Dallas Decoder

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Keep Out of My Way, Pamela’

October 1, 2012 by Chris Baker 2 Comments

Daddy’s boy

In “Ewing-Gate,” “Dallas’s” fourth-season finale, J.R. and his security guard Gibson (Larry Hagman, Bill Boyett) enter the Southfork foyer, where Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) holds John Ross (Tyler Banks).

J.R.: Sue Ellen. Where you going?

SUE ELLEN: I’m going for a drive.

J.R.: I called the office from the airport. Phyllis said she had talked to you. Told you I was down in Austin.

SUE ELLEN: So?

J.R.: So why are you going for a ride with John Ross at night when you thought I’d be away?

SUE ELLEN: I’m going.

J.R.: Not with my son, you’re not.

SUE ELLEN: I’m leaving you, J.R. And I’m taking him with me.

J.R.: The hell you are. [As she walks past J.R., he snatches John Ross out of her arms while Gibson restrains her.]

SUE ELLEN: How long do you think you can stop me? You’re going to have to stand trial, and I’m going to get him then.

Pam (Victoria Principal) comes to the stairs and watches.

J.R.: You’re never going to get him.

SUE ELLEN: And if you go to prison? You can’t stop me. You think a court is going to let a criminal have his son? Oh, I’m going to get him, J.R. One way or another.

J.R.: Get her out of here! Get her off Southfork and never let her back on!

GIBSON: Come on.

SUE ELLEN: You can’t have him, J.R. Because I’m going to have him!

J.R.: I’ll kill you first!

SUE ELLEN: Well, you’re going to have to. [Screaming] Because I’m going to get him! I’m going to get him!

Gibson drags her away.

J.R.: Your mama’s crazy boy, trying to get you away from me.

PAM: He’s her child, J.R. He belongs with her.

J.R.: Stay out of my affairs, Pamela.

PAM: Give her her child. She loves him.

J.R.: She doesn’t know the first thing about love.

PAM: She should have him just for putting up with you all these years. He’s the only decent thing that’s ever happened to her.

J.R.: No wonder you care so much for Sue Ellen. She’s just like your mother – another drunken slut who ran away.

PAM: You slime. You make me sick.

J.R.: Keep out my way, Pamela, or I’ll destroy you. I’ll destroy anybody that tries to take my boy away from me.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Bill Boyett, Ewing-Gate, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Tyler Banks, Victoria Principal

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 77 – ‘Ewing-Gate’

October 1, 2012 by Chris Baker 28 Comments

He done it?

In “Ewing-Gate,” J.R. finally beds hard-to-get Leslie Stewart, but the experience turns out to be less than he expected. “It wasn’t worth the wait,” J.R. tells her in a flash of post coitus candor. After watching this episode, I know how he feels.

Although “Dallas’s” fourth season is much better than I remembered overall, the “Ewing-Gate” finale is a letdown – and the resolution to Leslie’s storyline is one reason why. Susan Flannery’s midseason debut was smashing, but somewhere along the line, the show’s writers seemed to lose interest in her character. This is a real shame: Leslie’s combination of business smarts and unapologetic sexuality made her a television breakthrough; she deserved a better sendoff.

“Ewing-Gate” has other flaws, including the scene where J.R. is hauled before the state senate committee investigating his Asian coup. It’s not just the ridiculous notion that the Texas legislature has jurisdiction over what happens in a foreign country. Or that Bobby wouldn’t be asked to recuse himself from a hearing into his brother’s activities. Or that Cliff, Bobby’s aide, would be allowed to sit on the panel and question the witnesses.

No, it’s also the length of this scene: It clocks in at a little more than 13 minutes – consuming almost the whole third act. Perhaps audiences found this more interesting in the years after Watergate, when televised government hearings were still a novelty, but the scene plays today like “Bad C-SPAN Theatre.” (Along these lines, “Ewing-Gate’s” title probably seemed clever three decades ago, before the press wore out the practice of attaching “gate” to every scandal.)

More gripes: “Ewing-Gate” marks the first time Kristin faces J.R. since she confessed to shooting him at the beginning of the season – yet their eagerly awaited reunion is flat. Also, even though the confrontation occurs in J.R.’s office, no one bothers to note this is Kristin’s return to the scene of the crime. Not giving Mary Crosby and Linda Gray a scene together represents another missed opportunity.

My biggest “Ewing-Gate” complaint has to do with the episode’s final sequence, when Cliff discovers the dead woman’s body in the Southfork swimming pool. Although the scene is nicely produced – thanks in large measure to Richard Lewis Warren’s driving score – the cliffhanger feels like something the producers tacked on at the last minute. The contrast couldn’t be sharper with the previous season finale, “A House Divided,” which rhythmically built toward J.R.’s climactic shooting.

And is there any doubt whose body Cliff discovers? The woman’s dark hair suggests it could be one of three characters – Sue Ellen, Pam or Kristin – yet even when I saw “Ewing-Gate” as a child, I was smart enough to know two of those suspects could be ruled out. While watching the episode more recently, I also noticed the unfamiliar car in the Southfork driveway when Cliff arrives – another clue the victim floating in the pool a few feet away is a visitor to the ranch.

So even though I appreciate the nifty symmetry this episode offers – one year after “Dallas” leaves us asking who shot J.R., we’re left to ponder who J.R. might’ve killed – there’s no denying the fact “Ewing-Gate” isn’t a cliffhanger as much as it is an exercise in poetic justice.

Grade: B

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Together again

‘EWING-GATE’

Season 4, Episode 23

Airdate: May 1, 1981

Audience: 25.6 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer and Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: Afton helps J.R. sneak a peek at Cliff’s evidence against him, allowing J.R. to persuade the state senate to clear him of wrongdoing in the Asian coup. J.R. also sleeps with Leslie, refuses to give into Kristin’s extortion scheme, kicks Sue Ellen off Southfork and vows revenge when Pam takes John Ross to his mother. Cliff arrives at the ranch and finds a dead woman floating in the swimming pool.

Cast: Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Len Birman (Claude Brown), William Boyett (Gibson), James L. Brown (Harry McSween), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Susan Flannery (Leslie Stewart), Tom Fuccello (Senator Dave Culver), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), John Hart (Senator Carson), David Healy (Senator Harbin), James Hong (Ambassador Lanh Thon), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), 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), Byron Morrow (Emmett Walsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), Jay Varela (Senator Arvilla), Joseph Warren (Senator Dickson), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)

“Ewing-Gate” 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: Ewing-Gate, House Divided, Linda Gray, Mary Crosby, Richard Lewis Warren, Susan Flannery

Dallas Parallels: Strange Bedfellows

September 28, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

On “Dallas,” business routinely makes strange bedfellows, but the unlikeliest alliance of all might be formed in the second-season episode “Fallen Idol,” when J.R. and Pam join forces to squelch Bobby’s plan to build a shopping center on Southfork.

J.R.’s motivation is selfish – he doesn’t want the land developed because he’s secretly plotting to drill for oil there – but Pam has only Bobby’s interests at heart: She doesn’t trust his partner Guzzler Bennett and believes Bobby shouldn’t do business with him.

In one of the episode’s best scenes, J.R. takes Pam to lunch at a posh restaurant, where he confirms Pam’s suspicions by handing her a detective’s report that details Guzzler’s shady dealings. When Pam wonders how she’ll persuade Bobby to pull out of the deal, J.R. delivers a deliciously bitchy backhanded compliment: “Well. You’re a very clever woman, Pam. You’ll think of something.”

The line echoes three decades into the future, when John Ross finds himself in a bind of his own. To gain leverage against Mitch Lobell, the sleazy lawyer who is extorting money from him, John Ross sets out to frame Lobell’s son Ricky, a recovering drug addict who’ll go to prison if he’s caught relapsing. To pull this off, John Ross enlists Rebecca, his cousin Christopher’s new bride.

John Ross’s scheme, which unfolds in “The Last Hurrah,” TNT’s fourth “Dallas” episode, is more devious – and complicated – than the one his daddy masterminded in “Fallen Idol.” Since Rebecca has no reason to want to help him, John Ross blackmails her by threatening to expose the fact the e-mail that broke up Christopher and Elena two years earlier came from Rebecca’s computer.

When Rebecca wonders how she’s supposed to get Ricky to do drugs again, John Ross delivers a J.R.-worthy backhanded compliment: “Now, Rebecca, you strike me as an extremely resourceful woman. I’m sure you’ll figure that out.”

In the end, both unlikely alliances are derailed by last-minute changes of heart. In “Fallen Idol,” Guzzler has an attack of conscience and pulls out of his deal with Bobby; in “The Last Hurrah,” Rebecca comes close to getting Ricky to relapse but backs out at the 11th hour, prompting Marta del Sol to finish the deal on John Ross’s behalf.

J.R. and Pam teamed again during the classic show’s “dream season,” when they became reluctant partners at Ewing Oil. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of John Ross and Rebecca’s unholy alliance either.

‘You’re a Very Clever Woman, Pam. You’ll Think of Something.’

Clever

In “Fallen Idol,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. and Pam (Larry Hagman, Victoria Principal) sit across from each other in a posh restaurant.

PAM: Your invitation came as quite a shock. I never imagined the two of us having lunch together.

J.R.: Well, you’re a member of the family now. You fought for it and you won, and I think it’s time we bury the hatchet.

PAM: [Smiles] J.R., please don’t make me lose this good food. Why don’t you try telling me the truth for a change?

J.R.: [Chuckles] You always could see right through me, couldn’t you?

PAM: Like glass.

J.R.: Well, do you believe I care for Bobby?

PAM: I think it’s debatable.

J.R.: Well, let’s see if we can find something we both agree on. You love Bobby, right?

PAM: You know I do.

J.R.: You’d do anything to protect him from harm?

PAM: [Concerned] Who’s going to harm Bobby?

J.R.: Guzzler. I think you’d better read this. He’s getting Bobby involved so deeply in this building project, he may never get out of it. [Hands Pam documents]

PAM: What’s all this mean?

J.R.: Read it. You’ll find out that Guzzler is not only broke, he’s a crook. He was building an office complex down in New Orleans. Ran out on his partner, left him holding the bag. The company went under and they never even finished digging the foundations. Then he went up to Montana, big pile of money, started some sort of phony land deal. That collapsed. The authorities are still trying to unravel it to find out who to file charges against. Then Guzzler went looking for another mark – and he found one: Bobby.

PAM: J.R., if I don’t trust you, how am I supposed to trust this report?

J.R.: I’ll let you talk to a private investigator if you want to, or you can hire your own. I’ll pay for it.

PAM: Why didn’t you tell all this to Bobby yourself?

J.R.: Well, I can’t say anything bad about Guzzler. Bobby’s got some kind of blind spot where that man is concerned.

PAM: Yeah, I know.

J.R.: I want you to stop this project before Bobby signs any agreement with him.

PAM: And how can I do that?

J.R.: Well, you’re a very clever woman, Pam. You’ll think of something.

PAM: J.R., what are you getting out of this?

J.R.: Does it matter?

‘Rebecca, You Strike Me as an Extremely Resourceful Woman’

Resourceful

In “The Last Hurrah,” the fourth episode of TNT’s “Dallas,” Rebecca (Julie Gonzalo) meets John Ross (Josh Henderson) near an abandoned building.

REBECCA: I told you on the phone I don’t know anything about any e-mail.

JOHN ROSS: [Pulls a piece of paper out of the envelope in his hand and shows it to her] Maybe that will refresh your memory. I had somebody trace this back to your IP address. You really know how to break a girl’s heart. That stuff you wrote was mean.

REBECCA: [Shakes her head] I didn’t send this. I swear.

JOHN ROSS: If that’s true, then why’d you come?

REBECCA: I came because you’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.

JOHN ROSS: [Turns his back] You’re going to have to be a lot more convincing than that if you want Christopher to believe you.

REBECCA: [Steps forward, holds the paper] No, you can’t show this to him.

JOHN ROSS: I don’t want to have to. That depends on you.

REBECCA: But I didn’t send it!

JOHN ROSS: The proof is in your hand. Now, I need you to do something for me.

REBECCA: What do you want me to do?

JOHN ROSS: [Smiles, hands her the envelope] This guy’s a drug addict. I need you to get pictures of him doing drugs.

REBECCA: You can’t be serious. How am I supposed to pull that off?

JOHN ROSS: Now, Rebecca, you strike me as an extremely resourceful woman. I’m sure you’ll figure that out. And once you do, I’ll let you get away with whatever scam you’re trying to pull on my dimwitted cousin. [She slides the envelope in her bag as John Ross walks away.]

What do you think of J.R. and John Ross’s unlikely alliances with Pam and Rebecca? Share your comments below and read more “Dallas Parallels.”

Filed Under: Dallas Parallels, Features Tagged With: Fallen Idol, Josh Henderson, Julie Gonzalo, Larry Hagman, Last Hurrah, TNT, Victoria Principal

The Art of Dallas: ‘Full Circle’

September 27, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

Kristin (Mary Crosby) checks into a posh hotel in this 1981 publicity shot from “Full Circle,” a fourth-season “Dallas” episode.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic) Tagged With: Full Circle, Mary Crosby

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Mama, You Didn’t Take Any Licorice’

September 27, 2012 by Chris Baker 9 Comments

He remembers, Mama

In “Dallas’s” fourth-season episode “Full Circle,” Cliff (Ken Kercheval), dressed in a three-piece suit, nervously straightens his apartment when there is a knock at the door. He opens it, revealing Rebecca (Priscilla Pointer).

REBECCA: Hello.

CLIFF: Hi. Come on in.

REBECCA: You look wonderful.

CLIFF: You too. Maybe I should have known who you were when you came in the office the other day but then, I don’t know. You didn’t look exactly like I expected you to.

REBECCA: Oh?

CLIFF: No. You look kind of um … poised.

REBECCA: [She smiles, then notices the spread on his coffee table] Oh, Cliff. You didn’t have to go to that trouble.

CLIFF: No, it’s no trouble. I’ve got some coffee going. I’ll check to see if it’s done. [Walks into the kitchen] Uh, it’s done. [Peering into the living room] You want some coffee? How do you take it?

REBECCA: Black, please.

He pours two cups, carries them into the living room on saucers and hands one to her.

CLIFF: We can sit down.

REBECCA: You’ve done very well for yourself, haven’t you Cliff?

They sit on the sofa.

CLIFF: Uh, I’ve done OK. I’ve bounced around a bit, from job to job.

REBECCA: But you put yourself through law school.

CLIFF: Yeah, I did that. [Not making eye contact] But that’s a long time ago. Now Pam. Now, let’s see. Now, I don’t think she told me where she found you.

REBECCA: The first time was in Houston.

CLIFF: [Looks at her, then looks away] Did you live there very long?

REBECCA: Yes, we…. We, we sound like two strangers, don’t we? I didn’t want it to be that way. [Moves toward him, but he rises and stands]

CLIFF: It wasn’t my decision. You ran out on me. I was barely 5 years old and you pretended to be dead and you left me with a baby sister and a drunken father. Why?

REBECCA: It wasn’t like…. It’s so, it’s so hard to explain.

CLIFF: I can imagine it’s hard to explain. A mother running out on her own two kids. I don’t know how in the hell a woman can do that. [Screaming] Do you have any idea what it’s like to be 5 years old and be told that your mother’s dead only to find out the truth is that she didn’t want you! That she was only thinking about herself!

REBECCA: [Grabs her pocketbook, rises and walks toward Cliff, who stands not looking at her] I, I didn’t expect you to forgive me anymore than I can forgive myself. [Voice cracking] But, oh how I prayed that you could try.

CLIFF: I have tried! [She opens the door.] Mama. [Grabs a bowl from the coffee table, holds it out for her] You didn’t take any licorice and I remembered you liked it.

He walks toward her and they embrace while sobbing.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Full Circle, Ken Kercheval, Priscilla Pointer

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 76 – ‘Full Circle’

September 27, 2012 by Chris Baker 15 Comments

Look Mom, no grudges

The famous scene from “Full Circle” – when Cliff tearfully offers his estranged mother a bowl of licorice, her favorite candy – is one of my earliest “Dallas” memories. I was 7 when this episode debuted, and I remember watching it and feeling sorry for Cliff. All these years later, the moment still moves me.

Ken Kercheval has called Cliff and Rebecca’s reconciliation his favorite “Dallas” scene, and it’s easy to see why he likes it. Kercheval is always fascinating to watch, but during the course of this four-and-a-half-minute sequence, he’s called upon to convey a whole spectrum of emotion: from nervousness to rage to mercy. The actor hits every note with precision.

The most impressive part of Kercheval’s performance might be how he seems to avoid looking at Priscilla Pointer. When I interviewed Kercheval in the summer, he talked about another of his favorite scenes – this one with Barbara Bel Geddes – and mentioned how helpful it is for actors to maintain eye contact so they can take “cues” from each other. Kercheval doesn’t appear to do that with Pointer during the “licorice scene.” This probably made the performance more challenging, but it lends the scene power. Seeing how difficult it is for Cliff to look Rebecca in the eye helps us realize how hard it is for him to face the truth about her shortcomings.

Michael Preece’s direction here is terrific – I especially like how he has Kercheval jump to his feet when Cliff calls out Rebecca’s sins – as well as Bruce Broughton’s lush score, which swells when mother and son finally embrace.

Then there’s Arthur Bernard Lewis’s clever dialogue. At the end of the scene, Lewis could have given Kercheval a straightforward line to signal Cliff’s last-minute change of heart – something like, “Wait, Mom, don’t go” – but instead, Lewis has Cliff offer her the licorice. Why? I think the line achieves two things: Having Cliff refer to candy – something so closely associated with childhood – reminds us how long it’s been since he last saw Rebecca. More importantly, the licorice symbolizes how Cliff in many ways is still the wounded little boy whose mother abandoned him.

If any other character was given a line like this (imagine J.R. or Bobby saying it), it might seem childish, but with Cliff, it’s flat-out moving. Cliff is the most revenge-prone character in “Dallas” history, yet for once in his life, he’s willing to set aside his animus. This is a moment of genuine growth for Cliff.

I also love the “Full Circle” sequence where Preece’s camera follows Mary Crosby’s legs as Kristin marches across a hotel lobby to Bruce Broughton’s jaunty score. This is a fun scene, but it’s also a little prophetic: The confidence in Crosby’s stride makes her look buoyant – and as we now know, this won’t be the last time we see Kristin float.

Grade: A

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Walk to remember

‘FULL CIRCLE’

Season 4, Episode 22

Airdate: April 17, 1981

Audience: 24.4 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Michael Preece

Synopsis: Cliff forgives Rebecca and presents Bobby’s committee with evidence linking J.R. to the counter-revolution in Asia. Kristin returns and extorts money from Jordan Lee, who believes he is the father of her newborn son. Sue Ellen runs into Dusty, who is learning to walk again. Pam is devastated to learn she cannot bear children. Lucy leaves Mitch.

Cast: Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Ellen Bry (Jean), Gerald Castillo (Luis Hernandez), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Susan Flannery (Leslie Stewart), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), John Hart (Senator Carson), David Healy (Senator Harbin), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), John Randolph (Lincoln Hargrove), William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Christopher Stone (Dave Stratton), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Jay Varela (Senator Arvilla), Joseph Warren (Senator Dickson), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)

“Full Circle” 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, Bruce Broughton, Full Circle, Ken Kercheval, Mary Crosby, Michael Preece, Priscilla Pointer

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘What Happened, J.R.?’

September 26, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

The Ewing touch

In “Dallas’s” fourth-season episode “New Beginnings,” J.R. and Sue Ellen (Larry Hagman, Linda Gray) put John Ross (Tyler Banks) to sleep in his crib.

J.R.: Handsome little devil, isn’t he?

SUE ELLEN: He has eyes exactly like yours, J.R. That’s the first thing that attracted me to you.

J.R.: Is that right? I thought it was my money.

SUE ELLEN: Well, I had several suitors with a lot of money. No, it was your eyes. They always seemed to be hiding secrets. Things you knew about the world that no one else knew.

J.R.: Sue Ellen, what are you talking about?

They leave the nursery and enter the bedroom.

SUE ELLEN: You know something? My mama didn’t want me to marry you at first.

J.R.: Now don’t tell me she wanted you to marry that poor boy you were going around with. What’s his name? Clint something or other? [Removes his jacket, unties his necktie]

SUE ELLEN: No, no, not him. She had Billy Frompton picked out for me.

J.R.: [Chuckles] Billy Frompton. Billy turned into a blimp.

SUE ELLEN: I know, but his daddy was loaded. He had oil and uranium and diamonds and coal and things like that.

J.R.: And you picked me because of my eyes?

SUE ELLEN: And because of the way you speak. [Runs her fingers up his arm] You know, every time you talked to me, I got the shivers.

He walks away, tosses his jacket on the bed, sits on the sofa.

SUE ELLEN: You know, J.R., I’ve always wanted to ask you something. With all those ladies in the state of Texas after you … why me?

She sits and looks at him while he stares at the ceiling.

J.R.: Well, once upon a time, I was a judge in the Miss Texas beauty contest. And after awhile, you run all those girls through the contest, and it looks like a cattle auction in Fort Worth.

SUE ELLEN: [Smiling] I felt the same way too.

J.R.: Then we got down to the bathing suit category. And all those pretty little girls prancing around, trying to look sexy. And then there you were, Sue Ellen. Not trying to do anything. Just looking more sexy than any of them. And you had something else: You looked like a lady. The combination was … [he smiles] devastating. [She closes her eyes, then touches his shirt collar]

SUE ELLEN: You know, I was so frightened when you first brought me to Southfork to meet your parents. They were such imposing figures. I never thought they’d like me.

J.R.: Well, Mama took to you right off. And Daddy too.

SUE ELLEN: We’ve had some good times, J.R. We’ve done some good things too.

J.R.: The best thing we did was that little boy sleeping in the next room.

SUE ELLEN: What happened, J.R.? What happened? Why can’t it be like that again, like it was those first years?

She touches his lips.

J.R.: Sue Ellen –

The phone rings. She answers it.

SUE ELLEN: Hello? [Pauses] Yes. [Her posture stiffens.] It’s Kristin. Calling from California. She just gave birth to a baby boy. You have another son.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic) Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, New Beginnings (Dallas)

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 75 – ‘New Beginnings’

September 26, 2012 by Chris Baker 18 Comments

War and remembrance

Sometimes “Dallas” is more than entertaining – it’s damn near magical. This happens when everything that goes into making the show – the writing, the acting, the music and so on – comes together in ways that are so pitch-perfect, you can’t help but feel you’re witnessing something special. The final scene in “New Beginnings” is one of these moments.

It begins when J.R. comes home late and finds Sue Ellen asleep in John Ross’s darkened nursery, having dozed off while rocking him. She awakens and helps J.R. put the boy in his crib, and then the couple moves into their bedroom, where they reminisce about their courtship.

The exchange that follows is extraordinary. J.R. and Sue Ellen spend much of their lives at war with each other, but in this scene we finally see them take off their armor, which director Irving J. Moore symbolizes by putting Linda Gray in a bathrobe and having Larry Hagman remove his suit jacket and necktie as they deliver their dialogue.

The conversation itself, written by Arthur Bernard Lewis, paints a lovely picture of what J.R. and Sue Ellen were like when their love was new. With Richard Lewis Warren’s soft piano music playing in the background, we listen to J.R. describe seeing Sue Ellen for the first time, during the Miss Texas beauty pageant, and we envision how poised she must have looked on that stage. We then hear Sue Ellen recall how “frightened” she was when J.R. brought her to Southfork to meet Jock and Miss Ellie, and we imagine a sweeter, shyer Sue Ellen walking into that big house on the arm of a younger, beaming J.R.

Lewis’s dialogue is also poetic in the way it captures the unique qualities Hagman and Gray bring to their roles. Here’s how Sue Ellen remembers J.R.’s eyes: “They always seemed to be hiding secrets. Things you knew about the world that no one else knew.” And here’s how he recalls her beauty pageant performance: “All those pretty young girls were prancing around and trying to look sexy. And then, there you were, Sue Ellen. Not trying to do anything. Just looking more sexy than any of them. And you had something else. You looked like a lady.” Have better descriptions of these characters ever been written?

It’s also worth considering the context in which J.R. and Sue Ellen’s conversation takes place. Earlier in “New Beginnings,” J.R. visits Leslie’s apartment, where he vows to end his marriage so he can make Leslie his new wife. “I’m filing against Sue Ellen,” he says. Do hearing the words aloud prompt the nostalgic wave that engulfs J.R. at the end of the episode?

And what is Sue Ellen’s frame of mind at the end of “New Beginnings”? In the episode’s first act, Clint’s wife Alisha tells Sue Ellen she is willing to share her husband if that’s what it takes to hold onto him. The conversation leads a guilty Sue Ellen to break up with Clint, but does Alisha’s devotion also inspire Sue Ellen to give her own marriage another chance?

This is what makes the final moments of “New Beginnings” so heartbreaking. Just when it seems like J.R. and Sue Ellen are about to reignite their old spark, the phone rings. She answers and after hearing the voice on the other end, we see her face fall and her posture stiffen. “It’s Kristin, calling from California,” Sue Ellen announces somberly. “She just gave birth to a baby boy. You have another son.”

What a punch to the gut! The words remind us that the past doesn’t just hold memories for J.R. and Sue Ellen to cherish – it also holds mistakes that will haunt them forever.

Grade: A

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Wake-up call

‘NEW BEGINNINGS’

Season 4, Episode 21

Airdate: April 10, 1981

Audience: 23.3 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Jock and Miss Ellie depart for a second honeymoon. Sue Ellen ends her affair with Clint after his wife confronts her. Jeremy vows revenge when J.R. backs out of his promise to sell him Ewing Oil. Cliff sleeps with Afton and pumps her for information about J.R. Kristin calls Sue Ellen and tells her she’s given birth to J.R.’s son.

Cast: Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Stephanie Braxton (Alisha Ogden), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Richard Derr (Howard), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Susan Flannery (Leslie Stewart), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Culver Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Monte Markham (Clint Ogden), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell), Craig Stevens (Greg Stewart), Christopher Stone (Dave Stratton), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)

“New Beginnings” 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, Irving J. Moore, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, New Beginnings (Dallas)

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Love You, Jock’

September 25, 2012 by Chris Baker 6 Comments

Nothing to forgive

In “Dallas’s” fourth-season episode “Ewing vs. Ewing,” while Jock and Donna (Jim Davis, Susan Howard) watch, Ray (Steve Kanaly) hands Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) a legal document he commissioned to relinquish his claim of the Ewing fortune.

JOCK: Ray, I made you part of that trust because it’s rightfully yours. Don’t throw away your birthright.

RAY: I’d rather give it all up, leave Southfork, go anywhere, rather than be the cause for you two splitting up. You’re paying too high a price for me to be a Ewing.

ELLIE: [Turns and slowly turns away] I can’t let you do that, Ray. [She rubs her temple.] I guess, I guess the truth has finally come home. All this time, I couldn’t let go of Gary. I couldn’t let go of the hope that he’d come back to Southfork. But Gary’s not coming back. It’s because he doesn’t want to. This time, he wasn’t driven away. He left because, because he wasn’t happy. And you were right. I did blame you for that, Ray. It was easier to blame you than looking at myself and see the truth. And because you were Ray’s father, Jock, I focused all that hurt and hate on you being part of Takapa. But it never was Takapa. I used it as an excuse. It was all inside of me. [Tosses aside the document, turns back to Ray, sobs] And Ray, you are a Ewing. [Walks toward him] I want you to stay. [She touches his face, and then he embraces her as she cries.]

JOCK: Does that include me too?

ELLIE: Oh, yes. [Jock smiles as she walks toward him.] Forgive me. I almost destroyed everything.

JOCK: Nothing to forgive. I love you, Ellie.

ELLIE: I love you, Jock.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Ewing vs. Ewing, Jim Davis, Steve Kanaly, Susan Howard

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 74 – ‘Ewing vs. Ewing’

September 25, 2012 by Chris Baker 19 Comments

Davis rules

Jim Davis makes his last appearance as Jock in “Dallas’s” 75th hour, “New Beginnings,” but it’s more of a cameo than anything else. His final, “real” performance comes at the end of “Ewing vs. Ewing,” and no matter how many times I watch it, it never fails to move me.

Davis was diagnosed with inoperable cancer during the show’s fourth season, and when you watch these episodes, you can see him physically deteriorate, bit by bit. By the time “Ewing vs. Ewing” was filmed, the actor’s face had puffed up and his voice had been reduced to a rasp. It’s painful to witness.

Yet it’s also damned inspiring. Davis famously soldiered on despite his illness, and producer Leonard Katzman allowed him to continue to play Jock because he knew it was important to keep the actor’s spirits up. Barbara A. Curran’s book “Dallas: The Complete Story of the World’s Favorite Prime-Time Soap” includes an anecdote about how Katzman even gave Davis a peek at the scripts being prepared for the fifth season, just so the actor could see Jock would still be part of the show.

Of course, Jock never appeared during Season 5. Davis died 23 days after the broadcast of “Ewing vs. Ewing,” an uneven episode (Bobby’s use of “personal funds” to settle his senate committee’s debate over the Takapa project is an eye-roller) that nonetheless remains a sentimental favorite on the basis of that touching final scene, when Jock and Miss Ellie finally reconcile after spending half the season at war.

My favorite moment comes when Ellie admits she’s treated Jock unfairly and asks if he can forgive her. Davis delivers Jock’s response (“Nothing to forgive.”) with the same tender conviction he memorably exhibited during the third-season “Mastectomy” episodes.

Barbara Bel Geddes, who is absolutely perfect throughout “Ewing vs. Ewing” and especially in this final scene, gets the episode’s last line – “I love you, Jock” – and as I watch her deliver it, I have no doubt the tears in her eyes are real. I also know Bel Geddes isn’t just speaking for her character. She’s speaking for all of us.

Grade: B

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Hug it out, Mama

‘EWING VS. EWING’

Season 4, Episode 20

Airdate: April 3, 1981

Audience: 23.3 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Leah Markus

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Bobby forges a compromise in the Takapa fight. Jock and Miss Ellie reconcile. J.R. continues his plann to sell Ewing Oil to Wendell. Cliff meets Afton and Pam tells him their mother is alive.

Cast: Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Cherie Beasley (Tootie Smith), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Senator Bobby Ewing), Susan Flannery (Leslie Stewart), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), John Hart (Senator Carson), Morgan Hart (Jenny Smith), David Healy (Senator Harbin), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Monte Markham (Clint Ogden), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), John Randolph (Lincoln Hargrove), William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell), Craig Stevens (Greg Stewart), Christopher Stone (Dave Stratton), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Jay Varela (Senator Arvilla), Joseph Warren (Senator Dickson), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)

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