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Sometimes a single moment can change everything we thought we knew about our favorite characters. That's exactly what happened in this unexpected reaction episode to Knots Landing Season 3, Episode 11 "Power Play" – a game-changing installment that left me gasping in disbelief and rushing to record my raw, unfiltered thoughts.
What begins as Gary's passionate pursuit of a methanol fuel business opportunity quickly spirals into something far more provocative. When Karen refuses to invest the $200,000 needed for the venture, Abby Cunningham strategically positions herself as Gary's biggest supporter – offering money, encouragement, and ultimately, a betrayal that rocks the Ewing household. The seeds of discontent have been subtly planted throughout the season, but watching them bloom into a forbidden attraction in a Mexican barn filled with repurposed moonshine equipment is nothing short of shocking.
The real heartbreak comes through watching Valene's genuine attempts to support her husband while maintaining reasonable boundaries. Her thoughtful preparation of a special dinner upon Gary's return, complete with candles and a new dress, juxtaposed with his cold behavior and constant praise of Abby, creates a devastating portrait of a marriage under siege. When Gary ultimately declares he needs "a friend" and doesn't have one in the room, we witness the power play in its most raw form – the calculated manipulation of a man's ambition to drive a wedge between husband and wife.
Whether you're a longtime fan of Knots Landing or discovering this dramatic turning point for the first time, this episode analysis captures all the emotional nuance, character motivations, and neighborhood dynamics that make this series so compelling. Join me for an unfiltered reaction that's equal parts analysis and visceral response to one of the most pivotal moments in the show's history. And remember – it's always better to keep your drama on TV!
Landing Power Play, and usuallymy routine is I might push play
If I'm watching on a laptop, Idon't really worry about it as
much Just fast forward throughthe title sequence.
They do this little thing wherethey give you several scenes
(00:23):
from the show and, by allintents and purposes, I've been
avoiding that as much as I could.
Today, however, on a whim, Ithought let me watch Knots
Landing so that I can go aheadand get a feel for it.
The show has not started, butthe gasp, I just gasped.
You have got to be shitting me.
(00:44):
Okay, lord, have mercy.
I need it.
Abby, let me.
So please forgive my stammeringand stuttering.
Let me just say this I don'tknow what to say.
I don't know what to say.
I don't know what to say Like.
(01:05):
Yes, she was into him, rightFor a little bit.
That was just an episode or twoon the previous season.
I really thought that thing wasclosed.
She didn't seem to be all thatinterested in him.
She did show a little bit ofinterest at the beginning of
this season, however, why?
Why Girl?
(01:33):
Okay of this season.
However, why why girl?
Okay, let's do the intro andthen I'm gonna watch this, lord
well, and I can get through thiswithout accident.
T total fool.
In the back of my mind I'mthinking, okay, flirty, flirty,
abby, no big deal.
I didn't think Gary would gofor it.
But in this opening you knowsynopsis sequence thing damn it,
I can't believe.
I'm mad at myself, first of allfor seeing it.
(01:54):
It wasn't as if I wasn't goingto see it, but now I got to
watch this with that knowledgein the back of my head.
Now, pardon my language, y'all.
Let's get this show started.
Screw this, my language, y'all.
Let's.
Let's get this show started.
Screw this, I'm not gonna beable to do it.
I made it four minutes and 21seconds.
Cute little guy.
Do you remember the gasaholepisode?
Or yeah, I think it's calledgasahol, that cute little guy
(02:16):
with the mustache.
He's back and apparently he hasbeen very chummy with gary.
And they're working on turninggas a hole, or methyl, whatever
alternative gas options.
I can appreciate Gary'sexcitement.
However, they have the entireshop with these.
(02:36):
You know it's super loud.
They're revving engines orthey're running these diagnostic
tests Looks like everybody'shooked up to one of those heart
monitoring machines whichclearly now it's probably for a
car.
But there seems to be quite abit of pomp surrounding this
particular project and in allthe excitement, abby seems to be
(02:58):
there.
She's reading the test results.
She seems just as excited asgary and the short gas guy.
So they go to karen's officeand they're trying to convince
her to I don't know reach whereinto her blue blood bank account
that I didn't know she had andpull out two hundred thousand
dollars.
(03:18):
Short gas man says he has alittle farm, he doesn't have
enough money to do whatever heneeds to do.
And something occurs to me.
First and foremost, I'm sopissed off at myself.
I wish I hadn't seen that.
Now I'm forced to sort of lookat I don't know what I'm trying
to say.
I know that Gary is growingright.
(03:39):
He's this mother.
He just got back on my not goodside, but okay side, like he's
keeping his mouth shut thisseason.
Keeping his mouth shut, shirtoff.
I can deal with you.
However, what I'm seeing Idon't necessarily dislike.
He seems to be very focused,he's very passionate, he's very
excited.
Oh, I just don't like that.
(04:03):
Abby's in the mix like that.
Aren't you supposed to becooking the books?
I know what I was gonna say.
I don't like the ganging up onKaren presenting this
information.
I understand you guys areexcited, but then I remembered
isn't this what Sid sort of gotkilled in behind?
Maybe not the necessarily thatparticular engine, but his
(04:25):
engine?
Well, no, I guess that didn'thave anything to do with it.
Gary's various activities withthe mafia is what eventually got
Sid killed.
If you really think about itNot trying to, I mean, you can't
directly blame him for theaccident itself.
Someone made a choice to cutthe kids breaks and he
unfortunately didn't survivethat.
(04:46):
But the last time there was aharebrained scheme or a get rich
quick or any sort of movingparts in and out of the
dealership that weren't 100%legal or 100% legit, gary was
behind it.
It's annoying to me to see heand Abby so gung-ho in Karen's
face.
The fact that she trusts eitherof you is a miracle.
(05:08):
Had Sid never passed away, I'mpretty sure this wouldn't have
worked out the way it did.
But it's the audacity.
For me, the thing about Gary isyes, you are ambitious.
Yes, you are on the mend.
Yes, he's had a rough time time.
He's had a very rough emotionallife and I'm not trying to take
away from that.
However, this is a big deal.
(05:31):
He ends up getting a little bitupset at karen because she and
she decides she's not going totake, she's not going to jump in
bed with p.
That's his name, beautiful,short, mustachioed man.
She's.
She's not sid.
You know what I'm saying.
She's very, very new to thisbusiness, so she's never going
to be able to she.
Let me take that back.
It's not that she will never beable to make the same decisions
(05:51):
he would have, but he would bemaking the decision off of
experience and know-how and justkind of a really, really good
understanding of vehicles andhow they work.
I do tend to believe he mayhave gone for it because he was
already building thisalternative engine.
But here's a kicker Abby'scoming in a little bit too hot
(06:12):
for me personally.
She's pissed.
For whatever reason she is,she's wanting to get in on this
deal.
This is the first time in mymemory that I remember her
saying anything about money.
She seems to be ambitious inthat way.
It also occurred to me that shehas the blueprints for Sid's
(06:34):
engine.
Don't think anybody elseremembers that she has that or
that she gave them to JR ratherso stanza say, perhaps there's
been some dirty dealings behindback.
I hadn't seen another Ewing inabout four episodes or probably
due for a guest appearance atsome point.
Starting to forget this is aspinoff.
Only I'm not Coming from moneylike Gary did.
(06:56):
I can understand him wanting totake the risk.
He sees the opportunity and,yes, he has a little bit better
knowledge than Karen about thecar business, but I don't think
it's so much the car as it isthe business.
Now he's also from oil, so heunderstands energy, but he
doesn't understand big risks, ormaybe she doesn't understand
(07:17):
big risks.
I just think him coming fromthe family he came from.
Yeah, you're probably used tothrowing money away.
People don't have 200 extra,200,000 extra dollars to toss at
anything.
Karen's whole thing is like Ihave 75 employees and and kids.
The last thing I want to do isput myself in a bind and not be
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able to get out of it.
I don't have the know-how.
I don't have a wherewithal forthat.
Sid did I?
I'm not Sid Abby's pissed.
She's like you know what.
You're being very disrespectfulto my brother and you're trying
to pin this on me becauseKaren's whole thing is like Abby
.
Why are you in the mix likethis, karen?
I mean, abby claims she is justlike Sid.
Now the Sid I remember was notthat ambitious, do you guys
(08:00):
agree?
I mean, he seemed 100% investedin that engine but he didn't
really seem to be business savvy.
Gary came in, remember.
Gary came in and set up theinfrastructure and understood
the assignment, but with thisbeing Karen's business and her
(08:21):
money, she has a right to say no.
So he's chewing on this, he'sthinking about it and and he
decides he's going to go intobusiness with Pete himself.
He just has to come up with themoney.
Val is supportive.
She and Lily Mae are like oh mygod, gary, this is so wonderful
, this is so awesome.
But oh my girl, val, she'slistening to him and he's, you
(08:43):
know, he's super excited, he'ssuper up.
He's talking about the millionsand then the billions of
dollars they're going to makeand he jumps up from the dinner
table to go make a phone call.
He wants to catch Pete beforePete decides to sign a deal with
this oil company that wants tobuy him up.
Now Gary's thought is like no,they don't want to buy you out
per se, they're not going to putthe methanol out there, they're
(09:10):
going to shut you down.
What better, what better way todo that than to buy up your
company so that it never seesthe light of day.
So Val is talking to Lily Maeand she's uncomfortable.
This woman's instincts are onpoint.
It's not just the instincts,but remember she.
She's been with him on morethan one bender.
She's been with him with hishigh highs and his low lows.
It's as if she sees thispattern.
So he's on the phone, he callsMexico, he's trying to talk to
(09:32):
Pete's wife, but he don't speakany Spanish, which is very hard
to believe because in Dallas allof the staff that works for him
are Spanish speaking people.
So I can't understand why hedidn't pick up some.
Especially in texas in the 70sor 60s.
There's got to be vaqueros allover the branch, I would think,
but he don't.
He doesn't know how to speakspanish.
So he put, to my shock, all insurprise, he put valine the
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vidalia onion queen.
Vidalia, the onion queen isbilingual, she habla espanol,
just like that.
What is onion in spanish isthat cebolla.
She's la lena, la rena cebolla,I think.
(10:16):
Anyway, her and mrs pete aretrying to communicate with each
other.
He wanted her to say tell petenot to talk to the oil company
in Spanish.
And Balleen is like listen,baby, listen, my Spanish is
pleasantries and and less.
I can't really say a whole lotlike that.
Forgot she was a waitress.
Maybe she picked up a littlesomething when she was traveling
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across the country.
Well, while she's on, the Abbycomes waltzing into her home,
hyped up, saying listen, I canput in $50,000.
You can mortgage your house andthen you can get the money.
That way, your money, my money.
Together we got $200,000.
And all this occurs while Val'son the phone.
She eventually is able tocommunicate with Mrs Pete and
(11:01):
say hey, tell Pete to call SenorGary Ewing.
Next thing, you know, he'srunning upstairs.
He's like I'm going to go talkto Pete now.
I'm going to fly down to Mexico.
So he runs upstairs and Valeneruns behind him like wait, what
the actual F?
What just happened?
I'm on the phone for 30 seconds.
You're making big plans.
This ain't adding up.
Now this is where things canstart to get a little bit sticky
(11:26):
.
This is where he pisses me offagain.
I'm going to try my very bestto be I can be diplomatic.
I don't have to try that hard.
I can be diplomatic.
I don't want to, but I will.
Gary is good at business.
Gary has brought Sid's businessback from the dead.
He has pumped new life intothat car dealership and he's
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probably the reason Karen isable to make a decision.
She's in a position to say nobecause Gary has done so well at
the business.
Okay, I fully accept that.
Having something on his own, heseems to thrive.
He's hardworking enough, he'stenacious enough, he's creative
enough to be successful.
With all that being said, itstill doesn't mean that Valene
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would share that exact samesentiment.
She's looking at this from theother angle.
She's asking all the rightquestions.
Quite frankly, I was impressedwith her line of questioning
Gary why so soon?
Why would you mortgage out ourhouse?
And he's like it was a giftfrom my mom.
He's right.
She says okay, okay.
She's thinking this is security, this is not a home.
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She's never had a real home.
Think about that.
Gary grew up in the lap ofluxury, although it was
dysfunctional luxury.
There's luxury Even when, inhis wild, wild days, he could
always come back home to thatranch.
She has never had that, soobviously she's going to be
protective of it.
But she says Gary, listen, if$200,000 will get you into this
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business, obviously I want youin the business.
But, baby, all I'm saying is isthere a reason methanol isn't
bigger?
Is there a reason it's not themost popular thing going right
now?
She's just asking questions assomeone who was about to have
her house mortgage dropped.
I will give Gary a little bitmore credit.
He tries to be understanding,but then he flips it on her.
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He starts gaslighting her as ifevery time he has a harebrained
idea, she looks down on him.
You know what?
Every time you have aharebrained idea, it turns out
to be a harebrained idea.
This woman has supported him.
She has given him the space togrow and you can tell she's
stiff.
She's back to tiptoeing aroundhim upstairs.
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I will give him credit.
He did try to control himself.
He wanted her to pack hisdrawers so that he could go to
the airport.
That that come on, gary.
Okay, it was just a this isright before.
He took off his shirt, by theway.
So, yes, now we're all thinkingabout your underwear.
You're shirtless, we get it.
I get it, not slanding, I getit, but you just I hate to see
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this woman fold into herself,and you know what I'm actually
getting pissed off, the morethat I think about this.
They just did that hocus pocushalloween special where we saw
kind of the fragility of hermind, the the hairpin trigger
she's on emotionally and now, asshe voices a very relevant
concern, he's oh, you don'tbelieve me.
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You never believed me.
Gary, you can.
That statement is true aboutalmost every other person in
your life, but it ain't trueabout valine.
It ain't true about the vidaliaonion queen.
So next thing, you know, Ithought this mofo supposed to be
getting on a plane.
Valene called the airport andmade his reservation.
Can you imagine?
(14:49):
Oh my gosh, called the airport,made the reservation.
Why is the next scene in Abby'shouse?
Now, I got pissed halfwaythrough.
I'll admit I made it 19 minutes.
I'm so mad at myself.
I'm so mad at myself.
If you are a newbie, do better.
I made it this far.
(15:10):
I've been watching this stufffor three years.
I've made it this far withouthaving that happen.
I understand the rhythm ofthese shows enough to leave the
room or fast forward or havesomeone else do it.
I got comfortable today.
I thought you know what I haveto fill out all these stupid
packages.
Let me do this while I'mwatching, not saying anything,
and look at myself.
Now I've already I've formed anopinion, but the show is still
(15:32):
revealing itself.
Gary also calls her a wage slaveNot Abby, but Valene, sir.
What if you ever heard a moreprivileged statement out of
anyone's mouth, a more come onnow.
All she was saying is like,look you, you're doing well, you
have a good job.
You have this like, yes, atrisk.
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You should be nervous whenyou're taking a risk.
That's part of it.
But I can't stand this month.
I can't stand him.
I can't stand him.
He's back on my list.
Let me shut up so I can watchthis and be mad all over again.
And when did Abby become DrFrickin' Phil all of a sudden?
I know you, gary, you've got itin you.
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I know you.
I don't mean to pry, but Valenejust wants to keep the status
quo.
Bitch, why don't you put Jeff'smoney where your mouth is?
Why don't you come up with thefull $200,000 in your free
99-ass house too?
That's the problem.
She and Gary don't really payno bills.
You don't live in the realworld.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a little bit of doubt
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when someone has this magicalgas.
It's gonna.
It's gonna take over the world.
Plus, she's sitting on a secretwith that engine.
Come on now.
I'm so mad, I'm so upset.
I understand, like I knew shewas a bad girl.
I know this now I know this.
But what the fuck do you wantwith?
My mouth is horrible today.
There's gonna be so many beepsduring this.
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What do you want with Gary?
Is it the money?
Is this?
Is that what I'm missing?
Because she is talking to himlike my third grade teacher when
I wanted to audition for thechoir and I didn't make it
because I sounded like thatfaint baby goat.
You just keep trying.
No, no, no, bro, it's okay.
It's great to believe in him,it's great to step out on this
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venture, but put your or Jeff'smoney where your mouth is.
Put up all the money, since youbelieve in Gary Ewing so bad.
That's the thing.
She didn't see him when he wasacting a teetotal fool at the
end of season one, when he wasripping and running all up and
down drinking mouthwash beer onthe beach with the hobos and
losers and whatnot.
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She don't remember that.
Remember he almost got in afist fight in the liquor store,
almost sold his Cadillac to ahooker with a heart of gold, or
he did sell it, didn't he?
I'm not going back to watchthat.
We got to focus on the task athand, abby ain't.
Let me just say that right now,paint my girl as no loser.
She's not a loser.
But in the same breath I'm goingto say this it might be time
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for Val to either pop off orwalk off, because tiptoeing
around this man is notsustainable.
His whole thing while he's atAbby's house is like.
You would think she'd beexcited to see a little ambition
in me, sir.
When has she not been yourbiggest cheerleader?
She celebrates your ambition.
She even bigs you up like dude.
You're doing a great job here.
But this is risky.
(18:21):
I'm all for it.
I know I could be out of houseand home if you don't make, if
you're not successful.
Of course Abby can do that.
She had an ex-husband, she'sliving on alimony and she's got
a job where she she went to ajob cooked the books and still
has the same job.
Talk to me like that.
(18:42):
I just talked to all that ish.
And then gary gave a littleslice, he gave a little fly
smile on the couch and I'm likeokay, I get it.
God.
Pull yourself together, jed.
I'm gonna say this now, at 20minutes and six seconds.
I'm telling you now.
I'm telling you now if thisbecomes a real thing, I will
(19:09):
never, ever, ever forgive them.
I will never, ever, everforgive them.
I will never forgive them.
Who wrote this?
I'm calming down.
I'm calming down.
Thank you very much.
He's just smiling all in herdamn face like a Cheshire cat.
Oh, there he goes.
Now he wants to go back home.
(19:29):
I've reduced myself to puttingthis on mute and just reading
the subtitles, because everylittle thing he does is pissing
me off.
Vowels was on the phone like agood little wife, making his
whole plans for his flight.
Why is this fool wearing a suitjacket at night?
He's a clown.
He's a clown.
He's a joke.
(19:49):
No, it is.
Is you gotta dump people?
Sometimes you just gotta.
Vali needs to scrape her entiresocial plate all the way off and
then scoop back in who shewants.
She can get a little scoop ofkaren.
Laura seems to be cool.
She can stick around.
Jinder ain't really botheringnobody.
It has also been.
It has also come to myattention that I may or may not
(20:11):
be throwing shade at.
I really don't have anyintention of doing that towards
her.
I think it's more towards kennythan anything.
But I'm gonna stop being asdismissive as I am when it comes
to gender.
I apologize.
I really don't have anyanimosity towards her, but kind
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of A little.
I guess this episode.
Lily Mae left her mixtape AtKenny and Ginger's and he
snatched it out.
I can't relax with this.
So he puts on some sleaziermusic, lovely.
But Lily Mae comes downstairs,gary goes back home and it's
tense, tense.
Valene is calling who she needsto call to make sure he can get
(20:54):
on a plane to go have thisraggedy deal and she apologizes
once again.
Stop apologizing, he is a bigboy.
If he can't take it, that's notyour problem.
So as he's leaving, you know heain't.
He was just smiling all you seeall of his teeth when he was
smiling at abby.
But when it's valine, he walked, damn near walked, to the door
(21:16):
like you're not gonna kiss yourwife, goodbye, you can't be
bothered to.
To comfort her, he doeseventually walk over.
They hug I love you, I love you.
He leaves.
Lily may was ear hustlingsurprise, surprise from the top
of the stairs.
She comes downstairs and she'slike you want, want my advice.
You got to stand by your man,not on top of him.
Okay, patsy, debit carddeclined.
(21:36):
Did you stand on top of yourman or beside him when you left
Balene in that holler with adead body on Christmas?
No, you didn't.
She's not wrong, but she's notright in this.
Stop gaslighting.
If one more person gaslights bya lean, I'm going to have a fit
.
I'm gonna drown this woman.
So there was a whole lily mayinterlude.
(21:58):
But damn it, I'll be damned ifabby didn't get on a plane and
get down to mexico.
So the next day I don't evenremember where I was when I
stopped talking.
Gary's in mexico.
He calls abby the next day toexplain hey, it doesn't.
It looks like he went with the.
Pete went with the corporation,not us.
She decides she's gonna flydown to Mexico.
She calls Richard, goes overthere and talks to him like okay
(22:19):
, is there anything we can do,gary and I, to stop this deal
from going through?
Richard explains the legalityof everything.
Ie, if someone at thecorporation was listening in on
the conversation that was hadwith Pete, that's technically a
legally binding contract.
Blah, blah, blah.
Well, laura comes in becausethis is early in the morning.
(22:40):
Laura comes in.
She hears a little bit.
She knows that Abby's going toMexico.
So she's like hey, richard, whydon't you go with her?
Abby gets all offended Like whyIsn't that jumping the gun,
isn't isn't that too much?
No, you didn't say that when itwas time to cough off the money
for this here experimental gasthing.
So it, laura.
I don't know what Laura's playis.
She seems to have completelygotten over the fact that
(23:01):
Richard and Abby bangedregularly just a few months ago.
She's over that.
She's like no, no, no, you showup with a lawyer.
It could, just, it could workin your favor.
I think you should.
I'll go ahead and make thereservation.
She reserves a ticket forRichard.
He and Abby head on down toMexico.
When they get to Mexico, thedeal with the corporation and
(23:23):
Pete has already fallen through.
Pete got the banks in Mexico tosay they couldn't do the deal
because it was with an Americancompany, something like that.
The whole point is it looks likeeverything's free and clear for
Abby and Gary to step on in, solater that night.
You know they're smiling ateach other.
(23:43):
They're just so cute.
It's so cute Taking a look atthe grounds.
They go into the barn and weget to see the equipment that is
making the methanol.
Am I slow Because Gary'sexplaining to Abby that Pete's
grandpa used to run amoonshining business back in the
(24:03):
day and all this equipment isnow used to turn the wheat into
grass, wheat into alcohol.
Is this running on booze?
It's the same thing, right?
I guess maybe it's notdistilled, it is technically
moonshine.
I know there's somebody fromTennessee or Georgia or
(24:25):
something listening to me.
Let me know Not that I'm saying, let me be clear, not that I'm
saying.
Let me be clear, not that I'msaying people from tennessee and
georgia drink moonshine.
But I know if you're intennessee you probably know a
lot more than I do aboutdistilleries and whatnot.
It's a bigger business.
Plus, you know moonshine gotthem good mountains, that good
spring water.
Anyway, it's really bugging mebecause back in California
(24:52):
Valene shows up to thedealership.
She shows up the next daylooking for Abby From the night
previous when she hugged Gary toget on the plane.
She shows up that next morningand not landing motor to talk to
Abby because Valene had heardfrom Gary all day.
She just wanted to see if Abbyhad due to their business
(25:12):
relationship.
Only when she gets there.
Laura and Karen are about to goto lunch, karen's like oh no,
abby's down in Mexico.
Valene's stomach drops.
She leaves Later that day.
She and Karen are having tea.
She's telling Karen listen, Ijust don't like it.
I mean I can't seem to sayanything, right, he thinks I
don't believe in him Anything.
(25:33):
Abby says he's jumping up anddown.
She's basically like I have areally bad feeling about this.
Karen's like girl Abby actslike that with everybody.
Gary is not interested in Abby,as far as we know.
This is just business.
He don't want her like that.
And she tries to fix her mouthto say and Abby would not, but
(25:55):
she can't even say it, she justswallowed it down.
Like you know, abby's justbeing Abby and Valene's like
yeah, no, so flashback, let's goback to this barn scene.
She's Abby's now touching allthe 1920s distillery equipment.
Oh my god, I can feel it.
I can feel it.
She's's getting all.
She's building up momentum.
I see what you're doing, I seeyou, baby.
Now side note, this is bad girlone-on-one.
(26:16):
I can hate the game.
I'm starting to hate the playera little bit, but she's oh my
gosh, I can feel it.
Touch it, gary, touch it.
She's being somewhat sensual.
The more she talks.
You can see that he's gettingexciting.
We grown here.
Okay, I'm not saying that kindof excited, but he's definitely.
He is mentally excited, he isenthralled with her.
(26:36):
He is like, yeah, yeah, yeah,she's hyping him up.
Touch it, gary.
I got a feeling.
I just want to feel this.
I want to feel how it feelsright before this moment.
I know this is a special momentfor us.
For us, you know what shereminds me of not what, whom of
Lucy in this scene.
There's something about hergiddy nature.
(26:58):
There's something about herexcitement.
There's something about thetone in her voice.
It reminds me of Lucy.
I know what's going to happenbecause, oh my god, so this is
ridiculous.
I can feel it, gary.
I can feel.
I can feel it inside of me,gary, can't you?
I know it's going to happenbecause, oh my God, I'm so
ridiculous.
I can feel it, gary.
I can feel it inside of me.
Gary, can't you Come on now?
This country, bama, backwoods,burnt barbecue, eating
(27:23):
highfalutin hillbilly lets outthis whoop, ridiculous whoop, in
this damn barn.
I can't, standary, i'ma chokehim out y'all.
I swear I'm gonna do it.
This mother lover after makingout, let me go ahead and put
that out there.
For those of you didn't know,they make out in the distillery
(27:44):
in front of the weed hall.
Alcohol, methanol, whatever thehell it's called.
Make out in front of that.
He, you know who the voice offreaking reason is richard.
You know you're in trouble whenrichard who the voice of
freaking reason is richard.
You know you're in trouble whenrichard is the voice of reason.
So they go back to the houseand they're walking back to the
house, he and abby, and she'slike aren't you gonna talk about
it?
There's nothing to talk about.
You know, he does that littleprune thing with his mouth.
He don't want to say nothing.
He's acting like everything isgucci and golden.
(28:04):
But then they give each otherthis warm sort of look like oh,
we're knowing, we're knowing I'm.
Oh.
So later that night gary issitting on the front porch
looking like mr rogers, full, uh, button down shirt, long sleeve
shirt in mexico, come on now,sitting out on the porch,
richard comes out and he's likeyou know about me and abby last
(28:25):
year, right?
Gary's like yeah, what of it,don't don't.
What of it, boozy, you're gonnalisten to me, rummy.
Richard tells him in not somany words you, you know me and
Laura weren't doing the best.
I thought I would never cheat.
But then I did and I thought itwas fun for a little bit.
But guess what?
It was not.
It was a bad idea, it wastrouble.
I'm telling you this quietly,sir, on this porch in Mexico, it
(28:51):
was trouble.
Do with that information whatyou will do.
You know what he does with thisinformation.
Do you know what he does?
He suppresses it, he stuffs itdown inside.
Then he has the audacity totake his narrow ass home.
The next day, valine is dressedin a pleated silk, uh, pink gown
or old lady dress.
It'd be an old lady dress today.
She has dolled herself up andshe's like hey, gary, how was
the trip?
He don't even say hi, bella,he's trying to go upstairs.
(29:12):
Oh, abby will be over here in aminute, oh, and Valene's trying
to say something, but he ain'treally listening.
She's like well, dinner's ready.
They cut the corner.
She has a candelabras lit.
It is a warm, you know, quietsetting.
She got dressed up for him.
She got dressed up for him.
She told him specifically, shegot dressed up for him.
This fool want to sit down andstart talking about the whole
trip.
Oh, we call this and this andthere's so much room and Abby is
(29:35):
so smart she can put all these.
Can you believe this has thenerve to talk about how
wonderful Abby is and how clevershe is and how great ideas were
and it's just so wonderful.
This, that and the third andshe forgot her bag, but she'll
be over in a minute.
You had all this conversationabout and two and four, another
woman, but you couldn't call mewhen you was in mexico.
And this mother lover has anerve to walk into the house
(29:56):
empty handed.
How you going a whole assbusiness trip and not bring your
wife back anything anywayeventually.
Valine's like garrett.
You are unfreaking, believable.
Don't you see dick?
Do you not see the obvious?
Do you not see this dress?
That that I did?
She even cut out her ponytailtoday and did it in a little
Nubian knot on the side of herhead.
You know how she likes awhimsical hairdo.
(30:16):
And also, do you know howdifficult it is People may not
know this.
It is very difficult to sit ina silky skirt on a silky seat.
She is slipping and sliding,trying her best.
You know how strong your thighmuscles have to be to hold
yourself upright to listen tothis bull.
You want to talk about Abby thewhole time?
Then this How's the nerve?
I had to stop it.
(30:37):
I had to stop it.
He has a nerve to be like whatare you jealous?
Are you for real?
This is why I can't stand him.
This is exactly what I'mtalking about.
He is a child.
He is a grown man child who hasno focus for anyone or anything
but himself.
All of a sudden he thinks he'shim.
What you?
He's a flaw.
(31:01):
Y'all I could.
You're lucky I wasn't born whenthis came out.
Ewing, this would have been aproblem.
Oh, she's good, this one.
I've underestimated that.
Oh god.
Okay, pull myself together.
Oh my god, before I get tooworked up, I just want to say
that my girl, lily Mae, has aslippery teed her way into
(31:25):
Kenny's business.
She showed up at his studio toto say hey, kenny, what did you
think of my mixtape?
He was like can't sing you,I'll beat you this, that.
And the third.
She was like okay, but what yousaying, though?
When can I expect my recorddeal, sir?
She's like yeah, she's heardworse, but she's like what I'm
(31:45):
not gonna do is be inside of amusic studio and not make no
music, baby, I'm gonna make herdo what it do?
Lily Mae from Tennessee.
Lily Mae hits a corner and shefinds, um, lionel Richie's
cousin.
I get the feeling this manmight be a star.
I'll have to go look him up.
I don't remember his name Noton top of my list right now but
(32:05):
she starts chatting with him andhe hears her accent.
This lovely black man looks likeLionel Richie's stunt double.
Let's call him Lion Wealthy,lion Wealthy.
He has a little tickle in histhroat.
You know you can't hardly singand he's.
It's a mighty long road andlily me and lily may hears this.
(32:27):
She's like all right, all right, all right, all right, let me,
let me put, let me put a littletennessee magic on that.
So she, she feeds him a line.
He's like where are you from?
I'm from tennessee.
You sound like you're from thebayou.
Oh, I've been with the bayou.
Then she starts naming allthese famous black acts from
back in the day on thechildren's circuit.
You're like okay, little man, Isee you.
So next thing, you know, she'slike listen, sing this part,
(32:50):
blah, blah, blah.
She sings a little something.
He sings that.
He likes it.
Lily may, won't you have a seat, darling?
She shows up later on that weekor the next day with the tea
for his his tickly throat.
So by the end of the show, rightbefore this scene I'm gonna go
off on, kenny goes into thestudio to help lion wealthy
start his musical number andthere's several people in the
(33:12):
studio.
Well, he thought it's a mightylong road and you can hear the
background singer.
It's a mighty long road.
Tell me why my girl, lily may,is sitting in between two
background singers and leatherpants.
Lily may has slithered her wayinto the studio.
What you're not going to do iskeep a good woman down and
(33:33):
you're never going to out hustlea hustler which brings us to
abby.
So during the dinner, after hegrew jealous, she finally you're
jealous.
She finally says I'm notjealous.
But I'm trying to figure outwhy you're having this reaction
to Abby.
The way you react to her makesme very nervous.
It makes me very uncomfortable.
Gary, you have nothing to worryabout, I love you, I love you.
(33:55):
So Abby comes over later thatnight and Val is trying her best
to take her mother's advice.
She's not trying to stand ontop of him, trying to give the
man a little bit of space.
Abby is talking about goingpublic.
If we go public, we don'treally need Pete.
Well, val hears this and that'sall she can take, because what
she's not going to stand for isyou hustling another hardworking
(34:18):
person out of that money.
She don't like that.
That's not in her blood, that'snot her DNA blood, that's not
her DNA.
She's not gonna take it.
Abby says that out loud andthen turns to Gary and says well
, why not?
Let's think big, why should wethink small?
I'm not trying to cut Pete out,but you're a Ewing.
So he jumps up and he's likenow, wait a minute.
Now Val said no, no, wait aminute.
Val, done, got buck.
I'm like there we go.
Girl, that's what I need to see.
(34:39):
Come on pink, come on Val, themomentum going.
So she comes downstairs and shegets right up in Abby's face.
Abby has no respect for anybodyin their own home.
This is the second time shetried to tell Karen how to run
her business.
She's trying to tell Valene howto run her home.
So Gary thinks, because he is aspoiled child and he's used to
(35:00):
having someone jump in anddefend him ie, valene, I guess
he's not to having someone jumpin and defend him.
Ie, valene, I guess he's notused to someone defending him.
He's used to Valene defendinghim.
She said, gary, no, this ain'tabout you, this is about Pete.
I'm not going to watch youcheat a good man out of his
money.
Gary has a nerve to feel like heis the authority figure as Abby
and Valene are going back andforth.
Now wait a minute, wait aminute.
(35:22):
Wait a minute.
You two are unbelievable.
You think I can only do it.
He's basically going off onboth of them.
You think I would act this way.
You think I'd cheat him becauseI'm a Ewing and you only think
I'd make it because I'm a Ewing.
Well, I am a Ewing, I'm GaryEwing.
I'm the only Ewing, gary EwingI know.
Excuse me, sir, actually justtwo short episodes ago we met
(35:49):
Gary Ewing the first.
Okay, but it doesn't need ahand, or there he's pissed.
He's big man, no-transcript.
Abby knew exactly what to say toget him all riled up, to get
him all in his feelings, to getthat blood boiling.
She looks quite satisfied.
He goes off.
He's about to storm out of thehouse.
(36:11):
Val's like where are you going?
I'm going to call Pete.
I guess he wasn't storming outof the house then was he.
Whatever, he's headed towardsthe back.
My bad.
I'm going to call Pete becauseI need to talk to a friend,
someone who believes me, andthen he looks at val.
He's right in her face too.
She's just mouth open, likewhat just happened?
(36:34):
He's like I need to talk to afriend and I don't have one of
those in this room.
Abby's just sitting theresmiling as if that was exactly
what she wanted.
So here's the thing.
The title of this episode makesa lot more sense now.
Power play wasn't at all aboutthe methanol, it was all about
(36:57):
this.
I don't coming into a show blind, does a couple of things?
Number one you really are justkind of willy nilly out here.
Luckily, I'm not.
(37:17):
I mean, I'm old enough to knowanything could happen and I'm
not necessarily surprised thatit did.
However, with not watching, I'mlike well, how serious is this?
And I'm thinking back over um,anything I've seen I hadn't seen
(37:39):
.
You know, on the show it shows acouple of different stills.
I've't seen.
You know, on the show it showsa couple of different stills.
I've never seen them together.
I think I saw a picture.
I was watching it in the livingroom the other day and they
have a like when you pull it upon Amazon there's.
It's where I'm at.
On season three, you got apicture of Karen.
(38:00):
Look like she robbed Prince,and then some lady with big hair
doesn't quite look like Abby.
I don't know who it is.
I'm thinking I probably haven'tseen more than maybe six photos
ever of Knott's Landing.
So I I don't know.
I said this a few episodes back, I think if Abby wants you,
(38:23):
you're God period.
If a bad girl picks you, you'rejust picked period.
Now, where does this leaveValene?
It's interesting that it's soeasy to sow dissension in their
family.
I didn't feel like thatconversation warranted his
reaction, but Abby knew that.
(38:43):
So you know what?
Maybe she does know him.
Maybe she don't know himpersonally, but she knows a man
like him, a man like him with alittle bit of a bruised ego.
She knows how to coax that.
She just needs to be contraryto whatever Valene is.
Now.
Normally that will be very,very hard, because Valene is so
accommodating or whatever.
So the opposite of that wouldbe you know, know, be
(39:04):
standoffish, be kind of hatefultowards him.
But that's not the case.
All it took was a little bit ofbelief in a fresh idea and she
was all and he's all over it now.
He's mad now, but I guessthat's where I'm getting stuck.
I shouldn't keep trying topredict this, but I can't help
(39:24):
myself Now.
Normally I would be like, okay,it's over, it's done, that's it
, that's all.
However, the look on Abby's faceand as I'm thinking back over
the episode she came over withthe idea about mortgaging the
house she clearly would havebeen thinking about this.
Him being angry is just himbeing angry.
(39:45):
It's still too exciting andthey're business partners now.
So now she has an end.
There's a reason she needs tobe around him all the time.
But also when that all wentdown with Sid, when, when the
mafioso types were exposed andGary was then exposed, she got
off scot-free, she threw himunder the bus in his face and he
still went in for it.
I think that's.
That's probably what I'm justkind of gnawing, chewing on
(40:07):
right now.
She played him in a gloriousand very public fashion, and
look where we are on episode 11.
I don't know, I don't know, Idon't know, gosh, I don't know
(40:28):
how I feel about this one otherthan being royally pissed off at
his immaturity.
I just don't get it.
Why Gary?
Why Gary?
And as a writer on the show.
We're really gonna have herrunning through everybody on the
block.
Sid's dead.
Only person left was kenny.
Kenny was should have been ashoe and I'm very surprised that
(40:48):
never happened.
But the night's still young, Isuppose.
Damn, nah, nah, I I thinkthere's gonna be something.
Because he hid this, he hedidn't come clean.
He could have come clean.
You know what I'm saying?
This would be the second woman.
It is what it is.
Gary, why are you effing withwomen that are so close to your
(41:10):
wife?
Why and that's another thingValene is raising Abby's kids?
I just, I don't understand the,the boldness.
But damn, this is a new level.
This is a whole new beast.
I have grossly underestimatedthis woman because that is damn.
That's trifling with a capitalt.
(41:31):
Oh, all right, guys, I wouldapologize for the raggedy nature
of this episode, but it is whatit is.
Sometimes you just got to jumpon and say what you got was on
your mind.
This is that.
Not be freaking, kidding me.
(41:55):
All right, guys.
Thankfully, I was blessed witha beautiful rendition of several
songs from Lily Mae thisepisode, actually two songs.
She was entertaining Val got alittle bit of a spine.
It ain't quite sturdy, as itshould be.
But she'll get there, lordwilling.
In the meantime, in betweentime, stay moisturized, stay
(42:18):
hydrated, mind your business.
Don't pour Maker's Mark intoyour gas tank next week.
It will not work, or will it?
And keep all of your drama ontv.