mean espionage, blackmail, lying, cheating, stealing, breaking and entering. And JR, jr is like I've never been so proud of you. It is so much fun. This episode was hilarious and very, very enjoyable, but it seems that this to me seems like this is a truce between Gary and JR. No need for JR to pop up anymore. Lucy's going to know about the whole system, if I remember correctly, at the beginning of the season, around episode nine or 10, I do remember Lucy saying that she just got back from visiting her parents and not landing. So hopefully we'll see Lucy on an episode here pretty soon and I like the way this is going, like it a whole lot.

JETTA: 41:24

The stars of this episode, as far as I'm concerned, were Laura, the nosy nice neighbor, and JR. They were so much fun. The chemistry was off the charts and it's worth this weight in gold if you're going to watch it. I want to leave you guys a little wisdom.

JETTA: 41:38

Some people say that the past is an anchor that grounds you, but I think that's a load of barnacles. The past is more like an anvil If you don't know how to handle it, it can crush you under its weight, unless you learn to let go and swim away. Sure, it's nice to remember the good times, especially if you're using the strength and fuel, but don't let them drag you down to the bottom of the sea. Laura and Gary could have easily succumbed to their past and fold it and been on the run once again, but they found their strength. They found their strength in their partners. But you can do that IRL, in your own self. You don't have to wait on somebody to tell you you are that chick or that dude. Just be here, do you Let it go? Let go of anything that is weighing you down, and I do mean anything.

JETTA: 42:22

I found this quote on the internet. Can't tell you who said it, but I thought it was pretty interesting. The present is a boat that fills you forward and the future is a horizon that beckons you to new possibilities. Don't be a fish out of water. Be a shark that bites the bullet and makes a splash. All right, guys, that's it. That's all for this episode. Join me next time as we watch Knopf Landing, season one, episode three. Don't know the name of that. We'll find out together In the meantime. In the meantime, take care of yourself. Be kind to yourself, because you deserve it. Stay moisturized, stay hydrated, mind your own business and keep all of your drama on TV. Stay moisturized, stay hydrated, mind your own business and keep all of your drama on TV.