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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 210649" data-attributes="member: 22">Borderline (KNOTS, 03 Nov 88) v Bottom of the Bottle (KNOTS, 20/27 Mar 80)In both episodes, Val is the truth-teller no-one believes (at least, not at first). While everyone else in Bottom of the Bottle assumes Gary has just had one drink too many, she alone knows he’s an out of control alcoholic. While everyone else in Borderline believes Val herself has attempted suicide, she alone knows that Jill is an out of control psychopath who tried to kill her. She eventually manages to persuade the Fairgates and the Averys round to her way of thinking in 1980 (Sid’s reaction is the most moving, Richard’s the funniest) but has a tougher job in '88 where only Frank and Pat are willing to even entertain her story.In Bottle, Val keeps an all-night vigil by the phone waiting for news of Gary after he disappears on a three-day bender. In Borderline, Karen is the one not sleeping as she waits in her office at Lotus Point for Mack to call with news of Michael and Paige who have been kidnapped by Manny Vasquez in Mexico. While Karen sits with Val, Abby (of all people) waits with Karen. During a rare (and fascinating) moment of introspection, Abby admits that she “understands the mentality” of men like Manny. “You’re not a gangster,” Karen assures her before adding, “maybe a gangsterette.” Karen likewise reassures Val when she worries that she may not have the strength to deal with Gary’s relapse, calling her “the little engine that could.”Another unexpected parallel between the two eps — in Part 2 of Bottle, Laura does a Jill. She stops short of putting on a wig and rubber gloves but nevertheless makes it appear that the injuries Gary sustained while breaking into her liquor cabinet were from a suicide attempt. Gary subsequently ends up an inmate on a psych ward, desperately trying to convince Val there’s nothing wrong with him. In Borderline, their roles are reversed.In the hospital, Gary is befriended by Kahil, a basketball-playing alcoholic whose clothes he steals when he makes his escape. Val’s roommate is Sheila, who keeps her makeup with her at all times so Val doesn’t have a chance to steal it. Kahil and Sheila are played by the equally alliterative Happy Hairston and Billie Burke.As KNOTS’ first two-parter, Bottom of the Bottle has the same higher-stakes-than-usual vibe as those SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN/BIONIC WOMAN crossover episodes in the 70s. Wildly out of control moments like Gary swinging a pool cue during a bar fight or Ginger smashing Kenny’s groovy stereo equipment feel like the suburban equivalents of Jaime Sommers rejecting her bionics. And Gary furiously driving over his neighbours’ trash cans foreshadows Billy Corkhill furiously driving over his neighbours’ lawns in BROOKSIDE.After he drives off, Val tells Sid not to go after him this time. For once, she’s letting him go. She explains that she’s going to an AA meeting on her own because “I need some answers for me.” Of course, Gary shows up at the meeting at the eleventh hour and it becomes all about him again. But what if he hadn’t? Perhaps Val would have continued to put her own well-being first and wouldn’t have ended up as the high maintenance neurotic Jill felt so compelled to terrorise. But what would the fun have been in that?And the winner is ... Bottom of the BottleBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]rSaC-YbSDpo[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

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