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Dallas Critic
A Season by Season look at Dallas part 4
FADE IN: Last time, we took a look at the first season without Jock Ewing which ended with Cliff Barnes trying to kill himself thanks to the machinations of you-know-who......
CREDITS & THEME MUSIC: DALLAS: A Lorimar Production. STARRING (In Alphabetical Order): Barbara Bel Geddes. Patrick Duffy. Linda Gray. Larry Hagman. Susan Howard. Steve Kanaly. Ken Kercheval. Victoria Principal. Charlene Tilton. PRODUCER: Leonard Katzman. CREATED BY: David Jacobs.....ALSO STARRING: Christopher Adkins as Peter Richards. John Beck as Mark Graison. Morgan Brittany as Katherine Wentworth. Lois Chiles as Holly Harwood. Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow. Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper. Timothy Patrick Murphy as Mickey Trotter. Priscilla Pointer as Rebecca Wentworth. Priscilla Beauleau Presley as Jenna Wade. Dale Robertson as Frank Crutcher.
The 1982-83 season came with new crisis for both the Ewings and Barnes families. First; thanks to Cliff's suicide attempt, the Barnes-Ewing feud simmered once again with Rebecca vowing to get even with J.R. for his part in the proceedings. First, she reinstated Cliff as president of Wentworth Tool and Die, so that he could compete with his rival. Then; J.R. was ousted from Ewing Oil when the family used their voting shares against him.
J.R. wasn't out of the oil business for long for two reasons. One; a young, inexperienced business woman named Holly Harwood (Played by former James Bond girl, Lois Chiles) asked J.R. to secretly run her company in exchange for 25% of the company. Secondly, after the annual Oil Baron's Ball (The event's first appearance on the show), Ellie decided to have Jock's will read finally. The contents of the will shocked everyone because Jock decreed that a year-long contest between both J.R. and Bobby would determine who the permanent president of Ewing Oil will be.
Needless to say, not everyone was happy with the arrangement especially Miss Ellie who wondered why Jock would pit son against son. This would have serious reprocussions for nearly everyone involved including the Barnes.
Several dirty dealings took place which caused a serious rift between Bobby and Pam. The rift grew even wider when, in an effort to stop J.R., her mother died from injuries resulting from a plane crash (She was on her way to buy a refinery in her son Cliff's place when the accident occured.). Pam moved off Southfork, and into her mother's mansion without Bobby after the funeral.
Meanwhile; Ellie, in between trying to break the will in order to save her family; started seeing men again. She first had a brief relationship with a wild-catter named Frank Crutcher (Played by Dale Robertson who appeared as Walter Lankersham in DYNASTY's first season); then with Clayton Farlow, whose son Dusty dumped Sue-Ellen to marry someone else.
Sue-Ellen, recovering from that shock, agreed to remarry J.R. at Southfork (Big mistake, especially since all of the marriages that have taken place there usually ended in disaster, save for two.). The wedding, as with all Southfork weddings, ended in some form of conflict. In this case, J.R. and Cliff going at each other and ending up (with half of the male guests) in the swimming pool.
Meanwhile; J.R.'s life was threatened, yet again. First, by Holly Harwood, who set up a phony seduction ploy and insinuating to Sue-Ellen that she and J.R. were sleeping together (Which wasn't true at the time), with the hope of getting Sue-Ellen to catch her and J.R. in bed. Sue-Ellen, after seeing this, falls off the wagon and ends up drinking again. Also; Walt Driscoll (Ben Piazza), a man J.R. used, then destroyed, wanted revenge as well; and he got it, but with deadlier results.
Driscoll, drove out to the ranch and waited until he saw J.R.'s car drive out of it. And; upon seeing the vehicle, slamed into it and injuring it's occupants. Unfortunately; it was a drunken Sue-Ellen behind the wheel with Lucy's boyfriend, Mickey Trotter (the late Timothy Patrick Murphy), who was in the car trying to stop her. Driscoll upon learning of the nearly fatal accident, commited suicide.
Mickey's cousin Ray Krebbs, upon learning of Driscoll's plans to kill J.R. thanks to a suicide note; confronted J.R. violently at the ranch. During the ensuing melee' the two accidently start a fire which soon engulfed the downstairs part of the mansion rendering both unconcious. The flames soon reached upstairs where both Sue-Ellen and John Ross were sleeping. (Coincidently; the show's biggest rival, DYNASTY), had a similar cliffhanger with a log cabin fire which trapped two of that show's female characters, Alexis and Krystle.)....End of season.
The next season (1983-84) opened with Bobby driving home and, upon seeing the flames, rescued everyone. Bobby stayed at the ranch while J.R. temporarily moved the family to an expensive hotel in Dallas (The Quarum).
Afterwards, the two brothers tried to call off the contest that has nearly destroyed the family. Unfortunely, the will cannot be broken, so the brothers reluctantly continue the contest which results in Bobby as the victor. But, it turns out that Jock wanted the brothers to run the company together all along, and they did.
However, it was too late to save their marriages. Thanks to J.R. and Katherine Wentworth, (She forged a letter from Pam) Bobby asked Pam for a divorce which was soon granted. Pam sought comfort with millionare Mark Graison; while Bobby resumed seeing his first love, the recently returned Jenna Wade (Previously portrayed by Morgan Fairchild and Francine Tacker; now by Presley).
Meanwhile; Sue-Ellen became attracted to a much younger man named Peter Richards (BLUE LAGOON's Christopher Adkins, who kept his clothes on this time..remember, this is tv before NYPD BLUE, where this writer's sure he would feel more at home), John Ross' camp counselor. Richards fell in love with Sue-Ellen, who intially resisted, fell in love with his innocence. None which pleased J.R. when he found out about the affair thanks to Sue-Ellen having a miscarriage (Richards thought he was the father). J.R. kept quiet about the whole thing for the time being. Meanwhile.....
Ray, the other brother, was in a bit of trouble. He was arrested for pulling the life support machine from Mickey who slipped into a coma. It turned out that it wasn't him that pulled the plug, but his aunt Lil Trotter (Played by DAYS OF OUR LIVES star Frances Reid who became the second actress from that daytime soap to make an appearance; Susan Flannery, currently of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, was the first), who wanted to end her son's suffering. Ray, who was charged with murder, was cleared shortly thereafter.
Katherine, who was thrilled when Pam started seeing Mark Graison, was less than when Bobby started seeing Jenna (She wanted him for himself). So, she located the real father of Jenna's preteen daughter "Charlie" (Sharlane McCall), an Itailian named Naldo Marchetta (Daniel Philon) who soon reappeared to cause trouble for Jenna. The ploy failed, and Naldo returned to Italy.
Miss Ellie, who was vacationing in a resort while Southfork burned, became engaged to Clayton Farlow in the meantime. J.R. tried to break up the impending union by digging into Clayton's past. And true to form, J.R. uncovered the fact that Clayton had a sister, Jessica, who moved to England and married. Lady Jessica Montfort (Played by the late Alexis Smith) soon arrived for the upcoming wedding; and she hit it off immediately with J.R. when they each discovered that the other didn't want the marriage to take place.
But Jessica, who was a homicidal maniac, kidnapped Miss Ellie and drove out to The Southern Cross with her in the trunk of Donna Krebs' car. Clayton; along with J.R. , Bobby and Ray, also learned while searching for the two women, that it was Jessica who set fire to The Southern Cross ranch which resulted in the death of Clayton's first wife Amy. The Ewings also learned from Clayton that Dusty, is his nephew, not his son; and that he raised the boy when Jessica was briefly taken to a mental hospital before she moved to England.
The men finally caught up with Jessica, rescued Miss Ellie, who married Clayton shortly thereafter and went on their honeymoon in Europe.
Both Bobby and Pam finally learn of Katherine's deception shortly after Mark Graison, who learned that he had an incurable disease, was killed in a helicopter crash. Pam disowned her sister after the latter admitted she wanted Bobby. Bobby also wanted nothing to do with her.
J.R., after waiting a while, finally made his move to teach Peter Richards a lesson. After having him arrested on phony drug charges, J.R. confronts the young man and tells him that the charges against him would be dropped only if Sue-Ellen comes back to J.R. as his wife. Sue-Ellen, backed into a corner, agrees. A broken Peter leaves town shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, in a variation of the famous "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger, the 1983-84 season ended with someone entering the Ewing Oil building at night and firing a gun in J.R.'s office. Only this time, the victim wasn't J.R.....it was Bobby......End of season......Fade Out!
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Philip Capice.
NEXT TIME: Bobby's assailant revealed! Donna Reed as Miss Ellie! DALLAS gets a glamourous makeover! And the death and ressurection of Bobby Ewing!....Stay tuned!
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