Knots Landing: Season 06 (1984)

Member Rating:

Season Six of Knots Landing begins with the conniving Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills) finding herself the victim rather than the predator for a change when she is kidnapped by the sinister Mark St. Claire (Joseph Chapman). Meanwhile, Karen Fairgate MacKenzie (Michele Lee), having been wounded by a gunshot meant for her business partner Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford), clings desperately to life. Ultimately, Abby is rescued by the timely intervention of Senator Greg Sumner (William Devane)--which does not in any way diminish the fact that Sumner is a crook, whose mob-connected machinations will have a negative impact on practically everyone else in the cast, including Greg's future bride Laura (Constance McCashlin), the former wife of attorney Richard Avery. And although it is nip and tuck for a while, Karen survives the shooting. Several new characters are introduced this season, not least of which is Greg Sumner's stepmother Ruth Sumner Galveston, played by Ava Gardner in her TV series debut. Howard Duff is seen as Greg's father Paul Galveston, an unscrupulous tycoon whom Karen's crime-commissioner husband Mack (Kevin Dobson) intends to bring to justice. Also, Alec Baldwin makes his first appearance as TV evangelist Joshua Rush, ostensibly the nephew of Lilimae Clement (Julie Harris) but actually her son, meaning he is also the half brother of the long-suffering Val Ewing (Joan Van Ark)--of whom, much more later! To her everlasting regret, local waitress Cathy Geary (Lisa Hartman) will become the wife of Joshua Rush before the season is over. Finally, Teri Austin is introduced as Jill Bennett, a woman who is destined to very nearly bring about the demise of both Val Ewing and her ex-husband Gary. Above all else, Season Five is the year of the "Black Market Babies", as Val gives birth to twins, only to have them stolen from her by an unscrupulous doctor and auctioned off on the illegal adoption market. Although everyone in Knots Landing has been convinced that Val's babies were stillborn--everyone, that is, but Abby, who gloms onto the truth but cruelly keeps her mouth shut--Val stubbornly refuses to accept this and leaves town, determined to prove that her children are still alive. In the process, she becomes unhinged and assumes a new identity, "Verna Ellers." Resurfacing in a small Tennessee community, "Verna"--completely unaware of her previous existence--falls in love with a local dry cleaner and accepts his marriage proposal! In the season's cliffhanger finale, Val is on the verge of reclaiming her babies from their adoptive parents, Harry and Sheila Fisher (Joe Regalbuto, Robin Ginsburg)...and then... ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi