Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 10 – ‘Black Market Baby’

April 13, 2012 by 14 Comments
Black Market Baby, Dallas, Linda Gray, Pam Ewing, Sue Ellen Ewing, Victoria Principal

Scene from a mall

“Black Market Baby” isn’t about adoption as much as it’s about matrimony. The episode looks at the marriages of J.R. and Sue Ellen and Bobby and Pam and determines only one couple has a real partnership. Can you guess which?

The contrast between the two marriages is on display in the first scene, when the Ewings gather at Southfork to celebrate Jock and Miss Ellie’s anniversary. Unlike Bobby and Pam, who worked together to create a thoughtful gift to his parents – an engraved album filled with old family photos – Sue Ellen clearly got no help from J.R. when it came to choosing their present – an ugly African sculpture.

This isn’t the only area of her marriage where Sue Ellen is on her own.

J.R. neglects Sue Ellen sexually, so she has a desperate one-night stand with Ray. She also begins planning to adopt a baby on her own, not just because she craves love, but also because she feels insecure and believes a child will cement her place within the family.

Sue Ellen’s unlikely friendship with rough-around-the-edges Rita Briggs, the woman whose unborn baby she plans to adopt, underscores how starved for attention Sue Ellen is. What are the chances these two would become friends if a child wasn’t involved?

To further highlight Sue Ellen’s plight, “Dallas” shows Pam embarking on her own quest for fulfillment by resuming her career at The Store, “Dallas’s” version of Neiman Marcus.

Initially, this doesn’t sit well with Bobby, who can’t understand his wife’s desire to delay motherhood and argues with her about it. But unlike Sue Ellen, whose fights with J.R. always end with her in tears, Pam isn’t fazed by her marital spat. She tells her new boss Liz Craig she and Bobby fight “because we’re individuals” – one of several lines in this episode that echo the era’s I’m-OK-you’re-OK pop-psychobabble.

By the end of “Black Market Baby,” Bobby comes around and supports Pam’s career aspirations, while J.R. and Sue Ellen remain in turmoil.

After squelching her adoption scheme and sending Rita away, J.R. comes home to find Sue Ellen packing her suitcase to leave him. They argue, she slaps him and he throws her on the bed and kisses her, despite her repeated declarations she doesn’t “want” him. At one point, he flings his leg over hers to keep her from squirming. It’s one of the most disturbing images during the series.

Afterward, while Pam takes Bobby for a spin in her new Corvette – Bobby’s gift to his wife to celebrate her new job – J.R. leaves for work, telling Sue Ellen he’ll be home late.

Once again, Sue Ellen is on her own.

Grade: A

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Black Market Baby, Dallas, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

Buy buy baby

‘BLACK MARKET BABY’

Season 2, Episode 5

Airdate: October 15, 1978

Audience: 11.8 million homes, ranking 42nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Darlene Craviotto

Director: Lawrence Dobkin

Synopsis: J.R. undermines Sue Ellen’s plan to adopt a young woman’s unborn baby. Pam resumes her retail career.

Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Talia Balsam (Rita Briggs), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), James Whitmore Jr. (Buzz Connors)

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

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The Art of Dallas: ‘Bypass’

April 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Jock (Jim Davis) suffers a heart attack and receives help from J.R. (Larry Hagman) in this 1978 publicity shot from “Bypass,”a second-season “Dallas” episode.

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Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We’ve Had a Good Life, Ellie’

April 12, 2012 by 3 Comments
Barbara Bel Geddes, Bypass, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Miss Ellie Ewing

Heart to heart

In “Bypass,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Jock (Jim Davis) lies in his hospital bed, talking to Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes).

JOCK: [Smiling] You know, Ellie, sometimes I worry I, I don’t think I’ve been a very good father.

ELLIE: Yes, you have.

JOCK: Gary pulling out. Drifter. Maybe I could’ve done better by him but just didn’t know how.

ELLIE: Jock, don’t. Look at J.R. He may get on your nerves once in awhile, but he’s done wonders for Ewing Oil – a natural born businessman. And Bobby’s working the ranch. I like that. Maybe that’s the way to solve the whole problem.

JOCK: Maybe. [Serious] Ellie if, if anything happens to me, you keep the family together, you hear?

ELLIE: Nothing’s going to happen.

JOCK: Promise me. It means a lot.

ELLIE: [Smiling] To me, too. [Chuckles] Remember when my daddy didn’t give us five years together? [Jock laughs.] Sometimes I think he was right. We’re both so headstrong. Well, we’ve raised a family – and we’re still together.

JOCK: [Pushes a tray table away and Ellie moves closer] We’ve had a good life, Ellie.

ELLIE: We still do.

She kisses him.

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Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 9 – ‘Bypass’

April 12, 2012 by 17 Comments
Barbara Bel Geddes, Bypass, Dallas, Dan Ammerman, Dr. Harlan Danvers, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Ticker shock

“Bypass” has a little bit of everything – a health crisis, family squabbling, corporate intrigue. There’s not much romance, but there is a cattle drive.

The small moments in this episode are among its best, beginning with Jock and Miss Ellie’s heart-to-heart in his hospital room. As he lies in bed, with medical tubes taped to his chest, he urges Ellie to “keep the family together” if “anything happens” to him.

Like Jock’s plea with Bobby and Pam to stay at Southfork at the end of “Barbecue,” this scene reminds us how much family means to the Ewing patriarch. Jock is usually so gruff; it’s always nice to see his sentimental side.

“Bypass” also casts J.R. in a softer light. Yes, he does a dastardly thing when he forges Jock’s will so he can drill for oil on Southfork once his father dies, but remember: J.R. sets this plot in motion before Jock gets sick. After the heart attack, J.R. doesn’t have much enthusiasm for the scheme and seemingly goes through with it only after Jeb and Willie Joe pressure him.

Another small-but-revealing moment comes when Sue Ellen arrives at the Braddock emergency room, not knowing which Ewing is being treated there, and is relieved to discover J.R. isn’t the patient. “I thought it was you,” she tells him.

Later, when J.R. expresses regret about bringing Jock to a small-town hospital not equipped to effectively treat him, Sue Ellen reassures him, “J.R., you did the right thing.” Aside from being sweet, this exchange helps blunt the ugliness of Sue Ellen’s behavior later in the episode, when she drunkenly sashays around Southfork and threatens to evict Pam if Jock dies.

But as much as I appreciate the human drama in “Bypass,” my favorite part of this episode is the lightning-fast cattle drive at the top of the hour.

The sequence begins with a grounds-eye view of the herd as it surges forward, trampling the earth and covering director Corey Allen’s camera lens with clods of Texas dirt. Then, when Jock dashes off to round up some strays, Allen keeps the camera fixed on Jim Davis as he rides high in his saddle. It’s almost as if we’re bouncing alongside Jock.

Throw in John Parker’s triumphant score and Robert Jessup’s sumptuous cinematography and you have an exhilarating action sequence. It’s a fine way to open one of “Dallas’s” finest early episodes.

Grade: A

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Bypass, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Power steering

‘BYPASS’

Season 2, Episode 4

Airdate: October 14, 1978

Audience: 10.7 million homes, ranking 52nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Corey Allen

Synopsis: Jock suffers a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. J.R. shows cronies Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr a codicil to Jock’s will that gives J.R. permission to drill on Southfork when Jock dies, but Jeb and Willie Joe don’t know J.R. forged it. Bobby takes leave from Ewing Oil to help run the ranch. Jock’s bypass surgery saves his life.

Cast: Dan Ammerman (Dr. Harlan Danvers), John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Lisa Lemole (Susan), Ed Nelson (Jeb Ames), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

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

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The Art of Dallas: ‘Old Acquaintance’

April 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Jenna and Bobby (Morgan Fairchild, Patrick Duffy) shop in this 1978 publicity shot from “Old Acquaintance,” a second-season “Dallas” episode.

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Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Then Go Get Him’

April 11, 2012 by 3 Comments
Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Miss Ellie Ewing, Old Acquaintance, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Don’t forget the miracle whip

In “Old Acquaintance,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Pam (Victoria Principal) is brushing a horse’s mane when Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) approaches.

ELLIE: Where’s Bobby?

PAM: I don’t know. He’s probably with Jenna.

ELLIE: You’re taking it well.

PAM: You think so? It doesn’t show then. It’s awful watching somebody you love slide away. Bobby’s known Jenna a lot longer and a lot of different ways. But I can handle Jenna. It’s the little girl that worries me. The child could tip it. There, I may be outmatched, Miss Ellie.

ELLIE: If you take that attitude, you are. Jenna was never stoical about anything in her life. When she goes down, she goes down kicking and screaming.

PAM: I don’t think kicking and screaming would help.

ELLIE: [Smiling] I knew a woman once. Her man couldn’t decide whether or not to do right by her. So she took a horsewhip to him. Helped him make up his mind fast.

PAM: I don’t think a horsewhip would work with Bobby.

ELLIE: I don’t see why not. It worked on his daddy all right.

PAM: [Smiling] Miss Ellie!

ELLIE: [Chuckles] Of course, I really wanted his daddy.

PAM: [Serious] I really want Bobby.

ELLIE: Then go get him.

PAM: Yeah. [She turns and walks toward the house.]

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Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 8 – ‘Old Acquaintance’

April 11, 2012 by 14 Comments
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Jenna Wade, Morgan Fairchild, Old Acquaintance, Patrick Duffy

Devil in a red blouse

“Old Acquaintance” should not be forgotten. This isn’t one of “Dallas’s” all-time best episodes, but it includes one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” scenes: the pep talk Miss Ellie gives Pam when it looks like her marriage to Bobby is on the rocks.

The conversation begins with Pam lamenting Bobby’s preoccupation with his old flame Jenna Wade and her daughter Charlie.

“I knew a woman once,” Ellie says. “Her man couldn’t decide whether or not to do right by her – so she took a horsewhip to him. Helped him make up his mind fast.”

“I don’t think a horsewhip would work with Bobby,” Pam responds.

“I don’t see why not. It worked on his daddy all right.”

It’s fun to imagine Ellie as a young spitfire, whipping Jock into shape. It isn’t a difficult mental picture to draw, either. Barbara Bel Geddes is wonderful as the Ewings’ wise, soft-spoken matriarch, but if you’ve seen her spirited performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic “Vertigo,” you know Bel Geddes, like Ellie, had a lot of spunk when she was younger.

Speaking of elegant actresses: Morgan Fairchild makes a marvelous Jenna Wade.

Fairchild is remembered as one of the great vixens of 1980s television, so it’s a bit surprising to see how restrained she is here. The actress resists the temptation to make Jenna bitchy. Instead, she plays her as a woman whose machinations are rooted in desperation, not vindictiveness.

“Old Acquaintance” is also memorable thanks to Robert Jessup’s sumptuous cinematography, particularly in Bobby and Jenna’s scenes in the park and during Ellie’s pep talk, when Victoria Principal’s raven hair pops against the backdrop of that green-gold Southfork pasture.

Of course, not everything here works: “Old Acquaintance” makes Pam seem pretty foolish when Bobby takes her to meet Jenna and Charlie at the little girl’s school.

During the visit, Pam sits in Bobby’s car and admires Charlie’s ragdoll Jewel – then accidentally leaves with it. You have to wonder: How does Pam not realize she’s holding the doll when she and Bobby drive away?

Forgetting an old acquaintance is understandable, but come on, Pam. You just met Jewel!

Grade: B

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Dallas, Jenna Wade, Maynard Anderson, Melissa Anderson, Morgan Fairchild, Nicki Flacks, Old Acquaintance, Peter Mark Richman

Blonde in a bind

‘OLD ACQUAINTANCE’

Season 2, Episode 3

Airdate: October 7, 1978

Audience: 9.6 million homes, ranking 58th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Alex March

Synopsis: Jenna Wade, Bobby’s old flame, turns to him when her married lover ends their affair. Bobby suspects he may be the father of Jenna’s daughter Charlie and begins spending his free time with them. Pam confronts Jenna, who admits Bobby isn’t the father, and Bobby and Pam reconcile.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Morgan Fairchild (Jenna Wade), Laurie Lynn Myers (Charlie Wade), Nicki Flacks (Melissa Anderson), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Peter Mark Richman (Maynard Anderson), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

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

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The Art of Dallas: ‘Reunion, Part 2’

April 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

J.R. (Larry Hagman) pressures Gary (David Ackroyd) to learn the family business in this 1978 publicity shot from “Reunion, Part 2,” a second-season “Dallas” episode.

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Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Sold’

April 10, 2012 by 6 Comments
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Reunion Part 2, Victoria Principal

Cold cash

In “Reunion, Part 2,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Jock (Jim Davis) is reading the newspaper on the patio when a drunken Digger (David Wayne) drives onto Southfork in a beat-up sports car and gets out carrying get-well gifts Pam (Victoria Principal) brought him earlier.

JOCK: [Approaches Digger, followed by Bobby, Pam, Gary and Val] Barnes, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?

DIGGER: Returning gifts to the ladies auxiliary. [Tosses them onto the driveway] There they are – magazines, quarter books, jigsaw puzzles, whatever. Gifts for the poor and infirm.

PAM: Daddy –

DIGGER: Cease! I have business to discuss. Now, sir, I refuse charity.

JOCK: So you refuse. Now get off of this ranch.

DIGGER: I refuse charity, but those but those things which are rightfully mine I accept.

JOCK: Well now, what’s rightfully yours this time?

DIGGER: Something there’s no doubt about.

JOCK: What do you want?

DIGGER: Now you took my oil wells and give me nothing in return.

JOCK: I’m sick and tired of hearing that.

DIGGER: You took my oil wells and my money and my sweetheart and I never got a cent for ’em. Well, that’s ancient history.

JOCK: Well, what do you want?

DIGGER: Money!

JOCK: For what?

DIGGER: The only thing I had that you can get.

JOCK: [Turns and sees Pam standing over his shoulder; Bobby, Gary and Val look away] Do you mean to tell me that you want money for Pamela?

DIGGER: Well, she was a Barnes and now she’s a Ewing – just like the oil wells….

JOCK: You’re unbearable, Barnes! How much do you want?

DIGGER: Ten thousand.

JOCK: [Harrumphs] Ten thousand! [He reaches into his jeans pocket, pulls out a wad of cash, peels off a $100 bill and throws it at Digger. It lands on the ground.] There’s a hundred.

DIGGER: [Bends down, scoops up the bill and studies it briefly] Sold.

Digger gets back in the car and drives away. Jock snickers and walks past Bobby and stony-faced Pam.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 7 – ‘Reunion, Part 2’

April 10, 2012 by 16 Comments
Charlene Tilton, Dallas, David Ackroyd, Gary Ewing, Joan Van Ark, Lucy Ewing, Valene Ewing

Enter at your own risk

I’m not a big fan of “Reunion, Part 1,” but I love “Reunion, Part 2.” The writing and acting are beautiful.

In this installment’s most memorable sequence, a drunken Digger barrels onto Southfork in his nephew Jimmy’s beat-up sports car and asks Jock to “pay” him for Pam. The Ewings watch as Jock pulls a wad of cash from his pocket and tosses a $100 bill at the feet of his onetime business partner, who scoops it up and proclaims his daughter “sold.”

The attention shifts to Pam, who is humiliated, but I find myself wondering what Gary makes of this embarrassing scene. To him, Digger must seem like a ghost from the future – a vision of the person he’ll become if he doesn’t get away from the Ewings.

Think about it: Gary is already following in Digger’s footsteps. Like Digger, Gary is an alcoholic. Like Digger, he has failed to live up to Jock’s expectations. And like Digger, he has “lost” a daughter to the Ewings.

I believe Gary leaves Southfork at the end of “Reunion, Part 2” not just because he feels pressured by J.R., but also because he doesn’t want to become as embittered as Digger. He says as much when he bids farewell to Valene and tells her, “I’m alright. It took me a long time to realize that. I just don’t belong with them – and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

David Ackroyd is really good in this scene, but Joan Van Ark is magnificent. When Val tells Gary she’s never loved another man like she loved him, you feel her pain.

I also love Van Ark’s performance in the next sequence, when the actress spins on a dime and channels Val’s tears into anger at J.R., who’s been watching her from Southfork’s front porch.

“So what’s my future?” she asks him.

“None around here,” J.R. responds.

“Any choices?”

“Well, $5,000 and an escort out of the state?”

“Any others?”

“An escort out of the state.”

Dialogue this sharp – and acting this good – make me wish scriptwriter David Jacobs and Van Ark had spent more time at Southfork before heading west to “Knots Landing” during “Dallas’s” third season.

The farewell scene is also elevated by Robert Jessup’s cinematography, which makes Southfork’s blue skies and gold-green pastures look stunning. Jessup’s work here reminds us of one of “Dallas’s” great dichotomies: No matter how ugly the characters on this show behave, the scenery around them is always gorgeous.

Grade: A

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Dallas, David Ackroyd, Gary Ewing, Joan Van Ark, Valene Ewing

Goodbye, for now

‘REUNION, PART 2’

Season 2, Episode 2

Airdate: September 30, 1978

Audience: 9.5 million homes, ranking 59th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Pam is humiliated when her father, Digger Barnes, asks Jock to “pay” him for her. J.R. gives Gary a Ewing Oil subsidiary to run, but when Gary feels pressured, he leaves Southfork without saying goodbye. Val also departs, and J.R. lies and tells the family she asked him for money to leave.

Cast: David Ackroyd (Gary Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Sarah Cunningham (Maggie Monahan), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Reunion, 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: , , , , , ,
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