Bobby (Patrick Duffy) rescues a suicidal Pam (Victoria Principal) in this 1981 publicity shot from “The Sweet Smell of Revenge,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Don’t Want to Feel This Way’
October 24, 2012 by 1 Comment
Poor Pam
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “The Sweet Smell of Revenge,” Pam (Victoria Principal) is sitting in her bed at Dallas Memorial Hospital when Dr. Conrad (Gretchen Wyler) enters the room.
CONRAD: Mrs. Ewing? I’m Dr. Conrad. [Sits on the bed but Pam doesn’t look up] Perhaps you can tell me how you’re feeling right now.
PAM: [Makes eye contact, then looks away] Like nothing matters. Empty. Worthless. Like I’m dying or already dead.
CONRAD: I see. Where do you suppose these feelings come from?
PAM: [Makes eye contact, speaks sharply] I thought you were supposed to tell me that.
CONRAD: They’re your feelings.
PAM: [Looking away] I don’t know.
CONRAD: How long have you been feeling this way?
PAM: For a long time.
CONRAD: Do you know when the feelings began?
PAM: No. Not really. I think in one way, I’ve been feeling like this all the way back to when I was a little baby and –
CONRAD: And? What?
PAM: And my mother left me. [Angrily] Why did she do that? Leave a little baby? What did I do to deserve that? [Deflated] I’m sorry. I don’t mean that. I love my mother and it wasn’t her fault.
CONRAD: There’s always a lot of anger underneath any depression.
PAM: [Looks up, then away] You think I’m angry?
CONRAD: Well, I’m sure that wanting to stop the world and get off doesn’t come from feelings of sweetness and light. The important question is, what happened recently to arouse all those old feelings of hopelessness and futility? You have a good marriage, a loving husband, good job. You were feeling fine until just recently. And suddenly it all seems empty and futile. Why?
PAM: [Voice breaking] I don’t know why. I have these feelings and I don’t know why but I don’t want to feel this way anymore.
CONRAD: I know. That’s why we better start to find out why you do feel this way.
PAM: How do we do that?
CONRAD: Well, we might begin by trying to find out what it is in yourself that you’re trying so hard to kill off.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 82 – ‘The Sweet Smell of Revenge’
October 24, 2012 by 17 Comments
Saved, for now
I’ve always considered Pam’s mental breakdown in “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” to be out of character for her. The woman who tries to jump off a high-rise rooftop in this episode isn’t the strong, spirited heroine I fell for when “Dallas” began. On the other hand, the show deserves credit for taking a creative risk with this storyline – and Victoria Principal deserves praise for delivering a gutsy performance.
Mental illness wasn’t depicted a lot on television during this era – and when the subject was addressed, it was often played for laughs (see the patients on “The Bob Newhart Show”). “Dallas” breaks a little ground with Pam’s storyline, even if some of the language in Linda Elstad’s “Sweet Smell of Revenge” script – psychiatrist Dr. Conrad suggests depressed people are consumed with “self-hatred” – doesn’t quite jive with how we think of the disorder today.
For the most part, though, this episode feels progressive, especially when it comes to the reaction of Pam’s family members to her diagnosis. None of them judge or mock her (not even J.R.!), nor do they pity her; they just want her to get better. Above all, I appreciate how “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” stops trying to link Pam’s depression to her fertility problems, even if the show later reverses course and once again presents motherhood as the cure-all for Pam’s crisis.
Regardless, the best thing about “The Sweet Smell of Revenge” is Principal, who does some of her finest work on “Dallas” in this episode – particularly in the scene where Dr. Conrad meets Pam after her suicide attempt. Principal goes through an emotional gamut here – from numbness to anger to despair – yet she never goes overboard. It’s a really good performance.
Watching this scene, I thought about how Pam was one of television’s most popular heroines when this episode aired in 1981. I don’t know if Principal had qualms about the writers sending her character into such dark territory; maybe she welcomed the challenge. Whatever the case, the actress gives it her all. It’s hard not to admire that, no matter how I feel about the storyline itself.
Grade: B
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Mothers
‘THE SWEET SMELL OF REVENGE’
Season 5, Episode 5
Airdate: November 6, 1981
Audience: 22.3 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Linda Elstad
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Bobby has Pam committed to a sanitarium after she tries to jump off a building. Later, he receives a call from a man who wants $2,000 for information about Kristin and her infant son, Christopher. J.R. schemes to cut off the oil supply to the Farlow refineries. Ray and Punk consider a new real estate deal. Dr. Waring offers Mitch an internship.
Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Deborah Benson (secretary), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), J.R. Clark (Earl Holiday), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Laurence Haddon (Franklin Horner), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (caller), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), David Tress (Walter Sher), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“The Sweet Smell of Revenge” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
Dallas Parallels: The Good Husband
October 22, 2012 by 18 Comments
The original “Dallas’s” pilot, “Digger’s Daughter,” opens with Bobby and Pam racing home to Southfork after their spur-of-the-moment elopement in New Orleans. Later, J.R. hints his younger brother doesn’t know his new wife as well as he should – a suggestion Bobby flatly rejects. As he declares in the episode’s final scene, “Pamela’s past is none of my business. She was not my wife in the past – but she is now.”
Looking back, I can’t help but think maybe J.R. had a point. Don’t get me wrong: Bobby and Pam’s love story was written in the stars, but throughout their marriage – er, marriages – Bobby seems to be constantly finding out things about Pam he didn’t know.
Examples: In Season 2, Bobby is surprised to learn she was married to another man before him. In Season 4, he’s shocked to find out she came this close to having an affair. In Season 11, Bobby is stunned when Pam, after being badly burned in a car crash, runs away to spare him the indignity of having a wife who isn’t pretty.
You have to wonder: Would these two have benefitted from a longer engagement?
History seems to be repeating itself on TNT’s “Dallas.” Bobby and third wife Ann have been married for several years when the new series opens, but it’s clear he doesn’t know her as well as he thought.
It begins in “The Enemy of My Enemy,” when Bobby finds Ann sobbing on the Southfork patio after receiving a mysterious locket from her ex-husband Harris Ryland. Bobby, ever the hothead, goes charging into Ryland’s office, grabs him by the lapels and backhands him.
This recalls the scene in the classic show’s second-season episode “Double Wedding,” when Bobby angrily confronts Pam’s first husband Ed Haynes, whose sudden return rattles her as much as the locket upsets Ann. Bobby is just as angry with Haynes as he is with Ryland, and both scenes end with Bobby jabbing a finger in the other man’s face and delivering an ultimatum (To Haynes: “I want you out of Dallas!” To Ryland: “You stay away from Ann!”).
In “Collateral Damage,” TNT’s next episode, after Ryland has Bobby arrested for assault, Bobby follows his lawyer’s advice and begrudgingly apologizes. But Ryland has a trick up his sleeve: He tells Bobby that Ann is “holding something back” and hands him an envelope. “Take a look inside,” Ryland says. “Come to your own conclusions. There’s a lot about Annie you don’t know.”
Here, we see parallels to the older show’s fourth-season episode “The New Mrs. Ewing,” when Bobby confronts Alex Ward, the magazine publisher who has been wooing Pam. Both scenes take place in the other man’s office, both suggest the other man has a sexist attitude toward his secretary (Ward calls his “hon,” Ryland refers to his as “dear”) and during both confrontations, Bobby threatens to pulverize the other man. (To Ward: “I’ll beat the hell out of you.” To Ryland: “I will beat you into next Sunday.”)
Most importantly, both scenes end with the other man turning the tables on Bobby. Just as Bobby is unsettled by Ryland’s envelope, he’s unnerved when Ward suggests Pam wanted to sleep with him because she felt neglected.
Bobby and Pam’s relationship survived her flirtation with Ward, and my guess is Bobby and Ann are going to be fine too. In the closing moments of “Collateral Damage,” Bobby shows Ann the envelope from Ryland. “I don’t need to open this,” Bobby says as he sets it aside and touches his wife’s face. “Everything I need to know about you is right here.”
The line evokes memories of Bobby’s “Digger’s Daughter” declaration that Pam’s past is “none of my business.” It also reminds us: On “Dallas,” some things never change.
Thank goodness.
‘She Needed Me’
Smug
In “The New Mrs. Ewing,” a fourth-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) bursts into the office of Alex Ward (Joel Fabiani) as Ward’s secretary is leaving.
WARD: [To the secretary] It’s all right, hon. Go out and close the door please. [To Bobby] What are you doing here?
BOBBY: I just came to tell you to stay away from my wife. You’ve been chasing her. I want you to stop it right now.
WARD: I don’t deny that I find your wife attractive. And I also admit that I tried my very best to charm her [stands up, faces Bobby]. But only because I felt she needed me. If I hadn’t felt that way, I never would have raised an eyebrow. I don’t play games I don’t feel I can win.
BOBBY: Listen you phony, my wife is not first prize in some game. Now I’m warning you: Stay away from her. This time I’m talking. Next time, I’ll beat the hell out of you.
WARD: If you’re really concerned about your wife, let me make a suggestion: Talk to her. I made my move only because I knew there was something wrong with your marriage [walks to the door, holds it open for Bobby]. After all, she’d never have even looked at me if there hadn’t been.
‘She’s Holding Something Back’
Smarmy
In “Collateral Damage,” TNT’s seventh “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) is seated across from Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi) at the desk in Ryland’s office.
RYLAND: Getting the police involved, I hate stooping to that. It’s an ugly gesture. I apologize.
BOBBY: If by “ugly” you mean “cowardly,” then yes, it was very ugly.
RYLAND: Then if you’re not here to apologize, I’m afraid it’s going to have to be a necessary gesture.
BOBBY: It’s not necessary, Harris. I apologize.
RYLAND: [Picks up the phone] Linda, call my lawyer. Tell him I want to drop all charges against Mr. Ewing. Yeah, thank you dear [hangs up the phone]. See? It was painless.
BOBBY: I want to be very clear, Harris. My apology doesn’t mean I take back what I did. You mess with my wife in any way, and I will beat you into next Sunday.
RYLAND: Not if you’re smart, you won’t.
BOBBY: I was more than ready to go to court. But I didn’t want to drag it out and cause my wife more pain – pain you are responsible for.
RYLAND: You know, I thought you might come asking. So, here you go. [He retrieves an envelope from a nearby cabinet and tries to hand it to Bobby. When Bobby doesn’t take it, Ryland drops it on the desk.] That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To find out what kind of person your wife really is.
BOBBY: [Stands] I know what kind of person my wife really is.
RYLAND: She’s holding something back – and you wanna know what. [Slides the envelope across the desk] Here’s your what. Why don’t you go ahead and take a look inside. Come to your own conclusions. There’s a lot about Annie you don’t know.
What do you think of Bobby’s confrontations with the other men in his wives’ lives? Share your comments below and read more “Dallas Parallels.”
The Art of Dallas: ‘Little Boy Lost’
October 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
With Dusty (Jared Martin) watching, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) attends a preliminary custody hearing for John Ross in this 1981 publicity shot from “Little Boy Lost,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Guess It’s Going to Have to Be Me’
October 19, 2012 by 10 Comments
Focus, Mama!
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Little Boy Lost,” after the Southfork helicopter lands on the ranch’s lawn, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) exits and walks swiftly toward the house, followed by J.R. (Larry Hagman).
J.R.: Mama? Say, Mama? Mama, what you all upset about? [She stops and faces him.] You haven’t said a word since we left the Southern Cross ranch.
ELLIE: You used me, J.R. And my love for John Ross. You intended to fly down with me and try to get him away all along, didn’t you?
J.R.: You can’t blame me for that, Mama. Not for trying to get my boy back.
ELLIE: I blame you for using other people to achieve your aims.
J.R.: [Tips back his hat] Mama, I’d do anything to get him away from Sue Ellen. She’s not exactly the most perfect wife and mother, you know. I don’t know what he’s being exposed to down there. She’s living in sin with a cowboy. Hell, he can hardly even walk.
ELLIE: Then why would she prefer him to you?
J.R.: Because she’s crazy! That’s why I want to get the boy back.
ELLIE: You want him back without Sue Ellen?
J.R.: Yes, I’d prefer that.
ELLIE: And what would you bring him back to? Being raised by nursemaids and tutors? Seeing you five minutes a day, if he’s awake when you finally get home?
J.R.: Well, I figured that you and Daddy could –
ELLIE: Could do what? Raise him for you? No, I’m too old to raise another grandchild.
J.R.: You sound like you don’t want him back here.
ELLIE: [Slight smile] That’s not fair, J.R. You know I want him here. But only if his mother’s with him. He needs his mother more than he needs you or me or his grandfather.
J.R.: I love him just as much as Sue Ellen does.
ELLIE: I know you do, J.R. But he belongs with her. There’s nothing in this world that would make me happier than if you brought John Ross back to Southfork – but only if Sue Ellen is with him. [Begins walking away, then turns to face him] I saw a part of you I didn’t like very much today, J.R. In the past, I’ve put up with your games and tricks. I’ve even closed my eyes to some of them. But no more. As long as your daddy isn’t here, I guess it’s going to have to be me that has to keep an eye on you. [Turns and walks away]
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 81 – ‘Little Boy Lost’
October 19, 2012 by 19 Comments
The victor
The Ewings are obsessed with parenthood in “Little Boy Lost.” J.R. and Sue Ellen spend the hour girding for their custody fight over John Ross, while Bobby and Pam remain preoccupied with their adoption struggles. By the time the closing credits roll, I’m convinced none of these people should be raising children.
J.R. and Sue Ellen each love John Ross, but as their courtroom showdown looms, the couple’s priorities seem pretty mixed up. J.R. wants to win custody of John Ross because he knows Jock will be furious if the child leaves Southfork for good. Sue Ellen fears John Ross will grow up to be like his father if J.R. is allowed to raise him, but it’s also clear she wants custody because she knows how much it will hurt J.R. to lose the boy. From this perspective, Sue Ellen is treating her son the way J.R. has always treated her: like another Ewing possession. Witness the self-satisfied smirk she offers J.R. in the final scene, when the judge rules in her favor.
The custody battle might not bring out the best in J.R. and Sue Ellen, but it produces “Little Boy Lost’s” strongest moments, including Miss Ellie’s dramatic confrontation with her eldest son at the beginning of the episode. I’m also a fan of Barry Nelson, who does a nice turn as Sue Ellen’s compassionate lawyer, Arthur Elrod. (Trivia: Nelson was Barbara Bel Geddes’ leading man in the 1950s Broadway production of “The Moon is Blue.”)
Bobby and Pam’s scenes in “Little Boy Lost” are much less satisfying. Pam, who began life on “Dallas” as a confident, pioneering heroine, is suddenly obsessed again with having children, a storyline that played out two seasons earlier. In the meantime, the only reason Bobby seems to want to adopt a baby is because he believes it will help his wife snap out of her odd mood. Even as Pam’s behavior grows alarming – in this episode, she spaces out at work and slips into a bizarre trance at home – Bobby clings to the belief that a child will be the cure-all to Pam’s problems.
Toward the end of “Little Boy Lost,” before Pam goes missing, Dr. Danvers finally diagnoses her as being depressed. After seeing what the “Dallas” writers have done to her character, I feel the same.
Grade: B
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Earth to Pam
‘LITTLE BOY LOST’
Season 5, Episode 4
Airdate: October 30, 1981
Audience: 20.3 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings
Writer and Director: Leonard Katzman
Synopsis: Sue Ellen is awarded preliminary custody of John Ross. Mitch impresses a wealthy doctor when he saves the man’s wife from choking. Rebecca’s daughter Katherine visits. Pam goes missing.
Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Niki Flack (Beverly Waring), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Jerry Haynes (Pat Powers), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Arthur Malet (Forest), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Pamela Murphy (Marie), Barry Nelson (Arthur Elrod), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Herbert Rudley (Howard Barker), Donegan Smith (Jackson), Liam Sullivan (Judge William Packer), Edward Winter (Dr. Frank Waring), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)
“Little Boy Lost” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
The Art of Dallas: ‘Showdown at San Angelo’
October 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) puts John Ross (Tyler Banks) to bed at the Southern Cross ranch in this 1981 publicity shot from “Showdown at San Angelo,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘It’s Not Our Fight’
October 17, 2012 by 3 Comments
How he met their mother
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Showdown at San Angelo,” Clayton (Howard Keel) approaches Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), who is playing with John Ross (Tyler Banks) outside the Southern Cross ranch house.
CLAYTON: Mrs. Ewing? Clayton Farlow. [They shake hands.] Not the best of circumstances to meet under.
ELLIE: That’s unfortunately true.
CLAYTON: I can understand how you and Mr. Ewing miss the boy. Since he’s been here, he’s brought a lot of joy to me.
ELLIE: My husband feels he belongs at Southfork. He’s a Ewing.
CLAYTON: [Chuckles] That he is. But what my son wants is just as important to me as what J.R. wants is to you. And he wants Sue Ellen and John Ross here. The boy belongs with his mother.
ELLIE: My husband usually gets what he wants.
CLAYTON: He’s not in Ewing country now. And what happens is between Steven and J.R. It’s not our fight.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 80 – ‘Showdown at San Angelo’
October 17, 2012 by 16 Comments
Still searching
At the beginning of “Dallas’s” fifth season, Sue Ellen flees Southfork with John Ross and seeks sanctuary at the Southern Cross, the ranch where her onetime lover Dusty Farlow lives with his father Clayton. In “Showdown at San Angelo,” we get a glimpse of what our heroine’s new life is like – and how different it is from the one she left behind.
Make no mistake: The Farlows are like a Bizarro World version of the Ewings. Both families are rich and powerful – and both have big ranches and cool choppers – but the similarities pretty much end there.
Consider the “Showdown at San Angelo” scene where Bobby and Ray each threaten to pulverize J.R. after he makes a series of mean-spirited wisecracks during breakfast on the Southfork patio. It’s a far cry from the staid dinner scene at the Southern Cross, where the table talk is about refineries and livestock.
Yet just because Sue Ellen’s new home is different doesn’t mean it’s better. Dusty, crippled after a plane crash, is unable to make love to her. When one of their warm embraces turns passionate, Sue Ellen apologizes, recalling those early “Dallas” scenes where she was embarrassed to let J.R. know she felt unfulfilled sexually. No wonder she sneaks into John Ross’s nursery for a good cry in this episode.
The show seems to be letting the audience know Sue Ellen still hasn’t found her place in the world. She was unhappy at Southfork; things aren’t much better at the Southern Cross. The new ranch might be a haven, but it isn’t Sue Ellen’s home.
We see this during “Showdown at San Angelo’s” memorable final scene, when J.R. and Miss Ellie visit the Southern Cross to see John Ross. (This also marks the first time Ellie meets Clayton, who will eventually become her second husband.) It turns out J.R. is only using Ellie as a Trojan horse to nab John Ross, and when she discovers this, she refuses to go along with his ploy.
As J.R. and Ellie board the Southfork helicopter and fly away, Sue Ellen holds John Ross tightly and the Farlows close ranks around her. It’s almost as if they are holding her tightly. Might they also be holding her back?
Grade: A
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Meet the Farlows
‘SHOWDOWN AT SAN ANGELO’
Season 5, Episode 3
Airdate: October 23, 1981
Audience: 21.3 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings
Writer: Leonard Katzman
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Miss Ellie returns to Dallas without Jock, whom the State Department has recruited for a mission to South America. Bobby and Pam consider adopting a child but are frustrated by the lengthy waiting list. Rebecca persuades Cliff to run Wentworth Tool and Die, one of her late husband’s companies. Mitch graduates medical school. J.R. tries to use Ellie to nab John Ross from the Southern Cross but she refuses to comply.
Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), James L. Brown (Harry McSween), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Bruce French (Jerry Macon), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), Lynn Wood (Ms. Bruce), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)
“Showdown at San Angelo” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
Dallas Decoder 