Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Knots Landing 

Season 1 Episode 5

Air Date:  January 25, 1980

Recap:  Val’s mother is at her door, but she isn’t home.  Karen comes over and introduces herself.  She tells her that she can wait for Val at her house.   Lilimae says she can’t find her wallet, and Karen pays the cabbie I’m positive that she just doesn’t have any money.  Lilimae asks if Lucy is living with Val, Karen tells her no that she should know that, Lilimae says of course she forgot.  Lilimae takes out her auto harp and begins to sing for her.

   Ginger and Val are driving home, she asks if they are going to be bringing Lucy out soon, Val tells her that she’s ready, but Gary isn’t yet, but she’s working on it.

   At Karen’s all the kids are listening to the song, they think it’s great.  Karen suggest that they all have dinner at her place.  When Val gets home, Karen’s son Mike tells her to come over that they have a surprise for her.  She is surprised alright, she asks her mother what she’s doing here, she doesn’t seem to happy to see her mother. 

   At dinner, everyone seems pretty happy, except for Val, she excuse herself and goes to the kitchen, she remembers a time when her mother left her and her father to go on tour.  Karen comes in and asks what’s wrong. 

   When they get home Val goes upstairs to get the room ready for Lilimae, Gary takes the suitcase upstairs and asks her what she’s doing, and if she really dislikes her mother that much.  Val tells him that they need to find out what her mother wants, give it to her and send her on her way.  She comes back downstairs and tells them that she’s tired and is going to bed, she lies in bed listening to her mother singing to Gary.  She remembers the time after her father died and her mother sent her to her grandmothers, so she could go on tour again.  She goes downstairs and demands to know why she is here.  Lilimae says that she came to see her, and that she’s also waiting on a call from her new manager.  Val dreams about the time she went to her mother for help, but she sent her off, and JR’s men took Lucy from her.  She wakes up screaming, and Gary tells her that the visit will be longer than a few days, Val tells him that she’ll deal with it tomorrow then.  In her room Lilimae takes out a large rag doll and says that she brought it to help Val, and that she is planning on staying awhile, she says to herself that she will paint the room blue.

   Gary finds Val making fritters, she tells him that she’s going to keep busy, and that she is going to have the neighbors over for coffee and dessert.  Laura comes over and asks her how long her mother is going to stay,  Val asks Laura if she sees her mother often, Laura tells her that her mother died when she was younger Laura told Val about that in the last episode. 

   Lilimae tells Val that she can’t serve the fritters to her neighbors, they are too country to the city folks, so she convinces her to make something else.  They taste it and Val thinks it’s gross, but Lilimae tells her that the neighbors will like it because that is what they are used to. 

Sid takes a spoonful of whatever it was they made and makes a face, he goes over to Gary and asks him what he’s eating her tells him the fritters are in the kitchen but to be subtle.  Sid passes Richard who just came out of the bathroom, he got rid of his too.  Kenny tries it and makes face and puts it down as fast as he can.  Lilimae suggest that they all sing, then she starts to talk about how Val never understood her dreams, Val gets upset and tells her that she doesn’t want to talk about it, and she goes to the kitchen.  She remembers her dream and we get to hear that Lilimae sent her away because she had her latest manager over and she didn’t want him to know she was a grandmother, so she sent Val off and that was how JR’s men got Lucy.  Val cries out, and Gary goes to her, everyone else follows and stands at the doorway.  Val screams at her mother that she hates her and that Lilimae turned her and Lucy away when she needed her mother. 

   Gary comes back to the kitchen and tells Val that everyone went home, she tells him how sorry she is, he tells her that he knows she tried.

   Diana finds her mother sitting on the sofa, she asks how the evening was Karen tells her that Val and her mother had a scene.  Diana tells her that she hopes that nothing ever comes between them.  They hug and she goes to bed, Karen calls her mother so see how she is doing. 

Val goes to her mother and apologizes, she tells her that she doesn’t hate her, she only hates what she did.     Lilimae tells her that she didn’t know that it happened, Val tells her that she tried to tell her, she tells Val that she’s got nowhere else to go, no money nothing.  Val leaves her.  Later Lilimae comes downstairs and tells them that she will leave in the morning.  Before going back upstairs she says that Val would have forgiven her if she had become famous.  In their bed Val tells Gary that she’s wrong all she wanted was a mother.  Val goes to her mother’s room and rests her head on her lap. 

   The next morning Lilimae tells Val that her manager called and has an opportunity for her, she is really going to make it this time.  Val wants to take her to the airport, but she tells her that she’ll take the cab.  Val says goodbye and watches the cab drive away.  She goes to the room and sees that her mother left the doll, she picks it up and hugs it to her and sings.
Final Thoughts:   The whole scene of the party was hilarious, I want to know what they were making, it must have been a hard recipe, if I remember correctly they didn't even have all the ingredients, I bet Val used them all up for the dozen batches of the fritters she made.  I like that her mother was planning on staying, without even asking if she could, you got to love relatives who don't know when they aren't wanted.  Lilimae needs to get to reality, she needs to realize that she will never become a famous singer, it was clear that this was what bothered Val so much about her past as well as her mother closing the door on her own daughter, if she didn't want that manger to know she was a grandmother, then she should have just lied to him and said that Val was her sister or a friend.  And that song Lilimae sings throughout the whole show is really annoying I can still hear it in my head days later.
Best Outfit:  Ugly top and an ugly pattern on that skirt.
Fight Count: 1 (Val vs Lilimae)