Surfside summit
In “Home is For Healing,” a first-season “Knots Landing” episode, Lucy and Valene (Charlene Tilton, Joan Van Ark) are having a heart-to-heart while strolling along the beach when they spot Gary (Ted Shackelford) running toward them.
GARY: Lucy! Lucy!
LUCY: Daddy.
GARY: I don’t want you to go. No, no. Just let me say this. I know I ran away from you and Mama a lot. I was weak. I let my brother and my father drive me away, and I ran. I was a drunk and a gambler and a loser. Well, I may not be all that terrific now, but I’m not a loser anymore. I’m working. And I’m not drinking and I’m not gambling. And instead of running away from the important things, I try to run toward them. Now, I may blow them every now and then, but at least I face them and look them in the eye. [He pauses.] Now, what happened the last couple of days is that we all had plans. You and Mama were gonna be little girl and tending mother. And I was gonna be a father, capital “F.” Well, I guess we just forgot to get to know each other.
LUCY: Daddy –
GARY: I said, “no credit cards” because using your grandfather’s credit cards would screw up your values and our future as a family. What I should have said was, “Please don’t use the credit cards because it makes me feel bad.”
LUCY: Daddy, I get it.
GARY: What?
LUCY: You were right. We forgot to get to know each other.
GARY: Stay, Lucy. Stay the week.
VAL: Hey, you know what I wanna do now?
GARY: What?
VAL: I’ve dreamed of doing this since we moved in here.
LUCY: What, Mama?
VAL: Go running in the ocean with you.
LUCY: We’ve been walking in it.
VAL: No, I mean really in it. Up to your knees and running.
LUCY: It’s too cold.
VAL: Oh, no it isn’t. Watch!
She runs into the surf, tosses her shoes onto the beach.
GARY: Come on. Come on, honey. [He rolls up his pants and walks into the ocean.]
LUCY: It’s too cold.
GARY: Hey, it’s only cold for a minute. [Lucy lays her shoes on the beach, grabs Gary’s extended hand] Right!
The three join hands and run through the waves.
[…] Marilee Stone and Linda Bradley (also from “Paternity Suit”), as well as the lovely beach scene where Gary and Valene make amends with Lucy, which occurred on “Knots Landing” but is too good […]