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DREAM
ZONE
Plot Synopsis
MAIN TITLES & THEME
MUSIC: DALLAS: A Lorimar Production. Starring (In Alphabetical
Order): Barbara BelGeddes (Ellie Ewing-Farlow). Linda Gray (Sue
Ellen Ewing). Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing). Susan Howard (Donna
Krebs). Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs). Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow).
Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes). Priscilla Beauleau Presley (Jenna
Wade). Victoria Principal (Pamela Barnes Ewing). Also Starring
(In Alphabetical Order): John Beck (Mark Graison). Barbara Carrera
(Angelica Nero). Jenilee Harrison (Jamie Ewing-Barnes). Jared
Martin (Steven "Dusty" Farlow). Dack Rambo (Jack Ewing).
Deborah Shelton (Mandy Winger). Marc Singer (Matt Cantrell).
CREATED BY: David Jacobs
The 1985-86 season of DALLAS was, for
lack of a better term, bizzare. First, Patrick Duffy had departed
the show at the end of the previous season, his character being
killed-off; Charlene Tilton had also departed. Donna Reed, who
had replaced Barbara BelGeddes as "Miss Ellie" only
one year before, was replaced herself by her predecessor. Reed,
who later sued the production company, Lorimar, for breech of
contract, died in January, 1986 at the age of sixty-two with
DALLAS marking her final tv appearance.
The show still had to do battle with
it's chief rival DYNASTY which by the end of the previous season,
became the number one most watched show. So, more glamour and
intrigue, in the form of an exotic villianess, was added to
spice up the show. South American-born actress Barbara Carrera
(Who was the only other memorable thing in the independently
produced 1983 Bond film NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN besides the return
of Sean Connery) joined the cast as the beautiful, but deadly
Angelica Nero.
Also added to the supporting cast that
season as Matt Cantrell, an old friend of Bobby's, was Marc
Singer (THE BEASTMASTER) who had, ironically enough, starred
in the short-lived science-fiction series V which aired on NBC
opposite DALLAS during the previous season (Well, if you couldn't
beat it, join it Singer probably thought.)
Unfortunately, all of the nightime soaps,
including the DYNASTY spin-off THE COLBYS, which made it's debut
in November, 1985, were facing competition from another television
genre....sitcoms. Thanks to the success of THE COSBY SHOW (and
the shows that followed it, making it NBC's very first "Must
See" Thursdays) and THE GOLDEN GIRLS, situation comedies
were making a huge comeback, and taking most of the nightime
soap audiences with them.
But, the only problem the DALLAS producers
were facing when the show resumed production in June, 1985,
was what to do next now that Bobby Ewing was killed-off......
The 1985-86 season began a few hours
after the previous episode ended, with the grief-stricken Ewings
arriving at Southfork from the hospital where Bobby had died
hours earlier. Ellie (Resumed by BelGeddes who wore a different
dress from the one worn by Donna Reed), takes charge of the
situation first by having the family doctor administer a sedative
to calm down Jenna; and by telling J.R. that she needs his help
in getting the family through the tragedy.
A emotionally-numb J.R.'s only response
is to angrilly lash out at Sue Ellen, who had just returned
from having lunch with Dusty while the Ewings were at the hospital
("Where were you Sue-Ellen? While, momma and everybody
were cryin' their eyes out, where the hell were you? Go back
to your bottle! Go back to your cowboy! I don't care where you
go, just get out of my sight!"), which left Ellie having
to deal with Sue Ellen, fearing that she might find solace with
alcohol. "I'm not an alcoholic," Sue Ellen tells Ellie.
"But, you are Sue-Ellen..." Ellie matter-of-factly
tells her.
Gary calls from California, having heard
the news of his younger brother's death from his wife Abby (in
the Season Premiere of KNOTS LANDING which aired the night before
DALLAS'), and informs his mother that he'll be in the next plane.
Shortly after his arrival, J.R. lashes out at Gary and Ray after
they offer to help him run the company. "So, Gary,"
J.R. sarcastically asks, "you want to help run the company
too? Well, I don't need your help, or your pity. I only had
one real brother (that I cared about)...and he's dead!"
Lucy is unable to make it to the funeral,
but the rest of the Ewing family attend the small service, held
near a treehouse where Bobby used to play as a child, including
Pam, her son Christopher (Now played by Joshua Harris), Cliff
and Jamie Barnes. After the funeral, the family, including Pam,
arrives at lawyer Harve Smithfield's office for the reading
of Bobby's will, which has a surprising outcome. Pam is to be
the executor of Christopher's shares of the company, something
which doesn't sit well with J.R. as he may have to do business
with the person he hates the most in the world, apart from her
brother Cliff of course.
Meanwhile, Sue-Ellen goes on another
drinking binge after the funeral and ends up with her car, purse
and ID stolen. She also winds up in an unfamiliar part of town
(In a scene which marked the screen debut of Texas-born actor
Lou Diamond Phillips, later of LA BOMBA, as a street tough)
and, later in a drunk tank, and detox ward of the county jail
where Ellie and Clayton finds her. After seeing Sue-Ellen in
the worst possible state she's been in, Ellie convinces J.R.
(who's more than willing) to commit his wife to a sanitarium
rehabilitation program.
While Sue-Ellen recovers, the rest of
the Ewing family start to put their lives back in order after
Bobby's death. J.R. tries to resume his work at Ewing Oil, and
bedding his mistress Mandy Winger, but can't. Jenna stays on
at Southfork. Pam, however, recieves another shock when her
former fiancee' Mark Graison shows up at her mansion...very
much alive. It turns out that he staged the helicopter crash
of the year before, so that Pam wouldn't come looking for him
while he tried to find a cure for his disease which was now
in remission.
Since Pam also had Christopher's shares
of Ewing Oil, several offers by two interested parties were
made. First, by Westar President Jeremy Wendell, which Pam seriously
considers; then by J.R. himself. But, at the Oil Baron's Ball,
where Bobby posthumously named the "Oil Baron's Man of
the Year," Pam, in accepting on behalf of Christopher (At
Ellie's request), tells the stunned crowd that she wouldn't
be selling the shares after all. She also informs J.R. that,
in order to protect her son's interests, she would be coming
in to work at Ewing Oil. "I'll be seeing you in the morning,
pardner," she tells J.R.
Meanwhile, the exotic CEO of Marinos
Shipping, Angelica Nero, had her eye on another one of the guests
at the Oil Baron's Ball, Jack Ewing, whom she wanted to meet
for mysterious reasons of her own.....
Ray and Donna, who reconciled on the
night of Bobby's death, didn't attend the ball because they
were dealing with a family crisis which involved their unborn
child. Donna's obstetrician dropped by their home to tell them
that the baby would be born with Down's Syndrome. They eventually
lost the baby, but adopted a 10-year-old hearing impaired boy
named Tony, but not before they had to clear another hurdle,
Ray's old suspended manslaughter charge stemming from the death
of his cousin Mickey Trotter three-years before (See Part Four).
A recently recovered Sue Ellen, moved
in with her mother, Patricia Sheppard (Martha Scott), and sued
for custody of John Ross (at her mother's urging), which she
eventually won. However, she changed her mind when the saw the
sad look on her son's face when she came to pick him up. She
told her mother afterwards that she can control her own destiny
and moves back at Southfork to be with her son, but not with
J.R.
J.R., however, had problems of his own.
Angelica Nero had gotten him and Jack to go along with a plan
she had cooked up with her assistants Nikolas (Played by George
Chakiris who won an Oscar for his performance as Bernardo in
the film WEST SIDE STORY) and Grace (Marete Van Kemp). Nero
needed Jack to impersonate the owner of Marinos Shipping, Dimitri,
whom the former resembled. The plan was for Jack to put in an
appearance as Dimitri, in Martinique where a huge press party
was being held. The trio also planned to kill Jack (as Dimitri)
and J.R. by exploding a bomb planted on Dimitri's yacht.
The plan was, foiled, however, when Grace,
who fell in love with Jack, told the two men about the assasination.
The plan was foiled and Angelica hastilly escaped capture, but
not before trying to kill Jack and J.R. at the masquerade ball
herself. Angelica, then sought out her turncoat associates and
killed them before dissapearing altogether.
But she surfaced in DALLAS a short time
later, to wreak revenge on both J.R. and Jack. First, she cornered
J.R. and told him that she has documents (phony) that could
save the company which was on the brink of a financial crisis.
She hid a bomb in a suitcase containing the phony documents
which was set to explode shortly after making her delivery.
J.R., in exchange for the information, would pay her $2 million
in cash. She also had an accomplice hide another bomb in Jack
Ewing's sports car.
On the season finale which aired on Friday,
May 16, 1986; Angelica's plan went into action with both bombs
being delivered to their destinations and exploding... but the
intended victims escaped bodily harm. Instead, Jamie, who was
about to take Jack to the airport in the sports car he had just
given her, and Sue Ellen, who drove to Ewing Oil to look for
J.R., were the victims.
After the explosion at Ewing Oil, the
final scene showed Pam waking up in bed with a startled look
on her face, and, after hearing the shower in her bathroom running,
goes in. But, when she opened the shower door, she saw, not
her new husband Mark Graison (they were supposedly married the
day before), but Bobby Ewing, who turns towards her and says
a cheery "Good morning......." End of season.
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