Dallas Decoder

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Not This Time, Barnes’

May 14, 2012 by Chris Baker 1 Comment

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Patrick Duffy, Whatever Happened to Baby John Part 2

You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry

In “Whatever Happened to Baby John, Part 2,” a third-season “Dallas” episode, Cliff and Pam (Ken Kercheval, Victoria Principal) are talking in his apartment when there is a knock at the door. Cliff opens it, revealing an angry Bobby (Patrick Duffy).

CLIFF: Wait a minute, before you start swinging, let’s talk.

BOBBY: Not this time, Barnes. This time, you’ve gone too far. [Enters and slams the door behind him]

PAM: Bobby –

BOBBY: And you knew he was here all along, didn’t you?

CLIFF: Wait a minute, I just got here. Can’t we talk?

PAM: He didn’t know anything about it.

BOBBY: You’d swear he could walk on water if he told you!

PAM: That’s not fair! Would you wait a minute?

CLIFF: I want my son, I’m gonna have him. I did not – I repeat – I did not kidnap him. [Bobby moves toward him, Cliff steps back] Now wait a minute, you can push me around the room all you want but that’s not going to solve anything. I think we should try to figure out who indeed took him. [Bobby growls and moves closer still.]

PAM: For God’s sake, listen to him!

CLIFF: I swear I did not kidnap him. I wasn’t even in Dallas.

PAM: He’s telling the truth.

CLIFF: Let’s stop wasting time. We can be at each other’s throats tomorrow but today – for today – let’s try to find my boy.

BOBBY: Okay.

CLIFF: Okay.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Ken Kercheval, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 2

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 31 – ‘Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 2’

May 14, 2012 by Chris Baker 4 Comments

Dallas, John Ross Ewing, Whatever Happened to Baby John Part 2

Gone baby gone

One thing about the Ewings is certain: These people believe in doing things for themselves. When emergencies arise, the Ewings don’t dial the police, an ambulance or even a lawyer – they call each other.

Maybe this reflects the rugged, pioneering spirit the family represents, or maybe it reflects life after Watergate, when the nation’s faith in society’s institutions was shaken. Whatever the reason, the Ewings’ can-do spirit sometimes defies logic.

In “Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 2,” when newly paroled Jeb Ames contacts J.R. and tells him he and fellow parolee Willie Joe Garr have taken baby John, J.R. doesn’t call the cops – he instructs banker Vaughn Leland to get him the $1 million he needs to pay the ransom.

Later, when an angry Bobby tells Pam he believes Cliff took the baby, Bobby doesn’t take his suspicions to law enforcement – he shows up on Cliff’s doorstep.

This might be the episode’s silliest scene. Bobby enters Cliff’s apartment, slams the door behind him, suggests Cliff is responsible for the kidnapping and growls at him – twice. It’s almost as if Patrick Duffy has turned into a paler version of the monster on “The Incredible Hulk,” one of “Dallas’s” Friday night companion series in the 1970s.

Eventually, Bobby, Pam and Cliff – looking a bit like “Dallas’s” version of “The Mod Squad” – head to the hospital, where they snoop around and discover baby John was taken by Priscilla Duncan, a mentally disturbed woman whose own infant died recently.

When Bobby and Pam bring baby John home, Rollins, the Dallas police detective who has been investigating the kidnapping, steps aside so the couple can enter the living room. It’s a symbolic gesture, signifying his deference to Texas’s first family of do-it-yourself crime-fighting.

Don’t feel bad, detective. The Ewings create a lot of work for your department. Be thankful they’re willing to pitch in and help clean up their own messes.

Grade: B

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Who’ll J.R. shoot?

‘WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JOHN? PART 2’

Season 3, Episode 2

Airdate: September 28, 1979

Audience: 16.7 million homes, ranking 10th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: Newly paroled Jeb and Willie Joe tell J.R. they have baby John and demand a $1 million ransom. Pam determines the child was actually kidnapped by a woman whose own infant recently died. Bobby and Pam bring baby John home to Southfork.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jocelyn Brando (Mrs. Reeves), Maryedith Burrell (Nurse Barker), Jordan Charney (Detective Rollins), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Sheila Larken (Priscilla Duncan), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Cliff Murdock (Lieutenant Simpson), John O’Leary (Dr. Freilich), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames)

“Whatever Happened to Baby John? 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: Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 2

The Art of Dallas: ‘Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1’

May 11, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

J.R. and Sue Ellen (Larry Hagman, Linda Gray) are seen in this 1979 publicity shot from “Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1,”“Dallas’s” third-season opener.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Am No Longer for Sale’

May 11, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

Dallas, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing, Whatever Happened to Baby John Part 1

Oh, snap!

In “Whatever Happened to Baby John, Part 1,” “Dallas’s” third-season opener, J.R. (Larry Hagman) sits next to Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who is lounging near the Southfork pool, reading Texas Homes magazine.

J.R.: Darling, I wish you’d try and take a little more interest in things.

SUE ELLEN: Interest? In what?

J.R.: Well, to start with, our child.

SUE ELLEN: [Flips a page] I don’t think he’s exactly suffering from lack of attention.

J.R.: You wanted that child so much, and now you just don’t seem to care at all.

SUE ELLEN: [Flips a page] Of course, I do.

J.R.: Well, it doesn’t look like it. That’s what I’m saying.

SUE ELLEN: Appearances can very often be deceiving.

J.R.: Honey, I know how – I know how hard this has been for you. How difficult the time it was to quit drinking and go cold turkey and I just want you to know that I admire you for it, Sue Ellen.

SUE ELLEN: [Looks up from the magazine] My drinking was never a problem. I kept trying to tell everybody that.

J.R.: And what I’m saying is, if we try, if we really try, we can solve all our other problems – and I want you to know I am going to try. I really am. [Takes the magazine from her, pulls a ring box out of his pocket] Sweetheart, I got a little present for you this morning. I dropped in a store downtown. [Opens the box] Jeweler calls it a maternity ring. [He holds open the box, smiling.]

SUE ELLEN: You bought me once, J.R. – and you can’t do it anymore. I am no longer for sale.

She snaps shut the box, gets up and walks away.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 30 – ‘Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1’

May 11, 2012 by Chris Baker 9 Comments

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing, Whatever Happened to Baby John Part 1

Meet the press

J.R., how do you do it?

During “Dallas’s” first two seasons, you neglect your wife, mistreat your mistress, forge your daddy’s will, ruin your mama’s reunion with her long-lost brother, sabotage one brother’s attempt to reconcile with his wife and child, drive another brother out of the family business, ruin your rival’s political career and frame him for murder, attempt to blackmail a closeted gay man into marrying your niece and try – twice – to ensnare your sister-in-law in a compromising position.

Yet as “Dallas’s” third season begins, I can’t help but feel sorry for you as you struggle to be a better husband to Sue Ellen, only to be rebuffed at every turn.

What’s wrong with me?

I realize J.R.’s motivation for wanting to save his marriage isn’t altogether altruistic. The character is obsessed with his reputation, and now that his wife has given birth, he undoubtedly wants his family – and Dallas society – to see him as a loving husband and doting father.

On the other hand, Sue Ellen’s near-death experience in the second-season finale, “John Ewing III, Part 2,” seemed to stir long-forgotten feelings that remain strong in this installment. Never before has J.R.’s concern for Sue Ellen seemed this heartfelt.

You have to give Larry Hagman a lot of credit. Can you think of another actor who could make J.R. this sympathetic, even after all the terrible things he’s done?

Toward the end of “Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1,” when J.R. finally runs out of patience and forces his frigid wife to accompany him to the hospital to pick up the child, it seems like he’s reverting to his mean, old ways.

But when J.R. and Sue Ellen arrive at Dallas Memorial and learn the baby is missing, he exhibits more uncharacteristic selflessness when he calls Southfork to share the news with Miss Ellie, who responds by saying she’ll have Lucy and Pam brought home.

“That’s a good idea,” J.R. says.

Wait, what?

J.R. Ewing is concerned about his bratty niece and least favorite sister-in-law?

Never mind what’s wrong with me.

J.R., what’s wrong with you?

Grade: B

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Mr. Nice Guy

‘WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JOHN? PART 1’

Season 3, Episode 1

Airdate: September 21, 1979

Audience: 16.1 million homes, ranking 19th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: While her baby remains hospitalized, Sue Ellen returns to Southfork, where she resists J.R.’s attempts to be kind toward her. When the couple goes to the hospital to bring the child home, they’re stunned to learn he has been kidnapped.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Sheila Larken (Priscilla Duncan), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Cliff Murdock (Lieutenant Simpson), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames)

“Whatever Happened to Baby John? 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: John Ewing III Part 2, Whatever Happened to Baby John? Part 1

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Who is the Father of Your Baby?’

May 10, 2012 by Chris Baker 3 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, John Ewing III Part 2, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Sue Ellen Ewing

Daddy issues

In “John Ewing III, Part 2,” “Dallas’s” second-season finale, Bobby and Sue Ellen (Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray) are seated on the bed in her room at the sanitarium, where she tells him she wants to come home.

BOBBY: [Holding her hand] Sue Ellen, they can help you here.

SUE ELLEN: They can’t help me.

BOBBY: It takes time. You have to give them a chance.

SUE ELLEN: [Stands, walks away from the bed] Yeah, time. Sure. Why not? That’s all I have, is time. That’s what I do all day, is try to figure out what I’m gonna do with my time. I wake up in the morning and I think, “What am I gonna do all day till I go to sleep – alone?”

BOBBY: Sue Ellen. [Looks away, then looks back at her]

SUE ELLEN: [Turns to face him] Am I embarrassing you, Bobby?

BOBBY: No. Yeah. Yes, you are a little, yeah.

SUE ELLEN: I sleep alone a lot, after J.R.’s been out with his sluts, comes home smelling like their perfume, and I just pretend I’m asleep – just blot the whole thing out.

BOBBY: [Stands and grabs her arm] Then why aren’t you having this conversation with him? Confront him with it.

SUE ELLEN: Oh I have, Bobby. I have often. But your brother has that wonderful knack of finding one’s weak spot – the Achilles’ heel. Takes the knife and goes right up to the hilt.

BOBBY: Sue Ellen, what is your Achilles’ heel?

SUE ELLEN: [Turns, walks away] Your mama and your daddy, and Pamela and Lucy, and even you. You think it’s Southfork, the Ewing money, the Ewing name. But you’re wrong. [Walks back to him, touches his face] If I’d only met you first, Bobby, I would’ve married you instead of J.R. You are so kind and strong and loving. Just like a man should be. [Begins crying, kisses him] You are so understanding, Bobby. [Turns away] My men are not understanding.

BOBBY: Your men? Sue Ellen, what are you talking about?

SUE ELLEN: Oh, Bobby. I have something the doctors won’t ever find a cure for. Let’s see, how am I gonna explain this to you? Your life is so simple. Pamela loves you, and you love Pamela. And I really do love J.R. But you know what? J.R. doesn’t love me. But I wanted to have his baby so bad. I even thought we would adopt a baby, but J.R. put a stop to that. Then I thought, “Well, Sue Ellen, just go out and get yourself pregnant.” And that’s what I did. And I just thought, “But maybe I can hurt J.R., hurt him real bad.” Instead, all I did was hurt me and my little baby – and the baby’s father.

BOBBY: You went out and got pregnant? Sue Ellen, what are you saying?

SUE ELLEN: Yeah, but it could’ve been J.R.’s. Chances are it’s J.R.’s.

BOBBY: [Turns her around to face him] Sue Ellen!

SUE ELLEN: [Crying harder] But Bobby, he hardly makes love to me anymore.

BOBBY: Who is the father of your baby?

SUE ELLEN: Cliff Barnes. Now do you see? That’s why no one can help me. No one in the world can help me. [She collapses into his arms.]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: John Ewing III Part 2, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 29 – ‘John Ewing III, Part 2’

May 10, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

Dallas, John Ewing III Part 2, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

Crash test mommy

What a difference a year makes!

Sue Ellen has just four lines in “Digger’s Daughter,” “Dallas’s” first episode, but “John Ewing III, Part 2,” which debuted 369 days later, features the character in almost every other scene.

My favorite: When Sue Ellen tells Bobby that Cliff may be the father of her unborn child. This really isn’t a conversation as much as it is a monologue. For four-and-a-half uninterrupted minutes, Linda Gray delivers almost 500 words of heart-wrenching dialogue. It’s a tour-de-force performance, and it makes me appreciate how far Gray has come from those first-season episodes, when all she had to do was gaze adoringly at J.R.

The most surprising moment during Sue Ellen’s monologue comes when she kisses Bobby. No matter how many times I see the scene, the kiss is always a little startling. I used to find it odd how Patrick Duffy barely reacts to it, but I’ve decided it’s because the kiss isn’t a romantic gesture as much as it is an expression of Sue Ellen’s desperate loneliness.

Gray dominates “John Ewing III, Part 2,” but the other actors have good moments, too.

Larry Hagman’s performance in the final scene, when J.R. and Bobby sit at Sue Ellen’s bedside, is one of his most memorable. Despite all the rotten stuff J.R. does in the second season, it’s hard not to be moved when Hagman purses his lips, shuts his wet eyes and bows his head. J.R. has never seemed more human.

Ken Kercheval is equally moving in the penultimate scene, when Cliff sees Sue Ellen’s baby in the incubator and tearfully collapses into Pam’s arms. Like Duffy in Bobby’s scene with Sue Ellen, Victoria Principal doesn’t have much to do here, but she makes the most of it. I like how the actress moves from exasperation when Pam first spots Cliff in the hospital corridor to tears when he begins sobbing.

That Duffy and Principal shift so effortlessly from “Dallas’s” stars when the series begins to supporting roles in this episode reflect the cast’s evolution into a true ensemble.

What a difference a year makes, indeed.

Grade: A

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Crying, shame

‘JOHN EWING III, PART 2’

Season 2, Episode 24

Airdate: April 6, 1979

Audience: 17.8 million homes, ranking 11th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: In the sanitarium, Sue Ellen bribes a nurse for booze, escapes and is injured in a car crash. Her doctors are forced to prematurely deliver her son, whom Jock names John Ross Ewing III. J.R. weeps as the lives of Sue Ellen and the baby hang in the balance.

Cast: Dimitra Arliss (Nurse Hatton), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Karlene Crockett (Muriel Gillis), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Ellen Geer (Dr. Krane), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Michael C. Gwynne (Dr. Rogers), Heidi Hagman (receptionist), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Peter Horton (Wayne), Dawn Jeffory (Annie Driscoll), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Susan), Ed Kenney (Senator Newberry), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Alan Rachins (Dr. Miller), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“John Ewing III, Part 2” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com, iTunes and TNT.tv. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: John Ewing III Part 2, Ken Kercheval, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Gave You Up Too Soon, J.R.’

May 9, 2012 by Chris Baker 3 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, John Ewing III Part 1, Miss Ellie Ewing

Mama tried

In “John Ewing III, Part 1,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) sits at the piano in the Southfork living room, talking to J.R. (Larry Hagman).

ELLIE: You were a small child, J.R., when I stopped interfering in your life. For some time now, I’ve been thinking that wasn’t a very wise decision. But just because I didn’t say anything doesn’t mean I haven’t watched and seen. You’re power hungry. [J.R., standing behind Ellie, throws back his head and sighs.] You’re like your daddy in that. But he has redeeming qualities. His love for his sons, for one. I don’t know that you have any redeeming qualities, J.R. Is there anyone you love?

J.R.: [Standing at the bar] I love Sue Ellen.

ELLIE: From the day you brought that girl into this house, you’ve neglected her. First with the business, then with other women. You didn’t even bother to be discreet most of the time. I don’t know why she didn’t leave you years ago.

J.R.: Don’t you?

ELLIE: I know money’s important to Sue Ellen – and power. But she loves you, J.R. She always has. You just never gave her half a chance.

J.R.: I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.

ELLIE: Sue Ellen’s in trouble, J.R., and your child’s life is in danger. You must do something about it.

J.R.: [Sips a drink] It’s too late. [Leaves]

ELLIE: I gave you up too soon, J.R. I should have held onto you a little longer.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, John Ewing III Part 1, Larry Hagman

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 28 – ‘John Ewing III, Part 1’

May 9, 2012 by Chris Baker 9 Comments

Dallas, John Ewing III Part 1, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

Indulged

To the list of recurring themes explored on “Dallas” – sibling rivalry, class warfare, the pitfalls of co-habitation – add this: the dangers of indulgence.

The Ewings enjoy life’s luxuries, but they also indulge each other’s bad behavior. This is particularly true for Sue Ellen, whose drinking problem grows progressively worse during the second season while everyone else politely looks away.

In “John Ewing III, Part 1,” the first half of the two-part season finale, we see how hard it is for the family to break this bad habit.

When Bobby and Pam discover Sue Ellen passed out drunk on the side of the road, they bring her home and Bobby forces the family to finally admit Sue Ellen’s drinking has gotten out of control. Jock and Miss Ellie tell J.R. he must help his wife – yet they refuse to confront Sue Ellen, even after she gets drunk again and tumbles down the Southfork stairs.

“I’ve got to stop wearing those ridiculously high-heeled shoes,” Sue Ellen says while recovering in her hospital room. “My baby’s much more important than fashion.”

“Well, sounds like a good idea to me,” Jock says.

“You must try and be more careful,” Ellie agrees.

I find myself wanting to reach through the screen and shake both Jock and Ellie. Don’t humor Sue Ellen; help her!

Not surprisingly, the family responds to Lucy’s worsening drug habit by repeating many of the mistakes they make with Sue Ellen.

When Lucy shows up on Ray’s doorstep, high-as-a-kite and slurring her words, his first instinct is to sober her up. “You don’t want Jock and Miss Ellie seeing you like this,” he says.

Ray seeks help from Bobby, who takes the same approach. Bobby stands with Lucy in the Southfork driveway and urges her to “go in that house just as if there’s nothing in the world wrong with you.”

By the end of the episode, good-guy Bobby has persuaded Lucy to stop abusing her pills. Yet I can’t help thinking if he really wanted to earn his white-knight bona fides, he’d get his family to kick their habit of enabling each other’s bad behavior.

Grade: B

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Girls gone wild

‘JOHN EWING III, PART 1’

Season 2, Episode 23

Airdate: March 30, 1979

Audience: 17.5 million homes, ranking 14th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: A drunken Sue Ellen falls down the Southfork stairs but neither she nor her unborn child are hurt. J.R., realizing he can no longer ignore his wife’s alcoholism, has her committed to a sanitarium. Lucy is taking drugs, but Bobby persuades her to stop.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Ellen Geer (Dr. Krane), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Peter Horton (Wayne), Dawn Jeffory (Annie Driscoll), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Susan), Ed Kenney (Senator Newberry), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“John Ewing III, Part 1” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com, iTunes and TNT.tv. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: John Ewing III Part 1

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘The Ending Depends on the Start’

May 8, 2012 by Chris Baker 2 Comments

Dallas, Outsiders, Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly

In the beginning

In “The Outsiders,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Donna (Susan Howard) has drinks at the Longhorn Bar with Ray (Steve Kanaly), whom she met the night before.

RAY: I realized I sat around here talking about myself last night. I don’t know anything about you.

DONNA: Well, there’s not a lot to tell, really. My name is Donna. I’m, uh, 28. I was born in Marshall, Texas.

RAY: [Smiles] Marshall?

DONNA: Yeah, you know that little place close to Shreveport?

RAY: Sure, sure.

DONNA: And you know, I really don’t know what I’m doing here with you.

RAY: Oh well, maybe it’s just my rugged western charm, huh?

DONNA: [Laughs] No, no, I don’t think that’s what it is. No, um, I think it’s the fact that you didn’t try and hit on me last night.

RAY: Well, I wasn’t looking for that. I didn’t think you were, either.

DONNA: Well, tell me, what are you looking for?

RAY: I don’t know. Nothing complicated. Maybe just a happy ending. [Drinks]

DONNA: You and everybody else. [Pauses] Why do you think, uh, that it’s so difficult for people to have a happy ending?