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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 242548" data-attributes="member: 22">Curiosity Killed the Cat (DALLAS, 20 Dec 85) v Cutting the Ties That Bind (KNOTS, 06 Jan 83)Jenna grieving Bobby for longer than the allotted time (thirteen episodes is fine; any longer and you're a loony) sets off a satisfyingly soapy chain of events in Curiosity Killed the Cat. Jack, frustrated by her behaviour, takes off for parts unknown, which makes Angelica Nero extremely twitchy. JR attempts to placate Angelica by spending the night at her hotel. Cliff tips off Mandy to this assignation. Mandy is already angry at JR for reuniting with Sue Ellen for the sake of John Ross and so flushes an expensive bracelet down the toilet and tells Cliff she wants to get even. Meanwhile, Grace takes the afternoon off work to murder a detective. Elsewhere, alas, there are several indications of the weird tedium that will clog up the latter part of the dream season: an uncut emerald arriving through the post for Bobby, job offers for Ewing wives from medical centres and deaf schools, Ray and Donna laughing merrily after a burst water pipe ruins their home, and Clayton being too boringly proud to talk to Miss Ellie about his boring financial problems.Cutting the Ties That Bind is even more of a soapy tangle and there are no boring bits. I guess you could say Ciji is in an equivalent position to Mandy — we see each of them waiting sadly alone in her apartment as her two-timing man stands her up in the name of business  (Chip is busy schmoozing Jeff Munson over dinner at the Fairgates'.) But whereas JR genuinely cares for Mandy, Ciji is merely a commodity to Chip. When she tells him she's pregnant, all he can see is her earning potential going up in smoke, and when she refuses to have an abortion, he gets violent with her for the first time. "Nothing’s gonna interfere with what I have planned for you,” he snarls, grabbing her by the hair. But that's not Ciji's only problem — she also finds herself caught in the crossfire between both Gary and Kenny (the Ewings make a deal with Munson for Ciji's album that leaves Kenny out in the cold), and Richard and Laura. (An interesting role reversal has now taken place with the Averys: he’s become the attentive, affectionate one while she's the one keeping him at arm's length — only instead of sneaking next door to be with Abby, she nips upstairs for girly chats with Ciji.)Elsewhere in Cutting the Ties ..., Val allows Jeff Munson to whisk her away to New York where she finally signs her divorce papers. It's kind of fascinating to see Val in this ep so soon after watching her in Cricket where she seemed forever destined to stand by her man while taking in the occasional Lucy surrogate. It's fascinating for Val too. “Is this really me on the terrace of a penthouse, thirty storeys high above New York City?” she marvels. "Things like this don’t happen to me. It happens in movies, but not in real life.” It's oddly poignant that the same episode which marks the beginning of the end for Ciji should hold such promise for Val. “To a new life,” she toasts, "starring Valene Ewing and a cast of thousands.” And the winner is ... Cutting the Ties That BindBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]GdhLhWLmeAE[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?