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S2 EP10 Knots Landing-Choices: The "Two Side Chicks of the Same Coin" Episode
What happens when decisions and choices become a tangled web of deceit and betrayal? Join us for an in-depth conversation on Season 2, Episode 10 of "Knott's Landing," where we dissect the drama surrounding Gary Ewing. Embark on a journey with us as we scrutinize Gary's questionable decision-making, especially in his relationships with Valene and the community. We’ll explore whether his actions are motivated by genuine intentions or selfish desires, and our frustrations with Gary's character will be laid bare.
This episode pulls back the curtain on the intricate dance between business integrity and personal vendettas. We ponder the ethical quandaries of Gary's financial maneuvers, question JR's hidden agendas, and unravel Abby's true motives. Witness the chaos that ensues when Gary's public affection for Judy ignites a firestorm of betrayal and neglect for Valene. The raw emotions and tensions are palpable as we dissect the audacity of Gary's choices and the ripple effects they cause.
The plot thickens with seduction, manipulation, and raw confrontations that redefine loyalty and self-worth. Abby's scheming, Valene's resilience, and Laura's heartbreaking attempts to save her marriage are just the tip of the iceberg. As we peel back the layers of Gary's true self, we challenge the facade he presents and reflect on the emotional cost to those around him. Prepare to question the complexities of love, loyalty, and human relationships in this gripping episode, and remember to stay hydrated, moisturized, and keep the drama on TV, not in real life.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome, or welcome back to Soap Floor, the official gathering place for newbies, novices and OG Die Hard fans of the golden age of primetime. I'm your host, jad, viewing or reviewing one of the most infuriating storylines of 1980. We are west coasting it today, season two, episode 10 of Nonslanding. Whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy. Tell the kids you've really got to be far, far away today. Babe, you go with them. Everyone in Earshot must be cool, quiet or get all the way out, because we have got so much to talk about. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is so cool Party people in the place to be. We're shooting from the hip today. I am twice infuriated. I've watched this episode two times. I actually gave myself a day in between. I just I couldn't believe my eyes. I could, but I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm going to continue my campaign against Gary Ewing. I've got a lot to say. I've got a couple of theories here. This episode is called Choices.
Speaker 1:Earlier in the year, someone brought up the difference between a decision and a choice. Now I'm not sure if I fully agree with their line of thought, but they make good points. This person tells me a decision is kind of going against the grain, in spite of yourself, to do something that is going to either benefit you or the greater good. You are making a decision. It could be a decision to stop spending, to change your diet, to move to a smaller town, even though you like the convenience of the larger city. A decision has a definite end, it has a definite goal and it's beneficial. There's no doubt about it. Now, okay, choices. A choice means that you have to decide there you go, you see between doing what is right for yourself or doing right for others. Now, usually he the way they framed it is that a choice is something you kind of make for yourself. Okay, I'm choosing ketchup, I'm choosing cabbage. For some reason it's just kind of a throwaway thought process. It doesn't hold the same weight as a decision. I do feel like the words are interchangeable and I understand the through line here. That a decision seems to be a little bit more serious and life changing and a choice Maybe it doesn't have the same. Foresight is what I'm understanding.
Speaker 1:This episode has a lot of decisions, in my opinion, a lot of people thinking things through and deciding that something is better for not necessarily the greater good, but for themselves. That's where I disagreed with this person. I think a decision could be you can decide to stalk someone, you can decide to trash their name. Do you know what I mean? I just think there's probably a little more. The only difference is there's a little bit more foresight. That, to me, is kind of the only real difference, if you can even define it. I'm using this person's definition because I think it goes well with this episode Making a decision, as in. I've thought this through, I've come up with a plan I'm going to follow through because I desire this specific outcome as where choice feels a little more throwaway.
Speaker 1:This episode is about two days long and it is all centered around good old Gary Ewing and a few of the other fellas, fellas on the good old cul-de-sac. Oh baby, I'm telling you what. Let's just jump into it. Grab something bubbly. We're grown here, we're adults, we do whatever you need to do. I'm going to stick to water because I'm liable to say something. I'm liable to say something horrible. Let's jump into it.
Speaker 1:Season two, episode 10, knott's Landing Choices. Before I go off on Gary, let me just say this, coming from where he came from and me, coming into this blind, did not first and foremost expect Gary to be on Knott's Landing I've said that ad nauseum Did not expect an entire series to be built around his character, just didn't see it happening. All we saw is that he seemed to be a little bit tender, a little bit gentle. In some aspect he seemed overstimulated when he was at the ranch. He'd been staying away for quite a while. He had a little bit of a drinking problem. He seemed to be on the up and up.
Speaker 1:His main squeeze shows up about the same time from umpteen years ago. He sees his family. It's still a little overwhelming, including seeing his main squeeze, including his daughter. A year goes by. He is dating Valene in secret. They decide that they're going to marry because it is time after Valene faces the family. Then they up and move to the West Coast in a free 99 house on a lovely cul-de-sac and they hit the emotional jackpot with probably the best neighbors ever in life. Best neighbor in life. Sid has a car dealership where, basically, sid just really wants to tinker with cars. He needs someone to take care of the business.
Speaker 1:As luck would have it or as genetics would have it, gary's pretty good at this outside of his family's business. His wife, his old main squeeze, is there to support him. She's there to see him through. She's there to see him continue to do well. It's a beautiful thing. They're in love quote unquote. They are reconnected after all these years, quote unquote.
Speaker 1:And we find ourselves in Northland about a year and change deep. Everybody is settling into who they are going to be today. We're not talking about the years of ago. We're not talking about Dallas. We're not talking about who he was in Vegas. We're talking about who he is today. With that being said, I really, really wanted to root for him Once he sort of stood up to his brother and I started to see him develop a little bit of business savvy. It's like, okay, let's see what you're made of Still not expecting a lot from him, and I realized that's because he didn't really say a lot. He didn't say a lot in Dallas, didn't say a lot when Bobby found him in Vegas, doesn't say a whole lot in Northland. The only thing he really talks about quite heavily is business.
Speaker 1:This episode opens up with Gary Ewing scrambling a little eggs, having a phone combo before work. Apparently Is he talking business? No, not really. Sort of a little bit, but not really. He's speaking to Judy Now. At first glance that's harmless. Judy is Earl, the drunk's wife he has. Gary has become their reluctant coach or sober partner. I'm sorry if that's not the correct term, I just can't think of it right now. But Gary and Judy have developed a lover's relationship. So they are on the phone discussing the logistics of meeting up again and he's like I can't, I'm busy, I'm busy this, that.
Speaker 1:And the third, valene, comes downstairs because I mean she lives there. Gary, quickly, on the drop of a dime, switches over Okay, yep, up later this morning. All right, all right, talk to you soon. Hangs up, he code switches. All of a sudden he's Gary Ewing the professional. No, no, no, he just told Judy to stop by here in a little bit and his place of business put a pin in that. Okay, so Valene and he have a quick exchange. That is irrelevant.
Speaker 1:Gary does indeed go to the office where we see he and Abby Now, when last we left them well, abby had not kicked someone in the crotch and gotten away, but she did help sort of facilitate meetings and such so that Gary could get the proper funding from his family, as he should, of $100,000 to purchase new tools, excuse me to, okay, to purchase car parts and to pay off the mafia guys that he accidentally made a deal with. I do love the way Knott's Landing does that, tied up with a neat little bow. They like to move on pretty quickly and I like that with side stories, because you don't really we understand that you were building something at this point and that whole scene, I believe now was just to kind of prove a point. We're looking at what Gary slipped and fell into because he wasn't diligent. We're looking at how he handled it without any assistance. We're looking at how he handled it with assistance and we're going to see what happens after that. So he and Abby are chatting and he's telling her she walks in and he's grinning from ear to ear and he's like look, I sold it to Lloyd, so-and-so, I sold all those parts for $100,000. So basically he paid off the mafia guys, leaving him $50,000. He sold the parts that he got from the mafia guys to lloyd for a hundred thousand dollars. He's still pocketing the other 50, if I'm doing the math right. Listen, I'm no ewing here, I don't. I don't sell stuff, so I don't know. But basically it worked out really well because the the lloyd guy that he sold everything to was really appreciative and going forward, he's going to give them like the dumbest discount on earth. It's going to be so low, it's going to be like dirt cheap, say. It's going to be making money hand over fist, just like JR inadvertently slipped and said you'd make a pretty penny from this. And the reality is that Gary could too, if he continues to play his cards right and you see his chest swell. At least this is the first time I've ever noticed his chest sort of swells like yeah, I did, I did that. Abby sees that. Oh, you did that. It's a nice little exchange. And he says all he needs from her now is a little creativity on those books. We're going to keep sitting in the dark.
Speaker 1:Now, understanding this from a business point of view yes, he got really lucky. Luckily for him, he has family with funds. He was able to get the money pretty quickly. He was able to essentially get a loan that he can turn into even more money, and I kind of wonder JR's thought process behind that. I don't feel like it's that. Oh, so I have something to hold over your head. Yes, he wants Sid's patent, but I don't think he. I think he really wants to see Gary be Gary. What he knows is in there. Now he's like okay, I see you got a little spine.
Speaker 1:That in and of itself is not necessarily wrong. It's one of those things. It's not illegal, but it may be frowned upon. But he is still showing that he's got some business savvy. He was still able to, with the proper resources, do what was right for the company. So, according to the logic we're going to hold today, he and that wasn't a decision he made a choice for that money. That was a knee-jerk reaction. He decided on the fly, and you know what that choice is going to serve him. He saw the potential of what could happen and in an instant he decided okay, I'm going to take the money, never mind my past with my family, never mind the anger I feel, never mind me feeling like the little guy, I'm going to go ahead and do this because he sees something in himself and I respect it.
Speaker 1:But then I started to think about Abby. Technically, she didn't really do anything wrong either. Yes, her brother is in the dark, but at the end of the day, by helping Gary, she helped her brother. Now, was that her intention. That's another one I read a little bit wrong. This is the advantage slash, disadvantage, depending on how you look at it of coming into this blind.
Speaker 1:I don't know who this woman was right Still, I'm looking at her very funny now. But my only experience with her was watching her on that Divas at Christmas movie and she was so sweet. She was so sweet and she was so lovely. I literally didn't recognize her until like two or three episodes into this season. I was like, oh okay, that's who that is. She was darling, just precious. But on here I'm like, okay, this one, listen, angie, she's coming for the throne with the bad girls club. This is thought. We'll get into that a little bit later. But just the thought process behind all of this leaves me wondering what would have happened had everything went crashing down. I think she knew he would take the money. I think she sees something in him that the rest of the crew doesn't really see, something that Valene doesn't even really see. Now, remember when I told you he was talking to Judy that morning. Well, judy does indeed.
Speaker 1:Come by the car dealership. If you've ever bought a car in the United States of America, you know. The word showroom means we want to show you something. I have never been to a car dealership that was bigger, like a real one, a sizable one that didn't have a glass window so that you can see from the inside. That's the whole point. They're selling cars even on days they're not open. We want people to come by on Sunday afternoons when everything's closed and walk across the lot.
Speaker 1:We want you to peek inside the window. We want you to see the shiniest, most brand new, sparkling aspirational vehicle you want on this shiny, sparkling aspirational vehicle. You want on this shiny, sparkling aspirational floor. We want you to feel like a million bucks when you look through that window, like, wow, I want that Gary's office. With him being one of the top salesmen you know running the company, you'd imagine he needs a pretty big window himself. His window, albeit less glamorous, is quite sizable. I'm sure you're wondering, jet, why are you talking about the size of windows and shiny things? I like shiny things, first and foremost. Second off, I need to paint the proper picture for you, sophine. I need you to be in the same frame of mind as I am, because by the end of this I'm furious and we're like four and a half minutes into the show. So imagine this busy street, this giant, all glass window encompassing a building that's probably 8,000 square feet, the showroom, an even bigger, a smaller large window even further back.
Speaker 1:My point is everybody, and their mama, anybody who wanted to look, could see as Judy comes, walking through the front door to Gary's office where Abby leaves. She walks in. The door is wide open, the window is not draped with drapes. Window is not draped with drapes. And you know what they do they kiss on the mouth. So I'm like, oh, wait, okay, wait, okay. That's a choice to me. That's a choice, that's not a decision. You chose to to make sure that this woman felt welcome in the way that you feel like she should feel, like you could have kissed her on the cheek. You are a salesman. You could have. Oh my gosh, hi judy, you could have played it off. No, no, no, you did this at high noon, just past the showroom, in your glass office, with the door wide open. You know what he then does.
Speaker 1:This, this part pissed me off even more than than putting your love on display. They, they, chatter, chatter, chitchat, heat. He's been very busy. He's, you know, trying not to get his knees broken. He's been beating the crap out of middle-aged men. Sorry, darling, I haven't had time for you. Why don't I make us reservations at a very expensive, very exclusive restaurant that I didn't even take in my wife to? Yeah, babe, I'm going to get us on that list tonight. Now, lucky, oh, oh man, I'm getting pissed off just thinking about it. Abby thank God is is very nosy, as we learned a couple episodes back. Intentions be damned. She overhears this and she's like okay, bet, I'm going to figure out a way to get myself to that restaurant tonight. Bet money on it. She also is sniffing around. She can tell what Gary is doing with Miss Judy. She knows the body language. Takes one to know.
Speaker 1:One second disclaimer of this episode. Although I am not a participant or fan of side chicory IRL, I do understand that in a soap opera it's going to bring a certain level of pizzazz and it is a necessary evil. Ladies and gentlemen, now, nine times out of 10, I have picked the side of my favorite side chick. I have turned a blind eye to Miss Sue Ellen. Who else are the side chicks on here? I almost called Kirby Kirby's, not a side chick, whatever. Sue Ellen is the only one. I guess I, low-key, applauded bad girl Kristen for the energy she brought. And Lucy is always somebody's side, I don't care. I don't care who she married, she's somebody's side chick. But in this case I'm not going to praise Judy. But I will say, even though it takes one to know one, maybe there's a scent, maybe there's a certain body language or an aura that you give off when you are sneaking and slinking and skirting around town with somebody else's man that is pick up wool by other side, chicks. But I don't want to say that they are one in the same, because these two women are not. They are very different and they have no choice but to go toe-to-toe.
Speaker 1:A little later on in this episode, let's get back to abs. So Abby figures out pretty quickly they're going to this restaurant. So she calls, pretending to be Gary's secretary. Yes, I need to make a reservation for Mr Gary Ewing. Oh, he already made it. Oh, oh, my gosh, he didn't tell me. Let me make sure you got the right time. What time is it? Okay, thank you? Thank you so much, bye-bye. Now Click. She code switched. She code switches again. She beep boop, beep boop, boop boop. The phone valine. Hey girl, we're going out tonight. Oh, no, no, no, I think gary's gonna be working. Like we're going out tonight, get cute, okay, I'll come by later. All right, now hangs up like they're friends. I'm like, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Now this could be an overzealous act of girl code. Maybe there's a little jealousy in there. That's what I'm thinking Like, oh, hmm, because she's flirty. You know what I mean. She's flirty, but she's only ever crossed the line so far with Richard, and I keep thinking back to that barbecue. She wasn't making it known, like she's not really like in his face, like that she sort of flirts with him because he flirts with her in his face, like that she sort of flirts with him because he flirts with her. She definitely flirted with Kenny. She made bedroom eyes at Gary, at least is what I'm thinking at the beginning of. So she's very flirty and I would say even by the end, she's not terribly overt in this particular circumstance, not, not where Gary is concerned in and Not well, you be the judge.
Speaker 1:Ok, before all this can go down, abby has to make sure that there's going to be no interference. So she goes and she finds Sid towards the end of the day and she says Gary's going to give me a ride home, don't worry about, don't worry about leaving, I'll just catch a ride with him. He's like OK, cool. Then she goes to Gary's office and she tells him that she needs a ride because Sid is preoccupied On the car. Ride home she does a little more prying. She's like oh, that was that Judy lady, this is what she doing here. It must be so difficult to kind of help her through this. And he's like it's not what you think, it's not what you think. It's not what you think, it's not what you think. Okay, it's a hundred percent what she thinks. It's a thousand percent what she thinks, it's a million percent what she thinks.
Speaker 1:Before we get too deep into this episode, I want to go ahead and get rid of the throwaway stories. Not that they're not important, because, as we're fast learning, there's no wasted line on the show. Stade was indeed busy working on this, now infamous or will be infamous pretty soon, I'm guessing engine, and he has the help of the first ever female mechanic in all of the world, apparently. Now this little girl has eyes for him. It's funny to me that I can kind of tell when some people are into each other and then I can't win others and I don't know if that's intentional, but it's just the way they portray it.
Speaker 1:But I read it as very innocent at first. So the girl is like gosh said I'm learning so much from you, remember, she is a mechanical engineer. It seems like she. I can't tell if she's graduated already. Seems like she. I can't tell if she's graduated already or if she is. Maybe she graduated as a mechanical engineer and she's just trying to get more hands-on experience before she jumps into the engineer pool. Or she is studying to be a mechanical engineer and just to kind of supplement her education. She wanted some hands-on experience. Either way, she's there, she's working hard and it's really paying off.
Speaker 1:She's amazed, she's like really into it and she's grateful to Sid, who is absolutely head over heels infatuated with cars. So it's really good to kind of learn from someone who does it, has a true love for something. Well, not only that, she started to develop little feelings for him. But Sid is ever the obtuse, just kind of blindly I don't see anything. He thinks she's just excited. He's excited to teach her. He's learning stuff from her as well.
Speaker 1:Well, there's this, this race I think it's the Grand Am or Grand Prix. Something is going down and a couple cities away, she wants to go. She's like, yeah, there's no way I'm gonna miss this. You want to go. She's like, yeah, there ain't no way I'm going to miss this. You want to go and he goes.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize that was this weekend. Let me talk to my wife about it and her eyes get all big, like you would talk to your wife about it. And he's like yeah, now I'm confused with Sid, or actually he's not confused, I'm confused, she's confused. But she's confused because she's like I'm hitting on you. I'm confused because I'm like that sounded so innocent. You guys need to work on your seduction friend. That sounded like a birthday party invitation. I didn't even blink twice at it.
Speaker 1:But now she's like oh, you would talk to your wife. It's like well, yeah, I mean I can't. I mean she has stuff to do, I have stuff to do, I can't just make it up, so I can't. I mean she has stuff to do, I have stuff to do, I can't just make it up, so I can't just drop something like this on her. So he does go home and he talks to his wife about it, and there it's a brief kind of throwaway conversation. Do you want to go? Should I go? Karen's like absolutely, when's the last time you got to get away? That'd be fun for Am. Go and check that out. And all I can look at this whole time.
Speaker 1:She's preparing dinner and she has like a chicken she's going to roast and I'm like, oh my gosh, there's probably so many hormones in our food now. It looked like such a scrawny little chicken. It has to change. It's so weird. The chicken was significantly smaller and I'm like wow, that's just a normal chicken. What the heck are we eating now? Nevermind that Sid does go back to work and he's like yeah, my wife thinks it's cool.
Speaker 1:So the girl is, by this point. It's like wait a minute. So am I understanding that you and your wife speak openly about these things? Yeah, like I said, she's got a schedule. I got a schedule. I can't just bring things on her, but I don't think I'm going to go this weekend because our son is hyperkinetic and she's always with him. I just kind of want to take some of the pressure off of her. The weekend's really the only time I have. So I'm going to take a rain check, but the girl is all kind of hot and bothered like oh, so I think he wants me. So she does make one more round where she asks him again in this sort of coded language that he is, he's none the wiser, he has no idea what she's talking about. So she goes.
Speaker 1:Let me make sure you understand this. You asked your wife if you could go away this weekend and she said yes, it's okay, she knows, and you guys? So this is the kind of relationship you have. And he's like, yeah, absolutely, y'all. Lord, I'm actually now that I'm saying it all out loud I'm actually really excited to see how that plays out, because him, like anyone else listening to that conversation, wouldn't have thought twice about it. That's how you got to be. That's what Gary should have done. Gary should have taken a note out of Sid's book and kept it in his pants. A, b yeah, kept it in his pants. C Indeed it in his pants. See, indeed, sid is quite literally talking about cars and she's like we're in love, we're gonna have an affair, we're gonna move. Your wife knows about it. It's wonderful, oh lord.
Speaker 1:Speaking of wives, valine the Vidalia Onion Queen and Abby the Potster head on down to Les Chambouris. I don't even know and I don't speak French, I'm sorry. They head down to the Fancy Pants restaurant to have a little nightcap. Actually, they had gone somewhere else first. And they're laughing in the car. Girl, that was so much fun. Did you see that waiter? Oh yeah, I saw him. I saw you, girl. I saw you, abby, having a good old time.
Speaker 1:Abby's like let's go have brandy and whiskey at this fancy restaurant. And, by the way, no, I gotta get home. Gary's gonna be waiting on me, girl. He's fine, make him miss you. Let's go get some coffee and brandy. And I'm thinking to myself I'm lost. Would those two cancel each other out? I don't really drink like that. You know what I mean? I don't know, but that seems like if I'm, I wouldn't drink caffeine at night. That's just me personally. If I drink coffee at 10 PM, I'll be up till next Thursday. Okay, one or the other maybe. Whatever, I'm focusing on the wrong part.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, at Fancy Pants Restaurant, judy and Gary are indeed enjoying their reservation and, to my surprise, the conversation is not about their love life. When we happen upon them as the audience, they are discussing Earl and his drunken fits. Now he has started drinking a little. No, actually, she says he's not drinking. It's irrelevant, because she has been fed up with him. He is such a jerk. He reminds me so much of Richard.
Speaker 1:There's so many parallels with characters on this episode. He's just cruel because he's unhappy he wants to drink. And when he's not drinking he's unhappy. He wants to drink. And when he's not drinking he's really wretched. When he is drinking he's really wretched. She's just fed up with him. And, according to her, from the time she and Gary knocked his ostrich skin boots right there on her couch, she knew it was over.
Speaker 1:I can't stand Gary. Oh, I can't stand Gary. Oh, I can't stand him. But he's giving her solid advice, dare I say it, as someone who is playing devil's advocate for the drunk guy who's not there to defend himself. He's like you know, give him a break. Think about how he feels. You think he wants to disappoint you. These things are just. You know, it's not natural, as natural as I say this out loud. Guys, this is Jet speaking now. I'm not speaking for Gary. I thought this was a little bit endearing, although corrupt. I thought it was endearing that Gary would be like hey, look at his side of the story. But the more I think about it, he might, he might be. You know. I'm sure there's some empathy there. He doesn't seem to be a cold hearted man, but I'm starting to believe more and more that Gary Ewing cares the most about Gary.
Speaker 1:Freaking Ewing Lock, stock and barrel from the very beginning. The conversation proceeds and she's like you know, you need to tell me what you want to do. And this is where I think Laura, laura, god we'll talk about Laura in a second where Judy and Abby are very different. Now they both want Gary We'll get to that here in like three minutes but Judy, she wants him to herself. So she tells him as much. She's like I'm not really comfortable being a cheating wife and be your side piece. I think we need to make a decision. He's like wait, wait, why would we do something like that? We got a good thing going. You know what I'm saying, baby. Why don't we just keep it with it? And she's like you like this, don't you? You like this kind of secret slinky thing here. You like this cloak, you like this.
Speaker 1:So, right about this time, valine and abby come into the rush, mom, oh, hey, hey. Do you have any? Any seats available? Not for valine, she is none the wiser. She is minding her business. She got her hair done, got on a coat. I don't know why these people wearing all these coats in southern california have you noticed that on tv? Especially if you live, like in the Southwest or anywhere, if you live anywhere in the world where it's hot, I bet people in Australia think the same thing. Why are y'all in all these clothes? That's not realistic. Why do you have on six pieces of clothing and go outside? You would never do that.
Speaker 1:Anyway, abby tells him no, no, no, put us over at the bar. But before they can even get seated, judy is Judy's good. She already said I don't do the sides, I don't do the sneaky crap. She looks up, she goes oh my god, she's not moving her mouth. Oh my god, gary, it's valine.
Speaker 1:So valine sees and abby sees and abby's like I'm so sorry, valine. Now that should have been weird, that should have been a clue. But you know, my girl, we're not gonna do this. Let's listen. She might be a country bumpkin, but she knows people, okay, she's been through a lot. So she sees him and she clicks back into the Vidalia Onion Queen pageant era and she walks over. No, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. And she goes. Hey, you know she hate that. She's such a good liar, but she's yeah, earl's really at it again and I just I really needed someone to talk to and Gary was kind enough to come meet us and blah, blah, blah. And Valene's like yeah, don't worry, and he, oh, we can leave if you want. We can leave if you want. I'm like you, son of a, don't talk to her, don't even look at her, and Valaine goes. No, no, no, y'all take care of it, excuse me, and this is that's all the composure she had. The rest is out the window. It's somewhere in a holler in Tennessee. She goes running out the door, gary hops up, he runs after her.
Speaker 1:My immediate thought is of the movie my Best Friend's Wedding, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. Julia Robert is flawless in that. I laugh every time I see it, even though it's what? Like 30 years old almost at this point. It's such a good film. But there's a.
Speaker 1:There's a line in the movie where she is on the phone chasing her boy or her best friend and he's chasing Cameron Diaz. I hate that. I can't remember the guy's name. I want to say McDermott. That's not him. Her friend, her best friend, is on the phone, her new best friend is like okay, where are you? She goes, I'm chasing him. Where is he? He's chasing her and he goes. Well, who is chasing you? That has always stuck with me. That's a good piece of advice, just from film and cinema. If you're chasing somebody, you turn around. Nobody's chasing you. You're going in the wrong direction anyway.
Speaker 1:While they're handling that, outside, judy and Abby two side chicks from a very different coin, decide that they are going to chitter, chatter, chit, chit and decide who gets the biggest piece of good old Gary Ewing I get it, gary, he is. He is attractive enough, he's tall or whatever. He's quiet, I get it. He's fine or whatever. He's always wearing all these tight clothes. We get it. You work out, we get it. And he's definitely, definitely improvement for both of these women. Richard is no prize. Earl is nothing to write home about, no pun intended, but he is funny. They're both funny. Richard and Earl are very funny. But Richard does not belong to Abby.
Speaker 1:He is Laura's husband and I will say that he continues his reign of terror on this episode by blatantly embarrassing Laura when she comes in. She's trying to be sexy, but he once again has noticed that Abby's not home. He wants to know when she can get home. And Laura's like are you waiting on Abby? He's like, yeah, maybe. Well, what if we do something? You know what if we? Let me reverse that a little bit. Laura tries to initiate some fun time with him. She knows she's been working, she knows he's depressed about being home, so she goes. Well, what if I go upstairs and I put on a little lingerie, blah, blah, blah? He's like, yeah, do it and just see what happens. He then later walks out of the house with a bottle of champagne after Abby gets through being messy and he looks up at the window where Laura is in her lingerie and he just kind gets through being messy and he looks up at the window where Laura is in her lingerie and he just kind of looks at her and he walks into the house with Abby.
Speaker 1:The only thing about that that made me a little bit happy was that when Laura does confront him about it the next day, when he's about to go out again, she's like you know, I really don't care. I saw you go to Abby's house last night and I really didn't care. I think we need counseling. I'm more concerned that I don't care that you're sleeping with Abby than I am about you sleeping with Abby. I don't know she she's no. I do know she is the only person pulling any weight in any effort as far as maintaining a relationship with him and I just find him to be such a sourpuss. But that's her man, you know. Know she sees him in a certain light, just like Valene sees dirtbag Gary. Back to Gary.
Speaker 1:So the women are sitting at the table. And Judy's like you know what, bravo, that was slicker than slick. I didn't see that coming. You did that on purpose, didn't you? And Abby's like yep, and we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about you. Like like she has any position in in Valene and Gary's relationship. Like she's defending her girl.
Speaker 1:Judy's not trying to have that. She's like girl, I was born at night, but not last night. Don't play with me. You want him all to yourself. I can see it. That makes so much sense. You want me to be the catalyst for breaking them up. Then you think you're going to scoop in and get them. And Abby's like you know what? Who am you gonna scoop in and get them? And Abby's like you know what? Who am I, I'm too tired to sit up here and play with you. Yes, that is correct. And Judy's like well, listen, I'm going to break them up. Let you write about that. I'm gonna give you that, abby, I'm gonna give you that. However, I intend to collect on my leftovers, okay, and she gets up, she's leave. I'm sorry, I left out one little part.
Speaker 1:Some guy had come over to offer to buy him a drink and she told him to step off. Judy did and Abby says oh, okay, I can kind of see now. I see the attraction between you and Gary now, like he's attracted to you because you're strong, you're not like Valene, little country bumpkin. Gary is growing by leaps and bounds and he's just outgrowing his sweet little country wife, you're sophisticated, I totally see it now. Now what she is doing is actually fishing to see what it is. She thinks she needs to figure out what it is that they have in common. It's not so much the alcoholism, it's not so much them being unhappy at home because Gary is no longer drinking. He's not unhappy. Judy doesn't drink, but she is unhappy. So Abby is really doing some, some digging here to see what ticks. She tried that also in the car with Gary like oh my gosh, no, there's no way. Like yeah, there's nothing going on there.
Speaker 1:Judy goes back to you know, I intend on taking my leftovers, ie, gary. She gets up and leave. But before she walks off, abby's like excuse me, miss Thing, looks like Gary left you with the ticket and Judy looks her up and down and she goes you're the one holding it and leave. And I thought you know that was brilliant. I hope she ate. And she probably got halfway down the street and was like dang, I should have taken my leftovers. But street was like dang, I should have taken my leftovers. But abby, ever you. I tell you what we're gonna keep an eye on abby. Abby is resourceful. She goes to find the joe who wanted to to talk to her earlier and she's waving the ticket like hey, you said you're gonna buy me a drink. She's resourceful, unless it's, of course, working out the logistics of getting herself to and from every destination.
Speaker 1:Abby had no car this entire episode unless she was going to be messy. She only drove when she picked up Valene, took her to dinner and went on to work or went to go blow up Gary's spot. I thought that was odd thinking because I've seen her in cars, but it sort of makes sense. They live in the same cul-de-sac. Her brother owns the dealership. She probably just rides with him most days. It makes the most sense. I'm going to speed the rest of this up because we got to get to the good part. So Valene and Gary do go home.
Speaker 1:And well, valene hails a cab, gary calls a valet guy to go get his car and by the time Gary gets home, valene is still slumped over on the couch. She's in the exact same position, or she's in the same couch she was in when she waited up all night for him the first time he and Judy did the grown up. And he proceeds to gaslight her in the worst way, like you think you saw something. You don't know what you saw. Let's, I'll leave it alone. I'll leave it. Do you want me to leave?
Speaker 1:I don't care about, about that drunken, his wife. That's a telltale sign when all of a sudden, you have no, there's no reason to talk sideways about Judy. There's no reason to react that way. You could have done that a long time ago when that dude puked on you, but you didn't have that to say about him then. Now, all of a sudden, I don't care about that drunken his wife. Well, you know what? I don't care about your drunkenness, or I do care about your wife, though, 40 years later. So, valene, he's. He's threatening to just basically stop helping earl, because, valine, you're the most important person to me. I couldn't do that to you, I would never do that to you.
Speaker 1:And she's like oh, gary, I know, I know, but you can tell she's folded in on herself on the couch. She could only stand to be in the restaurant for so long. She's there like 45 seconds max and she's so uncomfortable that she runs and hails a cab and she goes home. She is, she's fighting like it's a visceral emotion that she does not want to face. You can tell that she's searching for a new way to frame this. She just can't quite bring herself to say it. So let me put on my pageantry. Much like Sue Ellen, I'm just going to push you this like nothing happened.
Speaker 1:That doesn't last long, because the next day Judy comes over to visit and at first Valene is very kind oh, of course, come on in, come on in. And then it starts to go down First. No, valene starts off the conversation by saying I want my husband Judy goes, so do I. Gary and I really care about each other and that's going to be what it's going to be. And Valene starts no, get out, get out, get out. Judy's like Valene. Come on, think about it. What do you even have in common anymore? You guys are not good together anymore. I'm paraphrasing here the door doors, of course, slammed in Judy's face, as it should be. No matter how much I like her, you're being disrespectful, whatever. I respect that. She went over to tell her face to face, but at the same time, like don't add insult to injury, don't do that. Don't, please, don't. This little cul-de-sac loves to get together.
Speaker 1:Tonight the schedule is the Farragates and the Ewings are going to have a dinner, so we see them at the dinner that night. But she's sitting there, sid and Karen are at the heads of the table and Karen has gone out of her way to make veal or something, something that's not pork, and they keep making these pork jokes. But it's a very tense dinner. Val is picking at her food. She's looking down because she's got the news. Someone just verbally confirmed what she already knew, but she hadn't talked to anybody about it. So Gary's trying to make conversation and Gary's on my last nerves, if I haven't mentioned that a hundred times before. He's got on this camel, this like Kanye West, khaki colored camel, too tight turtleneck, with his muscles all bulging, his chesticles all out. He think he is so cute. Hey, val, haven't you made something like this before? She's like no fool, I make pork. Now Karen and Sid are. They don't know anything's going on because Val hadn't said anything.
Speaker 1:Karen's looking at Val. She goes girl, I can make you something else. If you don't want to eat that, don't worry about it, val, I'm fine. No, no, no, no, I can make you something else. If you don't want to eat that, don't worry about it, val, I'm fine. No, no, no, no, I can make you some blah, blah, I'm fine, karen. So she jumps up and she runs off and Karen's like dang, what the what'd I say? Gary goes up running after her and he's like what's the problem? She goes, I, he's best part of this whole episode.
Speaker 1:Valene pours out her heart. Basically, I know you're cheating on me because your mistress showed up on my doorstep today. She's not whispering, she's not being very loud, it's just a quiet evening because nobody's everybody's uncomfortably trying to make conversation because the tension in the air is so thick. Gary is sitting there looking like, oh, but you didn't care, and they're sitting at the table just all uncomfortable, trying to like. They're staring at the ceiling trying to look anywhere, but at the Ewings because, like dang, that's embarrassing. But they tell him to go chase her.
Speaker 1:Valene is on the beach and she's kind of holding herself in this gentle hug. It's night and you can hear the waves crashing. You hear them really, really good. That was the first. The first time I watched it I was thinking, man, I can still hear them talk over the ocean. So I wondered how they play that out, if they played a soundtrack or they mic'd up, because they were very, very clear. I had to watch it a second time because I realized I didn't really hear what she said. But she compares the sound of the ocean. It sounds exactly how it looks. What you see is sort of what you get.
Speaker 1:And Gary apologizes it has nothing to do with you, it has nothing to do with me. And she goes. No, I just no, judy was right. I don't know what we're doing here, I don't know what we have in common anymore. And he's just telling her no, it's not you, it's me. She goes no, it is me. It is me too, like we're part of this. Blah, blah, blah. It's a. It's Valene, realizing that she's sort of been floating through this without really taking it in. They're surviving, surviving, you know. They made it here. They're doing well. I have my own theory about this. But she turns around and he's I can't remember if he says I love you or something. He gets the taste slapped out of his mouth, long, long overdue. But then he looks so hurt afterwards she hugs him, they hug each other and they end up walking off. I guess back to the house, I don't know.
Speaker 1:By the end of the episode, gary is confronted by Judy one more time. He tells her he's never going to leave Val because he sees he wants to be the man that she thinks he could be and he measures his worth through her eyes. It feels so good to be able to succeed and Valene has been his hero for so long. It's just it's not going to happen with he and Judy. Judy's like well, you can be my hero, don't you want to be looked at like that? And he admits that he likes being the strong one, he likes being the rock or a change. Well, since that's over, abby then turns to walk into Gary's office and she goes Gary, are you ready for me now? Emphasis on the me. You know what I'm saying. End of the scene.
Speaker 1:This is the first time I think I realized that we don't really know a lot about Gary. Anything you think you know is through someone else's eyes. To me, valene has grown leaps and bounds. Abby seems to think that Gary has, but I don't. I think I don't think it's growth.
Speaker 1:So Valene is growing and this episode she had to finally confront the things that she hadn't been saying, because think about this she would have been a 15, 16 year old girl pregnant by this dude Doesn't seem like they spend a ton of time together. He runs off. So she's holding on to this sort of fantasy that if that had never happened, fantasy that if that had never happened, she and he would have run off, been in love, raise their family together and live happily ever after. This is her second chance for that. You know what are the odds that they get back together? What are the odds that he still feels the same way? They're remarried, they move. He's steady on his feet Now he's really being successful and that's that's all she's ever wanted for him.
Speaker 1:But she is faced with a choice, this episode or decision, depending on who you ask. Can she keep up this level of faith in a man she doesn't really really know? Now, I mean, she knows him, you know, like any, like any wife knows her husband, but what is it that she really wants? That's my interpretation of it. Like I'm changing who I am so that I fit into your world, it's almost as if she still sees herself as this little country bumpkin and him as this rich sort of powerful guy. And as he grows in his business, it kind of makes sense to me why she was so excited about her dishes. She's a housewife now she's helping out in the community. Now she is someone quote unquote worthy to be on his side.
Speaker 1:You got to think about that valine's country singing loretta lynn wannabe mama had ran off on her. They talk about her mom talked about her dad. We've yet to see him. I don't know if he's dead or not, probably not, considering this soap opera, I'm sure he'll pop up at some point. It made me realize that maybe she didn't feel worthy of him. You know, she's she's. She spent the majority of her life kind of ducking and dodging and just looking over her shoulder working these sort of hard but honest jobs. She had a lot of anonymity with that, but now she is Gary Ewing's wife.
Speaker 1:Gary is settling into success. That's what I would call it. Would I call it growth? Not so quickly, not really, because, although he didn't work out in Dallas because didn't seem to be into the oil business, felt too much pressure from his family. The way I look at it now is like was that really the case? Was it that he felt too much pressure or was it that he wasn't going to be in the number one spot? I know what you're thinking, jet. Where are you getting this from? Hear me out. Hear me out.
Speaker 1:Anything we know about him is through someone else's eyes, through his family's eyes. He's a guy that ran off because he's always been too sensitive. That's what his mom says. Valene sees him as a guy that they just didn't give him the chance. You just got to be patient with him. Give him the chance, give him the opportunity. He's going to be amazing. Jr thinks he's a wimp with a little bit of backbone. He's seeing little shards of ewing tenacity poke through a little bit of ruthlessness. But we've never actually heard it from Gary, and unique to Gary and Valene is that the things that he reveals to her, which is all of his grievances, all of his frustration, nobody else sees that no one else has seen him get angry, other than when he was drunk. She's seen it all. She's seen it all and still she looks at him. As you know.
Speaker 1:I got to hold on to that hope. But is it because she really believes in him or is it because she wants him to, because she feels like that's what she deserves? Almost I didn't feel that way until I saw her run from the restaurant. Until I saw her run from the restaurant go home and you could see you. Even in the moment. She knew, she knew something was off. She's known it for a few weeks that something was off. But even at that moment she chose to no, no, no, gary, just stay y'all working. I don't want to. She didn't want to make a scene, she didn't want to roughly, she'd rather just let me hold on to this thought just a little bit longer. She's sitting on a couch. He comes in, lies to her face. She's just holding on to that a little bit longer. I feel like she thinks she deserves the wrath and kind of that ugliness in him. That's all she's ever gotten, so she's used to that.
Speaker 1:So now that he is quote unquote, becoming more and more of a hot shot, what I think about Gary is that, although, yes, he might have been the sort of tortured, brooding middle child, he's also kind of a sneaky. There's a side to him that loves to kind of hide in the shadows. When Judy brought that up, I thought you know, she's absolutely right. The reason they're in LA in the first place is because Valene stood up to JR, not because of what Gary did. Remember that she stood up to them. I'm not, you're not going to run me out of town. I'm going to keep seeing my daughter and I'll just deal with whatever comes for it.
Speaker 1:But Gary had been slinking all through Dallas for a full year, didn't want his parents to know, didn't want anybody to know, because it's just too much. All through Dallas for a full year, didn't want his parents to know, didn't want anybody to know, because it's just too much. She is his buffer. She has been his shield for a lot of the crap that should have been thrown in his face. It really should have.
Speaker 1:But I see him trying to be a father that one day to Lucy I see him trying to make a name for himself in business. But I don't think it is because he's growing. I think that's something he's always had inside of himself and he's always kind of been a little bit too sneaky to look at the Sid situation, never mind the mafioso guys. Let's say that never, ever happened. Look at what he does, look at how many decisions he makes, look at how he sort of runs the company first and then Phil sit in later. I know business and pleasure are two so totally different things and he's got an eye for business. He is good at it.
Speaker 1:But Gary is one of those people where things are revealed, he does not tell you and that is why I'm like oh, I don't like that. I don't like that at all. I love it for TV, it is so good, but ultimately I don't like that and I think with this all kind of blowing up, I'm like that's who you've always been. She's she. Valene has painted him as this kind of tortured soul, his mother too. But the reality is Gary does, gary hides a lot. He hides a whole lot, even when he doesn't have to. There's this saying it's like you lie when the truth sounds better. I kind of feel like that's Gary. Now that might be reaching just a little bit, but awesome to watch. I hate him but I love it. Oh, gary, gary, gary, quick little shout out to I'm not going to use full names to Jupiter and Kip.
Speaker 1:They have been really like you know, there's a couple other people who drop stuff here and there, but specifically about Knott's Landing, I appreciate the little tidbits about who the who the actors are and kind of how their characters are going to grow throughout the seasons, and I guess I could see that. Like I said, I'd like to just firmly be loud and wrong or loud and right. I do not think at this point Gary is growing. I think he is being revealed to us. There's something a little sinister going on there with Gary I'm not a fan of, but they mentioned that Valene and Gary in real life are from the theater and it finally made sense to me when I was first introduced to Valene on Dallas.
Speaker 1:I thought she was over the top. I thought she was team too much. She freaked me out. I thought she was over the top. I thought she was team too much. She freaked me out Like she didn't really blink. And then those McDonald arch eyebrows, which weren't bad, but somebody just kind of over plucked my girl and just drew them on a little too high where she looked kind of coked out and overly alert all the time.
Speaker 1:But I can see it, especially that scene where they were on the beach. They're emoting. He makes a lot of big facial expressions too and you can tell when someone is from the theater versus someone who's been in films. Angela forget her government name in real life is from the silver screen. So there's a different way that she moves about. There's a different way she positions her body. There's kind of a little less emoting. She's not doing it for the people in the last row where Gary and Valene or was it Tom and Joan are definitely playing out a little bit more. But it works because this is a drama. This is a good, well-written drama and I really enjoyed that very last scene with them and the slap and there was because there was so much on his face even the scene where Gary comes into the house after he had chased Valene right after she found, you know, she saw he and Judy in the restaurant as he's gaslighting her.
Speaker 1:I don't care about that drunk and his wife. He's like Valene, I need you, I need you, you know he's really. It's the anguish in his face and it's just kind of the she's holding her breath and there's kind of a like a release where she surrenders to that, that fantasy again, and she hugs him. But as he hugs her he gives the same release. But his release is like I didn't get caught, like the way his face changes and then just for a slight, like half second you blink and you miss it. There's a little bit of anguish because he lied. So I know there's hope.
Speaker 1:Like I said before, he does not seem to be a cruel person, not cruel on purpose. But the real Gary is not the Gary she thinks he is. He is sneaky, he does like as he is sneaky, he does like, as Judy said, he does like the sneaking around, he likes making things happen in the shadows. Make a good underboss. We can change the story around a little bit. If I, if ever that I feel the need to write a little fan fiction, I would definitely make him an underboss in some sort of like hmm, some sort of bootlegging. He definitely screams big pharma to me.
Speaker 1:Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I've gone a little longer than I anticipated this episode, but the general gist is forget Gary. All right guys. Thank you for joining me for another delectable episode of Knott's Landing. Next time we talk about it, we'll be on episode 11. Can you believe it? In the meantime, in between time, we got to get back to the regular rescheduled program. Dallas Dynasty and Falcon Crest are up next. Remember, folks, if your friend who never has a car suddenly has a ride when it takes you out for a nightcap, just know that it's about to be some mess. Stay hydrated, moisturize, mind your own business and keep all of your drama on TV. Thank you, bye.