It's therefore quite surprising, or perhaps not if Jacobs was a key creative force, how low key the starter episodes are. Yes, the the resolution to the Paige / Greg / Ted story-line is classic Latham & Lechowick, with Paige, Greg and Ted lightly jumping from plot point to plot point complete with fake-outs, suspense and wacky tertiary characters, but is nicely and speedily plotted towards a resolution. What's more interesting, and what becomes easy to miss, are the other stories start to simmer; stories that are about, well, scenes from a marriage. By that, I am talking about Val / Danny / Gary / Amanda, and Michael / Eric / Linda.
What's interesting about the new stories, certainly in the first 8 episodes, is how cleverly written they are, and how they connect squarely to the roots of the show. KNOTS is a show about marriage, growth and the resulting conflicts this creates. For starters, it is easy to forget how complex Danny and Amanda's marriage was initially presented to us. Danny isn't written as a serial rapist at this point, and looking at these early episodes that is no hint that he was ever conceived in this way. Danny and Amanda have grown apart, there's hurt and anger on both sides, and we watch two flawed adults try to grapple with there new reality, while trying to move on with their lives with Gary and Val. I'm not excusing Danny in these episodes, he's not the best guy by any means, but he's written with a hell of a lot more nuance at the beginning, sort of like modern Richard Avery, and you thank the show for giving us this complexity. You can see and feel Amanda and Danny's marriage, you can understand it, you can sense why it didn't work despite these characters simply not really existing before this season. That's a great thing to pull off.
The linking of the Danny and Amanda to the viewer, and then the revelation that Amanda is Sally's friend, is of course a seismic shift in the narrative. But from a story stand-point it helps rein in the less interesting separate relationships into a bigger, more interesting story. The fact that Gary and Val, a divorced couple, happen to be dating two individuals that are actually a divorcing couple is of course ridiculous, but you forgive this and are relived at the reveal because it feels like these stories now actually have a point, a weight, and a direction. Without connecting them, the intrigue of Danny and Amanda's marriage would not be connected appropriately to the root of the show, and would quickly grow pointless. I do wonder what the aim of Sally's friend was in Season 10, no matter what the point was, I do believe it certainly was not planned to grow into this particular story. More likely, was Teri Austin supposed to be revealed as alive and negotiations failed in bringing her back? Is that perhaps why Gary and Val's screen time in the closing two-parter is minimal at best? In any case, it didn't happen, and evolving the story and linking it to the Danny / Val story is a particularly clever way to to give it some much needed life.
The Linda / Michael / Eric story is also quite interesting at the top of the season. Don't believe me? Go back and watch. It's presented well as another marriage that is showing it's cracks. Yes, it's a re-tread for Michael's character after his crush on Paige in Season 8, but this story digs deeper and improves on it significantly. This time you really feel for him as he tries to navigate what is ultimately a lose / lose situation. In addition, you understand Linda's inner confusion as well, they were both young, they are confused, they don't know when to pull the plug or how to navigate their emotions. There is no clear path forward, and you can understand each perspective of the story. Sure, it's not the best story KNOTS does, but it at least is an attempt to connect to the core of the show.
Those are the first eight episodes. Then, once episode 9 hits, BAM. Many of the wheels immediately fall off the show. Presenting Danny as an outright rapist destroys the complex and nuanced story initially presented to us and re-pivots it to one where there is a clear villain. Almost immediately after, and for more than ten episodes, Val stubbornly refuses to believe that Danny raped Amanda and Val's character is swiftly destroyed. Val would not rebound again until the second half of Season 13, of which it is far too late to gain momentum as Joan Van Ark exits the show. The writers dig deep in these first episodes to help us understand Val's perspective, her inner turmoil in trying to decide how to take this new relationship. The writers help us understand Val's point of view; for example the fight with Danny when she finds out he is married, she leaves him, and does a good job of showing the character's backbone despite the plot then dictating they reunite as they move into the the middle block of episodes.
Oakman was a daring story in the first block and on paper had no right whatsoever to be as interesting as it was, considering it was about corporate pension fraud. However, Lantham & Lechowick's style gives it strength. Like the Ted / Paige / Greg plot in the first three episodes, it moves at breakneck pace, using the plot to sustain our interest. Even using Ginny to shoehorn in the story surprisingly works. The introduction of the story in episode 5 is jarring, perhaps the most jarring story introduction up until this point (we go from Ginny visiting her friend with the twins to a significant number of the principal cast in Mack's office talking about pension fraud). But it works.
However, as we move into the middle portion of the season the Oakman storyline, which continued to sustain our interest by introducing, and have us follow, the romance between Paige and Tom, then becomes too much about Oakman, rather than the Maguffin Oakman looks like it was supposed to be. The episode where Tom and Mack go to Canada to hunt someone down with evidence is a prime example of an epic misstep in the telling of the story that has become weighed down with plot, and there are no character beats in sight to sustain it.
The middle episodes also reintroduce Greg's daughter, Mary-Francis, returning to the show in an episode which is actually extremely well-written, where Greg and Mary-Francis conflict over their world views, and we see a side of Greg that we haven't seen in a while, a deeply flawed man. It's refreshing to watch as you release how much you've missed Greg get truly challenged like that since Laura's death. Unfortunately, the episode ends with her murder, and the story moves into poisoning, a British villain, ghosts and then a clumsy link to the Oakman story to finally resolve.
The third portion of the season in my opinion is shaken up in an invigorating way, it creates great suspense and conflict. Unfortunately, unlike the first part of the season, it is at the expense of the show's core. For sure, it's splashier: Anne is introduced, Olivia and Paula, characters with history and subtlety are jettisoned; their characters had become too understated, to 'real'. Sure, there are some great story beats here, the reveal of 'evil' Danny to Val, who then knocks down Pat, is amazing, suspenseful TV, but unfortunately we're left with a generic villain in which the show has absolutely no idea what to do with, so they tread water until the season's close so they can breathe and figure something out for next season.
The resolution to Eric's arc is handled well in the middle block, but almost immediately Linda becomes manipulative, and we're left with a generic 'bitchy' character in which all her likable, naive qualities from earlier in the year have vanished. Karen's stalker story is cleverly plotted, and again is an example of what Latham & Lechowick excel at, but unfortunately without any other more grounded stories being told at this point, the number of recurring characters and plot comes on too strong and there is no character beats to give it roots. It's simply a clever little story about a stalker that starts to outstay its welcome.
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