You’re a mean one, Mr. Ryland

“Let Me In” solves the dilemma of who will fill J.R. Ewing’s boots on “Dallas.” The answer: the audience, at least for now. By shifting the focus to the “Who Killed J.R.?” mystery and its corollaries, “Where’s Pam?” and the Barnes-Ryland conspiracy, this masterfully crafted episode gives us a chance to piece together a puzzle and try to outsmart everyone else, just like our hero used to do. Despite my own attempts to analyze the latest evidence, I still have no idea where “Dallas” is going with all of this, but I’m having a hell of a lot of fun trying to figure it out.

Beyond the mysteries, “Let Me In” allows the audience to get inside the heads of several characters, beginning with Harris. His most revealing moment occurs during the scene with Emma in the darkened parking garage. They sit together in his SUV as Harris recalls the first horse Emma fell in love with as a little girl, and how it injured her when she ignored his orders to stay away from it. It doesn’t take long to realize the story parallels Emma’s relationship with Drew, who she is dating against her father’s wishes. This is why it’s so chilling when Harris reminds Emma how he had the horse put down (“that dirty animal”), and then flicks on his truck’s headlights to reveal Drew, lying on the floor of the garage, bloodied and beaten as two of Harris’s thugs hover nearby.

Everything about this scene is superb: scriptwriter Aaron Allen’s taut dialogue, Mitch Pileggi’s pitch-perfect delivery, Emma Bell’s convincing tears, the way director Millicent Shelton pans her camera across the garage and brings the SUV into the center of the shot. I also love how Pileggi and Bell are cast in a green glow, which lends the scene a kind of cinematic quality. The color might also symbolize the envy that motivates Harris. He doesn’t want Emma to stay away from Drew just because he believes the young man isn’t good enough for her; Harris is jealous of Drew, just like he’d be jealous of anyone who receives attention from his daughter.

This scene also resonates because it reflects one of “Dallas’s” central themes, which is how generational patterns are seemingly impossible to break. Cliff inherits Digger’s enmity toward the Ewings. John Ross strives to escape J.R.’s shadow while simultaneously trying to emulate him. Now we see history repeating itself within the family Ryland: Harris’s preoccupation with Emma is awfully reminiscent of his mother’s obsession with him. Yet it also seems as though Harris genuinely loves his daughter, even if he expresses it through control and manipulation. It allows us to feel a twinge of sympathy for him. (I’m not sure this show’s other villainous daddy, Cliff, loves his daughter Pamela, but that’s a debate for another day.)

Regarding Pamela: “Let Me In” does a nice job showing us her struggle to cope with the loss of her unborn children. In the nifty opening scene, we see alternating shots of Christopher tearing down the nursery at Southfork while Pamela assembles the babies’ room in her penthouse. She then sits alone amid the crib and stuffed animals, which tells us everything we need to know about her state of mind. It also offers a subtle nod to Pamela’s namesake aunt, who demonstrated similarly distressing behavior during her obsessive baby phase on the old show.

Rather smartly, “Let Me In” uses Pamela’s tragedy to generate sympathy for her character, who has engaged in some pretty unsavory practices since the new “Dallas” began. (In much the same way, Drew’s savage beating in this episode makes it easier to forgive him for his role the bombing of the Ewing Energies rig.) In this spirit, “Let Me In” also gives us the lovely scene where John Ross finds Pamela alone on her balcony, wraps his coat around her and brings her in from the cold. Allen, the scriptwriter, referred to this on Twitter the other night as an homage to “St. Elmo’s Fire,” but it also works as a metaphor for John Ross and Pamela’s relationship. These two bring out the warmth in each other. The passion they ignited at the beginning of the season has turned into something deeper, which is why the couple seems to have so many supporters among “Dallas” fans. I’m one of them. I started off rooting for John Ross and Pamela because I loved the idea of J.R. and Cliff’s children falling for each other, but now I see their relationship would make sense no matter what their last names are. They’re both driven characters with daddy issues. Of course they’d be drawn to each other.

“Let Me In” also gives us many moments of Ewing togetherness, beginning with the sequence where Bobby, Sue Ellen and the cousins huff out of the meeting with the state official who investigated the rig explosion. I don’t know about you, but I’m also enjoying the reprieve from Josh Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe’s on-screen bickering; the scene where John Ross expresses concern for Christopher after the loss of the twins makes the characters feel like real, mature men. There’s also the terrific sequence where Sue Ellen warns Lee Majors’ character, Ken Richards, about crossing the family, which recalls one of Miss Ellie’s most memorable moments from the old show. I also like when Sue Ellen spots Emma in the bar, and when she tells Ann about it later. A lot of fans have noted the similarities between Lucy and Emma, but I wonder if Sue Ellen recognizes a little of herself in Emma’s self-destructive tendencies?

“Let Me In’s” other highlights include the arrival of Governor McConaughey, played to smirking perfection by Steven Weber, as well as the second appearance from Majors, whose conflicted character gets to become a hero when he alerts Sue Ellen to Harris’s connection to McConaughey. The captivating Emily Kosloski (Patrick Duffy’s daughter-in-law), in the meantime, does a brief-but-memorable turn as Rhonda, the club hostess who may or may not be the last woman to see J.R. alive.

I also love “Let Me In’s” two episode-ending montages. In the first, Bobby lets Sue Ellen in on the secret that J.R. was devising a master plan against the family’s enemies when he died. Duffy delivers his character’s recap over slow-motion scenes of Bobby and Sue Ellen examining the evidence. In the second montage, Harris sits in the governor’s office and gives McConaughey a lesson on the hunting habits of the Komodo dragon, explaining how it injects its prey with venom and waits for its slow death. As Harris speaks, we watch the Ewings make the unsettling discovery that the governor has used his office to stop the flow of oil from Southfork, effectively cutting off the family’s fortune.

This dramatic ending leaves me wondering how the Ewings are going to get out of this latest jam. I wonder something else too. What does Pileggi savor more: the nuts he’s munching in this scene or the delicious dialogue Allen has written for him?

Grade: A

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Enter the hero

‘LET ME IN’

Season 2, Episode 11

Telecast: April 1, 2013

Writer: Aaron Allen

Director: Millicent Shelton

Audience: 2.6 million viewers on April 1

Synopsis: The state concludes a technical glitch is to blame for the rig explosion and fines Ewing Energies $1 billion. After Governor Sam McConaughey forces him to resign from his post, Ken lets Sue Ellen know the governor is in Harris’s pocket. Later, McConaughey’s administration seizes the Henderson property, cutting off the flow of oil from Southfork. Bobby determines Christopher will inherit Pam’s share of Barnes Global if she’s dead. Harris has Drew beaten when Emma refuses to stop seeing him.

Cast: Kuno Becker (Drew Ramos), Emma Bell (Emma Brown), Jordana Brewster (Elena Ramos), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Alex Fernandez (Roy Vickers), Julie Gonzalo (Pamela Barnes), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Castulo Guerra (Carlos del Sol), Christian Heep (Travis), Josh Henderson (John Ross Ewing), Emily Kosloski (Rhonda), Lee Majors (Ken Richards), Jesse Metcalfe (Christopher Ewing), Jack O’Donnell (Emma’s friend), Mitch Pileggi (Harris Ryland), Natalie Quintanilla (Stacy), Jeffrey Schmidt (Scott Taylor), Brenda Strong (Ann Ewing), Steven Weber (Governor Sam McConaughey)

“Let Me In” is available at DallasTNT.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.