In a bit of a surprising move, TNT decided to run a new episode of Dallas on the Fourth of July. Did you catch it, or were you busy watching the holiday fireworks? Well, let me tell you, there were plenty of fireworks on this week’s episode as well, and if you missed it, you missed a lot.
When we last left the Ewings, they were having the “last barbecue” at Southfork, and Rebecca was put into a corner by John Ross over the email Elena received from “Christopher” on the day they were to be married. Rebecca had no choice but to confess, but … it turns out it was her brother Tommy who was the real culprit. She was just put on a train to meet Christopher and reel him in, not knowing all that Tommy was up to. Needless to say, both she and Tommy were tossed off the ranch after their scheme was exposed in front of all the party-goers. It’s never a dull moment at a Ewing barbecue, but at least no one ended up in the pool.
From there, the rest of the episode focused on deeds — the one to Southfork, and the dirty ones perpetrated by JR on Bobby and John Ross. Bobby was none too pleased when he got a special delivery with the deed to Southfork with JR’s name on it. JR, always ready with a cover story, told Bobby that Marta Del Sol was planning to sell the ranch to Cliff Barnes, so he put together an investment group which bought the ranch and transferred it to him. You can’t expect a Ewing to let Southfork slip through his fingers, can you? Of course, this also means JR is going to start drilling for that oil John Ross and Elena discovered, and since Miss Ellie is long dead, I’ll have to say that will happen over Bobby’s dead body.
Of course, poor John Ross also learned what his daddy had done, and tried to get Marta to put his name on the deed. But, as we learned last week, Marta is not playing with a full deck and you know what they say about a woman scorned. Yes, she’s still not over those pictures JR helpfully sent to her and she refused to help John Ross. I’m not sure if she’s skipped town, simply gone into hiding or done herself in, but she left John Ross a goodbye letter and a copy of the sex video she secretly taped of them … which Christopher found while snooping around in John Ross’ apartment. Turns out Marta is not Marta. Real name: Veronica. Armed with this knowledge, Christopher thinks it’s just what they need to prove the Southfork deal was a fraud all along and that JR was behind it. But with JR suddenly taking leave of his hometown, John Ross has been given power of attorney to run things in his absence … meaning the oil drilling will commence immediately, whether Bobby likes it or not.
With all of this internal family drama going on, we finally got a chance to see Ann step off the ranch and get involved behind the scenes. First, she met with Rebecca — I think she refuses to believe Rebecca is as guilty as everyone else believes her to be — to hear her out, and told her she had to explain everything to Christopher, and maybe get a second chance. At this point, he’d be stupid not to bring her back because he could certainly use her to bring Tommy to justice. Ann also paid a visit to Harris Ryland (guest star Mitch Pileggi), the man who owns the tanker trucks JR has hired to transport his newly pumped oil. Surprise! Ryland is also Ann’s ex-husband! Apparently they had a contentious relationship, but he agreed to cancel the contracts — no other company in Dallas has the trucks to haul as much oil as JR thinks he has (could this whole oil drilling business turn out to be a bust?) — because he likes Bobby and thinks JR is a prick.
With JR gone into hiding, John Ross left to flounder at the helm (just what is JR’s plan for his son?), and Christopher about to expose his duplicity in the deed fraud, there was more than enough drama on Southfork this week. I am loving this series, and they made such a great call in bringing back JR and Bobby and not making this a total reboot of the show with an all-new cast. Everyone, old and new alike, is doing a great job in maintaining the original show’s legacy, but I have to tell you that it is just so good to see Larry Hagman back up to his old tricks. Even though more than a decade has passed since the original series finale, it really doesn’t seem like a day has gone by for these classic characters. Viewers have embraced the show, it’s been renewed for a second season (or a 15th season if you’re counting along with Patrick Duffy), and with only five episodes left this season, I am eagerly waiting to see what each new episode will bring. As a longtime fan of the show (I watched it from the beginning way back when), I’m thrilled with the new version and the terrific storytelling, and I’m looking forward to another long run (and, hey, maybe they’ll even bring back Knots Landing!). How do you feel about Dallas? Let us know in the comments section below!
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jul 05, 2012 @ 02:39 EST5EDT
I love it!! It is great to have it back! I agree maybe they will bring back Knots Landing!
*POST AUTHOR*
After I wrote that I thought about it and bringing Knots back could be a bit of a challenge. When Bobby “died” on Dallas and came back a year later, KL had to continue in their own universe where Bobby was still dead because Gary and Val named one of their kids after him in his honor, and after that there was never another crossover between the two shows. It’s rumored that the producers of the new show have asked Ted Shackleford to make a guest appearance, but he declined (Joan Van Ark, however, would love to stir up trouble with JR if given the chance). So incorporating any old KL characters in the new show would really screw with story continuity!