Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘This House is Still Jock’s House’

Deny thy mama

In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Denial,” Bobby (Patrick Duffy) enters the Southfork kitchen, where Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) holds a coffee cup.

ELLIE: Good morning, Bobby. I just made some coffee. Would you like some? And there’s juice in the refrigerator if you’d like it. [Touches his shoulder]

BOBBY: [Walks away] No, Mama, thank you. I don’t want anything.

ELLIE: What’s the matter, Bobby?

BOBBY: [Sits at the table] Mama, we have to talk.

ELLIE: [Sits across from him, serious] All right. What about?

BOBBY: Mama, we have to be realistic. Daddy is not coming back. And we all have to face that. Mama, you know how proud Daddy always was of Ewing Oil. Well, we can’t continue to run it the way he would have wanted it run – unless we settle things, legally and properly.

ELLIE: What are you saying, Bobby?

BOBBY: Mama, we have to go ahead with that hearing – and have Daddy declared legally dead.

ELLIE: [Crying] No. No. [Stands, walks toward the counter, rests her hands on it, turns to Bobby] This house is still Jock’s house. [Steps away] This family is Jock’s family. [Steps closer] You’re Jock’s son. And I’m Jock’s woman. And the rules we live by are the rules he made. And that’s the way it will be. [Walks away, stops, rests on the counter] He’s alive, Bobby.

BOBBY: [Stands] Mama!

ELLIE: As long as I believe he’s alive, he’s alive.