
Cruel and unusual
In “Shadow of a Doubt,” an eighth-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) comes home and begins fixing a drink in the living room as Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) comes down the stairs.
SUE ELLEN: Good evening. I’ve been waiting for you to come home.
J.R.: Well, I guess so. It’s like a morgue in here.
SUE ELLEN: Well, it is a little quiet with Miss Ellie and Clayton gone, and Pam and Lucy doing whatever she’s doing lately. She hardly comes out of her room at night.
J.R.: Well, it’ll never be like it was in the old days when everybody at the table was a Ewing. We got Farlows and Krebbs and well, even Lucy’s a Cooper still I guess, isn’t she? [Sue Ellen nods.] Yeah, it’s just you and me and Bobby left, that’s all. [Sips his drink]
SUE ELLEN: There is one more Ewing.
J.R.: What, John Ross? Well, I don’t count him as a Ewing yet.
SUE ELLEN: Well, I was thinking about Jamie.
J.R.: You don’t think I consider her a Ewing, do you?
SUE ELLEN: What I was about to say is that she and I went shopping today and we have a little surprise for you.
J.R.: She’s going back to Alaska?
SUE ELLEN: Stop that.
J.R.: [Chuckles] I’m just teasing, honey.
SUE ELLEN: Come on.
J.R.: All right, what is this surprise?
She takes him by the hand and leads him to the foyer. Jamie (Jenilee Harrison) comes down the stairs, dressed to the nines.
SUE ELLEN: Isn’t she beautiful?
J.R.: Well, it’s amazing what a few thousand dollars can do, isn’t it?
SUE ELLEN: Oh, J.R., what a terrible thing to say.
J.R.: Really? Well, what’s next? Are we going to cap her teeth?
JAMIE: There’s nothing wrong with my teeth.
J.R.: Well, I guess not. You’re sure taking a big enough bite out of the Ewing apple.
JAMIE: You know, I didn’t ask for any of this.
J.R.: Well, I know how hard it must have been for Sue Ellen to convince you to take it.
SUE ELLEN: As a matter of fact, it was.
J.R.: Well, congratulations, young lady, on finding yourself a real nice home.
JAMIE: You know, you’re really something. No wonder my daddy didn’t want to have anything to do with you.
J.R.: Well, it’s a shame you’re not more like him. [Jamie runs upstairs.] Now don’t go away mad.
SUE ELLEN: How can you be so cruel?
J.R.: Not cruel. Suspicious.
SUE ELLEN: I thought you had changed. But I still see a lot of the old J.R. — the one I hated.
He enters the dining room and takes a seat as Teresa (Roseanna Christiansen) enters.
TERESA: Will you be eating alone?
J.R.: Yeah, it seems like it, doesn’t it?
Watch this scene in “Shadow of a Doubt,” available on DVD and at Amazon and iTunes, and share your comments below.
It sure doesn’t sound at all right to hear JR say he doesn’t consider John Ross a Ewing yet. He normally fawns all over the boy…
I thought the same thing, Dan.
I can recommend a great orthodontist to Jamie Ewing, pardon me, she was Jamie Ewing.
I wonder if J.R. would pick up the tab?
Its good to look at & review old episodes of Dallas BUT SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE
PLEASE BRING THIS SHOW BACK! I cant understand why the millions of Dallas fans
are being ignored! You great writers & producers, please look at the wonderful opportunity to be a part of Dallas! And for you lesser known, put yourself on the map
and fill the hole left in our hearts while Dallas is still off the air! Does anybody feel me?
I feel you, Miss Green! (Not literally of course. …)