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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 223950" data-attributes="member: 22">Call Girl (DALLAS, 23 Feb 79) v Call Me Dimitri (KNOTS, 14 Feb 91)Another 70s DALLAS/90s KNOTS double bill. On DALLAS, ex-prostitute Leanne Rees bristles with anger whenever JR calls her by her old working name of Amber. On KNOTS, current gigolo Nick Schillace pleads with Anne Matheson to call him by his working name of Dimitri. Whereas Leanne’s former profession inspires one of JR’s sleazier soapier schemes, Nick’s is the basis of a light comedy caper. In both situations, three people in one bedroom — Leanne, Pam and Ben Maxwell (a prototype Walt Driscoll); Nick, Anne and Betty (a dead extra) — proves to be a crowd.The Pam in Call Girl is more sleekly glamorous than the one we saw in Bypass. Given that she’s now working in the fashion industry, this makes sense. Perhaps more troubling is what the kids today would call her lack of agency. Rather than acting independently, she allows others to manipulate her into doing whatever the storyline requires of her. Despite mooning over Bobby, from whom she is now estranged, she is persuaded by Leanne to move into her apartment. There, she becomes the victim of a setup — a misleading photo is taken of her in bed, Leanne and Maxwell seemingly about to join her. Her response is exactly what JR had planned: she packs her bags with the intention of leaving Dallas for good. But then an impassioned speech from Bobby changes her mind and they return to Southfork together. Passive and doe-eyed Pam might be, but Victoria Principal manages to inject her with enough personality to ensure she comes across as more than just an empty-headed doll.As Leanne, Veronica Hamel is the latest in a line of strong guest actresses throughout DALLAS’s first season. We’ve already had Tina Louise, Joan van Ark, Morgan Fairchild, Talia Balsam, Kate Mulgrew, Martha Scott and Colleen Camp, and Susan Howard is just around the corner. Hamel brings a cool intelligence and an edginess to a role that could easily be a tart-with-a-heart stereotype. Leanne isn’t afraid to stand up to JR, even at his most pig-like: “All I ever did was sell myself, but you, you’d sell yourself, your family, your friends — for power. JR, you’re a prize pimp.”Meanwhile, upstairs at Southfork, Sue Ellen, the carrier of new Ewing life, is quietly rotting away as she pours neat bourbon down her throat. A snarling JR warns her to take care of what’s inside her as it’s the only thing standing between her and the gutter, but she’s past caring.The reception Pam receives when she returns to the ranch contrasts with the one the family gave her in Digger’s Daughter. Instead of bemused stares and smirks, she is greeted with open arms by Miss Ellie and Lucy and, finally, acceptance from Jock. (“Do I have to explain anything to you?” she asks. “No,” he replies.) Only Sue Ellen and JR remain impervious to her charms. “You are a disgrace to this family,” Sue Ellen slurs amusingly and the episode ends with everyone else smiling knowingly at JR’s realisation that his latest plan to get rid of that Barnes woman has backfired. Having been so thrillingly, viciously cruel for most of the episode, Hagman isn’t afraid to play the butt of the joke at the end. He even bites down on the wrong end of his cigar like he’s Boss Hogg on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. This “all’s well that ends well” conclusion — reminiscent of the corny final moments of a cheesy stand-alone cop show — is deceptive. Everything might seem OK, but it won’t be for long, not with that knocked up, boozed up time bomb of an ex-beauty queen ticking away upstairs.A couple of architectural notes: Leanne’s apartment will soon become Cliff’s (and briefly, David Crane’s on KNOTS), only with the front door in a different place. Also, the lighting rig above the sky on the cardboard Southfork set is clearly visible on the DVD.<img src="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/105770234_10158613353006532_4547148302008373607_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=yXOs3S-aR2wAX_DhxwW&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=c35b1c2c13ecca6155036dd1be44d75e&oe=5F1CD07F" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />A couple of JR notes: He plays racquetball not once but twice in this ep, which is 100% more athleticism than he’s ever shown before or will again. During this era of the show, I automatically assume any Scandinavian-looking bit player to be a Hagman. In this ep, I’m half-right: the blonde girl working in the Racquet Club is, but the blond photographer lurking on Pam’s balcony isn’t.I’m not so crazy about the equivalent gigolo plot on KNOTS — despite the actors’ best efforts, it’s just too frothy and silly — but the episode pushes the right emotional buttons elsewhere, with Kate Whittaker’s believably crestfallen response to the news that the guy she’s been secretly nursing a crush on is actually her half-brother, and Dick Lochner getting to beat the crap out of his teenage son one last time. Given that this last situation is treated with the utmost gravitas, it’s kind of interesting that Mort, Bob and Linda should find the fact that Paige has a black eye from being punched by one of Jason’s uncles completely hilarious.And the winner is ... Call GirlBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]645OkDIkKvg[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?