Lost son
In “The Furious and the Fast,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, John Ross (Josh Henderson) is sitting alone in the Ewing Energies conference room at night when he receives a phone call from J.R. (Larry Hagman).
J.R.: Tell me what you know, John Ross.
JOHN ROSS: Christopher won the damn race. And don’t bother with the lecture because there’s nothing you could tell me that I haven’t already told myself. But there’s a play to be made with the woman at the DCT. We can fix this.
J.R.: Well, I’m glad to hear that. Don’t you worry, son. I’ve got a plan. It’s going to be my masterpiece – because you shouldn’t have to pay for my sins.
JOHN ROSS: What do you mean?
J.R.: Just remember: I’m proud of you. You’re my son, from tip to tail.
JOHN ROSS: Thank you, Daddy. It means a whole lot for me to hear you say that. [He hears two gunshots.] J.R.? Hello? Dad! Dad! [Softly] Dad?
Dallas Decoder 
It is surreal. I’m almost feeling numb. It’s like I went through all my mourning of Larry Hagman, but now I’m starting over as I begin to mourn “J.R. Ewing,” y’know?
Yep, J.R., I know exactly how you feel. I’m feeling the same way. We’ll get through this together!
I’ve read some spoilers for the episode. Apparently the final scenes are @ a private memorial with just the family @ J.R.’s grave, and it’s supposed to be really somber and heartbreaking. I’m both eagerly anticipating and absolutely dreading watching it, if you know what I mean.
I’m really disappointed to see the spoilers leaking. And yes, J.R., I absolutely know what you mean.
It is surreal!!!!! Next week is going to be so hard to actually have to say goodbye to a character that has entertained me for almost 30 years. That last dad….ohhhhh. makes me cry..even reading the scene. :((((
i am so glad that his last conversation was with John Ross and that it was one of love.
That sure was a tender scene. The way John Ross’s voice echoed at the very end when the screen went black was perfect. It feels like Larry’s death has left a huge black hole right in the middle of Dallas and that scene visualized it. I really don’t know who shot him, there are so many possibles. The foot steps coming into the room sounded heavy though, which makes me inclined to believe it was a man. I hope we get to find out and they do not leave it unsolved.
The black hole — great observation, TSEE. Thank you! I love your writing and always appreciate receiving comments from you. Thanks!
Chris
Oh thank you kindly. This is a nice place to visit and get my Dallas on!
Thanks. Please keep visiting!
This scene was so heart breaking . I so glad John Ross is the last person J.R talked too.But to hear your father shot is bad.Josh Henderson acting was wonderful. I love you J.R and will miss you so much
I feel the same way, Ellen. Josh did a great job and I love J.R. I’ll never stop missing him.
huge jr fan i love him. iam considered the jr of my family; he will be missed i think he should be honored at the daytime emmys this year. and i hope the find who killed him maybe it was the first pam or even katherine wentworth
Thank you for your comment. I agree: Hagman should be honored at the Emmys, either with a tribute or with an award for his performance during the final season of the show. At the very least, he should be nominated.
Dallas and JR Will stay forever as a Link to my childhood and to my parents…
The new Dallas is simply great and HAS to stay!.
I agree!
Well this certainly is a very pivotal scene in the history of the new show. There is no getting around that. But due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control it isn’t a very good scene. Now Josh Henderson gives us his all and I love his performance. But Larry’s side of it is spliced together clippings and it feels like it.
This begs the question: which method of keeping a deceased actor alive was better? With Jim Davis it was done with weeks and weeks of one sided phone conversations. With Larry it was done be cleaning up scraps and creatively re-splicing them in an attempt to make something out of nothing. In the case of the Larry scenes I personally find that no amount of editing can make them feel anything but manufactured. The lines are still unnatural and disjointed.
It sure is sad circumstances that raises a question like this in the first place.
Yes, it was a less than ideal situation,and there was no getting around the fact that some parts of J.R.’s dialog (“it’s gonna be my masterpiece,” “you shouldn’t have to pay for my sins,” etc.) and that final shot with the surprised looking on his face were from previous episodes that we’d already seen, but I’m willing to cut the show some slack for that, and it really depends on how they follow up on this story, which is supposed to take the rest of the season to resolve, to see if it was worth it.
Me too, J.R. Thanks!
I agree it’s disjointed, Dan, but I still think it turned out much better than anyone could have hoped. Did you watch “The Sopranos”? Nancy Marchand’s posthumous CGI-generated final appearance as Olivia Soprano was grotesque. (Or at least that’s how I remember it.)
Chris,
Never saw an episode of the Sopranos so that is lost on me.
I guess I’m trying to say that now that technology to do what they did exists doesn’t mean they should have done it. Maybe the one sided phone calls of Jock was better.
I see your point Dan.
I wonder what other readers think? Come on, gang: Weigh in with your thoughts on J.R.’s final scene.
Great review of the scene. THey did what they had to do to get it and it was nicer to learn the details that you provided. In reality, when something crazy like that happens, it does seem surreal. I never was on the telephone anyone who had been murdered during the call. Tragic events happen that do not make any sense to the people witnessing the event, even as it happens. J.R. Ewing is dead. Does this bring closure? I hope not. Hats off to Josh Henderson. My opinion of how he plays John Ross is that he wants to be the biggest big shot, he wants to be super rich, and yet he still has a little “trailer park” in him.
Ha ha. Thanks Jump.