Lord of the Manor

Falcon Crest

Season 1 Episode 8

Air Date:  January 22, 1982

Recap:  Angela is going to Rome for a wine competition, she wants Lance to take control of the sale of 500 cases of wine to a shady wine distributor named Sloan.  At Chase’s house, Maggie and Vicky are quizzing Cole on Italian, he is going with Angela on the trip.

   Lance meets with Sloan, he tells him that they will need payment first, because of the last time they did business with him.  Sloan tells Lance that he could sell him some cheap wines but put the label of the premium wine on it, he offer him some money under the table.  Lance tells him to get out.

   Douglas surprises Angela in Rome, Angela introduces him to Cole. 

   Chase and Maggie are getting ready for the wine party, they both don’t want to go when do they ever want to go, but will since they will be supporting Julia. 

   At the party Lance meets a girl named Sherry, she is with Sloan.  Lance and Sloan go to talk somewhere private, and he suggest that he could leave without her.

   The next morning Julia goes to Lance’s room and is surprised to find Sherry in bed with him, later, she tells him that he’s got no right to do things like that under his grandmother’s roof.  He told Sherry that his mother was jealous, I’d like to know what she is supposedly jealous of Lance, that there’s a girl in your bed, I hope that’s not it.

   Lance meets with one of the workers at Falcon Crest who used to work for Sloan, he tells him that he wants to run him out of business, and that he’s going to just sell him cheaper wine, but bottle them as the premium wine.  The guy doesn’t seem to happy to do this but Lance, makes him think that he if he doesn’t than he wouldn’t be working for Falcon Crest anymore.

   In Rome Douglas and Angela are walking, he tells her that he wants to be with her again and this could be there second honeymoon.

   Chase goes over to the bottling room and finds Lance, he asks him what he’s doing, Lance tells him that they got a special order and that he’s bottling from Chase’s harvest, which isn’t ready to be bottled yet.    Chase goes to Julia and tells her what Lance is doing.

   Cole leaves a note for Angela telling her he is going to Tuscany to visit relatives.  Douglas is pleased that they will be alone, since he made a reservation at Jimmy’s which according to Angela is the best restaurant between Rome and France, again the restaurant is called Jimmy’s. 

   Julia goes to the bottling room, the door is locked, when Lance opens the door, he won’t let her inside, but asks her what she wants, he tells her that if he let her in she would only be in the way.  He tells her that Sloan is expecting 500 cases, and that is what he is going to get, she tells him that he’s acting like the lord of the manor, when he tells her that Grandmother left him in charge.

   The next morning Lance brings the cases of wine to Sloan and gets his money. 

   Julia goes into the bottling room and takes a label from the machine, and then sees the cases of the premium wine, that they were supposed to sell to Sloan.  She goes over to Chase and Maggie’s house and tells them that she needs to talk.

   Lance meets up with his detective friend, he wants him to destroy the wine that he just sold to Sloan, he tells Lance that he won’t do it, since he’s gone legit.  He tells him that he just needs to go and tells Sloan that the deal is off.

   Douglas and Angela are at the wine competition, her wine was the only California wine asked to compete.  Cole is with family and they are all toasting and drinking wine.  The judge announce the winner, it’s Falcon Crest’s 78 Cabernet Sauvignon. 

   Chase and Julia go to Sloan’s they tell a worker that Sloan was supposed to meet them, when he finds them in the warehouse, before they leave Chase takes a bottle. 

   Lance goes back to Sloan and tells him that the deal is off, and that all the wine is cheap and he didn’t get any of the premium stuff.  Sloan tells him that he better bring him the cases of the good stuff since he’s got the receipts and since the wine just won it is now worth more than they sold it to him for.

   Angela calls home and talks to Lance, she can tells something is bothering him, but he manages to keep the truth from her.  She tells him that she and Cole will be flying home the next day.  Douglas tells her that he still loves her and wants them to get back together, she tells him that she still has Falcon Crest.

   Chase and Julia confront Lance, he tells them that he doesn’t care if they tell Angela, Chase stays and tells Lance that Angela wouldn’t have left him in charge if she didn’t know that he couldn’t do the job.  Lance tells him that he only wanted to put Sloan out of business and that Angela would have done the same thing.  She probably would have, but she is a lot smarter than Lance is so she wouldn’t have been in this position.  Chase tells him that he’ll go with him to talk to Sloan again.

   When Cole gets back to the hotel he tells Angela about his visit and shows her a book of letters, it is a gift for his father, they are from her grandfather to his brother, he also brought her a gift from the family, it’s an old photo of her and Jason when they were children.

   Chase and Lance confront Sloan, Chase tells him that everyone knows that Falcon Crest only produced 500 cases of the 78 Cabernet and he’s got 1000, he tells him that he’s going to go to the DA and let him know that he is selling miss labeled wine which is a felony.  Sloan asks if he will get his money back, Chase tells him that he will.

   Lance asks him if he would have gone to the DA, Chase doesn’t say yes or no, Lance tell him that he must be a great poker player.

   When Angela gets home Lance tells her that he canceled the deal with Sloan, because the wine is worth double now that it won.  She tells him that he did a good job.

   Chase and the family go through the letters, Chase reads the most resent letter from his grandfather to his brother, he tells him that Jason and Angela are enemies and that he is worried what will become of the family.

Final Thoughts:  Okay as I was writing this I got to thinking about Emma, I didn’t think Angela would want to leave her alone, I wonder who is taking care of her and making sure she doesn’t wander off.  I like that they are fleshing out Lance's character. 
Best Outfit:  I really dislike turtlenecks, this is made better only because of the jacket, then we don't have to see how tight the shirt is.