September 9, 2025 • 57 mins
"What happens when denial finally shatters?" That's the question at the heart of this riveting Knots Landing episode that left me literally frozen in place until the credits rolled. Season 3, Episode 21 "China Dolls" delivers one of the most emotionally raw television experiences of the early 80s soap era. The episode centers on Valene's painful awakening to Gary and Abby's affair, which has been building in plain sight while she desperately clung to denial. The metaphor of a cat and mouse partnership—where trust is established only to be betrayed—perfectly captures the psychological dynamics at play. Laura finds herself in an impossible position when Karen encourages her to visit Richard at the psychiatric facility, despite him previously threatening her with a weapon. Richard's surprising self-awareness ("I thought you were the weak one... only when you left I realized it was the other way around") offers a stark contrast to Gary's self-destructive behavior. Meanwhile, Joe needs a date for a work dinner to fend off his flirtatious boss, leading to an unexpectedly sweet platonic evening with Ginger. The episode culminates in a scene that had viewers cheering—Valene confronting Abby directly about the affair, resulting in Abby's cruel taunt "I can have him anytime I want" and Valene delivering a satisfying slap across her face. Despite this moment of clarity and strength, we watch in dismay as Gary, obsessively watching Abby from windows throughout the episode, ultimately returns to her by the end. What makes this episode extraordinary isn't just the dramatic confrontations but the psychological truth beneath them. It reminds us that sometimes our worst enemy isn't the person betraying us, but our own unwillingness to see what's right in front of us. As the host reflects, "It's one thing for Gary to lie to you, it's another to lie to yourself." Want to share your thoughts on this explosive episode? Reach out at soaplorepodcast@gmail.com or text through the show notes on your mobile device.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome or
welcome back to SoFloor.
I'm your host, jett, stillviewing and reviewing the Sophia
Sudzias primetime storylines of1982.
So, whether you're new to thisor true to this, sit back and
enjoy.
Tell the kids it's time to play, outside or out of sight.
No questions, suggestions orconcerns for the next 25-45
(00:25):
minutes, everyone else inearshot.
You can be cool, you can bequiet, or you will be kicked out
because we are watching ourstories.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, this is Soap More.
Hello, gorgeous.
(00:54):
Welcome and welcome back toanother fun-filled edition of so
cool.
Oh my gosh, y'all.
You already know what's up.
Season three, episode 21, is oneof the most interesting
episodes of any show I've everwatched.
If that sounds dramatic, I meanyeah, it is, but it doesn't
make it any less true.
(01:15):
I watched this and I promiseyou you know the first 10, 15
minutes.
I'm kind of talking back to theTV just enjoying myself.
I'm shocked.
I'm sort of taking in all thisnew information, but at some
point in the show it became soreal, so raw.
(01:35):
I found I didn't even realize Ihadn't moved until I saw the
credits roll.
I think I was damn near holdingmy breath the whole time.
This episode is so intense.
It is so in your face.
I promise you we're going toget deep, dive deep into this
one.
So go ahead and pour yourselfup something bubbly and bright.
(01:56):
Maybe you want something alittle more calm.
Maybe some calming tea, maybe alittle brandy, I don't know.
Do whatever you need to do toget comfortable, because we are
jumping into season three,episode 21 of knots landing
china dolls.
So did you ever have one ofthose porcelain dolls?
(02:17):
I feel like I've had them inthe house.
Obviously you can't play withthose are much're much too
fragile.
Seems like the 90s had thisweird resurgence of collecting
those.
Not really my cup of tea.
My jam was obviously watching TVand reading these books from
this series called you Can Read.
(02:37):
I'm sure my mom saw acommercial or saw it in a
magazine at some point anddecided to order this reading
system for me and my littlebrother.
It wasn't like hooked onphonics, as far as I know.
But we have these books that Ijust adored and, if memory
serves me correctly, you get avideotape and it goes through
all these beautiful stories anddifferent things, and then you'd
(03:00):
also get a few books that wouldaccompany this particular tape.
It either came like that or itcame in a series, doesn't really
matter.
The point I'm trying to make isthat I was able to read fairy
tales and fables that I wouldn'thave been introduced to
otherwise.
After I watched this episode Ican't even really describe it I
(03:22):
just I don't know why I feltweird, or just I couldn't really
process my thoughts in realtime.
So I was just kind of sittinghere like, wow, that that really
just happened, wow, what's next?
And eventually it sort ofreminded me of this story called
(03:43):
the cat and mouse partnership.
So there's this cat and there'sthis mouse.
They meet each other and, muchto both of their surprises, they
hit it off.
The cat says to the mouse I'venever met a mouse I like so much
.
You are so wonderful, you're socharming, I really enjoy you.
The mouse says you know, I wasreally nervous about meeting you
(04:03):
, but I feel the same way.
You're so cool, never met a catas cool as you.
The cat says yeah, I think wecould really be friends.
I think we'd be great friends.
I just love and adore you somuch.
This is the most wonderfulthing that's ever happened to me
.
I am embellishing slightly.
The mouse says well, I feel thesame way.
Why don't you live in thishouse with me, would you be
(04:24):
willing to move in with me?
And the cat's like absolutely,I'll live with you in this house
Totally.
So they move in together.
Things are going well, but themouse is forward thinking.
So the mouse goes to the catand she says hey, you're like a
predator, you need to hunt.
I'm a mouse, I'm a gatherer.
We need to consider what we'regoing to do when I can't gather
(04:47):
and you can't hunt, especiallyin the winter.
Why don't we store up some foodfor ourselves for the winter
and then, when it comes, we canjust chill and enjoy that season
?
The cat's like I mean it'sspring, why are we talking about
winter already?
The mouse is like I mean, it'sjust important.
You need to look forward to thefuture.
We need to secure something.
(05:08):
Since this is a cross specieshome, they obviously have to
have something mutuallybeneficial.
I mean the cat can't very wellgo out.
Bring home dead mice now, canhe?
They settle on this pot of fat,so they obtain this pot of fat
and they bring it back homeQuickly.
The mouse realizes we can'tkeep this here.
(05:28):
This is distracting.
This is too big.
What are we going to do?
Where are we going to keep it?
So they're thinking, and thecat says hey, hey, hey, I know,
I know why don't we keep it atthe church?
Nobody is going to go in achurch and steal anything.
It'll be completely safe.
It'll be out of sight.
We'll just go down and get itlate fall and everything will be
(05:49):
great.
The mouse kind of thinks aboutthis and she's like yeah, I
think you're right.
Now.
Cat says we can slip under thedoor, go underneath the altar,
hide it underneath the floor.
It'll be safe and sound.
Mouse agrees and they do thatvery thing.
So as time goes on, they'reliving together in just
interspecies bliss.
(06:10):
And one day the cat comesscurrying into the room out of
the best news in the whole worldoh my gosh, I can't believe it.
I'm gonna be a godfather.
And the mouse is like that'samazing, you're gonna be a
godfather, that's wonderful.
You know, my cousin just had ababy boy kitten and he's got
this white coat.
They saw the white coat.
It reminded them of me and theyasked me to be the godfather.
You don't mind if I go to thebaptism, do you?
(06:31):
She's like of course not.
Go to the baptism.
Eat at the buffet, enjoy thefood, tell everybody I said hi
and have a little communion winefor me if you can.
Cat's like no doubt.
No doubt Appreciate it.
Go ahead and take care of thehouse.
I'll be home after a littlewhile.
The cat leaves the house.
Only he's not going to thebaptism because there isn't a
(06:54):
baptism.
There's also no baby kitten andthere's also no cousin.
He don't even have relativeslike that.
What he wants is to have alittle taste of this vat of fat
they have sitting down there.
It's probably all warm in thespring.
It's probably really rich anddelicious.
So it goes down.
He sneaks under the church doorunder the altar, removes the
(07:19):
floorboard, goes underneath Vatof fat is just jiggling and
looking all delicious.
He takes one bite Mmm, rich andcreamy and salty.
Side note, quickly, in my mindit's more of a butter than like
the gelatinous fat.
But I digress.
He takes one bite after another, one lap of his tongue after
(07:40):
another.
Before you know it the top ofthe vat of fat is completely
gone.
So he feels a little weirdafter that.
So he starts walking aroundtown.
He hops on the roof, he sort oftakes his time.
He sunbathes, he does all thesethings.
Comes back home and the littlemouse is like oh my gosh, how
was the baptism?
The cat says it was great mouse.
Mouse says well, what do theyname the baby?
(08:03):
Topoff.
She's like Topoff, god, that'sokay.
I've never heard a name likethat.
I don't think I've even readanything like that.
Topoff, is that like a familyname.
The cat is suddenly offended bythis and he's like it's no
worse than being called a crumbsnatcher, like your little god,
(08:23):
kids are.
So she's like okay, chill, Ididn't mean to offend you, I
just I've never heard the name,that's all I'm saying.
It's a very unique name.
God bless little Topoff.
So a little bit of time goes by.
Cat comes to the mouse againand he says you're not going to
believe this, I'm going to be agodfather again.
She's like no way, yeah, yeah,yeah.
Some friends of mine had alittle kitten and it's got this
(08:45):
bright white ring around itsneck.
Reminded them of me.
So they called me up, asked meto be the godfather.
You don't mind if I go tobaptism, do you?
She's like no, of course not.
Enjoy yourself, tell everybody.
I said hi.
So he leaves the house, goesdown to church, slips under the
door, under the altar, under thefloorboard, and he starts
(09:10):
lapping up more of that gooey,buttery, rich, salty goodness.
He kind of gets lost in it andbefore you know it, the complete
middle of the pot is justlicked clean.
He's like oh my gosh, there'sonly a third of us left.
Oops.
He's like you know what?
Some things just taste betterwhen you don't have to share
them with other people had to doit.
So he goes home and the mouseis like hey, how did it go?
(09:33):
Oh, it went great.
What did they name the kitten?
Oh, they named him.
Half gone, half gone.
Where are they?
Are these people, the migos?
Like, where are they gettingall these names from?
Are they forming a rap group wedon't know about?
And he's like just for, I mean,it's just a name.
You're sitting here in thishouse all day.
You just, you're not used tothe world outside of these walls
(09:53):
.
That's a perfectly normal namefor creatures of the day.
You're nocturnal, you wouldn'tknow nothing about that.
And she's like oh, I guess so.
So, before you know it, everytime the cat licks his whiskers
he can almost taste that savory,buttery goodness, goes to the
mouse and he goes.
(10:14):
You know, dude, good thingsmust come in three, because I'm
gonna be a godfather again.
And the mouse says oh, cattells her, this time my friends
had a, a little kitten that iscompletely jet black, just
gorgeous silky black fur, exceptfor his paws.
(10:35):
All four paws are stock white.
They saw the paws.
It reminded them of me.
They asked me to be thegodfather.
You don't mind, do you?
Sure, go have a good time.
So he leaves the house, goes tothe church, slips under the door
, slips under the altar, underthe floorboard, and he leisurely
(10:58):
eats away at the last bit ofthe fat, licks the pot
completely clean.
By this time he's gainedsignificant amount of weight.
He is a little more casual inhis waltz.
He takes a little bit longer toget home and he just kind of
(11:18):
rubs his stomach and says youknow, I'm at peace now.
There's no more fat to eat up,there's nothing left to think
about Probably best casescenario.
So he comes into the house andthe mouse looks at him and she's
like well, we had top off, wehad half gone.
(11:39):
What did they name this one Catlooks at her and says all gone,
all gone.
She says these are strangenames.
But oh well, she washes herface or whatever mags do, curls
up on a ball, goes to sleep.
They make it through the rest ofthe spring, the rest of the
summer and the fall withoutincident.
When the first snow falls, themouse goes to the cat and says
(11:59):
let's go to the church and getour pot of fat.
Oh, it's going to be so good.
It's had all this time tomarinate and mature.
And the cat says yes, yes, yourtiny little tongue will love it
as much as you like licking theair outside your window.
So they both leave the house,go to the church, scurry under
the door, scurry underneath thealtar, underneath the
(12:22):
floorboards, where the mouse,for the first time, lays eyes on
the giant pottled fat.
Only it's been emptied of itscontents.
She stares at it in disbelief,but then she turns to the cat
and says oh my gosh, Iunderstand now.
I know what happened.
Gosh, I understand now.
I know what happened.
(12:42):
You were such a good friend.
And the cat says I am, yes,you're such a good friend, I
know what happened now.
You had to use the fat of fat tofeed the other cats at all the
baptisms.
What a wonderful friend.
You had to do it for top off.
You had to do it for half goneand then you had to do it for up
(13:02):
.
She gets as far as the a andall gone when all of a sudden
it's like a switch flipped.
He goes from cool, calm to justferocious.
If you say another word, I'mgonna eat you too.
Unfortunately she was alreadytalking, so she's like oh,
(13:23):
before you know it, chomp eatsher At the top of the show.
Laura gosh, she's just sort ofin an impossible situation.
Karen says to her in not somany words you need to go and
check up on him.
He mentioned that you hadn'tbeen to see him.
This is true.
(13:43):
Karen had gone to see Richardearlier and she and he were
going to have a breakfast picnic.
And his little peculiar friendcomes up and he's talking about
an explosion where three littlegirls died, except he refers to
them as China dolls, based onthe year that this would have
aired.
At first I thought maybe thisguy was a Vietnam vet and this
(14:06):
was sort of a subtle reminder tocheck in on your veterans and
that sort of thing.
But the guy looked a little tooyoung to have served in Vietnam
.
So I started thinking a littlemore.
This would have been around thetime of Reaganomics, when all
of the mental institutions weresort of shut down.
Yeah, so maybe this was asubtle little reminder that, hey
(14:28):
, you know, some people reallydo need the help.
Richard's explaining to Karenthat he feels good.
This is a really nice place,it's really beautiful.
She's concerned about theinsurance.
He says, well, it'll pay upuntil like next week.
And then I got to figure outsomething else, which brings us
back to Laura.
Karen says I just want to seeyou participate a little more.
(14:48):
Laura says do you forget thatthis man pulled a whole weapon
on me?
Did you forget that this manpulled a whole weapon on me?
Did you forget that karen'sdefensive of richard?
He was having a mentalbreakdown.
Laura was like cool, okay, cool, explain that to his son.
Karen kind of takes a step back, like no, you're right, you're
right.
I'm not going to get into howupsetting this is, but it's like
(15:09):
in any other circumstance wouldyou ask a pregnant woman to go
and visit the person who heldher hostage, husband or not,
friend or not?
You probably wouldn't do that.
You need to see significantchanges before you said that
Can't just go off of hisemotions, because there's two
parties involved.
By the end of this, laura is atleast curious.
(15:30):
So she does indeed go to visitRichard, I got to say.
Richard took me completely bysurprise.
He's still very tranquil.
He's as surprised as I am tosee Laura show up.
What he tells her isn't that hemisses her and that he's
changed and that things aregoing to be totally different.
But what he says instead isLaura, I have to take
(15:52):
responsibility for myself.
For years I thought you werethe weak one.
Your weakness made me feelpowerful.
Only when you left I realizedit was the other way around.
I'm far too codependent on youand I want to have a life with
you, even if it means we're nottogether, if it means we're in
separate households.
(16:13):
Life with you, even if it meanswe're not together, if it means
we're in separate household,want to raise our kids together,
but I want and I need to livealone, color me totally
surprised.
There's also a briefconversation on why he's going
to be leaving.
So apparently he's going to beoff his medication in about a
week and he's also going to beleaving.
So Laura asked him why.
(16:33):
Why so soon?
He goes?
Well, money is a big motivator.
Basically, my insurance isn'tgoing to pay after that, so I'm
going to need to skedaddle.
She's like don't even worryabout that, I can pay.
I can help pay for whatever youneed.
I don't want you to help payfor anything, laura, I need to
be alone.
Wow, talk about personal growth.
(16:57):
Well, dr McQuarrie, hispsychologist, has been helping
him with that.
He tells Laura you could eventalk to her if you wanted these
prices.
So they maximize his insurance.
And Laura does pay Dr McQuarriea visit.
Who is this kind of very puttogether older woman she reminds
me of if you've ever seen themovie A League of their Own,
(17:19):
when they all go to charm school, like one of the leaders of the
charm school.
So she reminds me of, exceptshe's a lot more nice.
Laura pours out her heart, sheis angry, she is confused.
She doesn't understand why heis being let out so early.
The doctor tells her he's notbeing let out, he's choosing to
leave.
Well, he's like.
(17:41):
Well, I don't love him, I don'twant to go back.
The doctor says who said youhad to go back?
Well, do you think I should?
The doctor says listen, I don'tthink you should do anything
you don't want to do.
These are all Richard's choices.
At this point, he's the one whoneeds to be making the
decisions for himself.
It's very clear at this pointthat Laura is concerned about
his mental health.
(18:01):
It's almost as if she feelsbecause he's making the effort
that he didn't make before.
Now she has to make the effortthat's what I'm interpreting
this as, which is a very roughplace, and she's like I'm angry,
I'm confused.
I broke off everything.
It was clean, and now this hashappened.
And I realized for the firsttime that she had thought about
(18:22):
this long and hard.
She had a plan.
She made a decision to leave,to separate herself from him
completely.
No love lost.
This is what I want.
We'll raise our kids together.
But him becoming mentally illor having a nervous breakdown
changes the whole trajectory ofthe plan she had.
Yes, you expected Richard tomaybe act up a little.
(18:45):
Maybe she thought he would bedifficult as far as letting her
go, but this is a whole notherpiece of a puzzle she never saw
coming.
So she's in a position to haveto consider things that she
didn't think she would.
As she leaves the office of thedoctor, his peculiar friend is
in the hallway.
He knows that she's Richard'swife and he's like hey, I know
(19:08):
Richard's about to leave.
Would you please give him thisgift for me?
I don't think I'll run into himagain before he leaves.
She's like sure thing.
Later on in the episode we seeher going to Richard's house.
So this would have been thenight right before he's supposed
to return the following day.
So she wants to go over andmake sure, you know, turn the
air conditioner on, put somefood in the fridge, make it feel
(19:31):
like home.
Give him, you know, give him agood head start.
He doesn't need to come homeand have to start figuring out
all these things, or he could.
We'll have to see how thatturns out, see if he appreciates
that or if it's a hindrance ofsome sort.
But she goes into the house andI guess Karen hears her car
door, where she was staring outof the window.
I don't know if the walls inKnott's Landing are very thin,
(19:58):
because this entire episode ispeople showing up, just as there
are other people getting out ofthe car.
You can tell that Laura isn'tquite comfortable.
She's sort of franticallymoving around and she sets the
doll down.
Excuse me, she sets the packagethat Nicholas, the peculiar
friend gave Richard.
She sets it down a little toohard and she feels it sort of
shift in its packaging.
She opens it up and realizesit's a porcelain doll and the
leg is broken.
(20:18):
She's oh my God, I got to fixthis, got to fix this.
She's sort of franticallylooking for glue.
Karen senses that she's on edgeand she's like it's okay, it's
okay, it's not that important.
Laura turns to her and said damnit, karen, I wish I had never
listened to you.
Show up for him, participate,do something.
She explains what happened.
She's like I should have got upand left.
I shouldn't have talked to hisdoctor.
(20:39):
I should have just got out ofthere when I had the chance.
Karen said well, what did thedoctor say?
Doctor says I shouldn't returnunless I'm returning for good.
She looks absolutely destroyedand she's just like I'm damned
if I do, damned if I don't.
Oh, I get that, I really do,and I wish she had just stayed
away too.
I mean, it's it.
You know I don't want to blamekaren, but I do want to blame
(21:01):
karen.
Like you, everybody makesmistakes.
Just because richard is, I knowhe's in a tender position.
I I can understand.
Seeing him in the flesh, youcan't help but feel bad for the
guy.
But also, please put your otherfriend first.
Her safety, her mentality, ohgosh, especially knowing what
their relationship was.
(21:22):
You need to be championing yourgirl to have a little bit of
space, give it a little bit oftime and then, when the time is
right, when she's had a timemoment to really see a change
and she feels comfortable, ifshe ever does, then encourage
her, but encourage her on herown accord.
Don't encourage her because youfeel bad for Richard.
That's all I got to say aboutthat.
(21:43):
Poor Laura.
This is a fascinating episode.
One of the most fascinatingparts for me is joe.
I've always liked joe.
I'm glad he's on the show.
Joe is incredibly cool.
But joe has a couple of problems.
Number one he has a party toattend to for work.
It is an all-staff party at thecollege, which doesn't really
(22:07):
sound like a problem, and itwouldn't be if joe's boss, who
is a woman, wasn't hitting onhim disrespectfully.
She's all up on him, she wantshis body and Joe, being a
gentleman, doesn't want to hurther feelings, doesn't want to
jeopardize his job.
So he has asked his girl fromback east I think her name was
Lorraine to fly in to attend theparty probably hang out this
(22:29):
weekend.
Joe's second problem is thatwhatever car he's been using
needs some sort of maintenance.
That's not really a problem,considering his sister owns a
car dealership.
Does these two problems on thisparticular day?
That put Joe in the perfectposition to be some sort of wise
elder on this show.
(22:51):
So Joe's chilling at breakfastat Karen's house.
He's looking over some sort ofbaseball stats.
I still think Joe might have agambling problem.
He's has a gambling addiction,even if it's not really a
problem.
Yet Phone rings.
It's Lorraine from back Eastgets on the phone with her.
Apparently Lorraine hassomething come up.
You know New York ain't exactlyjust around the corner.
(23:13):
She can't hop on a plane and bethere in time to attend his
meeting on Friday.
No big deal, luckily.
Joe is a charming, good lookingyoung guy.
There's plenty of women in theneighborhood.
He'll just ask somebody else.
As luck would have it, as he isdriving to Knott's Landing
Motors to check on his car, hehappens upon Ginger.
(23:37):
Now it is raining in SoCal.
Ginger is fully decked out and Ikind of chuckled to myself.
Anyone who lives in the desert,you're going to understand what
I mean.
When it gets even a little bitcold, you immediately pull out
your warm clothes, like youdon't get to wear this stuff
often.
You don't get to wear rainboots and a slicker and all that
(24:00):
often.
So I just kind of chuckled atgender in her little rain
slicker hat and all that insideher car.
But she and Joe were talkingthrough their car windows and
he's asking her if she has anysingle friends.
She goes.
Most of my friends are married.
I do have one, but she kind ofdingy and he's like dang.
I like smart girls.
But you know, okay, just keepan eye out.
If you think anybody, let meknow.
She's like all right bet.
So Joe drives to Knott's LandingMotors where he is chilling,
(24:23):
waiting for his car.
Only, his car still needs somerepairs, but he finds himself
just sort of hanging outregardless.
Now why would Joe be hangingout?
Well, he's waiting on Abby tocome in so he can ask her.
That was one of Ginger'ssuggestions.
She's like hey, abby's smart,why don't you ask Abby?
He's like that's a good idea.
Now I know what you're askingyourself.
If you haven't seen this in along time, or if you're a newbie
(24:45):
and for some reason you didn'twatch it this week, let me let
you know.
You're probably thinking that,jet, why wouldn't he just go
over to Abby's house thatmorning?
Well, abby wasn't home, okay,so he's just going to wait for
her to come to work?
Yeah, he's going to wait forher to come to work.
Now, why wasn't Abby home firstthing this morning?
Well, because she's in anapartment waiting on Gary.
(25:08):
Abby and Gary, or the MethanolTwins, as she named them, are
taking care of business.
They have lots of businessmeetings and this particular
breakfast meeting calls for allhands on deck, calls for them to
roll out a couch bed and do thenasty first thing in the
(25:29):
morning before they go to work.
I couldn't believe it.
I'm going to tell you that.
The rage that went through mybody when I realized what was
going on, I can't even put intowords.
It's the audacity for me.
The practical part of me islike, okay, it's not like they
could do it at their house, butalso, wow, you are so committed
(25:50):
to this that you would seek outan apartment.
I'm thinking they put moneydown and rented an apartment.
Apparently it's one of Abby'shomegirls apartment.
Fun fact, this is the sameapartment, or at least the
outside is that I saw on Dallas.
I recognized it immediately.
It's on Dallas.
I looked up the episode, seasontwo, episode 20.
It's where you know Pam wasworking at the store and all
(26:12):
those models came in.
Well, one of the models used tobe a call girl and JR has her
almost arrested outside of herapartment.
I remember that apartmentbuilding very clearly and I feel
like Sue Ellen went to it onetime to adopt a baby too.
Anyway, gary and Abby are usingit to fornicate, are using it to
(26:36):
fornicate, to sneak around.
They're having themselves areal good time.
So I guess after round one ortwo, abby says you know, we
really got to get back to work.
No breakfast meeting lasts thislong.
So as they're putting onclothes and Abby is making up
the bed while Gary slowly getsstressed, she just wants to
check in on him.
Hey, how are you doing withthis?
Is this bothering you in anysort of way?
Sneaking around your wife'sback, lying to her face?
(26:57):
Gary's like no.
As a matter of fact, I lay inbed after the first night
waiting to feel guilty, but Ididn't feel a damn thing.
Nothing but elation, can you?
I can't stand Gary.
I can't stand him.
I can't stand him.
I don't give a damn, I can'tstand gary, I can't stand him.
I can't stand him.
I don't give a damn, I can'tstand him.
He feels just fine about it,perfectly cool.
(27:19):
So I was like okay, great,let's keep it up.
So let's go back to joe.
Joe is patiently waiting inkaren's office when karen shows
up to work.
Karen's like what are you doing?
Is your car not ready?
He's like no, it's not ready.
She goes well, did they giveyou a like, a rental or
something?
They give you a courtesy car.
Yeah, they gave me a courtesycar.
What the heck are you stilldoing here Waiting on Abby?
(27:40):
I'm going to ask Abby to go tomy dinner on Friday.
Karen rolls her eyes.
She's like oh, are you serious?
Well, right about this time infloats Gary and Abby.
And when I say there is nodisguise, there is no pantomime
of platonic friendship here atall.
It is quite obvious to anyonewho even looks over a little bit
(28:03):
Karen's out of her glass windowof her office.
She's like oh, my God, I couldjust choke Gary.
I just want to shake himsometimes, tell him to snap out
of it.
Joe's like man, you are sosuspicious, karen.
I bet you nothing is happening.
She goes.
I know something's happening.
I can't prove it, but I knowsomething's happening.
So all of their offices are allagainst one wall.
You know, just glass, genericglass window door, glass window
(28:25):
door, glass window door.
Joe goes out, he sees Abby andhe's like Abby, I've been
waiting all morning for you.
I'm desperate, would you pleasego to my staff dinner with me
on Friday night?
And she goes oh my God, joe,I've been waiting for you to ask
me out.
Only now I can't do it becauseI have a business meeting on
Friday.
As soon as she says that,gary's big, goofy ass comes
(28:48):
bursting out of his door hey,abby, about Friday night.
And he looks, you know, I'm, ohmy god, I don't want to go.
He's making those faces.
Oh, just totally, bro.
She's like yes, gary, it's allset up for friday night at eight
o'clock, the meeting with blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, fake
buyers.
(29:08):
If joe thinks anything is weird, he, he doesn't light on.
He's like okay, cool, well,doesn't hurt to ask See you
later.
Abby Bye, gary Bye.
And then they look at eachother like whoa.
So Joe goes about his day,teaches, inspires, does whatever
he does, ducks and dodge hisboss.
And he comes home that night alittle bit early so that he can
(29:31):
go over and talk to Ginger,ginger being a budding pop star
and Kenny being this flashyproducer.
Now their schedules aren'talways aligned.
She wants to go out thisweekend.
He's like I'd love to, babe,but I can't Right about this
time.
Joe knocks on the door and hey,ginger, hey, kenny, is your
(29:52):
airhead friend still available?
I mean, I just kind of needsomebody at this point and she
goes.
Wouldn't you know it?
Airheads are very booked andbusy.
She's already got a date forFriday.
She can't do it and he's likedang.
So Kenny's like well, what arey'all talking about?
Joe explains the situation.
I got this woman at my jobwho's all over me.
Lorraine can't make it in.
I asked someone else.
(30:13):
I just need a date for Fridayso that this woman will leave me
alone.
Well, kenny's like well, takegender.
She was just saying that sheneeded to get out of the house.
She kind of wanted to go outanyway and I have to work, so
it'd be, it'd be perfectly fine.
And Joe's like are you sure Idon't want to?
Like, it's a married woman iswhat he's thinking, but this is
a clearly platonic relationship.
Kenny's like listen, we're amodern eighties couple.
(30:34):
At first I thought he wassaying we do our own thing, as
in, we're swingers, whichthey've never confirmed or
denied.
But I think he was reallysaying sometimes our, our
schedules don't align.
I'm not going to keep her homeif she don't want to be like go,
yeah, I'll go to this littledinner, it'll be fine.
Okay, cool, pick me up at six.
Pick you up at six on Friday.
(30:55):
So Joe's excited.
That's really the only reasonhe'd come back to the cul-de-sac
.
So he heads back to Knott'sLanding Motor to see if his car
is ready.
One of his problems is solved,let's see if the other one is
too.
So Joe walks into the dealershipand by this time it is dark,
(31:15):
it's already sort of closed orit's closing, and the glass
offices we talked about earlierare illuminated.
And the first thing joe sees isabby and gary.
She's practically on gary's lap, arms around them.
They're feeling all over eachother in a very warm embrace.
There is no subtlety here atall.
He just keeps walking.
If he feels anything, you'dnever know it.
(31:37):
Joe goes into the shop to lookfor his car, but around this
time the intercom is callingGary to go to the shop to
basically take care of thisolder customer who's irritated
that is parked on in.
It's worth mentioning that thevery handsome black mechanic and
this little old man arehilarious and they're 10 seconds
on screen because the man's caris basically a hoop deep.
(32:01):
The mechanic is like there'sdamn near lemons popping all the
way out of this and they'relike man, how did my parts just
get up and walk away?
What are you talking about?
So when Gary leans up under thehood, joe follows him.
He's leaning up under the hoodand Joe says man, I didn't know.
Do you do this part too?
You come in and repair stuff.
Gary's like no, no, I just gotto make it look like I'm doing
something.
People like to see the boss likegetting his hands dirty.
(32:23):
Joe gets it he's all a greatbluff.
Gary says what do you mean?
And then they have this wholeconversation about gambling.
Joe says he wishes he couldquit and he's like Gary, you
used to gamble too, didn't you?
Gary said yeah, I did, but youknow the way I gambled was so
rough.
If you gamble as bad as I did,somebody will make you quit
(32:43):
eventually.
Joe breaks it down like thishe's like I say I want to quit,
but I really don't.
I love the excitement.
That's what you need.
You need the excitement in life, and gamblers like us will keep
raising the stakes so that theexcitement is stronger and
stronger.
They're basically addicted tothat rush.
It only works if what you'rerisking losing is important.
(33:05):
You only do it when things arereally, really valuable.
Otherwise the game isn't anyfun anymore.
Now, by this time, gary ispicking up what Joe was putting
down.
So Joe continues you know whatelse they say?
Shrink, say that deed down.
The real gamblers want to lose.
He goes isn't that crazy thatthe gambler wants to lose and
(33:28):
you know what in the end he does?
Can you believe that, gary?
He loses eventually because hereally wants to.
Gary's like dude, if you gotsomething to say, just say it.
And joe's like I already did.
By this time the mechanic comesover and says hey, joe, your
car is probably ready.
Joe walks off, real cool, likeall right, joe, drop them gems.
(33:50):
You're probably wondering wherevaline is in all this.
Well, valine is at home keepingherself busy walking on
eggshells.
At the top of the show we seeher outside vigorously scrubbing
her living room window.
When lily may comes outside,she's like god dang, y'all don't
eat breakfast.
What does a girl got to do toget some vittles around here?
Y'all on a fast or something.
(34:11):
What's going on, valine?
Well, gary's at a meeting thismorning and I wasn't hungry so I
just had a little juice.
Lily Mae, ever the ear hustler,ever the nosy.
Nelly is like wow, didn't hehave a dinner meeting last night
?
Yes, mama.
Well, he had one this morning.
Breakfast and dinner.
Breakfast and dinner meeting.
(34:31):
They sure have a lot ofmeetings.
It's a wonder they're notputting on weight Basically
saying Valene, you see this likeI see this.
Valene's like mama, whatevergoes on between me and Gary is
between me and Gary.
I have to be very careful.
Right now Gary's not happyabout this book.
I'm not trying to upset him,I'm trying to support him in his
business.
I have to let him do hisbusiness.
(34:55):
Lily Mae's like girl, pleaseget your gullible country butt
out of the clouds.
Do you not see what is in frontof you?
They're just working, mama.
Well, luckily, this call, thisinteraction with Joe, has
planted a seed in Gary's head.
So the next morning he eatsbreakfast at home.
He makes an effort to eatbreakfast, which is a grapefruit
and coffee, and I'm like, oh myGod, all the acid my heartburn
(35:17):
could never.
Also, that's a weak breakfast,but I totally remember that
being a thing like with cottagecheese.
Darlene surprises Gary with ayear subscription to Fortune
Magazine.
She even wraps it all nice Likewhen he opens it he's well,
what is this?
And she explains well, ifyou're going to be the number
one businessman in in the world,you need to know what's going
(35:40):
on in the world of business.
He's touched like dang Eileenwhat would I do without you?
Because you ain't got to worryabout that, gary.
You don't have to worry aboutnot being without not having me.
Well, I guess he was stillhungry after breakfast because
he and Abby need to have anothermeeting in this apartment.
One of the things I didn't catchthe first time that I caught
(36:02):
the second time is that Abby,besides having like this killer
sweater on I love it so much,it's kind of 40s she's cutting
flowers.
She's sort of setting up shop.
She is playing house.
It's a peak inside of her minda little bit.
(36:22):
This to her is a very specialtime.
This is a very real thing andit's not just a role in the hey.
She's taking time to set up theatmosphere.
She's cutting fresh flowerslike that.
That means something.
It's almost like a honey I'mhome moment.
When Gary walks in, only he'sall doom and gloom and whatnot.
He's not ready to just roll androll.
And hey, she greets him as shenormally does, and that's when
(36:44):
he tells her that this has tostop.
She's like well, what do youmean?
I got to figure out where myhead is.
I got to clear my head.
I don't know why I'm doing this.
She's like I'm kind of gettingwhiplash here.
Yesterday you were perfectlycool, but today is different.
He even like hesitates to kissher.
Like you can tell it's reallyreally on his mind.
(37:06):
Well, after he speaks his piece, Abby's like okay, if that's
what you want, fine, she giveshim that million dollar smile,
he apologizes and he leaves.
She's smiling until he leaves.
Then you see the facades juststart to crumble.
Gary's whole reasoning was thathe's like I know it's bad
(37:26):
between me and Val and shethinks a lot of it is a book.
Maybe it's only a little bit,but I got to figure out why I
don't feel bad about this, why Iknow this is wrong.
I can't keep doing this.
So, like I said, he leaves andshe's all smiling like, okay,
cool.
But when he leaves, her facedrops, shout out to Jupiter for
letting me know one of thesethings.
(37:47):
I had mentioned one time, thatAbby's character.
She always seems so in control,like you never see her break
down.
She never seems nervous,anxious or even angry, not
really.
I think this is the first timeI've ever seen any emotion from
her and what I understand isthat Donna Mills made a decision
(38:07):
early on that her characterwould never show any emotion in
front of anyone else and shedoes a damn good job.
But to see her sort of crumble,I'm not saying it was sad, but
it was just like wow, she reallyreally cares about this.
She really really thought thiswas going to be something
spectacular.
So that night Joe goes home.
Like I said, the walls inKnott's Landing are quite thin
(38:31):
because Abby hears his car doorshut.
She hollers at him, he walksover, she says I'm free Friday.
That meeting was canceled.
She's none the wiser that Joehas seen her and Gary wrapped in
a warm embrace.
Joe's like oh, I'm so sorry,girl, I got somebody to go.
Ginger's going to go with me.
Abby's like really A marriedwoman.
(38:54):
Joe's like yeah, I know, Rightunder everyone's nose, it's
tacky.
By this time Abby has noticedthat Gary is standing in his
living room window watching her.
So she's all touchy feely onJoe.
Joe gently grabs his tie back,goes on about his way.
Gary basically spends most ofthe night staring out of the
window.
Even Val comes downstairs to belike Harry, you coming to bed,
(39:15):
he says no.
He sort of snaps at her becauseshe can't understand what he's
doing, just staring out of thewindow.
She thinks something happenedat work.
She doesn't realize that he'sstaring over at Abby's house.
I guess she thinks he's justkind of staring out the window.
He snips at her, she headsupstairs.
I wanted to slap him when hesnapped at her, but I kind of
understand.
She's asking a lot of questions.
This isn't the only time we seeGary standing in front of a
(39:37):
window.
As a matter of fact, for therest of the episode this fool is
staring out the window.
He's in Karen's office staringout her window watching Abby
talk to this guy with themicrophone.
It is very clear that it's areporter.
There's nothing romanticinvolved.
But then he runs up on herright after the guy walks away
and he's like okay, who's that?
(39:58):
She goes so-and-so from anewspaper.
They're curious about themethanol.
They think it's kind of coolthat we're going up against the
big guys.
Well, do you have to set a datewith him to get the article?
And she's like, no, he's goingto call me and let me see it as
normal.
She doesn't get offended, but Igot offended for her, mistress
or not.
What you're not going to do,gary, because you just as hoish
(40:18):
as she is, what you're not goingto do is use that against her.
He is very well versed in howAbby gets down.
He's seen it firsthand.
He knows the whole thing withRichard.
He saw how things went downwith the senator.
You know how she operates.
So how well things went downwith the Senator, you know how
she operates.
So don't try to blow that inher face as if she owes you or
anyone else an explanation forthat.
(40:38):
It's the audacity for me.
She blows him off and then hegoes.
Well, what about Joe?
Did Joe need to talk to you tooabout an article?
She's like first and foremost,mind your business.
Second, whatever I do with meand mine is none of your
business.
You have forfeited the right toask me anything about my
personal life anymore, turns onher heels and walks away.
(41:00):
I kind of like that.
Somebody needs to put him inhis place regularly.
I like that she does.
That Doesn't really matter,though, because she is.
She's like an earworm, it'slike a song that won't stop
playing in your mind over andover and over again.
This fool is distracted, he isconsumed, he is infatuated,
(41:22):
either with her or the thoughtof her going somewhere else.
It is very difficult for me totell.
I know time will tell, but therest of the episode he's just
sort of waiting to catch aglimpse of her is he's just sort
of waiting to catch a glimpseof her that night.
Val is sitting on the floor atthe living room coffee table
pouring over books.
(41:42):
She better than me.
I'm like I need a full seat.
She's also wearing that sailordress that was so popular.
I remember my sixth gradeteacher.
It was completely out of styleby then, but she used to wear
those.
She still had the teased hair.
We were well past that, but sheloved that sort of sailor dress
with the sort of flap in theback.
I promise you your mama had one.
If you're Gen X or millennial,promise you she had one.
(42:03):
So they're sitting in theliving room.
Val is pouring over books.
Gary's just sort of staring outthe window for a long time.
Then he's like, hey, let's gofor a ride.
Then he decides he doesn't wantto go for a ride.
He just sits there and sitsthere stewing.
Valene's not really clockingthat because she's studying.
When she's done she decidesshe's going to get up.
She's like okay, that's it forme.
I'm about to go to bed.
We'll write about that time.
These paper thin walls allowGary to hear a car door slam and
(42:27):
he understands immediately thatit's at Abby's house, even if
it's not Abby.
Do you know that this?
Let me take a sip.
This man's got my nerves bad.
Gary.
Ewing leaps up from his couch,runs to the door like the house
is on fire, yells back at Valeneoh, I forgot to tell her
something this morning at work.
He runs out of his door throughhis gate across the street to
(42:53):
Abby's front door where hebursts in demanding to know
where is he.
Where is he?
Gabby said oh, you want to knowwhere he is.
He's in the kitchen.
Well, he turns out to be alittle old lady who's watching
Olivia and Brian.
They clearly went to MickeyMouse.
They clearly went to Disneyland.
Only, I guess they clearly wentto disneyland only I guess you
(43:14):
couldn't say disneyland on tv.
But they have thesemouse-shaped balloons that are
drawn on and abby introduces hey, this is mrs so-and-so.
This is my neighbor, gary ewing.
He gets really worried aboutthe kids when they're out past
dark.
Mrs so-and-so says oh, I'm sosorry, we was having such a good
old time.
Things ran a little late.
Good, good to meet you, mrEwing.
She's out the door on her way,abby sends the children upstairs
(43:37):
to bed and Gary's left lookinglike a fool staring at Abby.
He looks real good and dumb.
I can't stress that enough.
Once they're alone, gary tellsher he can't stand the thought
of her with another man.
She's like I wasn't withanother man.
That's an old lady.
He goes, but you're going to beat some point.
She's like you're damn right,you see this, you see it.
(44:16):
You don't get to have.
Want us together unfettered.
He's like I can't do that,can't?
She's like cool.
She opens her door and ushershim out where he'll.
He has to go out abby's door,across the street, through
through his gate, through hisfront door, with his heart heavy
(44:38):
and his head down.
Body language never lies.
And you know what?
The most important part of thisscene is Valene.
The Ewing watched this entirething from that glass window.
She spent scrubbing.
She saw him burst into thehouse.
I'm sure she could hear him.
(44:58):
If you could hear the car door.
You could hear him hooting andhollering across the street.
It's a mess.
It's a total mess.
But it's good, because now shehas to act on this.
I'm only going to briefly talkabout Ginger and Joe for two
reasons One, because it was cuteenough and it explores a
relationship that can beplatonic.
And number two, we need todiscuss her outfit real quick.
(45:19):
So Jinger attends the staffdinner with Joe and they have a
good time.
She was charming, he's charming, it was wonderful.
She confesses as they getcloser to the house she's like I
just don't really want this toend.
I feel like a teenager on myfirst date.
And they have a moment.
He wants to kiss her.
She admits that she wants tokiss them and she even says I
wish you would kiss me.
(45:40):
He picks up her hand, he kissesit.
He's like I know this is notwhat you mean, but that scene
happened because it shows youdon't have to take it to the
next level.
She just wanted to get out ofthe house and have a good time.
(46:00):
Also, she and her husband arein a good place, so when they
went inside I'm sure they had agood time.
But she's wearing that 1970ssort of bridal.
No, no, no, it's not 1970s,it's 1870s.
She could easily be on the setof Tombstone as a bride getting
married just as easily as sheshows up on this show on this
(46:21):
day.
I didn't realize that theprairie look was that popular.
It is lace, it is sepia, it isa whole lot going on.
It don't look great.
Well, the next morning it wouldappear that our good sister, the
Vidalia Onion Queen, has eitherbeen up all night pondering, or
she woke up hella, hella earlyto go ahead and build up the
(46:44):
strength to do what she needs todo.
Now this is the day thatRichard is to return, so Laura
has already stopped by the nightprevious.
Valene and Lily May have beentasked with going to get Jason.
They don't want Laura droppinghim off, I suppose.
Okay, keep that in mind.
(47:05):
Things are going on this day.
A lot of movement.
Valene goes into the bedroom.
Gary is fast asleep.
Apparently he had a rough night.
Valene sits down on the side ofthe bed where Gary is.
She says, gary, are you andAbby having an affair?
Now he's asleep, so he wakes up.
He's like what, are you andAbby having an affair?
(47:29):
I want you to tell me right now.
Well, he starts getting pissed.
I can't believe you're bringingthis up about this.
Mofo Once again leaps up out ofbed in his baby blue shorts,
storms to the bathroom and slamsthe door.
Valene is beaten on the bathroomdoor.
Gary, gary, let me in.
(47:50):
You better tell me, gary, Ijust can't believe what a oh
what a coward, what a coward.
He hadn't tried to hide this atall and he's been so consumed
he don't even realize that valis saying the whole thing.
That's the thing.
He doesn't realize that peoplehave seen him with this woman.
It is quite obvious to anybodywho even glances their way.
(48:11):
Never mind that Valene needsanswers and she ain't stopping
until she gets them.
So she goes downstairs, out herfront door, out her gate, across
the street, to Abby's frontdoor, where she too burst in to
Abby's house.
Now Abby is standing at thefoot of the steps like oh hey,
(48:32):
val.
Valene immediately says to hellwith the salutations Abby, are
you and my husband having anaffair?
Abby gives her that look.
Oh my, valene, my, my, my.
You've got that writer'simagination, don't you All these
wild things in your head?
Valene says that didn't answermy question, abby.
So Abby immediately startsplaying the semi sort of victim.
(48:56):
Why is it?
Wicked, wicked, abby.
It's always me ruiningsomething.
But the truth is, maybe he doesneed someone a little more
exciting, like me.
He didn't need a mother.
He didn't need somebody whoonly sees his flaws, need
somebody who sees his strengthsas well.
Valene says I see that man theway I've always seen him since I
was 15 years old.
Don't talk to me about hisstrengths and weaknesses.
Answer my question, abby.
(49:17):
Are you and my husband havingan affair?
She says I'm not saying we are,I'm not saying we're not, but I
am saying that I can have himanytime I want, anytime I won't.
Earlier that day, karen hadstopped by to ask Abby to go to
(49:38):
Richard's house and water plantsand stuff and she's like oh,
I'm so, so busy.
Karen's like you need to do it.
Just, everybody else has a taskexcept you Go do it.
Abby says well, what about Gary?
Gary's apparently had a hardnight.
Now this is Karen letting herknow that she knows what's up.
Apparently, gary had a reallyrough night, hard night.
Now this is Karen letting herknow that she knows what's up.
Apparently, gary had a reallyrough night last night.
He sound asleep.
Abby says no, but she can'thelp one more time.
(49:59):
And Karen says oh, that's right, you only wreck homes, you
don't help fix them.
So it's funny that this is inthe back of her head and she's
still unfazed.
So back to Valene.
And she, mind you, all this ishappening while Valene is
dressed in a full on prairiegarb like weird looking skirt
with an underskirt, cowboy boots, long sleeve 18th century
(50:23):
button shirt with the big poofysleeves, and then it's tight
down the rest After.
Abby says I can have himanytime, I want Val's kind of
like, oh my God, oh my God.
She tries to turn on her heelsand walk out.
Abby says Abby can't just letit go.
She runs up behind her likeokay, valene, does that give you
your answer?
Do you understand?
Valene understands all right,it's time to bring that
(50:45):
Tennessee thunder.
So she reaches back to Memphis,comes all the way across the
Great Plains, over the RockyMountains, down across Abby's
face, so satisfying Abby's hairgoes flying back.
She deserved that.
She really really did, becauseat the end of the day, what has
Valene ever done to her Ever?
It's one thing to steal the man, but what you're not going to
(51:07):
do is talk to me like I'm theproblem.
We don't see Val anymore thisepisode, but we do see Gary
standing in front of yet anotherwindow watching Abby's house
like a hawk.
Now Abby knows he's at home.
I don't know if she knew he waswatching, but maybe she had a
hunch.
Maybe she just knows the powershe has over him.
So she puts on her shortestshorts you can see a little
(51:30):
booty cheek at some point inthis white blouse.
It is cute, I'm not even goingto hate.
With her heels she saunters outher front door, down the
sidewalk, up Richard's walkwayand into his house.
Gary Ewing is watching like ahawk from the window.
He puts on an extra mediumshirt, goes downstairs out his
(51:53):
door, out out his gate, acrossthe street into Richard's house
where he and Abby take one longlingering lover's look at each
other and it's on and poppingagain.
End scene.
Excellent episode.
(52:14):
I was frozen in place the wholetime.
I was like, oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve this is really going
down.
So they're both aware thatVal's aware at this point.
I just don't even know whereyou go from here.
I don't even see how you couldpretend, if you're Valene, that
nothing is wrong.
I don't know how she's going tomove through this.
At the top of this episode Ishared the story of the cat and
(52:37):
mouse partnership.
The comparison came because,even as a kid, I remember
listening to this story andreading it on my own and
thinking there's no way themouse didn't know that,
eventually, this was going tohappen.
I suppose, though, hope is kindof funny that way.
When I read that as a kid, Ikind of expected the cat to
(52:58):
pounce on her at some otherpoint, or maybe trick her into
some sort of trap, or I thoughtmaybe the mouse would catch the
cat eating other mice orsomething like that.
But the truth is, nothing is asblinding as Hope.
It'd be real easy to paint Abbyas a cat in this scenario, being
deceitful, sort of sneaky, sortof plotting all this time, but
(53:21):
the truth is she never pretendedto be anything else.
Abby has always been Abby.
Or is Gary the cat content totell the mouse about all these
baptisms that he needs to go tobecause he's important and
special?
And oh, you're crazy.
You just have these littlemouse fantasies because you're
always in the house, never fullytaking her seriously, eating
(53:43):
her hope whole, bit by bit, biteby bite, until it was all gone.
She had no choice but to acceptit at the last minute.
It'd be real easy to say thatand it's kind of hard to decide
who.
At the last minute It'd be realeasy to say that and it's kind
of hard to decide who was abigger villain.
But when it comes to Valene,the Vidalia Onion Queen Ewing,
(54:04):
nobody and I do mean nobody is abigger villain to Valene Ewing
than Valene Ewing.
In my opinion, val was everycharacter in that story.
The cat and mouse partnershipHear me out, hear me out.
I mean, obviously she's a mouse, she's at home, naive, sort of
believing that all this is true,even though she has a clue,
(54:26):
she's clever enough to decidethat they need to store
something away for them.
I feel like the pot of fat wassymbolized in this situation,
like her hope, her dreams, whatshe really thinks.
This relationship can and willbe Long.
As I play the part and don'tupset him, I can have this.
Let me just let the cat do whathe needs to do.
Only the cat is the part of herthat knows that is sort of
(54:49):
fighting for her to do something.
You had to lie to yourself inorder to believe that nothing
was going on.
Lie to yourself over and over.
Oh it's just, he has to havethis celebration, he has to be
at the baptism, he has to havethese meetings, he has to work,
he has to do these things but atthe same time, by believing and
(55:11):
feeding into that lie, you wereeating away at your own dream.
She consumed her own dream.
I know it's a little out there,but just think about it.
This isn't a love triangle.
This is a mirror.
This is a mirror of whathappens when you don't accept
the things that are right infront of you, when you don't
(55:31):
challenge the thing that isright in front of you.
You knew what this was a longtime ago.
She saw this coming many, manymoons ago.
It's one thing for Gary to lieto you, it's another to lie to
yourself.
I saw something this week whereit said resentment it's never
really about the person you'reresentful towards.
(55:53):
It's you being upset withyourself for not defending
yourself, for not believingyourself when you have the
opportunity to Great episode,gary is forever back on my you
know what list.
I can't stand him, but I alsocan't deny the chemistry when I
tell you I cannot wait to watchthe finale.
(56:15):
I say, oh my gosh, I'm soexcited.
The writers did their big oneswith this one and you're going
to have to join me next time tosee what happens.
All right, guys, that's it.
That's all for this episode ofSoap Lore.
I hope you enjoyed yourself asmuch as I did In the meantime.
In between time, go read someold fables.
There's a lot of wisdom lockedinside of those and let me know
(56:38):
what you think.
You can always reach out to meat so4podcasts at gmailcom.
Send me a nice little email,let me know what you think.
That'sS-O-A-P-L-O-R-E-P-O-D-C-A-S-T at
gmailcom, or you can send me atext in the show notes on your
mobile device.
Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and
(57:00):
keep all of your drama on tv.
Thank you, bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome or
welcome back to SoFloor.
I'm your host, jett, stillviewing and reviewing the Sophia
Sudzias primetime storylines of1982.
So, whether you're new to thisor true to this, sit back and
enjoy.
Tell the kids it's time to play, outside or out of sight.
No questions, suggestions orconcerns for the next 25-45
(00:25):
minutes, everyone else inearshot.
You can be cool, you can bequiet, or you will be kicked out
because we are watching ourstories.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, this is Soap More.
Hello, gorgeous.
(00:54):
Welcome and welcome back toanother fun-filled edition of so
cool.
Oh my gosh, y'all.
You already know what's up.
Season three, episode 21, is oneof the most interesting
episodes of any show I've everwatched.
If that sounds dramatic, I meanyeah, it is, but it doesn't
make it any less true.
(01:15):
I watched this and I promiseyou you know the first 10, 15
minutes.
I'm kind of talking back to theTV just enjoying myself.
I'm shocked.
I'm sort of taking in all thisnew information, but at some
point in the show it became soreal, so raw.
(01:35):
I found I didn't even realize Ihadn't moved until I saw the
credits roll.
I think I was damn near holdingmy breath the whole time.
This episode is so intense.
It is so in your face.
I promise you we're going toget deep, dive deep into this
one.
So go ahead and pour yourselfup something bubbly and bright.
(01:56):
Maybe you want something alittle more calm.
Maybe some calming tea, maybe alittle brandy, I don't know.
Do whatever you need to do toget comfortable, because we are
jumping into season three,episode 21 of knots landing
china dolls.
So did you ever have one ofthose porcelain dolls?
(02:17):
I feel like I've had them inthe house.
Obviously you can't play withthose are much're much too
fragile.
Seems like the 90s had thisweird resurgence of collecting
those.
Not really my cup of tea.
My jam was obviously watching TVand reading these books from
this series called you Can Read.
(02:37):
I'm sure my mom saw acommercial or saw it in a
magazine at some point anddecided to order this reading
system for me and my littlebrother.
It wasn't like hooked onphonics, as far as I know.
But we have these books that Ijust adored and, if memory
serves me correctly, you get avideotape and it goes through
all these beautiful stories anddifferent things, and then you'd
(03:00):
also get a few books that wouldaccompany this particular tape.
It either came like that or itcame in a series, doesn't really
matter.
The point I'm trying to make isthat I was able to read fairy
tales and fables that I wouldn'thave been introduced to
otherwise.
After I watched this episode Ican't even really describe it I
(03:22):
just I don't know why I feltweird, or just I couldn't really
process my thoughts in realtime.
So I was just kind of sittinghere like, wow, that that really
just happened, wow, what's next?
And eventually it sort ofreminded me of this story called
(03:43):
the cat and mouse partnership.
So there's this cat and there'sthis mouse.
They meet each other and, muchto both of their surprises, they
hit it off.
The cat says to the mouse I'venever met a mouse I like so much
.
You are so wonderful, you're socharming, I really enjoy you.
The mouse says you know, I wasreally nervous about meeting you
(04:03):
, but I feel the same way.
You're so cool, never met a catas cool as you.
The cat says yeah, I think wecould really be friends.
I think we'd be great friends.
I just love and adore you somuch.
This is the most wonderfulthing that's ever happened to me
.
I am embellishing slightly.
The mouse says well, I feel thesame way.
Why don't you live in thishouse with me, would you be
(04:24):
willing to move in with me?
And the cat's like absolutely,I'll live with you in this house
Totally.
So they move in together.
Things are going well, but themouse is forward thinking.
So the mouse goes to the catand she says hey, you're like a
predator, you need to hunt.
I'm a mouse, I'm a gatherer.
We need to consider what we'regoing to do when I can't gather
(04:47):
and you can't hunt, especiallyin the winter.
Why don't we store up some foodfor ourselves for the winter
and then, when it comes, we canjust chill and enjoy that season
?
The cat's like I mean it'sspring, why are we talking about
winter already?
The mouse is like I mean, it'sjust important.
You need to look forward to thefuture.
We need to secure something.
(05:08):
Since this is a cross specieshome, they obviously have to
have something mutuallybeneficial.
I mean the cat can't very wellgo out.
Bring home dead mice now, canhe?
They settle on this pot of fat,so they obtain this pot of fat
and they bring it back homeQuickly.
The mouse realizes we can'tkeep this here.
(05:28):
This is distracting.
This is too big.
What are we going to do?
Where are we going to keep it?
So they're thinking, and thecat says hey, hey, hey, I know,
I know why don't we keep it atthe church?
Nobody is going to go in achurch and steal anything.
It'll be completely safe.
It'll be out of sight.
We'll just go down and get itlate fall and everything will be
(05:49):
great.
The mouse kind of thinks aboutthis and she's like yeah, I
think you're right.
Now.
Cat says we can slip under thedoor, go underneath the altar,
hide it underneath the floor.
It'll be safe and sound.
Mouse agrees and they do thatvery thing.
So as time goes on, they'reliving together in just
interspecies bliss.
(06:10):
And one day the cat comesscurrying into the room out of
the best news in the whole worldoh my gosh, I can't believe it.
I'm gonna be a godfather.
And the mouse is like that'samazing, you're gonna be a
godfather, that's wonderful.
You know, my cousin just had ababy boy kitten and he's got
this white coat.
They saw the white coat.
It reminded them of me and theyasked me to be the godfather.
You don't mind if I go to thebaptism, do you?
(06:31):
She's like of course not.
Go to the baptism.
Eat at the buffet, enjoy thefood, tell everybody I said hi
and have a little communion winefor me if you can.
Cat's like no doubt.
No doubt Appreciate it.
Go ahead and take care of thehouse.
I'll be home after a littlewhile.
The cat leaves the house.
Only he's not going to thebaptism because there isn't a
(06:54):
baptism.
There's also no baby kitten andthere's also no cousin.
He don't even have relativeslike that.
What he wants is to have alittle taste of this vat of fat
they have sitting down there.
It's probably all warm in thespring.
It's probably really rich anddelicious.
So it goes down.
He sneaks under the church doorunder the altar, removes the
(07:19):
floorboard, goes underneath Vatof fat is just jiggling and
looking all delicious.
He takes one bite Mmm, rich andcreamy and salty.
Side note, quickly, in my mindit's more of a butter than like
the gelatinous fat.
But I digress.
He takes one bite after another, one lap of his tongue after
(07:40):
another.
Before you know it the top ofthe vat of fat is completely
gone.
So he feels a little weirdafter that.
So he starts walking aroundtown.
He hops on the roof, he sort oftakes his time.
He sunbathes, he does all thesethings.
Comes back home and the littlemouse is like oh my gosh, how
was the baptism?
The cat says it was great mouse.
Mouse says well, what do theyname the baby?
(08:03):
Topoff.
She's like Topoff, god, that'sokay.
I've never heard a name likethat.
I don't think I've even readanything like that.
Topoff, is that like a familyname.
The cat is suddenly offended bythis and he's like it's no
worse than being called a crumbsnatcher, like your little god,
(08:23):
kids are.
So she's like okay, chill, Ididn't mean to offend you, I
just I've never heard the name,that's all I'm saying.
It's a very unique name.
God bless little Topoff.
So a little bit of time goes by.
Cat comes to the mouse againand he says you're not going to
believe this, I'm going to be agodfather again.
She's like no way, yeah, yeah,yeah.
Some friends of mine had alittle kitten and it's got this
(08:45):
bright white ring around itsneck.
Reminded them of me.
So they called me up, asked meto be the godfather.
You don't mind if I go tobaptism, do you?
She's like no, of course not.
Enjoy yourself, tell everybody.
I said hi.
So he leaves the house, goesdown to church, slips under the
door, under the altar, under thefloorboard, and he starts
(09:10):
lapping up more of that gooey,buttery, rich, salty goodness.
He kind of gets lost in it andbefore you know it, the complete
middle of the pot is justlicked clean.
He's like oh my gosh, there'sonly a third of us left.
Oops.
He's like you know what?
Some things just taste betterwhen you don't have to share
them with other people had to doit.
So he goes home and the mouseis like hey, how did it go?
(09:33):
Oh, it went great.
What did they name the kitten?
Oh, they named him.
Half gone, half gone.
Where are they?
Are these people, the migos?
Like, where are they gettingall these names from?
Are they forming a rap group wedon't know about?
And he's like just for, I mean,it's just a name.
You're sitting here in thishouse all day.
You just, you're not used tothe world outside of these walls
(09:53):
.
That's a perfectly normal namefor creatures of the day.
You're nocturnal, you wouldn'tknow nothing about that.
And she's like oh, I guess so.
So, before you know it, everytime the cat licks his whiskers
he can almost taste that savory,buttery goodness, goes to the
mouse and he goes.
(10:14):
You know, dude, good thingsmust come in three, because I'm
gonna be a godfather again.
And the mouse says oh, cattells her, this time my friends
had a, a little kitten that iscompletely jet black, just
gorgeous silky black fur, exceptfor his paws.
(10:35):
All four paws are stock white.
They saw the paws.
It reminded them of me.
They asked me to be thegodfather.
You don't mind, do you?
Sure, go have a good time.
So he leaves the house, goes tothe church, slips under the door
, slips under the altar, underthe floorboard, and he leisurely
(10:58):
eats away at the last bit ofthe fat, licks the pot
completely clean.
By this time he's gainedsignificant amount of weight.
He is a little more casual inhis waltz.
He takes a little bit longer toget home and he just kind of
(11:18):
rubs his stomach and says youknow, I'm at peace now.
There's no more fat to eat up,there's nothing left to think
about Probably best casescenario.
So he comes into the house andthe mouse looks at him and she's
like well, we had top off, wehad half gone.
(11:39):
What did they name this one Catlooks at her and says all gone,
all gone.
She says these are strangenames.
But oh well, she washes herface or whatever mags do, curls
up on a ball, goes to sleep.
They make it through the rest ofthe spring, the rest of the
summer and the fall withoutincident.
When the first snow falls, themouse goes to the cat and says
(11:59):
let's go to the church and getour pot of fat.
Oh, it's going to be so good.
It's had all this time tomarinate and mature.
And the cat says yes, yes, yourtiny little tongue will love it
as much as you like licking theair outside your window.
So they both leave the house,go to the church, scurry under
the door, scurry underneath thealtar, underneath the
(12:22):
floorboards, where the mouse,for the first time, lays eyes on
the giant pottled fat.
Only it's been emptied of itscontents.
She stares at it in disbelief,but then she turns to the cat
and says oh my gosh, Iunderstand now.
I know what happened.
Gosh, I understand now.
I know what happened.
(12:42):
You were such a good friend.
And the cat says I am, yes,you're such a good friend, I
know what happened now.
You had to use the fat of fat tofeed the other cats at all the
baptisms.
What a wonderful friend.
You had to do it for top off.
You had to do it for half goneand then you had to do it for up
(13:02):
.
She gets as far as the a andall gone when all of a sudden
it's like a switch flipped.
He goes from cool, calm to justferocious.
If you say another word, I'mgonna eat you too.
Unfortunately she was alreadytalking, so she's like oh,
(13:23):
before you know it, chomp eatsher At the top of the show.
Laura gosh, she's just sort ofin an impossible situation.
Karen says to her in not somany words you need to go and
check up on him.
He mentioned that you hadn'tbeen to see him.
This is true.
(13:43):
Karen had gone to see Richardearlier and she and he were
going to have a breakfast picnic.
And his little peculiar friendcomes up and he's talking about
an explosion where three littlegirls died, except he refers to
them as China dolls, based onthe year that this would have
aired.
At first I thought maybe thisguy was a Vietnam vet and this
(14:06):
was sort of a subtle reminder tocheck in on your veterans and
that sort of thing.
But the guy looked a little tooyoung to have served in Vietnam
.
So I started thinking a littlemore.
This would have been around thetime of Reaganomics, when all
of the mental institutions weresort of shut down.
Yeah, so maybe this was asubtle little reminder that, hey
(14:28):
, you know, some people reallydo need the help.
Richard's explaining to Karenthat he feels good.
This is a really nice place,it's really beautiful.
She's concerned about theinsurance.
He says, well, it'll pay upuntil like next week.
And then I got to figure outsomething else, which brings us
back to Laura.
Karen says I just want to seeyou participate a little more.
(14:48):
Laura says do you forget thatthis man pulled a whole weapon
on me?
Did you forget that this manpulled a whole weapon on me?
Did you forget that karen'sdefensive of richard?
He was having a mentalbreakdown.
Laura was like cool, okay, cool, explain that to his son.
Karen kind of takes a step back, like no, you're right, you're
right.
I'm not going to get into howupsetting this is, but it's like
(15:09):
in any other circumstance wouldyou ask a pregnant woman to go
and visit the person who heldher hostage, husband or not,
friend or not?
You probably wouldn't do that.
You need to see significantchanges before you said that
Can't just go off of hisemotions, because there's two
parties involved.
By the end of this, laura is atleast curious.
(15:30):
So she does indeed go to visitRichard, I got to say.
Richard took me completely bysurprise.
He's still very tranquil.
He's as surprised as I am tosee Laura show up.
What he tells her isn't that hemisses her and that he's
changed and that things aregoing to be totally different.
But what he says instead isLaura, I have to take
(15:52):
responsibility for myself.
For years I thought you werethe weak one.
Your weakness made me feelpowerful.
Only when you left I realizedit was the other way around.
I'm far too codependent on youand I want to have a life with
you, even if it means we're nottogether, if it means we're in
separate households.
(16:13):
Life with you, even if it meanswe're not together, if it means
we're in separate household,want to raise our kids together,
but I want and I need to livealone, color me totally
surprised.
There's also a briefconversation on why he's going
to be leaving.
So apparently he's going to beoff his medication in about a
week and he's also going to beleaving.
So Laura asked him why.
(16:33):
Why so soon?
He goes?
Well, money is a big motivator.
Basically, my insurance isn'tgoing to pay after that, so I'm
going to need to skedaddle.
She's like don't even worryabout that, I can pay.
I can help pay for whatever youneed.
I don't want you to help payfor anything, laura, I need to
be alone.
Wow, talk about personal growth.
(16:57):
Well, dr McQuarrie, hispsychologist, has been helping
him with that.
He tells Laura you could eventalk to her if you wanted these
prices.
So they maximize his insurance.
And Laura does pay Dr McQuarriea visit.
Who is this kind of very puttogether older woman she reminds
me of if you've ever seen themovie A League of their Own,
(17:19):
when they all go to charm school, like one of the leaders of the
charm school.
So she reminds me of, exceptshe's a lot more nice.
Laura pours out her heart, sheis angry, she is confused.
She doesn't understand why heis being let out so early.
The doctor tells her he's notbeing let out, he's choosing to
leave.
Well, he's like.
(17:41):
Well, I don't love him, I don'twant to go back.
The doctor says who said youhad to go back?
Well, do you think I should?
The doctor says listen, I don'tthink you should do anything
you don't want to do.
These are all Richard's choices.
At this point, he's the one whoneeds to be making the
decisions for himself.
It's very clear at this pointthat Laura is concerned about
his mental health.
(18:01):
It's almost as if she feelsbecause he's making the effort
that he didn't make before.
Now she has to make the effortthat's what I'm interpreting
this as, which is a very roughplace, and she's like I'm angry,
I'm confused.
I broke off everything.
It was clean, and now this hashappened.
And I realized for the firsttime that she had thought about
(18:22):
this long and hard.
She had a plan.
She made a decision to leave,to separate herself from him
completely.
No love lost.
This is what I want.
We'll raise our kids together.
But him becoming mentally illor having a nervous breakdown
changes the whole trajectory ofthe plan she had.
Yes, you expected Richard tomaybe act up a little.
(18:45):
Maybe she thought he would bedifficult as far as letting her
go, but this is a whole notherpiece of a puzzle she never saw
coming.
So she's in a position to haveto consider things that she
didn't think she would.
As she leaves the office of thedoctor, his peculiar friend is
in the hallway.
He knows that she's Richard'swife and he's like hey, I know
(19:08):
Richard's about to leave.
Would you please give him thisgift for me?
I don't think I'll run into himagain before he leaves.
She's like sure thing.
Later on in the episode we seeher going to Richard's house.
So this would have been thenight right before he's supposed
to return the following day.
So she wants to go over andmake sure, you know, turn the
air conditioner on, put somefood in the fridge, make it feel
(19:31):
like home.
Give him, you know, give him agood head start.
He doesn't need to come homeand have to start figuring out
all these things, or he could.
We'll have to see how thatturns out, see if he appreciates
that or if it's a hindrance ofsome sort.
But she goes into the house andI guess Karen hears her car
door, where she was staring outof the window.
I don't know if the walls inKnott's Landing are very thin,
(19:58):
because this entire episode ispeople showing up, just as there
are other people getting out ofthe car.
You can tell that Laura isn'tquite comfortable.
She's sort of franticallymoving around and she sets the
doll down.
Excuse me, she sets the packagethat Nicholas, the peculiar
friend gave Richard.
She sets it down a little toohard and she feels it sort of
shift in its packaging.
She opens it up and realizesit's a porcelain doll and the
leg is broken.
(20:18):
She's oh my God, I got to fixthis, got to fix this.
She's sort of franticallylooking for glue.
Karen senses that she's on edgeand she's like it's okay, it's
okay, it's not that important.
Laura turns to her and said damnit, karen, I wish I had never
listened to you.
Show up for him, participate,do something.
She explains what happened.
She's like I should have got upand left.
I shouldn't have talked to hisdoctor.
(20:39):
I should have just got out ofthere when I had the chance.
Karen said well, what did thedoctor say?
Doctor says I shouldn't returnunless I'm returning for good.
She looks absolutely destroyedand she's just like I'm damned
if I do, damned if I don't.
Oh, I get that, I really do,and I wish she had just stayed
away too.
I mean, it's it.
You know I don't want to blamekaren, but I do want to blame
(21:01):
karen.
Like you, everybody makesmistakes.
Just because richard is, I knowhe's in a tender position.
I I can understand.
Seeing him in the flesh, youcan't help but feel bad for the
guy.
But also, please put your otherfriend first.
Her safety, her mentality, ohgosh, especially knowing what
their relationship was.
(21:22):
You need to be championing yourgirl to have a little bit of
space, give it a little bit oftime and then, when the time is
right, when she's had a timemoment to really see a change
and she feels comfortable, ifshe ever does, then encourage
her, but encourage her on herown accord.
Don't encourage her because youfeel bad for Richard.
That's all I got to say aboutthat.
(21:43):
Poor Laura.
This is a fascinating episode.
One of the most fascinatingparts for me is joe.
I've always liked joe.
I'm glad he's on the show.
Joe is incredibly cool.
But joe has a couple of problems.
Number one he has a party toattend to for work.
It is an all-staff party at thecollege, which doesn't really
(22:07):
sound like a problem, and itwouldn't be if joe's boss, who
is a woman, wasn't hitting onhim disrespectfully.
She's all up on him, she wantshis body and Joe, being a
gentleman, doesn't want to hurther feelings, doesn't want to
jeopardize his job.
So he has asked his girl fromback east I think her name was
Lorraine to fly in to attend theparty probably hang out this
(22:29):
weekend.
Joe's second problem is thatwhatever car he's been using
needs some sort of maintenance.
That's not really a problem,considering his sister owns a
car dealership.
Does these two problems on thisparticular day?
That put Joe in the perfectposition to be some sort of wise
elder on this show.
(22:51):
So Joe's chilling at breakfastat Karen's house.
He's looking over some sort ofbaseball stats.
I still think Joe might have agambling problem.
He's has a gambling addiction,even if it's not really a
problem.
Yet Phone rings.
It's Lorraine from back Eastgets on the phone with her.
Apparently Lorraine hassomething come up.
You know New York ain't exactlyjust around the corner.
(23:13):
She can't hop on a plane and bethere in time to attend his
meeting on Friday.
No big deal, luckily.
Joe is a charming, good lookingyoung guy.
There's plenty of women in theneighborhood.
He'll just ask somebody else.
As luck would have it, as he isdriving to Knott's Landing
Motors to check on his car, hehappens upon Ginger.
(23:37):
Now it is raining in SoCal.
Ginger is fully decked out and Ikind of chuckled to myself.
Anyone who lives in the desert,you're going to understand what
I mean.
When it gets even a little bitcold, you immediately pull out
your warm clothes, like youdon't get to wear this stuff
often.
You don't get to wear rainboots and a slicker and all that
(24:00):
often.
So I just kind of chuckled atgender in her little rain
slicker hat and all that insideher car.
But she and Joe were talkingthrough their car windows and
he's asking her if she has anysingle friends.
She goes.
Most of my friends are married.
I do have one, but she kind ofdingy and he's like dang.
I like smart girls.
But you know, okay, just keepan eye out.
If you think anybody, let meknow.
She's like all right bet.
So Joe drives to Knott's LandingMotors where he is chilling,
(24:23):
waiting for his car.
Only, his car still needs somerepairs, but he finds himself
just sort of hanging outregardless.
Now why would Joe be hangingout?
Well, he's waiting on Abby tocome in so he can ask her.
That was one of Ginger'ssuggestions.
She's like hey, abby's smart,why don't you ask Abby?
He's like that's a good idea.
Now I know what you're askingyourself.
If you haven't seen this in along time, or if you're a newbie
(24:45):
and for some reason you didn'twatch it this week, let me let
you know.
You're probably thinking that,jet, why wouldn't he just go
over to Abby's house thatmorning?
Well, abby wasn't home, okay,so he's just going to wait for
her to come to work?
Yeah, he's going to wait forher to come to work.
Now, why wasn't Abby home firstthing this morning?
Well, because she's in anapartment waiting on Gary.
(25:08):
Abby and Gary, or the MethanolTwins, as she named them, are
taking care of business.
They have lots of businessmeetings and this particular
breakfast meeting calls for allhands on deck, calls for them to
roll out a couch bed and do thenasty first thing in the
(25:29):
morning before they go to work.
I couldn't believe it.
I'm going to tell you that.
The rage that went through mybody when I realized what was
going on, I can't even put intowords.
It's the audacity for me.
The practical part of me islike, okay, it's not like they
could do it at their house, butalso, wow, you are so committed
(25:50):
to this that you would seek outan apartment.
I'm thinking they put moneydown and rented an apartment.
Apparently it's one of Abby'shomegirls apartment.
Fun fact, this is the sameapartment, or at least the
outside is that I saw on Dallas.
I recognized it immediately.
It's on Dallas.
I looked up the episode, seasontwo, episode 20.
It's where you know Pam wasworking at the store and all
(26:12):
those models came in.
Well, one of the models used tobe a call girl and JR has her
almost arrested outside of herapartment.
I remember that apartmentbuilding very clearly and I feel
like Sue Ellen went to it onetime to adopt a baby too.
Anyway, gary and Abby are usingit to fornicate, are using it to
(26:36):
fornicate, to sneak around.
They're having themselves areal good time.
So I guess after round one ortwo, abby says you know, we
really got to get back to work.
No breakfast meeting lasts thislong.
So as they're putting onclothes and Abby is making up
the bed while Gary slowly getsstressed, she just wants to
check in on him.
Hey, how are you doing withthis?
Is this bothering you in anysort of way?
Sneaking around your wife'sback, lying to her face?
(26:57):
Gary's like no.
As a matter of fact, I lay inbed after the first night
waiting to feel guilty, but Ididn't feel a damn thing.
Nothing but elation, can you?
I can't stand Gary.
I can't stand him.
I can't stand him.
I don't give a damn, I can'tstand gary, I can't stand him.
I can't stand him.
I don't give a damn, I can'tstand him.
He feels just fine about it,perfectly cool.
(27:19):
So I was like okay, great,let's keep it up.
So let's go back to joe.
Joe is patiently waiting inkaren's office when karen shows
up to work.
Karen's like what are you doing?
Is your car not ready?
He's like no, it's not ready.
She goes well, did they giveyou a like, a rental or
something?
They give you a courtesy car.
Yeah, they gave me a courtesycar.
What the heck are you stilldoing here Waiting on Abby?
(27:40):
I'm going to ask Abby to go tomy dinner on Friday.
Karen rolls her eyes.
She's like oh, are you serious?
Well, right about this time infloats Gary and Abby.
And when I say there is nodisguise, there is no pantomime
of platonic friendship here atall.
It is quite obvious to anyonewho even looks over a little bit
(28:03):
Karen's out of her glass windowof her office.
She's like oh, my God, I couldjust choke Gary.
I just want to shake himsometimes, tell him to snap out
of it.
Joe's like man, you are sosuspicious, karen.
I bet you nothing is happening.
She goes.
I know something's happening.
I can't prove it, but I knowsomething's happening.
So all of their offices are allagainst one wall.
You know, just glass, genericglass window door, glass window
(28:25):
door, glass window door.
Joe goes out, he sees Abby andhe's like Abby, I've been
waiting all morning for you.
I'm desperate, would you pleasego to my staff dinner with me
on Friday night?
And she goes oh my God, joe,I've been waiting for you to ask
me out.
Only now I can't do it becauseI have a business meeting on
Friday.
As soon as she says that,gary's big, goofy ass comes
(28:48):
bursting out of his door hey,abby, about Friday night.
And he looks, you know, I'm, ohmy god, I don't want to go.
He's making those faces.
Oh, just totally, bro.
She's like yes, gary, it's allset up for friday night at eight
o'clock, the meeting with blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, fake
buyers.
(29:08):
If joe thinks anything is weird, he, he doesn't light on.
He's like okay, cool, well,doesn't hurt to ask See you
later.
Abby Bye, gary Bye.
And then they look at eachother like whoa.
So Joe goes about his day,teaches, inspires, does whatever
he does, ducks and dodge hisboss.
And he comes home that night alittle bit early so that he can
(29:31):
go over and talk to Ginger,ginger being a budding pop star
and Kenny being this flashyproducer.
Now their schedules aren'talways aligned.
She wants to go out thisweekend.
He's like I'd love to, babe,but I can't Right about this
time.
Joe knocks on the door and hey,ginger, hey, kenny, is your
(29:52):
airhead friend still available?
I mean, I just kind of needsomebody at this point and she
goes.
Wouldn't you know it?
Airheads are very booked andbusy.
She's already got a date forFriday.
She can't do it and he's likedang.
So Kenny's like well, what arey'all talking about?
Joe explains the situation.
I got this woman at my jobwho's all over me.
Lorraine can't make it in.
I asked someone else.
(30:13):
I just need a date for Fridayso that this woman will leave me
alone.
Well, kenny's like well, takegender.
She was just saying that sheneeded to get out of the house.
She kind of wanted to go outanyway and I have to work, so
it'd be, it'd be perfectly fine.
And Joe's like are you sure Idon't want to?
Like, it's a married woman iswhat he's thinking, but this is
a clearly platonic relationship.
Kenny's like listen, we're amodern eighties couple.
(30:34):
At first I thought he wassaying we do our own thing, as
in, we're swingers, whichthey've never confirmed or
denied.
But I think he was reallysaying sometimes our, our
schedules don't align.
I'm not going to keep her homeif she don't want to be like go,
yeah, I'll go to this littledinner, it'll be fine.
Okay, cool, pick me up at six.
Pick you up at six on Friday.
(30:55):
So Joe's excited.
That's really the only reasonhe'd come back to the cul-de-sac
.
So he heads back to Knott'sLanding Motor to see if his car
is ready.
One of his problems is solved,let's see if the other one is
too.
So Joe walks into the dealershipand by this time it is dark,
(31:15):
it's already sort of closed orit's closing, and the glass
offices we talked about earlierare illuminated.
And the first thing joe sees isabby and gary.
She's practically on gary's lap, arms around them.
They're feeling all over eachother in a very warm embrace.
There is no subtlety here atall.
He just keeps walking.
If he feels anything, you'dnever know it.
(31:37):
Joe goes into the shop to lookfor his car, but around this
time the intercom is callingGary to go to the shop to
basically take care of thisolder customer who's irritated
that is parked on in.
It's worth mentioning that thevery handsome black mechanic and
this little old man arehilarious and they're 10 seconds
on screen because the man's caris basically a hoop deep.
(32:01):
The mechanic is like there'sdamn near lemons popping all the
way out of this and they'relike man, how did my parts just
get up and walk away?
What are you talking about?
So when Gary leans up under thehood, joe follows him.
He's leaning up under the hoodand Joe says man, I didn't know.
Do you do this part too?
You come in and repair stuff.
Gary's like no, no, I just gotto make it look like I'm doing
something.
People like to see the boss likegetting his hands dirty.
(32:23):
Joe gets it he's all a greatbluff.
Gary says what do you mean?
And then they have this wholeconversation about gambling.
Joe says he wishes he couldquit and he's like Gary, you
used to gamble too, didn't you?
Gary said yeah, I did, but youknow the way I gambled was so
rough.
If you gamble as bad as I did,somebody will make you quit
(32:43):
eventually.
Joe breaks it down like thishe's like I say I want to quit,
but I really don't.
I love the excitement.
That's what you need.
You need the excitement in life, and gamblers like us will keep
raising the stakes so that theexcitement is stronger and
stronger.
They're basically addicted tothat rush.
It only works if what you'rerisking losing is important.
(33:05):
You only do it when things arereally, really valuable.
Otherwise the game isn't anyfun anymore.
Now, by this time, gary ispicking up what Joe was putting
down.
So Joe continues you know whatelse they say?
Shrink, say that deed down.
The real gamblers want to lose.
He goes isn't that crazy thatthe gambler wants to lose and
(33:28):
you know what in the end he does?
Can you believe that, gary?
He loses eventually because hereally wants to.
Gary's like dude, if you gotsomething to say, just say it.
And joe's like I already did.
By this time the mechanic comesover and says hey, joe, your
car is probably ready.
Joe walks off, real cool, likeall right, joe, drop them gems.
(33:50):
You're probably wondering wherevaline is in all this.
Well, valine is at home keepingherself busy walking on
eggshells.
At the top of the show we seeher outside vigorously scrubbing
her living room window.
When lily may comes outside,she's like god dang, y'all don't
eat breakfast.
What does a girl got to do toget some vittles around here?
Y'all on a fast or something.
(34:11):
What's going on, valine?
Well, gary's at a meeting thismorning and I wasn't hungry so I
just had a little juice.
Lily Mae, ever the ear hustler,ever the nosy.
Nelly is like wow, didn't hehave a dinner meeting last night
?
Yes, mama.
Well, he had one this morning.
Breakfast and dinner.
Breakfast and dinner meeting.
(34:31):
They sure have a lot ofmeetings.
It's a wonder they're notputting on weight Basically
saying Valene, you see this likeI see this.
Valene's like mama, whatevergoes on between me and Gary is
between me and Gary.
I have to be very careful.
Right now Gary's not happyabout this book.
I'm not trying to upset him,I'm trying to support him in his
business.
I have to let him do hisbusiness.
(34:55):
Lily Mae's like girl, pleaseget your gullible country butt
out of the clouds.
Do you not see what is in frontof you?
They're just working, mama.
Well, luckily, this call, thisinteraction with Joe, has
planted a seed in Gary's head.
So the next morning he eatsbreakfast at home.
He makes an effort to eatbreakfast, which is a grapefruit
and coffee, and I'm like, oh myGod, all the acid my heartburn
(35:17):
could never.
Also, that's a weak breakfast,but I totally remember that
being a thing like with cottagecheese.
Darlene surprises Gary with ayear subscription to Fortune
Magazine.
She even wraps it all nice Likewhen he opens it he's well,
what is this?
And she explains well, ifyou're going to be the number
one businessman in in the world,you need to know what's going
(35:40):
on in the world of business.
He's touched like dang Eileenwhat would I do without you?
Because you ain't got to worryabout that, gary.
You don't have to worry aboutnot being without not having me.
Well, I guess he was stillhungry after breakfast because
he and Abby need to have anothermeeting in this apartment.
One of the things I didn't catchthe first time that I caught
(36:02):
the second time is that Abby,besides having like this killer
sweater on I love it so much,it's kind of 40s she's cutting
flowers.
She's sort of setting up shop.
She is playing house.
It's a peak inside of her minda little bit.
(36:22):
This to her is a very specialtime.
This is a very real thing andit's not just a role in the hey.
She's taking time to set up theatmosphere.
She's cutting fresh flowerslike that.
That means something.
It's almost like a honey I'mhome moment.
When Gary walks in, only he'sall doom and gloom and whatnot.
He's not ready to just roll androll.
And hey, she greets him as shenormally does, and that's when
(36:44):
he tells her that this has tostop.
She's like well, what do youmean?
I got to figure out where myhead is.
I got to clear my head.
I don't know why I'm doing this.
She's like I'm kind of gettingwhiplash here.
Yesterday you were perfectlycool, but today is different.
He even like hesitates to kissher.
Like you can tell it's reallyreally on his mind.
(37:06):
Well, after he speaks his piece, Abby's like okay, if that's
what you want, fine, she giveshim that million dollar smile,
he apologizes and he leaves.
She's smiling until he leaves.
Then you see the facades juststart to crumble.
Gary's whole reasoning was thathe's like I know it's bad
(37:26):
between me and Val and shethinks a lot of it is a book.
Maybe it's only a little bit,but I got to figure out why I
don't feel bad about this, why Iknow this is wrong.
I can't keep doing this.
So, like I said, he leaves andshe's all smiling like, okay,
cool.
But when he leaves, her facedrops, shout out to Jupiter for
letting me know one of thesethings.
(37:47):
I had mentioned one time, thatAbby's character.
She always seems so in control,like you never see her break
down.
She never seems nervous,anxious or even angry, not
really.
I think this is the first timeI've ever seen any emotion from
her and what I understand isthat Donna Mills made a decision
(38:07):
early on that her characterwould never show any emotion in
front of anyone else and shedoes a damn good job.
But to see her sort of crumble,I'm not saying it was sad, but
it was just like wow, she reallyreally cares about this.
She really really thought thiswas going to be something
spectacular.
So that night Joe goes home.
Like I said, the walls inKnott's Landing are quite thin
(38:31):
because Abby hears his car doorshut.
She hollers at him, he walksover, she says I'm free Friday.
That meeting was canceled.
She's none the wiser that Joehas seen her and Gary wrapped in
a warm embrace.
Joe's like oh, I'm so sorry,girl, I got somebody to go.
Ginger's going to go with me.
Abby's like really A marriedwoman.
(38:54):
Joe's like yeah, I know, Rightunder everyone's nose, it's
tacky.
By this time Abby has noticedthat Gary is standing in his
living room window watching her.
So she's all touchy feely onJoe.
Joe gently grabs his tie back,goes on about his way.
Gary basically spends most ofthe night staring out of the
window.
Even Val comes downstairs to belike Harry, you coming to bed,
(39:15):
he says no.
He sort of snaps at her becauseshe can't understand what he's
doing, just staring out of thewindow.
She thinks something happenedat work.
She doesn't realize that he'sstaring over at Abby's house.
I guess she thinks he's justkind of staring out the window.
He snips at her, she headsupstairs.
I wanted to slap him when hesnapped at her, but I kind of
understand.
She's asking a lot of questions.
This isn't the only time we seeGary standing in front of a
(39:37):
window.
As a matter of fact, for therest of the episode this fool is
staring out the window.
He's in Karen's office staringout her window watching Abby
talk to this guy with themicrophone.
It is very clear that it's areporter.
There's nothing romanticinvolved.
But then he runs up on herright after the guy walks away
and he's like okay, who's that?
(39:58):
She goes so-and-so from anewspaper.
They're curious about themethanol.
They think it's kind of coolthat we're going up against the
big guys.
Well, do you have to set a datewith him to get the article?
And she's like, no, he's goingto call me and let me see it as
normal.
She doesn't get offended, but Igot offended for her, mistress
or not.
What you're not going to do,gary, because you just as hoish
(40:18):
as she is, what you're not goingto do is use that against her.
He is very well versed in howAbby gets down.
He's seen it firsthand.
He knows the whole thing withRichard.
He saw how things went downwith the senator.
You know how she operates.
So how well things went downwith the Senator, you know how
she operates.
So don't try to blow that inher face as if she owes you or
anyone else an explanation forthat.
(40:38):
It's the audacity for me.
She blows him off and then hegoes.
Well, what about Joe?
Did Joe need to talk to you tooabout an article?
She's like first and foremost,mind your business.
Second, whatever I do with meand mine is none of your
business.
You have forfeited the right toask me anything about my
personal life anymore, turns onher heels and walks away.
(41:00):
I kind of like that.
Somebody needs to put him inhis place regularly.
I like that she does.
That Doesn't really matter,though, because she is.
She's like an earworm, it'slike a song that won't stop
playing in your mind over andover and over again.
This fool is distracted, he isconsumed, he is infatuated,
(41:22):
either with her or the thoughtof her going somewhere else.
It is very difficult for me totell.
I know time will tell, but therest of the episode he's just
sort of waiting to catch aglimpse of her is he's just sort
of waiting to catch a glimpseof her that night.
Val is sitting on the floor atthe living room coffee table
pouring over books.
(41:42):
She better than me.
I'm like I need a full seat.
She's also wearing that sailordress that was so popular.
I remember my sixth gradeteacher.
It was completely out of styleby then, but she used to wear
those.
She still had the teased hair.
We were well past that, but sheloved that sort of sailor dress
with the sort of flap in theback.
I promise you your mama had one.
If you're Gen X or millennial,promise you she had one.
(42:03):
So they're sitting in theliving room.
Val is pouring over books.
Gary's just sort of staring outthe window for a long time.
Then he's like, hey, let's gofor a ride.
Then he decides he doesn't wantto go for a ride.
He just sits there and sitsthere stewing.
Valene's not really clockingthat because she's studying.
When she's done she decidesshe's going to get up.
She's like okay, that's it forme.
I'm about to go to bed.
We'll write about that time.
These paper thin walls allowGary to hear a car door slam and
(42:27):
he understands immediately thatit's at Abby's house, even if
it's not Abby.
Do you know that this?
Let me take a sip.
This man's got my nerves bad.
Gary.
Ewing leaps up from his couch,runs to the door like the house
is on fire, yells back at Valeneoh, I forgot to tell her
something this morning at work.
He runs out of his door throughhis gate across the street to
(42:53):
Abby's front door where hebursts in demanding to know
where is he.
Where is he?
Gabby said oh, you want to knowwhere he is.
He's in the kitchen.
Well, he turns out to be alittle old lady who's watching
Olivia and Brian.
They clearly went to MickeyMouse.
They clearly went to Disneyland.
Only, I guess they clearly wentto disneyland only I guess you
(43:14):
couldn't say disneyland on tv.
But they have thesemouse-shaped balloons that are
drawn on and abby introduces hey, this is mrs so-and-so.
This is my neighbor, gary ewing.
He gets really worried aboutthe kids when they're out past
dark.
Mrs so-and-so says oh, I'm sosorry, we was having such a good
old time.
Things ran a little late.
Good, good to meet you, mrEwing.
She's out the door on her way,abby sends the children upstairs
(43:37):
to bed and Gary's left lookinglike a fool staring at Abby.
He looks real good and dumb.
I can't stress that enough.
Once they're alone, gary tellsher he can't stand the thought
of her with another man.
She's like I wasn't withanother man.
That's an old lady.
He goes, but you're going to beat some point.
She's like you're damn right,you see this, you see it.
(44:16):
You don't get to have.
Want us together unfettered.
He's like I can't do that,can't?
She's like cool.
She opens her door and ushershim out where he'll.
He has to go out abby's door,across the street, through
through his gate, through hisfront door, with his heart heavy
(44:38):
and his head down.
Body language never lies.
And you know what?
The most important part of thisscene is Valene.
The Ewing watched this entirething from that glass window.
She spent scrubbing.
She saw him burst into thehouse.
I'm sure she could hear him.
(44:58):
If you could hear the car door.
You could hear him hooting andhollering across the street.
It's a mess.
It's a total mess.
But it's good, because now shehas to act on this.
I'm only going to briefly talkabout Ginger and Joe for two
reasons One, because it was cuteenough and it explores a
relationship that can beplatonic.
And number two, we need todiscuss her outfit real quick.
(45:19):
So Jinger attends the staffdinner with Joe and they have a
good time.
She was charming, he's charming, it was wonderful.
She confesses as they getcloser to the house she's like I
just don't really want this toend.
I feel like a teenager on myfirst date.
And they have a moment.
He wants to kiss her.
She admits that she wants tokiss them and she even says I
wish you would kiss me.
(45:40):
He picks up her hand, he kissesit.
He's like I know this is notwhat you mean, but that scene
happened because it shows youdon't have to take it to the
next level.
She just wanted to get out ofthe house and have a good time.
(46:00):
Also, she and her husband arein a good place, so when they
went inside I'm sure they had agood time.
But she's wearing that 1970ssort of bridal.
No, no, no, it's not 1970s,it's 1870s.
She could easily be on the setof Tombstone as a bride getting
married just as easily as sheshows up on this show on this
(46:21):
day.
I didn't realize that theprairie look was that popular.
It is lace, it is sepia, it isa whole lot going on.
It don't look great.
Well, the next morning it wouldappear that our good sister, the
Vidalia Onion Queen, has eitherbeen up all night pondering, or
she woke up hella, hella earlyto go ahead and build up the
(46:44):
strength to do what she needs todo.
Now this is the day thatRichard is to return, so Laura
has already stopped by the nightprevious.
Valene and Lily May have beentasked with going to get Jason.
They don't want Laura droppinghim off, I suppose.
Okay, keep that in mind.
(47:05):
Things are going on this day.
A lot of movement.
Valene goes into the bedroom.
Gary is fast asleep.
Apparently he had a rough night.
Valene sits down on the side ofthe bed where Gary is.
She says, gary, are you andAbby having an affair?
Now he's asleep, so he wakes up.
He's like what, are you andAbby having an affair?
(47:29):
I want you to tell me right now.
Well, he starts getting pissed.
I can't believe you're bringingthis up about this.
Mofo Once again leaps up out ofbed in his baby blue shorts,
storms to the bathroom and slamsthe door.
Valene is beaten on the bathroomdoor.
Gary, gary, let me in.
(47:50):
You better tell me, gary, Ijust can't believe what a oh
what a coward, what a coward.
He hadn't tried to hide this atall and he's been so consumed
he don't even realize that valis saying the whole thing.
That's the thing.
He doesn't realize that peoplehave seen him with this woman.
It is quite obvious to anybodywho even glances their way.
(48:11):
Never mind that Valene needsanswers and she ain't stopping
until she gets them.
So she goes downstairs, out herfront door, out her gate, across
the street, to Abby's frontdoor, where she too burst in to
Abby's house.
Now Abby is standing at thefoot of the steps like oh hey,
(48:32):
val.
Valene immediately says to hellwith the salutations Abby, are
you and my husband having anaffair?
Abby gives her that look.
Oh my, valene, my, my, my.
You've got that writer'simagination, don't you All these
wild things in your head?
Valene says that didn't answermy question, abby.
So Abby immediately startsplaying the semi sort of victim.
(48:56):
Why is it?
Wicked, wicked, abby.
It's always me ruiningsomething.
But the truth is, maybe he doesneed someone a little more
exciting, like me.
He didn't need a mother.
He didn't need somebody whoonly sees his flaws, need
somebody who sees his strengthsas well.
Valene says I see that man theway I've always seen him since I
was 15 years old.
Don't talk to me about hisstrengths and weaknesses.
Answer my question, abby.
(49:17):
Are you and my husband havingan affair?
She says I'm not saying we are,I'm not saying we're not, but I
am saying that I can have himanytime I want, anytime I won't.
Earlier that day, karen hadstopped by to ask Abby to go to
(49:38):
Richard's house and water plantsand stuff and she's like oh,
I'm so, so busy.
Karen's like you need to do it.
Just, everybody else has a taskexcept you Go do it.
Abby says well, what about Gary?
Gary's apparently had a hardnight.
Now this is Karen letting herknow that she knows what's up.
Apparently, gary had a reallyrough night, hard night.
Now this is Karen letting herknow that she knows what's up.
Apparently, gary had a reallyrough night last night.
He sound asleep.
Abby says no, but she can'thelp one more time.
(49:59):
And Karen says oh, that's right, you only wreck homes, you
don't help fix them.
So it's funny that this is inthe back of her head and she's
still unfazed.
So back to Valene.
And she, mind you, all this ishappening while Valene is
dressed in a full on prairiegarb like weird looking skirt
with an underskirt, cowboy boots, long sleeve 18th century
(50:23):
button shirt with the big poofysleeves, and then it's tight
down the rest After.
Abby says I can have himanytime, I want Val's kind of
like, oh my God, oh my God.
She tries to turn on her heelsand walk out.
Abby says Abby can't just letit go.
She runs up behind her likeokay, valene, does that give you
your answer?
Do you understand?
Valene understands all right,it's time to bring that
(50:45):
Tennessee thunder.
So she reaches back to Memphis,comes all the way across the
Great Plains, over the RockyMountains, down across Abby's
face, so satisfying Abby's hairgoes flying back.
She deserved that.
She really really did, becauseat the end of the day, what has
Valene ever done to her Ever?
It's one thing to steal the man, but what you're not going to
(51:07):
do is talk to me like I'm theproblem.
We don't see Val anymore thisepisode, but we do see Gary
standing in front of yet anotherwindow watching Abby's house
like a hawk.
Now Abby knows he's at home.
I don't know if she knew he waswatching, but maybe she had a
hunch.
Maybe she just knows the powershe has over him.
So she puts on her shortestshorts you can see a little
(51:30):
booty cheek at some point inthis white blouse.
It is cute, I'm not even goingto hate.
With her heels she saunters outher front door, down the
sidewalk, up Richard's walkwayand into his house.
Gary Ewing is watching like ahawk from the window.
He puts on an extra mediumshirt, goes downstairs out his
(51:53):
door, out out his gate, acrossthe street into Richard's house
where he and Abby take one longlingering lover's look at each
other and it's on and poppingagain.
End scene.
Excellent episode.
(52:14):
I was frozen in place the wholetime.
I was like, oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve this is really going
down.
So they're both aware thatVal's aware at this point.
I just don't even know whereyou go from here.
I don't even see how you couldpretend, if you're Valene, that
nothing is wrong.
I don't know how she's going tomove through this.
At the top of this episode Ishared the story of the cat and
(52:37):
mouse partnership.
The comparison came because,even as a kid, I remember
listening to this story andreading it on my own and
thinking there's no way themouse didn't know that,
eventually, this was going tohappen.
I suppose, though, hope is kindof funny that way.
When I read that as a kid, Ikind of expected the cat to
(52:58):
pounce on her at some otherpoint, or maybe trick her into
some sort of trap, or I thoughtmaybe the mouse would catch the
cat eating other mice orsomething like that.
But the truth is, nothing is asblinding as Hope.
It'd be real easy to paint Abbyas a cat in this scenario, being
deceitful, sort of sneaky, sortof plotting all this time, but
(53:21):
the truth is she never pretendedto be anything else.
Abby has always been Abby.
Or is Gary the cat content totell the mouse about all these
baptisms that he needs to go tobecause he's important and
special?
And oh, you're crazy.
You just have these littlemouse fantasies because you're
always in the house, never fullytaking her seriously, eating
(53:43):
her hope whole, bit by bit, biteby bite, until it was all gone.
She had no choice but to acceptit at the last minute.
It'd be real easy to say thatand it's kind of hard to decide
who.
At the last minute It'd be realeasy to say that and it's kind
of hard to decide who was abigger villain.
But when it comes to Valene,the Vidalia Onion Queen Ewing,
(54:04):
nobody and I do mean nobody is abigger villain to Valene Ewing
than Valene Ewing.
In my opinion, val was everycharacter in that story.
The cat and mouse partnershipHear me out, hear me out.
I mean, obviously she's a mouse, she's at home, naive, sort of
believing that all this is true,even though she has a clue,
(54:26):
she's clever enough to decidethat they need to store
something away for them.
I feel like the pot of fat wassymbolized in this situation,
like her hope, her dreams, whatshe really thinks.
This relationship can and willbe Long.
As I play the part and don'tupset him, I can have this.
Let me just let the cat do whathe needs to do.
Only the cat is the part of herthat knows that is sort of
(54:49):
fighting for her to do something.
You had to lie to yourself inorder to believe that nothing
was going on.
Lie to yourself over and over.
Oh it's just, he has to havethis celebration, he has to be
at the baptism, he has to havethese meetings, he has to work,
he has to do these things but atthe same time, by believing and
(55:11):
feeding into that lie, you wereeating away at your own dream.
She consumed her own dream.
I know it's a little out there,but just think about it.
This isn't a love triangle.
This is a mirror.
This is a mirror of whathappens when you don't accept
the things that are right infront of you, when you don't
(55:31):
challenge the thing that isright in front of you.
You knew what this was a longtime ago.
She saw this coming many, manymoons ago.
It's one thing for Gary to lieto you, it's another to lie to
yourself.
I saw something this week whereit said resentment it's never
really about the person you'reresentful towards.
(55:53):
It's you being upset withyourself for not defending
yourself, for not believingyourself when you have the
opportunity to Great episode,gary is forever back on my you
know what list.
I can't stand him, but I alsocan't deny the chemistry when I
tell you I cannot wait to watchthe finale.
(56:15):
I say, oh my gosh, I'm soexcited.
The writers did their big oneswith this one and you're going
to have to join me next time tosee what happens.
All right, guys, that's it.
That's all for this episode ofSoap Lore.
I hope you enjoyed yourself asmuch as I did In the meantime.
In between time, go read someold fables.
There's a lot of wisdom lockedinside of those and let me know
(56:38):
what you think.
You can always reach out to meat so4podcasts at gmailcom.
Send me a nice little email,let me know what you think.
That'sS-O-A-P-L-O-R-E-P-O-D-C-A-S-T at
gmailcom, or you can send me atext in the show notes on your
mobile device.
Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business and
(57:00):
keep all of your drama on tv.
Thank you, bye.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.