July 2, 2025 • 46 mins
Ever wondered what happens when you finally find your voice but no one's listening? "Best Intentions" delivers a masterclass in the painful evolution of relationships when one partner grows while the other stays stuck in old patterns.
The episode weaves together two powerful storylines about women discovering new parts of themselves. Valene uncovers unexpected writing talent through a journalism class assignment that morphs into a 500-page manuscript detailing her experiences with the Ewings. When her mother Lily Mae and neighbor Abby conspire to get it published, Valene must decide whether to embrace this new identity as a potential author, despite Gary's dismissive attitude toward her ambitions.
Meanwhile, Laura faces the ultimate dilemma: pregnant with Richard's baby while planning to leave him. Her growing success as a realtor has strengthened her sense of self-worth, making his dismissive behavior increasingly intolerable. Richard's temporary transformation after learning about the pregnancy quickly deteriorates, proving that awareness of one's flaws doesn't automatically create lasting change.
The episode brilliantly captures that moment when you realize someone isn't capable of being who you need them to be, no matter how much you wish they would. Laura's ultimate decision to leave despite her pregnancy reflects the painful reality that sometimes even the deepest connections can't survive when growth happens unevenly.
What makes this storyline resonate so deeply is the subtle performance work – Laura's face slowly changing as Richard rambles about wine tours, completely missing what she truly needs. It's a masterful portrayal of the moment someone realizes they've outgrown a relationship that once felt essential.
Have you ever had to choose between outgrowing someone or shrinking to make them comfortable? Share your thoughts by texting through the link in our show notes or emailing soplorepodcast@gmail.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't come at me with good sense and applicable life
lessons.
I don't want to hear that rightnow I want to be mad and I want
to go home and I want to be mad.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, welcome, or welcome back
to SoFloor, the officialgathering place for newbies,
novices and OG diehard fans ofthe golden age of primetime.
(00:21):
I'm your host, jed, viewing andreviewing one of the sopiest,
studziest primetime storylinesof 1982.
So, whether you're new to thisor true to this, sit back and
enjoy.
Tell the kids it's time to playoutside or out of sight.
Tell they have no questions,suggestions or concerns for the
next 25 to 35 minutes, everyoneelse in earshot, cool, quiet or
(00:42):
kicked out Only options.
You got, baby, because we arewatching our stories.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, this is Soap Lure.
(01:21):
Hello, gorgeous, welcome andwelcome back to soap floor.
I hope your day is shaping upwell.
Mine is amazing now that we'reback together.
We're jumping back to the westcoast for a little bit of nice
landing.
We we're watching season three,episode 15.
Episode is called BestIntentions and this one really
hit home, I think, if you'veever had a situation where you
felt like you were between arock and a hard place.
You're going to relate to Laurathis episode.
I'm also really glad we're backon the Laura and Richard
(01:43):
storyline because he's beendancing in the back of my head
this whole.
I don't even know what youwould call it pimp by proxy.
I guess it's not proxy, buthe's been turned into a
corporate pimp, much to hischagrin.
All the dude wants to do is bea good lawyer and you start to
finally see this tensionbubbling up.
(02:04):
Okay, before I get too deepinto that, go ahead and get
comfortable.
Grab yourself something bubblyand bright.
I had the nerve to put on alittle makeup today, did my hair
.
You know what I'm saying.
So I'm feeling real cute.
So I'm going to put a straw inmy Soleil, but you drink
whatever you want to drink.
As we jump back into seasonthree, episode 15 of Knott's
Landing Best Intentions, Ireally enjoy this episode
(02:29):
because it answered a couple ofquestions that have been kind of
dancing in the back of my mind.
Number one was really going onwith Richard.
As you know, I have changed mymind about him because of his I
guess his tenderness that Ithought he was showing this
season, especially towards Karen.
We all know sometimes the faceyou put on in public is not the
(02:50):
same face behind doors.
Got a little bit more clarityon Laura and a lot more clarity
on my girl, valene, who I wouldlove to start with.
So in the last episode, I think, one of the opening scenes you
see Valene.
So in the last episode, I thinkone of the opening scenes you
see Valene.
She's feverishly typing on atypewriter while Lily Mae is
kind of hovering around her inthe background.
(03:10):
She's like mama's cuteskedaddle.
I thought she was paying billsand then I thought about it.
I'm like she's not on acomputer, she doesn't have a
calculator.
But then there were books openaround her.
So I'm like, oh, she's doinglike a book report.
Happy to report that my girl isstill in school.
I was really wondering aboutthat.
They hadn't really saidanything in a long time.
But she's in school andapparently she's had this
(03:31):
project that she's been workingon.
Now let her tell it.
It is supposed to be a personaljournal of sorts.
So she's been working on thisnonstop.
She's been in the zone, she'sbeen focused.
She knows that she has like aream of paper I'm talking 500
pages.
It looks like talking aboutthis is her project that she has
(03:51):
to turn in for her Englishclass.
It is a personal journal.
Now she's telling this to LilyMay, who was still hovering in
the background.
Lily May is what I like to calla professional looky-loo.
She's going to ear hustle,she's going to eavesdrop, she's
going to peek at all theinappropriate times.
Sometimes it's going to get herin trouble.
This episode, I think it does alittle bit.
(04:13):
But Valene explains like hey,this is just.
This is a project I'm workingon for school.
I need to have this turned in.
Mama, please don't look at this.
Lily Mae's like well, what isthis about?
She said well, it's a journalabout my life.
I used to think my life was soboring until I started writing
this.
Then I started to realize it'spretty interesting.
So I wrote about the Ewings,change the names and whatnot,
(04:33):
but mama just don't say anything.
So maybe it's English, maybeit's a creative writing class.
If you're writing a personaldiary, who can tell you whether
or not it's true?
So I guess there will be nofact checking.
But whatever the case, she hasdecided to go ahead and turn
this in, or she will turn thisin.
She puts it in a box, she hidesit in the buffet and she's like
mama, please don't golooky-looing through my stuff.
(04:54):
I mean I don't want nobody toread it In the words of Erykah
Badu I'm an artist and Isensitive about my ish.
Please don't look through mystuff.
Lily Mae's like all right, baby.
You know I want to.
I never dreamed of it.
Tell me why she couldn't waitfor Val to leave.
She waits until she hears theengine rev up, goes into the
kitchen, prepares herself ateenage snack and spends the
(05:16):
rest of the afternoon devouringall of Valene's very deep, very
personal, very intimate tellingsof her life on the run from the
UN.
Now, I am assuming that's whatthis says because of the
reaction that it gets from LilyMae and later Miss Abby.
Quick little side note I amloving the hair in 1982.
(05:41):
1982 does not want to be 1972or 1979 for that matter, but
they are struggling.
So every episode I'm startingto notice with the exception of
Eileen, you know she isdedicated to that, just for me.
Perm box, one little piece ofhair snatched back into a
ponytail, I guess, to appearyouthful.
(06:02):
I really don't understand.
I can't wait till it.
Well, actually I can.
I'm really enjoying the ridewith Knox Landing, but once I'm
done, I have so many questions,matter of fact, maybe I should
do this about season five.
I need to talk to stylists.
I need to understand what theperception was with this
particular character, eileen,and her hair.
(06:23):
Anyway, I am loving thestruggles because, you see,
ginger's hair is flipping around.
Abby's hair is flipping around.
Abby seems to be the mostconsistent.
She's giving Farrah Fawcett,but then she has the
scrunchiness of the 80s.
I love 82 because they justdon't know what to do quite yet.
It's so much fun to see thesewomen come on and off the screen
(06:47):
with totally different decadesworth of hair every episode.
I digress when it comes to LilyMae and the fact that she is.
She's a looky-loo, she's nosy,but she is also sort of making
up for lost time.
I think her seeing Valeneactually write something that
turned out not to be just acouple of pages, which a normal
(07:08):
book report would be.
I think she, she, she akin itto the way she goes through her
songwriting process.
So, as Val is trying to hustleout of the door and get to
school or wherever she's going,val doesn't know what it is.
She's like mama, I don't knowwhat it is.
(07:30):
I mean it's.
It's a report, that's what itis right now, but it just feels
so good to get all this out.
Lily Mae akins that to hersongwriting and I think she sees
a little bit of an artist inValene, based on her actions
later on.
So, like I said, she spends theentire afternoon on the couch
going through every single page,reading this front to back,
loving the ish out of it.
(07:50):
But she has a big greasy bag ofLay's potato chips.
So all I'm thinking is she'sgetting greasy fingerprints all
over this.
There's no way she's going tobe able to lie to Valene and say
that she didn't read it.
Well, unbeknownst to her, abbyneeds to stop by the house to
gosh.
I guess I need to talk aboutGary and Abby real quick, so you
(08:10):
know how.
They have the whole weedahallor what is it?
Whatever?
Alcohol, weed, gas, gas thewhole situation going.
Gary's trying to do two thingsat once he's trying to be the
manager of Knott's LandingMotors and he's trying to get
this company off the ground.
So he's managed to get a coldthis episode and because he is
(08:30):
so busy, he can't be everywhereat once.
So Abby stops by and I'm almostconvinced almost, but not really
almost convinced that there'snothing going on, because she
didn't really flirt with him thelast episode.
She's kind of giving him flirtyeyes, but that's about as far
as it goes.
It's almost like she likes tosee him blush, like, okay, you
(08:52):
don't want me to hit on you, butremember we kissed, it's kind
of that thing.
So she comes in and she's like,well, what can I do?
And he says something about acopier.
Either they're going to drop itoff at his house or she needs
to pick up something from hishouse.
I can't really remember howthat goes.
So she's giving him the kind ofwiggle, wiggle eye and he's
like, oh, he kind of goofilysmiles at her and then she goes
(09:12):
about on her business.
I'm almost convinced because ofsomething that happens a little
bit later on.
So Abby ends up going by Valeneand Gary's house and he told her
if no one's home there is a keyin the little potholder, tell
me why.
She rings the doorbell, knocksone time, mind you, lily Mae is
in the living room on the couch,and then she proceeds to open
(09:33):
the door with the key.
So when she gets in, lily Maeis all flustered.
She's trying to close the Lay'spotato chip bag.
All the papers go flying.
So Abby obviously clocks that.
Lily Mae is nervous.
All of a sudden she's like well, what are you reading?
Lily Mae spills it being well,it's Val's report.
But girl, this is so good, thisis a page turner.
I was just going to read alittle bit but turns out this is
(09:55):
so juicy.
Abby's like for real, what'sshe talking about?
Oh, she's talking about theTexas Ewing's.
Now, she changed all the names,of course, but she's talking
about the Ewing's.
So Abby's like word.
Hmm, say Lily Mae, I know somepeople in publishing.
Why don't you let me read it?
And I can, you know, maybe putit in the right hands?
(10:16):
Everybody is forgetting thefact that this is this girl's
homework.
She needs to turn this in tofurther her education.
Abby says how about this?
Why don't I make a copy?
Then Val wouldn't know I haveit.
Because Lily Mae is like no, shewon't allow anybody to read it.
She doesn't want anybody toread it.
So, okay, my heckles are.
I don't know.
I'm usually pretty good atreading people, but I just like
(10:43):
part of me is like I'm not goingto forget that after the whole
incident in Mexico where youknow Abby and Gary made out.
She did come over the house tostart some ish.
They're carrying on likethey're flirting, but it doesn't
really seem like anything elseis coming of that.
You know what I'm saying?
Nobody seems they don't seeminterested in each other to me.
You know what I'm saying.
(11:04):
They don't seem interested ineach other to me.
But then it's like do youreally want to help thou, or is
this just another way to stirthe pot a little bit?
I don't know.
She's done nice thingssometimes.
I don't know, I don't know.
So I'll just.
Why don't I just leave it atthat?
I don't know what she's doing.
So anyways, I do know that shedecides to make a copy and she
reads it.
(11:24):
She sits at her house and she'slike yee-haw, she reads it.
I'm hoping Val has the page'snumber, because I can't figure
out for the life of me how LilyMay threw this huge pile of
papers up in the air and theyboth managed to kind of scrape
it back together and it's all inorder, with grease stains all
over it, by the way.
I hate a half-hearted attempt.
(11:46):
So I just went back andrewatched it.
I feel like she's stirring thepot.
After Abby reads it, she tellsLily Mae.
Hey, this is just a thinlyveiled expose on the Ewing
family.
I think they would try to stopher if she were to publish this.
This, as they say in thecountry.
Lots of fire upon Zulime's assand she decides you know what To
(12:06):
heck with them?
They can kick rocks inflip-flops.
My girl's going to be an author.
If it's the last thing I do, goon and take this to one of your
little friends, abby.
Make sure you get thispublished for my girl, my girl's
, a star.
Truth is, abby don't have nofriends in publishing, but what
she does have is a sister-in-lawwho has a little brother who
teaches college, so maybe heknows the literary types.
(12:29):
Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Karen's baby brother, joe.
Joe, or Uncle Joe, as he'saffectionately called by the
children, has just shown up fromthe east coast.
He has a teaching gig at UCLAwhich puts him smack dab in
Knott's Landing so he can keepan eye on his sister, his niece
and his nephews.
(12:49):
I'm really, really glad Joe'son the show.
Oh my god, I think I'm bl.
Really glad Joe's on the show.
Oh my God, I think I'm blushing.
I like Joe.
I like Joe on the show.
I hope he stays for a long time.
But Joe's eating breakfast,karen is trying to leave house.
Abby calls, karen answers thephone and she's like hey girl.
(13:13):
Abby says hey, is Joe there?
Can I talk to Joe?
Sure, so Karen hands him thephone.
But Karen has a takeover spirit,just like Lily Mae, she can't
help.
She's also a looky-boo, apeek-a-boo, an ear hustler.
Only this is her brother.
So she's just gonna be realshameless with it, her little
brother, mind you.
(13:34):
So she gets as close to his earas she possibly can.
While he's holding the receiver,abby has a little conversation
with Joe.
He's like yeah, yeah, yeah,absolutely I can do that for you
, no problem.
He goes back down to eating hisbreakfast and Karen's like hey,
what did Abby want?
He's like none of your business.
Man, quit playing.
Tell me what did Abby want.
I'm not telling you nothing.
Tell me, joe.
(13:55):
He's like give me $5.
Man, she tries to leave theroom but she's so nosy she can't
.
She's like oh my God, shestutter.
Steps like 10 times.
He's like all right, fine,ponies up the money.
Now Joe knows how nosy hissister is, so he was teasing her
a little bit.
She's like man, what does shewant?
He goes.
She wants my body, she wantscompany.
What do you think?
(14:15):
So I'm like which one?
He eventually tells her well,she has a manuscript, she wants
me to read it and, if it's good,get it to a publisher.
She's like man, that wasn't no$5 secret.
I love this because there's thatmagical moment, especially if
you're a younger sibling, whereyou have a little bit of power.
It's like, oh my gosh, I justfeel so good not to say anything
(14:37):
.
But I've also been on the otherend of that where you're just
like oh my God, I just have toknow.
I just have to know.
Now, joe seems to think there'snothing wrong with healthy
curiosity.
However, having your curiositysatisfied all the time does not
build any character, I tend toagree.
The older I've gotten, the moreI've been able to be like.
You know what?
My name is, cousin Ben, and Iam in it, even though I'm really
(14:59):
really curious.
I don't like to go digging, butI always want to know.
Let the record reflect that Ialways want to know.
So Joe ends up reading themanuscript and wouldn't you know
it?
He's like hey, you gotsomething here.
This is really good.
Abby goes on to ask him wouldyou say this is book worthy.
He's like yeah, I'd say youdefinitely have a book, for sure
(15:20):
Would it be a bestseller?
He's like I don't know aboutall that, but I would say you
have a book.
She goes okay, cool.
So you know publishers andstuff, right?
He's like yeah, a lot of mystudents have published books.
Now, joe don't look very old tome.
Joe can't be any older thanabout 30.
Can't imagine he's beenteaching college that long.
But let him tell it, not onlyhas he been doing that, he has
(15:42):
students who are authors.
So, yeah, we can make thisthing shake.
So now the only thing left to dois to tell Valene that she
could be the next DanielleSteele or Earl Stein.
Hell, I don't know what thebook says, I really don't.
But if it's based on her lifehere I am forgetting for about
10 seconds that this is a TVshow I would love to read
(16:02):
Valene's book.
I would devour it.
Okay, I almost forgot.
When Joe tells Abby thiswonderful news, you know she's
pumped.
This is excellent news.
They're kind of leaning intowards each other because
they're out on campus speaking,so I mean they have to be a
little bit close in order totalk.
But tell me why she kisses thisman all on his mouth, got his
(16:23):
dimples showing.
He's like what's up, abby,you're the only eligible
bachelor on the coldest side.
What's up?
So I don't know, I don't know,hell, I don't know.
I think she just likes flirting.
I think that is just how shemoves in the world.
She didn't actually.
I mean, this is actually shady.
I know what she's doing now isvery shady because of Rewound it
(16:46):
, but I think that's just howshe operates.
She's going to flirt until theend of her life.
So they go and tell Val andrightfully so.
She's like what the what iswrong with y'all?
What part of personal Scratchthat?
What part of diary Scratch that?
What part of personal diarythat I need to turn in for a
grade tells you to Xerox it andflash it all over Southern
(17:08):
California.
And they're like girl, I know,but we knew you wouldn't do it.
Lily Mae was just trying tohelp, had to hook up Val it.
Lily Mae was just trying tohelp have the hookup Val.
You got something here.
You have got to get this out.
Like I know you're scared, goahead and put this out.
So eventually she startsthinking about it and she was
like you know, did it feel kindof good to get it all out.
(17:30):
I don't know, I don't knowy'all, I just don't know it felt
good to do it.
And this is where Lily Maecomes back in.
The artist, the starving artist.
She's like baby girl.
That is a God given talent.
To be able to sing, to be ableto write, to put things together
the way that you did is a giftand it'd be a sin for you not to
do it.
She brought the Lord into it,brought the Lord into your
(17:53):
scheming laced potato chip handthieving stunts.
So she's like well, I ain'treally trying to upset the Lord
and I mean this is my story.
I mean I did write all thattime.
It'd be a shame to not dosomething with it.
All right, give me a day or so,I'll go ahead and get it
prepped and I'll get it sentover where it needs to send.
So Valene could possibly be anauthor, be an author.
(18:14):
I'm also kind of wondering.
No, that can't be the case.
I was going to say I'mwondering if somehow Abby wants
it will get it sent to theEwing's.
But I don't think that's goingto happen because Val puts it in
the mailman's hand.
Personally, she makes sure thatit's going to get to New York.
So somebody is going to readover it.
So I mean, I don't think theywould bring that up, unless it's
going to turn into something.
Now that I'm really sittingback thinking about it, this is
(18:36):
a pot stirring moment.
This is either a pot stirringmoment or she's going to use
this for leverage.
I'm talking about Abby, by theway.
I don't really know.
I'm going to talk very brieflyabout Gary.
If you want to freshen up yourdrink, then we got to get into
the lore situation.
Gary is sick.
Gary has a cold, probablybrought on by a lot of stress.
(18:59):
You ever notice that if you'redealing with a whole lot all at
once, your body just kind ofbreaks down on you.
Well, the gas, a whole thing istaking its toll, like it's not
really coming together the wayhe thought it would and he's
having to find time to work onthis project.
He wants to be true to his word,probably especially since he
made the deal with the mafiosotypes before and got Karen's
(19:19):
business in trouble.
He's making sure he's fullydevoted when he works with her,
so he ends up staying late towork on the gas haul.
Now I have a lot of oldercountry people in my family and
you know there's a lot of homeremedies I was thinking what he
needs to do is, instead ofputting alcohol in the gas tank,
(19:41):
he needs to pour that in glass,put a little lemon on it, heat
it up over the stove and take itto the head and sleep for 12
hours or so.
You'll be just fine, gary.
You would think he knew that onthe ranch, but for whatever
reason, he needs to show up inthe tightest of clothes to make
sure everybody knows he's stillfine, fine.
So remember how he reacted whenhe came home from Mexico after
(20:06):
slobbing Abby down, the way hereacted when Valene didn't do
backflips over his information.
Okay, we get to flip the tablesnow.
So after a long, hard day ofwork and a cold, she makes him
an ice cold sandwich for dinner.
He can't even enjoy it withchips because Lily Mae has eaten
them all and left the crumbsall over Val's beautiful
(20:29):
manuscript.
So she gives him a little hotsauce and a sandwich.
Correction, just look at mynose he eats ketchup on a
sandwich.
What a weirdo.
First she tells him that Abbygot her manuscript over to
someone to read and they thoughtit was really good and he's
like oh really, that's cool.
Then she goes on to say thatwell, he thinks it might even be
a bestseller.
Now, I don't believe that.
But he goes oh, let me guesswho is this guy?
(20:51):
She goes, I don't know, justsomebody Abby knows.
And he goes let me guess hejust needs a thousand dollars to
do it like implying that it's ascam.
And she's like Gary, why yougotta say stuff like that?
No, like I'm really good.
Even in my class my journalismclass that's what it is, not
English, my journalism classeverybody says it's really good
and he says, no, I don't doubtit, but like it takes years to
(21:14):
become a really good writer, you, you really think you're going
to be able to do this this quick, like it just seems kind of
fast.
This pisses her off.
So she goes upstairs like alady to go to bed.
She don't even curse him out,really.
She stands up for herself alittle bit more.
He obviously feels bad and hecomes upstairs and he's like
listen, I am proud of you, goodluck, I hope this works out.
I'm just.
I'm just, you know, I'm justconcerned.
(21:34):
I don't want anybody takingadvantage of you, more or less
so, while they're having thisheart to heart.
She keeps trying to tell himlike I really wish you would
read it.
Well, no sooner than she saysthat phone rings, mind you, it's
late enough to go to bedbecause she's got on a whole
gown and, like I said, he's beenstaying late at the at the
dealership to work on the gashaul project.
So the phone rings and it'sAbby and he's like damn, it's
(21:57):
late.
She goes.
No, we need to go to the officeright now.
Some of these numbers arefudged, which we knew because
there was a scene with he andKaren.
Karen noticed he was stayinglate and he was just like yeah,
well, I can't work on two thingsat once.
She's like listen, don'toverexert yourself.
If you need to work on gas haulduring the day here, I don't
mind, just Just, you know, takeit easy.
He's like I will, but I justgot to finish these books.
But she calls him at night andsure enough he gets up to go
(22:20):
back to work under the cloak ofdarkness.
I keep talking myself out of myown arguments.
Now I'm starting to believethat perhaps Abby is playing the
long game.
Let me build a wedge, let meseparate these people.
Brick by brick, board by board,dismantle the institution of
their marriage so that I can dowhat I need to do.
(22:42):
On the other hand, since whenhas marriage ever stopped her?
If she really wanted to?
I really do feel like he likesthe attention, but he don't like
her.
Plus, they got to get thisbusiness up and running.
It's still interestingnonetheless, though.
You have two partners who havetwo separate dreams.
You know, valene is slowlyfinding her dream.
Gary is slowly finding his.
(23:04):
His stride Like he's finallyunderstands what he's good at.
He wants to expand that empire.
She's finally finding somethingelse to pour herself into, and
I've thought for a very longtime, like ever since the first
episode where he cheated withwhat's her name, judy Ever since
he cheated with Judy, evenbefore that, I've wondered how
long Val would be able to kindof play that game.
(23:25):
This can go one of two ways, Ithink.
If they both have something tokind of pour themselves into,
they'll either celebrate eachother's victories, help each
other through the losses, or itjust won't work.
But I think it's a little toosoon to say anything that wild.
But it can be.
It can be a strain on anyrelationship when two people
have different interests ordifferent levels of success,
(23:46):
which is more of the case withLaura and Richard.
Relationships can be difficult,whether that be a relationship
with your spouse, a relationshipwith your siblings, a
relationship with your friendsor your boss.
It's going to take work and ithas to be based on mutual
interest, at minimum.
This episode opens up with Laura.
(24:08):
She seems to be coming off ofshowing a house to someone.
She walks into their realtorbuilding and she's frustrated.
Now we know that she's pregnant.
She knows that she's pregnant,but she's not.
She hadn't really told anybody.
First order of business in hermind is okay, let me go and tell
Scooter.
So, mind you, scooter has thatoffice with those big, giant
(24:30):
window panes.
She goes in and she's like hey,I think we need need to end
this, not because I don't carefor you, but I'm pregnant.
He's like he gets a littleexcited, thinking oh my god, we
made a baby.
She's like no, no, it's Richard.
He goes, are you sure?
She's yeah, because I'm almostthree months along.
We're, we're pregnant.
And he's like wow, okay, well,what are you gonna do?
(24:51):
He's still being her friend,which I love.
She says she doesn't know.
Her original plan before findingout this news was that she was
going to walk in the house, shewas going to leave him.
She had it all planned out andthen the baby threw a wrench in
her plan.
So Scooter asked the obviousquestion Well, what did Richard
say?
I haven't told him yet.
(25:12):
And he's like oh, I mean well,what are you going to do?
She's like you know what?
I can't answer all thesequestions for you because I
really don't know.
All I want to do is be bymyself.
So she's kind of upset thiswhole episode.
She got a little bit ofattitude and she ends up talking
to Karen about it because Imean, who else Karen is being an
excellent friend?
She's just kind of chilling asLaura tells her I don't want
(25:34):
this, I don't want any of this,I'm ready to leave this fool.
I don't want this baby, I don'twant, I don't want the marriage
, I don't want anything attachedto him.
Now Karen doesn't really knowhow to respond to this because
it's very clear that Laura is.
She's going through a lot.
She doesn't know what she wantsto do, decision fatigue, and
these are major decisions.
It's also important to notethat I think a lot of her
(25:58):
reaction is based on theconversation that she had with
Richard before this.
So she left work early.
She canceled the rest of herday's appointments so that she
could go home and talk toRichard when she gets home.
There was this whole situationwhere they had a stray dog tear
up their living room.
So the whole living room was inshambles.
There's paper everywhere andRichard is just kind of focused
(26:19):
on the activity at hand.
Top of this podcast.
I said that a leaf had turnedfor me as far as Richard.
I found him to be much morepersonable this season.
I find myself rooting for him alittle bit more.
He seems so much more likable.
But that's on the surface,that's on the outside.
We've only seen a few momentswith him, allure, and he seems
fine.
But as she walks into the houseyou get to see Richard from
(26:43):
seasons two and one.
He's a little frustrated on thephone, so I'm not really
holding that part against him.
That's a natural reaction,right?
It's the dismissiveness, though.
When she comes in he's likewhat are you doing home so early
?
She tells him that she canceledher meetings for the day so she
(27:03):
could come home early.
He's like, oh, and he makes asarcastic jab.
So you see, okay, he's stillthat guy, but it is a dig at her
Like, oh my gosh, your highnessgraced us with your presence.
She wants him to not take thecall so that she can handle
business.
He's too busy.
He's already picked up thephone.
He's already calling the pound.
They're putting him on hold andstuff.
(27:23):
So the point of all that isthat he's distracted.
She's still in the backgroundlike, hey, please hang up the
phone, hang up the phone, hangup the phone.
He eventually gets theappointment set for the next day
.
But then when he hangs up, heimmediately turns to her and
says you know what?
None of this would happen ifyou were at home, like you
(27:44):
should be when the kid gets home.
None of this would ever happen.
I wouldn't have picked up thedog, this, that and et cetera.
This is basically all yourfault.
I would not.
I don't hold him sort ofignoring her because he this is
a chaotic experience.
It didn't like she walked intoa calm home.
It's a little bit out of thenorm.
He was already focused on onetask.
(28:04):
Okay, yes, we've all done that.
We've all missed importantthings because we're
hyper-focused on something else.
But the way that he greeted herand then, after he got the
appointments, that the fact thathe was still willing to take
his frustrations out on her.
Ok, I understand what she'ssaying now because she's
mentioned before this seasonthat they hardly talk.
(28:26):
They're not really gettingalong.
You finally get to see it.
Laura's always been thischaracter.
You know I'm an expert nowafter you know 30 episodes.
She's always been able to takehim.
She's never taken anything hesaid too serious, like he
scoffed.
He said way worse to her in thepast and she just sort of
smiles through it.
But I think her having her ownthing, her having something that
(28:47):
she can pour herself into, herhaving success in something that
was unexpected, it hasn't givenher a big head.
I think it's kind of stiffenedher spine and, truth be told,
she's always had grit, she'salways had that spine.
But now you know that saying youcan never go home again.
Well, they say that becauseonce you're out on your own,
(29:08):
once you've kind of lived yourlife, you're going to see things
through a different lens.
It's not that you can't go homeagain, you just can't be the
person you were before you lefthome again.
And that could be for better,that could be for worse.
Laura was at home in this sortof dysfunction.
So now that she's gotten ataste of success, now that she
understands there's more thanone way to skin a cat, as they
(29:30):
say, you don't have to take this.
I don't have to be with a manwho belittles me.
I don't have to shrink to makehim feel bigger.
I can be my best selling, best,presenting self, and it pays
dividend.
I am rewarded when I go out andI show my full self.
But here he still wants me tokind of fold into that.
(29:52):
I'm sure he's going through hisown stuff, but it just it
doesn't sit well.
So back to her and Karen.
She's just frustrated.
She's like I don't want to haveto make these decisions and
what is implied is that if youhave a baby with your husband,
you have to stay with yourhusband.
I can only imagine in 1982, howfrowned upon that would be to
walk out pregnant with thisman's baby.
(30:14):
Karen's like girl.
I don't really know what to say.
What does Richard say?
She goes.
I haven't told him anything.
I haven't told him I'm leavinghim.
I haven't told him I'm pregnant.
I just haven't said anything.
So she gets up and she stormsout because she's just kind of
overwhelmed and frustrated.
As Laura is leaving.
Karen chases her outside andshe's like listen, if you don't
do anything else, just tell him.
I'm not telling you not to havean abortion, I'm not telling
(30:34):
you to keep the baby, I'm nottelling you what to do, except
that you have got to let himknow everything.
You got to let him know thatyou're leaving him and you got
to let him know that you don'twant the baby.
You have to tell him Go homeand think about it.
See what comes up.
And Laura's like you know what?
I hate you Really, meaning Ilove you Like damn girl.
Don't come at me with goodsense and applicable life
(30:59):
lessons.
I don't want to hear that rightnow.
I want to be mad and I want togo home and I want to be mad.
Also, food for thought therobes on Knott's Landing suck in
comparison to the robes onDynasty.
That's all Laura decides.
You know what?
I'm going to stay home fromwork.
(31:19):
I'm going to go ahead and tellRichard about this, or maybe
it's Saturday, I don't reallyknow.
She decides to go downstairs inher robe next day and be like
yo, I need to talk to you.
I was blown away by this scene.
Not by the obvious, not by theacting, not by the tension, none
of that.
Oh, I'm sorry, it's not thenext day, it's night, it's that
night.
(31:40):
I am blown away by the factthat Richard is sitting on the
couch playing a video game.
I forget how normal that is.
I don't remember life before Imean okay, let me not say that I
remember having computer gamesvery early on Carmen Sandiego
and a couple others and mycousin had a Nintendo with a
duck hunting and all that.
(32:00):
But I forget how normal that isto have like a console or have
someone playing a game in mylifetime.
It is the absolute norm forgrown men to do that and I've
made arguments before in thepast.
You know girls have to stopplaying with dolls at some point
.
It's perfectly sociallyacceptable.
For a man to play games Willshut my mouth wide open In women
(32:24):
game too, obviously, but I justI've never seen anybody over a
certain age do it.
This is wild.
He's playing like a littlehandheld game.
It's really annoying.
Insert reason number 47, why Ihate the 80s, or do I?
(32:44):
Well, anyway, another sort ofsign of the times on this
episode is that when Laura comesdownstairs she's basically
telling Richard that Jason isupset that they found the dog's
owner.
The dog is back with hisrightful owner and he goes.
What's that?
Is that supposed to make mefeel bad?
She's like no, he just doesn'tunderstand why he can't have a
pet and he goes.
Because they grow up.
You have to take care of them.
You have to walk them.
I can't put a dog in daycarelike I can't a kid.
Only you can.
I see dogs at daycare all thetime.
(33:05):
You can put a dog in daycare.
Now she goes on to just be likedude.
Could you just talk to me,maybe, without talking out of
the side of your neck?
Can we just possibly have anormal conversation without you
making some wisecrack at me?
They get into what marriage is.
She's like this marriage sucks.
I hate it.
It's whack.
I don't really like it.
And he goes.
Well, you know why you don'tlike it Because your
expectations are too high.
(33:26):
You think it's supposed to bedates and flowers and ish.
No, this is marriage.
Me sitting on the couch curledup, playing a video game,
halfway reading the paper.
This is marriage.
She's like dude.
You're missing the point.
I'm sick of you.
You don't understand what I'msaying.
I'm pregnant.
He keeps on talking.
I'm pregnant.
He keeps on talking.
Once again.
You see him just kind of.
(33:46):
He doesn't listen to her.
And now that she has had ataste of the other side of us,
she's like guess what, I don'thave to take this.
Plus, she's also selling Sunset.
She really don't need moneylike that.
Well, this revelation of a freshnew baby in Richard's mind
(34:06):
means a fresh new start.
So of course, the next morninghe brings her breakfast in bed.
He's like babe, I hear you, I'mso sorry.
I hear you.
I want things to be goodbetween us.
Let's just start fresh.
We can take a vacation, we cango wherever you want.
He starts making all these plansand you can tell she likes it.
(34:27):
Like, okay, this is the guy Ilove, this is a man who I fell
in love with.
She likes what she's hearing.
I suppose it's later that nightbecause they're sitting in
front of a fire and Richard isso pumped he has made, I'm
assuming, hot chocolate.
I don't really know whatthey're drinking.
But he says hey, laura, do youthink I can convince you to take
a month off before you get toobig?
(34:49):
I'd like to take you to Europe.
She goes okay, well, what didyou have in mind?
He has this whole itineraryplan, his whole wine tour.
If you were new to this, hi,welcome to the show.
I know we are nearing the endof the show, so thank you for
listening and thank you forlistening this long.
I am jack.
I am reviewing vintage primetimesoap operas of ago and I
(35:13):
reviewed a show a couple ofyears back called the Yellow
Rose.
Now, I was absolutelygobsmacked when on the Yellow
Rose, which was filmed in 1981,1982, there was a kid named Wit
I think he's about 17, 18 yearsold.
He's walking in a bar drinking.
I could not believe it.
You could drink that young in abar.
(35:33):
Now, I don't know how much ofthat is fair.
I guess the drinking ageprobably changed right about
that time.
But another thing I noticedfrom 1981, 1982 is that nobody's
wagging their finger at apregnant woman having a drink or
two.
Now I know doctors tell you nowyou could have a glass of wine.
But this man, richard, wants totake his pregnant wife on a wine
(35:56):
tasting tour for over a month.
It's still hard for me tounderstand that.
Well, as he's telling her hisplans and he's pulling out all
of these pamphlets and he'sgiving her the itinerary, he
never stops talking.
She asked if they couldpossibly go to Chateau
(36:16):
Villeneuve and I know I saidthat wrong because I don't speak
French.
I also think side note thatthis is the actor's opportunity
to prove that they took Frenchcourses at some point.
But when she makes thesuggestion, he's like oh no,
their wine sucks.
And he just keeps talking andtalking and talking.
And she's holding that sort ofLaura resting face where it's a
little bit of a smirk, but asthe scene goes on, it's oh, I'm
(36:40):
getting not getting chills.
It just makes me so happy.
She's doing that knots landingthing.
Where she did you just slowlystart to see her.
Her face is changing.
She's realizing in real timewhy she said what she said in
the first place.
I love the subtleties.
(37:00):
Even if this is a soap opera,she's not overly animated.
She's just kind of sittingthere and the more he talks, the
more her face drops.
Her facade is dropping.
She's realizing if I go throughwith this, it'll be more of the
same.
He's still not listening to me.
This is all about him.
She's saying all this, but shenever says a word.
(37:25):
Richard, on the other hand, ispumped.
He runs into Kenny one night onthe cold a second.
He's like hey bro, baby twonames is going to have a play
buddy pretty soon and Kenny'slike Baby Two Names is going to
have a play buddy pretty soon.
And Kenny's like who, why where?
Richard's like me and LauraAbout to have a little bambino,
and it's funny that it's thesetwo talking about how babies
(37:46):
save marriage.
Kenny is congratulating Richard.
He's like you know, I almostlost Ginger, but luckily I
knocked her up with Baby Two,two names and it was the best
thing that ever happened to me.
That would have been thebiggest mistake of my life to
blow that.
But kids really do changethings.
Kids really do bring peopletogether.
Both of these men have hookersin their Rolodex.
Now they can make one phonecall and have 16 different
(38:09):
flavors of women of the night,like that.
But yeah, let's have babies tosave our marriage, because
that's the plan.
Well, it doesn't really matterwhat the plan is.
It doesn't really matter whatRichard wants, because at the
end of the day, laura is the onewho has to really make this
decision.
She's frustrated because thatnew leaf that was turned over
(38:34):
wasn't even turned over for afull 24 hours before he went
back to being who he is, whichone could argue.
He's always been, he hasn'tchanged up anything.
She's the one changing it up.
But she decides you know what,I can't take it.
She goes upstairs or wherevershe goes, and she comes down
with a crushed velvet robe thatmy mom had.
I swear my mom's was teal, butit's like this crushed velvet
(38:57):
old lady choir robe.
It is once again Richard'sincessant talking that is
driving her nuts.
He's talking about how he waswhen Jason was born, how he was
hands off.
He wants to be hands on.
We're taking courses, we'redoing Lamaze class, all this and
she's just like enough, havinga baby doesn't fix anything.
You can't bring me breakfast inbed, plan a trip and think
everything's gonna be gucci andgolden, not fine.
(39:19):
Well, what do you want?
She even tells him that shewants to move out and he's.
He's basically trying to fightbecause he's like, okay, and
that's when she shouts that shedoesn't love him anymore and he
goes, okay.
So I mean, what does that meanfor us and the baby?
She goes well, I'm going tohave an abortion.
I was watching his face whenthis happened and I'm so glad I
(39:40):
did.
This man was acting.
Let me just tell you that he'skind of rocking on his.
You can see I can't even reallydescribe it he kind of goes up
on his toes.
He's rocking back and forthright after she says it, it's
like it knocks the wind out ofhim and just something else
takes over.
It's very subtle, you have towatch it.
But next thing, you know, hereaches out, he slaps her across
(40:03):
the face.
They go out on the patio andhe's like I'm really really so
sorry, but just when I heard theword abortion, all I could
think of is Jason.
I just thought of my kid rightnow and I reacted and I guess
she's thinking the same thingLike okay, yeah, I could see how
you can get to that conclusion.
I know that he goes on to saythat it wasn't just that.
He's like damn, she doesn'twant my baby, my baby, I'm so
(40:25):
sorry.
He apologizes to her forslapping across her face and she
ends up telling him okay, Iwant the baby, I'm not gonna
have the abortion and I forgiveyou, but at the same time I need
a little space, would youplease leave me alone.
And he goes.
Oh my god, I'm so relieved, I'mso sorry.
He starts inching towards her,touching all on her face.
(40:47):
I love you when all she askedwas to be left alone.
I related to this scene so muchnot because of the subject
matter but because I think a lotof times people don't
understand that when you hurtsomeone's feelings or you hurt
them in a way, maliciously oraccidentally, and you feel bad
(41:08):
about it, sometimes a hug orconversation doesn't work right
away.
You don't really get to dictatehow someone receives the action
in which you acted upon them,if that makes any sense.
Yes, you slap me.
You probably feel really badabout it, but please don't come
touching me right now.
I just need a little space.
I need a little bit of time tothink.
(41:29):
So it seems like everything iscool.
Richard goes to work.
There's this really awesomescene with he and Carrie.
You know they're best buddiesnow they're having lunch and I
guess he knows at this pointthat she knows that Laura's
pregnant.
He uses the example of hearingyour voice recorded on something
like hearing it back and itjust seems so weird.
But he says this is how every.
He realized that that's how theworld hears him and over the
(41:52):
last couple of days he feelslike he's finally been able to
hear what the world is hearing.
That is a worthwhile skill todevelop, being able to see
yourself the way other peoplesee you.
Now, by the time lunch is done,he kind of snaps at her a
little bit, but then he realizeswhat he just did and he
backtracks a little bit.
(42:12):
He's like, okay, see, I justheard myself again.
I'm sorry, karen.
She's like, don't worry aboutit, you're a good guy.
He's like, no, I'm not, but I'mtrying my best to be.
So by the time he gets home it'slate.
The house is dark.
He starts turning on lights.
He's calling out for Laura.
He's still looking aroundopening drawers.
(42:43):
They're empty.
Her closet is empty, jason'scloset is empty.
And you get to see the sort ofpanic start to rise as he's more
and more frantic, as he movesfrom room to room to room, runs
down to the kitchen and heflicks on the light and he can
see right there she was standingright there that morning like
(43:03):
right by that counter there isan envelope with a letter.
Oh boy, I can't say that I'mthat surprised.
I understand where she's comingfrom, especially knowing who
this person is, and sometimesyou just don't have the patience
to wait for him to be ready.
Either way, fantastic, superbacting.
(43:24):
So much of this show.
They didn't really say thewords, but you got the essence
of the scene and it was reallyjust all about being heard.
Do people hear you when youtalk?
You look at a Karen who has avoice and is not afraid to use
it.
Sometimes it gets into trouble,sometimes it doesn't.
You look at Abby, who haslearned how to talk to people in
(43:45):
a way that they will hear, butit's something that hasn't
really happened for Laura or forVal.
Interestingly enough, they aretwo women who are kind of
developing, learning a littlebit more about themselves.
I liked this one.
This will be interesting to tryto explain, but this wouldn't
be the first time on theColtasect that someone moves
around or has marital issues.
(44:05):
All right, guys, that waspretty good.
Join me next time.
I'm so sorry I didn't get toget any fan mail today.
Join me next time as we jumpback into another salacious
episode of Soap Lure deep,diving into vintage debauchery.
Check the show notes to send atext about your thoughts and
opinions.
What do you think of thisepisode?
Are you rewatching this in realtime?
(44:26):
Check the show notes for the.
Send me a text link.
I'd love to hear from you.
You can also email me atsoplorepodcast at gmailcom.
That'sS-O-A-P-L-O-R-E-P-O-D-C-A-S-T at
gmailcom.
In the meantime, in betweentime, take your personal notes,
diaries and otherwise privatethoughts with you.
(44:47):
There's always a Lay's potatochip ear hustler waiting to
devour all of your personaldeepest, darkest secrets.
Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and
keep all of your drama on TV.
Bye, thank you, bye.
Don't come at me with good sense and applicable life
lessons.
I don't want to hear that rightnow I want to be mad and I want
to go home and I want to be mad.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, welcome, or welcome back
to SoFloor, the officialgathering place for newbies,
novices and OG diehard fans ofthe golden age of primetime.
(00:21):
I'm your host, jed, viewing andreviewing one of the sopiest,
studziest primetime storylinesof 1982.
So, whether you're new to thisor true to this, sit back and
enjoy.
Tell the kids it's time to playoutside or out of sight.
Tell they have no questions,suggestions or concerns for the
next 25 to 35 minutes, everyoneelse in earshot, cool, quiet or
(00:42):
kicked out Only options.
You got, baby, because we arewatching our stories.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, this is Soap Lure.
(01:21):
Hello, gorgeous, welcome andwelcome back to soap floor.
I hope your day is shaping upwell.
Mine is amazing now that we'reback together.
We're jumping back to the westcoast for a little bit of nice
landing.
We we're watching season three,episode 15.
Episode is called BestIntentions and this one really
hit home, I think, if you'veever had a situation where you
felt like you were between arock and a hard place.
You're going to relate to Laurathis episode.
I'm also really glad we're backon the Laura and Richard
(01:43):
storyline because he's beendancing in the back of my head
this whole.
I don't even know what youwould call it pimp by proxy.
I guess it's not proxy, buthe's been turned into a
corporate pimp, much to hischagrin.
All the dude wants to do is bea good lawyer and you start to
finally see this tensionbubbling up.
(02:04):
Okay, before I get too deepinto that, go ahead and get
comfortable.
Grab yourself something bubblyand bright.
I had the nerve to put on alittle makeup today, did my hair
.
You know what I'm saying.
So I'm feeling real cute.
So I'm going to put a straw inmy Soleil, but you drink
whatever you want to drink.
As we jump back into seasonthree, episode 15 of Knott's
Landing Best Intentions, Ireally enjoy this episode
(02:29):
because it answered a couple ofquestions that have been kind of
dancing in the back of my mind.
Number one was really going onwith Richard.
As you know, I have changed mymind about him because of his I
guess his tenderness that Ithought he was showing this
season, especially towards Karen.
We all know sometimes the faceyou put on in public is not the
(02:50):
same face behind doors.
Got a little bit more clarityon Laura and a lot more clarity
on my girl, valene, who I wouldlove to start with.
So in the last episode, I think, one of the opening scenes you
see Valene.
So in the last episode, I thinkone of the opening scenes you
see Valene.
She's feverishly typing on atypewriter while Lily Mae is
kind of hovering around her inthe background.
(03:10):
She's like mama's cuteskedaddle.
I thought she was paying billsand then I thought about it.
I'm like she's not on acomputer, she doesn't have a
calculator.
But then there were books openaround her.
So I'm like, oh, she's doinglike a book report.
Happy to report that my girl isstill in school.
I was really wondering aboutthat.
They hadn't really saidanything in a long time.
But she's in school andapparently she's had this
(03:31):
project that she's been workingon.
Now let her tell it.
It is supposed to be a personaljournal of sorts.
So she's been working on thisnonstop.
She's been in the zone, she'sbeen focused.
She knows that she has like aream of paper I'm talking 500
pages.
It looks like talking aboutthis is her project that she has
(03:51):
to turn in for her Englishclass.
It is a personal journal.
Now she's telling this to LilyMay, who was still hovering in
the background.
Lily May is what I like to calla professional looky-loo.
She's going to ear hustle,she's going to eavesdrop, she's
going to peek at all theinappropriate times.
Sometimes it's going to get herin trouble.
This episode, I think it does alittle bit.
(04:13):
But Valene explains like hey,this is just.
This is a project I'm workingon for school.
I need to have this turned in.
Mama, please don't look at this.
Lily Mae's like well, what isthis about?
She said well, it's a journalabout my life.
I used to think my life was soboring until I started writing
this.
Then I started to realize it'spretty interesting.
So I wrote about the Ewings,change the names and whatnot,
(04:33):
but mama just don't say anything.
So maybe it's English, maybeit's a creative writing class.
If you're writing a personaldiary, who can tell you whether
or not it's true?
So I guess there will be nofact checking.
But whatever the case, she hasdecided to go ahead and turn
this in, or she will turn thisin.
She puts it in a box, she hidesit in the buffet and she's like
mama, please don't golooky-looing through my stuff.
(04:54):
I mean I don't want nobody toread it In the words of Erykah
Badu I'm an artist and Isensitive about my ish.
Please don't look through mystuff.
Lily Mae's like all right, baby.
You know I want to.
I never dreamed of it.
Tell me why she couldn't waitfor Val to leave.
She waits until she hears theengine rev up, goes into the
kitchen, prepares herself ateenage snack and spends the
(05:16):
rest of the afternoon devouringall of Valene's very deep, very
personal, very intimate tellingsof her life on the run from the
UN.
Now, I am assuming that's whatthis says because of the
reaction that it gets from LilyMae and later Miss Abby.
Quick little side note I amloving the hair in 1982.
(05:41):
1982 does not want to be 1972or 1979 for that matter, but
they are struggling.
So every episode I'm startingto notice with the exception of
Eileen, you know she isdedicated to that, just for me.
Perm box, one little piece ofhair snatched back into a
ponytail, I guess, to appearyouthful.
(06:02):
I really don't understand.
I can't wait till it.
Well, actually I can.
I'm really enjoying the ridewith Knox Landing, but once I'm
done, I have so many questions,matter of fact, maybe I should
do this about season five.
I need to talk to stylists.
I need to understand what theperception was with this
particular character, eileen,and her hair.
(06:23):
Anyway, I am loving thestruggles because, you see,
ginger's hair is flipping around.
Abby's hair is flipping around.
Abby seems to be the mostconsistent.
She's giving Farrah Fawcett,but then she has the
scrunchiness of the 80s.
I love 82 because they justdon't know what to do quite yet.
It's so much fun to see thesewomen come on and off the screen
(06:47):
with totally different decadesworth of hair every episode.
I digress when it comes to LilyMae and the fact that she is.
She's a looky-loo, she's nosy,but she is also sort of making
up for lost time.
I think her seeing Valeneactually write something that
turned out not to be just acouple of pages, which a normal
(07:08):
book report would be.
I think she, she, she akin itto the way she goes through her
songwriting process.
So, as Val is trying to hustleout of the door and get to
school or wherever she's going,val doesn't know what it is.
She's like mama, I don't knowwhat it is.
(07:30):
I mean it's.
It's a report, that's what itis right now, but it just feels
so good to get all this out.
Lily Mae akins that to hersongwriting and I think she sees
a little bit of an artist inValene, based on her actions
later on.
So, like I said, she spends theentire afternoon on the couch
going through every single page,reading this front to back,
loving the ish out of it.
(07:50):
But she has a big greasy bag ofLay's potato chips.
So all I'm thinking is she'sgetting greasy fingerprints all
over this.
There's no way she's going tobe able to lie to Valene and say
that she didn't read it.
Well, unbeknownst to her, abbyneeds to stop by the house to
gosh.
I guess I need to talk aboutGary and Abby real quick, so you
(08:10):
know how.
They have the whole weedahallor what is it?
Whatever?
Alcohol, weed, gas, gas thewhole situation going.
Gary's trying to do two thingsat once he's trying to be the
manager of Knott's LandingMotors and he's trying to get
this company off the ground.
So he's managed to get a coldthis episode and because he is
(08:30):
so busy, he can't be everywhereat once.
So Abby stops by and I'm almostconvinced almost, but not really
almost convinced that there'snothing going on, because she
didn't really flirt with him thelast episode.
She's kind of giving him flirtyeyes, but that's about as far
as it goes.
It's almost like she likes tosee him blush, like, okay, you
(08:52):
don't want me to hit on you, butremember we kissed, it's kind
of that thing.
So she comes in and she's like,well, what can I do?
And he says something about acopier.
Either they're going to drop itoff at his house or she needs
to pick up something from hishouse.
I can't really remember howthat goes.
So she's giving him the kind ofwiggle, wiggle eye and he's
like, oh, he kind of goofilysmiles at her and then she goes
(09:12):
about on her business.
I'm almost convinced because ofsomething that happens a little
bit later on.
So Abby ends up going by Valeneand Gary's house and he told her
if no one's home there is a keyin the little potholder, tell
me why.
She rings the doorbell, knocksone time, mind you, lily Mae is
in the living room on the couch,and then she proceeds to open
(09:33):
the door with the key.
So when she gets in, lily Maeis all flustered.
She's trying to close the Lay'spotato chip bag.
All the papers go flying.
So Abby obviously clocks that.
Lily Mae is nervous.
All of a sudden she's like well, what are you reading?
Lily Mae spills it being well,it's Val's report.
But girl, this is so good, thisis a page turner.
I was just going to read alittle bit but turns out this is
(09:55):
so juicy.
Abby's like for real, what'sshe talking about?
Oh, she's talking about theTexas Ewing's.
Now, she changed all the names,of course, but she's talking
about the Ewing's.
So Abby's like word.
Hmm, say Lily Mae, I know somepeople in publishing.
Why don't you let me read it?
And I can, you know, maybe putit in the right hands?
(10:16):
Everybody is forgetting thefact that this is this girl's
homework.
She needs to turn this in tofurther her education.
Abby says how about this?
Why don't I make a copy?
Then Val wouldn't know I haveit.
Because Lily Mae is like no, shewon't allow anybody to read it.
She doesn't want anybody toread it.
So, okay, my heckles are.
I don't know.
I'm usually pretty good atreading people, but I just like
(10:43):
part of me is like I'm not goingto forget that after the whole
incident in Mexico where youknow Abby and Gary made out.
She did come over the house tostart some ish.
They're carrying on likethey're flirting, but it doesn't
really seem like anything elseis coming of that.
You know what I'm saying?
Nobody seems they don't seeminterested in each other to me.
You know what I'm saying.
(11:04):
They don't seem interested ineach other to me.
But then it's like do youreally want to help thou, or is
this just another way to stirthe pot a little bit?
I don't know.
She's done nice thingssometimes.
I don't know, I don't know.
So I'll just.
Why don't I just leave it atthat?
I don't know what she's doing.
So anyways, I do know that shedecides to make a copy and she
reads it.
(11:24):
She sits at her house and she'slike yee-haw, she reads it.
I'm hoping Val has the page'snumber, because I can't figure
out for the life of me how LilyMay threw this huge pile of
papers up in the air and theyboth managed to kind of scrape
it back together and it's all inorder, with grease stains all
over it, by the way.
I hate a half-hearted attempt.
(11:46):
So I just went back andrewatched it.
I feel like she's stirring thepot.
After Abby reads it, she tellsLily Mae.
Hey, this is just a thinlyveiled expose on the Ewing
family.
I think they would try to stopher if she were to publish this.
This, as they say in thecountry.
Lots of fire upon Zulime's assand she decides you know what To
(12:06):
heck with them?
They can kick rocks inflip-flops.
My girl's going to be an author.
If it's the last thing I do, goon and take this to one of your
little friends, abby.
Make sure you get thispublished for my girl, my girl's
, a star.
Truth is, abby don't have nofriends in publishing, but what
she does have is a sister-in-lawwho has a little brother who
teaches college, so maybe heknows the literary types.
(12:29):
Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Karen's baby brother, joe.
Joe, or Uncle Joe, as he'saffectionately called by the
children, has just shown up fromthe east coast.
He has a teaching gig at UCLAwhich puts him smack dab in
Knott's Landing so he can keepan eye on his sister, his niece
and his nephews.
(12:49):
I'm really, really glad Joe'son the show.
Oh my god, I think I'm bl.
Really glad Joe's on the show.
Oh my God, I think I'm blushing.
I like Joe.
I like Joe on the show.
I hope he stays for a long time.
But Joe's eating breakfast,karen is trying to leave house.
Abby calls, karen answers thephone and she's like hey girl.
(13:13):
Abby says hey, is Joe there?
Can I talk to Joe?
Sure, so Karen hands him thephone.
But Karen has a takeover spirit,just like Lily Mae, she can't
help.
She's also a looky-boo, apeek-a-boo, an ear hustler.
Only this is her brother.
So she's just gonna be realshameless with it, her little
brother, mind you.
(13:34):
So she gets as close to his earas she possibly can.
While he's holding the receiver,abby has a little conversation
with Joe.
He's like yeah, yeah, yeah,absolutely I can do that for you
, no problem.
He goes back down to eating hisbreakfast and Karen's like hey,
what did Abby want?
He's like none of your business.
Man, quit playing.
Tell me what did Abby want.
I'm not telling you nothing.
Tell me, joe.
(13:55):
He's like give me $5.
Man, she tries to leave theroom but she's so nosy she can't
.
She's like oh my God, shestutter.
Steps like 10 times.
He's like all right, fine,ponies up the money.
Now Joe knows how nosy hissister is, so he was teasing her
a little bit.
She's like man, what does shewant?
He goes.
She wants my body, she wantscompany.
What do you think?
(14:15):
So I'm like which one?
He eventually tells her well,she has a manuscript, she wants
me to read it and, if it's good,get it to a publisher.
She's like man, that wasn't no$5 secret.
I love this because there's thatmagical moment, especially if
you're a younger sibling, whereyou have a little bit of power.
It's like, oh my gosh, I justfeel so good not to say anything
(14:37):
.
But I've also been on the otherend of that where you're just
like oh my God, I just have toknow.
I just have to know.
Now, joe seems to think there'snothing wrong with healthy
curiosity.
However, having your curiositysatisfied all the time does not
build any character, I tend toagree.
The older I've gotten, the moreI've been able to be like.
You know what?
My name is, cousin Ben, and Iam in it, even though I'm really
(14:59):
really curious.
I don't like to go digging, butI always want to know.
Let the record reflect that Ialways want to know.
So Joe ends up reading themanuscript and wouldn't you know
it?
He's like hey, you gotsomething here.
This is really good.
Abby goes on to ask him wouldyou say this is book worthy.
He's like yeah, I'd say youdefinitely have a book, for sure
(15:20):
Would it be a bestseller?
He's like I don't know aboutall that, but I would say you
have a book.
She goes okay, cool.
So you know publishers andstuff, right?
He's like yeah, a lot of mystudents have published books.
Now, joe don't look very old tome.
Joe can't be any older thanabout 30.
Can't imagine he's beenteaching college that long.
But let him tell it, not onlyhas he been doing that, he has
(15:42):
students who are authors.
So, yeah, we can make thisthing shake.
So now the only thing left to dois to tell Valene that she
could be the next DanielleSteele or Earl Stein.
Hell, I don't know what thebook says, I really don't.
But if it's based on her lifehere I am forgetting for about
10 seconds that this is a TVshow I would love to read
(16:02):
Valene's book.
I would devour it.
Okay, I almost forgot.
When Joe tells Abby thiswonderful news, you know she's
pumped.
This is excellent news.
They're kind of leaning intowards each other because
they're out on campus speaking,so I mean they have to be a
little bit close in order totalk.
But tell me why she kisses thisman all on his mouth, got his
(16:23):
dimples showing.
He's like what's up, abby,you're the only eligible
bachelor on the coldest side.
What's up?
So I don't know, I don't know,hell, I don't know.
I think she just likes flirting.
I think that is just how shemoves in the world.
She didn't actually.
I mean, this is actually shady.
I know what she's doing now isvery shady because of Rewound it
(16:46):
, but I think that's just howshe operates.
She's going to flirt until theend of her life.
So they go and tell Val andrightfully so.
She's like what the what iswrong with y'all?
What part of personal Scratchthat?
What part of diary Scratch that?
What part of personal diarythat I need to turn in for a
grade tells you to Xerox it andflash it all over Southern
(17:08):
California.
And they're like girl, I know,but we knew you wouldn't do it.
Lily Mae was just trying tohelp, had to hook up Val it.
Lily Mae was just trying tohelp have the hookup Val.
You got something here.
You have got to get this out.
Like I know you're scared, goahead and put this out.
So eventually she startsthinking about it and she was
like you know, did it feel kindof good to get it all out.
(17:30):
I don't know, I don't knowy'all, I just don't know it felt
good to do it.
And this is where Lily Maecomes back in.
The artist, the starving artist.
She's like baby girl.
That is a God given talent.
To be able to sing, to be ableto write, to put things together
the way that you did is a giftand it'd be a sin for you not to
do it.
She brought the Lord into it,brought the Lord into your
(17:53):
scheming laced potato chip handthieving stunts.
So she's like well, I ain'treally trying to upset the Lord
and I mean this is my story.
I mean I did write all thattime.
It'd be a shame to not dosomething with it.
All right, give me a day or so,I'll go ahead and get it
prepped and I'll get it sentover where it needs to send.
So Valene could possibly be anauthor, be an author.
(18:14):
I'm also kind of wondering.
No, that can't be the case.
I was going to say I'mwondering if somehow Abby wants
it will get it sent to theEwing's.
But I don't think that's goingto happen because Val puts it in
the mailman's hand.
Personally, she makes sure thatit's going to get to New York.
So somebody is going to readover it.
So I mean, I don't think theywould bring that up, unless it's
going to turn into something.
Now that I'm really sittingback thinking about it, this is
(18:36):
a pot stirring moment.
This is either a pot stirringmoment or she's going to use
this for leverage.
I'm talking about Abby, by theway.
I don't really know.
I'm going to talk very brieflyabout Gary.
If you want to freshen up yourdrink, then we got to get into
the lore situation.
Gary is sick.
Gary has a cold, probablybrought on by a lot of stress.
(18:59):
You ever notice that if you'redealing with a whole lot all at
once, your body just kind ofbreaks down on you.
Well, the gas, a whole thing istaking its toll, like it's not
really coming together the wayhe thought it would and he's
having to find time to work onthis project.
He wants to be true to his word,probably especially since he
made the deal with the mafiosotypes before and got Karen's
(19:19):
business in trouble.
He's making sure he's fullydevoted when he works with her,
so he ends up staying late towork on the gas haul.
Now I have a lot of oldercountry people in my family and
you know there's a lot of homeremedies I was thinking what he
needs to do is, instead ofputting alcohol in the gas tank,
(19:41):
he needs to pour that in glass,put a little lemon on it, heat
it up over the stove and take itto the head and sleep for 12
hours or so.
You'll be just fine, gary.
You would think he knew that onthe ranch, but for whatever
reason, he needs to show up inthe tightest of clothes to make
sure everybody knows he's stillfine, fine.
So remember how he reacted whenhe came home from Mexico after
(20:06):
slobbing Abby down, the way hereacted when Valene didn't do
backflips over his information.
Okay, we get to flip the tablesnow.
So after a long, hard day ofwork and a cold, she makes him
an ice cold sandwich for dinner.
He can't even enjoy it withchips because Lily Mae has eaten
them all and left the crumbsall over Val's beautiful
(20:29):
manuscript.
So she gives him a little hotsauce and a sandwich.
Correction, just look at mynose he eats ketchup on a
sandwich.
What a weirdo.
First she tells him that Abbygot her manuscript over to
someone to read and they thoughtit was really good and he's
like oh really, that's cool.
Then she goes on to say thatwell, he thinks it might even be
a bestseller.
Now, I don't believe that.
But he goes oh, let me guesswho is this guy?
(20:51):
She goes, I don't know, justsomebody Abby knows.
And he goes let me guess hejust needs a thousand dollars to
do it like implying that it's ascam.
And she's like Gary, why yougotta say stuff like that?
No, like I'm really good.
Even in my class my journalismclass that's what it is, not
English, my journalism classeverybody says it's really good
and he says, no, I don't doubtit, but like it takes years to
(21:14):
become a really good writer, you, you really think you're going
to be able to do this this quick, like it just seems kind of
fast.
This pisses her off.
So she goes upstairs like alady to go to bed.
She don't even curse him out,really.
She stands up for herself alittle bit more.
He obviously feels bad and hecomes upstairs and he's like
listen, I am proud of you, goodluck, I hope this works out.
I'm just.
I'm just, you know, I'm justconcerned.
(21:34):
I don't want anybody takingadvantage of you, more or less
so, while they're having thisheart to heart.
She keeps trying to tell himlike I really wish you would
read it.
Well, no sooner than she saysthat phone rings, mind you, it's
late enough to go to bedbecause she's got on a whole
gown and, like I said, he's beenstaying late at the at the
dealership to work on the gashaul project.
So the phone rings and it'sAbby and he's like damn, it's
(21:57):
late.
She goes.
No, we need to go to the officeright now.
Some of these numbers arefudged, which we knew because
there was a scene with he andKaren.
Karen noticed he was stayinglate and he was just like yeah,
well, I can't work on two thingsat once.
She's like listen, don'toverexert yourself.
If you need to work on gas haulduring the day here, I don't
mind, just Just, you know, takeit easy.
He's like I will, but I justgot to finish these books.
But she calls him at night andsure enough he gets up to go
(22:20):
back to work under the cloak ofdarkness.
I keep talking myself out of myown arguments.
Now I'm starting to believethat perhaps Abby is playing the
long game.
Let me build a wedge, let meseparate these people.
Brick by brick, board by board,dismantle the institution of
their marriage so that I can dowhat I need to do.
(22:42):
On the other hand, since whenhas marriage ever stopped her?
If she really wanted to?
I really do feel like he likesthe attention, but he don't like
her.
Plus, they got to get thisbusiness up and running.
It's still interestingnonetheless, though.
You have two partners who havetwo separate dreams.
You know, valene is slowlyfinding her dream.
Gary is slowly finding his.
(23:04):
His stride Like he's finallyunderstands what he's good at.
He wants to expand that empire.
She's finally finding somethingelse to pour herself into, and
I've thought for a very longtime, like ever since the first
episode where he cheated withwhat's her name, judy Ever since
he cheated with Judy, evenbefore that, I've wondered how
long Val would be able to kindof play that game.
(23:25):
This can go one of two ways, Ithink.
If they both have something tokind of pour themselves into,
they'll either celebrate eachother's victories, help each
other through the losses, or itjust won't work.
But I think it's a little toosoon to say anything that wild.
But it can be.
It can be a strain on anyrelationship when two people
have different interests ordifferent levels of success,
(23:46):
which is more of the case withLaura and Richard.
Relationships can be difficult,whether that be a relationship
with your spouse, a relationshipwith your siblings, a
relationship with your friendsor your boss.
It's going to take work and ithas to be based on mutual
interest, at minimum.
This episode opens up with Laura.
(24:08):
She seems to be coming off ofshowing a house to someone.
She walks into their realtorbuilding and she's frustrated.
Now we know that she's pregnant.
She knows that she's pregnant,but she's not.
She hadn't really told anybody.
First order of business in hermind is okay, let me go and tell
Scooter.
So, mind you, scooter has thatoffice with those big, giant
(24:30):
window panes.
She goes in and she's like hey,I think we need need to end
this, not because I don't carefor you, but I'm pregnant.
He's like he gets a littleexcited, thinking oh my god, we
made a baby.
She's like no, no, it's Richard.
He goes, are you sure?
She's yeah, because I'm almostthree months along.
We're, we're pregnant.
And he's like wow, okay, well,what are you gonna do?
(24:51):
He's still being her friend,which I love.
She says she doesn't know.
Her original plan before findingout this news was that she was
going to walk in the house, shewas going to leave him.
She had it all planned out andthen the baby threw a wrench in
her plan.
So Scooter asked the obviousquestion Well, what did Richard
say?
I haven't told him yet.
(25:12):
And he's like oh, I mean well,what are you going to do?
She's like you know what?
I can't answer all thesequestions for you because I
really don't know.
All I want to do is be bymyself.
So she's kind of upset thiswhole episode.
She got a little bit ofattitude and she ends up talking
to Karen about it because Imean, who else Karen is being an
excellent friend?
She's just kind of chilling asLaura tells her I don't want
(25:34):
this, I don't want any of this,I'm ready to leave this fool.
I don't want this baby, I don'twant, I don't want the marriage
, I don't want anything attachedto him.
Now Karen doesn't really knowhow to respond to this because
it's very clear that Laura is.
She's going through a lot.
She doesn't know what she wantsto do, decision fatigue, and
these are major decisions.
It's also important to notethat I think a lot of her
(25:58):
reaction is based on theconversation that she had with
Richard before this.
So she left work early.
She canceled the rest of herday's appointments so that she
could go home and talk toRichard when she gets home.
There was this whole situationwhere they had a stray dog tear
up their living room.
So the whole living room was inshambles.
There's paper everywhere andRichard is just kind of focused
(26:19):
on the activity at hand.
Top of this podcast.
I said that a leaf had turnedfor me as far as Richard.
I found him to be much morepersonable this season.
I find myself rooting for him alittle bit more.
He seems so much more likable.
But that's on the surface,that's on the outside.
We've only seen a few momentswith him, allure, and he seems
fine.
But as she walks into the houseyou get to see Richard from
(26:43):
seasons two and one.
He's a little frustrated on thephone, so I'm not really
holding that part against him.
That's a natural reaction,right?
It's the dismissiveness, though.
When she comes in he's likewhat are you doing home so early
?
She tells him that she canceledher meetings for the day so she
(27:03):
could come home early.
He's like, oh, and he makes asarcastic jab.
So you see, okay, he's stillthat guy, but it is a dig at her
Like, oh my gosh, your highnessgraced us with your presence.
She wants him to not take thecall so that she can handle
business.
He's too busy.
He's already picked up thephone.
He's already calling the pound.
They're putting him on hold andstuff.
(27:23):
So the point of all that isthat he's distracted.
She's still in the backgroundlike, hey, please hang up the
phone, hang up the phone, hangup the phone.
He eventually gets theappointment set for the next day
.
But then when he hangs up, heimmediately turns to her and
says you know what?
None of this would happen ifyou were at home, like you
(27:44):
should be when the kid gets home.
None of this would ever happen.
I wouldn't have picked up thedog, this, that and et cetera.
This is basically all yourfault.
I would not.
I don't hold him sort ofignoring her because he this is
a chaotic experience.
It didn't like she walked intoa calm home.
It's a little bit out of thenorm.
He was already focused on onetask.
(28:04):
Okay, yes, we've all done that.
We've all missed importantthings because we're
hyper-focused on something else.
But the way that he greeted herand then, after he got the
appointments, that the fact thathe was still willing to take
his frustrations out on her.
Ok, I understand what she'ssaying now because she's
mentioned before this seasonthat they hardly talk.
(28:26):
They're not really gettingalong.
You finally get to see it.
Laura's always been thischaracter.
You know I'm an expert nowafter you know 30 episodes.
She's always been able to takehim.
She's never taken anything hesaid too serious, like he
scoffed.
He said way worse to her in thepast and she just sort of
smiles through it.
But I think her having her ownthing, her having something that
(28:47):
she can pour herself into, herhaving success in something that
was unexpected, it hasn't givenher a big head.
I think it's kind of stiffenedher spine and, truth be told,
she's always had grit, she'salways had that spine.
But now you know that saying youcan never go home again.
Well, they say that becauseonce you're out on your own,
(29:08):
once you've kind of lived yourlife, you're going to see things
through a different lens.
It's not that you can't go homeagain, you just can't be the
person you were before you lefthome again.
And that could be for better,that could be for worse.
Laura was at home in this sortof dysfunction.
So now that she's gotten ataste of success, now that she
understands there's more thanone way to skin a cat, as they
(29:30):
say, you don't have to take this.
I don't have to be with a manwho belittles me.
I don't have to shrink to makehim feel bigger.
I can be my best selling, best,presenting self, and it pays
dividend.
I am rewarded when I go out andI show my full self.
But here he still wants me tokind of fold into that.
(29:52):
I'm sure he's going through hisown stuff, but it just it
doesn't sit well.
So back to her and Karen.
She's just frustrated.
She's like I don't want to haveto make these decisions and
what is implied is that if youhave a baby with your husband,
you have to stay with yourhusband.
I can only imagine in 1982, howfrowned upon that would be to
walk out pregnant with thisman's baby.
(30:14):
Karen's like girl.
I don't really know what to say.
What does Richard say?
She goes.
I haven't told him anything.
I haven't told him I'm leavinghim.
I haven't told him I'm pregnant.
I just haven't said anything.
So she gets up and she stormsout because she's just kind of
overwhelmed and frustrated.
As Laura is leaving.
Karen chases her outside andshe's like listen, if you don't
do anything else, just tell him.
I'm not telling you not to havean abortion, I'm not telling
(30:34):
you to keep the baby, I'm nottelling you what to do, except
that you have got to let himknow everything.
You got to let him know thatyou're leaving him and you got
to let him know that you don'twant the baby.
You have to tell him Go homeand think about it.
See what comes up.
And Laura's like you know what?
I hate you Really, meaning Ilove you Like damn girl.
Don't come at me with goodsense and applicable life
(30:59):
lessons.
I don't want to hear that rightnow.
I want to be mad and I want togo home and I want to be mad.
Also, food for thought therobes on Knott's Landing suck in
comparison to the robes onDynasty.
That's all Laura decides.
You know what?
I'm going to stay home fromwork.
(31:19):
I'm going to go ahead and tellRichard about this, or maybe
it's Saturday, I don't reallyknow.
She decides to go downstairs inher robe next day and be like
yo, I need to talk to you.
I was blown away by this scene.
Not by the obvious, not by theacting, not by the tension, none
of that.
Oh, I'm sorry, it's not thenext day, it's night, it's that
night.
(31:40):
I am blown away by the factthat Richard is sitting on the
couch playing a video game.
I forget how normal that is.
I don't remember life before Imean okay, let me not say that I
remember having computer gamesvery early on Carmen Sandiego
and a couple others and mycousin had a Nintendo with a
duck hunting and all that.
(32:00):
But I forget how normal that isto have like a console or have
someone playing a game in mylifetime.
It is the absolute norm forgrown men to do that and I've
made arguments before in thepast.
You know girls have to stopplaying with dolls at some point
.
It's perfectly sociallyacceptable.
For a man to play games Willshut my mouth wide open In women
(32:24):
game too, obviously, but I justI've never seen anybody over a
certain age do it.
This is wild.
He's playing like a littlehandheld game.
It's really annoying.
Insert reason number 47, why Ihate the 80s, or do I?
(32:44):
Well, anyway, another sort ofsign of the times on this
episode is that when Laura comesdownstairs she's basically
telling Richard that Jason isupset that they found the dog's
owner.
The dog is back with hisrightful owner and he goes.
What's that?
Is that supposed to make mefeel bad?
She's like no, he just doesn'tunderstand why he can't have a
pet and he goes.
Because they grow up.
You have to take care of them.
You have to walk them.
I can't put a dog in daycarelike I can't a kid.
Only you can.
I see dogs at daycare all thetime.
(33:05):
You can put a dog in daycare.
Now she goes on to just be likedude.
Could you just talk to me,maybe, without talking out of
the side of your neck?
Can we just possibly have anormal conversation without you
making some wisecrack at me?
They get into what marriage is.
She's like this marriage sucks.
I hate it.
It's whack.
I don't really like it.
And he goes.
Well, you know why you don'tlike it Because your
expectations are too high.
(33:26):
You think it's supposed to bedates and flowers and ish.
No, this is marriage.
Me sitting on the couch curledup, playing a video game,
halfway reading the paper.
This is marriage.
She's like dude.
You're missing the point.
I'm sick of you.
You don't understand what I'msaying.
I'm pregnant.
He keeps on talking.
I'm pregnant.
He keeps on talking.
Once again.
You see him just kind of.
(33:46):
He doesn't listen to her.
And now that she has had ataste of the other side of us,
she's like guess what, I don'thave to take this.
Plus, she's also selling Sunset.
She really don't need moneylike that.
Well, this revelation of a freshnew baby in Richard's mind
(34:06):
means a fresh new start.
So of course, the next morninghe brings her breakfast in bed.
He's like babe, I hear you, I'mso sorry.
I hear you.
I want things to be goodbetween us.
Let's just start fresh.
We can take a vacation, we cango wherever you want.
He starts making all these plansand you can tell she likes it.
(34:27):
Like, okay, this is the guy Ilove, this is a man who I fell
in love with.
She likes what she's hearing.
I suppose it's later that nightbecause they're sitting in
front of a fire and Richard isso pumped he has made, I'm
assuming, hot chocolate.
I don't really know whatthey're drinking.
But he says hey, laura, do youthink I can convince you to take
a month off before you get toobig?
(34:49):
I'd like to take you to Europe.
She goes okay, well, what didyou have in mind?
He has this whole itineraryplan, his whole wine tour.
If you were new to this, hi,welcome to the show.
I know we are nearing the endof the show, so thank you for
listening and thank you forlistening this long.
I am jack.
I am reviewing vintage primetimesoap operas of ago and I
(35:13):
reviewed a show a couple ofyears back called the Yellow
Rose.
Now, I was absolutelygobsmacked when on the Yellow
Rose, which was filmed in 1981,1982, there was a kid named Wit
I think he's about 17, 18 yearsold.
He's walking in a bar drinking.
I could not believe it.
You could drink that young in abar.
(35:33):
Now, I don't know how much ofthat is fair.
I guess the drinking ageprobably changed right about
that time.
But another thing I noticedfrom 1981, 1982 is that nobody's
wagging their finger at apregnant woman having a drink or
two.
Now I know doctors tell you nowyou could have a glass of wine.
But this man, richard, wants totake his pregnant wife on a wine
(35:56):
tasting tour for over a month.
It's still hard for me tounderstand that.
Well, as he's telling her hisplans and he's pulling out all
of these pamphlets and he'sgiving her the itinerary, he
never stops talking.
She asked if they couldpossibly go to Chateau
(36:16):
Villeneuve and I know I saidthat wrong because I don't speak
French.
I also think side note thatthis is the actor's opportunity
to prove that they took Frenchcourses at some point.
But when she makes thesuggestion, he's like oh no,
their wine sucks.
And he just keeps talking andtalking and talking.
And she's holding that sort ofLaura resting face where it's a
little bit of a smirk, but asthe scene goes on, it's oh, I'm
(36:40):
getting not getting chills.
It just makes me so happy.
She's doing that knots landingthing.
Where she did you just slowlystart to see her.
Her face is changing.
She's realizing in real timewhy she said what she said in
the first place.
I love the subtleties.
(37:00):
Even if this is a soap opera,she's not overly animated.
She's just kind of sittingthere and the more he talks, the
more her face drops.
Her facade is dropping.
She's realizing if I go throughwith this, it'll be more of the
same.
He's still not listening to me.
This is all about him.
She's saying all this, but shenever says a word.
(37:25):
Richard, on the other hand, ispumped.
He runs into Kenny one night onthe cold a second.
He's like hey bro, baby twonames is going to have a play
buddy pretty soon and Kenny'slike Baby Two Names is going to
have a play buddy pretty soon.
And Kenny's like who, why where?
Richard's like me and LauraAbout to have a little bambino,
and it's funny that it's thesetwo talking about how babies
(37:46):
save marriage.
Kenny is congratulating Richard.
He's like you know, I almostlost Ginger, but luckily I
knocked her up with Baby Two,two names and it was the best
thing that ever happened to me.
That would have been thebiggest mistake of my life to
blow that.
But kids really do changethings.
Kids really do bring peopletogether.
Both of these men have hookersin their Rolodex.
Now they can make one phonecall and have 16 different
(38:09):
flavors of women of the night,like that.
But yeah, let's have babies tosave our marriage, because
that's the plan.
Well, it doesn't really matterwhat the plan is.
It doesn't really matter whatRichard wants, because at the
end of the day, laura is the onewho has to really make this
decision.
She's frustrated because thatnew leaf that was turned over
(38:34):
wasn't even turned over for afull 24 hours before he went
back to being who he is, whichone could argue.
He's always been, he hasn'tchanged up anything.
She's the one changing it up.
But she decides you know what,I can't take it.
She goes upstairs or wherevershe goes, and she comes down
with a crushed velvet robe thatmy mom had.
I swear my mom's was teal, butit's like this crushed velvet
(38:57):
old lady choir robe.
It is once again Richard'sincessant talking that is
driving her nuts.
He's talking about how he waswhen Jason was born, how he was
hands off.
He wants to be hands on.
We're taking courses, we'redoing Lamaze class, all this and
she's just like enough, havinga baby doesn't fix anything.
You can't bring me breakfast inbed, plan a trip and think
everything's gonna be gucci andgolden, not fine.
(39:19):
Well, what do you want?
She even tells him that shewants to move out and he's.
He's basically trying to fightbecause he's like, okay, and
that's when she shouts that shedoesn't love him anymore and he
goes, okay.
So I mean, what does that meanfor us and the baby?
She goes well, I'm going tohave an abortion.
I was watching his face whenthis happened and I'm so glad I
(39:40):
did.
This man was acting.
Let me just tell you that he'skind of rocking on his.
You can see I can't even reallydescribe it he kind of goes up
on his toes.
He's rocking back and forthright after she says it, it's
like it knocks the wind out ofhim and just something else
takes over.
It's very subtle, you have towatch it.
But next thing, you know, hereaches out, he slaps her across
(40:03):
the face.
They go out on the patio andhe's like I'm really really so
sorry, but just when I heard theword abortion, all I could
think of is Jason.
I just thought of my kid rightnow and I reacted and I guess
she's thinking the same thingLike okay, yeah, I could see how
you can get to that conclusion.
I know that he goes on to saythat it wasn't just that.
He's like damn, she doesn'twant my baby, my baby, I'm so
(40:25):
sorry.
He apologizes to her forslapping across her face and she
ends up telling him okay, Iwant the baby, I'm not gonna
have the abortion and I forgiveyou, but at the same time I need
a little space, would youplease leave me alone.
And he goes.
Oh my god, I'm so relieved, I'mso sorry.
He starts inching towards her,touching all on her face.
(40:47):
I love you when all she askedwas to be left alone.
I related to this scene so muchnot because of the subject
matter but because I think a lotof times people don't
understand that when you hurtsomeone's feelings or you hurt
them in a way, maliciously oraccidentally, and you feel bad
(41:08):
about it, sometimes a hug orconversation doesn't work right
away.
You don't really get to dictatehow someone receives the action
in which you acted upon them,if that makes any sense.
Yes, you slap me.
You probably feel really badabout it, but please don't come
touching me right now.
I just need a little space.
I need a little bit of time tothink.
(41:29):
So it seems like everything iscool.
Richard goes to work.
There's this really awesomescene with he and Carrie.
You know they're best buddiesnow they're having lunch and I
guess he knows at this pointthat she knows that Laura's
pregnant.
He uses the example of hearingyour voice recorded on something
like hearing it back and itjust seems so weird.
But he says this is how every.
He realized that that's how theworld hears him and over the
(41:52):
last couple of days he feelslike he's finally been able to
hear what the world is hearing.
That is a worthwhile skill todevelop, being able to see
yourself the way other peoplesee you.
Now, by the time lunch is done,he kind of snaps at her a
little bit, but then he realizeswhat he just did and he
backtracks a little bit.
(42:12):
He's like, okay, see, I justheard myself again.
I'm sorry, karen.
She's like, don't worry aboutit, you're a good guy.
He's like, no, I'm not, but I'mtrying my best to be.
So by the time he gets home it'slate.
The house is dark.
He starts turning on lights.
He's calling out for Laura.
He's still looking aroundopening drawers.
(42:43):
They're empty.
Her closet is empty, jason'scloset is empty.
And you get to see the sort ofpanic start to rise as he's more
and more frantic, as he movesfrom room to room to room, runs
down to the kitchen and heflicks on the light and he can
see right there she was standingright there that morning like
(43:03):
right by that counter there isan envelope with a letter.
Oh boy, I can't say that I'mthat surprised.
I understand where she's comingfrom, especially knowing who
this person is, and sometimesyou just don't have the patience
to wait for him to be ready.
Either way, fantastic, superbacting.
(43:24):
So much of this show.
They didn't really say thewords, but you got the essence
of the scene and it was reallyjust all about being heard.
Do people hear you when youtalk?
You look at a Karen who has avoice and is not afraid to use
it.
Sometimes it gets into trouble,sometimes it doesn't.
You look at Abby, who haslearned how to talk to people in
(43:45):
a way that they will hear, butit's something that hasn't
really happened for Laura or forVal.
Interestingly enough, they aretwo women who are kind of
developing, learning a littlebit more about themselves.
I liked this one.
This will be interesting to tryto explain, but this wouldn't
be the first time on theColtasect that someone moves
around or has marital issues.
(44:05):
All right, guys, that waspretty good.
Join me next time.
I'm so sorry I didn't get toget any fan mail today.
Join me next time as we jumpback into another salacious
episode of Soap Lure deep,diving into vintage debauchery.
Check the show notes to send atext about your thoughts and
opinions.
What do you think of thisepisode?
Are you rewatching this in realtime?
(44:26):
Check the show notes for the.
Send me a text link.
I'd love to hear from you.
You can also email me atsoplorepodcast at gmailcom.
That'sS-O-A-P-L-O-R-E-P-O-D-C-A-S-T at
gmailcom.
In the meantime, in betweentime, take your personal notes,
diaries and otherwise privatethoughts with you.
(44:47):
There's always a Lay's potatochip ear hustler waiting to
devour all of your personaldeepest, darkest secrets.
Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and
keep all of your drama on TV.
Bye, thank you, bye.
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