As the clatter of a Southern family dinner fades into silence, the unspoken truths between Valene and her mother echo the tension many of us recognize at our own tables. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" takes us through the heart-wrenching reality of difficult mother-daughter dynamics, contrasting with a personal tale of mine involving unanticipated summer visitors who overstayed their welcome. This episode promises an emotional odyssey, threading the needle between the sweetness of familial love and the bitter sting of past wounds.
A charged dinner at Valene's home serves as the canvas for this episode's exploration, with each course revealing deeper layers of strained relationships and inner conflict. Gary's obliviousness to Val's struggles, mirrored by my own frustrations with those who cannot see the pain right before them, pulls us into a narrative that's both personal and universal. As Valene stands at the precipice of an emotional cliffhanger, we're given a poignant reminder of the power of authenticity and the danger of silence in the spaces where love should flourish.
Wrapping up with a crescendo of raw emotions and shattered decorum, the climax of our discussion underscores the necessity of honest communication, a theme evident in Karen's contrasting experiences with her own mother. This episode is not just a gripping story from the cul-de-sac of Knots Landing but a tender nudge to nurture your relationships with truthfulness and care. And remember, sometimes the most captivating drama is best left to the screen. Join me for a conversation that's as real as it gets, where we face the music of our familial symphonies, note by tender note.
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Televisionofyore.com for a blow by blow recap of iconic t.v
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As the clatter of a Southern family dinner fades into silence, the unspoken truths between Valene and her mother echo the tension many of us recognize at our own tables. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" takes us through the heart-wrenching reality of difficult mother-daughter dynamics, contrasting with a personal tale of mine involving unanticipated summer visitors who overstayed their welcome. This episode promises an emotional odyssey, threading the needle between the sweetness of familial love and the bitter sting of past wounds.
A charged dinner at Valene's home serves as the canvas for this episode's exploration, with each course revealing deeper layers of strained relationships and inner conflict. Gary's obliviousness to Val's struggles, mirrored by my own frustrations with those who cannot see the pain right before them, pulls us into a narrative that's both personal and universal. As Valene stands at the precipice of an emotional cliffhanger, we're given a poignant reminder of the power of authenticity and the danger of silence in the spaces where love should flourish.
Wrapping up with a crescendo of raw emotions and shattered decorum, the climax of our discussion underscores the necessity of honest communication, a theme evident in Karen's contrasting experiences with her own mother. This episode is not just a gripping story from the cul-de-sac of Knots Landing but a tender nudge to nurture your relationships with truthfulness and care. And remember, sometimes the most captivating drama is best left to the screen. Join me for a conversation that's as real as it gets, where we face the music of our familial symphonies, note by tender note.
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
Speaker 1:
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome and welcome back to Soplor. The amounts landing takeover. We're diving knee deep, heart deep into season 1's episode 5, may the Circle Be Unbroken. This one is a tear jerker. Listen, if you're in therapy, if you had a good crack session today, you might want to skip this episode. That's not very smart of my part to advise you of that, but listen, I gotta be real. Real. This one talked at the heart straight. So, whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy. Tell the kids it's time to play outside or out of sight, tell bae if your questions or sessions are concerning. For the next 25 minutes, everyone else in the air shot. I need you to be extra cool, extra quiet or absolutely get out of the room, because we're having a fair discussion today. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soplor. Welcome back, soplans. It's been a long time. I shouldn't elect you, but you know what it is flu and cold season. I have been dodging this stuff like the plague. The girls have been down for a couple of days, but I am back at it and I do apologize for leaving you guys for so long.
Speaker 1:
We gotta jump right into season 1, episode 5, we get the backstory on Val the Lean. Forgive me, val Lean and her country roots when I say this woman's trauma is Def Con 5 level. You couldn't even imagine what an interesting, well written character, the fact that she has resolved to stand up to JR, stand up to the family that basically kidnapped her baby and put a hit out on her. We all kinda gloss over that, but that's exactly what they did. It's all remarkable. This episode paints the picture and gives us a deeper look into Val Lean's life as a single, runaway mother, slash daughter of a woman with big, big, big dreams. Go ahead and grab yourself something cold and you know what you might need a warm blanket for this one y'all.
Speaker 1:
This one touches on the mommy issues. It's not a fun subject to talk about, but the reality of it is is. Any adult woman understands how complex we are. I hate when men say that in a derogatory way, but ultimately everyone is multifaceted. Sometimes relationships you hold in your life shape you for better, sometimes they shape you for worse. But the relationship that a woman has with her mother is sacred and it's the first relationship that you have with anyone. So when that is complicated, the rest of your life is going to be as such. This episode paints the picture beautifully. The writing is wah perfection. Season one, episode five. May the circle be unbroken.
Speaker 1:
Have you ever had an unwanted house guest? I can remember growing up, mid 90s, texas. It's super hot, it's super. You know we're excited because we're out of school, but ultimately you have to figure out how to shape your day so that you don't die because it's 113 degrees outside. Anyway, there was a family that lived very close to my family. As a matter of fact, they lived across the street. We got along 99% of the time, all year long, let's say from August to May. Things were fantastic.
Speaker 1:
But these people had some real country cousins that would show up every summer and wreak havoc on me and my little brother. Summer, I'm talking, we'd walk outside and our bikes would be taken apart by hand by these little hoodlums. Now, the kids didn't mean any harm, they were just a little rough around the edges, very country, sort of isolated out in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing wrong with being self-sufficient, but sometimes it just rubs people the wrong way. These are the outliers of society. This episode reminded me of that feeling. I got in my gut when I would see that green car pull up and I'm like, oh god, they're back. Hide your wife, hide your kids, hide my Barbies, hide my magazines, because there was no stopping the Tasmanian devils that were these country.
Speaker 1:
Kinfolk Valin is suffering a very, very similar reality. Okay, so this episode opens up with some little old lady. She's not old, let's not let me be this one. She's not old, but she is very. She's a mature woman, a mature woman on this porch. The cab driver is following her closely and is very apparent right away that she has not paid him his due. She's knocking on the door of this random house. Went up walks, karen, the neighborhood watch and welcoming committee. She's like, hey, what's going on? Oh, hey, darlin, I'm Val's mama, lily Mae. First and foremost, I am beyond pumped that she has two names. You are not a proper country woman In the ninth or 20th century if you don't have two names.
Speaker 1:
Lily Mae shows up with two suitcases and one of those June Carter piano, slash guitar things that I'm just not realizing. I meant to look up the name of it. I might do it here in a little bit, it doesn't matter. She shows up with instrument and hand and she immediately begins to charm the pans off of Karen. Oh darlin, I'm here to see my daughter, val. Could you help me out? I just don't know what I did with my wallet. Karen's like don't worry about it, I got you, ma. She pays for the cabbie and at the insistence of Lily Mae, she gives the cabbie quite the tip because he's been such a doll all day. Now he's seen this game more times in a little bit he's not into it.
Speaker 1:
So dinner proceeds. Because Northland is the friendliest place on earth, they have this dinner and one of the kids, val, has been off all day volunteering. She's fitting in swimmingly. Let me just say that Southern California is being extremely kind of Val. She is jumped in. She's volunteering, she's filling her days with meaningful tasks. Gary is working, ewing's are thriving baby. So you can imagine her surprise when she shows up to not to her street and one of Karen's kiddos comes out and he's like hey, hey, we got a surprise for you.
Speaker 1:
She walks in the house and she sees who Lily Mae and just a look on her face was like oh my god. I felt it immediately, that dread, that random drop. It's kind of like that feeling you get right before you're about to vomit when your saliva glands start to just kind of produce that thing and you're like, oh my god. And in your mind you know that you have about 38 seconds to get to the nearest throne or whatever. You're gonna expel whatever this violent poison is in your body out. She has a look on her face. So she endures it because she was raised as a proper Southern woman.
Speaker 1:
So she sits down, she eats dinner and her mother is just charming the pants off of everyone, telling them how she used to sing with the carters. Side note I 1000% had never heard of the carters, june or otherwise, until the movie. I think it's circa 2003. Walk the line had no idea who these people were until Joaquin Phoenix was in the movie about Fully loving movie. But okay, so it paints the visual right. She claims that she'd been singing with them for these years and Valene is trying her very best to be cool, calm and collected because as Southern people you make sure your business is your business. You grin and bear it. Don't let people know you're crazy. Don't let them know your business. You're gonna smile and act like nothing's wrong. Only it starts to get onto her. It starts to get to her At some point she's like I can't take this crap, let me go in this kitchen to get a little fresh air, Get away from this hateful language.
Speaker 1:
So the backstory goes a little something like this Our dear and precious Valvelleine was raised by none other than Lily Mae and Jeremiah, or, in the South, jeremiah. Jeremiah seemed to be much, much older than Lily Mae, and Lily Mae had this golden voice, or so she thought. She wanted to be a famous country and Western singer. She wanted to travel the road. She wanted to bring fame and fortune to her family. So that meant she got. What does she look like raising a child in this, this shanty? She got to run out and chase a manager. She's got to chase that dream. Don't y'all understand? I can't be raising no kids, I gotta go handle my business.
Speaker 1:
So one of the first flashbacks, one of the first of many that Valvelleine, or Val, has, is that of her mother telling her father that she's out, she's O-U-T. Out. He can figure out how to raise this little girl. She got to go make this money. The first thing we learned about her is that she was a hundred percent rejected by this woman, at least in her eyes. Now Lily Mae is slowly catching on to this. Now she she knew right away that Val was not going to welcome her with open arms, but she didn't know how bad it was. And Karen starts to feel really bad about this, because it's very clear over dinner that Val is not anywhere near the vicinity of being happy to see her deadbeat mom. They have a little chatter, chatter, chit-chit, and then Karen starts having her own flashback about her mother. Now her mother was not a fan of her marrying Sid. She's like he's nobody. Where does he even come from? He's not blue blood. Who is this guy? What are you talking about, karen? You're gonna marry this guy? Are you serious? And as she thinks about that, it makes her grateful for the situation that she lives in now.
Speaker 1:
Now, by this point, everybody has dispersed dinners over. Everyone has gone to their respective homes. She starts to think about the relationship she had with her mother and for whatever reason she decides you know what, daughter, you don't need to wash dishes tonight. I'ma let that ride. There's a whole lot of that in this episode.
Speaker 1:
So Valine goes home, she and Gary. We're gonna save Gary for then, because he really pissed me off. I'm pissed thinking about Gary. She goes home and she does the proper southern woman thing. She makes a bed, she presents a room. She's like mom, mama, it's time for you to lay down Whenever you're ready. Your bed is ready. But you know, lily Mae is too busy charming the pants off of Gary. He's just eating this up hook line and sink her. And you know Valine's a little bit annoyed because she's like how dare you, can you not read the room you reading? You don't see that I'm clearly, invisibly, viscerally upset by this. You're gonna entertain this witch. And she keeps singing the same stupid song over and over and over. I guess it's the way the circle being broken Sanging it over and over and over, playing a little fiddle-dee, fiddle-dum.
Speaker 1:
Finally, valine has had all she can take for the evening. She's like what are you here? What do you want? And her mother has the audacity to look shocked I'm here to see you, baby. Okay, well, you ran out. What else are you dying? Are you sick, mama? What's wrong? She's like I'm just here to see you and I think I got a meeting with a, with a manager. I should be here for a little bit. So Valine's like okay, bet, you're gonna be here for a day or two. Her mom has the nerve to be offended after leaving this girl high and dry. Maybe I'll only be here a day, she's like okay, fine, good night, mama.
Speaker 1:
I like to say that my personal experience in life is that I do not under any circumstances assume that every relationship that people I meet have is a good one. You never want to put somebody in an uncomfortable situation where they have to entertain someone that they have quote unquote escaped. This is what this feels like. This moment left her high and dry. She's now forced to be hospitable, which she is doing very well.
Speaker 1:
But then you look at the scale of Valine's life. She's been looking over her shoulder for the past 15, 16, 17 years. She had a baby young. She had a man walk out on her. This is the part that pisses me off the most. Gary didn't have the decency to get into an automobile and drive-off, so she could at least fill the satisfaction of chasing after an automobile. Now this man put on his shoes, he pat and sammed his way down the driveway, walked to freedom, left her in the hellhole that he could no longer take. Now I'm gonna go ahead and spoil this for you guys, because I'm getting worked up. He didn't even this doesn't come up at all, but you know what comes up. You know what comes up, let me tell you. So Valine is all worked up because she's dealing with the trauma of remembering her mother leaving her and also having this flashback about right about the time she had Lucy and with her mama for help.
Speaker 1:
I didn't tell you everything right away. So she's up and she's doing the best thing she can. She can't sleep. I'm gonna make me some apple and corn fritters, so she's cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:
Gary comes in with his super tight pants and he's like honey. Why are you being so rude to your mom? What's the problem? And I just I was baffled. Gary Ewing, mr, I'd rather put on my boots and walk to Las Vegas than be a husband, son or or anything else that might you know, earn me some respect in this home. How's he all daftly to be like? Why are you mad at your mama?
Speaker 1:
Now, I judged him for filth immediately, but then I started to think about it. He doesn't hate his mom, he hates his brother, he hates the family business and he kind of hates what his last name means ie Jock but he doesn't hate his mama. So I don't know why he's so perplexed that she might have an issue with her parents. And then he's like well, you've never brought it up before. And I'm like, oh boy, didn't you walk out on her 15 years ago? What you're not going to do is pretend like she has never had an issue in her life when you, quite frankly, have missed half of that life because you chose to walk to Las Vegas. Anyway, they come to this agreement that not only will they move poop through this, she just expresses to him. You know what? I was a little bit frustrated. I'm going to do my very best to let put this thing behind me.
Speaker 1:
Let's invite people over for dinner. Let's invite some friends over. They're always inviting us over. Let's invite them over. So Gary's like bet, let's do this. Before the collective group or the crew shows up.
Speaker 1:
She has a one-on-one with Laura. Laura's eating these fritters and she's like hey, ron, I know you can cook like this. This is delightful Eating all the carbs in the world. God bless 1979, because these women all weigh 95 pounds, I promise you as full grown women. So she's wolfing down said fritters when Val lean's like how was your relationship with your mama? And Laura's like why don't. You know it was great. But my mom died when I was 12 and I really missed her because we were super close. Are you and your mother close, val? The lean is like girl. I don't even know her like that. I don't know this woman from Adam. I don't know this woman from a can of paint. I don't know nothing about her. We were never that close. But I'm glad you and your mom had a moment.
Speaker 1:
She gets up to go run and fetch something for her mama who's treating her like the bell hop, and we see Karen's flash Excuse me. We see Laura's flashback. Laura's flashback is her being a 12 year old girl putting flowers on her mama's casket and it's heartbreaking and it's just really sad. So a little later on literally made the side. She needs to be a good mama and, mind you, val valine has.
Speaker 1:
Valine has been up all night making these apple and corn fritters and her mom's like honey. You can't serve these cities rich. They don't have the same country taste as us. You need to serve something a little bit different. So they follow some sort of recipe and as far as I can tell, it's like a custard or some sort of pudding. But they both taste it and it's disgusting. And Valine is like, mama, are you sure we need to serve this? And her mama's like, yeah, like this whole alcoholic logic. She's like, yeah, it's bad to us because we're country folk, but they're not, so it's going to be good to them. Two plus two is 79, according to her. So Valine, soaking in the mama moment, is like, okay, bet, let's do that Later.
Speaker 1:
On that night at the gathering, the family, all the families, show up and this pudding is not a hit. Everybody's like gagging on it, the fair wolf, and down the fritters. I honestly think that really may just wanted an audience. You know what I'm saying. She just wanted some people to charm she, because this is a thing. She didn't come to Noss landing to get to know Valine. She came because her sister, june, told her that Valine had gotten married. Mind you, valine had been married since she was 15 years old, but now that she's newly married she lives in California. She smelled the money. There's no doubt about it. So when she shows up, she doesn't actually sit with Valine to get to learn, to learn anything about her, but she makes the effort to charm those surrounding her and then she gathered information. That way she didn't even know Lily. Lucy didn't live there until later.
Speaker 1:
So the at this dinner party or the little gathering, or whatever the ish hits the proverbial fan, everyone is quietly throwing away their weird pudding and eating the delicious apple and corn fritters when all of a sudden Lily may decides okay, there's plenty of people in this room, valine, running it in a piece of paper. We're gonna do, let's make sure the circle is unbroken. Now Valene immediately is triggered because she doesn't want to hear this itch right now. She's no, no, mama, this ain't the time or the place Her mom's like well, go get it. You just don't understand. All of a sudden she flips.
Speaker 1:
This whole narcissist moment happens where she starts going in not going off, but going in, telling Valene that the whole world needs to know basically everybody in the room needs to know that Valene's daddy, jeremiah, was much older than her. He was actually her dad's friend and he and her never actually got along. And then Valene's birth was a complete and total surprise to him. But they fit together like two peas in the pot and she felt exed out. So the only way to feel exed in was to become a superstar, a la June Carter or mama Carter. Valene is like I know this wench is not in the middle of my apple fritter party, crying a river. So Valene tries to swallow down, she tries, she tries, lord knows she tries.
Speaker 1:
Next thing, you know, she pops off because she has a full-on flashback of herself running on foot, mind you, through the woods of Tennessee or some mucky holler in the back of some backwoods in southern USA. And she's running and she's being chased by these good old boys and she knocks on her mama's door and her mom is like I can't let you in. I got a manager in here. I can't let him know, I'm a grandma. She's like mama, there's people after me, they're gonna kill me. Come on, please, let me in. Her mom's like it's quiet, it's snow outside, you are tripping, you can't come in here, just go and girl go, do figure out something Wouldn't let the girl in in her time of need, in her hour of need.
Speaker 1:
And of course, we all know what happens. She's overcome by the good old boys. Lucy is snatched from her arm and she loses her daughter for 15 years. Well, this, after she wakes up from this flash spot, she flips out. I hate you, I hate you. Flips out in front of God and everybody in her living room. Everybody's mad and comfortable and they all go home. It is quite an intense moment. Shout out to Valene's acting chops, because you know what. Good for you, durvin, good for you. Let it all out. Let her have it. There's nothing wrong with respecting your elders. I am accustomed to that. I truly believe in that. I was raised in the South too. That's what you need to do, but sometimes people need to know that you ain't ish. You don't get to come into this house after 15, 16, 17 plus years asking for money, talking about record deals, when you are not acknowledging the fact that, because of you and Gary, I lost my baby. You don't get to do that. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:
The remainder of the episode is Valene remembering her manners, giving her mother yet another chance. Her mom finally confesses I'm so sorry, darling, I didn't know that I did that to you. I didn't realize you hate me. Valene's like I don't hate you, I hate what you did, like I needed you at that moment and you turned me away. And her mom's like but you don't understand. People with talent like me were supposed to spread our gift and you know that was my chance. And Valene points out very pointedly that, mama, you've had 177 chances and you still ain't popped off. So what are you talking about? You didn't make it then, you ain't made it now. What are you talking about? And she's like girl, I'm so close, I'm so close.
Speaker 1:
And unfortunately, her mother never comes to her senses by the end of the episode. She's asking them for money because she needs to meet yet another manager. And she's like you know what? I think the reason you hate me is because I didn't make it big. I think, had I made it, you would have been so proud. You'd been so proud to be Lily Mae's daughter, because that'd make you a star too.
Speaker 1:
And now Valene got blessed her well adjusted, emotionally intelligent self. She's like wow, okay, mom, we gonna let bygones be bygones. I love you. And the woman never says it back to her. Now, to me, this is all well and good. Your mom played you. Your mom turned her back on you Seems like her dad is dead, as far as we know, but I don't think Gary should be let off the hook. Had her husband, the man who knocked her up, married her, produced this child with her, had he not walked out on both she and the baby, she wouldn't have been in that predicament. But she says boo to him, she says nothing to him and the fact that this kid has the audacity to act like her anguish in her pain and the way that she's handling herself is out of pocket is beyond me. It's the audacity for me, guys. All in all, this episode was fantastic.
Speaker 1:
There were several moments, several flashbacks. All the women had a flashback. Ginger, whose husband's name is Kenny that's the producer she had a little flashback and hers was super sad because her mom. Actually there's a conversation earlier in the episode where she and Valine are in the car. They're asking about kids. She wants to know when Lucy's coming. Val's like I don't really know. Gary wants to be super careful when it comes to Lucy, so I don't know when she's going to come. And she asks Ginger when she and Kenny are going to have kids. She goes oh, various, you know soon, but it's kind of up to Kenny. Well, her flashback tells a whole different story. Sadly, she got pregnant young and her mother's, like you, don't know how to make decisions for your lives, so she made her have an abortion. She had an abortion.
Speaker 1:
We thought Karen's mother was Judgie. Wudgie was a bear about her marriage to Sid, but ultimately Karen's mother. When the flashback plays back at the end of the episode, karen's mother's like, well, who is this Sid guy? She goes, mom, I love him. So her mom's like, all right, forget it, let's. I guess we'll need to come up with a list. Let's start making calls, let's get your wedding list together.
Speaker 1:
Karen's mother was supportive and she was freeing, and it explains why she let her daughter earlier in the show get away with not doing her chores because her mom allowed her grace to make her own decisions and she wants that. But after everyone saw this whole outburst between Val valine and her mom, karen goes home. Everybody goes home as they think about it. Karen goes home and her daughter, who must have been there, was like mom, I don't ever want us to be like that. I hate that we fight so much, but I don't ever want us to be like that. And Karen tells her we're never going to be like that because we fight so much, and I cannot agree with this anymore. I think that is brilliant.
Speaker 1:
A lot of people feel like, when you tuck your feelings inside, that you are doing a favor. You're biting your tongue, which you know what. You can only bite your tongue, and bite your tongue for so long, if you are not honest in your dealings with every relationship you have. You were building a false relationship and you know what's what grows inside of that, like mold, animosity, resentment, despise I don't know what the word for plural for that is, but you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:
If you're not authentic in the deepest relationships, you have expect them to implode at some point. All right party people. That's it. That's all for this episode. Join me next time for a very special episode of Svote Boy. In the meantime, in the twain time, be good to yourself, because you deserve it, and be honest in all your relationships, because God knows you don't want to pull over in front of some weird dinner party and embarrass yourself in front of God and everybody. Stay moisturized, stay hydrated, stay hopped up on vitamin C, because the flu is brutal this year and, most importantly, all of your drama on TV.