Maggie and Richard decide to try again, while Angela proves uncharacteristically supportive. When Lance moves back into the manor house, Angela joyfully greets him with the news that Carly will be staying for a few days. In a misguided attempt to help Emma, Curtis digs dirt on Richard. At Lance's instigation, Melissa enters into an elaborate masquerade to rescue Emma. In his effort to break the codicil to Chase's will, Richard enrolls some dangerous assistance. When Gabrielle returns to the valley on the anniversary of Chase's death, she gives Maggie some hopeful news.

A Madness Most Discreet

Jane Wyman

David Selby

Lorenzo Lamas

Susan Sullivan

Ana Alicia

Margaret Ladd

Chao Li Chi

Dana Sparks

Brett Cullen

John Callahan

Lisa Seidman

Joseph L. Scanlan

Stormy Weather

The Uncertainty Principle

Angela learns the truth about her supposedly deceased child. The car chase has endangered Melissa, Chase, Richard, Dan and Maggie's lives. After taking a disastrous fall, Chao-Li lies at the foot of the stairs. Emma, frustrated with her mother's meddling, stands high above Falcon Crest and threatens to jump.

Opening Moves

A French woman and a mercenary soldier from Chase's past intrude on the lives of Angela and Maggie and force them to face unpleasant consequences. Angela's wiles work on Chao-Li. Emma believes she is embarking on a new life as a businesswoman. After Lance moves in with Dina amid Melissa's accusations that he cares more for his car than he does for her, Melissa attempts to make peace with Lance.

Obsession, Possession

Unsuccessful in luring Lance back to her side, Angela turns to Dan to manage her winery and find someone new to run the spa. However, when Dan assigns Melissa to manage the spa, Melissa, to Angela's consternation, creates a successful nightclub for the Del Oro. On the turn of a card, Richard wins Eric's Nevada land and plans to create a town called Channing. While Maggie agrees not to press charges against Melissa, Nicole continues to harass Maggie until Angela enters the fray.

Redemption

When Richard Channing and John Remick offer to help Maggie pay off Angela, each plays dirty to make sure that he will be the one to whom she is indebted. When Angela sends Lance and Dan to investigate Emma's new job, she is too late. Vickie not only tells Maggie that she is pregnant, but also confesses Eric's gambling mania. Dina is seriously injured in a car accident with Lance. While Maggie and Richard visit his new Nevada property, they are unaware that they are under surveillance. Consequently, they return home to face Angela's demand for payment.

The Big Bang

After Angela and Richard individually maneuver to meet the man behind the mysterious activity in the Tuscany Valley, they are both placed in precarious positions. Maggie can't understand Richard's reluctance to rely on the police. Angela forces Wilkinson to reveal Richard's ownership of lake property in Nevada. Emma, agreeing to write her autobiography, acquires a ghostwriter and personal manager, and heads for Hollywood. While Lance discovers that someone sabotaged his car, Vickie finds herself among the homeless. In conclusion, an explosion destroys the Gioberti home.

Dead End

After Angela and Richard meet the mysterious Carlton Travis, Angela conspires with Carlton to destroy Richard. Richard realizes that although Carlton is a man who won't listen to reason, he will listen to Angela. With all the trimmings Hollywood offers, Emma works on her screenplay. Melissa takes Dan to Australia to visit Cole and her son. With Frank Starr's assistance, Dina's nurse works on her patient to discredit Lance. Angela and Travis discover that they have a history.

New Faces

After Richard rejects Carlton Travis's offer of a truce, Travis kidnaps him and Angela. After Maggie hires an old friend to plan a birthday party for Richard's son, Angela brings a puppy as a gift to the party. Melissa spirits her son away for a picnic and becomes lost in the Australian bush. Dina's nurse gets her to sign Lance's half-million-dollar check over to her. Lance suspects that Frank Starr tampered with his car.

Sweet Revenge

After Angela digs into the past to save Richard from Carlton Travis, she must open old wounds. Angela goes to the wife of a Supreme Court justice and one of Washington's most celebrated hostesses to recruit help in rescuing her son. When Lance is arrested for murder, Melissa comes to his aid. A man who Dan suspects is a thief turns out to be his father. While asleep, Lance is injected with a toxin that will kill him within 24 hours.

Man Hunt

Lance's determination to clear himself and bring the real murderer to justice endangers his own life. Tony insists that Lance, who is very sick, check into a hospital. However, Lance, despite the poison coursing through his veins, brings Nurse Chadway to justice. Richard assists the daughter of an old friend and becomes involved in helping her save her ball team. Angela tries to destroy Melissa's new vineyards. Richard asks Maggie to marry him.

Hunter's Moon

Upset with Richard's involvement with Liz and unable to make a decision about his proposal, Maggie leaves the Tuscany Valley to join Vicky in Monte Carlo. While a mysterious and eerie assassin figure stalks Liz, Maggie resents her reliance on Richard's protection. After Melissa gets even with Angela, Angela retaliates with a scheme that boomerangs. Maggie enters her new wine in a contest and wins second place. Angela discovers that Dan's father has a second family. After Lance rescues Emma from her would-be producers, she starts writing an advice column for The New Globe.

Lovers and Friends

When Maggie returns to the valley with Vickie and Eric, she learns that Richard and Liz have been traveling together. Eric realizes that his gambling debts are following him and that he must pay more than money to escape them. When Melissa starts to experience strange phenomena due to Angela's  hired illusionist Foster Glenn, Melissa's world begins to fall apart. Emma's success as a columnist disturbs Angela, who goes to Father Bob for advice about her family.

Across the Bridge

After discovering that Maggie has finally accepted Richard, Emma and Angela throw a surprise engagement party. During the party, Melissa makes her entrance dressed only in a bathrobe. Lance discovers that the charming stranger he has befriended knows secrets that could directly impact him. Liz makes an announcement that infuriates Angela but delights Maggie. Melissa overhears Angela talking about her plan to drive Melissa insane and have her committed. Richard saves Eric from making a terrible mistake.

Twist and Shout

After Vicky vanishes from Angela's party, Richard and Eric frantically search for her. After Dan is surprised by the arrival of a half-sister whom he didn't know he had, he puts her to work in the grape fields. Shannon tries to leave the valley after Lance questions her. Melissa is able to deflect Angela's scheme to get her committed so that Angela instead loses her hold on Dan. Angela succeeds in prying into Maggie's affairs.

Rescue Me

Angela takes advantage of Richard's absence to get closer to her grandson and Maggie, while Richard and Eric search for Vickie overseas. Richard seeks the help of a beautiful party leader to help him rescue Vicky, but must use strong tactics and blackmail to get her cooperation. When Dan tries to help Carly, Melissa lacks the patience to deal with the wild young woman who could threaten her happiness. Emma's kindness makes her prey for a scheming couple. Shannon thinks she might find happiness with Lance, but her past again interferes. Angela anticipates that all of her own wishes will soon come true.

Hornet's Nest

In spite of Emma's well-laid plans for a beautiful affair, fate makes a travesty of Maggie and Richard's wedding day. After Maggie finds the perfect house, Richard agrees to have the wedding in the garden. Tempers erupt when Eric creates an unpleasant situation at Richard's bachelor party. When Melissa shows up at Maggie's bridal shower, the two finally reconcile. While Eric is able to perform an errand for Richard that could affect Maggie's future, Carly runs an errand for Angela, which does affect Melissa's future. Lance and Tony fight over Shannon.

When Maggie and Richard spend their wedding night at Falcon Crest, they are trapped in a house with no food, no phone, a murderer, and no way out, while Angela listens at every keyhole. A storm forces Angela to be the unwilling hostess for Maggie, Richard, Dan, Melissa, Vicky, Eric, Garth, Curtis and Sheriff Buckman. In order to keep the uninvited guests, Lance, Carly, Chao-Li and her mother occupied during their forced hibernation, Emma organizes a game of murder. However, when the game turns into reality at midnight, Richard is the prime suspect.

Melissa rejects her long-lost Uncle Frank, who turns to Angela to help him heal the family rift with his only living relative. After Maggie turns the reins of her Gioberti winery over to Angela, she and Richard start their delayed honeymoon in the Caribbean, which proves not to be the idyllic getaway for which she had hoped. Emma blames Richard for her friend's death and seeks revenge. When Dan's former wife tries to meet with him, Melissa interferes. Before Richard can seek revenge for Eric's disloyalty, Eric makes plans to take Vickie and escape from the valley.

Legacies

Shortly after Richard carries Maggie across the threshold of their new home, he is perturbed by the news that Eric and Vickie have left for Europe and that someone has broken into his wall safe. Also, the key to his Swiss bank safe-deposit box has been copied in wax. In Geneva, Eric and Vickie put their plan into motion, getting a wax mold of the key that will admit them to the bank vault. Melissa will not warm up to her uncle Frank and Angela frankly doesn't know why he even bothers trying to win her over. Frank Agretti then tells Angela that he's not sure what his heirloom is, but he has to pass it on before he dies. Angela learns he has six months to two years to live. To help Emma figure out why Curtis Estabrook was murdered, Lance goes to Las Vegas to speak with George Wescott, a man who tells him about John Remick's connection to the murder. Maggie is shocked to hear him report that whatever Curtis knew about Remick resulted in his death. Also, Richard is involved in this somehow

Wheels Within Wheels

Maggie recovers from her drunken fall and decides to throw away all of the alcohol in the house so she won't be tempted to drink again. Lance continues to investigate Curtis's allegations about Richard's underworld activity. Richard finds him rifling through Emma's office at the New Globe and warns him to stay away from Maggie. Lance tries in vain to enlist Maggie's support, but she denies Lance's accusations and tells him to stop before anyone else gets hurt. Frank and Melissa ride out to Hobart, California using Frank's antiquated map. Melissa accuses him of selfish motives, but when Frank raises his gun and shoots a rattler lying close to her, Melissa is embarrassed into silence. Frank tells her that he is dying and has no desire of cheating her out of her legacy. When they get to Hobart, all they find are abandoned buildings from an old mining community. On further inspection of a shack, Melissa falls through the crumbling flooring into a hole below. Frank attempts to rescue Meliss

Channing Vs. Channing

The Justice Department is hardly all ears to Lance's plea for help in nailing Richard. An associate of the department, one Kathryn Anderson, offers her help. She makes an appointment to meet him with a lead on Richard. Lance shows up first and narrowly misses getting hit by a car. Kathryn is an employee of the thirteen. Rosemont instructs her on how to handle Lance Cumson. If she cannot scare Lance off Richard's case, Rosemont suggests that she may have to kill him. Angela takes Michael out to the toy store, but soon she discovers he's missing. An hour passes and Maggie appears. She berates Angela for losing her son. The store manager finds Michael in a back room; Garth has been hiding him in order to discredit Angela. Maggie leaves with Michael and Angela suspects foul play. Angela arrives home to find herself in the midst of a surprise party thrown by Carly, who has managed to invite most of Tuscany and then some. Angela is delighted and moved by her gesture, but the party mood chang

False Faces

John Remick is alive. At least Lance and Kathryn know that much.  Back in the Tuscany Valley, Kathryn thinks she can convince Rosemont that Lance believes Remick is dead.  Rosemont is correct in thinking his decoy has fallen for the Tuscany Valley stud and makes a telephone call to have her eliminated.  Although Kathryn has confided her knowledge of The Thirteen to Lance, he has not told her about the note he found hidden in his passport. Now that Angela has bought the little town of Hobart, California and put up a fence around it, Melissa is going to have trouble looking for the Agretti heirloom. The grape queen claims she is keeping the property safe until Frank comes out of his coma. Lucky for Melissa, it turns out that Hobart is just across the state line from Channing, Nevada, Richard's town. She wants to tunnel through to Hobart starting in Channing to a mine where her heritage supposedly waits for her. Playing on her former involvement years ago with Richard, Melissa meets him a

Dirty Tricks

Nightmares have Maggie sleepwalking. She dreams that Vickie and all the people she loves are leaving her. Richard finds her and pulls her from her reverie. He has proof that Nellie Maxwell, their housekeeper, is a spy working for Angela in her determination to find evidence that will enable her to win custody of Michael Channing. Maggie gives Nellie the boot. Frustrated, Angela joins Lance in his investigation of Richard's association with The Thirteen. Coma-bound Frank Agretti needs an operation to save his life. But Dr. Huston informs Angela that Melissa, as his next of kin, has to grant permission. The Tuscany spitfire has a tough time with this one, although Angela begs her to sign the consent form. Dan Fixx's first delivery with his new trucking company is no piece of cake. It's a shipment of nitroglycerin. He won't tell Melissa exactly what he is transporting in his truck, which he has named ""Wendi"", but she eventually finds out and they argue. Carly wants to ride with Dan. He re

Flying Blind

Richard sends the children to Emma while Maggie dries out. He's mulling over what to do about Melissa's plan to get into Hobart now that she's decided not to spy on Lance for him. He takes turns with Emma watching over Maggie, who painfully weans herself of alcohol- until she gets a letter from Vickie, delivered by Emma. Maggie is shocked to find that her daughter is in jail in Switzerland and that her husband is responsible. She goes to call Geneva but finds that the telephones have been removed. Furious and frustrated and feeling totally deceived by her husband, Maggie reaches for a hidden bottle of brandy and pours herself a drink. Richard comes home and finds Maggie seated with a glass of brandy. She tells him she knows where Vickie is and what he has done to put her there. He begs Maggie not to take the drink. The smell of it alone makes her sick, Maggie tells him. She pours the brandy into a nearby planter and says, ""A toast to my daughter in Switzerland."" Richard can't find a th

Key to Angela

At Falcon Crest, Maggie has a premonition of her husband surrounded by a sinister group of men. Richard is awakened in his home by a contingent of FBI men who have come to question him after the collapse of three foreign banks. Looks like The Thirteen's plan to destroy the world economy is beginning to take shape. Richard tells the Feds The Thirteen is out to drive the stock market into another crash. He can't prove it, though. Richard is chagrined to find the files in his office missing and his secretary replaced. Taking the FBI to The Thirteen's headquarters in New York, Richard finds that the elevator only goes to the twelfth floor. He takes them to the nearest conference room, but it's filled with toy salespeople. On a flight back to the U.S., Vickie barks at the attendants when she finds that her husband isn't with her. Eric doesn't seem to miss Vickie. He's detained in Geneva with Madame Malec, Richard's Communist buddy from Yugoslavia who helped him find Vickie when Dimitrov kid

King's Gambit

The Thirteen withdraws fifty billion dollars- their net worth- out of the stock market and the Dow Jones average plummets. They plan to buy back devalued stocks under one of the companies Richard Channing has bought with their assistance, implicating him in their plot. Angela receives her subpoena to testify against her son in front of the Senate Select Committee. Emma is dying to ruin her brother but hasn't received a subpoena. Angela dreads having her family's affairs publicized. Maggie packs up the car and the kids and gets a flat tire shortly after leaving Falcon Crest. A police car appears to assist her, but it's driven by a decoy for The Thirteen. Maggie's spare tire is missing. The cop calls for a tow truck and checks in with Rosemont. Garth finds Maggie's car, abandoned, just as Rosemont drops into Richard's office at The New Globe to offer him yet another deal: testify our way and spend the rest of your life on Easy Street. Maggie eventually calls Richard, and he reveals his c

Telling Tales

Maggie creeps out of bed early to meet with Senator Ryder in hopes of getting Richard granted immunity for the remainder of the hearing. Alone in bed, Richard is drugged by a gloved hand. He regains consciousness to find the dead body of Madame Malec next to him. Richard shudders. It could have been Maggie. Maggie meets with Senator Ryder and wins immunity for her husband. Meanwhile, Richard has given up trying to convince anyone in Washington that The Thirteen exists and is responsible for Madame Malec's murder. Maggie persuades vitriolic Vickie to keep her trap shut about Richard at the hearing. Later Vickie blows off her husband outside the hearing room. She's helping her mother now, the brat tells Eric. With Frank out of the hospital, Melissa attempts to convince Angela to let her into Hobart to look for her heirloom. Angela is opposed to the idea. Frank tells his niece to stay put. Next, Melissa enlists Lance in her scheme to get into the fenced-in ghost town from Richard's proper

As Tears Go By

Frustrated that he has been unable to prove that Senator Horton is a mole for The Thirteen, Richard leaves Washington for home with Maggie and Garth. As they cross that state border, two gunmen open fire on their limo. Garth's expert driving saves them. The limo is bullet-ridden and the passengers are not hurt, but in another part of town Rosemont and Gray Suit watch as Eric Stavros is pumped full of chemicals. The Thirteen is going to turn him into a killing machine. Angela comes home accompanied by Richard's security men. She's off again once she learns that Melissa and Lance are trapped in that underground bank vault in Hobart. At the drill site, Frank Agretti conducts the rescue mission.  Underground, Melissa is delirious over her deed: Falcon Crest might actually belong to her. Above ground, several rescue workers resurface coughing up hydrogen sulfide fumes. Frank realizes his efforts may be in vain. Dan Fixx arrives and volunteers his help. Mr. Gray Suit shows up for his regular

Last Dance

Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced.

The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the Californian wine industry. Jane Wyman starred as Angela Channing, the tyrannical matriarch of the Falcon Crest Winery, alongside Robert Foxworth as Chase Gioberti, Angela's nephew who returns to Falcon Crest following the death of his father. The series was set in the fictitious Tuscany Valley northeast of San Francisco.

A Madness Most Discreet

Seasons9

Season 7 Episodes28

Cast10

Crew2

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Episode Summary