Opinion – Dallas Decoder

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 24 – ‘Sue Ellen’s Sister’

May 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 11 Comments

Colleen Camp, Dallas, Kristin Shepard, Sue Ellen's Sister

Little sister dontcha

If Sue Ellen could go back in time and give her younger self a good talking-to, the conversation would probably sound a lot like the lecture she delivers to Kristin at the beginning of “Sue Ellen’s Sister.”

In the scene, Kristin is resting on a float in the Southfork swimming pool and chatting with Sue Ellen, who is lounging nearby. The topic turns to the Ewings’ wealth, and Sue Ellen warns Kristin that “money is not the most important thing in the world.”

“That isn’t what you used to think,” Kristin says.

“I thought I could save you from repeating my mistakes,” Sue Ellen responds.

“This is a mistake?” Kristin asks, surveying their surroundings.

The exchange is part of “Dallas’s” effort to make Sue Ellen a more sympathetic character than she was at the beginning of second season, when the show depicted her as Southfork’s scheming lady-in-waiting.

While “Dallas” uses Kristin to plum the depths of Sue Ellen’s regret and reveal her caring, sisterly side, Kristin isn’t just a plot device. She turns out to be a pretty interesting character in her own right.

Frankly, some of this stems from the actress’s physical appearance: Colleen Camp is beautiful but in an unconventional way, lending credence to Kristin’s complaints in this episode about growing up as Sue Ellen’s “ugly duckling” kid sister.

Kristin is also a bit ironic: She dreams of marrying a rich man, but she could probably become wealthy on her own. She is planning to go to college to study architecture – she tells Bobby she’s “a great fan” of Louis Khan and I.M. Pei – and she is also clever, declaring her ace backgammon and tennis skills stem from the “geisha training” her mother puts her through.

“Sue Ellen’s Sister” marks Kristin’s final appearance until the third season, when Mary Crosby takes over the role and the character abandons her architectural ambitions for, um, lesser pursuits.

This lends “Sue Ellen’s Sister” unexpected poignancy, particularly in the scene where Bobby and Kristin frolic in the Southfork pool and he tells her she looks like a “drowned rat.”

On this show, have more prophetic words ever been spoken?

Grade: B

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Shark!

‘SUE ELLEN’S SISTER’

Season 2, Episode 19

Airdate: February 16, 1979

Audience: 15.7 million homes, ranking 23rd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: J.R. pushes Sue Ellen’s visiting sister Kristin Shepard into the arms of Bobby, who gently rebuffs her. Cliff makes Pam an unwitting accomplice in his attempt to sabotage a Ewing Oil deal. Bobby salvages the deal but Pam still refuses to come home.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Colleen Camp (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), John McLiam (Wally Kessel), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Sue Ellen’s Sister” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Colleen Camp, Mary Crosby, Sue Ellen’s Sister

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 23 – ‘The Red File, Part 2’

May 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 13 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Red File Part 2, Victoria Principal

Split decision

“The Red File, Part 2” plays a lot like a ’70s crime drama, with Bobby in the role of the dashing detective. He spends much of the episode tooling around town in his red convertible, chasing clues in his investigation into Julie’s death.

This installment also features some terrific “Perry Mason”-style legal theatrics, with the wonderful Walter Brooke commanding every courtroom scene as Cliff’s perpetually incredulous attorney, Cole Young. (Trivia: In “The Graduate,” Brooke portrayed Mr. McGuire, who famously advised Dustin Hoffman’s character to go into plastics.)

But “The Red File, Part 2” is mostly notable because the events of this episode change Bobby’s character, hardening his edges and forever altering his dynamic with J.R. The script demands a lot from Patrick Duffy, and he more than delivers. This is one of his best “Dallas” performances.

Bobby throws himself into his investigation not so much because he wants to clear Cliff’s name but because he needs to find out for himself how far J.R. is willing to sink. In the scene where Bobby confronts J.R. with the phony codicil to Jock’s will, Duffy makes Bobby’s indignation palpable. The character’s disappointment is downright heartbreaking.

The episode’s other pivotal scene comes at the end, when Bobby tells J.R., “For the first time in my life, I know exactly what you’re all about.”

This is the moment Bobby appoints himself J.R.’s guardian, the role he’ll occupy through the rest of “Dallas’s” run. It isn’t a job he wants, but after finally seeing J.R.’s red file, Bobby knows he’s the only member of the Ewing family with the moral compass – and the muscle – needed to keep his older brother in check.

It all culminates during “The Red File, Part 2’s” poignant finale, when Bobby tells Pam he isn’t willing to leave Southfork to save their marriage. The man who talked about wanting to “resign” from his family at the beginning of this episode knows that’s no longer an option, now that he’s charged himself with protecting the world from J.R.

Grade: A

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Cliff Barnes, Cole Young, Dallas, Ken Kercheval, Red File Part 2, Walter Brooke

Error and trial

‘THE RED FILE, PART 2’

Season 2, Episode 18

Airdate: February 9, 1979

Audience: 16.2 million homes, ranking 18th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: Cliff’s past is scrutinized at a hearing before his trial for Julie’s murder. Bobby uncovers J.R.’s red file and uses it to clear Cliff and squelch J.R.’s scheme to forge Jock’s will. Pam tells Bobby she isn’t ready to return to Southfork.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Walter Brooke (Cole Young), Jordan Charney (Lieutenant Sutton), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), John Harkins (Judge Potter), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), John Petlock (Dan Marsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charles Siebert (Assistant District Attorney Sloan), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames)

“The Red File, Part 2” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Patrick Duffy, Red File Part 2, Walter Brooke

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 22 – ‘The Red File, Part 1’

May 1, 2012 by Chris Baker 13 Comments

Dallas, Julie Grey, Red File Part 1, Tina Louise

Dead woman’s dive

MURDER OR SUICIDE?

I love the Dallas Press’s screaming headline in “The Red File, Part 1.” When Jock sits down at the Southfork breakfast table and cracks open that newspaper, I crack up.

Why does the demise of Julie, an unemployed secretary, merit a front-page, all-caps banner? What’s with the glamour shot that accompanies the story? And what crackerjack reporter got the story of Julie’s late-night death in the paper – and on page 1, no less – in time for the next day’s morning edition?

As for the question the headline poses, we may think we know the answer – Julie’s death was neither murder nor suicide; she slipped and fell – but I’m not sure it’s that cut-and-dried.

Director Leonard Katzman shoots her death scene at night, shrouding the actors in darkness, so it’s hard to see what happens in the seconds after Julie breaks out of Willie Joe’s grip and the moment she goes airborne.

What if she jumps?

Consider this: Julie is pretty distraught when she goes to the rooftop – and she knows Jeb and Willie Joe are going to kill her anyway – so what if she makes a split-second decision to do herself in?

Also, consider how Jock matter-of-factly announces her death at the Southfork breakfast table. Didn’t he almost have an affair with Julie in the previous episode?

J.R.’s reaction is also oddly muted. Yes, when he learns about Julie’s death, he retreats to the Southfork den, pours himself a stiff one (it’s breakfast time!) and looks glum, but he recovers soon enough. Within hours, J.R. is hatching a plot to frame Cliff for Julie’s death.

If he really cared about this woman, wouldn’t he want to find her real killers?

Maybe Jock and J.R.’s reactions tell us what Julie already knew: In the end, after all those years of service to the Ewings, she simply didn’t matter that much to them.

Grade: B

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Bobby Ewing, Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Red File Part 1

Which is it?

‘THE RED FILE, PART 1’

Season 2, Episode 17

Airdate: February 2, 1979

Audience: 13.9 million homes, ranking 30th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: Cliff becomes the state’s land-use chief. Julie dies during a rooftop confrontation with Jeb and Willie Joe, who don’t want her to expose their secrets. When Cliff is arrested for Julie’s murder, Pam believes J.R. framed him and leaves Southfork.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Fred Beir (Ben Maxwell), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), James Brown (Detective Harry McSween), Jordan Charney (Lieutenant Sutton), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), John Petlock (Dan Marsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames), Charles Wilder Young (Charlie Waters)

“The Red File, Part 1” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Leonard Katzman, Red File Part 1

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 21 – ‘Julie’s Return’

April 30, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Julie Grey, Julie's Return, Tina Louise

It’s just lunch

Julie Grey is “Dallas’s” most aptly named character. She inhabits a world with no absolutes, where nothing is only black or only white. Julie is all gray.

In “Julie’s Return,” J.R.’s onetime mistress and secretary blows back into town and renews her friendship with Jock. Like she did with J.R., Julie becomes Jock’s confidante, giving him the ego boost he needs as he recovers from the heart attack he suffered at the beginning of the second season.

In this episode’s best scene, Miss Ellie summons Julie to Southfork to find out why she is spending so much time with Jock. Julie tells her they are close friends.

“Our relationship is not what you thought it was,” Julie says.

“No, Julie. It’s far more serious,” Ellie responds.

Aside from being a great moment of domestic soap opera, this conversation reminds us how Julie, in the first-season episode “Spy in the House,” fails to recognize her relationship with J.R. is toxic until it’s too late. The pattern continues here: Julie refuses to acknowledge her friendship with Jock is inappropriate.

If a lesser actress played Julie, the audience would probably resent the character for coming between Jock and Ellie, but Tina Louise’s sympathetic performance makes that impossible. We don’t root for Julie here, but we recognize her humanity.

Listen to how Julie describes her relationship with Jock during her conversation with Miss Ellie: “For that man to need my friendship, to want my company, you don’t know what that means to me.” This is a woman who finds validation in her relationships with men. It’s sad.

Julie has a lot in common with another woman on “Dallas:” Sue Ellen. Is it a coincidence J.R.’s wife and mistress both suffer from such achingly low self-esteem?

Just as Julie and Sue Ellen remind me of each other, the Julie/Jock/Ellie triangle makes me realize how closely “Julie’s Return” mirrors “Old Acquaintance,” an earlier second-season episode.

In both installments, a Ewing wife (Pam in “Old Acquaintance,” Ellie in “Julie’s Return”) feels threatened when her husband (Bobby, Jock) begins spending his free time with a woman from his past (Jenna, Julie).

“Dallas” acknowledges these parallels in “Julie’s Return” when Pam confronts a weepy Ellie in her bedroom and urges her to fight for her marriage. It’s a great scene and another reason why this episode is among the second season’s strongest.

Grade: A

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She’s baaack

‘JULIE’S RETURN’

Season 2, Episode 16

Airdate: January 26, 1979

Audience: 14.8 million homes, ranking 32nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Rena Down

Director: Les Martinson

Synopsis: Julie returns to Dallas and renews her friendship with Jock. With Miss Ellie’s prodding, Jock ends the relationship, sending Julie back into J.R.’s arms.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Richard Roat (Victor), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Kenneth White (Seth Stone)

“Julie’s Return” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Julie’s Return, Old Acquaintance, Spy in the House, Tina Louise

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 20 – ‘For Love or Money’

April 27, 2012 by Chris Baker 18 Comments

Cliff Barnes, Dallas, For Love or Money, Ken Kercheval, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

End of the affair

The theme of “For Love or Money” is how relationships are like child’s play. Throughout the episode, the Ewings and Barneses mimic schoolyard behavior – not because “Dallas” wants to trivialize the characters and their situations, but because it wants to put them in a context the audience can understand.

The story gets underway when Sue Ellen lunches with her girlfriends at a posh hotel, where she regales them with tales of her perfect marriage. Everyone knows Sue Ellen is lying, but they humor her the way amused parents indulge children who fib.

The charade continues when the women are leaving the hotel and one spots J.R. in the lobby with a pretty blonde. “You know, if Sue Ellen hadn’t told us J.R. was in Austin, I’d have sworn that was him,” one of the girlfriends “whispers” to another. Sue Ellen pretends not to hear.

That evening, Sue Ellen confronts J.R., but he refuses to agree to stop philandering, so she leaves Southfork and spends the night with Cliff. The next morning, it’s J.R.’s turn to play make-believe: Miss Ellie notices Sue Ellen’s car is missing from the driveway and asks where she has gone so early. J.R. lies and says his wife is off doing “ladies’ things” with her visiting mother, Patricia.

Allusions to other childhood pursuits abound. Sue Ellen hides in Cliff’s bathroom when Pam drops by his apartment. When Cliff buys a suit at The Store and tells Pam he wants to look like “a winner,” it’s not unlike a child playing dress-up. The building models in his office resemble toy blocks.

There’s even some follow-the-leader-style parroting: In the episode’s final moments, Cliff ends his affair with Sue Ellen by quoting J.R.

“Maybe I’ve got to learn to play the other man’s game,” Cliff says.

“So that’s what it is, just a game?” Sue Ellen tearfully asks. “The winner takes the marbles and goes home? Is that what I am – just the marbles?”

Linda Gray’s performance here is heartbreakingly beautiful, and so is Leonard Katzman’s dialogue. More than anything else in “For Love or Money,” this scene reminds us that when the Ewings play games, no one really wins.

Grade: A

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Master of the game

‘FOR LOVE OR MONEY’

Season 2, Episode 15

Airdate: January 14, 1979

Audience: 14.6 million homes, ranking 33rd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Leonard Katzman

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Sue Ellen leaves J.R. and moves in with her mother Patricia and younger sister Kristin, who’ve moved to Dallas to be close to Sue Ellen during her pregnancy. Sue Ellen reunites with Cliff, but when J.R. warns him having an affair with a married woman could ruin his political career, Cliff dumps her and she returns to J.R.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Fred Beir (Ben Maxwell), Colleen Camp (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), John Petlock (Dan Marsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Martha Scott (Patricia Shepard), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“For Love or Money” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: For Love or Money, Leonard Katzman, Linda Gray

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 19 – ‘Home Again’

April 26, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

Dallas, Garrison Southworth, Gene Evans, Home Again

Missing heir

I can’t watch “Home Again” these days without thinking about “Downton Abbey,” PBS’s hit British soap opera. Both shows feature land-and-lineage stories that entertain but also baffle.

In “Downton Abbey,” a World War I-era nobleman is legally prohibited from leaving his estate to his daughters because, well, they’re daughters. It’s an odd concept for American audiences to grasp, but “Dallas’s” take on patriarchalism is even harder to understand.

In “Home Again,” when Miss Ellie’s long-believed dead brother Garrison Southworth turns up alive, she offers to give him Southfork because she feels he’s the rightful owner.

It seems Ellie inherited the ranch only after Garrison, the intended heir, was lost at sea. “My daddy made Garrison the sole heir,” Ellie tells Jock and her sons. “But that’s the way things were done in those days, father to son. Daughters, daughters always came second. It was my daddy’s wish that Garrison have the ranch. My conscience won’t let me do differently.”

Sorry, “Dallas.” I’m not buying it.

Ellie may feel bad about Garrison missing out on his inheritance, but this is her home, not a family heirloom. It’s a bit much to ask the audience to believe the character would give away Southfork so easily.

My guess is the “Dallas” writers came up with the “Home Again” storyline to show how Ellie is more principled than the rest of her cutthroat family, but the plot just doesn’t work. How can we respect Ellie’s desire to do right by her brother when it means giving the rest of her family the shaft?

I might be more willing to forgive the unconvincing plotting if “Dallas” used “Home Again” as a jumping off point to explore sexism, but the show never really goes there. We never find out, for example, how progressive Pam feels about Ellie’s decision.

Of course, “Home Again” has its strengths, beginning with Gene Evans’ fiery turn as Garrison. The actor proves to be an effective foil for Jim Davis and Larry Hagman.

It’s too bad Garrison didn’t stick around longer. He might have made an interesting addition to Southfork – just not as its owner.

Grade: B

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Big brother’s house

‘HOME AGAIN’

Season 2, Episode 14

Airdate: January 7, 1979

Audience: 19.1 million homes, ranking 11th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Don McDougall

Synopsis: Miss Ellie’s brother Garrison Southworth, whom she believed died 40 years ago, visits Southfork. Ellie considers Garrison the rightful heir to Southfork and offers him ownership of the ranch, but he reveals he’s come home to die.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Gene Evans (Aaron Southworth), Melinda Fee (Cathy Baker), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Michael McManus (Matt), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Charles Wilder Young (Charlie Watters)

“Home Again” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Gene Evans, Home Again, Jim Davis, Larry Hagman

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 18 – ‘Kidnapped’

April 25, 2012 by Chris Baker 4 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Kidnapped, Patrick Duffy

Bobby, trapped!

New rule: If you’re watching “Dallas” and a Ewing becomes a crime victim before the second act, chances are it’s going to be a lackluster episode.

So far, crooks and lowlifes have been front and center in three installments: The first-season episode “Winds of Vengeance” (two working Joes hold the Ewings at gunpoint and threaten to rape the women), the second-season entry “Runaway” (a robber makes Lucy his reluctant accomplice) and now “Kidnapped” (three abductors hold Bobby hostage).

The first of these segments is actually pretty good. The other two? Not so much.

The problem is “Dallas’s” depiction of criminals. They’re almost always straight-from-central-casting villains who specialize in evil cackling and corny one-liners.

In “Kidnapped,” the bad guys think they’re nabbing J.R. when they tail his Mercedes and force it to come to a stop on a dusty Texas back road. They’re surprised to learn Bobby is behind the wheel, having borrowed his older brother’s car after his own vehicle got a flat tire.

“Our luck!” exclaims Fay, one of the kidnappers, while laughing uproariously. “We may have the wrong goose – but he can still lay the golden egg!”

“Kidnapped” isn’t as awful as “Runaway.” Patrick Duffy does a nice job making Bobby more vulnerable than usual, and I appreciate how the show uses Cliff as the intermediary between the Ewings and the kidnappers. It’s a clever way to involve Cliff in the story and add drama to the scenes of the family awaiting word on Bobby’s fate.

This plot device also lends “Kidnapped” some historical significance: This is the first episode where Larry Hagman and Ken Kercheval share scenes.

Today, we remember J.R. and Cliff’s bitter feud as one of “Dallas’s” defining conflicts, so it’s surprising to remember it took 18 episodes to bring them face-to-face.

Cliff also figures into “Kidnapped’s” best moment: when Jock and Miss Ellie wish him luck before he departs to deliver the ransom.

“You bring my son home safe, I’ll be grateful to you forever,” Ellie tells Cliff.

For a woman whose husband is holding a bag with more than $1 million in cash, those words prove mighty cheap.

Grade: C

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Cliff Barnes, Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Ken Kercheval, Larry Hagman

Face to face, at last

‘KIDNAPPED’

Season 2, Episode 13

Airdate: December 17, 1978

Audience: 16.5 million homes, ranking 18th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Lawrence Dobkin

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Byron Clark (Tom), Stephen Davies (Will Hart), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Bob Hoy (Mahoney), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Paul Koslo (Al Parker), Kelly Jean Peters (Fay Parker), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

Synopsis: A trio of kidnappers hold Bobby hostage for $1.5 million. Cliff delivers the money and secures Bobby’s release, but they’re almost shot when J.R., Ray and several ranch hands ambush the kidnappers.

“Kidnapped” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Ken Kercheval, Kidnapped, Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Runaway, Winds of Vengeance

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 17 – ‘Fallen Idol’

April 24, 2012 by Chris Baker 9 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Fallen Idol, Guzzler Bennett, Richard Kelton

Guzzler rising

“Fallen Idol” arrives halfway during “Dallas’s” second season, and while we know the characters pretty well at this point, this episode demonstrates how they still manage to surprise us.

One of the best moments comes during the third act, when J.R.’s underhanded cronies Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr show up at his office to complain about Bobby’s plan to build a shopping center on Southfork. Their gripe: Bobby’s project will be constructed on Section 40, the oil-soaked tract where J.R., Jeb and Willie Joe secretly plan to drill when Jock dies.

“If you don’t stop Bobby, I’ll stop him,” Jeb snarls to J.R.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” J.R. asks.

“You know damn well what it means.”

And then: Pow!

J.R pops Jeb in the mouth, sending the creep staggering backwards.

“Don’t you ever threaten my brother,” J.R. says. “Or any other Ewing.”

Seeing J.R. knock the sneer off Jeb’s face reveals a side to him we haven’t seen before. It’s nice to know he cares about someone other than himself.

In another unexpected twist, J.R. invites Pam to lunch to enlist her help in stopping Bobby from doing business with Guzzler Bennett, a shady pal from Bobby’s college football days.

It’s fun to see J.R. turn to Pam, one of his greatest adversaries, for help. My favorite part: When a skeptical Pam asks J.R. how she is supposed to persuade Bobby to drop his construction project, J.R. responds, “You’re a very clever woman, Pam. You’ll think of something.” Delicious.

Scriptwriter Arthur Bernard Lewis saves “Fallen Idol’s” best moment for the end, when we learn Bobby has known all along about Guzzler’s troubled past but is willing to go along with the construction project anyway.

Of all the twists in “Fallen Idol,” this is the niftiest. We realize Bobby is smarter than he seemed, but we’re also relieved to know he wasn’t going to turn his back on a friend in need. It’s an unexpected discovery, yet it’s also perfectly in keeping with what we know about our hero.

“Fallen Idol’s” other high point: Miss Ellie’s soliloquy near the end of the episode, when Bobby tries to justify his construction project by telling her the shopping center will be built on “land we never use.”

“Does everything have to be used?” Ellie responds. “Can’t some things just be? Stay the way they’ve always been? Do we have to change everything we touch? Does it really make things better that way?”

Unlike “Fallen Idol’s” many surprises, solemn, stare-off-into-space speeches like this are exactly what we’ve come to expect from Miss Ellie.

Would we want it any other way?

Grade: B

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Mall in the family

‘FALLEN IDOL’

Season 2, Episode 12

Airdate: December 3, 1978

Audience: 16.3 million homes, ranking 23rd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Vincent McEveety

Synopsis: Bobby brings a partner into his construction business: Guzzler Bennett, his old college chum. Miss Ellie reluctantly gives them permission to build a shopping center on Southfork but Guzzler turns out to be a fraud and leaves Dallas.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Richard Kelton (Guzzler Bennett), John Petlock (Dan Marsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames)

“Fallen Idol” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Arthur Bernard Lewis, Fallen Idol

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 16 – ‘Triangle’

April 23, 2012 by Chris Baker 11 Comments

Dallas, Garnet McGee, Kate Mulgrew, Triangle

Honky-tonk angel

“Triangle” is an episode about a country-western singer, and it plays out like an old-fashioned country-western song. Hearts are broken, dreams are dashed and before all is said and done, Ray nearly tells the Ewings to take their job and shove it.

Kate Mulgrew is mesmerizing as Garnet McGee, the rising star who gets caught between Ray and J.R. Mulgrew looks like a glammed-up Patsy Cline and sounds a bit like her, too. This is Garnet’s only appearance on “Dallas,” but Mulgrew makes such a strong impression, the character is referred to periodically throughout the show’s run, including during the series finale.

“Dallas” probably wants the audience to dislike Garnet after she cheats on Ray, but I’m willing to cut her some slack. After all, Garnet is trying to make it in showbiz – “a life of hard work and terrible disappointment,” as Miss Ellie describes it – and it’s not like she isn’t upfront with Ray about her priorities.

Consider the scene where Ray asks her to elope and she turns him down, citing her weekend singing engagements. Garnet is direct (“I can’t afford a reputation for running out on club dates”), but Ray is both dismissive (“It’s only a weekend”) and manipulative (“You don’t want to marry me. That’s it, isn’t it?”).

J.R. and Garnet’s revealing pillow talk also makes me sympathetic toward her.

After she sleeps with him to get a record deal, she notes their similarities. “You’re just the way I am,” she says. “Maybe a little worse. And not the least bit ashamed of it.” The implication: Ray isn’t the first man who has made Garnet feel bad about her own ambition.

A similar theme is explored during an earlier second-season episode, “Black Market Baby,” when Bobby objects to Pam’s desire to delay motherhood so she can pursue a career. In “Triangle,” Pam doesn’t seem to begrudge Garnet’s aspirations, but she clearly doesn’t approve of her methods.

During the Southfork party scene, Pam accuses Garnet of using Ray “until something better comes along.” Garnet, alluding to Pam’s romance with Ray before she married Bobby, responds, “Didn’t you?”

Meow! So much for sisterhood.

Of course, even if Garnet and Pam are bitchy to each other, at least they know there’s more to life than standing by your man.

Grade: A

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Cheatin’ hearts

‘TRIANGLE’

Season 2, Episode 11

Airdate: November 26, 1978

Audience: 13.2 million homes, ranking 39th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Vincent McEveety

Synopsis: Ray falls for country singer Garnet McGee, who rejects his marriage proposal to focus on her career. She sleeps with J.R. to get a record deal, and when a heartbroken Ray discovers her infidelity, he ends their relationship.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Edward Call (Sam Gurney), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Michael Dudikoff (Joe Newcomb), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Harry Middlebrooks (Mervin), Kate Mulgrew (Garnet McGee), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Triangle” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Kate Mulgrew, Triangle

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 15 – ‘Act of Love’

April 20, 2012 by Chris Baker 6 Comments

Act of Love, Cliff Barnes, Dallas, Ken Kercheval, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

Bad romance

“Act of Love” is the first “Dallas” script penned by Leonard Katzman, who becomes the show’s auteur, writing and directing more episodes than anyone else. It proves to be an inauspicious debut.

My main gripe: When the episode begins, Sue Ellen and Cliff have been sleeping with each other for six weeks, so we never see the first time they consummate their relationship – a big letdown given how much time “Dallas” spends laying the groundwork for their affair.

To make matters worse, Katzman’s plotting is a bit sitcommy.

It seems Bobby is wooing a client for his construction business and needs Pam to help him charm the man, whom Bobby’s business associate describes as an old-money conservative who “places just as much importance on a man’s personal life as he does on his professional.”

But Pam has a dilemma: Her boss Liz Craig has invited her on a business trip to Paris, which would prevent Pam from helping hubby entertain his client. What’s a wife to do?

There’s even a “Three’s Company”-style misunderstanding. Pam asks Sue Ellen to lunch but is vague about the reason for the invitation, saying only “it’s important that we talk.” Sue Ellen, suspecting Pam has found out about her affair with Cliff, accepts the invitation and is perturbed to discover Pam only wants advice on entertaining Bobby’s client. “You don’t mean to tell me that you have brought me in to lunch with you to talk about having a party?” Sue Ellen fumes.

(An aside: What’s with Victoria Principal’s Texas accent in this scene? It hasn’t been this thick since the first season!)

Of course, “Act of Love” isn’t altogether bad. The final scene, when J.R. questions Sue Ellen about her pregnancy, is nicely written and performed, although I cringe when J.R. slaps her. In 1978, this may have been an acceptable way to demonstrate J.R.’s anger. Not today.

I also like director Corey Allen’s handheld camerawork in the opening breakfast scene, when the younger Ewings rush off to work and school, leaving Jock and Miss Ellie alone, as well as the fisheye lens Allen uses when Pam and Liz ride the elevator at The Store.

Allen’s willingness to experiment isn’t enough to save Katzman’s script, but it makes me wish the show had used the director’s talents more frequently.

Grade: C

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Fisheye!

‘ACT OF LOVE’

Season 2, Episode 10

Airdate: November 12, 1978

Audience: 12.1 million homes, ranking 41st in the weekly ratings

Writer: Leonard Katzman

Director: Corey Allen

Synopsis: The Ewings are overjoyed when they learn Sue Ellen is pregnant. Privately, Sue Ellen isn’t sure if the father is J.R. or Cliff, with whom she is having an affair. When J.R. questions her, she tells him he probably is the father.

Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Nicolas Coster (Joe Morris), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Act of Love” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.