r/KnotsLanding

Season 9 and Ben has bailed on Valene. Valene has gone into the bank for some reason and th bank clerk tells Valene about the payments made by Ben on the house mortgage.

Error didn't Miss Ellie buy that house for Gary and Valene?😄

Someone's paying too much to the bank!

Right out of the gate, yes I agree Mack got way too attached to Meg way too quickly. He was projecting very hard on his own feelings about his missed opportunity to raise a child. I don't deny that.

That said, come on. Greg was upset when Laura got pregnant and she acted like he should just be thrilled about it, when he already made it clear he didn't want another child. He knew he wasn't the kind of person who was meant to raise kids, and that's totally fine. And it's good that he knows it. Everyone seems to forget that he already had a daughter that he had a really bad relationship with. In Mary Frances's very first appearance he forgets to pick her up at the airport! He has always prioritized other things over his kids.

What he does to Meg right after Laura dies is not normal grief. The first time he drops her off, maybe. I think the fake trip to New York could be forgiven. But then he just keeps bringing her back. He drops her off for WEEKS at a time, according to Frank. ("You're taking care of this kid that isn't your own, she isn't even related to you. And you've been taking care of this kid for weeks.") He does this without a single phone call to check on her until Barbara approaches Greg telling him that she is quitting because all she does is take Meg's things over to the Mackenzies'. Greg thinks this is fine because it's how he was raised, outside his parents' home. But it's not fine, and it goes well beyond the normal parameters of grief.

Greg takes Meg back for a short while and yes, throughout her whole life he is very cute and sweet with her. But being good with kids in the short term doesn't make a person single parent material. Can you even imagine Meg growing up in Greg's house, raised by Barbara and Carlos while Greg gets up to all his usual shenanigans? Karen has very valid concerns when she approaches Greg about the possibility of adopting Meg. She knows he isn't a very good person. She knows he has skewed priorities. She knows that without Laura he is absolutely lost and doesn't have much of a moral compass. She knows that she has been raising this baby for literal MONTHS and her father hasn't so much as asked "hey, how are things going?" I think it's perfectly reasonable for her to talk to him about it. She of course shouldn't have done it without Mack being aware of it, but that's another story. And after he tells her to "get the hell out of here," she doesn't push it. The topic doesn't come back up until Greg decides to place her with them.

I think placing Meg with Mack and Karen was a very loving and self-aware thing for Greg to do. He knows it was the right thing and never falters from feeling that way (except that one time he has Abby in his ear). He loved Meg enough to do the right thing for her.

I think Mack and Karen made big mistakes. I think Meg should have known from toddlerhood that she was adopted. I think keeping a family history from her that her parents are fully aware of was terrible. I think Mack being that insecure in his role as Meg's dad all way way until Back to the Cul-de-Sac is ridiculous. But I think the idea I've seen floating around that they "stole" Meg is absurd.

(Also Meg wasn't annoying and acts like a very normal 5/6 year old kid in the later seasons)

Personally, I have never liked Mack. I accept that earlier on, it was just a matter of personal preference, but as the show has gone on, he’s done things that I sincerely think are unquestionably shitty (not saying he’s the alone in having highs and lows and I’m not saying he’s the worst by any means).

However, by season fourteen, my god, he SUCKS. He’s so insufferable and honestly cruel at times to Karen and the people who love him that I feel bad for the people who were watching as sincere fans of his character. I’m on 14x13 right now, and it had to have been miserable knowing that there were a finite number episodes left before the series would end, meanwhile he’s being a horrible husband and a horrible father, two things that usually were his most redeeming qualities. I’m sure in the remaining eps he’ll bully Karen into forgiving him and all will be pushed under the rug so they can end on a “good note” but OOF.

*before anyone comes for me because I don’t like him, I acknowledge that from his weird ass perspective, he thinks he’s doing what’s right for his family. But at this point in the series I sincerely feel like his actions are objectively reckless and careless. Also, just because I hate him doesn’t mean I think less of anyone who does.

I saw that there was no article for Mack of all characters on the fandom wiki (seriously, an article for Linda Fairgate but not Mack?!) and on a bored evening wrote one up.

But I noticed the state of this thing is just dire. Short, inaccurate, poorly written articles and important pages missing. I want to spruce it up but I can't do it by myself. If you feel up to it maybe we can fix some of these articles up?

https://knotslanding.fandom.com/wiki/Knots\_Landing\_Wiki

I was just curious if anyone knew when they found out the show wasn’t getting renewed? Im on s14 right now and some of the plots/new romances feel a little weird if they had known it was going to end, so I was wondering at what point they realize they’d need to start wrapping things up for good?

I’ve never watched Knots Landing all the way through, and I’d love to know if anyone knows of any podcasts that cover it?

It’s probably very niche these days, so I’m not sure, but I thought I’d ask!

did the writers make Karen so incredibly insufferable during the Richard/Laura hostage situation? She was more concerned about Richard than her pregnant best friend. She was absolutely ridiculous (which is hard to admit considering she was one of my top 3 favorite characters of the entire series). She was always more progressive than the rest of her friends in the cul-de-sac, which makes her actions in that episode even more ridiculous. (Maybe Laura’s insufferable behavior during Ciji’s murder investigation was payback 😁).

Sometimes the writers really got it wrong.

When did they actually split for good?

I just finished the series, and when I went to start this special, I had a really hard time finding where I could watch it. I eventually found a Google Drive link after doing some digging, but in the hopes of making it more accessible to more people, I uploaded both parts to the Internet Archive. Hopefully it can stay there without issue! You should be able to download it too in case you want a copy for safe keeping. Happy watching!

https://archive.org/details/KnotsLandingBackToTheCulDeSac

https://archive.org/details/KnotsLandingBackToTheCulDeSac2