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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 3402" data-attributes="member: 22">11/Dec/80: KNOTS LANDING: Chance of a Lifetime v. 12/Dec/80: DALLAS: The Fourth SonBy now we all know David Jacobs' theory - DALLAS represented the rich them, and KNOTS the ordinary us. Well, in each of these episodes, the them and us come face to face - and not in a swimsuit-at-gunpoint kind of a way. In "Chance of a Lifetime", one of them, a powerful and prestigious lawyer named Lynn Baker Cargill, (played by Brian "Winds of Vengeance" Dennehy) casually makes a job offer to one of us - Richard Avery - with little or no thought for the consequences of his words. The offer, to work for Cargill's firm in Chicago, represents a fresh start for Richard - a way out of his dead-end job ("I've been peeling potatoes and scrubbing latrines around here since Day One") and to finally realise his potential. It's also a way for him to piss on Laura's chips for staying out late celebrating her first house sale instead of rushing home to make dinner for him and their son. To that end, in an excruciating scene, he turns up drunk and singing ("Chicago! Chicago!") at Laura's office, disrupting her meeting with a client and spilling champagne over said client's house plans. He then delights in telling his present boss where he can shove his offer of a partnership, otherwise known as shooting himself in the foot. Inevitably, Richard's chance of a lifetime turns out to be a mirage. The salary Cargill is offering for the privilege of working under him "wouldn't support a first-year law student," protests Richard. "I've got a wife and kid." Cargill shrugs and walks away, leaving Richard's dreams and career in tatters.In "The Fourth Son", the them is Bobby Ewing and the us is Mort Wilkinson. No, I wouldn't have either. Turns out he's a small-time refinery owner from Galveston who for the past twenty years has had a handshake arrangement with the Ewings for a monthly shipment of crude. Bobby, in a tight spot following the sinking of the tanker carrying 60,000 barrels of his oil, orders Wilkinson's shipment to be deferred by a week so he can make good on a commitment of his own. The foreman of the Ewing tank farm tries to explain that even a seven-day delay will spell disaster for Wilkinson's company, but Bobby has more important fish to fry. There's a great scene where Wilkinson comes to Bobby's office to plead his case in person. The refinery is all he has, he tells Bobby, begging him to reconsider his decision. The scene reminded me of the one between Bobby, Pam and Nancy Scotfield in Season 9 where Mrs. Scotfield pleads with Bobby to come visit her husband, the disgraced rigger who set fire to an oil field after the Ewings closed it down, in jail. Both scenes provide a rare opportunity on DALLAS to see the consequences of big business on "the little man".Sometimes the gulf between them and us isn't all that wide. It's interesting to compare Bobby's recent business dealings on DALLAS with those of Gary on KNOTS LANDING. In his haste to make his mark at Ewing Oil, prove himself to Jock and indulge his own taste for power, Bobby has rushed into a transportation deal with Sally Bullock without examining the finer details of the insurance policy. In this week's episode, he discovers that the Bullock tanker that sank to the bottom of ocean was insured, but the Ewing oil it was (apparently) carrying was not. Meanwhile, Gary, in his haste to make his mark at Knots Landing Motors, prove himself to Sid and indulge his own taste for power, has rushed into a deal with the Orchid Cab Firm, aka Frank and Roy, without examining the finer details of his new partners' business record. Bobby's oversight was accidental, Gary's is deliberate - a chance to make a fast buck. Bobby quickly sees through JR and Sally's scheme, retrieves his missing oil (thus neatly resolving the Mort Wilkinson dilemma) and is back on top by the end of the episode. Things ain't gonna be that easily resolved for Gary. The role of women in the work place is explored from a variety of angles in "Chance of a Lifetime". Richard's disapproval of Laura's career receives support from an unlikely source. "As far as I'm concerned," says Abby while counting his chest hairs, "in any relationship, the man has to be dominant. That was one of the big problems with my marriage. Jeff wanted me to be the boss and I just couldn't do it. It's not in my personality." Hmm, is Abby just telling Richard what he wants to hear, or is she a little like JR in that it's all about the chase - she doesn't want to be given the role of boss, she wants to take it? Meanwhile, the appointment of Linda, "a lady mechanic", at Knots Landing Motors is regarded with bemusement by Sid and approval by Karen. Either way, she's a novelty.The client Mr. Cargill is representing is Charlie Flagg. (Like Earl Trent in last week's episode and Abby the week before, Flagg expresses a distaste for the "smog-filled godforsaken state" of California.) His personal assistant, Miss Vesper, is an attractive young blonde who is briefly seen aboard Flagg's yacht in a skimpy bikini. Richard describes her to Cargill as "efficient" in the same knowing way that Mr. Eugene describes his wife Sally to Bobby on DALLAS as "very vigorous", i.e., he's talking about her business skills, but he's not really talking about her business skills. In each of these scenes, I'm not sure exactly where the sexism lies - is it solely with the characters, or with the programme itself, or does it simply reflect the time in which it made, and what was expected of women in the real business world? Perhaps it's a little of each. Back at the cul-de-sac, Val's reading Moby Dick for a college class. "It's about a whale," she informs Karen. Over on Southfork, Pam is sitting up in bed reading Romance & The Wind. It's about Princess Fiona deciding whether or not to marry the Duke, she tells Bobby when he gets in from yet another late meeting."The Fourth Son" is a visually striking episode. Even Bobby's trip to the tank farm looks like something out of James Bond, while Jock's visit to Ray's new house, set against an open prairie backdrop, gives it a timeless Western quality, fitting for such a momentous scene. It's interesting that the audience's discovery of Ray's paternity comes mid-episode, the same as it will with James Beaumont's in Season 12. In each case, the episode's freeze frame ending is saved for JR's reaction to the news of a third brother and second son respectively. Lost long daddy/mama/brother/sister scenes are ten-a-penny in soap land, but the one between Jock and Ray is beautifully done and wonderfully acted. Ray's line to his father, "I wanna do what's best for you, that's all I care about", and Miss Ellie's in a later scene, "I have the rest of my life to listen to you, Jock", never fail to move me. This is the first we hear of Ray's mother, Margaret Hunter. Margaret, like Rebecca and Pamela, has become one of the names that sort of echoes throughout the Ewingverse, having taken on new meaning and resonance over the years. And let us not forget the wonderfully devilish Amos Krebbs, ("it ain't that tough bein' a bastard - I was") who, much like Sue Ellen when she figures out JR's involvement in the tanker disaster, simply does not give a shit about anything but his own pleasures. And the winner is … boy, this one was close - "The Fourth Son" is great, almost a classic, but "Chance of a Lifetime" is just so clever and rich in detail and humour … KNOTS LANDING.</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?