Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘It’ll Never Be the Same, Bob’

The mirror has two faces

In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Head of the Family,”  J.R. (Larry Hagman) sits on his bed drinking when Bobby (Patrick Duffy) enters and holds open the door.

J.R.: Well, Bob, I distinctly remember your room being down the hall. [Sips his drink]

BOBBY: Where were you tonight?

J.R.: Would you lay off about dinner?

BOBBY: It’s not about dinner. You think you’re the only one mourning Daddy, don’t you?

J.R.: Get the hell out of here, would you?

BOBBY: Well you’re not! [Slams the door behind him, steps into the room and rests his hand on a cabinet, looking away from J.R.] I miss him too. But I know what he’d want if he were alive. He’d want his boys up and doing. [Faces J.R.] And that includes running Ewing Oil the way he ran it.

J.R.: Bobby, the man is dead. It doesn’t matter anymore.

BOBBY: [Slams his fist on the cabinet] It does matter! If you let Ewing Oil die of neglect, you kill off everything he ever worked for.

J.R.: Leave me alone, will you? [Takes another sip]

BOBBY: J.R., I’m doing everything I can. I need your cooperation. [Steps closer to the bed] And I’m hamstrung by Daddy’s letter and I think you know that. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of covering up for you. So do your job, damn you. [Grabs J.R., drags him to the mirror]

J.R.: Hey, hey.

BOBBY: Come here. Now look at yourself. Daddy didn’t build this company just for you and me. [Grabs a framed photograph of John Ross, shows it to J.R.] He expected it to be around for his grandkids. Maybe their kids too. [Slams the frame against J.R.’s chest] Get off your butt, J.R. We’ve got work to do. [Walks toward the door, opens it]

J.R.: It’ll never be the same, Bob.

BOBBY: Maybe it won’t. That’s no reason to do what you’re doing. If this family quits just because he’s gone, he didn’t leave us very much, did he? Some day you may want to tell John Ross just what his granddaddy spent his whole life building. How do you plan on doing that, J.R.? [He exits, leaving J.R. looking at the picture.]