Conundrum

[Jabari Lamar]

It's even harder to understand then why they dropped all the next generation stuff in the second one.

Which was the biggest creative flaw of that movie, in my opinion. If Katzman had lived I'm sure he would have come up with a more natural follow-up story. And again I'm sure that if the second film had also been hit then at the very least would have gotten a third film, probably in 2000. And then who knows? Three hit reunion movies keep the public interested in the property could have led to a revival sooner than what we got on TNT?

 

[Monzo]

I read a review of Conundrum stating that the best part was the opening sequence—which featured the season cliffhangers—something I wasn't familiar with at all and had never seen. I looked for it and found it, though unfortunately the quality is poor.

Do you remember it? Now that I’ve seen it, I think it would have really set the right mood for me back when I originally watched the finale. I do wonder, however, why they only showed Nicholas plunging to his death, and not Sue Ellen shooting JR.

Were there actually contractual reasons why Kimberly Foster, Howard Keel, George Kennedy, Sasha Mitchell, Barbara Stock, and Sheree J. Wilson appeared in the opening credits, even though they didn't feature in the episode (and, in some cases, hadn't appeared for quite a few episodes prior)? Wouldn't it have been better to award these six spots to the six returnees?

What was the deal with the score that played after the opening credits during the list of guest stars? I always felt the music was ill-suited for the grand finale.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

I read a review of Conundrum stating that the best part was the opening sequence—which featured the season cliffhangers—something I wasn't familiar with at all and had never seen. I looked for it and found it, though unfortunately the quality is poor.

Do you remember it? Now that I’ve seen it, I think it would have really set the right mood for me back when I originally watched the finale. I do wonder, however, why they only showed Nicholas plunging to his death, and not Sue Ellen shooting JR.

Were there actually contractual reasons why Kimberly Foster, Howard Keel, George Kennedy, Sasha Mitchell, Barbara Stock, and Sheree J. Wilson appeared in the opening credits, even though they didn't feature in the episode (and, in some cases, hadn't appeared for quite a few episodes prior)? Wouldn't it have been better to award these six spots to the six returnees?

What was the deal with the score that played after the opening credits during the list of guest stars? I always felt the music was ill-suited for the grand finale.

This could be one of those tricks of the mind because for me, there's a certain sense of finality about that music, a kind of melancholy, but that could just be because I have equated it with the final episode for..35 years It's somewhat underwhelming, that I can get.

Yes, I remember that introduction with all the clips of previous cliffhangers, and what followed was a pretty big disappointment, so maybe that review had it right? I think the reason Sheree was kept in the credits was because, if I remember correctly, didn't she kind of tell Katzman she wanted get paid for being in the least amount of episodes, meaning I think she was paid for the entire season, even though she only appeared in 6? episodes, hence, why her name was never removed from the credits. I'd say there's also just the chance that it was cheapness/laziness on the part of the production company. That goes for why they didn't take Stock, Sasha, and Kimberly(but the latter two had really only missed well, what, this one?

While they put together that little clip montage of all the previous cliffhangers, and that was nice, they had made it more than clear by this point that Dallas was yesterday's news, and they weren't going to make any changes they didn't have to. Went out with a whimper.

Thank you for sharing that clip scene. It's been a minute. It's crazy to watch how they all aged, but that was a 13-14 year span.

and..did my eyes deceive me, or did I actually see Victoria's face?? I thought that had been a big no no.

 

[Toni]

This could be one of those tricks of the mind because for me, there's a certain sense of finality about that music, a kind of melancholy, but that could just be because I have equated it with the final episode for..35 years It's somewhat underwhelming, that I can get.

Yes, I remember that introduction with all the clips of previous cliffhangers, and what followed was a pretty big disappointment, so maybe that review had it right? I think the reason Sheree was kept in the credits was because, if I remember correctly, didn't she kind of tell Katzman she wanted get paid for being in the least amount of episodes, meaning I think she was paid for the entire season, even though she only appeared in 6? episodes, hence, why her name was never removed from the credits. I'd say there's also just the chance that it was cheapness/laziness on the part of the production company. That goes for why they didn't take Stock, Sasha, and Kimberly(but the latter two had really only missed well, what, this one?

While they put together that little clip montage of all the previous cliffhangers, and that was nice, they had made it more than clear by this point that Dallas was yesterday's news, and they weren't going to make any changes they didn't have to. Went out with a whimper.

Thank you for sharing that clip scene. It's been a minute. It's crazy to watch how they all aged, but that was a 13-14 year span.

and..did my eyes deceive me, or did I actually see Victoria's face?? I thought that had been a big no no.

I thought the same thing when I first watched it (in Spain they used a preview of the last episodes instead). Maybe they hired Margaret Michaels for that milisecond shot?

 

[Grangehill1]

I read a review of Conundrum stating that the best part was the opening sequence—which featured the season cliffhangers—something I wasn't familiar with at all and had never seen. I looked for it and found it, though unfortunately the quality is poor.

Do you remember it? Now that I’ve seen it, I think it would have really set the right mood for me back when I originally watched the finale. I do wonder, however, why they only showed Nicholas plunging to his death, and not Sue Ellen shooting JR.

Were there actually contractual reasons why Kimberly Foster, Howard Keel, George Kennedy, Sasha Mitchell, Barbara Stock, and Sheree J. Wilson appeared in the opening credits, even though they didn't feature in the episode (and, in some cases, hadn't appeared for quite a few episodes prior)? Wouldn't it have been better to award these six spots to the six returnees?

What was the deal with the score that played after the opening credits during the list of guest stars? I always felt the music was ill-suited for the grand finale.

You can thank our friend Jon Parker for the atrocious score for Conundrum and several other episodes. He could take a dramatic scene and make it look like a custard pie fight. Terrible composer

 

[Toni]

I thought the same thing when I first watched it (in Spain they used a preview of the last episodes instead). Maybe they hired Margaret Michaels for that milisecond shot?

"Preview" should read as "Recap".

 

[Monzo]

so maybe that review had it right?

You can see for yourself. Here is the Soap Opera Digest review of Conundrum from back then:



Incidentally, the same expression was used by SOD as here: Went out with a whimper.

Went out with a whimper.

Wasn't a D+ grade a bit mean—or perhaps even too generous?

I don't really like the magazine's suggestion to let Miss Ellie die so that we can all see each other again at the funeral. Maybe a life-threatening health crisis—one that was ultimately overcome—would have been enough to bring everyone back to Southfork, with the exception of Pam, since Victoria Principal wouldn’t have returned anyway.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

Whoa. Hold up..Jock killed himself? Now that I've read it, it does sound familiar, but..why? and also..yeah, right! It just goes to show how put off I was by this episode; I probably really only paid that much attention the first time, and then kinda just watched it for the sake of what it was any time there after.

I still think it was a terrible way for the show to end, but as I've gotten older, a part of me wonders..did they really do the wrong thing with J.R's character? No, it's not what anyone really wanted to see, but..after all of the terrible things he did without any real remorse, it seems like karma, to an extent.

As the article points out, though, it's not just in the concept, but how it was handled. Some of their lives were worse without him..which..my first instinct would be to agree with the article, but..I mean, I suppose that's again somehow realistic, though. Most things aren't usually that black or white. You'd think their lives would all be better, but not even every single bad deed that he committed had just a negative impact, at least when you look at the entire ripple effect of the action, how it could have affected other people, peripherally- and that's just speaking of the bad things(yes, there were a few of those, though.. )

I agree with

I don't really like the magazine's suggestion to let Miss Ellie die so that we can all see each other again at the funeral. Maybe a life-threatening health crisis—one that was ultimately overcome—would have been enough to bring everyone back to Southfork

I think Miss Ellie passing probably would have been better than what we actually got, and maybe would have made sense, considering Barbara was done with the role, but it's not an ending I really would have wanted for Dallas. For one thing, Barbara shouldn't have been negated to 4 episodes in the first place, but in addition to that..I don't know, it's just been done before.

I think the ending really needed to involve Pam. I know some people really don't want to hear that, but..the show started with Bobby and Pam, and it should have somehow ended with them. I don't think a recast would have been a good idea for just the final episode, though, so..scratch that.

I will say the article is kind of on base with Sue Ellen and Cliff's alternate lives. They were probably handled the best..although, for some reason, outside of the horrible obnoxious ex-wife, for some reason, I kind of have a place for a down on his luck Bobby. I guess because it's a somewhat realistic spin on what could have happen to a person like Bobby without the privilege, or having a brother like J.R. to compete with, but more the former.

 

[Monzo]

Jock killed himself? Now that I've read it, it does sound familiar, but..why?

Jock committed suicide when Ewing Oil went bust. And this information should have served as a warning to JR that something was amiss with what the supposed angel was telling him.

While I do think Jock was capable of suicide, it would have been in the context of an illness that stripped him of his personality—Alzheimer's, for instance. It is hard to imagine Jock taking his own life simply because of financial ruin, rather than starting over and proving to everyone that he still had what it took. Theoretically, Southfork would still have been available to Jock; after all, as Adam told us, it was Jason who cashed it out, not Jock. And Miss Ellie dying of a broken heart? I don't really buy that either, and JR should have been skeptical about it, too.

I don't think things happened the way JR. was told (or shown) they did. After all, what does the devil do? He deceives and lies to achieve his goal—and his goal was to get JR to take his own life. By claiming Jock had done it, the idea of following in his father's footsteps seemed less terrible to JR. In hindsight many of Adam's stories just seemed like tales concocted solely to serve his own agenda.

The SOD article mentioned that the finale featured snappy one-liners, but strangely enough, I can't recall that at all.

Personally, I don't dislike the finale the way others do. I found the penultimate and antepenultimate episodes surprisingly good and was therefore hoping for a great ending; but even though I wasn't exactly satisfied, I didn't feel cheated either.

 

[Toni]

You can see for yourself. Here is the Soap Opera Digest review of Conundrum from back then:

View attachment 59652 View attachment 59653

Incidentally, the same expression was used by SOD as here: Went out with a whimper.


Wasn't a D+ grade a bit mean—or perhaps even too generous?

I don't really like the magazine's suggestion to let Miss Ellie die so that we can all see each other again at the funeral. Maybe a life-threatening health crisis—one that was ultimately overcome—would have been enough to bring everyone back to Southfork, with the exception of Pam, since Victoria Principal wouldn’t have returned anyway.

I don´t know if this story (that I did read when we still were seasons behind in Spain, so I was mega-spoiled about it) mentions the fact that VP was invited to this episode, but she did decline when they couldn´t assure it would the REAL ending to the show. How stupidly some Hollywood producers acted back then!