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S3 EP21 Knots Landing: China Dolls-The " In Plain Sight" Episode

• Jett Shae • Episode 311

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"What happens when denial finally shatters?" That's the question at the heart of this riveting Knots Landing episode that left me literally frozen in place until the credits rolled. Season 3, Episode 21 "China Dolls" delivers one of the most emotionally raw television experiences of the early 80s soap era. The episode centers on Valene's painful awakening to Gary and Abby's affair, which has been building in plain sight while she desperately clung to denial. The metaphor of a cat and mouse partnership—where trust is established only to be betrayed—perfectly captures the psychological dynamics at play.  Laura finds herself in an impossible position when Karen encourages her to visit Richard at the psychiatric facility, despite him previously threatening her with a weapon. Richard's surprising self-awareness ("I thought you were the weak one... only when you left I realized it was the other way around") offers a stark contrast to Gary's self-destructive behavior. Meanwhile, Joe needs a date for a work dinner to fend off his flirtatious boss, leading to an unexpectedly sweet platonic evening with Ginger. The episode culminates in a scene that had viewers cheering—Valene confronting Abby directly about the affair, resulting in Abby's cruel taunt "I can have him anytime I want" and Valene delivering a satisfying slap across her face. Despite this moment of clarity and strength, we watch in dismay as Gary, obsessively watching Abby from windows throughout the episode, ultimately returns to her by the end. What makes this episode extraordinary isn't just the dramatic confrontations but the psychological truth beneath them. It reminds us that sometimes our worst enemy isn't the person betraying us, but our own unwillingness to see what's right in front of us. As the host reflects, "It's one thing for Gary to lie to you, it's another to lie to yourself." Want to share your thoughts on this explosive episode? Reach out at soaplorepodcast@gmail.com or text through the show notes on your mobile device.

Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome or welcome back to SoFloor. I'm your host, jett, still viewing and reviewing the Sophia Sudzias primetime storylines of 1982. So, whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy. Tell the kids it's time to play, outside or out of sight. No questions, suggestions or concerns for the next 25-45 minutes, everyone else in earshot. You can be cool, you can be quiet, or you will be kicked out because we are watching our stories. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soap More. Hello, gorgeous. Welcome and welcome back to another fun-filled edition of so cool. Oh my gosh, y'all. You already know what's up.

Speaker 1:

Season three, episode 21, is one of the most interesting episodes of any show I've ever watched. If that sounds dramatic, I mean yeah, it is, but it doesn't make it any less true. I watched this and I promise you you know the first 10, 15 minutes. I'm kind of talking back to the TV just enjoying myself. I'm shocked. I'm sort of taking in all this new information, but at some point in the show it became so real, so raw. I found I didn't even realize I hadn't moved until I saw the credits roll. I think I was damn near holding my breath the whole time. This episode is so intense. It is so in your face. I promise you we're going to get deep, dive deep into this one. So go ahead and pour yourself up something bubbly and bright. Maybe you want something a little more calm. Maybe some calming tea, maybe a little brandy, I don't know. Do whatever you need to do to get comfortable, because we are jumping into season three, episode 21 of knots landing china dolls. So did you ever have one of those porcelain dolls? I feel like I've had them in the house. Obviously you can't play with those are much're much too fragile. Seems like the 90s had this weird resurgence of collecting those. Not really my cup of tea.

Speaker 1:

My jam was obviously watching TV and reading these books from this series called you Can Read. I'm sure my mom saw a commercial or saw it in a magazine at some point and decided to order this reading system for me and my little brother. It wasn't like hooked on phonics, as far as I know. But we have these books that I just adored and, if memory serves me correctly, you get a videotape and it goes through all these beautiful stories and different things, and then you'd also get a few books that would accompany this particular tape. It either came like that or it came in a series, doesn't really matter. The point I'm trying to make is that I was able to read fairy tales and fables that I wouldn't have been introduced to otherwise.

Speaker 1:

After I watched this episode I can't even really describe it I just I don't know why I felt weird, or just I couldn't really process my thoughts in real time. So I was just kind of sitting here like, wow, that that really just happened, wow, what's next? And eventually it sort of reminded me of this story called the cat and mouse partnership. So there's this cat and there's this mouse. They meet each other and, much to both of their surprises, they hit it off. The cat says to the mouse I've never met a mouse I like so much. You are so wonderful, you're so charming, I really enjoy you. The mouse says you know, I was really nervous about meeting you, but I feel the same way. You're so cool, never met a cat as cool as you. The cat says yeah, I think we could really be friends. I think we'd be great friends. I just love and adore you so much. This is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me. I am embellishing slightly. The mouse says well, I feel the same way. Why don't you live in this house with me, would you be willing to move in with me? And the cat's like absolutely, I'll live with you in this house Totally. So they move in together.

Speaker 1:

Things are going well, but the mouse is forward thinking. So the mouse goes to the cat and she says hey, you're like a predator, you need to hunt. I'm a mouse, I'm a gatherer. We need to consider what we're going to do when I can't gather and you can't hunt, especially in the winter. Why don't we store up some food for ourselves for the winter and then, when it comes, we can just chill and enjoy that season? The cat's like I mean it's spring, why are we talking about winter already? The mouse is like I mean, it's just important. You need to look forward to the future. We need to secure something.

Speaker 1:

Since this is a cross species home, they obviously have to have something mutually beneficial. I mean the cat can't very well go out. Bring home dead mice now, can he? They settle on this pot of fat, so they obtain this pot of fat and they bring it back home Quickly. The mouse realizes we can't keep this here. This is distracting. This is too big. What are we going to do? Where are we going to keep it? So they're thinking, and the cat says hey, hey, hey, I know, I know why don't we keep it at the church? Nobody is going to go in a church and steal anything. It'll be completely safe. It'll be out of sight. We'll just go down and get it late fall and everything will be great. The mouse kind of thinks about this and she's like yeah, I think you're right. Now. Cat says we can slip under the door, go underneath the altar, hide it underneath the floor. It'll be safe and sound. Mouse agrees and they do that very thing. So as time goes on, they're living together in just interspecies bliss.

Speaker 1:

And one day the cat comes scurrying into the room out of the best news in the whole world oh my gosh, I can't believe it. I'm gonna be a godfather. And the mouse is like that's amazing, you're gonna be a godfather, that's wonderful. You know, my cousin just had a baby boy kitten and he's got this white coat. They saw the white coat. It reminded them of me and they asked me to be the godfather. You don't mind if I go to the baptism, do you? She's like of course not. Go to the baptism. Eat at the buffet, enjoy the food, tell everybody I said hi and have a little communion wine for me if you can. Cat's like no doubt. No doubt Appreciate it. Go ahead and take care of the house. I'll be home after a little while. The cat leaves the house. Only he's not going to the baptism because there isn't a baptism. There's also no baby kitten and there's also no cousin. He don't even have relatives like that.

Speaker 1:

What he wants is to have a little taste of this vat of fat they have sitting down there. It's probably all warm in the spring. It's probably really rich and delicious. So it goes down. He sneaks under the church door under the altar, removes the floorboard, goes underneath Vat of fat is just jiggling and looking all delicious. He takes one bite Mmm, rich and creamy and salty. Side note, quickly, in my mind it's more of a butter than like the gelatinous fat. But I digress. He takes one bite after another, one lap of his tongue after another. Before you know it the top of the vat of fat is completely gone. So he feels a little weird after that. So he starts walking around town. He hops on the roof, he sort of takes his time. He sunbathes, he does all these things.

Speaker 1:

Comes back home and the little mouse is like oh my gosh, how was the baptism? The cat says it was great mouse. Mouse says well, what do they name the baby? Topoff. She's like Topoff, god, that's okay. I've never heard a name like that. I don't think I've even read anything like that. Topoff, is that like a family name. The cat is suddenly offended by this and he's like it's no worse than being called a crumb snatcher, like your little god, kids are. So she's like okay, chill, I didn't mean to offend you, I just I've never heard the name, that's all I'm saying. It's a very unique name. God bless little Topoff.

Speaker 1:

So a little bit of time goes by. Cat comes to the mouse again and he says you're not going to believe this, I'm going to be a godfather again. She's like no way, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some friends of mine had a little kitten and it's got this bright white ring around its neck. Reminded them of me. So they called me up, asked me to be the godfather. You don't mind if I go to baptism, do you? She's like no, of course not. Enjoy yourself, tell everybody. I said hi.

Speaker 1:

So he leaves the house, goes down to church, slips under the door, under the altar, under the floorboard, and he starts lapping up more of that gooey, buttery, rich, salty goodness. He kind of gets lost in it and before you know it, the complete middle of the pot is just licked clean. He's like oh my gosh, there's only a third of us left. Oops. He's like you know what? Some things just taste better when you don't have to share them with other people had to do it. So he goes home and the mouse is like hey, how did it go? Oh, it went great.

Speaker 1:

What did they name the kitten? Oh, they named him. Half gone, half gone. Where are they? Are these people, the migos? Like, where are they getting all these names from? Are they forming a rap group we don't know about? And he's like just for, I mean, it's just a name. You're sitting here in this house all day. You just, you're not used to the world outside of these walls. That's a perfectly normal name for creatures of the day. You're nocturnal, you wouldn't know nothing about that. And she's like oh, I guess so.

Speaker 1:

So, before you know it, every time the cat licks his whiskers he can almost taste that savory, buttery goodness, goes to the mouse and he goes. You know, dude, good things must come in three, because I'm gonna be a godfather again. And the mouse says oh, cat tells her, this time my friends had a, a little kitten that is completely jet black, just gorgeous silky black fur, except for his paws. All four paws are stock white. They saw the paws. It reminded them of me. They asked me to be the godfather. You don't mind, do you? Sure, go have a good time.

Speaker 1:

So he leaves the house, goes to the church, slips under the door, slips under the altar, under the floorboard, and he leisurely eats away at the last bit of the fat, licks the pot completely clean. By this time he's gained significant amount of weight. He is a little more casual in his waltz. He takes a little bit longer to get home and he just kind of rubs his stomach and says you know, I'm at peace now. There's no more fat to eat up, there's nothing left to think about Probably best case scenario. So he comes into the house and the mouse looks at him and she's like well, we had top off, we had half gone. What did they name this one Cat looks at her and says all gone, all gone. She says these are strange names. But oh well, she washes her face or whatever mags do, curls up on a ball, goes to sleep.

Speaker 1:

They make it through the rest of the spring, the rest of the summer and the fall without incident. When the first snow falls, the mouse goes to the cat and says let's go to the church and get our pot of fat. Oh, it's going to be so good. It's had all this time to marinate and mature. And the cat says yes, yes, your tiny little tongue will love it as much as you like licking the air outside your window. So they both leave the house, go to the church, scurry under the door, scurry underneath the altar, underneath the floorboards, where the mouse, for the first time, lays eyes on the giant pottled fat. Only it's been emptied of its contents. She stares at it in disbelief, but then she turns to the cat and says oh my gosh, I understand now. I know what happened. Gosh, I understand now. I know what happened. You were such a good friend. And the cat says I am, yes, you're such a good friend, I know what happened now.

Speaker 1:

You had to use the fat of fat to feed the other cats at all the baptisms. What a wonderful friend. You had to do it for top off. You had to do it for half gone and then you had to do it for up. She gets as far as the a and all gone when all of a sudden it's like a switch flipped. He goes from cool, calm to just ferocious. If you say another word, I'm gonna eat you too. Unfortunately she was already talking, so she's like oh, before you know it, chomp eats her At the top of the show. Laura gosh, she's just sort of in an impossible situation. Karen says to her in not so many words you need to go and check up on him. He mentioned that you hadn't been to see him. This is true. Karen had gone to see Richard earlier and she and he were going to have a breakfast picnic. And his little peculiar friend comes up and he's talking about an explosion where three little girls died, except he refers to them as China dolls, based on the year that this would have aired.

Speaker 1:

At first I thought maybe this guy was a Vietnam vet and this was sort of a subtle reminder to check in on your veterans and that sort of thing. But the guy looked a little too young to have served in Vietnam. So I started thinking a little more. This would have been around the time of Reaganomics, when all of the mental institutions were sort of shut down. Yeah, so maybe this was a subtle little reminder that, hey, you know, some people really do need the help. Richard's explaining to Karen that he feels good. This is a really nice place, it's really beautiful. She's concerned about the insurance. He says, well, it'll pay up until like next week.

Speaker 1:

And then I got to figure out something else, which brings us back to Laura. Karen says I just want to see you participate a little more. Laura says do you forget that this man pulled a whole weapon on me? Did you forget that this man pulled a whole weapon on me? Did you forget that karen's defensive of richard? He was having a mental breakdown. Laura was like cool, okay, cool, explain that to his son. Karen kind of takes a step back, like no, you're right, you're right. I'm not going to get into how upsetting this is, but it's like in any other circumstance would you ask a pregnant woman to go and visit the person who held her hostage, husband or not, friend or not? You probably wouldn't do that. You need to see significant changes before you said that Can't just go off of his emotions, because there's two parties involved. By the end of this, laura is at least curious. So she does indeed go to visit Richard, I got to say.

Speaker 1:

Richard took me completely by surprise. He's still very tranquil. He's as surprised as I am to see Laura show up. What he tells her isn't that he misses her and that he's changed and that things are going to be totally different. But what he says instead is Laura, I have to take responsibility for myself. For years I thought you were the weak one. Your weakness made me feel powerful. Only when you left I realized it was the other way around. I'm far too codependent on you and I want to have a life with you, even if it means we're not together, if it means we're in separate households. Life with you, even if it means we're not together, if it means we're in separate household, want to raise our kids together, but I want and I need to live alone, color me totally surprised.

Speaker 1:

There's also a brief conversation on why he's going to be leaving. So apparently he's going to be off his medication in about a week and he's also going to be leaving. So Laura asked him why. Why so soon? He goes? Well, money is a big motivator. Basically, my insurance isn't going to pay after that, so I'm going to need to skedaddle. She's like don't even worry about that, I can pay. I can help pay for whatever you need. I don't want you to help pay for anything, laura, I need to be alone. Wow, talk about personal growth. Well, dr McQuarrie, his psychologist, has been helping him with that. He tells Laura you could even talk to her if you wanted these prices. So they maximize his insurance. And Laura does pay Dr McQuarrie a visit.

Speaker 1:

Who is this kind of very put together older woman she reminds me of if you've ever seen the movie A League of their Own, when they all go to charm school, like one of the leaders of the charm school. So she reminds me of, except she's a lot more nice. Laura pours out her heart, she is angry, she is confused. She doesn't understand why he is being let out so early. The doctor tells her he's not being let out, he's choosing to leave. Well, he's like. Well, I don't love him, I don't want to go back. The doctor says who said you had to go back? Well, do you think I should? The doctor says listen, I don't think you should do anything you don't want to do. These are all Richard's choices. At this point, he's the one who needs to be making the decisions for himself.

Speaker 1:

It's very clear at this point that Laura is concerned about his mental health. It's almost as if she feels because he's making the effort that he didn't make before. Now she has to make the effort that's what I'm interpreting this as, which is a very rough place, and she's like I'm angry, I'm confused. I broke off everything. It was clean, and now this has happened. And I realized for the first time that she had thought about this long and hard. She had a plan. She made a decision to leave, to separate herself from him completely. No love lost. This is what I want. We'll raise our kids together. But him becoming mentally ill or having a nervous breakdown changes the whole trajectory of the plan she had. Yes, you expected Richard to maybe act up a little. Maybe she thought he would be difficult as far as letting her go, but this is a whole nother piece of a puzzle she never saw coming. So she's in a position to have to consider things that she didn't think she would.

Speaker 1:

As she leaves the office of the doctor, his peculiar friend is in the hallway. He knows that she's Richard's wife and he's like hey, I know Richard's about to leave. Would you please give him this gift for me? I don't think I'll run into him again before he leaves. She's like sure thing.

Speaker 1:

Later on in the episode we see her going to Richard's house. So this would have been the night right before he's supposed to return the following day. So she wants to go over and make sure, you know, turn the air conditioner on, put some food in the fridge, make it feel like home. Give him, you know, give him a good head start. He doesn't need to come home and have to start figuring out all these things, or he could. We'll have to see how that turns out, see if he appreciates that or if it's a hindrance of some sort. But she goes into the house and I guess Karen hears her car door, where she was staring out of the window. I don't know if the walls in Knott's Landing are very thin, because this entire episode is people showing up, just as there are other people getting out of the car.

Speaker 1:

You can tell that Laura isn't quite comfortable. She's sort of frantically moving around and she sets the doll down. Excuse me, she sets the package that Nicholas, the peculiar friend gave Richard. She sets it down a little too hard and she feels it sort of shift in its packaging. She opens it up and realizes it's a porcelain doll and the leg is broken. She's oh my God, I got to fix this, got to fix this. She's sort of frantically looking for glue. Karen senses that she's on edge and she's like it's okay, it's okay, it's not that important.

Speaker 1:

Laura turns to her and said damn it, karen, I wish I had never listened to you. Show up for him, participate, do something. She explains what happened. She's like I should have got up and left. I shouldn't have talked to his doctor. I should have just got out of there when I had the chance. Karen said well, what did the doctor say? Doctor says I shouldn't return unless I'm returning for good.

Speaker 1:

She looks absolutely destroyed and she's just like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. Oh, I get that, I really do, and I wish she had just stayed away too. I mean, it's it. You know I don't want to blame karen, but I do want to blame karen. Like you, everybody makes mistakes. Just because richard is, I know he's in a tender position. I I can understand. Seeing him in the flesh, you can't help but feel bad for the guy. But also, please put your other friend first. Her safety, her mentality, oh gosh, especially knowing what their relationship was. You need to be championing your girl to have a little bit of space, give it a little bit of time and then, when the time is right, when she's had a time moment to really see a change and she feels comfortable, if she ever does, then encourage her, but encourage her on her own accord. Don't encourage her because you feel bad for Richard. That's all I got to say about that. Poor Laura.

Speaker 1:

This is a fascinating episode. One of the most fascinating parts for me is joe. I've always liked joe. I'm glad he's on the show. Joe is incredibly cool.

Speaker 1:

But joe has a couple of problems. Number one he has a party to attend to for work. It is an all-staff party at the college, which doesn't really sound like a problem, and it wouldn't be if joe's boss, who is a woman, wasn't hitting on him disrespectfully. She's all up on him, she wants his body and Joe, being a gentleman, doesn't want to hurt her feelings, doesn't want to jeopardize his job. So he has asked his girl from back east I think her name was Lorraine to fly in to attend the party probably hang out this weekend. Joe's second problem is that whatever car he's been using needs some sort of maintenance. That's not really a problem, considering his sister owns a car dealership. Does these two problems on this particular day? That put Joe in the perfect position to be some sort of wise elder on this show.

Speaker 1:

So Joe's chilling at breakfast at Karen's house. He's looking over some sort of baseball stats. I still think Joe might have a gambling problem. He's has a gambling addiction, even if it's not really a problem. Yet Phone rings. It's Lorraine from back East gets on the phone with her. Apparently Lorraine has something come up. You know New York ain't exactly just around the corner. She can't hop on a plane and be there in time to attend his meeting on Friday. No big deal, luckily.

Speaker 1:

Joe is a charming, good looking young guy. There's plenty of women in the neighborhood. He'll just ask somebody else. As luck would have it, as he is driving to Knott's Landing Motors to check on his car, he happens upon Ginger. Now it is raining in SoCal.

Speaker 1:

Ginger is fully decked out and I kind of chuckled to myself. Anyone who lives in the desert, you're going to understand what I mean. When it gets even a little bit cold, you immediately pull out your warm clothes, like you don't get to wear this stuff often. You don't get to wear rain boots and a slicker and all that often. So I just kind of chuckled at gender in her little rain slicker hat and all that inside her car. But she and Joe were talking through their car windows and he's asking her if she has any single friends. She goes. Most of my friends are married. I do have one, but she kind of dingy and he's like dang. I like smart girls. But you know, okay, just keep an eye out. If you think anybody, let me know. She's like all right bet.

Speaker 1:

So Joe drives to Knott's Landing Motors where he is chilling, waiting for his car. Only, his car still needs some repairs, but he finds himself just sort of hanging out regardless. Now why would Joe be hanging out? Well, he's waiting on Abby to come in so he can ask her. That was one of Ginger's suggestions. She's like hey, abby's smart, why don't you ask Abby? He's like that's a good idea. Now I know what you're asking yourself. If you haven't seen this in a long time, or if you're a newbie and for some reason you didn't watch it this week, let me let you know. You're probably thinking that, jet, why wouldn't he just go over to Abby's house that morning? Well, abby wasn't home, okay, so he's just going to wait for her to come to work? Yeah, he's going to wait for her to come to work.

Speaker 1:

Now, why wasn't Abby home first thing this morning? Well, because she's in an apartment waiting on Gary. Abby and Gary, or the Methanol Twins, as she named them, are taking care of business. They have lots of business meetings and this particular breakfast meeting calls for all hands on deck, calls for them to roll out a couch bed and do the nasty first thing in the morning before they go to work. I couldn't believe it. I'm going to tell you that.

Speaker 1:

The rage that went through my body when I realized what was going on, I can't even put into words. It's the audacity for me. The practical part of me is like, okay, it's not like they could do it at their house, but also, wow, you are so committed to this that you would seek out an apartment. I'm thinking they put money down and rented an apartment. Apparently it's one of Abby's homegirls apartment. Fun fact, this is the same apartment, or at least the outside is that I saw on Dallas. I recognized it immediately. It's on Dallas. I looked up the episode, season two, episode 20. It's where you know Pam was working at the store and all those models came in. Well, one of the models used to be a call girl and JR has her almost arrested outside of her apartment. I remember that apartment building very clearly and I feel like Sue Ellen went to it one time to adopt a baby too.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, gary and Abby are using it to fornicate, are using it to fornicate, to sneak around. They're having themselves a real good time. So I guess after round one or two, abby says you know, we really got to get back to work. No breakfast meeting lasts this long. So as they're putting on clothes and Abby is making up the bed while Gary slowly gets stressed, she just wants to check in on him. Hey, how are you doing with this? Is this bothering you in any sort of way? Sneaking around your wife's back, lying to her face? Gary's like no. As a matter of fact, I lay in bed after the first night waiting to feel guilty, but I didn't feel a damn thing. Nothing but elation, can you? I can't stand Gary. I can't stand him. I can't stand him. I don't give a damn, I can't stand gary, I can't stand him. I can't stand him. I don't give a damn, I can't stand him. He feels just fine about it, perfectly cool. So I was like okay, great, let's keep it up. So let's go back to joe.

Speaker 1:

Joe is patiently waiting in karen's office when karen shows up to work. Karen's like what are you doing? Is your car not ready? He's like no, it's not ready. She goes well, did they give you a like, a rental or something? They give you a courtesy car. Yeah, they gave me a courtesy car. What the heck are you still doing here Waiting on Abby? I'm going to ask Abby to go to my dinner on Friday.

Speaker 1:

Karen rolls her eyes. She's like oh, are you serious? Well, right about this time in floats Gary and Abby. And when I say there is no disguise, there is no pantomime of platonic friendship here at all. It is quite obvious to anyone who even looks over a little bit Karen's out of her glass window of her office. She's like oh, my God, I could just choke Gary. I just want to shake him sometimes, tell him to snap out of it. Joe's like man, you are so suspicious, karen. I bet you nothing is happening. She goes. I know something's happening. I can't prove it, but I know something's happening. So all of their offices are all against one wall. You know, just glass, generic glass window door, glass window door, glass window door.

Speaker 1:

Joe goes out, he sees Abby and he's like Abby, I've been waiting all morning for you. I'm desperate, would you please go to my staff dinner with me on Friday night? And she goes oh my God, joe, I've been waiting for you to ask me out. Only now I can't do it because I have a business meeting on Friday. As soon as she says that, gary's big, goofy ass comes bursting out of his door hey, abby, about Friday night. And he looks, you know, I'm, oh my god, I don't want to go. He's making those faces. Oh, just totally, bro. She's like yes, gary, it's all set up for friday night at eight o'clock, the meeting with blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, fake buyers. If joe thinks anything is weird, he, he doesn't light on. He's like okay, cool, well, doesn't hurt to ask See you later. Abby Bye, gary Bye. And then they look at each other like whoa.

Speaker 1:

So Joe goes about his day, teaches, inspires, does whatever he does, ducks and dodge his boss. And he comes home that night a little bit early so that he can go over and talk to Ginger, ginger being a budding pop star and Kenny being this flashy producer. Now their schedules aren't always aligned. She wants to go out this weekend. He's like I'd love to, babe, but I can't Right about this time. Joe knocks on the door and hey, ginger, hey, kenny, is your airhead friend still available? I mean, I just kind of need somebody at this point and she goes. Wouldn't you know it? Airheads are very booked and busy. She's already got a date for Friday. She can't do it and he's like dang.

Speaker 1:

So Kenny's like well, what are y'all talking about? Joe explains the situation. I got this woman at my job who's all over me. Lorraine can't make it in. I asked someone else. I just need a date for Friday so that this woman will leave me alone.

Speaker 1:

Well, kenny's like well, take gender. She was just saying that she needed to get out of the house. She kind of wanted to go out anyway and I have to work, so it'd be, it'd be perfectly fine. And Joe's like are you sure I don't want to? Like, it's a married woman is what he's thinking, but this is a clearly platonic relationship. Kenny's like listen, we're a modern eighties couple. At first I thought he was saying we do our own thing, as in, we're swingers, which they've never confirmed or denied. But I think he was really saying sometimes our, our schedules don't align. I'm not going to keep her home if she don't want to be like go, yeah, I'll go to this little dinner, it'll be fine. Okay, cool, pick me up at six. Pick you up at six on Friday. So Joe's excited. That's really the only reason he'd come back to the cul-de-sac. So he heads back to Knott's Landing Motor to see if his car is ready. One of his problems is solved, let's see if the other one is too.

Speaker 1:

So Joe walks into the dealership and by this time it is dark, it's already sort of closed or it's closing, and the glass offices we talked about earlier are illuminated. And the first thing joe sees is abby and gary. She's practically on gary's lap, arms around them. They're feeling all over each other in a very warm embrace. There is no subtlety here at all. He just keeps walking. If he feels anything, you'd never know it.

Speaker 1:

Joe goes into the shop to look for his car, but around this time the intercom is calling Gary to go to the shop to basically take care of this older customer who's irritated that is parked on in. It's worth mentioning that the very handsome black mechanic and this little old man are hilarious and they're 10 seconds on screen because the man's car is basically a hoop deep. The mechanic is like there's damn near lemons popping all the way out of this and they're like man, how did my parts just get up and walk away? What are you talking about? So when Gary leans up under the hood, joe follows him. He's leaning up under the hood and Joe says man, I didn't know. Do you do this part too? You come in and repair stuff. Gary's like no, no, I just got to make it look like I'm doing something.

Speaker 1:

People like to see the boss like getting his hands dirty. Joe gets it he's all a great bluff. Gary says what do you mean? And then they have this whole conversation about gambling. Joe says he wishes he could quit and he's like Gary, you used to gamble too, didn't you? Gary said yeah, I did, but you know the way I gambled was so rough. If you gamble as bad as I did, somebody will make you quit eventually. Joe breaks it down like this he's like I say I want to quit, but I really don't. I love the excitement. That's what you need. You need the excitement in life, and gamblers like us will keep raising the stakes so that the excitement is stronger and stronger. They're basically addicted to that rush. It only works if what you're risking losing is important. You only do it when things are really, really valuable. Otherwise the game isn't any fun anymore. Now, by this time, gary is picking up what Joe was putting down. So Joe continues you know what else they say? Shrink, say that deed down. The real gamblers want to lose. He goes isn't that crazy that the gambler wants to lose and you know what in the end he does? Can you believe that, gary? He loses eventually because he really wants to. Gary's like dude, if you got something to say, just say it. And joe's like I already did. By this time the mechanic comes over and says hey, joe, your car is probably ready. Joe walks off, real cool, like all right, joe, drop them gems.

Speaker 1:

You're probably wondering where valine is in all this. Well, valine is at home keeping herself busy walking on eggshells. At the top of the show we see her outside vigorously scrubbing her living room window. When lily may comes outside, she's like god dang, y'all don't eat breakfast. What does a girl got to do to get some vittles around here? Y'all on a fast or something. What's going on, valine? Well, gary's at a meeting this morning and I wasn't hungry so I just had a little juice. Lily Mae, ever the ear hustler, ever the nosy. Nelly is like wow, didn't he have a dinner meeting last night? Yes, mama. Well, he had one this morning. Breakfast and dinner. Breakfast and dinner meeting. They sure have a lot of meetings. It's a wonder they're not putting on weight Basically saying Valene, you see this like I see this.

Speaker 1:

Valene's like mama, whatever goes on between me and Gary is between me and Gary. I have to be very careful. Right now Gary's not happy about this book. I'm not trying to upset him, I'm trying to support him in his business. I have to let him do his business. Lily Mae's like girl, please get your gullible country butt out of the clouds. Do you not see what is in front of you? They're just working, mama.

Speaker 1:

Well, luckily, this call, this interaction with Joe, has planted a seed in Gary's head. So the next morning he eats breakfast at home. He makes an effort to eat breakfast, which is a grapefruit and coffee, and I'm like, oh my God, all the acid my heartburn could never. Also, that's a weak breakfast, but I totally remember that being a thing like with cottage cheese. Darlene surprises Gary with a year subscription to Fortune Magazine. She even wraps it all nice Like when he opens it he's well, what is this? And she explains well, if you're going to be the number one businessman in in the world, you need to know what's going on in the world of business. He's touched like dang Eileen what would I do without you? Because you ain't got to worry about that, gary. You don't have to worry about not being without not having me. Well, I guess he was still hungry after breakfast because he and Abby need to have another meeting in this apartment.

Speaker 1:

One of the things I didn't catch the first time that I caught the second time is that Abby, besides having like this killer sweater on I love it so much, it's kind of 40s she's cutting flowers. She's sort of setting up shop. She is playing house. It's a peak inside of her mind a little bit. This to her is a very special time. This is a very real thing and it's not just a role in the hey. She's taking time to set up the atmosphere. She's cutting fresh flowers like that. That means something. It's almost like a honey I'm home moment.

Speaker 1:

When Gary walks in, only he's all doom and gloom and whatnot. He's not ready to just roll and roll. And hey, she greets him as she normally does, and that's when he tells her that this has to stop. She's like well, what do you mean? I got to figure out where my head is. I got to clear my head. I don't know why I'm doing this. She's like I'm kind of getting whiplash here. Yesterday you were perfectly cool, but today is different. He even like hesitates to kiss her. Like you can tell it's really really on his mind. Well, after he speaks his piece, Abby's like okay, if that's what you want, fine, she gives him that million dollar smile, he apologizes and he leaves. She's smiling until he leaves. Then you see the facades just start to crumble. Gary's whole reasoning was that he's like I know it's bad between me and Val and she thinks a lot of it is a book. Maybe it's only a little bit, but I got to figure out why I don't feel bad about this, why I know this is wrong. I can't keep doing this. So, like I said, he leaves and she's all smiling like, okay, cool. But when he leaves, her face drops, shout out to Jupiter for letting me know one of these things.

Speaker 1:

I had mentioned one time, that Abby's character. She always seems so in control, like you never see her break down. She never seems nervous, anxious or even angry, not really. I think this is the first time I've ever seen any emotion from her and what I understand is that Donna Mills made a decision early on that her character would never show any emotion in front of anyone else and she does a damn good job. But to see her sort of crumble, I'm not saying it was sad, but it was just like wow, she really really cares about this. She really really thought this was going to be something spectacular.

Speaker 1:

So that night Joe goes home. Like I said, the walls in Knott's Landing are quite thin because Abby hears his car door shut. She hollers at him, he walks over, she says I'm free Friday. That meeting was canceled. She's none the wiser that Joe has seen her and Gary wrapped in a warm embrace. Joe's like oh, I'm so sorry, girl, I got somebody to go. Ginger's going to go with me. Abby's like really A married woman. Joe's like yeah, I know, Right under everyone's nose, it's tacky.

Speaker 1:

By this time Abby has noticed that Gary is standing in his living room window watching her. So she's all touchy feely on Joe. Joe gently grabs his tie back, goes on about his way. Gary basically spends most of the night staring out of the window. Even Val comes downstairs to be like Harry, you coming to bed, he says no. He sort of snaps at her because she can't understand what he's doing, just staring out of the window. She thinks something happened at work. She doesn't realize that he's staring over at Abby's house. I guess she thinks he's just kind of staring out the window. He snips at her, she heads upstairs. I wanted to slap him when he snapped at her, but I kind of understand. She's asking a lot of questions.

Speaker 1:

This isn't the only time we see Gary standing in front of a window. As a matter of fact, for the rest of the episode this fool is staring out the window. He's in Karen's office staring out her window watching Abby talk to this guy with the microphone. It is very clear that it's a reporter. There's nothing romantic involved. But then he runs up on her right after the guy walks away and he's like okay, who's that? She goes so-and-so from a newspaper. They're curious about the methanol. They think it's kind of cool that we're going up against the big guys.

Speaker 1:

Well, do you have to set a date with him to get the article? And she's like, no, he's going to call me and let me see it as normal. She doesn't get offended, but I got offended for her, mistress or not. What you're not going to do, gary, because you just as hoish as she is, what you're not going to do is use that against her. He is very well versed in how Abby gets down. He's seen it firsthand. He knows the whole thing with Richard. He saw how things went down with the senator. You know how she operates. So how well things went down with the Senator, you know how she operates. So don't try to blow that in her face as if she owes you or anyone else an explanation for that. It's the audacity for me. She blows him off and then he goes.

Speaker 1:

Well, what about Joe? Did Joe need to talk to you too about an article? She's like first and foremost, mind your business. Second, whatever I do with me and mine is none of your business. You have forfeited the right to ask me anything about my personal life anymore, turns on her heels and walks away. I kind of like that. Somebody needs to put him in his place regularly. I like that she does. That Doesn't really matter, though, because she is. She's like an earworm, it's like a song that won't stop playing in your mind over and over and over again. This fool is distracted, he is consumed, he is infatuated, either with her or the thought of her going somewhere else. It is very difficult for me to tell. I know time will tell, but the rest of the episode he's just sort of waiting to catch a glimpse of her is he's just sort of waiting to catch a glimpse of her that night.

Speaker 1:

Val is sitting on the floor at the living room coffee table pouring over books. She better than me. I'm like I need a full seat. She's also wearing that sailor dress that was so popular. I remember my sixth grade teacher. It was completely out of style by then, but she used to wear those. She still had the teased hair. We were well past that, but she loved that sort of sailor dress with the sort of flap in the back. I promise you your mama had one. If you're Gen X or millennial, promise you she had one. So they're sitting in the living room. Val is pouring over books.

Speaker 1:

Gary's just sort of staring out the window for a long time. Then he's like, hey, let's go for a ride. Then he decides he doesn't want to go for a ride. He just sits there and sits there stewing. Valene's not really clocking that because she's studying. When she's done she decides she's going to get up. She's like okay, that's it for me. I'm about to go to bed. We'll write about that time.

Speaker 1:

These paper thin walls allow Gary to hear a car door slam and he understands immediately that it's at Abby's house, even if it's not Abby. Do you know that this? Let me take a sip. This man's got my nerves bad. Gary.

Speaker 1:

Ewing leaps up from his couch, runs to the door like the house is on fire, yells back at Valene oh, I forgot to tell her something this morning at work. He runs out of his door through his gate across the street to Abby's front door where he bursts in demanding to know where is he. Where is he? Gabby said oh, you want to know where he is. He's in the kitchen. Well, he turns out to be a little old lady who's watching Olivia and Brian.

Speaker 1:

They clearly went to Mickey Mouse. They clearly went to Disneyland. Only, I guess they clearly went to disneyland only I guess you couldn't say disneyland on tv. But they have these mouse-shaped balloons that are drawn on and abby introduces hey, this is mrs so-and-so. This is my neighbor, gary ewing. He gets really worried about the kids when they're out past dark. Mrs so-and-so says oh, I'm so sorry, we was having such a good old time. Things ran a little late. Good, good to meet you, mr Ewing.

Speaker 1:

She's out the door on her way, abby sends the children upstairs to bed and Gary's left looking like a fool staring at Abby. He looks real good and dumb. I can't stress that enough. Once they're alone, gary tells her he can't stand the thought of her with another man. She's like I wasn't with another man. That's an old lady. He goes, but you're going to be at some point. She's like you're damn right, you see this, you see it. You don't get to have. Want us together unfettered. He's like I can't do that, can't? She's like cool. She opens her door and ushers him out where he'll. He has to go out abby's door, across the street, through through his gate, through his front door, with his heart heavy and his head down. Body language never lies. And you know what? The most important part of this scene is Valene. The Ewing watched this entire thing from that glass window. She spent scrubbing. She saw him burst into the house. I'm sure she could hear him. If you could hear the car door. You could hear him hooting and hollering across the street. It's a mess. It's a total mess. But it's good, because now she has to act on this.

Speaker 1:

I'm only going to briefly talk about Ginger and Joe for two reasons One, because it was cute enough and it explores a relationship that can be platonic. And number two, we need to discuss her outfit real quick. So Jinger attends the staff dinner with Joe and they have a good time. She was charming, he's charming, it was wonderful. She confesses as they get closer to the house she's like I just don't really want this to end. I feel like a teenager on my first date. And they have a moment. He wants to kiss her. She admits that she wants to kiss them and she even says I wish you would kiss me. He picks up her hand, he kisses it. He's like I know this is not what you mean, but that scene happened because it shows you don't have to take it to the next level. She just wanted to get out of the house and have a good time. Also, she and her husband are in a good place, so when they went inside I'm sure they had a good time.

Speaker 1:

But she's wearing that 1970s sort of bridal. No, no, no, it's not 1970s, it's 1870s. She could easily be on the set of Tombstone as a bride getting married just as easily as she shows up on this show on this day. I didn't realize that the prairie look was that popular. It is lace, it is sepia, it is a whole lot going on. It don't look great.

Speaker 1:

Well, the next morning it would appear that our good sister, the Vidalia Onion Queen, has either been up all night pondering, or she woke up hella, hella early to go ahead and build up the strength to do what she needs to do. Now this is the day that Richard is to return, so Laura has already stopped by the night previous. Valene and Lily May have been tasked with going to get Jason. They don't want Laura dropping him off, I suppose. Okay, keep that in mind. Things are going on this day. A lot of movement.

Speaker 1:

Valene goes into the bedroom. Gary is fast asleep. Apparently he had a rough night. Valene sits down on the side of the bed where Gary is. She says, gary, are you and Abby having an affair? Now he's asleep, so he wakes up. He's like what, are you and Abby having an affair? I want you to tell me right now. Well, he starts getting pissed. I can't believe you're bringing this up about this. Mofo Once again leaps up out of bed in his baby blue shorts, storms to the bathroom and slams the door.

Speaker 1:

Valene is beaten on the bathroom door. Gary, gary, let me in. You better tell me, gary, I just can't believe what a oh what a coward, what a coward. He hadn't tried to hide this at all and he's been so consumed he don't even realize that val is saying the whole thing. That's the thing. He doesn't realize that people have seen him with this woman. It is quite obvious to anybody who even glances their way. Never mind that Valene needs answers and she ain't stopping until she gets them.

Speaker 1:

So she goes downstairs, out her front door, out her gate, across the street, to Abby's front door, where she too burst in to Abby's house. Now Abby is standing at the foot of the steps like oh hey, val. Valene immediately says to hell with the salutations Abby, are you and my husband having an affair? Abby gives her that look. Oh my, valene, my, my, my. You've got that writer's imagination, don't you All these wild things in your head? Valene says that didn't answer my question, abby. So Abby immediately starts playing the semi sort of victim. Why is it? Wicked, wicked, abby. It's always me ruining something. But the truth is, maybe he does need someone a little more exciting, like me. He didn't need a mother. He didn't need somebody who only sees his flaws, need somebody who sees his strengths as well. Valene says I see that man the way I've always seen him since I was 15 years old. Don't talk to me about his strengths and weaknesses. Answer my question, abby. Are you and my husband having an affair? She says I'm not saying we are, I'm not saying we're not, but I am saying that I can have him anytime I want, anytime I won't.

Speaker 1:

Earlier that day, karen had stopped by to ask Abby to go to Richard's house and water plants and stuff and she's like oh, I'm so, so busy. Karen's like you need to do it. Just, everybody else has a task except you Go do it. Abby says well, what about Gary? Gary's apparently had a hard night. Now this is Karen letting her know that she knows what's up. Apparently, gary had a really rough night, hard night. Now this is Karen letting her know that she knows what's up. Apparently, gary had a really rough night last night. He sound asleep. Abby says no, but she can't help one more time. And Karen says oh, that's right, you only wreck homes, you don't help fix them. So it's funny that this is in the back of her head and she's still unfazed.

Speaker 1:

So back to Valene. And she, mind you, all this is happening while Valene is dressed in a full on prairie garb like weird looking skirt with an underskirt, cowboy boots, long sleeve 18th century button shirt with the big poofy sleeves, and then it's tight down the rest After. Abby says I can have him anytime, I want Val's kind of like, oh my God, oh my God. She tries to turn on her heels and walk out. Abby says Abby can't just let it go. She runs up behind her like okay, valene, does that give you your answer? Do you understand? Valene understands all right, it's time to bring that Tennessee thunder. So she reaches back to Memphis, comes all the way across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, down across Abby's face, so satisfying Abby's hair goes flying back. She deserved that. She really really did, because at the end of the day, what has Valene ever done to her Ever? It's one thing to steal the man, but what you're not going to do is talk to me like I'm the problem.

Speaker 1:

We don't see Val anymore this episode, but we do see Gary standing in front of yet another window watching Abby's house like a hawk. Now Abby knows he's at home. I don't know if she knew he was watching, but maybe she had a hunch. Maybe she just knows the power she has over him. So she puts on her shortest shorts you can see a little booty cheek at some point in this white blouse. It is cute, I'm not even going to hate. With her heels she saunters out her front door, down the sidewalk, up Richard's walkway and into his house. Gary Ewing is watching like a hawk from the window. He puts on an extra medium shirt, goes downstairs out his door, out out his gate, across the street into Richard's house where he and Abby take one long lingering lover's look at each other and it's on and popping again. End scene. Excellent episode.

Speaker 1:

I was frozen in place the whole time. I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this is really going down. So they're both aware that Val's aware at this point. I just don't even know where you go from here. I don't even see how you could pretend, if you're Valene, that nothing is wrong. I don't know how she's going to move through this.

Speaker 1:

At the top of this episode I shared the story of the cat and mouse partnership. The comparison came because, even as a kid, I remember listening to this story and reading it on my own and thinking there's no way the mouse didn't know that, eventually, this was going to happen. I suppose, though, hope is kind of funny that way. When I read that as a kid, I kind of expected the cat to pounce on her at some other point, or maybe trick her into some sort of trap, or I thought maybe the mouse would catch the cat eating other mice or something like that. But the truth is, nothing is as blinding as Hope.

Speaker 1:

It'd be real easy to paint Abby as a cat in this scenario, being deceitful, sort of sneaky, sort of plotting all this time, but the truth is she never pretended to be anything else. Abby has always been Abby. Or is Gary the cat content to tell the mouse about all these baptisms that he needs to go to because he's important and special? And oh, you're crazy. You just have these little mouse fantasies because you're always in the house, never fully taking her seriously, eating her hope whole, bit by bit, bite by bite, until it was all gone. She had no choice but to accept it at the last minute. It'd be real easy to say that and it's kind of hard to decide who. At the last minute It'd be real easy to say that and it's kind of hard to decide who was a bigger villain. But when it comes to Valene, the Vidalia Onion Queen Ewing, nobody and I do mean nobody is a bigger villain to Valene Ewing than Valene Ewing. In my opinion, val was every character in that story.

Speaker 1:

The cat and mouse partnership Hear me out, hear me out. I mean, obviously she's a mouse, she's at home, naive, sort of believing that all this is true, even though she has a clue, she's clever enough to decide that they need to store something away for them. I feel like the pot of fat was symbolized in this situation, like her hope, her dreams, what she really thinks. This relationship can and will be Long. As I play the part and don't upset him, I can have this. Let me just let the cat do what he needs to do. Only the cat is the part of her that knows that is sort of fighting for her to do something.

Speaker 1:

You had to lie to yourself in order to believe that nothing was going on. Lie to yourself over and over. Oh it's just, he has to have this celebration, he has to be at the baptism, he has to have these meetings, he has to work, he has to do these things but at the same time, by believing and feeding into that lie, you were eating away at your own dream. She consumed her own dream. I know it's a little out there, but just think about it. This isn't a love triangle. This is a mirror. This is a mirror of what happens when you don't accept the things that are right in front of you, when you don't challenge the thing that is right in front of you. You knew what this was a long time ago. She saw this coming many, many moons ago. It's one thing for Gary to lie to you, it's another to lie to yourself.

Speaker 1:

I saw something this week where it said resentment it's never really about the person you're resentful towards. It's you being upset with yourself for not defending yourself, for not believing yourself when you have the opportunity to Great episode, gary is forever back on my you know what list. I can't stand him, but I also can't deny the chemistry when I tell you I cannot wait to watch the finale. I say, oh my gosh, I'm so excited. The writers did their big ones with this one and you're going to have to join me next time to see what happens.

Speaker 1:

All right, guys, that's it. That's all for this episode of Soap Lore. I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did In the meantime. In between time, go read some old fables. There's a lot of wisdom locked inside of those and let me know what you think. You can always reach out to me at so4podcasts at gmailcom. Send me a nice little email, let me know what you think. That's S-O-A-P-L-O-R-E-P-O-D-C-A-S-T at gmailcom, or you can send me a text in the show notes on your mobile device. Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and keep all of your drama on tv. Thank you, bye.