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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 241821" data-attributes="member: 22">Critical Condition (KNOTS, 19 Nov 81) v The Crucible (DALLAS, 16 Feb 90)I don’t think I’ve noticed before, but the whole of Critical Condition takes place within the space of one day -- a pretty surreal day, but surreal in way that real life often is. To start off with, Sid's doctor tells him his condition‘s improving, the paralysis is wearing off, everyone's relieved and Karen goes home to tell the kids. Then, just as they all start to relax, the paralysis returns, along with a gnawing fear which everyone tries to keep at bay because they don't want to lose the good feeling they just had when it seemed like everything was gonna be OK. Karen tries to keep the kids away from the hospital and is annoyed when they turn up anyway and insist on seeing Sid -- but it's a good job they do because it could be their last chance.  Then time seems to suddenly speed up as he needs to be prepped for emergency surgery and there's no time to say all the things you want to say, if you even knew what they were. Karen manages a "I love you, William Sidney!" as he's wheeled towards the operating theatre. Once he's in surgery, time slows down again and the creeping fear returns. But then Val shows up with home-made flapjacks and Karen takes a break from being scared to reminisce about when Diana was born ... and then suddenly Sid's gone. For the rest of the episode, hardly anyone speaks. They’re too numb, too worn out.There's more death in The Crucible, but whereas the events of Critical Condition are depicted as realistically as the Ewing-verse ever gets, this is at the other end of the scale. Curly Morrison, a never-before-mentioned pal of Clayton's, dies seconds after being named heir to the fortune of Atticus Ward, another never-before-mentioned pal of Clayton's, at the reading of his will. It's kind of like a pastiche of a '70s TV movie rip-off of an Agatha Christie novel. Elsewhere, Bobby is dating Jeanne, Pam's look-slightly-alike, in a storyline that is soapy and farfetched, but also sweet and sad. Bobby realises he "never got the chance to say good-bye" to Pam so he says good-bye to Jeanne instead. It's his "I love you, William Sidney" moment.If there's one only-on-TV contrivance (and that’s too harsh a word really) in Critical Condition, it's the tape-recording Sid makes for Karen just before his surgery which she plays when she gets home from the hospital at the end of the ep (it's the audio equivalent of Laura's 'Noises Everywhere' video). On it, he manages to say what everyone would probably like to say just before their death if only they had the foresight and a really good scriptwriter. Bobby has to make to do with a whispered "Good-bye, Pam" delivered to the night sky -- one of those moments made far more poignant post-New DALLAS when we know that Pam really has died by this point.While this isn't peak-era, edge-of-the-seat DALLAS, it's very enjoyable, cosy <a href="http://www.tellytalk.net/outlook-data-detector%3A//1" target="_blank">Sunday afternoon</a> DALLAS instead (even though it wouldn't be moved to that slot in the UK until the following season). There's plenty of fun feudin': April, Michelle, Lucy and Cally hurling insults and drinks in each other's faces, JR and James almost coming to blows by the Southfork fridge, and JR making an enemy out of a terrifically vampy Lesley Anne Down.And the winner is ... Critical ConditionBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]UXVmvxLcFvI[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?