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Episode 55: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part I
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]
> Bobby to Pam: "Honey, what's the matter?"
( Geez Bobby. Your father just named her brother as the prime suspect. )
Pam Award: I'd have to say Pam.
Angelica Award: Kristin looks really grungy. Sue Ellen's brown polka dot blouse at the hospital wasn't too hot either.
Bobby Award: Ditto. Borrow Sue Ellen's hairbrush, Kristin.
April Award: Bobby for leaving his car abandoned by the interstate.
- Last year I wrongly said that the door to Ewing Oil was unlocked, until it was pointed out that the cleaning lady's keys are hanging in the lock when she finds JR on the floor. But who locked the door? The killer? I find it hard to believe that the killer actually had the keys; and even if he or she did, he or she locked the door after shooting JR. The only thing that might make sense of this is that the killer must be someone who had the keys...but when we find out who the real killer is, this doesn't make sense. I'll expound on this when we find out who it was, so as not to ruin it for anyone.
- When Ray receives the call from the hospital that JR's been shot, he presses a line button on the phone. We've never seen that before.
- Sue Ellen comes back to the ranch and has her eye on the well-stocked liquor cart until Kristin arrives not long after her. Didn't JR ask Theresa to lock up all of the liquor to keep Sue Ellen dry, even to the point of searching her room? It never amazes me how lightly Raoul and Theresa take their duties, and yet they manage to hang on to their jobs.
- How exactly does Jock know that Alan Beam had a strong motive for shooting JR? I don' t think JR would have told him about the threatened rape charges. Jock knows that JR had him fired from Smithfield-Bennett, and he's seen them fight, but would this rank him all that high on the list of suspects? Somewhat odd.
- Despite the confusing phone system at Southfork [see below] and the recent trauma of her son
being shot, Ellie is amazingly adept at using the hospital phone system. The nurse [who is
awfully young, by the way] tells Ellie that there is a call from Gary on Line 3. Ellie
pushes two buttons on the phone and gets connected to Gary instantly. Clearly, one of the
buttons is probably flashing and is labeled 'Line 3'. But what is the other button, and
how does Ellie know to press that one? She must have been a telephone operator in a
previous incarnation.
Denise Wood points out: Regarding the "Nurse" the one who looks really
young. She isn't actually a nurse. She is called a candystriper. My sister used to be one.
They are volunteers at a hospital and they do odd jobs. (Change bedpans,
deliver food, serve pancakes, etc) It is sort of a warm up job and usually they are
too young to actually get paid anywhere else thus making them look really young.
- Sue Ellen has her empty purse from last episode in her flashback, and Kristin carts an empty one around today. Pam also has an empty black purse when she gets into the chopper. Ellie wanders with a small black purse.
- Just a note: I would have totally marked out if, after Jock asked Sue Ellen where she was the night of the shooting, he immediately yelled at her, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU WERE!". Do you smell what the Jock is cooking?
- I'm not too sure that even the Ewings could get the state police to go out on a full-fledged hunt for Pam and Bobby, and then have them escorted directly to Dallas Memorial. Maybe the county sheriff would do them such a favor, but the state police? That seems excessive.
- Something else just occurred to me. The State Police finding Pam and Bobby is a BILC! If Pam and Bobby need to be informed about JR's shooting, couldn't they have heard it on the car radio, or stopped at a diner and seen the newspaper headline or a TV bulletin? This happens all the time in later seasons - people halfway around the world are up-to-date on Ewing affairs because every significant happening is relayed as a bulletin on the radio or TV or whatever communication medium happens to be handy at that time. So why the need for the helicopter to inform and fetch Bobby and Pam? Because it looks cool.
- And when stopped by the chopper, why does Bobby pull his car into the ditch at the side of the road? Wouldn't the shoulder have been sufficient?
- And speaking of the chopper...who in the hell would land a chopper right near a freakin' HOSPITAL? You're supposed to keep it quiet around there. In an absolute emergency where every second counts, I suppose you might want to land on top of the hospital, but certainly there's no reason to land near it at ground level.
- We see Capitol Cab again in this episode. Aside from the fact that Capitol Cab belongs in Austin rather than Dallas, this taxi has a different phone number and colour scheme from the one we saw in Episode 52.
- Damn, John Ross is big! He's mushroomed over the course of three episodes [when we last saw him].
- Pam's new car [see below] is still at Southfork. Was Bobby planning to get one of the hands to drive it to California?
From Bill Withrow: I know that the plot called for J.R. to survive the shooting. But I have never understood why the killer would have only fired 2 shots. After J.R. was down, he or she could have emptied her gun and finished him off.
AHN Todd's corner:
- When Ray and Miss Ellie are at Southfork the phone rings. Why is Ray up at the house in the middle of the night, when no one else (but Miss Ellie) is there? I guess Miss Ellie was just lonely or something. Why didn't she go with Jock to Punk Anderson's house and hang out with Mavis, though?
- Ellie tells Ray to call one of the
hands. He picks up the phone and starts talking immediately. Good one Ray! This
could explain something. If there is a direct line to the ranch hands, then when someone
wanted to get an outside line, they would have to dial "9", explaining why
people have such a hard time using the phones. Ah, yes. A direct line to the bunkhouse. That explains everything. Amazing that
despite her recent trauma, Ellie can still manipulate phones with the best of them. See above
- This episode was supposed to be a continuation from the last season, but since it was
filmed several weeks (or months) later, MANY things have changed.
1. Raul got a moustache, a new haircut and looks totally different after the face lift. And he talks, too!
2. Sue Ellen went on a bender and sold her car to buy booze. She used to drive a
Ford Crown Victoria LTD. Then she bought another one that looks similar, but is a
different model: a Mercury Grand Marquis station wagon.
3. Lucy was shagging with the teacher. She also sold her car in the middle of the
night. She got rid of her convertable that Bobby gave her and bought a Porsche 944. Mike Watts actually points out that it's a 924 - but
who's counting.
4. Pam and Bobby left town. While they were on the highway, Pam thought that she
should have a new car. She got rid of her late 70s Corvette, and bought a new
Porsche 911. I guess the Licensing offices stay open 24 hours in Dallas! They do for the Ewings. I wondered who parked in front of
the main entrance to the Licensing office? Or did they take turns?
- Pam comes out of the hospital because Jock said that Cliff was the prime suspect, so she
wants to go see him. Bobby chases her out, and then they start talking about whether
Cliff is capable of killing JR. Suddenly a taxi appears to take Pam away.
Impressive! She didn't even pick up the phone and a taxi is there for her.
Hospitals aren't generally taxi hangouts like the downtown core or bars. This is
definitely egregious. Not only that, but the
cab stops right in front of them. Neither one of them flagged the cab down. The driver was
just awestruck by Vicki's figure, I guess. Or maybe, as I suspect, the cab read
the script.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Sue Ellen drives Ewing 2. She also leaves the keys in the ignition of her car and
the window rolled down while she was passed out. It would be so easy for her to be
robbed ala the Dream Season. Yes it would. Good
call.
- Mrs. Forrester looked WAY too happy when she answered the door to Ray. And I am
shocked that she would actually know where her husband shags his students. I bet she's had some suspicions. I'd also bet that she
knows he's been spending time at the Sundowner, but may not have known with whom.
- Kristin has no purse when she first goes to the hospital, yet she has one that looks
empty (but we know isn't) when she arrives at Southfork. Also, did she have keys to
Southfork or did Ray just leave the doors unlocked?
- The long haired Theresa is back.
- Kristin should have done a better job with her version of the vision. She claims to
Sue Ellen that she was scared but she hardly looks that way when we see her in the vision.
- I am seriously considering lobbying for a Ray Award for hypocrisy. He tells Lucy how
horrible it is for her to be involved with a married man yet he shagged Sue Ellen when she
was married to JR and later on he will cheat on Donna and Jenna when married to them. Hey...good call! In fairness to Ray, he has to forget
about the Sue Ellen thing because of executive order.
AHN Alett's corner:
- It's such a cliche that the one who finds the body screams. It would make sense if
there were a pool of blood etc. Heck, JR looks like he's sleeping. Maybe there's some blood - there ought to be more,
considering a bullet lodges near the spleen.
- Also, everyone is going to complain that Ray could just get the professor's phone number
rather than go to his house. It's just too heavy handed a way to find out about the
motel. Man, the professor's poor wife has a hard life. She looks old enough to
be his mother.
- This is just the next day after the cliffhanger, but both Sue Ellen and Pam have longer
hair.
- I'm surprised no one called Gary to come home for Ellie during her mastectomy. She probably didn't want him there - painful enough as it
for her. Plus he was busy being cast by the producers at the time.
AHN Mike's corner:
- I pointed this out during the marathon on New Year's Day. When they wheel JR out in the
middle of the night, not only are the streets way too crowded with people for a business
district long after business hours are over but there actually appear to be people across
the street sitting in temporary bleachers watching the filming and serving as crowd
extras. Clearly I wasn't watching close enough.
- The budget is tight and yet they bring that annoying Muriel character back for another
season? The budget ain't tight any more. Watch what
kind of wardrobe they trot out today...Janine Turner. Oww!
- What is the urgency of Ray finding Lucy? She serves no purpose. I could understand if
they needed her to give blood or if JR were her favorite uncle. But why is this Ray's top
priority in this crisis? By the way, since nobody knows yet that Ray is a half-breed
Ewing, he doesn't get a prime reserved spot at Dallas Memorial when he arrives with Lucy. It's for Ellie's sake - the family has to be together and
be strong. But today Lucy gets to forget all about it.
- At the hospital, Jock in so many words accuses Sue Ellen of being a drunk, an unfit
mother, a "gallivanting" tramp and due for another trip to the sanitarium. JR
would have been proud of his daddy.
- Why all the screen time and dialogue for that teenage candystriper? Must have been a
relative of somebody's, though it wasn't evident from looking at the cast credits.
- More of Miss Ellie's delusions. She says JR may be dying because of Ewing Oil. Wrong, he
may be dying because of his own unscroupulous business practices. Which are due to his fervor and zeal in running Ewing Oil. I see your
point.
- How can Pam, of all people, criticize Cliff for not being at work when he's supposed to
be? When was the last time she went to work at all? Well,
as of now she's quit, but your point is well taken.
AHN Pam's corner:
- The porcelain dog was obediently waiting in the living room when Sue Ellen looked in at
the bar.
- By all accounts, Lucy left Southfork the morning J.R. was shot, and didn't go home that
evening. When she left Southfork the morning J.R. was shot, she said good-bye to
Bobby and she was wearing black pants and a white blouse. When she arrived at the
hospital with Ray, she had on a blue dress. Did she stuff that in her duffle bag to
change for her date or did she do some shopping? She
may have come back at some point during the day - this is worth pointing out, though.
- Someone mentioned the other day that Kristin doesn't have a car. She must have
one. She got to the hospital by herself and Ellie told her to go out to Soutfork and
wait for Sue Ellen. She could've cabbed it both places I suppose. But then why
wouldn't they have taken Sue Ellen's car back to the hospital from Southfork? Her
car was parked in the driveway when Pam arrived home in the cab. Kristin may have taken Uncle Jock's car...this is interesting. Maybe
they did cab it back because Sue Ellen was too distraught to drive.
- If Val was so worried about Gary handling a 'crisis' why didn't she offer to go back to
Dallas with him? I'm sure if they didn't have the money, Ellie would pay for their
plane fare. My guess is the producers don't want to PAY Joan Van Ark for more
than one guest appearance.....of course they will later.
- Gary couldn't get a flight from L.A. to Dallas earlier than the one he planned to take?
LAX is a major international airport. I'm sure there are several daily flights
between L.A. and Dallas. I can't believe that every flight on every airline was
completely booked. You know the airlines. They're
stupid that way. This isn't entirely impossible.
Episode 56: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part II
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]
> Gary to Bobby: " You're tougher than I am, and
stronger."
(Now the distinction between these two traits would be........?)
[courtesy of Sara]
> Gary (after bringing up a bunch of unpleasant things from Sue Ellen's past): "I'm not trying to bring up old ghosts."
Pam Award: Anybody in a swimsuit. That includes Pam [nothing we haven't seen before], Bobby [I'm sure all the ladies liked that!], Lucy's friend Paula who likes really nice from behind, and a very young Janine Turner! Yee-oww.
Angelica Award: Lucy at Da Vinci's. Not necessarily a bad outfit, but she looked just awful drunk. Nominated by Jason.
Bobby Award: Pam. [KIDDING!] Just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention. Dr. Elby wins, of course. Duh. Gary was close.
April Award: Lucy's friends for potentially letting her drive drunk.
- At the very beginning of the episode, JR has only been awake
for about a minute before the nurse comes in and tells everyone that he needs his rest.
HUH? How did the nurse even know he woke up? And even if she did, couldn't she have given
the folks a couple of minutes? What's her problem?
She does it again near the end of the episode just before JR goes into surgery. Sue
Ellen's talking to him for about fifteen seconds and in she comes to break it up. Pushiest
nurse I've ever seen.
- That Marilee Stone is insatiable. Her husband died about five days ago and she's already putting the charms on Bobby.
- I thought that this one was particularly timely, coming soon
after War of the Ewings. There was quite a bit of debate raging about the fact that
Weststar had become an independent oil company and JR made remarks that suggested that
Ewing Oil had become public. This was very odd. Click
here to go to that discussion.
In this episode, Bobby says something which only struck me two hours after I watched the
episode. Bobby complains to Connie that he wants to make decisions but the 'Chairman of
the Board' and the 'President' of Ewing Oil will just overrule them. Clearly he is
speaking of Jock and JR, respectively.
Here's the problem: Jock Ewing can not possibly be the Chairman of the Board of Ewing Oil.
Why not, you ask? Because Ewing Oil has no Board of Directors! The Board of Directors of a
corporation is comprised of representatives of the major investors, in a private
corporation, or stockholders in a publicly traded corporation. Ewing Oil is not publicly
traded; nor does it have a group of major partners. It is wholly owned by Jock Ewing,
presumably under the umbrella of Ewing Enterprises. So there can be no Board of Directors,
ergo there can be no Chairman of the Board! I can't believe the writers overlooked this.
When Bobby says stuff like this it makes him seem totally dense.
- Sue Ellen carries an empty brown purse in this episode.
- I won't hazard any guesses as to where this Da Vinci's place is, but is ten dollars enough cab fare to get Lucy home from an [apparently] downtown night spot? Must be a special Ewing fare.
- Nice new haircut on Dr. Elby! I almost expected Sue Ellen to drop her line of conversation and comment. I can just picture it:
SE: "Oh, Dr. Elby, what am I going to
do if JR...what happened to your hair?"
Elby: "Nothing, I just felt like getting it cut."
SE: "Well, your stylist didn't do a very good job."
Elby: "Never mind that...tell me about your feelings. What about JR?"
SE: "Forget about JR! I'll take you to my stylist. Alejandro will take care of
you."
Someone lock up this man's stylist.
- Those darned hospital phones. Today, Bobby gets a phone call from Fred Hopper, and the nurse tells him to pick up Line 2. Bobby goes to the phone and just starts talking! What? Yesterday, Miss Ellie picked up a hospital line and had to press two buttons before she was connected. What gives?
From Bill Withrow: The doctor tells Jock and Ellie about J.R.'s need for surgery. Jock then goes in and tells J.R. what the doctor said. Shouldn't the doctor have told J.R. first with J.R. then breaking the news to his parents? I mean J.R. is not a minor. Didn't the doctor violate normal procedure? Or, am I being too picky? I'll have to review the tape...no, I won't. I remember this now. I think the excuse was that JR was sleeping or something like that. I'd have to review my "Medicine and Law" books to be sure about this, but I think you're right.
AHN Todd's corner:
- Last episode Gary said that he was going to come in to Dallas at around 6am. Lucy said that he was going to pick him up. So Lucy and Gary pull into Southfork together and the sun is FULLY RISEN! OK, so maybe they are closer to the equator than Toronto or Ottawa, but the latest time they would come to the ranch is about 7:30am. Bobby is suntanning. Bull! I don't think that anyone would be out tanning or relaxing that early in the morning, don't you have to do work before you relax? Go back to bed everyone! Actually, being close to the equator has very little to do with when the sun rises; it only determines how high it is when it is fully risen. I see your point - either everyone got up really early to have breakfast, or something is very wrong here.
- Sue Ellen tells JR that John Ross misses his daddy. I
know that JR likes to think that he has a hand that controls the world, but does he really
think that his son misses him? He has never even touched him! Well, he did once, the episode he found out that he was
the real father. Since then he's been busy destroying lives. Let's give JR the benefit of
the doubt on this one - throughout the series, one thing is for sure and that's that JR
loves his daddy and his son very much.
- The doctor comes out to talk to Jock and Ellie about some risky surgery that JR will
have to go thru in order to remove the other bullet that is in his spine. The doctor
comes out in a two piece suit and tie. When a surgeon works, he wears the cape or
gown, if not in the OR, then they would wear pretty casual comfortable clothes, not dress
like he is going for a job interview. Doctors dress in suits when they are
consulting with patients all day, but this is a surgeon, and i don't think that this was
appropriate. Some surgeons do wear suits all day. Not
right after performing surgery, perhaps, but I knew lots of doctors who reach for a suit
as soon as they possibly can.
AHN Alett's corner:
- JR couldn't care less about Gary's life in California, so how would he know about the
good-looking neighbor, Karen Fairgate? Even if Bobby had met her when he was out
there, he would have no reason to discuss Gary's good-looking neighbors. This is
just a plug for *Knots Landing*. Yes it is but JR
really liked her when he visited Knots. She used him and spurned him, which peaked his
interest even more.
- Purse problems again. Kristin leaves the hospital with no purse, no keys in her hand,
and goes to her car which has its window down. There are NO pockets in that dress.
I hate to think where she's stashing those keys. A drunk Lucy has her purse in her
hand while she's leaning out the cab's window. Cut to the cab pulling away, and
there's no purse in her hands. Can't believe I
missed that last one.
- The cops have a search warrant. It's very possible Cliff has another gun in the
place. This is pretty shoddy police work. But
they only had a search warrant for the one gun . THAT part of it may be shoddy.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Lucy drives EWING 5. So how come Pam doesn't? Pam got her first
"EWING" Car before Lucy. Also have we yet to see Ellie actually drive
anywhere herself? Sue Ellen drives EWING 2 so this seems to suggest that Ellie
does not have a car, at least at this point. We
have not seen Ellie definitively drive anywhere yet. I have no idea why Pam doesn't have
Ewing 5. Lame.
- During Gary and Sue Ellen's talk in the nursery, it looks like they are standing very
close together while talking/arguing. Since these two have never been close, I find
this interesting.
- Notice Sue Ellen's hair at the hospital. It looks noticeably flatter after the
first commercial break (first 15 minutes).
- Aside from giving us some plot info, what exactly was the point of Kristin and Alan
shooting the #$%@ outside of the hospital? These two act like they are best friends
and seem very casual about the whole "JR got shot" affair. In
real life, I couldn't see people having a conversation like this out in public.
Also, why exactly did Alan come to the hospital? He had been cleared by the police and I
hardly think he would want to wish JR his best. Good
call! It's the only way he could find Kristin I guess. Excellent point which I totally
missed. I suppose the writers needed a way to get himon-screen so he could give us his
alibi.
- Bobby tells Marilee that $500,000 is peanuts one minute than offers her a half a million
the next. Think about it. I think he means it's
peanuts compared to the legal fees.
- While we are on the topic of babes, so how come Muriel isn't at Lucy's bikini party or
at the dance club? I thought she was Lucy's best friend. But I bet she looks awful in a bikini. Plus she's not a rich bitch.
AHN Sara's corner:
- Bobby was the first person to see Gary coming up the driveway, yet it took him a good
five minutes to get from the pool to the breakfast table to greet him.
- Bobby and Gary drove down the Southfork driveway, then stopped. A couple of
seconds elapsed and then Gary asked Bobby to pull over to the side of the road. That
just looked weird. I think Gary's voiceover should have started before Bobby stopped
the car.
- By the way, this is the second time in two episodes that Bobby has pulled off the side
of a road by inexplicably verring off into some grass. Is it that hard to pull over
and stay on the road? Apparently for Bobby it is.
Maybe his car likes the grass.
- Yet again underage Lucy is given alcohol. I can't believe that her friends let her
walk out of the club in her condition. Also, why did she bring her car? I find
it hard to believe that Lucy and her friends all took separate cars to the club. They're all rich girls as far as I can tell - in a few
days Lucy will have a snob party and they're all invited, even though Muriel curiously is
not.
AHN Mike's corner:
- JR has suddenly gotten grey at the temples. Guess the makeup department ran out of that
black shoe polish they've been using to make his sides match his rug.
- Jock got a haircut and a new gold necklace.
- Did you notice when Paula walked to her lounge chair she was wearing spike heels? Who
wears spiked heels with a bikini around the pool?
- Sue Ellen tells Gary "Baby John is my whole life". Your whole life other than
the significant portion you dedicate to drinking, Sue Ellen? Ah, but she doesn't drink any more right? [I see your point.]
- Once again we see the immutable law that the TV only gets turned on at SF when there's
news relating to the Ewings, as Pam turns it on to hear about Vaughn Leland being cleared
as a JR murder suspect. I see the point...but does
anybody really want to watch Pam watch TV? Maybe in lingerie...
- The two detectives that come for Cliff are not only dressed like used car salesman but
look like two five pound bags with ten pounds of sh*t in them. Prime heart attack
candidates. That's your typical 80s police officer.
I don't know about New Jersey, but only recently here in Toronto has the police force
stopped becoming the proverbial donut shop patrons.
- When JR's doctor enters the waiting room, his chest is completely soaked
with perspiration.
AHN Pam's corner:
- Gary flew all the way from California for one two minute conversation with J.R. and then
left before his surgery? They said it was very risky, you would think Gary would
want to hang around until it was over, just in case. His excuse was that he had to
get back to his job. If I remember my "Knots" history correctly, Gary was
working for Sid Fairgate at the time, a neighbor and friend. I'm sure under the
circumstances, Sid would have given his friend some time off to be with his family during
their 'crisis'. I'm not too sure what the
circumstances were here. This is sort of lame but frankly, there's no REAL reason for Gary
to stick around. There's frankly no reason for LUCY to be hunted down, or Pam and Bobby
for that matter. It's just for Ellie's sake because she's a total jellyfish and gets her
strength from her family being around her. Lame.
- Kristin does have a car, she went to it after talking to Alan in the parking lot.
It's kind of an old man car, not something I would think Kristin would choose for
herself. Maybe it came with the condo, ya know, kind of like the dresses in the
closet. Or is it Uncle Jock's car or something like
that? That'd be my guess.
- I loved watching J.R. wheel and deal from his hospital bed. He can pull all the
strings even from there. But I have to ask, even though they said it had been a few
days, didn't J.R. seem to recover quite quickly? I know he can't feel his legs, but
shouldn't he at least have been somewhat weak even a few days later? Yes, it is a miraculous recovery of sorts. Maybe the damage wasn't as
bad as originally thought.
- Pam carried an empty purse to the police station.
- When Lucy returned that whopping cab fare to Mitch, did she say the club had given her
his address? If not, how did she know where he lived? If so, I'd be mad as
hell if I were Mitch that my employer would give out my address to anyone who asked for
it. What if Lucy had been some psycho?
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Jason]
> Lucy: "My mom was a waitress.... I know all about hard work and poverty."
Please.. she may dress like a girl from the Prairie but she sure doesn't act like one.
Pam Award: Kristin's white street walker outfit.
Angelica Award: Lucy's outfits.
Bobby Award: Even Lucy's braids cannot oust Dr. Elby from here.
April Award: Lucy for confronting her professor about their affair out in the open, so everyone can hear when a slut she is. Sue Ellen for sending Kristin to "cheer JR up".
- The producers got away with some stuff in this episode. In the first Pam and Bobby scene, we're outside and it's really windy. Pam's top is flapping in the wind, revealing her bra underneath. Then when Sue Ellen wheels JR out of the hospital, she learns over to talk to him and we're treated to a nice cleavage shot. And then of course, when Kristin goes to JR's hospital room she strategically cradles her chest for maximum exposure. Tame by today's standards, but this was twenty years ago.
- And why DOES Sue Ellen wheel JR out of the hospital to get some sun? Shouldn't a hospital worker do that, for insurance purposes, even if JR is not leaving for good? Later, when he does leave for good, a hospital worker does wheel him out, as it should be.
- This one really bothers me. As JR points out, why is Kristin still in Dallas? Harry McSween had express orders from JR to escort Kristin out of town if she didn't leave of her own volition in Episode 54, the cliffhanger. Unlike Alan Beam or Vaughn Leland, there is no evidence in the dialogue that suggests that Kristin is a suspect in JR's shooting. So why is she around? Harry must be losing his touch. Either that or everyone on the Dallas PD is working on the JR shooting, so Harry's got no backup, or something like that.
- Doesn't it do your heart good to see how understanding Pam is of Bobby's need to give full attention to his job? [That's sarcasm on many levels, if you don't get it.]
- Hey, the INS guys finally checked Southfork out! The new Raoul has been sent back to Mexico, and a new clean-shaven guy sneaked over in the meantime, and brought over a new chiquita with a green outfit to be Theresa.
- Jock finds the gun in "JR's closet". But since when has this been only JR's closet? It appears to be the only closet in the room, and we've seen Sue Ellen put things in there quite often. And would it be possible to tell that it had recently been fired by sniffing it? It's been a week or so.
- And speaking of the gun, at the end of the episode it is identified as being JR's gun. So why in the world did Sue Ellen have it in her drawers back in Episode 53?
- Detective Horton tells the Ewings that the only fingerprints found on the gun belonged to Sue Ellen. So does the Dallas PD have Sue Ellen's fingerprints on file? Why? Has she ever been booked before?
From Tina Niblett: Rather interesting note
about Ray's house. Before he even moved in a clothesline was in place. Guess
that's why we always saw him working bare-chested. He had no clothesline at the
bunkhouse, and his shirts were at the cleaners. Now he can do his own laundry while
he's out chopping wood or planting trees.
Val comments: If you look closely at this
scene, you will notice a small trailer off to one side. I'm assuming that's where Ray
lived while he was building his "hand-built cowboy house". And if I remember
correctly, it was a very small trailer--too small to hold laundry facilities, hence the
clothesline. There was probably a wash-tub around the back. And while we're on the subject
of Ray's house, here's something that's always bothered me. As you know, everyone who
comes to that house enters and leaves through that sliding glass door between the living
room and kitchen. These sliding glass doors are very widely used in the Southwest. In
fact, I have one on my house. But there's a problem. These doors can not be locked from
the outside. There is just a simple latch that can be locked ONLY from INSIDE the house,
but outside there is nary a keyhole--only a handle. Ray's may very well be different, but
I have NEVER seen one of these doors that can be locked from the outside. The point I'm
trying to make is that the slider seems to be the ONLY door on Ray's house. (Southfork has
these doors too, but there are other doors). So when he leaves, it can't be locked (unless
he crawls out the chimney, a la Santa Claus). Sure this may not be a problem when you live
out in the middle of nowhere. I have relatives in rural areas who never lock their doors.
But what about when leaving on long trips? Surely, he'd want to lock his doors then.
Perhaps this is merely a subtle form of foreshadowing. Ray seems to care about his
personal security about as much as the Ewings.
AHN Todd's corner:
- JR gets home from the hospital. Did they keep the wheelchair from when JR got shot in the hunting accident? Pretty impressive that they had it on hand like that.
- Lucy goes to pick up Ray at his new house and he says that
he'll be along after he has a beer. Does anyone else notice that he has a sip and
then gets into Lucy's car with it. I am surprised that Lucy would let him do
this. I'm sure that Texans do this frequently when they are off shooting stuff with
their rifles though. They'd never do
something like this in today's politically correct climate - interesting.
Terri Thomas comments: Believe it
or not, Texas used to allow open containers--EVEN FOR THE DRIVER--as long as the blood
alcohol level was below the legal limit.
Terri also mentions: Another thing I've been
wanting to get off my chest: The producers of the show are so cheap that they often show
some other college campus (probably UCLA) and try to pawn it off as SMU. Anyone who
knows SMU knows that ALL buildings on that campus are required to be designed and built in
the Georgian style of architecture. Thus, every building on the SMU campus is red
brick, with the pillars, etc. When you see footage of "SMU" with other
types of buildings, you'll know it's the fake SMU.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Lucy wears the same dress to yell at Forrester that she wore when Ray took her to the
hospital to see JR in #55.
- It is established in this episode that several weeks have past since the shooting.
So it has taken Lucy this long to go find and yell at Forrester? Doesn't she still
go to his class? Also doesn't Mitch say something along the lines of
apologizing for his behavior toward Lucy (in #56) that happened THE OTHER DAY? (I
could be wrong on this one.) Time has passed in an
odd way. This is still POSSIBLE, although the Forrester thing is not very believable.
- The shot of Horner's office looks like Elby's.
- Sue Ellen and Kristin seem to have empty purses outside of the hospital.
- Sue Ellen wears that blue dress at the beginning of the episode when she visits JR and
Elby. At the same time or a day later, Lucy wears her blue dress to yell at
Forrester. Later, Mitch goes to see Lucy and she is dressed like Melissa Gilbert on
Little House. Later in the episode, Sue Ellen and Kristin meet outside the hospital
and S.E. is wearing her blue dress again. The scenes must have put in the wrong order on
the show. Quite probably. I had a feeling there
were some weird things going on.
- I'd like to know WHO these "security" people are supposed to be keeping away
from JR. In #56 Alan tries to visit. Today, two other people that JR knows
have very good reason to shoot him come to visit and get in- Jordan and Kristin. I
can't believe that JR didn't tell these guys who to tell in and who not to. In fact,
he should have given them a list of people who COULD visit him- it would be a LOT shorter
than his list of enemies. Daddy, Momma, Bobby, Gary, Sue Ellen, Lucy and maybe "that
Barnes Woman" if she behaves herself. I have
no idea what's going on here.
- I got a kick out of Jock and Ellie thinking that JR needed slippers. He is in a
wheelchair. Why would he need them to go home? I could understand them
bringing slippers to him if he was in the hospital, say doing physical therapy-like
earlier in the episode, but now that he is going home, it doesn't make sense. Well, you can't expect to go home with bare feet, I
guess.
AHN Alett's corner:
- It looks like Dr. Elby has this new haircut because in his off-hours he's in a
production of *Julius Caesar*. The Doc isn't earning his pay. Even though Sue
Ellen's dream seems pretty straight forward, he could at least talk to her about it.
- Maybe the philosophy in rehab is learn to walk in the shoes you're most likely to wear,
but JR in dress shoes and black socks just looks ridiculous. I would think tennis shoes
would be a better choice.
- Outside the hospital, Kristin's hair is down and fairly straight. Inside with JR
she has it pulled back and it's curlier.
- All Bobby seems to have to do is sign the papers so they can out by 1:00. He could still
have lunch with Pam. I guess he has to review them
or something. I agree.
- Geez Ray. Seal the paint can and clean your brush before you leave.
- Finally Theresa is able to get out of those black heels and get into some sensible
walking shoes. Well, it's a different Theresa and
Raoul. Maybe the shoes were bought in Juarez when they crossed over.
- Since this is attempted murder, the spouse should be the first suspect, but it's been
weeks and they haven't even questioned Sue Ellen. Yeah,
I suppose you're right. But I guess it's one of those things where you don't want to stir
up trouble with the Ewings if you don't have to.
AHN Mike's corner:
- Sue Ellen wears lipstick, eyeshadow, earrings and her lethal weapon diamond ring to bed
at night. Was her nightmare about JR or Dr. Elby's new 'do?
- Why did Lucy suddenly call Greg "Professor Forrester" when she was publicly
dressing him down? I don't know. I also don't know
why she wants to publicize the fact that she's a slut.
- There's more than a little irony in Sue Ellen's advice to Kristin to go up and
"help JR get his mind off his troubles". Not only isn't she doing that anymore
but she proceeds to goad him about the fact that he can't do it anymore.
- Pretty shrewd of Jock to put his fingerprints all over JR's gun and then use it as an
alibi to make sure the police knew why they were there. And speaking of fingerprints, how
did Kristin get hers off the gun but leave JR's and Sue Ellen's on. Even if she used
gloves and had no need to wipe hers off, wouldn't handling the gun with the gloves have
smudged the other prints? I assume the bullets were already in the gun and would have the
prints of the person that loaded them and I presume those would be JR's. This is a bit on the weird side, I agree. When we see
Kristin holding the gun today, she'll have gloves; maybe she was careful enough not to
smudge the prints too badly.
- And why do they assume there's only one person (Sue Ellen) who could have used the gun?
Aren't there at least three Raoul's and a half dozen Teresa's wandering the house at any
moment? JR doesn't exactly treat them like family or friends.
- Why does JR need a blanket around his legs on what appears to be a very warm day, based
on the lack of clothes and the skin exposed on everybody else around him?
AHN Pam's corner:
- When Sue Ellen was screaming during her nightmare, it looked as if the light were on in the room. But when the scene changed and Ellie opened the door, the room was completely dark.
- Somebody said that Lucy went to pick Ray up at his house. Is it my imagination
or did she say she was picking him up because J.R. was coming home. At this point,
no one knows that Ray is really a member of the family, so why does he need to be there
when J.R. arrives home? Come to think of it, Lucy, Ray, Bobby and Pam were nowhere
to be found during cocktails for J.R.'s 'special' welcome home dinner. I'll have to review this. I forget what the real reason
was.
- Pam's a bitch. Bobby had to sign a few papers, so she couldn't wait for him to go
to lunch? Didn't she just tell the trailertrash the day before that she was bored
out of her mind and had nothing to do? So even if she had to wait a half hour for
Bobby to review and sign a few papers, I think she could spare the time.
- Sue Ellen and Kristin kissed in front of the hospital. Strange, we've never seen
this before, they're quite friendly lately.
- Lucy told Mitch she'd drive him to work after the movie. That's really very nice
of her. But, his job is within walking distance of his apartment or Lucy planned on
picking him up, how's he supposed to get home if she drops him off? Maybe he'll catch a ride back with someone.
- Lucy found Mitch at school and said they were going to dinner because she knew his
entire schedule by heart. It doesn't seem like they've known each other very long, I
doubt he gave her an itinerary. So how exactly would she know his entire schedule,
is she stalking him? Yup. She wants to jump his
bones. Actually, finding out where a second-year medical student is at any given moment is
not as hard as you think - the schedule is pretty standard.
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of me]
> Kristin to Sue Ellen: "You think you've got it all figured out..."
Well, actually, Sue Ellen does... she just told us the whole story.
[courtesy of Jason]
> Ellie (at breakfast)- "Sue Ellen is too dangerous
to be let out of jail."
> Ellie (at dinner that night)- "I'm not sorry that she is out of jail."
Pam Award: Kristin in the brown wrap dress at the end.
Angelica Award: Sue Ellen's dress with the multi-colored leaves was awful, as was Donna's hat. Sue Ellen's half-black, half-white outfit including matching shoes wasn't too hot either.
Bobby Award: Dr. Elby edges out Sue Ellen's grungy looks. Jim Redfield deserves mention.
April Award: The cab driver for thinking that he could only get as far as the gate of Southfork... I mean, come on... EVERYONE knows that ANYONE can visit Southfork any old time they want. Nominated by Jason.
- Sue Ellen is taken to the police station wearing a black and white dress...so the cops let her change before they put her in the police car? She was wearing a tan dress when Detective Horton arrived at the ranch that evening.
- When Sue Ellen is booked, her fingerprints are taken. Now this may be standard procedure - but it makes me believe I was right yesterday in pointing out that her fingerprints probably weren't on file.
- The morning after Sue Ellen is booked, Cliff's having breakfast
and spots the news on the Dallas Press which is being read by someone else. Why hasn't he
already seen the news? Does he get the evening edition? If so, why did he have the morning
paper waiting for him as he arrived home the morning after JR was shot? Very odd.
- Sue Ellen tells Kyle Bennett that she doesn't have enough money in her own name
to post her bail. So how is it that fifty episodes or so from now, she will practically be
a millionaire in her own right? See Episode 101 for details.
- Why is Cliff allowed to see Sue Ellen in the private discussion room, unescorted? He says he's not coming on behalf of the DA's office and he is also a suspect in the case. The police would NEVER allow two suspects in a murder case to sit in a room and talk - what if they're accomplices and need time to get their stories straight?
- Sue Ellen has a really bad hair episode. When she's released from jail, her hair is straight and 'unglamorous'. Then she goes to Southfork and her hair is the same. Then she goes back to Dallas and heads to Cliff's place with the beautiful hairdo she usually has. [It's not impossible - I just wonder why Sue Ellen would go to a hairdresser before seeing Cliff. And just how much cash does she have? Enough for a cab ride to and from Southfork, and then a hairdo? Hmm.] Then the next day she meets Bobby outside Ewing Oil - grungy hair again! Then when she meets John Ross in the park, she has the nice hair again! Could it be the humidity? I doubt you could get such great hair with just a brush.
- Kristin appears to be making coffee for herself when Sue Ellen arrives. She drinks her own coffee? Courageous girl.
- A VERY interesting thing happened today. John Ross was eating grapes or something in this episode, and he was doing it with his left hand. We'll have to see if John Ross continues to be left-handed in future episodes.
- The flashback thing was great. I looked at Monday's tape to
compare the two flashbacks - in Kristin's flashback on Monday, Sue Ellen takes the drink
with her left hand and doesn't put the gun down on the liquor tray, then she walks back to
the door with the gun in her right hand. In today's flashback, Sue Ellen puts the gun in
her left hand and then takes the drink with her right hand. She walks back towards the
door with an empty right hand. Of course, we now know that Kristin was lying, so this
isn't really a nit - Sue Ellen should remember things differently.
Also, when we see the flashback of JR getting shot, suddenly the office is slightly better
lit than I recall. But of course, we're really seeing Sue Ellen's flashback of what
happened, and she wasn't there, so this is still possible. Did any of that make sense?
Yoti Kale pointed out: I was wondering if anyone but me noticed that from the time John Ross was born he was and up until episode 57 he was known as "Little John" suddenly in episode 58 the family is referring to him as "John Ross." And, while I'm at it isn't it customary procedure when you are arrested that they take all of your personal possessions from you (jewelry, money, shoelaces etc.)? So, why did Sue Ellen still have her belt on in the holding cell? You're right about John Ross. Usually they refer to him as 'the baby' or 'Little John'. I guess they figure since he's growing up so fast, he might as well learn his real name. It does occur to me, however, that his name IS John. Ross is his middle name, technically. As for Sue Ellen, I'm sure the police could see that Sue Ellen's belt was relatively important to maintaining the shape of her dress, but I think they probably would take it away in the real world.
- Semmens pointed out: Ok I just have to say something about yesterday's meeting in the park.
Supposedly Sue Ellen was so desperate to see and spend time with her precious baby boy.
Can someone tell me why it takes four adult women to deal with a child who can't even walk
yet ? Surely Miss Ellie didn't always have servants when her sons were little; I just
didn't understand why she and Pam had to haul Theresa or whoever it was along for a brief
outing to the park. Maybe it was in case little John Ross needed a diaper change.
To which Patrick responded: Clearly, the point of the scene was for Sue Ellen to have contact with
the two Ewing women, so we (the audience) can see where she stands in the Ewing household.
Both fellows are absolutely right.
How many Ewings does it take to change a diaper?
- Hugh Brown submitted the following: If Harve's law partner is a competent enough criminal trial lawyer to defend Sue Ellen for attempted murder, why didn't he defend Jock at the McKinney trial instead of the extraneous character Scotty Demarest? Speaking of bad attorneys, the actor who played the detective who investigated the JR shooting was the same guy who was Carter McKay's lawyer in the Johnny Dancer trial. Not only did he never solve the JR shooting, but he also got McKay convicted for a murder McKay didn't commit. I think this is explainable bcause Bobby says he personally got Kyle Bennett involved - he probably didn't want to talk to Harve because Harve's an old poopy pants who would have blathered to Jock and then Jock would have nixed the whole thing. Bobby probably figures he can trust Kyle. You're right about the other part though - but if it weren't for bad attorneys and stupid cops, we'd miss out on a lot of fun!
- Julie Hofius mentions that since Kristin put the gun in Sue Ellen's bedroom closet, her fingerprints should have been found on the gun since we didn't see her wearing gloves. AHN Pam mentions that since it's Sue Ellen's flashback she really doesn't KNOW whether or not Kristin was wearing gloves or not, so this is still possible.
AHN Todd's corner:
- When JR and the lawyer are eating lunch they order two drinks. JR has the usual bourbon and branch, and the lawyer orders a scotch on the rocks. The waitress brings the drinks to the table and fumbles on who had what drink. She must have realized that the order was messed up, because where I come from both bourbon whisky and scotch whisky are brownish. She brought one brown drink and one clear. I think she gave him some gin, in which case he would be quite pissed off.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Sue Ellen changes her clothes after she is out of jail... Did she buy new ones or was it an outfit she borrowed from Kirstin, whom she was staying with. She doesn't look to be the same size as Kristin but she might have had enough money to get something.
- Look carefully at the scene where Donna, Dave and Cliff talk. Donna's purse seems to disappear between takes....
- When Sue Ellen visits Kristin, Kristin has her hair back in barrettes. Watch as
they sit down and Sue Ellen says "Can I stay with you?" Sue Ellen
suddenly looks like someone moused the front of her hair and Kristin's locks suddenly are
down her front.
- When Bobby talks to the family about letting Sue Ellen see the baby, he seems to have a
huge clump of hair sticking up in the back of his head.
- Watch Sue Ellen's hair in the "dream". In footage taken from #54,
her hair is just above her shoulders. But in new footage (at the bar and at
Kristin's) her hair is about an inch longer. Sue Ellen's hair also seems to get redder as
the episode progresses.
- Sue Ellen and Kristin seem to carry empties. I wasn't too sure about Donna's-
there seem to be a bulge in the ones she has.
But look carefully as she and Dave leave Cliff at the political rally. Her purse changes
arms mid sentence.
- I found it weird that Sue Ellen and Kristin would be allowed to stay at the Ewing condo.
I mean, JR wanted Kristin out of the state weeks ago. Why would he permit her to
stay at the Ewing Condo?
AHN Pam's corner:
- John Ross got to leave his room again. He's been downstairs more with the
family in the last two episodes than during the entire last season. Yup. He's also gotten more sun than Christopher EVER did while in Pam's
care.
- Bobby said he could raise $100,000 himself for Sue Ellen's bail. PUHLEEZE!!!
Bobby's wealthy, he could write a check from his personal account for this much
money and he'd barely dent the interest. I know he didn't mean it literally, but he
could've phrased it a little bit better.
- Sue Ellen's attorney said that he came as soon as she called him. During the next
scene Bobby said he called him. So who persuaded him to come, Sue Ellen or Bobby?
He didn't even mention to Sue Ellen that he had talked to Bobby. Excellent nit.
- Bobby got the cushy parking spot outside of Ewing Oil. Mitch must have the parking
fairy looking after him as well. He got a cushy parking spot right outside of the
building where his class was being held. Actually, he was parked right behind Lucy.
- Why was J.R. sitting around the patio in his bathrobe in the middle of the afternoon?
It was after 1:00 because that's when Ellie and Pam met Sue Ellen.
- Doesn't a person arrested for a crime generally go to a bail hearing? Did we miss
it due to a TNN cut? Good call.
AHN Mike's corner:
- Sue Ellen's black and white outfit was fascinating for a number of reasons. It was quite
resilient as Sue Ellen went to jail and got out of jail in it and then spent that day and
part of the next in it without a wrinkle. After her first night in jail her hair is a
mess, a nice realistic touch. Also, a nice character foible by Linda Grey as SE attempts
to smooth her messed up hair when she realizes her visitor is Cliff.
- And why did Sue Ellen panic so much over spending a night in jail? Could it be because
there's no liquor cart in the cell? Something like
that.
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of me]
> Jock, after being told several times that Bobby is going to reopen Ewing 23: "You mean to tell me you're going to reopen Ewing 23?"
Pam Award: Connie looked really great in that dress towards the end.
Angelica Award: Sue Ellen's dress at the airport.
Bobby Award: Jim Redfield again.
April Award: Bobby for waiting so long to go to another bank for his loan.
- When Kristin puts on her dog and pony show at the beginning of this episode, the whole family is assembled at Southfork, except Pam and Bobby. Where are they? Bobby may be working, but where the heck is Pam?
- Okay, so it's confirmed that Kristin's the would-be killer. So I must go back to my point on Monday about Ewing Oil's door being locked after JR is shot. Sure, Kristin's worked at Ewing Oil as a secretary so she probably had a key...while she was employed. But she no longer is. Shouldn't she have had to turn over her key? Or did JR let her keep it, just like he let her stay in the condo? Frankly, if JR trusted Kristin enough to give her a key in the first place, then he's got no one to blame but himself for what happened.
- Bobby says that Jim Redfield is in town and staying at a hotel. When we cut to Jim Redfield in his 'hotel', it looks suspiciously like an office! He's got a big desk with papers strewn around, and a nice padded chair. Must be some hotel!
- Cliff asks Donna to grab a bite...of Mexican food? Zuh? Won't his regular Chinese takeout place feel disrespected?
- I find it interesting that Bobby has put his name on JR's office door. Yet he still says he only plans to run the company temporarily.
- Jock answers the Southfork phone by saying, "Jock Ewing here". Why? Normally he and everyone else answer by saying, "Hello", or "Southfork Ranch".
- When Pam comes down the stairs at the end of this episode, she's dressed in a very modest sweater and slacks. Poor Pam. Just when she's getting used to having dinner at Southfork every night, Bobby springs a surprise celebration on her. Bobby doesn't even give her a chance to go upstairs and put on a dress before whisking her away.
AHN Todd's corner:
- There was no mention of JR being able to get out of the wheelchair soon, he just stands up and starts walking. Pretty successful physical therapy. To which Dana Kepplewhite adds: Something has bothered me for sometime on this episode. JR was barely able to walk, yet he did in this episode and he was able to have sex with Sue Ellen. I work at a hospital and I know that people who have been temporarily paralyzed can't necessarily have sex right away. If they can't walk, they can't have sex. Trust me on this. I trust you and I heartily agree with your assessment. The miraculous recovery is a bit much.
AHN Jason's corner:
- It appears that only a few days have passed since #58. (Judging on Kristin still
being around, Elby's comment to Sue Ellen that a few weeks ago she wanted to shoot JR, Liz
waiting for Pam's reply) but JR is already walking. I have to wonder why JR didn't
get Kristin far far away as soon as he found out she was the shooter. I mean in the
course of three or four days she could have tried again or bailed out. I guess having the family hear the sob story is
necessary.
- I agree with Sue Ellen. JR seems to take Kristin's word that her baby is JR's.
Not a wise thing since he knows she shagged Rudy during their affair. And she
also bagged Jordan and possibly Andy (gag). In a few weeks, she will bop Kenny Ward
on Knots Landing too. It's kind of dumb on JR's
part but at this point he can't take the chance.
- Oh my.... Donna has what appears to be a non-empty purse. Must be a portable
shrine she has of Sam Culver.
- Watch while Lucy undresses.... She just unbuttons a top button then the whole blouse is
ready to peel off. It's a Bobby special!
- Looks like a new outer shot of Elby's office.
- This is kinda gross. Elby sits down on the desk and pours a glass of water and
chugs most of it. Sue Ellen (with nothing in her hands) walks over to him and in a
verbal match, grabs the glass and swallows the last bit of water. There was only one glass
on the desk as far as I can see and I did not hear the sound of another glass of water
being poured. Weird. Guess he really got to her.
- Did Wade Luce even speak today? Why bring him into the scene if he didn't even
have a line. Jordan and Andy could have done it. Also, since Marilee is the
"real" power behind her late husband and father's company why didn't Bobby
invite her to the Cartel meeting? I am sure she would love to discuss any offer
Bobby makes.
- I am rather surprised that Clayton Farlow's name is not mentioned during this whole
refinery saga... Isn't he the head of the largest group of refineries in Texas? But he doesn't exist yet. :)
- Not to bash Liz, but why is she always desperately recruiting Pam to work for her?
I mean Pam's work record leaves a bit to be desired and I can't believe the Store
is THAT short on quality help. Look at that dedicated Jackie Dugan...... Everything about The Store is just pure lame. And PLEASE
bash Liz.
AHN Mike's corner:
- That was a wonderful look of disgust on Sue Ellen's face as Kristen acted out her
story in the SF family room. Apparently the only one more disgusted than SE was the
porcelain dog who must have walked out mid-story because his usual spot was vacant.
- In this scene, the adoption lady's glasses suddenly materialize on Jock after
being absent for quite some time. And Miss Ellie owes Sue Ellen no apologies. While she
may not be a murderer as Ellie once thought, she is still a drunk, a tramp and an unfit
mother.
- Are those elephant tusks are the credenza behind Franklin Horner? They look too big, too
white and too straight to be steer horns, which is what you'd expect. They're probably supposed to be steer horns but I'm sure
you're right.
- Lucy finally got it right. There's nothing wrong with a med student doing some first
hand study of anatomy. I would have appreciated
this sort of gesture in med school. [Hell, I'd appreciate it NOW...]
- How does Connie dial Les Crowley's number by heart if Ewing Oil doesn't do business with
him before now? Excellent question. It's possible
that he's on Bobby's rolodex for other reasons.
AHN Pam's corner:
- Bobby asked Connie to make him a dinner reservation and Connie told him he promised
Pam he'd be home for dinner. Bobby must really be in the dog house with Pam if even
Connie knew he was supposed to be home for dinner. That's
a good angle on it.
- Lucy tried to cook Mitch dinner, what a laugh. I would assume any wine taken from
Southfork would be a good bottle. But I hope Mitch's apartment doesn't burn down
while they're out having their cheeseburgers, neither of them blew out the candle before
they left.
- Bobby and Pam bought a new picture for over their bed. Last season there were
three small ugly pictures. Now there's just one really big ugly picture.
- Bobby and I would assume Pam thought they were Ewing grandchildren at the breakfast
table, they left nearly full plates of food.
- Liz, the trailertrash, must really be a drinker!! She drank straight scotch in the
middle of the afternoon!!!
- Sue Ellen wore a blouse from the Bobby Collection during her visit with Dr. Elby.
It was unbuttoned very low, maybe she wanted to give the good doctor a little sneaky-peak.
- John Ross was out of the nursery again today while J.R. was on the phone.
- Lucy was reading a magazine while Mitch was studying. She's in college too,
so why wasn't she studying too? I guess now that she's not shagging her professor
anymore, she doesn't care about good grades. I
guess she figures she's got that A in literature all wrapped up.
Episode 60: The Venezuelan Connection
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of everybody]
> Mackey: I have some good news for you.
> Pam: Is it about my mama?
Insert your own joke here.
Pam Award: The pool party was nice, but I'd have to vote for Connie in the blue dress. Mitch would have probably been considered except that AHN Pam points out that he was wearing tube socks.
Angelica Award: Ugh. Louella's butt-ugly dress when Jock comes to the office.
Bobby Award: Since Sally is so resourceful, maybe Mr. Eugene should ask her to get him a hairbrush next time she heads to the drugstore.
April Award: Bobby for telling JR all about the deal with the Bullocks.
- There must have been a huge sale on print dresses. The wardrobe guys stocked up for the opening scenes. Sue Ellen, Pam, and Connie all have them, and they even found an ugly purple one for Louella.
- Hey, it's Punk Anderson! Finally! Jock tells him that they haven't seen each other for a long time. Several times in both the first and second seasons, Jock mentions that he plans to go over to Punk's office or to Punk's house. Also, I distinctly remember Ellie and others mentioning that Jock's gone to see Punk, several times. The last of them was the night JR got shot. Remember? Ellie said that Jock was over at Punk's place. How long is 'a long time'?
- Speaking of DA MAN, he's finally dumped the DA CHAIN in favor of the DA MEDALLION of the golden lion. On a sad side note, he seems to be developing DA GUT.
- Larry Hagman may be a great actor, but he sure doesn't know how to walk with a limp.
- The sun at Southfork is weird. At the beginning of the episode, Bobby's tie appears to be a solid light color. When he arrives at the office that day, it's a darkish tie with a bit of a patterned look. It's hard to tell for sure whether they are actually different ties, though.
- When John Mackey calls Southfork to tell Pam he found a lead about her mother, he asks for Mrs. Ewing. It's possible that he recognizes Pam's voice, but Pam makes no indication that she recognizes his voice. Shouldn't Pam ask which Mrs. Ewing the person would like to speak to? There are three of them in the house.
- Bobby's conversation with the Bullocks is interesting. First of all, there's a new Sally Bullock who's actually worth a second look. But she's still got the same old annoying habit of invading someone's personal space while talking to them. The real nit here is the pathetic amount of cabbageing that is done because we the audience are obviously way too dumb to understand the intricacies of the oil bidness. "I just bought a refinery which is operating at half its capacity." "Oh. Then you need more oil to refine at your refinery...which you just bought." "That is correct. I would like to buy the oil from you." "Oh, so that is why you invited us to your office?" "Yes." "Okay. So we will sell you some of our oil. Should we send it to you in our tanker?" "Oh, yes, please, since I do not own a tanker." Sheesh.
- When Jock and Ray meet Punk and his friend at the auction, they stand up, shake hands, and start talking. Wait a minute...the auction is still going on! Shouldn't the people in the row behind them tell them to sit down and shut up, or at least get the hell of the way so they can see what's going on? Like I said before, must be nice being a Ewing.
- When the Ewings head into dinner after Lucy's interlude, none of the women appear "dressed" for it.
- Why did Lucy go ALL THE WAY to Mitch's place to invite him to the barbecue and then leave, when she could have just called him on the phone? Did she think that Mitch would think she wasn't serious about it if she didn't extend the invitation in person? Lame.
- Speaking of Mitch's apartment...I have to call a time out here. I was a second year medical student once. I know exactly how it is. And I know that there is no way that any male second year medical student has a whole bunch of PLANTS around his apartment, not to mention arts and crafts on the wall. For the record: while in med school, the only things adorning my room were my books, my TV, pictures of my family, a poster of Nolan Ryan [my sports hero forever], and the biggest poster of Cindy Crawford I could find.
- The guy at the bar who asks about Jock and Ray talks as if finding them was pure coincidence. As we will see tomorrow, he's come to Dallas from quite a ways - it's hard to believe that he didn't come with the specific intention of finding them.
- Janine Turner has a ridiculous amount of eye shadow or mascara when she's frolicking in the pool. Why? Wouldn't that turn the water purple in a hurry?
AHN Jason's corner:
- Pam drives with a Ewing 5 plate today. So what about Lucy's car? It had it last
time. You'd think the prop guys would get this right. I thought I noticed that too. I think that since they both have
Porsches now, they'll be fairly interchangeable.
- It sounds like Jackie over the intercom at Pam's office but I didn't see her name in the
end credits. It was definitely Jackie. She must
have been dubbed.
- I found it kinda strange that the Bullocks and Bobby didn't worry about paperwork on an
$18 million deal. I would. Shhh...
- What the heck is that old coot Jock's problem? He asks Bobby to run the family
"bidness" while JR is laid up, then starts to whine about "the way" he
runs it. Excuse me, but you seemed to turn the other cheek on MANY occasions when JR
pulled all kinds of dirty tricks to profit Ewing Oil. (Can anyone say Asian fields?
mortgage of Southfork? Seth and the Cartel? I thought so..) And Bobby is
being honest and upfront about his dealings. What kind of a business man does Jock want
running Ewing Oil? So much for honor and all that crap he crams down people's
throats. Cards on the table, I bet he would rather see Ewing Oil screw over his
friends (like the Cartel boys) than to sell off some precious Ewing assets... Nice value
system Jock. Watch out Punk! I think that
Jock is not wholly to blame here. JR is a master manipulator. I think JR probably did just
enough [for the most part] to convince Jock that he was still an important part of Ewing
Oil. And it worked until Jock saw Bobby in action for himself.
- JR goes upstairs to get dressed for dinner with Sue Ellen in broad daylight. It
must have taken him a LONG time to wash and dry his toupee because in the next scene it is
totally dark outside.
- Mitch doesn't seem to lock the door to his apartment. Maybe
it locks itself.
- I found it kinda funny that Ellie talks about how sorry she would be if Bobby left, then
when Jock says, "What about JR?" she sort of looks blank, like it
wouldn't be a big deal.
- It is supposed to be the next day from #59 but Pam is already heading back to work.
Didn't she tell Liz in #59 that she needed to think about it some more? Maybe
time went by faster than I realized. I guess it
did.
- Pam wears THAT dress again. Must be her favorite. And she carried an empty purse at the
beginning of the episode. I think it was empty at
the end too.
- Here's a thought. Pam is a tad obsessed with her parents' background right?
So why doesn't she check out Hutch's side for relatives? Probably because she has no lead on him
- plus Hutch is definitely dead and it would tough to find out information about him. I
sort of see your point.
AHN Alett's corner:
- What's with this eating breakfast on the far side of the pool? I wouldn't think
they'd want to eat in the sun. Even Bobby is sweating through his dress shirt before
he has to go to the office.
- There seems to be only one reason for the long shot of watching Pam get into her Porsche
and drive away - product placement. Frankly, as red-blooded Texans, the Ewings drive
way too many foreign cars.
- It's not too obvious, but there is a boom shadow behind JR when he first goes into
Bobby's office.
- Jock tells Lucy to ask her grandma about the BBQ. Then Lucy proceeds to ask Jock
again, and again he tells her to ask her grandma. She's
not too bright.
- I have a theory about Jock and those monster glasses. When he's sitting with Ellie
on the sofa, he seems to be reading his lines. Glasses = Jim Davis is screwing up
his lines. Get out the cue cards. That's a
very interesting theory and I'll wager it's quite right.
- JR is really a fast healer. In the pool he has no wounds at all, not even a trace
of a scar.
AHN Pam's corner:
- When Bobby picked up the phone to ask Connie what they had to celebrate with, he just
picked up the phone and started talking. He didn't push a button to buzz her.
Does he have some sort of strange phone system that the second he picks it up Connie is on
the other end?
- Bobby's got a great car too. When he was leaving after his argument with Jock, he
got in and started the car immediately. Maybe the key was already in the ignition,
ala Ewing style, but I didn't even hear the engine turn over.
- The porcelain dog is back from his walk and at a different spot in the room.
Usually he's by the wing back chair, today the top of his head was visible next to
the fireplace when Sue Ellen moved away.
- There's a great use of symbolism today with Bobby's hat rack. When J.R. walked in
Bobby's office, Bobby's hard hat was on the second hook. J.R. placed his hat on the
top hook, symbolizing that he will ALWAYS be on top and over Bobby... somehow. Again, I missed that. Great call.
- Bobby told Pam that he didn't want to worry about her because he had too much on his
mind running Ewing Oil. This is very un-Bobby-like, not very sensitive at all.
But I have to say, it's nice to see Pam get a dose of her own medicine after last
season's avoidance technique. Yup. But then again,
Bobby is really saying that "Pam, I want to help you with what you're doing...just
take it slow so I can be a part of it." Pam wants his undivided attention.
- Poor Muriel, snubbed again by Lucy. Lucy came bouncing in to the living room
saying she had just come from Muriel's and asked if she could have a barbecue, then poor
Muriel was a no show. I wonder if Lucy mentioned this at her house. If so,
she's a pretty rude friend to mention it and then not invite her. It's either that or see Muriel in a thong. I'll pass. You're right
that it is odd - why couldn't she have been at Beth's or Susan's or Paula's?
- Pam seems to be a much more conscientious employee than in the past. While Lucy
was having her BBQ, on Saturday afternoon, Pam was in the office working. Not that
it's wrong, I mean, she was meeting Cliff there to go to lunch, why they couldn't meet at
the restaurant is beyond me, but whatever. It just struck me funny that Pam could
manage to find her way to the office on Saturday, but not during regular business hours. Being a buyer SHOULD mean that you work odd hours, but I
see your point.
- It was convenient that Pam answered the phone when Mr. Mackey called to tell her he had
a lead on her mother. But I thought it was funny when she looked around the corner
at the bottom of stairs, I guess to see if anyone else was going to answer the phone.
Who would do that? Theresa? Raoul? I doubt it.
- I guess it's fashionable for rich snobby chicks to wear high heels around the pool.
I noticed at least three pairs.
AHN Mike's corner:
- Not only is this a new Sally but it's an accomplished actress - Joanna Cassidy. I
suspect one of the reasons she invaded Bobby's space was she was interested by the idea of
doing both Ewing boys. Sally doesn't need a contract, she has a more unique way of closing
a deal. Don't you just love the way Mr. Eugene sits back and enjoys releasing this little
pet cobra and watching her do her stuff? Eugene
definitely has an interesting way of conducting business. Sally should know better than to
try and entice the Bob-man, though.
- Lucy's stupidity is rampant thoughout this episode. Not a real good idea to invite your
boyfriend to meet your girlfriends who look like Playboy centerfolds in their skimpy
bikinis while you're looking right chubby in that unflattering one piece. Both Sue Ellen
and Lucy dipped into Pam's collection of boring one-piece swimsuits today. I didn't want to belabor the point, because I'm often
accused of Lucy-bashing, but she's a porker.
- I assumed the reason Mitch wore knee-length white socks and sneakers to the barbarcue
was he knew there was a hoop and backboard in the Ewing driveway and he got game. And why
did he let the valet park his car - professional courtesy? I think so. It's nice when the shoe is on the other foot. My aunt and
uncle are caterers and don't often get invited to parties because people are afraid that
they won't be impressed with the food. But they appreciate any invitations they get -
especially when they don't have to cook!
- What was up with that delivery truck that came up the driveway at SF and parked behind
Bobby and Pam while they were talking? We never found out. I tried to see where it was from, but couldn't.
- I'm also surprised that nobody noticed that Jock calls Louella "Betsy" when
she greets him in the Ewing oil offices. I had to replay that to make sure I heard it
right.
- Mitch's hair is decidedly blonde on top and brown on the sides.
- Observation: this episode must have set an all-time record for people pouring and having
drinks with one another. Every scene seemed to have somebody pouring and drinking. Jock
seems to be turning into a real boozer. He isn't five seconds out of his car and JR is
handing him a drink and he's drooling like a junkie needing a fix. On the couch with
Ellie, drinks in hand, he looks decidedly plastered. I've mentioned in the past that
Ewings do way too much drinking at all hours of the day and at the drop of a hat. Maybe that's why he called Louella Betsy.
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]
> Amos whips out Margaret's diary. Jock : "Is
my name in there?"
(Ah, yeah. The guy's trying to blackmail you.)
Pam Award: Connie in that white dress slit up to her cha-cha.
Angelica Award: Jason mentioned Jock's sports coat. Not much to choose from here.
Bobby Award: I think Amos deserves it for his pathetic attempt at the Jennifer Aniston flip. Mort Wilkinson deserves mention too.
April Award: Bobby for trusting Sally about the insurance arrangements.
- Susan Howard is listed as a guest star as the episode begins, yet she is not seen in this episode.
- There's a younger Raoul and the long-haired Theresa hanging around the house today. I was almost certain that this episode was filmed earlier than it was aired, possibly even last season - but then I noticed that Jock is wearing his medallion, which means that that is probably not the case.
- Val pointed out to me some time ago that the front door of Ray's house seems to be a sliding door, which many of us have as our back doors. The reason is that most of these doors are only lockable from the inside. But today, when Ray leaves his house, he seems to make some motion to lock the door from the outside. At least, there IS a clicking sound. Must be a specially made door.
- Speaking of Val: there are some blessings to NOT having cable. At least that way you're spared the sight of Steve Kanaly shirtless.
- When we first see her, Connie is still wearing the blue dress she had on at the end of yesterday's episode, even though it's clearly the next day.
- Brady York arrives at Ewing Oil when Connie is in Bobby's office and says that there was no one at reception. Why is Louella not in this episode...not even unseen at her desk? Was there a need to cut costs? At first I thought there might be some budgetary reasons, but no one appears in this episode who wasn't around yesterday, so that's really odd.
- Brady York tells Bobby that he hasn't dealt much with the Ewings over the years but he also claims that he and Jock go back a long way. How is this possible? I find it hard to believe that Jock would have a friend who was in the gasoline business but never cut a deal with him.
- Convenient that neither the new Raoul nor Crystal Gayle-Theresa answer the phone when Sally calls for JR, despite the fact that it rang about seven times.
- During the nits and commentary for the first season, I didn't mention anything about Ray and Lucy's incestuous relationship, because I didn't want to spoil the storyline for anyone who didn't know by saying that Ray is actually a Ewing. But at this point, I would have loved to have seen Lucy run upstairs, screaming, and lock herself in the shower for a few days after learning that she had spent a significant part of her life having sex with her half-uncle!
- The driveway at Southfork seems to be on a string. Yesterday, when Pam drove her Porsche out to head to work, it took her about five seconds to get to the main gate. Today, as we see Jock pulling out, it seems much, much longer. Very odd.
- Instead of trying to discredit Bobby's business sense and ruin Ewing Oil in the process, why doesn't JR just point out that Bobby can't count? You know what I'm talking about. Twice Bobby has way too much fun with rotary phones in this episode. The first is when he calls Steve Taylor from the tank farm - he dials five, perhaps six numbers before immediately starting his conversation. Then, to top it off, from Sally's room he calls Connie at the office, dialing at most three numbers! I can just see JR now: "Daddy, Mama, I have some very disturbing news to tell you. That college education you provided for Bobby...it just didn't help. The boy just does not know how to count! Now, I tell you, if I were you, Daddy, I'd think twice before I handed over my company, that I worked my whole life to build, to someone who can't count to seven. What do you think?"
- Okay, here's today's obligatory shot at Pam: boy, that woman sure is "a fighter", isn't she? Exhorting her husband to leave Ewing Oil when the chips are down?
- Not a nit, just an observation: don't Eugene and Sally Bullock make JR and Sue Ellen seem like Ward and June Cleaver? What is up with those two?
- These insurance adjustors are real weasels. First they tell Bobby that they have questions about whether the value put on the oil was accurate; then they say the cargo wasn't insured; then they say there may not have been any oil at all on the tanker. I can understand that the writers want to try to establish a mysterious attitude about what happened, but this is totally egregious.
- Just to show that there are no small nits: when Amos starts to follow Jock, he doesn't make a complete stop at the intersection, despite the fact that there is a clearly posted stop sign. [Pick, pick, pick...]
- When showing Margaret's diary to Jock, Amos turns to the date of October 19th, Ray's birthday. The page he reads from is very close to the end of the diary...too close, in fact. Most diaries and planners have sections at the end with maps and room for phone numbers and what not. It's possible that Margaret's diary could have those at the beginning, but it seems odd.
- Mr. JREwing pointed out: Today Amos Krebbs read Ray's mom's diary which states Ray's birthday as Oct 19, 1945. When Jock gave Ray that land in Season 1 it was to celebrate his 20 years of being at Southfork. That was in 1978, which means he came to Southfork in 1958. Ray said today that he came when he was 15, which means he should have been born in 1943. Yet again, I guess the writers just thought no one would ever notice.
From Bill Withrow: Do we know how far it is from Southfork to the Ewing Oil offices? I ask you that because Amos Krebbs was able to follow Jock for that entire distance without causing Jock any undue concern. After having been through two kidnapping ordeals, I would have thought that Jock would have seen this as a reason for worry. Braddock must be about a half hour or so from Dallas - that's the impression I get. This is quite a good point.
AHN Todd's corner:
- Amos Krebbs pretends to have a flat tire right at the end of Ray's driveway. Ray drives by and doesn't stop. Ray is usually the type of guy to stop and help out a stranger. Yes, but that would have made it a really short episode. Maybe if Amos was a short blonde psycho.
-When Amos goes to talk to Ray at his house he lights a match on the bricks. It was pretty windy; you could see everything blowing in the wind. As he lit the match and pulled it away it went out: as he first puffed on his cigarette, no smoke came out. Then as the camera returns to Amos, the smoke is lit. Ray must have lit it with his fiery temper.
- Pam was up late reading, waiting for Bobby. She implies that she is almost done the book, she had to find out if someone got married. I think that she was only on page 5 or 6, nothing too stressful for Pam. It's getting very hard to say nice things about Pam that don't have to do with her body or her clothes.
AHN Val's corner:
- There is one scene where Bobby goes over to Sally's house. Do you recognize the inside of that house? It's a recycled set. It's the living room of Abby Cunningham's cul-de-sac house on Knots Landing.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Watch closely as the show returns after the 2nd commercial break. Jock's briefcase
disappears between breaks as he tries to leave the cafe.
- Just a note.. Jock looked less fat today. Yes
he did. Another reason why I thought this episode was from much earlier.
- What the heck did "Mr." Eugene mean by the comment, "I want to keep
her". Does he really think Bobby would trade in his wife for Sally? I don't really know. The only thing I can think of is
that Eugene figured that Bobby might want to prosecute Sally and send her to jail or
something and what Eugene wants is for Bobby to just shake her up a little.
- I got a good kick out of Jock's comment to Ray. "I never realized before that
you were my son." Of course not, it hadn't been written yet!
- Was it just me, or did Steve Kanaly look like he was constipated or something when he
and Jock had their heart to heart. He looked almost like he was about to burst out
laughing.
AHN Alett's corner:
- It's a nice helicopter scene, but is it really necessary for Bobby to fly down to the
tank farm when he could find out the same info. on the phone? Nope. But then it wouldn't be the same when he yells at the boss.
- The photo Mr. Eugene has of Sally is a still taken from yesterday's show.
- That oiling of JR by the pool was rather risque considering how far down Sue Ellen's
hand moved. Sue Ellen seems to operate in only two modes - Madonna or whore. I don't get Linda Gray at all. She's wearing a
paper dress
that looks ready to fly off at a minute, and getting REAL cozy with Larry.
AHN Mike's corner:
- This is two episodes in a row with JR in a bathing suit. Larry H. is looking fairly
slim but I suspect he starts to gain weight soon and we don't see him in a bathing suit
again.
- Contrast this tanker sinking with the one from the latter seasons. Have you heard one
person or comment expressing concern of leaking oil into the Gulf or the environmental
risks? I haven't. Surely this was filmed BEFORE the Exxon Valdez heightened environmental
concerns. Oh, yeah. Although in fairness, there
wasn't any talk of the oil spilling - just the tanker crashing. I suppose it is possible
that a tanker could crash without spilling oil, but I suppose that's unlikely.
- The Angelica to Jock's ugly sport coat, though we've seen it before. I had to laugh when
Jock had to consult his watch before deciding to talk to Amos. Like he's got anything
important to do? Maybe meet with the Takapa bunch.
Who knows?
- And who was that mafioso sitting behind Amos in the cafe wearing a black shirt with
white tie? It looked like a bald Johnny Dancer.
- My wife points out exactly how clueless Jock was about Ray. Of his four sons, Ray is the
only one who bears any resemblence at all to Jock.
- Why is Mr. Eugene in the office when he has constantly told JR and Bobby that Sally is
running the business and he's stepped down? And I see he's dipped into the Punk Anderson
garish jeweled string tie collection. Probably for
the same reason that Jock still has an office at Ewing Oil.
- This episode is full of Steve Kanaly's worst acting tic: delivering any lines that
require emotion though a set of clenched teeth. Oh,
yeah. We've seen so little of him until now that I nearly forgot about that.
AHN Pam's corner:
- J.R. was wearing a hat in the pool? That was strange even for him.
- Sue Ellen has become subservient to J.R. When the phone rang he asked her to get
it for him, she didn't just answer the phone, she picked it up, brought it to him and then
started rubbing oil on him again and let him answer it. I was waiting for her to
start peeling grapes and feeding them to him while calling him "Master". All she
needs now is a pair of pink pants and bikini top with a short red jacket and her Jeannie
act would be complete. Maybe presaging Barbara
Eden. I'll have comments in the "I think" this week.
- The coffee cups that Jock and Amos used at the coffee shop were rather odd. Coffee
cups like this, that appear to be on a 'pedestal' for lack of a better word, are generally
used for Irish coffee. Besides, this a coffee shop, any coffee shop I've ever been
to uses the standard cup and saucer. This is possible, just kind of strange.
- In reference to Margaret's diary. Amos said that it was of course for sale. Jock
went ahead and told Ray and the family that he in fact was Ray's father. I would
assume he did this so as to avoid giving in to Amos's blackmail. Horray for Jock!!
But the thing I found strange was that Amos NEVER contacted Jock again. Jock didn't
mention during their meeting that he had ANY intention of telling Ray, not to mention the
family, that he was Ray's father. So I would think Amos would've contacted Jock
again trying to get a payoff from him, any good blackmailer would do this, otherwise there
was no reason for telling Jock in the first place. Besides, I would've enjoyed a
scene where DA-MAN lays the Smackdown on that sleaze ball Amos. Yes, I see your point. Perhaps this scene was cut but I can't imagine
why.
- I think this may have been from episode 61, but it's worth mentioning today. The porcelain dog was out for a walk during the first scene in the living room, but he was back in his usual spot by the wing back chair for the second scene in the living room.
- Bobby used his extra-special phone system again today. He picked up the phone to get Connie and again doesn't need to push a button or anything, Connie was immediately on the line.
Episode 62: Trouble at Ewing 23
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]
> Bobby: "Bombs? There's more than one?"
Pam Award: Donna at Cliff's place.
Angelica Award: Louella's purple dress resurfaces.
Bobby Award: Gillis, I guess.
April Award: Pam for being a loudmouth and then complaining about herself.
- Bobby still is having a lot of trouble with these telephone thingamajigs. When he calls Connie from the oil field, he dials five numbers on the rotary phone. He should take a cue from Ray, who skillfully dials '0' to reach the operator.
- What is up with Ray's mailbox? It looks like he used a key or something to etch "RKREBBS" into it. Since he was already at the hardware store, couldn't he have picked up some stick-on letters? Or were they out of K's that day?
- Ray is really confused today. He tells Donna that he was about to head out to pick up Bobby, but a few minutes later, Bobby drives up to Ray's house. Was he just trying to get rid of Donna or does he find her so sexy that she makes him lose contact with reality?
- Apparently, being near Donna DOES make Ray lose touch with reality. Ray tells Bobby he's been around the Ewing family for over fifteen years. As was pointed out yesterday, two years ago Jock said that Ray had been around the ranch for twenty years. Technically, Ray is right, buy why wouldn't he say that he's been around for over twenty years? This is something Ray would be awfully proud of.
- I'm really straining to understand why Bobby is so insistent on getting the secretaries to find Jock once he learns of the mad bomber's threats. The only thing I can think of is that Jock might be able to get in touch with someone who can get the money together quickly. But then Bobby waits until Jock is confirmed to be incommunicado before he decides to go ahead and call Les Crowley himself. Why didn't you call Les right after you called the office, Bobby? I know that there's no 10-10-321 in your time period, but I think it's worth the long distance charges. This is really close to being classic plot trickery. The real reason for this, of course, is so that JR can come to the office, find out about what's happened and formulate a plan of his own to make Bobby look bad. But that could have happened anyway - I just don't see why they had to bring the search for Jock into it. [Hey, that's neat... Dallas III: The Search for Jock, just like Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.]
- I'll need confirmation on this last one. After noticing that the county sheriff's
police car had "Dawson" on it, I took out my atlas. Sure enough, there is a
Dawson County in west Texas, near New Mexico, and the county seat is indeed called Lamesa.
And it's about two hundred and fifty miles away from Dallas. JR leaves the office at about
3:15, and gets to Lamesa just before 4 PM. He obviously needed a little bit of time to get
to the Ewing jet - maybe five minutes, if it was nearby. So the jet was able to travel at
about 400 miles per hour? I'm just curious if a jet like that should be able to achieve
such a speed. If anyone has any first-hand knowledge, please let me know.
Joaquin Bolivar was kind enough to let us know
that the plane JR was flying was a Lear 35, which is capable of achieving a speed of 425
mph. That makes this scenario amazingly accurate!
From Kent Westmoreland: Not really a nit. Donna tells Ray that Cliff is "easy to be with". I don't think anyone else associated with Cliff during the entire run of the series would make such an outrageous statement. I know he's playing Donna but still being easy to get along with is not in Cliff's nature.
From Rob Trimble:
- Maybe I yawned and missed it, but when the workers were sent out to look for bombs, no
one reported anything back. Someone should have seen at least some of them taped to the
derricks. It seemed rather obvious when the camera
focused on them, but maybe Gillis was able to camouflage them.
- And how did Gillis get to all those derricks and hang around Ewing 23 without ANY of his
former co-workers noticing and reporting him ? It took a lot of time and effort to
carry all those bombs to all those derricks.
- And when the plane lands and Gillis moves towards it, the door opens and two uniforms
come out with visible weapons and J.R. behind them. Gillis is still quite a ways from the
plane. They should have waited inside till he was closer so there shooting was more
accurate and they could have then rushed him. They just shot him, stood there, and let him
lay on the ground so he could push the button. I woulda kept shooting till Gillis
quit moving.
AHN Todd mentioned: One that I have had since yesterday that continued to today was the Ewing fleet of tankers and helicopters. Whenever you see a tanker go by on the street it usually has a slick paintjob and a huge decal on the side with the company name on it. Yesterday we saw the "EWING OIL" round sticker on the side of one of their tankers, that is the only marking on the truck. The rest of the tank is just a bland silver, same as any other truck. Today we saw Ray flying the chopper. The helicopter had the exact same sticker on the side, with no other recognizable markings. Must be to save costs. I think you're exactly right.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Look at Donna and her hair when she talks to Ray about Cliff. When she says the line,
"It's about Cliff Barnes." you can see her hair is much closer to her eyes than
in the more distant shot. I thought so. She looked
quite different in the close-ups.
- JR drills Louella about someone using his office. Is this leading up to a plot or
just small talk? It's leading somewhere kind of
disgusting.
- Why are there so many lines into Ewing Oil? How many times do they need 7 or 8
lines? Whenever there's a crisis and they need to
track Jock down.
- I liked it how antsy JR tells cool and collected Connie to calm down. I was half
hoping that she would pull a Phyllis and tell him off.
- It lost me why the cops gave Bobby the drunk's bottle at the trailer park. Did they? I missed that.
AHN Alett's corner:
- On the phone JR says, "Have you found the bombs"? No one told him
there was more than one bomb.
- Da da da da, DAAAAAAAAA. That hokey music used with the bomb threat made me think
Dracula or the Mummy would leap out. It was
pathetic.
- Hey, the white dog is back with a new litter. There are twin puppies in the
bookcase.
- Jock. Dorky glasses. He's reading off of cue cards again.
- Great police work again. Dukes could have been faking being drunk.
- Oddly no bullet holes or blood appear on Gillis when he's shot. In Texas, they must use the kind of bullets that kill you without going
through you.
- I guess we're spoiled by modern special effects because that fire is so fake looking.
AHN Pam's corner:
- Sue Ellen was wearing high heels AND panty hose while lying out in the sun.
Besides the fact that it's completely ridiculous, she'll have some nasty tan lines. I totally missed that.
- Pam carried the empty purse over to Cliff's apartment.
- Cliff and Pam went for Mexican food today. Cliff's favorite Chinese restaurants must be
going broke by now he's been dining on Mexican food quite a lot lately.
AHN Mike's corner:
- Jock and Miss Ellie drinking iced tea instead of bourbon? Must be Long Island Iced
Tea which has alcohol as a main ingredient.
- Ray's insecurity never recovered from his breakup with Donna and today he gets the below
the belt shot from Donna finding out she has taken up with the biggest loser of all-time
(Cliff) who apparently IS good enough for Donna. But
not for long. That really has to suck for Ray. I am going to make a statement in the
"I think" about Donna which shocks even me.
- Those Ewings sure know how to watch out for their employees. Any other business with a
real bomb threat woudl evacuate the work area for the employees' safety. Bobby sends them
out to look for the bombs!! If those roughnecks don't have a union, this is a real good
reason to start one!
- And how does the local yokel Dawson policeman know enough about bombs to analyze a
minuscule piece of shrapnel and tell Bobby what a sophisticated device Gillis is using? They must get a lot of trailer park trash laying bombs
around. But this is a good point given that someone says they don't have a bomb squad.
- Frankly, this episode was a big disappointment because I thought JR somehow had a hand
in the bomb threat as a way of discrediting Bobby with Jock. That might have been neat but kind of out of character for JR - he'd
never do something like this which would REALLY hurt Ewing Oil. But I see your point - if
he had, it would have signaled the beginning of a much more evil, darker JR. Ruthless to a
T.
Episode 63: The Prodigal Mother
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]
> Mackey: "I believe I have some news
[mmmkay]."
> Pam: "You've found something?"
Pam Award: Donna at the fundraiser.
Angelica Award: Pam's wardrobe in the show's first half was rather awful. Lucy's suspenders and her cowgirl boots were bad too.
Bobby Award: A toss-up between Lucy's ponytails and Pam's too-long hair.
April Award: Bobby for continuing to talk about his plans for Ewing Oil to JR.
- I wouldn't have caught this without keeping track of trivia. I noticed that the cab that Pam took to go to Rebecca's house looked familiar - in fact, it belongs to Capitol Cab! The phone number of the cab company, displayed on the side of the cab, started with 555-93, which is exactly as the same phone number on the cab that Sue Ellen took when she was bailed out of jail in Episode 58. So Capitol Cab has a franchise in Houston, as well as Dallas - and they have the same phone number? Very odd.
- Lucy is wearing a Bobby special shirt when talking to Mitch at school. I'd say that to avoid getting arrested for indecent exposure, she might want to do up one more button.
- Just a note: Rebecca says she never divorced Digger, and there's no evidence that Digger initiated divorce proceedings himself. Technically, this does make her a bigamist. As Terri Thomas confirmed for us in Episode 43, once you're married, you continue to remain married until a judge says you are not. Not that anything becomes of this, it's just an interesting point.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Empty purse meter- Pam at Rebecca's place.
- Jordan Lee seems awfully understanding and willing to work with Bobby on this deal.
I don't know if I would under the same circumstances. And he really badly
cabbages the Asian deal and Refinery plot.
- So where is Dave Culver's wife? I know that she hates these political things but I
am surprised she didn't show up to support her hubby. I
thought it was that woman beside him. Maybe it was supposed to be but that sure ain't the
one from last season.
- Pam leaves the Store with two friends. I am surprised that they didn't use this as
a Jackie plug. She has been popping up a lot lately. I
guess Sherril was elsewhere today.
AHN Alett's corner:
- Bobby's sensitivity level is at an all-time low, but Jock's is worse. He spouts
out, 'What the Hell would I have to talk about with a parking lot attendant?' with Mitch
clearly within ear shot. There's no reason for Lucy to not have already told everyone he's
studying medicine. It doesn't make sense that only Ellie knows. It's just a
phony set up to show what a gulf there is between them. And Mitch's whining that
he'll never have power or money rings false too. Unless he's planning on working for
free in a third-world country, he'll have money, power, and respect as a doctor. Well, doctors don't have much power. The other two are
quite prevalent.
- The last time we saw Rebecca was in the flashback with Pam (looking like an American
Indian) playing her. It seems Rebecca has not only changed her name but her eye color as
well.
AHN Mike's corner:
- Jock is seen stirring his drink with his finger. Meanwhile Mitch isn't going to fit in with the hard-drinking Ewings daily happy hour sitting around nursing a coke.
- This is the second episode in a row where the ever non-confrontational Miss Ellie
breaks up a family row at happy hour by announcing "I think it's time for
dinner." Ellie's counseling skills are right up there with Dr. Elby.
- No horses in front of SF meter: two. But immediately after one of these shots, the
horses are suddenly visible when Jock and Lucy are outside at the pool.
- If that's The Cattleman's Club Jock and the boy's are eating at, why is there an oil rig
centerpiece in the center of the table? Seems like that would be more appropriate for the
Oil Barons' Club. But the Oil Barons' doesn't exist
yet.
- Rebecca Wentworth has one of those ugly, ostentatious AT&T Design Line telephones we
placed on Dallas in those years. Your fault again,
huh? [Kidding.]
- Once again Lucy swears to Ray that she won't let Mitch slip through her fingers. Then,
as if Ray wasn't already devastated by the fact Donna had taken up with the world's
biggest loser, Lucy low blow's him while he's down by saying "I won't botch up my
life, Ray, like you botched up yours." If this is the way Lucy treats her
"friends", is it any wonder nobody likes her? It's
no wonder to me.
- Dave Culver was slightly wrong. Miss Ellie doesn't exactly look like "a million
dollars". More accurately, she looks like a million dollars stuffed into a sack dress.
- Not only is Lucy popping out of her blouse when she's on the SMU lawn with Mitch but
they appear to be wearing matching shirts. I have no clue as to what these two see in one
another other than sex. Mitch wants to constantly break off and Lucy is willing to
humiliate herself to any degree to keep him. It's
the perfect co-dependence, I guess.
AHN Pam's corner:
- Pam's hair was playing tricks of it's own today. During the scene where she and Bobby
were in their bedroom and she was packing, her hair looked very overgrown. By the
time she got to Houston she looked like she had a trim on the airplane. But, when
she returned to Dallas and had her chat with Rebecca, her hair was very overgrown again.
- Pam took quite an extensive wardrobe to Houston. She had three different outfits, the
leopard dress, the ivory dress and the red outfit, and two purses, the tan one and the
black one. No wonder Bobby doesn't take her anywhere - he probably knows how much
luggage she'd take along.
- Empty purses galore! Pam snagged her ever present tan purse back from Sue Ellen so she
could take it to Rebecca's. Sue Ellen carried an empty white one to the fundraiser,
I'm not sure if Ellie or Rebecca had one or not, but Pam didn't carry one, I guess Bobby
carried all of her crap. Rebecca carried a navy one while walking with Pam.
Pam carried a black one to Mr. Mackey's office, during her walk with Rebecca and to
Cliff's apartment.
- How did Rebecca know where Pam worked? They never discussed it and I doubt that
would've been mentioned in any of the blurbs she'd read in the society pages.
- Rebecca told Pam to come to her house around 5:00. A couple of episodes ago when Bobby
and Mr. Eugene were trying to figure out Bobby's tanker problem, they mentioned that the
tanker left on October 2. That was a couple of episodes ago, so I would assume at
least a couple of weeks have gone by so it should be at least mid October by now.
Even if it's not, it seemed much too light for 5:00 when Pam arrived at Rebecca's, it
looked more like noon. I figure it COULD be the
angle of the light that we see through the window. Our windows face east and in the
morning it can be very bright, even though it's only 8 or 9 o'clock.
Bonehead dialogue of the day: [courtesy of Alett]</