Rewatching Knots Landing

[Miss Texas 1967]

Convenient, and kind of a fall-flat of a plotline, that Sylvia was sent away and then died off-screen. And then all that buildup and drama around the letter, the multiple copies, etc., and nothing comes of it. Then Peter dies a few episodes later. Wah wah wah.

Jean Hackney too. Of course Greg came in and shut that shit down lol. And Mack being capable again, good old Mack. But geez, again, all that buildup just for it to end with Ben going nuts from paranoia and then deserting his family. We never even see Jean again. What a flop of an ending.

Random moment from my memory, but that whole Kiss the Cook apron thing with Anne/Mack/Karen was absolutely clear in my mind as I saw the scene coming up. The things we remember .

I’ve just started Season 9 and I’m actually enjoying it more. Olivia’s neediness rings super true to me, and it’s nice to see her and Abby actually on the same team again.

I’m also super anticipating the end of season craziness with Jill/Val/Gary, because in my memories I recall that being absolutely batshit crazy. Can't wait to see if my memory is accurate.

 

[Karin]

Oh yeah some of the plots had a rather bad conclusion. Like Peter getting murdred and buried in the cement. I think that was over the top. I know fans and the cast can laugh about it now. But it's a jump the shark moment really.

Jean Hackney bored me to tears too.

 

[Stillwitty]

Oh yeah some of the plots had a rather bad conclusion. Like Peter getting murdred and buried in the cement. I think that was over the top. I know fans and the cast can laugh about it now. But it's a jump the shark moment really.

Jean Hackney bored me to tears too.

I LOVED Peter ending up under the Children's playground - that aspect "cracked" me up. Of course, Abby burying him and her white suit not getting a smudge of dirt seemed more satire than Knots, but we all laugh about it 40 years later...

 

[Stillwitty]

Ok this is the answer that makes most sense to me. They were going to get divorced, then Abby was kidnapped, and post-rescue they were back together.

yes - Gary suffered from "Kidnap guilt" and dropped divorce proceedings...Leaving Val in a heap, pregnant with his twins...

 

[Stillwitty]

The other thing was while Karen was being held captive, Paige got to know Mack, Michael, and Eric.. and especially got to know Michael... so by the time Karen is rescued, she's surprised to find out Paige is Mack's daughter and trying to adjust to not only being back home after the kidnapping.. but now adjusting to being a step mother.

Even in season 13, there were scenes where Karen would always insert her foot in her mouth when it came to Paige.. and there was one scene where she said to Mack that she always says the wrong thing when it comes to Paige. It was fascinating to me.

There's almost no "right" way to play "step-mother" in real life - especially when biological mother is still living. And REALLY especially when that biological mother still covets your husband...

 

[Stillwitty]

I binged several episodes in a row, and finally, the season is actually picking up some steam.

I thought the Olivia drug storyline was fairly well done (and memorable from my first watch years ago), although it’s interesting how obvious it is when and how many episodes the actors are contracted for. Olivia was all over the screen for several episodes while Gary kind of took a back seat, and now Olivia is nowhere to be seen.

I’m sick to death of this Jean Hackney plotline. It’s silly and tiresome, and Ben has never been a favourite character of mine.

I also never got into the Anne/Mack/Greg flashbacks, and I’m hoping they’re over now. Anne herself drives me nuts. I know that’s the character, but hell, the writers really made a decision here. Mack says she’s different when they’re alone; I’d hope so, because otherwise I’m seriously side-eyeing Mack’s taste in women. Anne and Karen are so completely opposite to each other that I am bewildered.

Paige, too, has me a little puzzled too. Maybe it gets explained at some point, but if she faked her death, how was she accessing funds? All those middle-of-the-night excuses she gave to (mostly) Michael about banks transferring funds, etc. were obviously excuses to cover other behaviour, but where was she getting money from in reality? I know she didn’t have enough to pay for the hotel, but was she actually broke, or was that temporary? Because she and Anne waltz around as though money really isn’t a problem.
Surely Paige would have had no access to a dead woman’s accounts, even if the dead woman was Paige Matheson herself, who wasn’t actually dead. Legally, wouldn’t the family have had her estate settled by then?

One thing I do like about Knots is that they don’t do hard stops to the seasonal plotlines. They basically go midseason to midseason. The plots from season 7 are still moving through season 8 rather than being entirely scrapped and replaced with new ones. It gives the show much more of a cohesive feel.

I also couldn't stand Anne Matheson and yes, the man who fell in love with her wasn't going to lose himself in Karen Cooper Fairgate - even a 25 yr old Mack - so that was sketchy. I believe Paige was selling jewelry who acquired through the years as well as having wealthy boyfriends all over Europe. After all, she had learned from a Pro - her mother. Rich people play "million dollar spit in the ocean" according to Fallon Carrington: When money is tight, they spend more so no one knows they're broke...lol

 

[Stillwitty]

Perhaps when Mack met Anne in the late-1960s, she wasn't this extreme person that we meet in the mid-eighties. She might have been a bit snooty and sheltered, but not snobbish and manipulative. He is still seeing that earlier version in his mind, unable at that point to realize that things have happened in the interim that changed both of them (her more than him, though). Nostalgia can make us blind sometimes. We're left to wonder who would have changed more if they had remained together---would she have opted to become a middle-class wife and mother (like Karen!) or would he have given in to his in-laws' pressure to mold himself into a "more worthy" career man who would support his spoiled wife? Either way, they would have made one another miserable trying to make the other happy.

Mack would not have changed for them: Not in his DNA. Anne would not have changed for Mack: Not in her Pedigree. The divorce would have left them just as they were: He a shell-shocked bachelor until at least 40, she a virtual high class escort for wealthy and titled Europeans, begging Daddy for money between relationships. She was never, by her own admission, going to be satisfied on "leftover meatloaf"....