New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 246838" data-attributes="member: 22"> A Death in the Family  (DALLAS, 20 Feb 87) v A Death in the Family (KNOTS, 07 Jan 93)The deaths in question are Jamie Ewing’s (caused by a random Mexican rockslide) and Mary Robeson’s (it was moider!). While Mary’s body isn’t discovered until the end of this KNOTS episode (“Oh my God!” gasps Karen), the news of Jamie’s demise actually reached Southfork at the end of last week's DALLAS. Nonetheless, both shows open with a scene between a brother and a sister: Pam breaking the bad news to Cliff about his ex-wife; Mary and Joe arguing over their impossible-to-follow scam which ends with her giving him a bundle of cash and telling him to get lost.Even though Jamie died offscreen, having already been written out of DALLAS, most of the characters in this ep are in some way affected by her passing, from April Stevens to Ozwald Valentine, and even JR seems genuinely sorry — yet no-one’s too devastated and there’s no real attempt to pull on the viewer’s heartstrings. Instead, we get to watch Cliff trying wistfully to make sense of this bizarre incident until the deliciously fun payoff in the final scene where it emerges that Jamie died without either signing a will or filing her divorce papers, which makes Cliff the heir to her five per cent of Ewing Oil. "God bless her!" he smirks.There’s also a self-contained subplot where Christopher, while playing with John Ross, accidentally shoots at him with a real gun on the very cardboard patio where the lovely Michelle will deliberately mow down Sheila Foley in four years time. The incident leads to an in-depth discussion about gun control. Pam: “This never would have happened if there were no guns in the house.” Bobby: “There’s nothing wrong with guns.” The end.John Ross and Christopher act their little hearts out, but whether they are more traumatised than little Meg Mackenzie after another visit from her evil fake granny is hard to say.Foreshadowing of the week. "I feel like I’m in the middle of a tunnel with trains coming from opposite directions,” says Pam. It’s not quite “I feel like I’m about to collide with an oil tanker,” but it’s pretty darn close.Eight years after taunting Pam by asking her, “How many men paid your bills before you found Bobby to pick up the tab?” Sue Ellen finally practices what she preached by paying for dinner with JR.“You got the bun in the oven, the rock on the finger, the cash in the bank. Kick back - enjoy your life,” Greg advises Anne on KNOTS. Except hers is a phantom bun. She's also being blackmailed by the lovely Vanessa who has discovered her prescription for fertility pills. (We catch a fascinating glimpse behind Vanessa's cheerfully slutty persona here: “You people are so damn imperious,” she snarls at Anne.) Anne's solution is to put an end to her phantom pregnancy with a phantom miscarriage. Her accomplice in her previous schemes has been the incorrigibly naughty Nick Schillace. This time, her only confidante is her sensible, down-to-earth gynaecologist and it is through her alarmed eyes that we see what a poignantly (as opposed to zanily) desperate character Anne has now become.And the winner is ... A Death in the Family (1987)BONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]MR8emKSZe48[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?