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S3 EP14 Knots Landing : Cricket-The "Rusty Logic" Episode

• Jett Shae • Episode 287

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Have you ever had a beloved childhood toy suddenly turn "creepy" after watching a horror movie? That's exactly what happened with my treasured Cricket doll after my family watched Child's Play, transforming her from best friend to persona non grata overnight. This nostalgic memory perfectly mirrors the emotional journey in Knots Landing Season 3, Episode 14, aptly titled "Cricket." This powerful episode introduces us to Rusty, a down-on-his-luck cowboy who abandons his stepdaughter Cricket at Valene's doorstep. As Valene takes responsibility for this troubled child who steals, gambles, and causes accidents around the cul-de-sac, we witness the complex ripple effects of abandonment spanning three generations. Cricket's desperate attempts to reunite with her stepfather reveal the profound wound of being left behind, while Valene's determination to help stems from her own painful history of being separated from her daughter Lucy. Meanwhile, Karen welcomes her brother Joe, who provides much-needed stability for her son Eric as he questions his future educational path. Gary's jealousy over Rusty's connection to Valene's past reveals both his insecurities and surprising intuition about character. When Valene tracks down Rusty at the rodeo and confronts him about abandoning Cricket, we discover his fear of failing as a single parent—a moment that forces everyone to confront what responsibility truly means. What makes this episode so remarkable is how it examines abandonment from every angle: the abandoned child, the guilt-ridden parent, and those caught in between trying to break the cycle. It captures those painful moments when adults must make impossible choices while showing how childhood trauma shapes who we become. Listen to this emotional breakdown of a classic Knots Landing episode that reveals how our stories—whether from childhood dolls or primetime soaps—help us process our own complicated relationships. What childhood toy holds special memories for you? Share your stories and subscribe for more nostalgic deep dives into the golden age of primetime television.

Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome and welcome back to so Cool, the official gathering place for newbies, novices and OG diehard fans of the golden age of primetime. I'm your host, chad, viewing and reviewing one of the stokediest, studdiest primetime storylines of 1981. So, whether you're new to this or new to this, get back and enjoy it. Tell the kids it's time to play outside or out of sight. Tell babe no questions, suggestions or concerns for the next 25 to 35 minutes. Everyone else in Ayrshire you can be cool, you can be quiet, or you can pack your things and get out Because we are watching our stories. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is SoFloor. Hello, gorgeous, Welcome back to another fun edition of SoFloor. I hope your day is shaping up beautifully. We're back on the west coast because life can always do the absolute most.

Speaker 1:

And the moment I saw the title of this episode I got giddy, I got goosebumps, I was all kinds of pumped. This episode is called Cricket. Now I'm sure you're thinking one of two or three things Either that hoity-toity game where people play a game that I don't really know the rules of and I'm just realizing I don't know how to play cricket, is that the one with a little birdie thing with the net. Let me not. Let me not insult anybody, whatever. No crickles. Yeah, it's played with like a paddle, right, let me not do that. That drives me crazy when people show up to football games or baseball games and now what's going on? Now, who's that? Do your research before you get here. So did you think of a cricket as in the game? Did you think of that? Musically inclined, I guess you could say a noisy little bug with an exoskeleton? I know from experience that the big country ones like to hide and mops outside. Oh my gosh, I don't even want to relive that. No, no, no, I didn't think about either of those things. I thought about one of my very first ever bffs, my girl cricket. So go ahead and pour yourself up something bubbly and bright and I'll tell you all about her. Then we're gonna get to get into Knott's Landing.

Speaker 1:

Season three, episode 14, cricket. Oh my gosh, what can I tell you about Cricket? She was so, so cool. This is my, probably one of my first childhood friends. Cutest little cheeks, pretty brown skin. She was so good. You tell all these wonderful stories. Natural order.

Speaker 1:

Funny, as a girl kept me informed the woman that you are listening to today was heavily influenced by the wonderfulness of this beautiful girl, and some might call her a doll. I find that language very reductive and a little bit insulting. Cricket was not a doll. Cricket was a child's companion. Cricket was an educated childhood companion with auxiliary options and capabilities. Me and Cricket would do everything together.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't really put her on my tricycle because she was real top heavy. She had a whole cassette tape in her chest and, if memory serves me correctly, to my little body it felt like she weighed all of 40 pounds. I remember thinking a lot like dang, this girl is heavy, but she was my girl, so wherever I went she went. Now Gen X. This is where you can kind of come in handy and help you grow out a bit.

Speaker 1:

Sadly, I had forgotten what she looked like a little bit, or had a picture of her in my mind, and I went to Google it and the first thing I saw was like these baby Angela Channings, with little tight perms, little tight smiles, and they had that sort of I'm watching you smile on your face. You know the one. I don't know why that was the default setting on so many dolls back in the day, where it's kind of like looking out the side of its eye at you, creepy, I hate it so much. I can think of Christmas elves, all sorts of things that look like that. That's what cricket looked like, but I'm like, no, that's not what my girl looked like. She must've come out later. So I Googled when did the black crystal cricket doll come out? And the one that I saw that looks so much like my cricket looks like it came out in 1986. So best I can tell they're they made it sound like this was the only year she was created, that particular style of cricket where she had the pigtail. She had loose hair.

Speaker 1:

I'm assuming I must have gotten her for Christmas either from my parents or a relative or something. I would have been way too young to play with her in 86. So I vaguely remember opening the box with her in it or seeing her in the box or having the box in the house. So I'm guessing I probably got her early in 1986 at some point and once I was old enough to like sit up and play with her and stuff, I did, cause I remember this like early nineties, very late eighties, early nineties, kind of playing with her. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. She was amazing, beautiful doll, took her everywhere. She would sit at the kitchen table with me. Sometimes she's reading me her little books, and the way she works. She put the tape deck in her back. Genex, this is where I need your help now.

Speaker 1:

I can remember the my buddy doll distinctly because he had a whole commercial my buddy, my buddy, wherever I go he goes. And then he had his little sister, kid sister, kid sister. Wherever she he goes, she goes very catchy, cute or whatever. But they could never. And then I remember a Teddy Ruxpin, donna. I don't recall if he had a song, but I do remember always being a little bit afraid of him and I remember his commercial. So I'm assuming these were all sort of giants at the time. Maybe they were competing against one another, but I couldn't find. I don't remember seeing a cricket commercial.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, life was good. She was reading me books. I'm listening to her as I do my chores. You know what I'm saying. We're kiki and we're having a really good time.

Speaker 1:

Until one fateful afternoon in the fall of some year, I don't recall, my family had a tradition of going to the movie place picking out a little popcorn. We didn't have a Blockbuster in my town, so it was just like the local video store. Don't even remember the name of it, don't believe I don't even know if they officially named it anything, but we would go down there, pick out a couple of movies on a Friday night, have a little pizza, a little Pepsi, have us a good old time. Now, me and my brother were little, so obviously, when this happened so you know we're picking cartoons, obviously We'd watch the family movie, quote unquote, on the Friday night, and then he and I would usually watch something like Saturday, for whatever reason, my older sister got to pick out two films. Now, as I say this all out loud, my mom, my dad, my sister must've been in cahoots.

Speaker 1:

She picks out a very specific film. If you're a movie buff, if you're a horror film fan, you know exactly what movie I'm about to tell you. You know the one. She picks out Child's Play 1 and 2. Now, movies at the time did not come out like they did now. I think Sinners was just in the theater and now it's already on streaming. I feel like it used to take forever, like months and months and months, like six months plus, for films to come out. And since we were watching 1 and 2, I really do feel like these movies had already passed. I feel like they'd been out for a couple of years when we got to watch it.

Speaker 1:

So we're sitting in the living room. I vaguely remember part one, child's Play one, being so scary that I just lay flat on the couch and looked at the ceiling the whole time. But then the second movie, for whatever reason it didn't freak me out. Once I got a good look at Chucky and him walking around wielding a knife, brandishing different weapons, I immediately lost all respect for him. I wasn't afraid anymore because I had my girl Cricket.

Speaker 1:

So back to my buddy. My buddy had on the exact same outfit as Chucky. I don't know what that was about. He was very, very similar to him. So they have this soft sort of plushy body. Yes, he had the latex hands that were supposedly scary, but so did my girl Cricket.

Speaker 1:

So after the whole family watches these movies and if you're judging, go ahead and judge, it's fine I'm telling you kids were precious and judging, go ahead and judge, it's fine. I'm telling you kids were precious and important, but I don't think we were that important. I'm not saying we weren't important to my family. But nobody seemed to flinch from kids watching stuff like that, like my kids have never. I would never like rent that movie for them to watch. But I feel like all of my friends had seen this film too. Anyway, I'm getting off track. Let friends had seen this film too. Anyway, I'm getting off track. Let me stay focused.

Speaker 1:

Suddenly, cricket, who had been my BFF, my buddy, for as long as I can remember, was suddenly persona non grata. Suddenly she was creepy. Suddenly she was a threat to the safety of our family. Let my sister tell it. I couldn't believe it and I saw my parents trying to be all civil and diplomatic and whatnot. But I knew they agreed with her because everybody, yeah, she was kind of creepy, she is kind of, yeah, she's kind of scaring me, now she's scaring you. She's lived here unproblematically for the last umpteen years but now she's a problem.

Speaker 1:

So my allegedly traumatized sister would sneak under the cloak of darkness Once I went to bed. She would remove Cricket from my bed and go put her in the living room lest she animate and wake up and chop us all up to bits and pieces. There was two things wrong with this. First off, I would not stand for these accusations. This was egregious. It was absolutely out of the realm of possibility. Plus, let's say she did animate. Why would you put her? It keep her in the room. You just put her in the living room. She has to walk through the kitchen and pick out the knife to decide how to chop us up.

Speaker 1:

But, like I said, she was my girl, I wasn't worried about being destroyed. Also, I had this thought. I was more afraid of chucky. So I'm like what if chucky comes crawling out of the closet? My sister sister's? Like that's ridiculous, is it? Why are the cabbage patches cool, but not Cricket? I kept trying to, just, you know, trying to reason with her. Because in my mind I wasn't afraid of Cricket, because on part two, if memory serves me correctly, chucky gets plastic and stapled and arm stuffed to death by the end of the movie. He couldn't even hold his own. Plus I knew how top heavy Cricket was.

Speaker 1:

If ever she animated and had beef with me for some reason, I knew I could take her. Plus my little brother was a toothy little bitey toddler at this point, so I had been bitten and bashed in the back of the head with that little tykes toy, you know, the little yellow cylinder with the circles. Yeah, he'd get bored. He'd hit me with that. So I had wrestled a baby at this point in my life. I was loading, I was carrying around a 35 pound doll. If Chucky wanted the smoke, I could take him. I knew this. Also, if he could become animated and come to life, so could Cricket. Cricket had at least three inches on him. I felt like me and her could get him together. I wasn't worried about it and I tried to express this to my family.

Speaker 1:

But I started to see less and less of Cricket because she would end up in my parents' closet. Sometimes she'd be sitting in the living room. You know what was the most insulting part about all this? Remember when I told you she had a tape player in her back? Do you know that sometimes I would come home from school and she would be rapping NWA. She would be singing Bobby Brown. She'd be singing New Kids on the Block.

Speaker 1:

My family, who was so allegedly afraid of her, was using her as a utility. Do you know she recorded some conversations. One time I walked in. She's sitting on the kitchen counter Spilling all the tea to my mom and my auntie. I'm like, who did they record? It was a whole mess, but she was scary at night. Oh, it just felt so horrible. I felt helpless. I felt very frustrated that these people, who should be celebrating this beautiful orator who was your child's best friend, instead they wanted to point the finger at her, she's persona non grata in a home that she should be welcome in. So as I watched episode 14, I immediately understood what Valene was going through, because her cricket too was perhaps, maybe just a little bit misunderstood. There's several misunderstandings on this episode. We have a late entry people.

Speaker 1:

Episode 14, season three introduces Karen's little brother, joe. Joe seems to be this professor of sorts. He was in Europe, so he hasn't been back since before Sid died. My theory with relatives is that it's never a good thing. He seems to be okay. This episode, though I will say all of Karen's guests have been very interesting and not too much trouble. Yeah, they've been a little annoying, or they've had, you know, they had their own little quirks, but nothing too serious, and this one isn't bad at all either. So I guess we'll go ahead and get them out of the way first, not calling them bit players, because I think Uncle Joe is going to stay around for a little bit. So the temperature in the home is is quite pleasant, considering all that's going on with with Sid's death and then moving on.

Speaker 1:

But it appears that the middle boy, eric, the one with the little feather duster mustache love that kid. He's feeling like he don't want to go to college. He's only 15, he's a sophomore, so it's not dire, you know, it's not super urgent. But one of his teachers cornered Diana in the cafeteria and kind of chastising Diana because her brother isn't going to class. I find that incredibly inappropriate on all levels. On what planet is it her personal responsibility to make sure that he goes to class? I mean she's doing her due diligence as a big sister she's. I mean, maybe she's a little more authoritative. He's going to listen to class. I mean she's doing her due diligence as a big sister she's. I mean maybe she's a little more authoritative. He's going to listen to her. So she confronts him about it while she's making dinner Like dude, what's up with you? Why aren't you showing up to class? How are you going to get to college if you don't take the college prep courses? He's like what if I don't go to college? So what if I just do other things? She is appalled. I can't even believe you'd have that thought.

Speaker 1:

Turns out, karen feels the same way. I keep forgetting not that it's important, but I keep forgetting that Karen actually dropped out of college. Actually, I don't know if I forgot or if I just didn't realize that she had dropped out of college because she's so her. But Eric is having second thoughts about that education and, plus, his dad never went to college. He owned a whole business. That business is still sustaining his family after his death.

Speaker 1:

So Uncle Joe shows up and I immediately like the guy. He's like oh my gosh, the kids are all over him. He's apologizing to Karen once they have some one on one time, like, hey, I'm really really sorry I didn't make it back for Sid's funeral. She's like no, I didn't really. It almost seems like she didn't. Maybe she told him, but she didn't tell him in enough time. Like she waited till she knew he wasn't gonna be able to make it. And for what reason, I don't know yet, but I'm sure Noss Landing will let us know at some point. But throughout the episode he casually mentions that he has a possibility of teaching at USC. He could be a professor there. He's going to go check it out and just kind of get a feel for it. So by the end of the episode it is my impression that he really just wanted to kind of check up on her and having him there is a huge blessing for her and her kids.

Speaker 1:

Because there's something about your baby brother. I have a little brother who I absolutely adore as an adult. That relationship is still kind of the same. Like this kid has grown up with you. He's watched Karen throughout her whole life. He knows her like the back of his hand. So if you know he can see she's struggling with one of the kids, he steps in.

Speaker 1:

Karen has a mild argument, as much, you know. Eric doesn't really talk back to her. But Eric's pleading his case Mom, I don't really want to go to college. You're going to college. She ain't trying to hear. So her brother pretends like he needs socks from the mall and he takes Eric with him. What he's really doing is just kind of pouring into the kid, talking them, saying listen, you're 15, you just decided last week you didn't want to go to school. You're going to change your mind a dozen times. If you're going to change your mind, that's fine, but be prepared, just take the course at the end of the day, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. And Eric's like you know what, bro? You're right, I'll go ahead and finish these courses. I'll do that. Uncle Joe does decide to stay.

Speaker 1:

Uncle Joe's kind of cute too. He also reminds me of the guy from I'm so Embarrassed I almost said Shark Tale Jaws. He looks like the main guy from Jaws a little bit to me. So I don't know how long he's going to be on the show, but I do like his sort of laid back nature. He also reminds me of is it David Aykroyd, the guy who was originally playing Gary? There is a kind of a calmness to him, a very laid back, chill vibe, but he's still funny. I don't know, though.

Speaker 1:

Relatives on a soap opera never really turn out well. Hell, look at Abby. Abby had me completely duped. I thought about this before. I bet if I had never seen her in that Christmas movie I wouldn't have had such a, because she was so sweet. I would have never had that same impression. I don't think. I don't know Either way. Joe's in town. Uncle Joe's a cool guy. Uncle Joe gives good advice. He doesn't seem to be a cokehead or anything like that as of now. So we're going to have to wait and see what Uncle Joe has to say later on. Let's get to Valene in there.

Speaker 1:

I also suppose as the show continues to go forward, we'll get more and more of everyone else's backstory. It's not always important, but I do think, specifically in the case of a Valene and a Gary, there's probably a whole lot of life they lived in between those 15, 16 years they were apart and for the first time we actually get a peek of Valene's life. I say even as I say that it's like no, we actually know she's still so much of a mystery. All we know is that she married young, had a baby, was run off from the baby, probably just worked for a really long time until she had worked up the courage to go back to find the baby. And then you know Gary, blah, blah, blah, blah blah Seems like she had herself a little bit of a past. Now I'm going to make several assumptions on this podcast. Today's not any different. I'm assuming she may have had a romantic relationship with this guy or, if nothing else, they were very, very good friends.

Speaker 1:

So the show sort of opens up with this guy in a pickup truck, cowboy type. He looks a little dirty. He's got a girl in the car with him. She looks to be about 10, 11 years old. They're in Los Angeles and I know this because I can see the road sign for the 405. Side note I wish god. I wish so badly that there were just countless hours of film of people just driving around in like the 60s and 70s. You can tell this seems to be a father and daughter seem a little down on their luck. So they're in the pickup and the little girl's looking around as they pull into this hotel motel A motel, not a hotel. She's like oh, this is extremely skeevy, but I guess it'll do.

Speaker 1:

Rusty, as he is known, he secures a motel room and the little girl is just not really feeling it. So he brings her a soda, he brings her comic books. She knows that he's about to leave. So you immediately get this impression that this is kind of a normal routine. There's clearly no mother in the picture, so you don't know if he's going to work or what he's doing, but you know that he's going to. I mean, she's used to him leaving. She's not really feeling the hotel room or the motel room. She's jumping on the bed and he tells okay, well, I gotta step out for a little bit. She's like how long you gonna be gone this time? Oh, I don't know, somebody said something to where she goes. At least I have a brain. Well, he turns on his heels and they do this sort of I can't do the whistle, like they have a little duel. It's fun, it's cute. So immediately, you see, this is a good relationship, they're friendly. He's trying to keep her, her spirits high.

Speaker 1:

Now, what she doesn't know is that he's already made a phone call over to valine's house. He goes to the phone book, looks her up, uh calls lily may answers a phone and valine is. I guess she's doing homework or she's paying bills or something. She's on a typewriter. You want to talk about being stressed? The hell out. If I had to type on a typewriter I would feel like God. That scene in Indiana Jones or the bridge snaps. It just freaks me out a little bit to think I'm so glad I missed that boat, even though I like typewriters. Anyway, valene is busy doing whatever she's doing at the table paying bills. Right, probably doing her her paper. Now that I think about it, I suppose she is still in college. She must be writing her finals or something or doing a book report. Either way, lily may is kind of floating around getting on her nerves. Okay, mama, uh-huh, mama, that's cool, mama.

Speaker 1:

Well, he calls over to the house and he's like is this, uh, mrs Ewing? No, this is Lily Mae Clemens. I'm Mrs Ewing's mother. Is that Valene Ewing of Dallas? Yes, this is the house. And he just hangs up. She's like well, damn, that was rude. I can't believe he got on the phone. I hate when people play on the phone. Why don't you go through all that trouble of calling, asking and then and then hanging up in my face and finally he's like that's good, mama, basically gone and get somewhere.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God, I know who he looks like. He looks a little bit like the kid from Seventh Heaven. You know, the oldest brother, I think. And then I think the guy's name was Jensen Eccles. Oh gosh, what's that show? What's the one with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and it's the two brothers and they go around fighting spirits and stuff. Kind of looks like if you can bind them. That's what he looks like. He looks like the two of them in a little bit. Yeah, forget what I said about that seventh heaven kid, whatever the name of that show is. It is not because parrot supernatural. He looks like the kids from supernatural, like if they were squished together. He looks like them.

Speaker 1:

So the girl, so the girl really just wants to know okay, what are we doing here? Seriously, what are we doing here? He's like I have friends here, I need to see some people Go ahead and enjoy your soda, watch the TV. But you can tell she don't quite believe it. She even asked him if he's coming back. She doesn't quite believe what he's saying back. She doesn't quite believe what he's saying. So it leads you to believe like, does this happen a lot? Why would she be so suspicious? She looks absolutely brokenhearted as he leaves, but he seems to be in good spirits, like their. Their energy is different and you would never know what's coming next. It is at this point in the show I'm realizing she is calling him by his full government name. Now, is that unusual? No, I guess I've seen the movie curly sue. I still don't have clarity on that. Who the hell was he to her? Probably a lot like this situation dusty heads straight over to valine's house.

Speaker 1:

And I'm so excited by this whole scene because because as he drives up he takes his time. So you really get to see each one of these houses and I'm like I can't freaking believe this is a real neighborhood. It's so exciting and I really, really, really really want to see that beat up old rv. I know they've probably gone to great lengths to keep it out of the the frame, but yeah, we get it. So he drives in and he makes like a jay to get to valine's house. Oh god, I want to see it so bad like I'm. I'm watching it like a hawk now. I'm trying my best to see it anyway.

Speaker 1:

She's surprised to see him, not unpleasantly, but she also isn't like all butterfly. So I don't know if they had a relationship or not, like a, a romantic one. At least they seem to have been very close. Okay, no, I definitely lied. I had to go back and rewatch. She was happy to see him. He was extra cute at the door. He's all playful and not hiding his face with the the cowboy hat. Hey valley, oh myy, what you doing here? Oh my God, come here. Rusty seems to be scoping out the place like man. This is nice Valley. This show is nice.

Speaker 1:

They end up having a chatter, chatter, chitchat, before everyone else shows up and she's just sort of catching him up on things. Hey, I know it's been 12 years. He's like, oh my God, girl, you look so young, so beautiful, even more beautiful. How are you even younger looking? Oh, stop, stop, we're doing fine. You know, I'm a totally different person than I was 12 years ago. Gary and I are back together. My marriage got back together. But she says she's like Gary and I, and then she just kind of pauses and she's like things are going real good for Gary. I guess they they might still be. There might still be a little bit of tension.

Speaker 1:

I've kind of not forgotten about it, but it didn't seem, I don't know. They seemed fine last episode. So I'm so curious. It's my only thing. I wish I went a little bit more detailed, so curious as to who she was, where she was, who else she ran into. In my heart of hearts I'm hoping this is an X-Wing. They seem to be getting along just fine. Of course, I've seen this all the way through the end. Nothing unsavory happens between the two of them like that. But gosh, don't. We need a Valaine backstory. We do need a valine backstory.

Speaker 1:

It would appear she has a type, though he's going on about like, well, man, we used to have these good old times like yeah, we did when you weren't drunk and drinking or hanging out with those rodeo clowns of yours. I'm like, damn, she's got a type. Bad boy, let me fix you, let me do there anybody who's in love with a bottle. She's in love with him. She's got an emotional type. It's a little bit dangerous.

Speaker 1:

The most ironic part of this next scene is that the man's name is Rusty and I feel like wardrobe. Put everyone else in the scene in a rust colored top. Valene is wearing a rust colored off the shoulder dress. Looks like it could be. What do you call it? Calling it cabana wear now resort wear. Lily Mae has on like a brick colored sweater. Gary's is very, very similar.

Speaker 1:

But, gary, you want to actually talk about acting a fool. It's the thing. It's him. It is Shackleford for me.

Speaker 1:

Gary want to know who is this Rusty? Why is he coming over here? How do you know him, rusty? God, he sounds like one of those ballplayers, like that's an insult. God, he sounds athletic and stuff. Can't believe you. Like jocks, mister, I paint my top and bottom on lily mays.

Speaker 1:

I know I think he was with the rodeo. Tell me why, gary cackles rodeo. You like the rodeo, sir, sir, sire, did you or did you not grow up a dicker yourself? I guess he's not the real one, did you? Or did you not grow up on a ranch? Where do cowboy come on now? Is that really that far? I can't believe, can't believe you. What is he bringing here? What are you doing? Why did you invite him over for dinner? Lily Mae's like why don't you calm down, gary? Listen, she didn't know this kid was coming. She's just doing the proper Southern thing, inviting him to eat a meal. That's all.

Speaker 1:

Suddenly, gary's like well, how serious were you with him? Who is he? Who's that? I love him, jealous, but he's so animated, he's so goofy with. He got his tongue hanging out his head. We got his neck stretched out like a giraffe.

Speaker 1:

Ted Shackelford is acting as if he's on stage. I not that I'm a director or anything, I'm not Scorsese, I'm not an acting coach, but I will say you can sort of tone it down, but I guess that is just going to be Gary. Let me just accept that, as Gary he is, he's hella intense or he's absolutely ice cold, like he's just real chill or he's turned all the way up, and in this scene he is definitely turned all the way up. Lily Mae is enjoying this, though. She's like girl, you need to make your husband jealous from time to time. Keep him on his toes.

Speaker 1:

This is also the point where we learned that Rusty's wife has passed away recently. He's just lost his job. He's trying to find work. He's heading up north. Her point is like Gary, he just wanted to stop by and say hi, like well he did. Why is he still hanging around you? It would be hot if it was hot. It's just not. It's really obnoxious.

Speaker 1:

She also casually drops that he has a stepdaughter, for whatever reason. Gary's like why are you trying to meet her, sir? She loves kids, obviously. That's why, listen, nobody talks more ish about gary ewing than me. But I will say this I can admit when I'm wrong. The man's instincts are on par. Maybe you know I won't go that far. You can have a bad feeling about somebody and it doesn't really matter why. He's just. I just don't like him. In this case he probably didn't like him because he was a cowboy who's you know, potentially has banged his wife.

Speaker 1:

So suppose dinner happens and everybody's sitting around afterward drinking coffee. Cricket looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but there. But russie just keeps bigging her up. Oh, she's quite a little homemaker. She stepped right in after my wife died. She's so amazing. She loves music. Lily may is like oh music, I love music. Us musicians gotta stick together, girl. Russie says why don't I go out and get your guitar? You and Lily Mae play us an A and B selection. Cricket ain't trying to hear it. Lily Mae's beside herself. Eileen seems excited. Gary's just like I'm only here so I don't get fined.

Speaker 1:

Rusty gets up to leave. Cricket jumps up Again. She's not real comfortable with this situation. He tells her to relax, he'll be right back. Do you know? This man squats down as he says that he looks her right in the eye. I'll be right back. He of course goes to the truck and all we hear is the tires peeling out. So everybody comes running out of the house. Cricket's the first one to see nothing but the back end of that Chevrolet and she throws her fist in the sky and she curses him damn you, rusty, damn you, he totally has it coming. Valene comes out and she's just like holy crap, that did not just happen. Gary's like dang, everybody feeling a little bit of a way.

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But I suppose Lily Mae takes Cricket upstairs. Gary's sitting on the couch, like what I tell you, he's like man, calm down, he just maybe he just went to go get a pack of cigarettes, maybe he'll be back and he's like he ain't coming back. We can't say what about Cricket? Cricket's probably got Lily Mae locked in the bathroom upstairs and that fool probably went to go rob a bank. Gary's like you know, let's just call the cops, get them out here. And Valley's like no, no, no, we don't know. We don't know he's not coming back. It's only been a few minutes like relax.

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Valine's afraid that if they call the cops then the little girl could end up in juvie and I don't know how. I don't know how that works. I don't think CPS would just throw a kid in juvie without a crime or misdemeanor, at the very least. But that seems to be valine's train of thought. Gary's like man, let me just, let me just see what I can do. I can't even believe you hooked up with a guy like gary wants a drop top like she gotta go. She'll be fine, let them take care. Can you imagine how absolutely devastating. That would be to have a gut feeling that something was about to happen. And it happens exactly the way. You thought she couldn't relax because she knew she could sense that he was about to get rid of her.

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She takes it as well as a kid. Her age is gonna take it now. First, things seem okay. Val talks Gary down just call the police to see what we can do. But let's wait for rusty to come back. Val weighs no time. She takes her shopping. She gets her all sorts of you know nice, fresh things to wear, but cricket ain't trying to hear that.

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Cricket is pissed. Cricket wants the smoke and she wants it with rusty. So she snaps at valine talking about I need to get out this house, I'm not staying with you. I'm gonna go look for rust. You want to find them? It's on site. Valine makes her sit down and says listen, look, girl, you can have a funky little attitude all you want. You can huff and puff and do absolutely nothing with your 11 year old behind, or you can manage to put on a little bit of a smile, grin and bear it if you have to. You could stay here three square meals a day. Keep your clothes, you decide you want to be in juvie or you want to stay in my house. So she didn't really get to respond. Cricket, that is because Lily Mae walks in and she's got Olivia. Olivia is super friendly and it seems like she and Cricket hit it off pretty quickly. But Cricket had other plans.

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Baby Cricket organized a poker night up in the attic. She's whooping all the kids left and right and she challenges karen's youngest boy to a one-card draw. Winner takes ten dollars. Luckily she wins because she didn't really have no money like that. But then she and live, she and olivia go to abby's house. They're trying on all of Abby's clothes and Olivia's like listen, my mom don't really play about her clothes, she loves clothes. We cannot let anything happen to this. Cricket ain't trying to hear that. She's like oh, that's cute or whatever. She's putting on Abby's perfume, spills it. Olivia leaves the room and Cricket treats Abby's jewelry box like a candy dish. She's like I'll take that one and that one and that one and that one puts it in her utility pocket. Moves the hell on.

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People are starting to notice Things are not going exactly as planned and one morning at breakfast Lily Mae comes bursting into the kitchen. Oh no, hell, no. Where's that little hooligan? Eileen said calm down, what's wrong, mama, what's wrong? She stole my idol heart. You know, lily may don't play about her music and gary's looking like see, see, this is exactly what I'm talking about. She's gotta go. He was already telling val listen, this little girl is troubled. We gotta get her somewhere because if she keeps staying here she's just gonna keep running amok.

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Amok is at its peak right now. Val is disgusted. I can't believe you. Two big, grown, dusty mofos have a problem with this baby now pointing fingers at this baby. Just let her be. She's disgusted. Now Lily Mae is offended because in her mind Val keeps bringing up this little girl being abandoned and she's like I know she's really talking about me. So Lily Mae lets it ride for about 15 minutes and then she goes over to abby's house to babysit brian and olivia, and cricket comes with her. She's going on and on about how special that auto hop was and how great great grandmother gave it to her the day she died and it's so important she's not gonna lose enough.

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Cricket starts to feel a little bit bad, so she goes over to val and gary's house to start packing up her tings. She's taken so long. Everybody thought she just went to the bathroom or something. And olivia ends up going over like girl, what are you doing? Cricket's like I gotta get up out of here. Girl, I got ten dollars to my name. I'm gonna get on the bus. I'm gonna go find rusty. I just cannot do it any longer. Olivia's like oh, despite it being 1980s, you have the equivalent of about 40 bucks in your pocket. You ain't going nowhere with that. Let me go home. Let me get you some cab fare If you insist, but I don't think you should leave. Cricket ain't trying to hear. So she's got her duffel bag in one hand, 's got her jacket in the other. She starts walking away. Olivia gives chase. Cricket stops abruptly at the landing on the stairs and Olivia tries to, I guess, get in front of her, trips all over herself, falls down the step, breaks her arm again. She was just in a cast not too long ago. Well, right about the time she slams into the wall. Valine opens the front door and she sees her. Oh, my god, you know that's valine's baby. She loves her son. Olivia runs up to her, she turns and looks up and all you see is cricket standing like mike myers with her luggage in hand and a oh crap, look on her face. At the hospital Abby is playing with absolutely nobody. Valene, you got to get rid of that girl. You are putting the whole neighborhood in danger. So Cricket has been doing these bad things. She tried to steal Karen um Laura's purse, but she didn't really. So Valene's whole thing is this maybe she is doing these horrible things? I know she didn't push olivia down the step, which is what abby believes. Abby insists that olivia was pushed down the steps, but even olivia's like no, mama, that's not what happened. I'm just kind of clumsy. I tripped over. I mean there's a lot going on. I tripped and fell, hurt my arm. But abby's point, it really hits home because valine is like am I endangering the whole neighborhood by keeping cricket around? I guess I'll have to get rid of her for the greater good. So she takes her to an orphanage or something child protective services and she's gonna drop her off. So she explains to the next lady hey look, her dad dropped her off. I don't know where he's at. My husband's been looking high and low for him and gary has so. So Gary's been on the phone every free moment that he has trying to figure out where Rusty could be, he deduces that this dude is a lifelong cowboy. He likes a rodeo. That's exactly where he's going to be, probably trying to find some work on a rodeo. This is where Gary's ranch handedness comes in hand quite a bit. He's going to know all the dark little seedy places that a traveling cowboy would frequent circa 1982. He even has a rodeo magazine and we know this because he's at the office. He's at knox landing motors on the phone trying to figure out where rusty is in walks abby. And abby sees this magazine. She's like you really trying to join the rodeo at this age? He's like no. He tells her about Rusty. She's like, okay, dang, why this magazine? He says, well, it tells you where all the rodeos are, where they're going to be, blah, blah, blah. But she starts flipping through it. She's like, oh, cowboys are kind of hot. Say, gary, are you done with this here magazine? He says, and she, I guess she saves it for later. The wink, wink, she walks out with it back to baby girl cricket. It breaks Valene's heart to have to do this. But you know, little kids are getting hurt, things are coming up missing. It's getting harder and harder to defend this girl. So she promises Cricket, listen, I'll come visit you in about a week. I'll keep checking on you, I just want to make sure you're okay. And then she walks out the door. You know this is a big moment. That's hard for her to do. She does not want to abandon this child. There was a conversation between she, gary and Lily. May was about like we're the adults in her life, don't you realize? She has absolutely no one else to depend on. The one person she was depending on is gone. She didn't have a mother anymore. This pisses Lily May off. She's like her mom didn't abandon her. Her mom died. Valene says you know what? It doesn't really matter to a kid, she's gone either way. It doesn't matter if she left on her own accord or not. She still does not have a parent. Val refuses to not help the baby, but so you can imagine how painful it is to walk out on her. Cricket leaps up from the couch. She starts chasing Valene down the hallway. She's like I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, please don't leave me here. I only did those things so that you would find rusty. She just wants her stepdad back. Gary and lily may are in the living room quietly talking ish about cricket when lily may says well, you know, valine blames this whole thing on me. Valid, unbeknownst to them. Valine is on her way back to the house with the baby. Lily may time my, you know, valene blames me for this whole thing. I can see it in her eyes. Every time she says abandon, she acts like I abandoned her. I left Valene with her father who loves her. That's hardly abandonment. But Gary's like can we please just not talk about this? And you get to see these two people who have in some way abandoned someone they love. In this case it is going to be Valene. It's also Lucy for Gary. But I wonder if it's just too raw of a nerve where Lily Mae is trying to deflect Like I never abandoned you. I left to chase my dream, I left you with your parent. That's not the same thing, but it is Gary's not really saying anything. So I can only imagine what's going through his head, Like yeah, I have a whole daughter who I don't really have much of a relationship with because I chose to leave on my own accord. So you get two people who have inflicted the pain and they're dealing with it in such different ways. So eventually Gary's hard work pays off. He's found Rusty. Valene makes her way to the rodeo campgrounds where she finds Rusty shoveling horse dookie or something. Rusty, I can't even believe you would leave that little girl there. And Rusty at first I was like I don't like her, she don't like me. I was like, brother, don't lie to me. We didn't used to lie to each other, so that's why I'm like they probably dated. We never lied to each other. So this is why I'm like they probably dated. We never lied to each other. Why are you lying now? He says you know she's 10, going on 40. I hate when adults say stuff like that. I know a lot of it is tongue in cheek, but it implies that I don't know. I feel like it makes it easier to justify children being in adult situations and I don't even mean like dangerous ones. But oh, she's so mature for her age. Yeah, but she's still 10. I don't care how mature a 10 year old is. You got to remember they're only 10 years old. She still needs the guidance and that's his whole thing is. She can take care of herself. She doesn't really need me. Val keeps pressing like I know you lying because I know you. You don't lie to me, I don't lie to you what's going on. And he finally breaks down. He's like I. Just when I look at her, I see my wife. I see the same spirit, I see the same joy. She's got the same stubborn streak and look at me, I'm a bum, I don't have a job, I can't do anything for her. It's like he. He feels he's already failed her. Without the mom there to be the buffer, without the mom there to kind of steer them in the way they need to go. He doesn't know what to do. And so he's like Val, I remember that you loved kids. I looked you up and I knew I could leave her with you because you're going to take good care of her. I was like are you right? You sure right now I would take her in a heartbeat, just like that. But she wants to be with you. So Val goes back home and Lily Mae and Cricket are arguing. Because Cricket wants a skateboard. Lily Mae says she has homework. I am immediately disappointed by this news because I'm like what kind of kid? You gotta milk this. I was abandoned thing for all this work. How do you end up with homework? First off, shout out to valine for wasting no time enrolling her in school like it was nobody's business. But girl, how you still have homework. I was like, oh my, you know I can't really pick this pencil because my stepfather left me. Mom did, come on, girl, but cricket, cricket isn't worried because she ain't going in that house to do any homework. Good luck, willie makes with her out in the yard arguing when val comes up and she's like hey, I've been somewhere. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't really know how it was going to turn out. But right as she's about to tell her, we hear a beep, beep, beep. Rusty comes pulling up with a big old dookie Cheshire grin on his face like nothing happened. Hey there, put him up, put him up. Cricket is a woman of her word. It's on sight. Soon as she sees him, she takes off running, starts pummeling him in his chest, beat them all in his chest, and he just brings her in for a really warm embrace. Beautiful, but that's gonna be damaging nonetheless. He's not gonna be able to leave her without her second guessing from now on. God, I can't even imagine how painful that is. And there you have it. Folks, seems like all is well that ends. Well, uncle joe decides to stick around. I think I'm going to really enjoy that dynamic. I don't know how long he's here, for I was looking at it again and it seems like he's able to stay for the full semester. He decides he wants to. He really just wants to kind of help Karen take care of her kids and I think it's going to be good to have a father figure in the house, a guy that they already know and trust. He's related to them, he's going to love them and care for them. But I love the contrast between the sort of complicated nature of different levels of abandonment. Yes, you can abandon someone and still be in the same home. You can abandon people emotionally, mentally, but I love how strong my girl Val is becoming. That had to be hard to say. No, listen, I got, I have to do what's best. You hurt my baby Olivia, unfortunately. I know you're hurting, but I can't. I just can't do this anymore. That's super tough. All right, guys, that's it, that's all. Join me next time as we jump back into some vintage primetime soap opera debauchery in the meantime, in between time. Justice for cricket. I appreciate this episode for bringing back a wonderful childhood memory. Yeah, justice for cricket. Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and keep all of your trauma on TV. Thank you, bye.