Alright I just finished a disc and I came back just like I promised. Hooray for my honesty.
The first thing I must address is what they've done with Karen and her stalker story. Everything that was possible was done to heighten the suspense surrounding who was stalking Karen because of her work on Open Mike nearing the end of season eleven, but it was kind of skidded over here at the start of the twelfth season for a couple of episodes. We all know it wasn't Wayne (even though I had my eye on him as the guilty party), and that it was instead Karen's coworker Jeff who had fed an unhealthy obsession with her. Jeff's house explodes, and we're led to believe that it was Jeff's body the police find burnt beyond recognition when combing his house. I honestly thought that was just going to be the show's way of ditching this story altogether and leave Karen utterly clueless as to who had been causing her sleepless nights. I wasn't going to be okay with that. Not in the slightest. A few episodes stroll on by before we see Karen walking in the TV station alone late one night only to find Jeff in the production booth. She's startled that he's alive, but yet a little shook as well. It isn't long before Jeff's true colors come out and he attacks her. Diane pops up, however, and apparently tries to feed Jeff's desire to harm Karen before the police usher in the side door and take Jeff into custody. Diane tells the police she recorded the whole incident (after calling the police, of course) and says what she told Jeff was only a ploy to distract him before the authorities could arrive. It's all a little silly to be honest, and it seems like it was just thrown together. "Oh, guys, we forget about Karen's story. We need to wrap that up before we go any further." Well, they wrapped it up alright. They had it all signed, sealed, and delivered before the credits of that episode were barely finished popping up at the bottom of the screen. It was all a waste honestly. A quite disappointing waste.
Oh, Danny. What's there to say about Danny? He's always got a trick or two up his sleeve. He releases Gary's horses from his stables at the ranch and when Gary arrives to see what's going on, Danny turns the tables on him and locks him inside his barn and threatens to harm him physically with a baseball bat. Sound familiar? Well, it certainly should. It's the same thing Gary did to Danny. That detail honestly doesn't bother because it actually makes sense. In Danny's twisted mind he wanted to do the exact same thing Gary had done to him, so I haven't any issue with that. Then Danny tapes Gary up in the backseat of Gary's car and takes him out into the middle of a desert-esque nowhere to make it appear like Gary relapsed into his alcoholism and drove himself off a cliff. It's an age-old soap opera tactic, but the irony arises when at the end that very same episode it's Danny that lies dead in a pool.
Before anyone starts reaching for their Kleenex, Gary's alive and well. Alright, maybe not well. It seems Danny wasn't necessarily all talk when it came to Gary because he actually ended up using the baseball bat he had brought as a weapon. He tore up Gary's shoulder, rendering him to stagger through the desert with a broken arm for close to six hours before reaching a hospital where he finally gets the chance to call Val and tell her where the heck he's been. Naturally, Val runs to his rescue and there story strolls along as they still intend on remarrying. While still recovering, Gary decides to go and visit Karen, who is having a rough telling dealing with Jeff almost killing her, and their conversation about the ever-changing social norms of America lead into Karen's famous "Pollyanna speech". I have seen clips of this moment so many times, and I was delighted to finally see it for real on my TV screen. The only thing is I was expecting the speech itself to be a little longer. Maybe my hopes were too high?
So apparently Paige thinks it's alright that Tom left her at the altar because she's now living with him at his apartment. She was a little miffed at him, however, but I guess seeing him sweaty and punching a weight bag was enough for her to realize she still loved him. She decided that Anne could stay in her apartment, where she's got to pay her own rent, after she had just kicked her mother out because she thought she had slept with Greg. The instance where Paige comes into Greg's house to find her mother putting on her pantyhose has to be one of my favorite moments in this show. Knots Landing routinely uses music montages to tie together different stories or bring together stories and characters in a realm that the show itself has not allowed them to do story-wise. While Anne is disappointed that Greg has not accompanied her to his bed, a clean, raspy-voiced rendition of "God Will" begins playing over the scene. It's then that Paige comes in to see her mother dressing, and naturally Anne doesn't correct her when she thinks Anne and Greg had slept together. After it all, however, Greg still doesn't seem to be showing the interest in Anne she's been aiming for. I have a hunch that's all going to change directly.
Let's rewind a little and bring Danny back to the center. Like I said earlier, he was found dead in the pool of an empty house on the cul-de-sac, and now the fueling story is how is the culprit responsible for his alleged murder. As with all cases in shows such as ours in discussion here, there are at least half-a-dozen suspects who, according to the investigators, "all wanted Danny dead". Sure, we can name off almost all the major (and semi-major) characters and easily give their reasoning for wanting Danny did, but only one of them is guilty. It seems like they're circling in on Frank being the one who did Danny in, but I'm not buying just yet. I understand that it was Danny's drunk driving that caused Pat her life, but I just don't see Frank has being a killer, regardless of the circumstances. In many ways, Frank is comparable to Mack; they're both occasionally hot-headed, but they always mean well and wouldn't harm a fly. Personally, I don't think anyone is going to be revealed as Danny's murderer. I think it's all going to be explained as something accidental. Who cares anyway though? Danny was a jerk, and he didn't to pay (at least in TV land) for what he did to our guys and gals we've been rooting for the past eleven seasons. Only time well tell, though.
Anne's still struggling to find an get-rich-quick way of maintaining her very comfortable lifestyle she's been accustomed to the majority of her life. Like I said, she's living in Paige's old apartment, but she can't really afford it. All the inheritance she got from when her father died back in season ten has been swindled on something, but precisely what has not be delivered yet. Now she's caught up in some scandal involving pictures of her and some millionaire embracing on a beach. The ransom is demanding one-million-dollars to keep the scandal hushed, and naturally Anne's panicking over what she's going to do. I'm sure there's more juice to come with this story.
Claudia's settling into town, apparently because she wants to stay close to her daughter Kate, whose playing tennis for a school in California. We all know that Claudia's got an ulterior motive she's gearing to. It's written all over her face. I'm almost certain (judging by her and Anne's first telepathic encounter) that she's deciding to stay in Knots Landing solely to see what she can get of Greg's because she thinks he's dying. On the surface, she doesn't want Kate being too close to her Uncle Greg, but subtly she seems intrigued by their growing bond. This viewer thinks that Claudia is going to try an edge Kate in as a stand-in for Mary Frances in Greg's life (both characters are played by Stacy Galina, as you all know), but I'm not exactly sure where all this is headed.
I'm going to get back to my watching. I'm finally getting to go back to work tomorrow, so my posts might be delayed a little because of my decreased time to binge the show.
Happy viewing. I'll be back.
