Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Awards
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Dallas the TV series
Dallas - The Original Series
Dallas Season Reviews
Re-watching Season 5
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 40059" data-attributes="member: 22"><p><u><em>"Legacy"</em></u></p><p></p><p>Like "Ewing Blues", this is one of those low-key, calm-between-storms instalments of Season 5. What it lacks in fireworks, however, it makes up for in soul searching and introspection. "When you're young and you find a man like Jock," sighs Miss Ellie wistfully at one point, "the future's so full of promise ... Where are the little boys I loved so much?" "You're Jock Ewing's son too," says Bobby to Ray during a brotherly heart to heart. "If Daddy put you head to head against JR, could <em>you</em> give it up, just quit?"</p><p></p><p>The episode opens the morning after Rebecca's funeral, with Pam leaving Southfork. Following her big dramatic announcement at the end of last week's episode, ("I need time to think - away from you, away from Southfork, away from the Ewings, and away from everything the Ewings stand for!") the sight of an unfortunate ranch hand struggling manfully with a big cuddly bear as Pam prepares to drive off the fake patio feels a little anti-climactic. It's not as exciting a scene as the first time she left Bobby, at the end of "The Red Files, Part 1", but now as then, a satisfied JR watches from a distance while a forlorn Bobby stands in the driveway, "moping in her dust."</p><p></p><p>Entering the living room, Miss Ellie is surprised to find her youngest son drinking whisky so early in the day. "It's not every day my wife leaves me, Mama," he explains. This is one in a string of good, solid scenes between family members who have not interacted on screen for a while. Patrick Duffy and Barbara Bel Geddes haven't had a scene alone together for over a year - not since Bobby's failed attempt to persuade his mother to have Jock declared dead in "Denial". While Miss Ellie's first instinct is to console Bobby over Pam's departure, ("She'll be back, just give her time") she soon makes it clear where she believes the blame lies: "How much choice did [Pam] have, living here after what happened to Rebecca?" "So you think Rebecca died because of the battle too?" Bobby asks in surprise. This is the second time in as many scenes this accusation has been levelled at him. "If it weren't for the fight, my mother would still be alive," insists Pam before leaving. (This is a shift from the stance she took last week when she told her sister that "the damn Barnes/Ewing feud" was responsible for their mother's death.) "If it weren't for that and a million other things, a <em>million</em> other things," insists Bobby. With his mother, he adopts a more defensive attitude: "Mama, that battle is between JR and me and it has nothing to do with Rebecca or Cliff or anybody else!" "All right," Miss Ellie snaps. "You keep telling yourself that. But Rebecca is dead, and your marriage may soon be dead and not just because of Rebecca. <em>Bobby, you just don't see what's happening to you!</em>"</p><p></p><p>The idea that Bobby has somehow "changed" is echoed throughout the episode. "Bobby's gettin' as underhanded as JR," declares Jordan Lee. "Given the chance, he may turn out a lot worse," chimes in Marilee Stone. Meanwhile, Miss Ellie and Pam both pine for the Bobby they once knew. "I want the sweet, wonderful, honest man I fell in love with," Pam says to Katherine. "He was always the dependable one, the loving one," remembers Ellie in a nice restaurant scene with Clayton. "JR was the ruthless one, but Bobby's become so obsessed with beating JR that he's getting to be just like him." </p><p></p><p>There is no shortage of characters registering their dismay at Bobby and Pam's separation. As with Rebecca's death, it's these reactions that help sell us on the gravity of the situation. "It's so hard to believe she's really left him," Ellie admits to Clayton. "I was so hoping she would have changed her mind overnight," says Sue Ellen to JR. When Donna and Ray stop by the ranch ("on our way to Austin") to pay their respects to Bobby, it's almost as if someone has died. "We just really wanted to come by and tell you how sorry we are," says Donna solemnly. "Just not the same without him here," adds Lucy with reference to Christopher. Even those characters with something to gain from the break up conceal their true feelings behind of a veneer of concern. "I really am sorry," says Mark Graison when JR tells him the news over the phone. "It's really tragic," concurs JR, a tad outrageously. </p><p></p><p>Most duplicitous of all is Katherine, who spends much of the episode offering Pam a padded shoulder to lean on. "I just don't understand ... why you left Bobby," she faux-frets as they move into that gloomy hotel suite. She even offers to intercede with Bobby on Pam's behalf: "Maybe I could reason with him, tell him how much you love him, how much you want your marriage to continue ... I wanna see you two get back together." It's only when Bobby calls the hotel and asks to speak to Pam that Katherine's true colours begin to emerge. She tells him Pam is asleep. "If you ever need a friendly ear, mine's available," she adds. No sooner does she hang up than Pam appears, her hair wrapped in a towel. "I thought you were sleeping," says Katherine. An honest mistake, perhaps ... but then she neglects to mention Bobby's call. This is the first indication we're given that Katherine might not have Pam's best interests at heart; up until now, her wrath has been directed solely towards Cliff. </p><p></p><p>Although on paper Katherine has much in common with Kristin, (each a Ewing sister-in-law, ruthlessly determined to snag her sister's husband whom she will later shoot, pinning the blame on a drunken sibling for good measure) their modus operandi is very different. While Kristin was a hugely enjoyable, gold-digging man-eater whose motives were clear from the moment she turned into Mary Crosby, Katherine has less in common with the stereotypical soap bitch than with the title character in ALL ABOUT EVE: an outwardly devoted ingenue who insinuates her way into the life of an older (ouch!) woman, all the while quietly scheming to take her place. Katherine even makes nice to Cliff in this episode, apologising for her previous outburst: "I blamed you for Mama's death, but I really didn't mean that ... There's just the three of us now and we've got to work together and do the best we can." "Katherine, you're a wonderful sister," responds Pam, "more than we could ever have hoped for!" It's only after the sisters hug when Katherine's smile fades and her eyes do an evil sideways thing, that we are reminded that all is not as it seems. Indeed, Katherine will do such a convincing job of playing the blandly good sister over the next year or so that sometimes one almost forgets she has a hidden agenda.</p><p></p><p>But while the characters surrounding Bobby and Pam are making their feelings known, (to one degree or another) what of the estranged couple themselves? Well, there a nicely introspective late night patio scene between Bobby and Ray, during which Bobby is more candid than he has been with either his mother or his wife. As is the case with BBG, it's a long time since Patrick Duffy has shared a one-to-one scene with Steve Kanaly. Save for a brief exchange at JR and Sue Ellen's wedding, we haven't seen the brothers alone together since Bobby took Ray to task for neglecting the ranch in the wake of Jock's death. "You're my brother and we've always been close," Ray tells him now. "I just wonder if being head honcho of Ewing Oil is worth all this pain for you, for everyone?" Bobby asks what Ray would do in his place. "I'm not sure I can answer that," Ray admits, "but I sure can't tell you that you're right in what you're doin' cos I just don't know that y'are." "Well, I'm not sure I am either," concedes Bobby. <em>"All I know is I can't quit."</em></p><p></p><p>Bobby might be committed to the fight, but it provides him with scant comfort in this episode. "You sure are a man of quiet celebration," Holly Harwood observes when she finds him drinking alone at the Cattleman's Club. "With JR's variance overturned, you've got a great shot at winnin' Ewin' Oil!" One stony glance from Bobby makes it clear that he's not in a celebratory mood. </p><p></p><p>While Bobby's brooding isn't difficult to understand, Pam's behaviour is harder to fathom. "I feel like my life exploded around me," she tells him in the opening scene. "I've got to have some time alone for a while." But while Bobby shuns <em>his</em> potential extra-marital love interest ("I'd just as soon be by myself," he tells Holly) Pam appears rather taken when Mark Graison calls round to her hotel suite. "You can count on me if you need anything," he says in a rather awkward scene as he, Pam and Katherine hover around one another uncomfortably. "What a lovely man," Katherine observes after he leaves. "Yes he is, isn't he?" replies Pam dreamily. "Maybe I misjudged him." Given that the last time she saw him she already seemed touched by his concern, ("Mark, what you did was really sweet and thoughtful and lovely") it's difficult to tell why Pam is suddenly acting so impressed now. (In fairness, I didn't really question Pam's somewhat inconsistent behaviour during this storyline the first time around; I figured that's how all dithering soap damsels in distress behave.)</p><p></p><p>Bobby and Pam appear together in a restaurant scene near the end of the episode. It begins cordially enough with Bobby asking how she and Katherine are coping in the wake of their mother's death. "It's Cliff I'm worried about," Pam replies. "The promise I made to Mama about taking care of him, I guess it's time I started fulfilling it." "You do have a responsibility to your husband," Bobby points out. "I don't feel I have that responsibility after everything that's happened," she tells him. "Does that mean you'll be joining Cliff at Barnes-Wentworth in his little vengeance trip against us Ewings?" he asks sharply. <em>"Bobby, I feel the same way about what Mama asked of me as you feel about what Jock asked of you."</em> This is the only time the interesting irony now faced by Pam and Bobby--that by honouring their respective parent's last wishes, they are set on opposing paths--is ever addressed. There's the potential for an interesting discussion here, but instead the scene kind of runs away with itself; one gets the sense that the writers have pre-determined that the encounter must end with Bobby losing his temper and storming off. "Pamela, you're building an awful big wall between us and it's impossible to talk to you through it!" he suddenly shouts, springing to his feet. "I didn't build the wall, you did!" she yells back. And off he goes.</p><p></p><p>Pam also has the reading of her mother's will to contend with in this episode. While this is strictly small potatoes compared with the huge impact of Jock's legacy on the series, it will nonetheless yield a surprising amount of repercussions over the next five seasons. For instance, Wentworth Industries ("income, as well as voting shares held by Rebecca, will be now divided equally between daughters Katherine and Pamela") will prove to be of great interest to JR after Pam's shares are passed onto Christopher in Season 10, resulting in the Lisa Alden custody battle. Barnes-Wentworth ("[Cliff] will inherit Mrs Wentworth's shares and continue as sole owner and Chief Executive Officer") will provide the central business storyline of Season 6, as well as keeping Cliff and Pam in steady employment for years to come. Even "the handsome bequest to Afton Cooper" supplies Cliff with a great running gag in the second half of Season 6 as he scrambles desperately for funds to keep his rigs afloat in the Gulf ("You bought your mother a house in <em>Biloxi</em> for a hundred thousand dollars?! What did you buy - a <em>mansion?</em>"). Most controversial of all, however, will be Wentworth Tool and Die: "As this was the first company Herbert Wentworth created, the seedling of his entire empire, it was extremely precious to him ... It was Rebecca's wish that ownership of this company be equally divided among her three children ..." "Katherine, I have something to say to you," mumbles a depressed Cliff once the will reading is over. "I know how you feel about the company your father built and I wish Mama hadn't left me any of it because <em>I don't feel worthy and I don't deserve it.</em>" These words will prove prophetic when Cliff manages to sell out his mother's legacy not only once, (to Katherine herself at the end of Season 6) but twice (to Jeremy Wendell in Season 9). More immediately, Tool and Die and a certain drill bit it has in development will play a significant role in the future of Pam and Bobby's marriage.</p><p></p><p>Indeed, the Tundra Torque storyline is heavily sign-posted in this episode. First Thornton McLeish, Bobby's partner in the Canadian oil fields, outlines the problem they're facing during one of his periodic progress (or lack thereof) reports from Toronto: "It's not just the cold. It's the combination of freeze then thaw then freeze again. It causes the ground to keep shifting. We can't keep a hole from breaking up even after we've drilled one." Then comes Rebecca's will reading where voting shares in Tool and Die are divided between Pam, Katherine and Cliff. ("This is to ensure that any decision on any major issue will be agreed to by at least two members of her immediate family.") And finally, Bobby unwittingly articulates the dilemma to be faced by Pam at the end of the season. "Cliff is my brother," she reminds him. "I'll do whatever I can to help him when he needs my help." "Even against <em>me?</em>" demands Bobby. </p><p></p><p>In other news ... Lucy and Mickey's relationship takes a step forward via a strange barroom scene in which Lucy, dressed as a man, and Muriel, in her final DALLAS appearance, show up at a bar to find Mickey caught between two mismatched bit players: a sexy young blonde and a grandfatherly looking stunt man. The latter tosses Mickey across the room then punches him. "You better get him outta here, honey, or he'll never sing again," Grandpa tells Lucy kindly. Lucy and Muriel help Mickey outside to his truck. Muriel then walks away, never to be seen or heard of again (unless you count the weird fan fiction in which she becomes a prostitute who transmits the AIDS virus to Clayton). Her last line - "Hey, it's been a fun evening," she tells Lucy sarcastically - is kind of a fitting epitaph. Lucy and Mickey sit in the car for a while. While he dozes on her shoulder, she strokes his hair. Then he comes to and they're both embarrassed. She moves her hand away. "It's all right," he whispers. "You don't have to be afraid." She touches his head gingerly. "Does it hurt?" she asks. "Yes," he winces. It's a sweet and tender moment.</p><p></p><p>There's also a small but notable scene between Clayton and Sue Ellen, in which he stops by the ranch and she takes the opportunity to comment on his relationship with Miss Ellie. "I thought you were <em>my</em> friend," she says petulantly. "You mean to the exclusion of everyone else?" he asks, somewhat taken aback. "No," she replies, "it's that our relationship was so -" "One-sided? Sue Ellen, didn't you ever realise that I was in love with you? ..." "I had no idea!" "Well, that's the point, Sue Ellen. My feelings for you must have been written all over my face." "But not anymore. What changed them, Miss Ellie?" "Partly. I do find many qualities in her that I used to think were in you." "Clayton, I just don't understand." "Not then and not now." He then takes off, leaving Sue Ellen opening and closing her mouth like a confused goldfish. It's very satisfying to see her finally called on her chronic self-obsession, even if she <em>still</em> doesn't get it. Had there had been an equivalent scene in the second half of Season 4, where her behaviour was at its most dishonest and passive aggressive, her storyline might have had more weight. As it was, it was hard to believe none of the other characters noticed (or simply chose to ignore) how disgustingly selfish she was being.</p><p></p><p>It's interesting to chart JR's arc throughout this episode. He starts off extremely buoyant and optimistic, especially about the fight for Ewing Oil. "It's nice to see you smilin'," Sue Ellen tells him. "You haven't done much of that since you lost the variance." "Well it's a new day, darlin', and the house is lighter by one sister-in-law," he replies. "How can you be so happy at a time like this?" she chides. "My overriding concern is winning Ewing Oil," he explains, "and you know what? Pamela leaving Bobby like that is gonna muddle his mind up more than anything I coulda done and you can't expect me to be sad about that! ... Poor Rebecca. It's ironic, isn't it? As much as she hated me, she sure can't be restin' peaceful knowin' her death is gonna help me beat Bobby." Sue Ellen wonders if he can still beat Bobby without the variance. "Darlin', that was just one small battle in a very long and complicated war," he assures her confidently. </p><p></p><p>However, he must first address his lost variance, which means shutting down gas stations. "The important thing is to keep this fight in the public eye," he instructs an office full of bit players. "All the people in the State of Texas should never forget that old JR is out there tryin' to help them and that calls for publicity ... Draw me up a list of all the stations that'll give me maximum publicity, really high profile, and those are ones that are gonna stay open." Now that his variance is gone, I'm not quite sure why JR's public image continues to be such a priority for him - although it will ensure him a Cuban visa at the end of the season. </p><p></p><p>Speaking of Cuba, there's another of those atmospheric Season 5 scenes at Ewing Oil, filled with sinister shadows and disorientating camera angles, (or as disorientating as Uncle Lenny would allow) in which JR waits furtively for a late night visitor to step out of the elevator for a clandestine meeting. First, there was John Baxter delivering him an illicit copy of Jock's will, then Holly Harwood receiving her cruel but not-so-unusual punishment for playing hardball with the military, then George Hicks facing the music for voting against JR's variance. Now it's the turn of Walt Driscoll, carrying a black attache case. "Don't you have a watch, Driscoll?" JR barks. "Sorry," he replies smoothly, "I got hung up at customs, but why not accept this as an apology?" He gestures towards the case. "The ship arrived exactly on schedule, the crude was offloaded at Havana and I got payment right away." "Didn't they x-ray that case at customs?" asks JR. "No, they hand inspected it," he replies. "I told 'em I didn't want my film ruined." He opens the case to reveal a bunch of camera equipment, underneath which is a false bottom. JR chuckles appreciatively: "Driscoll, I didn't know you had it in ya!" Walt lifts up the false bottom and what do we see? "$1,900,000 in cash and a Swiss bank draft." "Now hold on, Driscoll," snaps JR, suddenly serious. "Fifty thousand barrels at $40 a barrel is exactly $2,000,000." "Minus my cut," smiles Walt. "I figured it would save a little time if I deducted it myself." The camera then cuts back and forth between the two men, staring at each other stony-faced - a reminder of how tenuous this partnership really is. "Now doesn't this convince you that the plan can work?" Walt asks. JR turns to face the window. "Putting $50,000 barrels through that embargo is not exactly like raising the Titanic, you know," he says, affecting nonchalance. "I think we're ready for the big one," persists Driscoll. "I don't know," JR replies. "Moving that much oil through the embargo in one shipment, very risky proposition." "I'm willing to do it," says Walt. JR turns back around sharply. "What the hell are you risking anyhow?" he snaps. "In addition to a jail sentence, just like you?" Walt asks, "I stand to lose quite a lot." "But not capital, and that's all that counts. <em>I'm risking a fortune in crude and maybe all of Ewing Oil.</em>" "All right, but don't forget every time we ship oil there's a chance of gettin' caught. I'm for makin' it in one big load." "<em>I'll</em> make that decision." The scene ends with JR looking lustfully at the pile of cash Walt has left on the desk.</p><p></p><p>This scene appears to be a kind of turning point for JR. Is he really willing to risk his father's company, not to mention his own neck, in such a reckless - but potentially lucrative - endeavour? That question is on his mind during his second scene of the episode with Sue Ellen. His mood, as he surveys the contents of Rebecca's will in the Dallas Press, ("WENTWORTH ESTATE DIVIDED" screams the front page headline. Does this paper really have nothing better to write about?) is in stark contrast to his upbeat demeanour during their earlier exchange. "Rebecca's poor old husband must be spinnin' in his grave," he remarks gloomily. "Worked his butt off all his life building a fortune under the Wentworth name and two-thirds of it now goes to some family named Barnes ... I should've stayed with the funny papers." "I thought Rebecca was very wise the way she took care of the children," replies a conveniently slow-on-the-uptake Sue Ellen. "Giving Barnes complete control is like giving John Ross a loaded gun to play with!" protests JR before running through a couple of worst case scenarios: Cliff siding with Bobby ("Barnes is Bobby's brother-in-law, you know, and Bobby's not too far behind me in this little contest we got goin'") and Bobby joining forces with Pam ("Pamela inherited a fortune. If they ever get together and she starts to help him, they could wield a frightening amount of clout"). "Darlin', you really seem to be worried about all this," concludes Sue Ellen. "Are you afraid we're gonna lose?" JR spells it out for her: "Sue Ellen, I am in trouble. I lost my variance. Bobby made a killing on that Wellington deal. Pamela inherited a fortune. If they ever get together and she starts to help him, they could wield a frightening amount of clout ... I've just <em>got</em> to find a way out." The only way out seems to be Cuban Roulette, <em>unless</em> ...</p><p></p><p>"With Pam gone and little Christopher gone, something absolutely awful has happened to this family," JR declares solemnly as the family gather together for pre-dinner drinks in the episode's final scene. "Unless something is done, there's not gonna be any family left." Ignoring Lucy's jibes, he turns to Bobby: "Let's end this. Let's call a halt to this feuding right now before somebody else suffers. There's no reason in the world we couldn't work together. Hell, we're brothers and deep down, we love each other. There's no reason in the world we couldn't work together. It'd be like the old days - I'd be the president and you'd be standin' right by my side." "Y'almost had me believin' you that time, JR," pipes up Lucy. "Bobby, it's a fair offer and you'll get Pam back here at Southfork," JR continues. In one respect, JR's appeal is a dummy run for the rather more sincere truce he will propose at the end of the season. In another, it echoes the offer JR made in "Barbecue Three", after unveiling his string of cut-rate gas stations: "Bobby, if you'd like to concede right now, we can end a very stressful situation." Now, as then, Ellie looks on anxiously, hoping against hope that Bobby might take JR up on his proposition. "Bobby, at least listen to him," she pleads. "Mama," Bobby responds, "there's only one reason he's makin' that offer. It's because his variance is gone and he's losing the battle." <em>Is</em> that the reason? Or is it that for JR, proceeding with the battle means going through with his Cuban gamble, and however reckless he may have been in the past, this is one deal he would sooner not make? In light of this possibility, his reply to Bobby takes on a special significance: "That's wishful thinkin', Bob ... I'm makin' it for the sake of the family, Ewing Oil and your marriage. <em>They're all taking a terrible beating.</em>" This is the first time JR has acknowledged what others - Punk Anderson, John Macklin, Pam, Miss Ellie, even Bobby - have been protesting about throughout the season: the long-term damage caused by the fight for Ewing Oil. Bobby, however, is not for turning: "There might have been a time I would accept an offer like that from you," he tells his brother (hmm, when would that have been? Maybe when Jock was alive and able to talk him into almost anything) "but certainly not now because I'm ahead of you in this fight and I'm gonna whip ya. I'm gonna take Ewing Oil right outta your hands!" He leaves the room. "You heard him, Mama," says JR. "I tried my best. I really did." And who knows? Maybe he really <em>did</em> try his best. But now there's no turning back: <em>"Bobby wants all out war and believe me, he's gonna get it."</em> Yeehaw!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James from London, post: 40059, member: 22"] [U][I]"Legacy"[/I][/U] Like "Ewing Blues", this is one of those low-key, calm-between-storms instalments of Season 5. What it lacks in fireworks, however, it makes up for in soul searching and introspection. "When you're young and you find a man like Jock," sighs Miss Ellie wistfully at one point, "the future's so full of promise ... Where are the little boys I loved so much?" "You're Jock Ewing's son too," says Bobby to Ray during a brotherly heart to heart. "If Daddy put you head to head against JR, could [I]you[/I] give it up, just quit?" The episode opens the morning after Rebecca's funeral, with Pam leaving Southfork. Following her big dramatic announcement at the end of last week's episode, ("I need time to think - away from you, away from Southfork, away from the Ewings, and away from everything the Ewings stand for!") the sight of an unfortunate ranch hand struggling manfully with a big cuddly bear as Pam prepares to drive off the fake patio feels a little anti-climactic. It's not as exciting a scene as the first time she left Bobby, at the end of "The Red Files, Part 1", but now as then, a satisfied JR watches from a distance while a forlorn Bobby stands in the driveway, "moping in her dust." Entering the living room, Miss Ellie is surprised to find her youngest son drinking whisky so early in the day. "It's not every day my wife leaves me, Mama," he explains. This is one in a string of good, solid scenes between family members who have not interacted on screen for a while. Patrick Duffy and Barbara Bel Geddes haven't had a scene alone together for over a year - not since Bobby's failed attempt to persuade his mother to have Jock declared dead in "Denial". While Miss Ellie's first instinct is to console Bobby over Pam's departure, ("She'll be back, just give her time") she soon makes it clear where she believes the blame lies: "How much choice did [Pam] have, living here after what happened to Rebecca?" "So you think Rebecca died because of the battle too?" Bobby asks in surprise. This is the second time in as many scenes this accusation has been levelled at him. "If it weren't for the fight, my mother would still be alive," insists Pam before leaving. (This is a shift from the stance she took last week when she told her sister that "the damn Barnes/Ewing feud" was responsible for their mother's death.) "If it weren't for that and a million other things, a [I]million[/I] other things," insists Bobby. With his mother, he adopts a more defensive attitude: "Mama, that battle is between JR and me and it has nothing to do with Rebecca or Cliff or anybody else!" "All right," Miss Ellie snaps. "You keep telling yourself that. But Rebecca is dead, and your marriage may soon be dead and not just because of Rebecca. [I]Bobby, you just don't see what's happening to you![/I]" The idea that Bobby has somehow "changed" is echoed throughout the episode. "Bobby's gettin' as underhanded as JR," declares Jordan Lee. "Given the chance, he may turn out a lot worse," chimes in Marilee Stone. Meanwhile, Miss Ellie and Pam both pine for the Bobby they once knew. "I want the sweet, wonderful, honest man I fell in love with," Pam says to Katherine. "He was always the dependable one, the loving one," remembers Ellie in a nice restaurant scene with Clayton. "JR was the ruthless one, but Bobby's become so obsessed with beating JR that he's getting to be just like him." There is no shortage of characters registering their dismay at Bobby and Pam's separation. As with Rebecca's death, it's these reactions that help sell us on the gravity of the situation. "It's so hard to believe she's really left him," Ellie admits to Clayton. "I was so hoping she would have changed her mind overnight," says Sue Ellen to JR. When Donna and Ray stop by the ranch ("on our way to Austin") to pay their respects to Bobby, it's almost as if someone has died. "We just really wanted to come by and tell you how sorry we are," says Donna solemnly. "Just not the same without him here," adds Lucy with reference to Christopher. Even those characters with something to gain from the break up conceal their true feelings behind of a veneer of concern. "I really am sorry," says Mark Graison when JR tells him the news over the phone. "It's really tragic," concurs JR, a tad outrageously. Most duplicitous of all is Katherine, who spends much of the episode offering Pam a padded shoulder to lean on. "I just don't understand ... why you left Bobby," she faux-frets as they move into that gloomy hotel suite. She even offers to intercede with Bobby on Pam's behalf: "Maybe I could reason with him, tell him how much you love him, how much you want your marriage to continue ... I wanna see you two get back together." It's only when Bobby calls the hotel and asks to speak to Pam that Katherine's true colours begin to emerge. She tells him Pam is asleep. "If you ever need a friendly ear, mine's available," she adds. No sooner does she hang up than Pam appears, her hair wrapped in a towel. "I thought you were sleeping," says Katherine. An honest mistake, perhaps ... but then she neglects to mention Bobby's call. This is the first indication we're given that Katherine might not have Pam's best interests at heart; up until now, her wrath has been directed solely towards Cliff. Although on paper Katherine has much in common with Kristin, (each a Ewing sister-in-law, ruthlessly determined to snag her sister's husband whom she will later shoot, pinning the blame on a drunken sibling for good measure) their modus operandi is very different. While Kristin was a hugely enjoyable, gold-digging man-eater whose motives were clear from the moment she turned into Mary Crosby, Katherine has less in common with the stereotypical soap bitch than with the title character in ALL ABOUT EVE: an outwardly devoted ingenue who insinuates her way into the life of an older (ouch!) woman, all the while quietly scheming to take her place. Katherine even makes nice to Cliff in this episode, apologising for her previous outburst: "I blamed you for Mama's death, but I really didn't mean that ... There's just the three of us now and we've got to work together and do the best we can." "Katherine, you're a wonderful sister," responds Pam, "more than we could ever have hoped for!" It's only after the sisters hug when Katherine's smile fades and her eyes do an evil sideways thing, that we are reminded that all is not as it seems. Indeed, Katherine will do such a convincing job of playing the blandly good sister over the next year or so that sometimes one almost forgets she has a hidden agenda. But while the characters surrounding Bobby and Pam are making their feelings known, (to one degree or another) what of the estranged couple themselves? Well, there a nicely introspective late night patio scene between Bobby and Ray, during which Bobby is more candid than he has been with either his mother or his wife. As is the case with BBG, it's a long time since Patrick Duffy has shared a one-to-one scene with Steve Kanaly. Save for a brief exchange at JR and Sue Ellen's wedding, we haven't seen the brothers alone together since Bobby took Ray to task for neglecting the ranch in the wake of Jock's death. "You're my brother and we've always been close," Ray tells him now. "I just wonder if being head honcho of Ewing Oil is worth all this pain for you, for everyone?" Bobby asks what Ray would do in his place. "I'm not sure I can answer that," Ray admits, "but I sure can't tell you that you're right in what you're doin' cos I just don't know that y'are." "Well, I'm not sure I am either," concedes Bobby. [I]"All I know is I can't quit."[/I] Bobby might be committed to the fight, but it provides him with scant comfort in this episode. "You sure are a man of quiet celebration," Holly Harwood observes when she finds him drinking alone at the Cattleman's Club. "With JR's variance overturned, you've got a great shot at winnin' Ewin' Oil!" One stony glance from Bobby makes it clear that he's not in a celebratory mood. While Bobby's brooding isn't difficult to understand, Pam's behaviour is harder to fathom. "I feel like my life exploded around me," she tells him in the opening scene. "I've got to have some time alone for a while." But while Bobby shuns [I]his[/I] potential extra-marital love interest ("I'd just as soon be by myself," he tells Holly) Pam appears rather taken when Mark Graison calls round to her hotel suite. "You can count on me if you need anything," he says in a rather awkward scene as he, Pam and Katherine hover around one another uncomfortably. "What a lovely man," Katherine observes after he leaves. "Yes he is, isn't he?" replies Pam dreamily. "Maybe I misjudged him." Given that the last time she saw him she already seemed touched by his concern, ("Mark, what you did was really sweet and thoughtful and lovely") it's difficult to tell why Pam is suddenly acting so impressed now. (In fairness, I didn't really question Pam's somewhat inconsistent behaviour during this storyline the first time around; I figured that's how all dithering soap damsels in distress behave.) Bobby and Pam appear together in a restaurant scene near the end of the episode. It begins cordially enough with Bobby asking how she and Katherine are coping in the wake of their mother's death. "It's Cliff I'm worried about," Pam replies. "The promise I made to Mama about taking care of him, I guess it's time I started fulfilling it." "You do have a responsibility to your husband," Bobby points out. "I don't feel I have that responsibility after everything that's happened," she tells him. "Does that mean you'll be joining Cliff at Barnes-Wentworth in his little vengeance trip against us Ewings?" he asks sharply. [I]"Bobby, I feel the same way about what Mama asked of me as you feel about what Jock asked of you."[/I] This is the only time the interesting irony now faced by Pam and Bobby--that by honouring their respective parent's last wishes, they are set on opposing paths--is ever addressed. There's the potential for an interesting discussion here, but instead the scene kind of runs away with itself; one gets the sense that the writers have pre-determined that the encounter must end with Bobby losing his temper and storming off. "Pamela, you're building an awful big wall between us and it's impossible to talk to you through it!" he suddenly shouts, springing to his feet. "I didn't build the wall, you did!" she yells back. And off he goes. Pam also has the reading of her mother's will to contend with in this episode. While this is strictly small potatoes compared with the huge impact of Jock's legacy on the series, it will nonetheless yield a surprising amount of repercussions over the next five seasons. For instance, Wentworth Industries ("income, as well as voting shares held by Rebecca, will be now divided equally between daughters Katherine and Pamela") will prove to be of great interest to JR after Pam's shares are passed onto Christopher in Season 10, resulting in the Lisa Alden custody battle. Barnes-Wentworth ("[Cliff] will inherit Mrs Wentworth's shares and continue as sole owner and Chief Executive Officer") will provide the central business storyline of Season 6, as well as keeping Cliff and Pam in steady employment for years to come. Even "the handsome bequest to Afton Cooper" supplies Cliff with a great running gag in the second half of Season 6 as he scrambles desperately for funds to keep his rigs afloat in the Gulf ("You bought your mother a house in [I]Biloxi[/I] for a hundred thousand dollars?! What did you buy - a [I]mansion?[/I]"). Most controversial of all, however, will be Wentworth Tool and Die: "As this was the first company Herbert Wentworth created, the seedling of his entire empire, it was extremely precious to him ... It was Rebecca's wish that ownership of this company be equally divided among her three children ..." "Katherine, I have something to say to you," mumbles a depressed Cliff once the will reading is over. "I know how you feel about the company your father built and I wish Mama hadn't left me any of it because [I]I don't feel worthy and I don't deserve it.[/I]" These words will prove prophetic when Cliff manages to sell out his mother's legacy not only once, (to Katherine herself at the end of Season 6) but twice (to Jeremy Wendell in Season 9). More immediately, Tool and Die and a certain drill bit it has in development will play a significant role in the future of Pam and Bobby's marriage. Indeed, the Tundra Torque storyline is heavily sign-posted in this episode. First Thornton McLeish, Bobby's partner in the Canadian oil fields, outlines the problem they're facing during one of his periodic progress (or lack thereof) reports from Toronto: "It's not just the cold. It's the combination of freeze then thaw then freeze again. It causes the ground to keep shifting. We can't keep a hole from breaking up even after we've drilled one." Then comes Rebecca's will reading where voting shares in Tool and Die are divided between Pam, Katherine and Cliff. ("This is to ensure that any decision on any major issue will be agreed to by at least two members of her immediate family.") And finally, Bobby unwittingly articulates the dilemma to be faced by Pam at the end of the season. "Cliff is my brother," she reminds him. "I'll do whatever I can to help him when he needs my help." "Even against [I]me?[/I]" demands Bobby. In other news ... Lucy and Mickey's relationship takes a step forward via a strange barroom scene in which Lucy, dressed as a man, and Muriel, in her final DALLAS appearance, show up at a bar to find Mickey caught between two mismatched bit players: a sexy young blonde and a grandfatherly looking stunt man. The latter tosses Mickey across the room then punches him. "You better get him outta here, honey, or he'll never sing again," Grandpa tells Lucy kindly. Lucy and Muriel help Mickey outside to his truck. Muriel then walks away, never to be seen or heard of again (unless you count the weird fan fiction in which she becomes a prostitute who transmits the AIDS virus to Clayton). Her last line - "Hey, it's been a fun evening," she tells Lucy sarcastically - is kind of a fitting epitaph. Lucy and Mickey sit in the car for a while. While he dozes on her shoulder, she strokes his hair. Then he comes to and they're both embarrassed. She moves her hand away. "It's all right," he whispers. "You don't have to be afraid." She touches his head gingerly. "Does it hurt?" she asks. "Yes," he winces. It's a sweet and tender moment. There's also a small but notable scene between Clayton and Sue Ellen, in which he stops by the ranch and she takes the opportunity to comment on his relationship with Miss Ellie. "I thought you were [I]my[/I] friend," she says petulantly. "You mean to the exclusion of everyone else?" he asks, somewhat taken aback. "No," she replies, "it's that our relationship was so -" "One-sided? Sue Ellen, didn't you ever realise that I was in love with you? ..." "I had no idea!" "Well, that's the point, Sue Ellen. My feelings for you must have been written all over my face." "But not anymore. What changed them, Miss Ellie?" "Partly. I do find many qualities in her that I used to think were in you." "Clayton, I just don't understand." "Not then and not now." He then takes off, leaving Sue Ellen opening and closing her mouth like a confused goldfish. It's very satisfying to see her finally called on her chronic self-obsession, even if she [I]still[/I] doesn't get it. Had there had been an equivalent scene in the second half of Season 4, where her behaviour was at its most dishonest and passive aggressive, her storyline might have had more weight. As it was, it was hard to believe none of the other characters noticed (or simply chose to ignore) how disgustingly selfish she was being. It's interesting to chart JR's arc throughout this episode. He starts off extremely buoyant and optimistic, especially about the fight for Ewing Oil. "It's nice to see you smilin'," Sue Ellen tells him. "You haven't done much of that since you lost the variance." "Well it's a new day, darlin', and the house is lighter by one sister-in-law," he replies. "How can you be so happy at a time like this?" she chides. "My overriding concern is winning Ewing Oil," he explains, "and you know what? Pamela leaving Bobby like that is gonna muddle his mind up more than anything I coulda done and you can't expect me to be sad about that! ... Poor Rebecca. It's ironic, isn't it? As much as she hated me, she sure can't be restin' peaceful knowin' her death is gonna help me beat Bobby." Sue Ellen wonders if he can still beat Bobby without the variance. "Darlin', that was just one small battle in a very long and complicated war," he assures her confidently. However, he must first address his lost variance, which means shutting down gas stations. "The important thing is to keep this fight in the public eye," he instructs an office full of bit players. "All the people in the State of Texas should never forget that old JR is out there tryin' to help them and that calls for publicity ... Draw me up a list of all the stations that'll give me maximum publicity, really high profile, and those are ones that are gonna stay open." Now that his variance is gone, I'm not quite sure why JR's public image continues to be such a priority for him - although it will ensure him a Cuban visa at the end of the season. Speaking of Cuba, there's another of those atmospheric Season 5 scenes at Ewing Oil, filled with sinister shadows and disorientating camera angles, (or as disorientating as Uncle Lenny would allow) in which JR waits furtively for a late night visitor to step out of the elevator for a clandestine meeting. First, there was John Baxter delivering him an illicit copy of Jock's will, then Holly Harwood receiving her cruel but not-so-unusual punishment for playing hardball with the military, then George Hicks facing the music for voting against JR's variance. Now it's the turn of Walt Driscoll, carrying a black attache case. "Don't you have a watch, Driscoll?" JR barks. "Sorry," he replies smoothly, "I got hung up at customs, but why not accept this as an apology?" He gestures towards the case. "The ship arrived exactly on schedule, the crude was offloaded at Havana and I got payment right away." "Didn't they x-ray that case at customs?" asks JR. "No, they hand inspected it," he replies. "I told 'em I didn't want my film ruined." He opens the case to reveal a bunch of camera equipment, underneath which is a false bottom. JR chuckles appreciatively: "Driscoll, I didn't know you had it in ya!" Walt lifts up the false bottom and what do we see? "$1,900,000 in cash and a Swiss bank draft." "Now hold on, Driscoll," snaps JR, suddenly serious. "Fifty thousand barrels at $40 a barrel is exactly $2,000,000." "Minus my cut," smiles Walt. "I figured it would save a little time if I deducted it myself." The camera then cuts back and forth between the two men, staring at each other stony-faced - a reminder of how tenuous this partnership really is. "Now doesn't this convince you that the plan can work?" Walt asks. JR turns to face the window. "Putting $50,000 barrels through that embargo is not exactly like raising the Titanic, you know," he says, affecting nonchalance. "I think we're ready for the big one," persists Driscoll. "I don't know," JR replies. "Moving that much oil through the embargo in one shipment, very risky proposition." "I'm willing to do it," says Walt. JR turns back around sharply. "What the hell are you risking anyhow?" he snaps. "In addition to a jail sentence, just like you?" Walt asks, "I stand to lose quite a lot." "But not capital, and that's all that counts. [I]I'm risking a fortune in crude and maybe all of Ewing Oil.[/I]" "All right, but don't forget every time we ship oil there's a chance of gettin' caught. I'm for makin' it in one big load." "[I]I'll[/I] make that decision." The scene ends with JR looking lustfully at the pile of cash Walt has left on the desk. This scene appears to be a kind of turning point for JR. Is he really willing to risk his father's company, not to mention his own neck, in such a reckless - but potentially lucrative - endeavour? That question is on his mind during his second scene of the episode with Sue Ellen. His mood, as he surveys the contents of Rebecca's will in the Dallas Press, ("WENTWORTH ESTATE DIVIDED" screams the front page headline. Does this paper really have nothing better to write about?) is in stark contrast to his upbeat demeanour during their earlier exchange. "Rebecca's poor old husband must be spinnin' in his grave," he remarks gloomily. "Worked his butt off all his life building a fortune under the Wentworth name and two-thirds of it now goes to some family named Barnes ... I should've stayed with the funny papers." "I thought Rebecca was very wise the way she took care of the children," replies a conveniently slow-on-the-uptake Sue Ellen. "Giving Barnes complete control is like giving John Ross a loaded gun to play with!" protests JR before running through a couple of worst case scenarios: Cliff siding with Bobby ("Barnes is Bobby's brother-in-law, you know, and Bobby's not too far behind me in this little contest we got goin'") and Bobby joining forces with Pam ("Pamela inherited a fortune. If they ever get together and she starts to help him, they could wield a frightening amount of clout"). "Darlin', you really seem to be worried about all this," concludes Sue Ellen. "Are you afraid we're gonna lose?" JR spells it out for her: "Sue Ellen, I am in trouble. I lost my variance. Bobby made a killing on that Wellington deal. Pamela inherited a fortune. If they ever get together and she starts to help him, they could wield a frightening amount of clout ... I've just [I]got[/I] to find a way out." The only way out seems to be Cuban Roulette, [I]unless[/I] ... "With Pam gone and little Christopher gone, something absolutely awful has happened to this family," JR declares solemnly as the family gather together for pre-dinner drinks in the episode's final scene. "Unless something is done, there's not gonna be any family left." Ignoring Lucy's jibes, he turns to Bobby: "Let's end this. Let's call a halt to this feuding right now before somebody else suffers. There's no reason in the world we couldn't work together. Hell, we're brothers and deep down, we love each other. There's no reason in the world we couldn't work together. It'd be like the old days - I'd be the president and you'd be standin' right by my side." "Y'almost had me believin' you that time, JR," pipes up Lucy. "Bobby, it's a fair offer and you'll get Pam back here at Southfork," JR continues. In one respect, JR's appeal is a dummy run for the rather more sincere truce he will propose at the end of the season. In another, it echoes the offer JR made in "Barbecue Three", after unveiling his string of cut-rate gas stations: "Bobby, if you'd like to concede right now, we can end a very stressful situation." Now, as then, Ellie looks on anxiously, hoping against hope that Bobby might take JR up on his proposition. "Bobby, at least listen to him," she pleads. "Mama," Bobby responds, "there's only one reason he's makin' that offer. It's because his variance is gone and he's losing the battle." [I]Is[/I] that the reason? Or is it that for JR, proceeding with the battle means going through with his Cuban gamble, and however reckless he may have been in the past, this is one deal he would sooner not make? In light of this possibility, his reply to Bobby takes on a special significance: "That's wishful thinkin', Bob ... I'm makin' it for the sake of the family, Ewing Oil and your marriage. [I]They're all taking a terrible beating.[/I]" This is the first time JR has acknowledged what others - Punk Anderson, John Macklin, Pam, Miss Ellie, even Bobby - have been protesting about throughout the season: the long-term damage caused by the fight for Ewing Oil. Bobby, however, is not for turning: "There might have been a time I would accept an offer like that from you," he tells his brother (hmm, when would that have been? Maybe when Jock was alive and able to talk him into almost anything) "but certainly not now because I'm ahead of you in this fight and I'm gonna whip ya. I'm gonna take Ewing Oil right outta your hands!" He leaves the room. "You heard him, Mama," says JR. "I tried my best. I really did." And who knows? Maybe he really [I]did[/I] try his best. But now there's no turning back: [I]"Bobby wants all out war and believe me, he's gonna get it."[/I] Yeehaw! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
6 + 4 =
Post reply
Forums
Dallas the TV series
Dallas - The Original Series
Dallas Season Reviews
Re-watching Season 5
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top