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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 245934" data-attributes="member: 22">Dead Reckoning (DALLAS, 25 Aug 14) v Deadly Combination (KNOTS, 18 Mar 88)I've only started re-watching New DALLAS relatively recently and hadn’t seen Dead Reckoning for six years so my memory's a little hazy. When I saw who actually killed Drew Ramos in the “Previously on …” recap, I was really shocked. And then when I saw John Ross entering what looked like some sort of hovel, a drug den maybe, I was momentarily confused, until I realised it was actually the remains of JR’s bedroom following the recent fire at Southfork.New DALLAS just feels so raw and dark and emotional. The acting is so passionate and committed, and yet it’s most definitely still a soap, full of dizzying twists and turns and outrageous contrivances (a diaphragm with pinholes in it!). And it just looks fantastic. While I was obsessed with the original series, I rarely found it an emotional experience — I could probably count the number of scenes that moved me to tears on one hand, and funnily enough they nearly all involved Bobby and Pam — yet I find New DALLAS deeply moving on pretty much a weekly basis. I’m not sure if I can put my finger on why exactly. Maybe it's because everyone’s kinda broken and vulnerable in a way they weren’t in the '80s.  Even Bobby has a weariness and fragility that he didn't have when he simply the heroic Good Brother. Arguably, the only character to have remained secure within their position throughout the new series is Carmen the cook — and that all changes in this episode following her son’s death when she finally realises that she is, as Nicolas Trevino once described her to Elena, "a servant for the people who caused your father’s death and stole the millions that should have been hers.”Drew’s family identify his body in a morgue scene that’s just as wrenching as the one where the Ewings did the same for JR. Like JR's coffin, Drew's is draped with an American flag and we see his mother weeping over it just as Sue Ellen did before her. Emma even receives a posthumous lover letter like Sue Ellen did. Drew may have only around for a fraction of the time JR was, but within the context of the series, his life matters. It reminds me of Ray’s line to Mickey in Cuba Libre: “You, me, your ma — we're just as good as anybody."Dead Reckoning is the second episode following the mid-season premiere of Season 3 (how modern), and the reverberations of the Southfork fire and Pamela’s “I’ll show you; I’ll kill me” overdose are still being felt. Deadly Combination has a similar “aftermath of an aftermath” vibe: Jean Hackney has been vanquished, Greg is alive and well, and Ben and Val’s ordeal is over — yet the characters are unable to move on: Laura can’t forgive Val and Ben can’t believe his family are out of danger. He even mistakes Lilimae for an intruder and puts her in a headlock  — and no-one wants to see Lilimae in a headlock.Even more surreal is Mack and Anne dancing to Mamas and the Papas and singing along to Marvin Gaye on the Avery staircase. Karen’s ever-decreasing tolerance for her husband’s daughter’s mother living next door finally evaporates after she and Mack have to explain the concept of Garbage Day to her. Mack promptly cuts Anne adrift, prompting her to take an overdose —which gives her something in common with Pamela Barnes Ewing twenty-six years later.And the winner is ... Dead Reckoning.BONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]LkyIVKbCfG8[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

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