J.R. (Larry Hagman) gets shoved into the Southfork swimming pool in this 1981 publicity shot from “Blocked,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘No Deal, J.R.’

Don’t box him in
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Blocked,” Clayton (Howard Keel) arrives in a hotel suite for a meeting with J.R. (Larry Hagman).
J.R.: Well, I was beginning to think that you had changed your mind.
CLAYTON: I heard a lot of stories about you, J.R. I heard you were a snake – but I never realized just how low you’d sink.
J.R.: [Smiles] Did you come here to give me an evaluation of my character?
CLAYTON: No, J.R., I didn’t. I just want to know why you bought up all my crude – what your terms are so I can get back into business.
J.R.: Why don’t you have a little eye-opener. We can discuss this in a civilized manner.
CLAYTON: No, thank you. [Walks closer] And this is not a civilized situation. How much do you want for the oil?
J.R.: Oh, I think you’ll find my terms acceptable.
CLAYTON: You paid over market price. Otherwise you wouldn’t have got it. Now why would I find that acceptable?
J.R.: You have no choice. [Sits, smiles] See, I happen to know that you’re shutting down your refineries.
CLAYTON: You’ve invested a fortune trying to box me in. Why? Is it vengeance because I protected Sue Ellen?
J.R.: It’s business. Before I sell you a drop of my oil, I want Sue Ellen and John Ross off the Southern Cross ranch – away from you and your son.
CLAYTON: You’re holding my oil hostage in return for Sue Ellen?
J.R.: I don’t give a damn for Sue Ellen. I want my son back. And I’m willing to sell you that oil at the going market price – if you send those two packing.
CLAYTON: Then what? You think Sue Ellen’s going to return to Southfork? [Chuckles] She hates you so much she’d never do that.
J.R.: Well, Mr. Farlow, I know that woman a lot better than you do. She can’t make it on her own. Every time she runs away, it’s to another man. And what do you care anyway? [Rises, walks toward Clayton] With this deal you can keep your refineries open, your employees employed and not suffer any loss.
CLAYTON: No deal, J.R.
J.R.: Just how long do you think you’re going to be able to keep open?
CLAYTON: The terms you just offered me? Forever.
J.R.: She means nothing to you.
CLAYTON: You’re wrong. I respect her. And she means everything to my son. And the child belongs with her. [Turns and heads for the door]
J.R.: I’ll break you.
CLAYTON: Better men than you have tried it. No, J.R., you’re the one who’s going broke. I was late getting here because I stopped to find out the latest report on oil prices. Down almost a dollar a barrel and still falling. And you’re sitting on five million barrels. Now, your bankers are not going to be patient forever. [Reaches the door, stops, turns] By the time your daddy gets back from South America, there just might not be a Ewing Oil.
He exits, leaving J.R. looking worried.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 84 – ‘Blocked’

The gentleman from San Angelo
Howard Keel makes his ninth “Dallas” appearance in “Blocked,” but this is the first time we get a sense of who his character, Clayton Farlow, is. By the time the episode ends, two things are clear: Clayton has become a formidable foe for J.R. – and Keel has become the show’s best addition since Susan Howard arrived during the second season.
I always remembered Clayton as being the quintessential southern gentleman, so it’s been surprising to re-watch Keel’s first few episodes and be reminded that’s not how the character started out. Clayton is pretty gruff in the beginning. The best example is probably the Farlow family dinner scene in “Showdown at San Angelo,” when Clayton brusquely shoots down Sue Ellen’s suggestion that she and Dusty could go into town after their meal to see a movie.
“Blocked” marks the moment the Clayton I love emerges. In this episode, he learns someone has shut off the flow of oil to his refineries, yet he never loses his cool over it. The situation also reveals Clayton’s compassionate side: He dips into his company’s cash reserves to keep his employees from being pink-slipped, and once the Farlows realize J.R. is behind the shutdown, Clayton refuses Sue Ellen’s offer to leave the Southern Cross to spare the family further trouble.
Of course, Clayton may be kind, but he’s no pushover. In the final scene, J.R. tells Clayton he’ll release his crude – if Clayton kicks Sue Ellen and John Ross off the Southern Cross. Mr. Farlow is resolute: “No deal, J.R.” What a fantastic moment. Often when J.R. is backed into a corner, I sympathize with him, but in this instance, I root for Clayton – which is about as good an indication as any that he’s become a bona fide “Dallas” hero.
“Blocked” has other several good scenes: Senator Dickson chastises Bobby for missing several committee votes (nice of the show to remind viewers Bobby is a public official), Cliff and Afton trade barbs when he drops by the Stardust and Sue Ellen storms into J.R.’s office to confront him over his plot against the Farlows.
“Blocked” also includes the memorable moment where Donna pushes J.R. into the Southfork swimming pool. It’s a fun sequence, but after this episode, it’s pretty clear that if anyone is going to sink J.R., it’s going to be the gentleman from San Angelo.
Grade: B
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The skunk, sunk
‘BLOCKED’
Season 5, Episode 7
Airdate: November 20, 1981
Audience: 24 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Clayton refuses J.R. offer to release the Farlows’ oil in exchange for John Ross. Bobby determines Jordan didn’t father Christopher and fears Pam won’t recover from her depression. Mitch accepts Dr. Waring’s job offer.
Cast: Gary Bayer (Don Martin), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Deborah Benson (secretary), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Robert Ginnaven (Chuck Williamson), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (Jeff Farraday), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Andy Jarrell (Neal Hart), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), David Tress (Walter Sher), Joseph Warren (Senator Dickson), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“Blocked” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
Dallas Parallels: Fatal Falls
A beautiful woman feels mistreated by her Ewing lover. She is distressed, distraught, desperate. There’s a confrontation. Harsh words are exchanged. Before you know it, the woman has plunged to her death, leaving the police to sort out if this was a suicide or murder.
Sound familiar? This scenario has played out on “Dallas” more than once. More than twice, actually.
In the original show’s second-season episode “The Red File, Part 1,” J.R.’s ex-secretary and on-again/off-again mistress Julie Grey realizes he doesn’t love her, so she decides to give Cliff Barnes a copy of J.R.’s “red file,” which details his shady dealings with Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr. Dumb move, darlin’: When Jeb and Willie Joe find out what Julie’s up to, they show up at her apartment and chase her to the roof – and then they chase her off it.
Flash forward two seasons: In “Ewing-Gate,” Kristin Shepard, another of J.R.’s ex-mistresses/ex-secretaries, threatens to spill the beans about their secret love child if he doesn’t pay her more hush money. When J.R. refuses to give in to Kristin’s scheme, she shows up at Southfork and, after a confrontation with J.R., falls from the balcony and drowns in the swimming pool.
Now, flash forward three decades: In “Collateral Damage,” an episode of TNT’s “Dallas,” John Ross races to the high-rise hotel room of his ex-lover Marta del Sol, who has tricked him into believing she has kidnapped his girlfriend Elena. Once John Ross realizes this is a ruse, he leaves, passing two shadowy men on his way to the elevator. Marta ends up reaching the driveway before John Ross.
Echoes from both older episodes reverberate in the newer one. All three women feel used by the Ewing men in their lives, but they’re also victims of their own deceit: Julie secretly copied J.R.’s red file and Kristin fooled both J.R. and Jordan Lee into believing they fathered her child, while Marta cheated business partner Vicente Cano during their Southfork swindle.
There are other similarities: Marta dies at the hands of two men, just like Julie. The shot of Kristin’s dead body (in “Missing Heir,” the episode that follows “Ewing-Gate”) is creepily reminiscent of the haunting image of Marta’s bloodied corpse. The police briefly suspect J.R. killed Kristin, while John Ross is arrested for Marta’s murder.
Eventually, John Ross is cleared of wrongdoing, just like J.R. was in Kristin’s death. But did John Ross learn a lesson? Or like his daddy, will he continue to get involved with dangerous women? Most importantly: Will those women be smart enough to steer clear of heights?
‘What Do You Want?’
In “Ewing-Gate,” a fourth-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) walks into his office, followed by the visiting Kristin (Mary Crosby).
J.R.: What ill wind blew you into Dallas? I thought we had a deal. [Sits his briefcase on his desk]
KRISTIN: The baby’s just fine, J.R. Thank you for asking. He looks just like his daddy.
J.R.: [Turns to face her] What do you want?
KRISTIN: More.
J.R.: Do you now?
KRISTIN: I’m tired of your little monthly checks, J.R. I picked up some very expensive habits in California – and I want you to pay for them.
J.R.: This is not the time to try to negotiate with me, Kristin.
KRISTIN: Well, now I think it’s the perfect time. Judging from what I read in the papers, you’re making the headlines everywhere. Poor Jock and Miss Ellie. They must be shattered. Think of how they’d feel if they read about a paternity suit on top of everything else.
J.R.: All right, but you gotta give me time. I can’t pull too much out of the bank right now.
KRISTIN: Don’t take too long, J.R. I’m not very patient.
J.R.: You’ll be hearing from me real soon. Where can I call you?
KRISTIN: [Rises] I’ll call you, J.R. Somehow, I’d feel safer that way. Don’t take too long now. [Walks toward the door, stops, turns to face him] Oh, and give my love to Sue Ellen.
‘What the Hell Do You Want?’
In “Collateral Damage,” TNT’s seventh “Dallas” episode, John Ross and Marta (Josh Henderson, Leonor Varela) argue in her hotel room.
MARTA: Vicente froze my bank accounts. I have no money. And I really need to get out of the country.
JOHN ROSS: How much?
MARTA: What?
JOHN ROSS: Money. How much money?
MARTA: I don’t want money.
JOHN ROSS: Then what the hell do you want?
MARTA: I want you to take responsibility. You got me into this. You need to help me!
JOHN ROSS: Marta, I’m here to find Elena. Where the hell is she? [She stares at him silently.] You don’t have her.
MARTA: It was the only way to get you here.
JOHN ROSS: You stole that phone.
MARTA: [Goes to him] You need to help me. Please, John Ross. Please. [He notices a camera in the corner.]
JOHN ROSS: [Pushing her away] You’re filming this? What did you think was going to happen here? What is wrong with you?
MARTA: I have earned what I have. I’ve earned my way out of the slums of Caracas.
JOHN ROSS: Congratulations.
MARTA: I need to watch out for myself. I thought we had that in common. But you’re just a spoiled boy. You’re not entitled to anything. Not me. Not your girlfriend’s love. Nothing.
What do you think of J.R. and John Ross’s entanglements with Julie, Kristin and Marta? Share your comments below and read more “Dallas Parallels.”
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘But It Was So Beautiful, Cliff’

Never upset this woman
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “The Big Shut Down,” Cliff (Ken Kercheval) is in his office at Wentworth Tool and Die, discussing the hospitalized Pam with Rebecca and Katherine (Priscilla Pointer, Morgan Brittany), who’ve dropped by on their way to the airport.
CLIFF: You don’t need to worry about Pam. Mama and I will visit her. Although I must admit: I don’t relish bumping into a Ewing every time we go out there.
REBECCA: Cliff, the only Ewings who ever come to see Pam are Bobby and Ellie.
KATHERINE: [Smiling] I can understand why Pam fell in love with Bobby.
CLIFF: [Snickers] I’m sure you can. I must say, it wasn’t the greatest day in my life.
REBECCA: Cliff, I don’t want a replay of your problems with the Ewings. Besides, if we don’t hurry, we’re going to miss the plane. You know what the traffic’s like on the expressway in the mornings.
As Rebecca speaks, Katherine looks around the room quizzically.
KATHERINE: You know, everything in this office looks so different. I guess because I was three feet high the last time I saw it.
CLIFF: No, I don’t think so. It’s probably because I just had the whole place redecorated.
KATHERINE: Oh, I remember. [Pointing] Daddy had an antique cabinet right there. It was wood with a bold grain, probably oak or something.
CLIFF: Right, you’re right, yeah. I had it moved out because I just like kind of an openness.
KATHERINE: But it was so beautiful, Cliff.
CLIFF: It’s in the storeroom. If you want it, it’s yours.
KATHERINE: [Sighs] No, I’m just surprised you moved it. It always seemed to belong right there. [Smiles icily] Well, Mother, let’s go.
Katherine grabs her purse from a chair and she and Rebecca head for the door.
CLIFF: You all have a safe trip.
REBECCA: I’ll call you later.
After Rebecca and Katherine exit, Cliff surveys the room with raised eyebrows.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 83 – ‘The Big Shut Down’

Here he goes again
“The Big Shut Down” is the first “Dallas” episode John Parker has scored since the third season, and it features many of the compositions he created during that era of the show, including Ray and Lucy’s musical signatures and Bobby and Pam’s love theme. It’s always nice to hear these classic numbers, but does the show have to recycle so many old plotlines to go with them?
J.R. spends “The Big Shut Down” conspiring to buy up the oil supply to Clayton Farlow’s refineries so he can hold the crude “hostage” in exchange for John Ross, who now lives with Sue Ellen and the Farlows at their Southern Cross ranch. To finance this scheme, J.R. turns to smarmy banker Vaughn Leland – just like he did two seasons ago, when Vaughn arranged J.R.’s outlandish ploy to secretly mortgage Southfork.
“The Big Shut Down’s” climax – when J.R. signs the paperwork for his loan – even echoes “The Kristin Affair” scene where J.R. approves the deal that puts ownership of Southfork at risk. Both sequences take place in J.R.’s office and both end with him dismissing Vaughn’s ominous warnings. It’s less homage than outright retread.
“The Big Shut Down’s” other subplots feel just as familiar. In “Dallas’s” previous episode, “The Sweet Smell of Revenge,” the show seemed to go out of its way to suggest Pam’s depression wasn’t linked to her fertility problems. But in this installment, Pam is once again bemoaning her inability to have children. In the third act, she even recalls for Dr. Conrad the whole third-season storyline about her obsession with John Ross, reminding us how we’ve seen all this before.
Of course, not everything here is old news. “The Big Shut Down” marks one of the first appearances of Katherine Wentworth, who’ll go on to become one of the great “Dallas” vixens. Morgan Brittany is sublime in the role, right from the start. In this episode, I especially love Katherine’s deliciously bitchy reaction when she discovers Cliff has redecorated her daddy’s old office at Wentworth Tool and Die.
It’s the first time we encounter what becomes one of “Dallas’s” most enduring truisms: Never upset Katherine Wentworth!
Grade: B
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Her too
‘THE BIG SHUT DOWN’
Season 5, Episode 6
Airdate: November 13, 1981
Audience: 23.7 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis
Director: Leonard Katzman
Synopsis: Vaughn agrees to finance J.R.’s plot to cut off the Farlows’ oil supply. Jeff Farraday, the mysterious caller who contacted Bobby, sells him more information about Christopher. Pam meets Katherine. Donna steps in as Ray’s partner when Punk drops out of their latest venture.
Cast: Phillip Allen (Lloyd Bettinger), Tami Barber (Bev), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Deborah Benson (secretary), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Tom Fuccello (Senator Dave Culver), Robert Ginnaven (Chuck Williamson), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Laurence Haddon (Franklin Horner), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (Jeff Farraday), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), David Tress (Walter Sher), Edward Winter (Dr. Frank Waring), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“The Big Shut Down” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
The Art of Dallas: ‘The Sweet Smell of Revenge’
Bobby (Patrick Duffy) rescues a suicidal Pam (Victoria Principal) in this 1981 publicity shot from “The Sweet Smell of Revenge,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Don’t Want to Feel This Way’

Poor Pam
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “The Sweet Smell of Revenge,” Pam (Victoria Principal) is sitting in her bed at Dallas Memorial Hospital when Dr. Conrad (Gretchen Wyler) enters the room.
CONRAD: Mrs. Ewing? I’m Dr. Conrad. [Sits on the bed but Pam doesn’t look up] Perhaps you can tell me how you’re feeling right now.
PAM: [Makes eye contact, then looks away] Like nothing matters. Empty. Worthless. Like I’m dying or already dead.
CONRAD: I see. Where do you suppose these feelings come from?
PAM: [Makes eye contact, speaks sharply] I thought you were supposed to tell me that.
CONRAD: They’re your feelings.
PAM: [Looking away] I don’t know.
CONRAD: How long have you been feeling this way?
PAM: For a long time.
CONRAD: Do you know when the feelings began?
PAM: No. Not really. I think in one way, I’ve been feeling like this all the way back to when I was a little baby and –
CONRAD: And? What?
PAM: And my mother left me. [Angrily] Why did she do that? Leave a little baby? What did I do to deserve that? [Deflated] I’m sorry. I don’t mean that. I love my mother and it wasn’t her fault.
CONRAD: There’s always a lot of anger underneath any depression.
PAM: [Looks up, then away] You think I’m angry?
CONRAD: Well, I’m sure that wanting to stop the world and get off doesn’t come from feelings of sweetness and light. The important question is, what happened recently to arouse all those old feelings of hopelessness and futility? You have a good marriage, a loving husband, good job. You were feeling fine until just recently. And suddenly it all seems empty and futile. Why?
PAM: [Voice breaking] I don’t know why. I have these feelings and I don’t know why but I don’t want to feel this way anymore.
CONRAD: I know. That’s why we better start to find out why you do feel this way.
PAM: How do we do that?
CONRAD: Well, we might begin by trying to find out what it is in yourself that you’re trying so hard to kill off.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 82 – ‘The Sweet Smell of Revenge’

Saved, for now
I’ve always considered Pam’s mental breakdown in “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” to be out of character for her. The woman who tries to jump off a high-rise rooftop in this episode isn’t the strong, spirited heroine I fell for when “Dallas” began. On the other hand, the show deserves credit for taking a creative risk with this storyline – and Victoria Principal deserves praise for delivering a gutsy performance.
Mental illness wasn’t depicted a lot on television during this era – and when the subject was addressed, it was often played for laughs (see the patients on “The Bob Newhart Show”). “Dallas” breaks a little ground with Pam’s storyline, even if some of the language in Linda Elstad’s “Sweet Smell of Revenge” script – psychiatrist Dr. Conrad suggests depressed people are consumed with “self-hatred” – doesn’t quite jive with how we think of the disorder today.
For the most part, though, this episode feels progressive, especially when it comes to the reaction of Pam’s family members to her diagnosis. None of them judge or mock her (not even J.R.!), nor do they pity her; they just want her to get better. Above all, I appreciate how “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” stops trying to link Pam’s depression to her fertility problems, even if the show later reverses course and once again presents motherhood as the cure-all for Pam’s crisis.
Regardless, the best thing about “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” is Principal, who does some of her finest work on “Dallas” in this episode – particularly in the scene where Dr. Conrad meets Pam after her suicide attempt. Principal goes through an emotional gamut here – from numbness to anger to despair – yet she never goes overboard. It’s a really good performance.
Watching this scene, I thought about how Pam was one of television’s most popular heroines when this episode aired in 1981. I don’t know if Principal had qualms about the writers sending her character into such dark territory; maybe she welcomed the challenge. Whatever the case, the actress gives it her all. It’s hard not to admire that, no matter how I feel about the storyline itself.
Grade: B
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Mothers
‘THE SWEET SMELL OF REVENGE’
Season 5, Episode 5
Airdate: November 6, 1981
Audience: 22.3 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Linda Elstad
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Bobby has Pam committed to a sanitarium after she tries to jump off a building. Later, he receives a call from a man who wants $2,000 for information about Kristin and her infant son, Christopher. J.R. schemes to cut off the oil supply to the Farlow refineries. Ray and Punk consider a new real estate deal. Dr. Waring offers Mitch an internship.
Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Deborah Benson (secretary), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), J.R. Clark (Earl Holiday), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Laurence Haddon (Franklin Horner), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (caller), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), David Tress (Walter Sher), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“The Sweet Smell of Revenge” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.













