Round 1 - Week 8
AKA
Lorimararama III: The Ewings Strike Back
Match 1
How ironic:
Dallas's Knotsiest emotional cliffhanger versus
Knots's broadest, almost traditional
Dallas-style cliffhanger. One Ewing brother "dies" as another returns from the "dead".
This
Knots episode has everything thrown in (including a kitchen sink or two): mysterious phone calls leading characters into position like chess pieces; heavily pregnant Val sitting in a car under which a bomb is said to be planted; Abby kidnapped after getting in over her head trying to do the right thing; an assassination attempt on Gary's life (with Mack faking Gary's death after an earlier attempt, Gary is almost literally a dead man walking); Mack essentially accidentally shooting his own (estranged) wife. I love that it's all about obsession: Mack's "at any cost" obsessive pursuit of Wolfbridge has already practically cost him his marriage and now paints targets on the backs of his friends and neighbours. Val is put in harms way because she still loves Gary. So, too, does Abby, but her drive for money and power has created a lot of the situation. Karen being in the right place at the wrong time is very true to her character who can't resist getting involved. It almost has too much going on to the point that the episode only makes true sense when watched in its place as the culmination of a story that's bubbled away for the best part of a season. On face value it looks very plot-driven, but scratch the surface and there's a complex skein to be found. Either way, it's tremendous fun. The
lengthy recap at the beginning of Season Six got replayed ad nauseam on my old VHS player in the late Eighties.
Who Shot JR vs
The Moldavian Massacre was a difficult choice for many. For me, this is even more challenging. I'm
very fond of both these cliffhangers.
The
Dallas episode is indeed one of the greatest. It looks wonderful, the score is beautiful and it feels extremely cinematic (reinforced by its longer running length). It's a bold choice for an exit, and has long felt for me like a natural choice for a series ending (rather than simply a season finale). It's a game changer, extremely rewatchable, and probably a more satisfying complete episode than the
Knots episode. Ultimately, though this particular
Dallas ending feels less cliffhanger-y than the
Knots finale.
Since
Dallas - with its brand loyalty - is going to thrash it anyway, I'll give my underdog vote to the spinoff's most outrageous hour...
Knots Landing - Season Five
Match 2
Gary's AA meeting - although the culmination of a terrific and powerful two-part story - is still a throwback to
Knots's episodic early years. Ahead of time, I was fairly sure I wasn't going to vote for it on the basis that it's not very cliffhangery. However, the fact that it's up against another emotional cliffhanger with a sense of finality has thrown it well and truly back onto the table.
I hadn't really thought about it, but these two episodes essentially tell the same story. Gary is tempted away from Poor Val by some combination of Jock's three Bs. Val stands stoically by her man-in-crisis, making excuses for him and believing in him. Until she doesn't. Val's decisive action gives him a wakeup call and he faces the prospect of living without her. With two very different outcomes.
Both stories pack an emotional punch and represent turning points for the characters. Season One ends on a hopeful note as Gary chooses to do the right thing and starts to claw his way back. I can't even think of that final image of Val enthusiastically applauding Gary with tears in her eyes without my own eyes stinging. In the context of this match, it's even more bittersweet to think that the man she has such faith in will continue to destroy himself and his marriage for another two years before Val has her eyes well and truly opened.
By Season Three, one feels there simply
is no way back for either Gary or Val. That long shot of Val's Pinto screeching out of the cul de sac in darkness as Gary watches helplessly feels pretty cataclysmic: not only the end of Gary and Val's second marriage (which it is) but also potentially the end of
Knots Landing. We were introduced to the cul de sac mainly through Val's eyes. She's been our sherpa. The thought of the series continuing without her on Seaview Circle is unthinkable. It's as though she's leaving
us, the loyal viewer, as well as her cheating husband.
The Season One ending makes me want to cheer and then come back to find out what happens next. But the Season Three ending demands the viewer's return to watch the inevitable fallout from Val's drastic choice, which is the mark of a good cliffhanger.
If we were voting for entire episodes, this would be a very difficult choice, and I'd still be trying to choose between Gary literally choosing the bottle of alcohol over Val in front of her eyes and Lilimae blackmailing "the blonde kid" into attending Val's party.
It's still been closer than I thought it would be, but the TTWC focus on the cliffhanger element makes my choice easier...
Knots Landing - Season Three
