Mama’s here

“Penultimate” is an hour of misery and pain, but it contains love too. The story begins where “Dallas’s” previous episode ends, when Sue Ellen drives drunk and crashes J.R.’s car. The accident leaves her with a broken arm and some scrapes and bruises, while passenger Mickey Trotter fares much worse: He slips into a coma after his spinal cord is injured. This leads to tense scenes, like the one where Lucy calls Sue Ellen a “lousy drunk” and blames her for the crash. Mostly, though, “Penultimate” depicts the Ewings and Krebbses as people who are willing to set aside old hurts and day-to-day grievances to help each other get through a crisis. It’s the kind of thing we routinely witness on this show, yet it never fails to move me.

Howard Lakin’s smart script ensures Sue Ellen remains a sympathetic figure, even though it seems like she did indeed cause the accident. Lakin gives us a scene where a guilt-ridden Sue Ellen apologizes to Lucy and pleads for forgiveness, and even though Lucy refuses to listen, other characters don’t hesitate to show Sue Ellen compassion. The crucial moment comes in the first act, when a sore, stiff Sue Ellen comes home from the hospital and goes to her bedroom with Miss Ellie, who offers to help her change into a nightgown. When Sue Ellen begins to cry, Ellie takes her into her arms and holds her close. It’s a touching scene, and also a clever one. If Ellie is willing to forgive Sue Ellen, why shouldn’t we?

Of course, Linda Gray keeps the audience on Sue Ellen’s side too. Throughout “Penultimate,” Gray carries herself like a woman full of regret; we never doubt that Sue Ellen feels terrible about what she’s done. It doesn’t hurt that she looks awful. Sue Ellen’s face is purple and swollen, her arm is in a cast and in the first few scenes, her sweater is torn and stained with blood. How can you not feel bad for this woman? In the same spirit, how can you not admire Gray? Remember, “Penultimate” was made in an era when television audiences demanded gloss and glamour from their favorite actresses, so Gray’s willingness to be seen in such an unflattering light feels like an act of courage. (Other stars soon followed Gray’s lead. The year after “Penultimate” aired, Farrah Fawcett wore a black eye when she played a battered wife in the TV movie “The Burning Bed.”)

Gray’s most impressive performance in “Penultimate” comes in the final scene, when J.R. enters his bedroom late at night and finds Sue Ellen waiting up for him. She calmly asks why he remarried her if he had no intention of being faithful, and when he begins to speak, she cuts him off. “Stop it! Stop it! I don’t want to hear any more from you!” she shouts. But J.R. continues, telling Sue Ellen that he never meant to hurt her. “Believe me when I say that I love you. I truly love you,” he says. Larry Hagman’s delivery is sincere, but Gray is the one we can’t take our eyes off of. When J.R. professes his love, Gray turns away from Hagman and faces the camera. She’s silent, yet her expression tells us how tormented Sue Ellen feels at that moment. Despite the pain J.R. has caused her, is there any doubt she loves him too?

Cry, Cry Again

Tracking her tears

Charlene Tilton supplies “Penultimate” with its other emotional highpoints. After Lucy lashes out at Sue Ellen and calls her a drunk, she bursts into tears and collapses into Ray’s arms. Later, Lucy is with Ray, Donna and Aunt Lil when the doctor informs them Mickey will probably be paralyzed. Once again, Lucy weeps. Both scenes remind us how Tilton always rises to the occasion when she’s given good material, which happens too infrequently on “Dallas.” I also admire how Steve Kanaly makes us feel every ounce of Ray’s anger and frustration over the tragedy that has befallen Mickey, as well as the guilt consuming Ray over bringing his cousin to Texas in the first place. The other performer to watch in these scenes is Kate Reid, who doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but who doesn’t need any. Her sad, solemn expression says it all.

Not all of the scenes in “Penultimate” are quite so agonizing. When J.R. goes to Holly’s house to confront her over her attempt to ruin his marriage, we expect J.R. to be full of rage. Instead, he plays it cool, politely offering to give up his share of Harwood Oil — if Holly pays him $20 million, that is. Holly balks, and so J.R. leaves her with a not-so-subtle threat. “Holly, you won a hand in a game of poker,” he says. “You’re seeing me in a mood that you’ll never see again. I strongly advise you to take advantage of it, because considering what it’ll cost if you don’t” — here, Hagman pauses — “twenty million dollars will be chickenfeed.”

Later, Bobby urges Holly not to give J.R. the money until after the contest for Ewing Oil ends. Frankly, of all the surprising moves Bobby makes during the sixth season, this one shocks me most. It’s one thing for Bobby to blackmail George Hicks, the crooked energy regulator, or to stage a sting against Walt Driscoll, J.R.’s accomplice in the illegal Cuban oil deal. But after all the suffering the battle for Ewing Oil has caused, Bobby is still willing to wheel and deal to win the contest? Maybe Pam is right. Maybe her husband really has changed.

Hear the Trumpets

Eye to eye

Like all great “Dallas” episodes, “Penultimate” is a creative achievement on multiple levels. Along with the strong performances and writing, Richard Lewis Warren’s underscore is essential to the episode’s success. In several scenes, a few piano keys give way to the mournful blaring of trumpets. It fits the somber mood perfectly, not that any of us should be surprised. Warren’s music never gets in the way of the storytelling but helps it along, which is why he’s one of my favorite “Dallas” composers.

“Penultimate” also offers some of the sixth season’s niftiest camerawork. The episode opens at the site of the car accident, as an ambulance pulls away and a tow truck backs up to J.R.’s overturned Mercedes. Southfork looms in the distance, lit up in the black sky, until the camera slowly zooms in for a close-up. I also like how director Nick Havinga opens one scene with a tight shot of the Ewings’ liquor cart. In the background, Sue Ellen enters the room and gradually comes into focus as she approaches the booze and reaches for a bottle. Havinga also plays with our depth perception in a shot in the hospital where Kanaly stands in the foreground and exchanges dialogue with Susan Howard, whose position in the background makes Donna look like she’s a few feet shorter than Ray.

Lakin and Havinga also do a nice job keeping the audience in the dark about the extent of Sue Ellen and Mickey’s injuries when “Penultimate” begins. The first scene in the emergency room shows a medical team tending to an unseen patient. Amid the beeps and whirs of the machinery, one of the doctors drops references to irregular breathing patterns and a possible spinal injury. “Looks like there’s a bad fracture in the right leg,” a nurse announces. Says the doctor: “Yeah, we’ll worry about that later. Right now, let’s just try to keep this patient alive.” Moments later, we see J.R. escort a shaken Sue Ellen into a hospital corridor, and only then do we realize Mickey is the patient in critical condition.

This turns out to be the episode’s most suspenseful moment. The only other mystery presented here is the identity of the driver of the car that struck Sue Ellen and Mickey’s vehicle, which won’t be revealed until the next episode. Indeed, “Penultimate” serves mostly as a prelude to that installment — not that I’m complaining. The season’s plot lines may not advance much during this hour, but the characters do. Isn’t that more interesting anyway?

Grade: A+

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Critical condition

‘PENULTIMATE’

Season 6, Episode 27

Airdate: April 29, 1983

Audience: 19 million homes, ranking 3rd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Howard Lakin

Director: Nick Havinga

Synopsis: While Mickey lies in a coma, doctors determine he’ll likely be paralyzed. Sheriff Washburn tells J.R. that Sue Ellen will be charged with manslaughter if Mickey dies. Ray urges Washburn to find the driver of the car that struck Sue Ellen and Mickey’s vehicle. After J.R. invites Holly to buy him out of her company, Bobby urges her to delay her payment to him until the contest for Ewing Oil is over. Cliff pressures Pam not to give Bobby the drill bit.

Cast: John Beck (Mark Graison), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Lois Chiles (Holly Harwood), Roseanna Christiansen (Teresa), Barry Corbin (Sheriff Fenton Washburn), Michael Cornelison (Dr. Snow), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Alice Hirson (Mavis Anderson), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Joe Maross (Dr. Blakely), Timothy Patrick Murphy (Micheky Trotter), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Kate Reid (Lil Trotter), Danone Simpson (Kendall), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Penultimate” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

What hath they wrought?

With “The Road Back,” “Dallas” delivers the first hour of its seventh season and the most thrilling opening in its history. It begins with a nighttime shot of Southfork, which looks familiar against the dark sky except for the flames shooting out of the roof. Director Nick Havinga then brings us inside the house, where we find the occupants right where we left them at the end of “Ewing Inferno,” the previous season’s cliffhanger: Sue Ellen and John Ross are asleep in their beds, each unaware of the smoke filling their rooms; Ray is unconscious in the foyer; and J.R. has collapsed in a hallway. Next, we see Bobby zipping down Braddock Road in his red convertible. When he spots the blaze, he slows down and stares for a moment. “Oh, my God,” he says.

And then, the rescue sequence: As Jerrold Immel’s underscore surges, Bobby guns the car down the driveway and screeches to a halt near the garage. He leaps out of the vehicle and dives into the swimming pool, then runs into the house, where he finds Ray awakening. Together, the two men race upstairs and drag the dazed J.R. down the hall and through the doors to the balcony. Bobby and Ray go back into the house and retrieve Sue Ellen and John Ross, and when they return to the terrace, Ray orders everyone into the pool below. With sirens wailing in the background, J.R. cradles the screaming John Ross and jumps into the water.

When I revisited “The Road Back” for this critique, I had no doubt these scenes would retain their emotional value, but I was surprised by how well they hold up from a technical perspective. The wide shots of the burning house look a little crude by today’s standards, but they still work. Likewise, the scenes inside the home are as chaotic and scary now as they were three decades ago. “Dallas” producer Leonard Katzman built replicas of the Southfork sets so he could burn them down, so those are real flames you see surrounding Patrick Duffy, Steve Kanaly and Larry Hagman. I’m guessing “The Road Back’s” opening was filmed at the same time as the final scenes in “Ewing Inferno,” although if it turned out Katzman staged one fire for the cliffhanger and another for the resolution, I wouldn’t be surprised. This man had a DeMillian appreciation for spectacle.

“The Road Back” also includes a fantastic scene where Bobby summons J.R. to a Southfork pasture to broker a truce between him and Ray, whose beef with J.R. caused the fire in the first place. Ray angrily reminds J.R. how he made an enemy of Walt Driscoll, the vengeful bureaucrat who tried to kill J.R. but ended up injuring Ray’s cousin Mickey instead. J.R. responds by pointing out that Bobby and Ray had a hand in ruining Driscoll too. “None of us have clean hands, boys. None of us,” J.R. says, and for once, he isn’t twisting the truth. In another poignant moment, J.R. and Bobby stand inside the charred Southfork living room and survey the damage. “We sure made a mess out of everything. Ewing Oil, Southfork, the family. Every damn thing,” J.R. says. It’s nice to see him humbled for a change, no?

I also like the scenes in “The Road Back” that show J.R being nice to the embittered Sue Ellen, not just because it’s good to see his compassionate side, but also because it allows Linda Gray to deliver some terrific zingers. In my favorite exchange, J.R. gets a call from Bobby and rushes out of the hotel room where he’s staying with his wife and son. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” J.R. says. “Don’t remind me,” Sue Ellen responds. Later, when J.R. encourages Sue Ellen to get some rest, she turns to Pam and quips, “Isn’t it wonderful how thoughtful he can be when he’s caught with his boots parked under the wrong bed?”

(J.R. and Sue Ellen’s dynamic here brings to mind the third-season opener “Whatever Happened to Baby John, Part 1,” when he makes a sincere attempt to patch up his broken marriage, only to discover she’s unwilling to forgive him. Other scenes in “The Road Back” also harken to earlier “Dallas” moments. For example, when J.R. drives away from his meeting with Bobby and Ray, the shot of his Mercedes rolling across the Southfork plains recalls a similar shot at the end of “Digger’s Daughter.” Also, during “The Road Back’s” cattle drive sequence, we hear Ray speak on his walkie-talkie to Hal, a ranch hand seen during the first season, while Miss Ellie and Clayton spend this episode at Lake Takapa, the subject of a major fourth-season storyline.)

Of course, even though the tragic events of the previous season reveal J.R.’s humanity in “The Road Back,” this episode makes it clear he hasn’t been fully redeemed. In one scene, he schemes with Katherine Wentworth to ensure Bobby and Pam don’t reunite. Later, after Sue Ellen delivers her “boots-parked-under-the-wrong-bed” remark, J.R. and Pam get into a nasty spat. (J.R.: “I’ve never heard a woman open her mouth more and say less.”) His most mischievous moment comes in the final scene, when J.R. and Bobby visit Harv Smithfield and tell him they want to call off their fight for Ewing Oil. I believe J.R. feels genuine regret, but when Harv tells the brothers that it’s legally impossible to end their contest, notice the slight, ever-so-subtle smile that break across J.R.’s face. My guess is this is Hagman’s way of signaling to the audience that even though J.R. feels bad about everything that’s transpired, he’s glad he’s going to have a chance to beat Bobby after all.

“The Road Back” also offers the classic scene where Pam takes Sue Ellen to a French fashion boutique to rebuild her wardrobe after the fire, only to watch in horror as Sue Ellen lustily accepts the glass of champagne offered by snooty Madam Claude. Says Sue Ellen when Pam suggests they should leave: “Pam, don’t be a nag.” This episode is also chockablock with casting trivia: Omri Katz makes his first appearance as John Ross; Dan Ammerman, who originated the role of Ewing family physician Dr. Danvers in the second-season episode “Bypass,” shows up here as the Farlows’ doctor; and daytime soap opera star Stephen Nichols (“Days of Our Lives,” “General Hospital”) and Fox News Channel anchor Arthel Neville have bit roles.

“The Road Back” also marks the debut of my favorite version of the “Dallas” title sequence music, the one that features the synthesized riff when the signature three-way split screens begin. The sound effect is pure ’80s, which his probably why I love it so. “The Road Back” is also the first “Dallas” episode to feature the work of cinematographer Bradford May, whose camerawork gives the show a rich, textured look. It’s a dramatic contrast from other years, especially toward the end of “Dallas’s” run, when the show looks flat and washed out. Sadly, May is with “Dallas” for just 27 episodes. I’m not sure why he didn’t last the whole seventh season — there are conflicting explanations for his departure — but one thing is certain: Thanks to him, “Dallas” finally looks as good as it is.

Grade: A

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Hot heir

‘THE ROAD BACK’

Season 7, Episode 1

Airdate: September 30, 1983

Audience: 23 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Nick Havinga

Synopsis: Bobby rescues J.R., Sue Ellen, John Ross and Ray from the fire and later brokers a truce between his feuding brothers. J.R. and Bobby tell Harv they want to call off the contest, but Harv informs them it’s legally impossible. Sue Ellen discovers the car accident wasn’t her fault. Mickey emerges from his coma. Mark fears the fire will reunite Bobby and Pam, while J.R. and Katherine agree to work together to keep them apart. Clayton tells the Ewings that Miss Ellie needs rest and won’t return to Southfork for awhile.

Cast: Dan Ammerman (Neal), Mary Armstrong (Louise), John Beck (Mark Graison), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), John Devlin (Clouse), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Dana Gibson (Ellison), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Gloria Hocking (Madam Claude), Anna Kathryn Holbrook (Ann), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Omri Katz (John Ross Ewing), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Betty King (Groves), Kay E. Kuter (Sampson), Michael Krueger (Henri), Timothy Patrick Murphy (Mickey Trotter), Arthel Neville (waitress), Stephen Nichols (paramedic), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Kate Reid (Lil Trotter), David Sanderson (Buck), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“The Road Back” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Sibling summit

In “The Road Back,” “Dallas’s” seventh-season opener, J.R. (Larry Hagman) arrives at Missing River, where Bobby and Ray (Patrick Duffy, Steve Kanaly) await him.

BOBBY: [To Ray] All right. You’ve got a beef with J.R. Let’s get it out in the open and talk about it.

RAY: It’s like I said before. There’s nothing to talk about. Driscoll tried to kill J.R. He hurt Mickey instead. If J.R. hadn’t double-crossed Driscoll, it never would have happened.

J.R.: That’s not the way I see it, Ray.

RAY: If Mickey dies, it’s the same as if you killed him!

BOBBY: [Puts his hand on Ray’s shoulder] Now, just wait a minute. I think that’s stretching things a little.

J.R.: That’s not stretching things. It’s twisting things. You got your facts mixed up, Ray.

RAY: You’re not going to talk your way out of this one, J.R.

J.R.: Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe I am guilty. But you and Bobby share that guilt because if that boy dies, we’re all responsible.

RAY: Now you just hold on!

J.R.: Listen to me, Ray. You and Bobby pulled a sting operation on poor old Driscoll. You took the money out of his briefcase and put in two loaded pistols. He not only didn’t get through airport security, he ended up in jail. And that’s why he didn’t get his payoff on the Cuban deal. No, sir. You boys set him up for a jail term, not me. And Ray, you were right there in the middle of everything. So don’t try to dump this Driscoll thing on me. You wanted to get involved in the fight for Ewing Oil? Well, you’ll just have to accept the consequences. None of us have clean hands, boys. None of us.

Welcome back, pardner!

Steve Kanaly will guest star on “Dallas” next season, a TNT spokeswoman confirmed today. Earlier, Kanaly tweeted a picture of himself and wrote, “[Shining] my spurs for a new Dallas episode.”

No word on how many episodes Kanaly will appear in. The actor portrayed Ray Krebbs, J.R. and Bobby’s half-brother, for 12 seasons during the original “Dallas’s” run. So far, he’s reprised the role in three TNT episodes.

TNT hasn’t confirmed if other actors from the original series will return too. In the summer, showrunner Cynthia Cidre said she was considering bringing back Jenna Wade (Priscilla Presley), Bobby’s first love, who later married Ray.

Endgame

“Check and Mate” brings J.R. and Bobby’s contest for control of Ewing Oil to a satisfying but somewhat silly conclusion. In the final scene, the brothers learn J.R. boosted the company’s profits by $40 million, making him the clear-cut winner. With his victory clenched, J.R. announces he’s reneging on his earlier promise to split the company with Bobby, even if Bobby comes up short. Suddenly, Bobby receives some last-minute news: He just made a killing on his Canadian drilling deal, making him the contest’s winner. J.R. wants to go back to their original power-sharing deal — and of course Bobby agrees. Would we expect anything less from this show?

Indeed, this is another example of “Dallas’s” rather fanciful approach to big business. J.R. and Bobby receive the contest results while meeting with lawyer Harv Smithfield on the last day of the competition. Legally, shouldn’t this meeting have taken place the following day, when all the profits could have been counted? Also, in the previous episode, Bobby’s Canadian partner Thornton McLeish still hadn’t struck oil; now we learn Bobby and McLeish not only hit big, they managed to sell their shares to some bigger oil companies. Talk about a fast sale!

But even if this scene stretches credulity, it remains one of the best corporate showdowns from a series that practically invented them. Bobby’s 11th-hour victory is surprising and dramatic; I usually don’t like to see J.R. get beat, but when Bobby does it, I let it slide. Besides, Larry Hagman gets to show a lot of range here — unabashed smugness when J.R. thinks he’s won, muted humility when he realizes he’s lost — and that’s always fun to watch. (I also appreciate how the sequence includes one last letter from Jock, whose explanation that the true purpose of the contest was to bring his sons together makes the storyline feel like Jock’s version of J.R.’s master plan from the TNT series. Or maybe it’s the other way around.)

The lasting consequences of J.R. and Bobby’s fight yields mixed feelings too. There’s no doubt the battle has changed Bobby, who compromised his integrity in his quest for power and ended up losing his wife and son along the way. Bobby is now a damaged man, and Patrick Duffy does a nice job imbuing his character with a sad, soulful weariness. I wish we could say something similar about J.R. After the Southfork fire, J.R. had an attack of conscience and agreed to jointly run Ewing Oil with Bobby, regardless of which brother won the competition. He changed his mind pretty quickly and spent the episodes before “Check and Mate” secretly plotting to stab Bobby in the back when the final results were announced. No one wants to see J.R. turn into a good guy, but wouldn’t it have been more interesting to watch him wrestle with breaking his promise to Bobby? It would have revealed a new depth to J.R.’s character and made the yearlong battle for Ewing Oil, one of “Dallas’s” milestone moments, feel even more meaningful.

Even with these slight shortcomings, “Check and Mate” remains the seventh season’s strongest hour yet. With J.R. and Bobby’s war ending, the show shifts its attention to two supporting characters: Ray and Donna, whose marriage is rocked after Ray is arrested for Mickey’s mercy killing. (This makes Mickey one of the last casualties in the war for Ewing Oil, along with Rebecca Wentworth and Walt Driscoll.) Did Ray pull the plug? Or was it Lil, the only other person in the room at the time? Steve Kanaly is a portrait of quiet resolve as Ray goes through this episode refusing to discuss what happened in the moments before Mickey’s death. The silence is frustrating, but it’s also perfectly in keeping with the character of Ray, a laconic cowboy if ever there was one. Whether Ray pulled the plug himself or he’s simply taking the fall to protect Lil, we wouldn’t expect him to talk about it.

Even if Ray doesn’t have much to say, Kanaly still manages to give the audience a sense of Ray’s inner torment. In “Check and Mate’s” moving next-to-last scene, he sits at the patio table outside his home and asks the deeply depressed Lil for permission to bury Mickey at Southfork. Kanaly’s delivery breaks my heart, but as I watched this scene I remembered Ray and Jock’s memorable conversation at that very table in “The Fourth Son,” when the old man told Ray he was his son. It’s a subtle but poignant reminder of how Ray tried to take Mickey under his arm, the way Jock did with Ray, and how Ray’s efforts ultimately fell short. On the other hand, whether Ray killed his cousin himself or he’s just protecting Lil, is he not exhibiting a Jock-like sense of duty and honor?

Like Kanaly, Susan Howard also makes the most of her time in the spotlight. She has two terrific moments in “Check and Mate.” In the first act, Donna speaks to Ray in jail after his arrest; the glass partition separating the couple feels like a stand-in for the bigger barrier, which is Ray’s willingness to open up about the circumstances surrounding Mickey’s death. Donna seems to believe Ray disconnected Mickey’s life-support system, and Howard makes her character’s disappointment palpable. “Nobody has the right to play God,” she says with signature breathiness. Donna’s reaction makes sense, given the character’s strong moralistic bent. It’s another example of how well “Check and Mate” scriptwriter David Paulsen knows these characters.

Howard’s second great moment comes at the beginning of the third act, when Donna rides out to a Southfork pasture to confront Ray about his lack of willingness to defend himself. She reminds her husband that his only duty wasn’t to ease Mickey’s suffering; Ray also has an obligation to his marriage. Once again, Paulsen gives Howard a great line, and she delivers it beautifully: “You’re what I wanted all my life. You may not think your life is worth saving, but I sure as hell do.” With this single line, Paulsen manages to encapsulate Donna’s entire history with Ray, including her affair with him during her marriage to Sam Culver and when she rescued Ray from depression after Jock’s death.

The other great performance in “Check and Mate” comes from Charlene Tilton, who is moving and believable in the scene where Ray comes home from jail and is greeted by the Lucy, who in her grief-stricken rage beats on his chest and cries, “You murdered him!” It’s another example of how Tilton, when given good material, is a terrific actress. I also have to hand it once again to Howard, who allows the scene to end on a graceful note. “For God’s sake,” Donna says as she tries to comfort Lucy. “Don’t you know that it’s tearing him apart too?”

Like all great “Dallas” episodes, the details in “Check and Mate” are also worth paying attention to. Toward the end of the scene where Sue Ellen offers to throw a barbecue for Peter and his fellow camp counselors, Linda Gray touches Christopher Atkins’ shoulder; right at that moment, composer Bruce Broughton brings a few piano keys into the background score to ensure the audience doesn’t miss the significance of the gesture. Moments later, when Peter runs back into the building to retrieve John Ross, watch how Atkins bounds up the stairs. Peter is still a boy himself, isn’t he?

Elsewhere, director Leonard Katzman also gives us a great shot during the scene where Cliff approaches Sly as she leaves Ewing Oil for her lunch break. Debbie Rennard stands with her back to the building, facing Ken Kercheval, whose face is reflected in the façade. It’s a clever way to get both performers’ faces in the frame, but is it not also a symbol of how Cliff is increasingly reflecting the underhanded sensibilities of the enemy who works there?

Grade: A

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Two-faced

‘CHECK AND MATE’

Season 7, Episode 6

Airdate: November 4, 1983

Audience: 22.5 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Paulsen

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: The contest for Ewing Oil ends with Bobby the winner, but he agrees to share the company with J.R. When Ray is arrested in Mickey’s death, Donna hires Paul Morgan to represent him, while Lil slips into a deep depression. Pam goes to work with Cliff, who uses inside information from Sly to steal a big deal out from under J.R. Bobby tells Holly can never date her.

Cast: Dan Ammerman (Neil), Christopher Atkins (Peter Richards), John Beck (Mark Graison), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), Lois Chiles (Holly Harwood), Roseanna Christiansen (Teresa), Jack Collins (Russell Slater), Glenn Corbett (Paul Morgan), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), John Hostetter (Gerber), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Omri Katz (John Ross Ewing), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Kenneth Kimmins (Thorton McLeish), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Kate Reid (Lil Trotter), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Bill Thurman (Allen Murphy), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)

“Check and Mate” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Steve Kanaly

Steve Kanaly will be in Texas this week to film his latest guest spot as Ray Krebbs on TNT’s “Dallas.” I spoke to him recently about what it’s been like to walk in Ray’s boots for the past 35 years — and what the future might hold for everyone’s favorite cowboy.

I’m so excited you’re going to be visiting “Dallas” again. What can you tell us about this appearance?

I’m only in a single episode at this point. I made this bad joke more than a year ago, before Larry [Hagman] passed away, that they’re going to have Ray and Lucy in whenever there’s a wedding or a funeral. And that’s pretty much been the story. This is another wedding. It’ll be a big Southfork extravaganza.

Do you have a lot of lines? Fans like me want to see more of Ray.

No, it’s not a lot of lines, but that’s heartening to hear. I’m torn. Do you say, “No, thanks”? Or do you say, “OK, thank you. I’ll continue to be part of the background”? So I end up listening to all of my friends who tell me, “Take the money! Go be part of it. Something good might come of it.” [Laughs] But it’s still a thrill to say that you’re part of this phenomenon of “Dallas.” And this is the first year they’re going to have to get along without the J.R. character, so I want to wish them luck and help where I can. If being on the show helps, then I’m happy to do it.

Would you want to become a regular on the new show?

My wife says, “Be careful what you wish for.” They’re now filming the entire series in Dallas. I love Dallas, but I also love living in Southern California. I have a whole lifestyle here that I wouldn’t want to lose. And Dallas is nice, but I’d like to just be there on occasion. I would not want to be a regular character, if they’re listening out there. I’d like to appear more often.

And Charlene Tilton will be joining you again?

Yeah. And Afton [Audrey Landers] is in this show too. I saw the script and she has a nice role. I think the producers are going to stay with the younger offsprings’ storylines and the old guys will come in from time to time. They’re not really interested in going back to what we did before. And I have a lot of people on social networks saying, “We’ve got to get Ray back. Ray’s my favorite.” It’s all very flattering. I just wish somebody at the studio would pay attention. [Laughs]

There’s also been talk about bringing back Priscilla Presley as Jenna Wade. Ray could figure into that storyline.

There’s always talk. The last time we saw Ray, he was married to Jenna and raising Bobby’s baby. So that’s what I keep telling the guys on the new show. What about Bobby’s baby? [Laughs]

Bobby’s baby is probably 25 now!

Right. I’ve got a 25-year-old that I’ve been raising over in Europe. [Laughs] If Ray Krebbs ever comes back in a big way, that would be one avenue they could pursue.

Final goodbye

Your most recent appearance on the new show was J.R.’s funeral. What was that experience like?

It was very moving. I had been to two celebrations of Larry’s life — one here at his home in Ojai, where I live, and one in Santa Monica. And they were lovely, beautiful events. But it was not a final closing for me — not like playing that scene. It was really cold that day, and something happened when we filmed that scene that never happened to me at any other time in my 44-year career. I was the first guy to speak, and we had done a couple of rehearsals, and it was real quiet because of the somber nature of the moment. And I delivered my speech and I walk off and the next person comes up, and there are eight of us that do this. Well, it’s an uncut scene that runs for eight or nine minutes. And everybody does this without a flub.

Oh, wow.

Not one. And the director came up afterwards and said, “OK, that’s great. Everybody stay where you are. We’re going to go again. We’re going to move the cameras and come in tighter.” And you know, I’ll be darned if everybody wasn’t letter perfect again. I can’t explain it. I’ve never seen this before on a film set.

Maybe Larry was smiling down on everyone.

It was my final goodbye to Larry, although I really can’t say my final goodbye. Larry was my neighbor. From my kitchen table, I can look up on this hilltop where his house was. So Larry’s on my mind every day.

That’s so nice. Let me ask you one more thing about that scene. After Sue Ellen gives her speech, she’s upset and as she returns to her seat, Ray reaches out and takes her hand. Did the director tell you to do that?

No, that was something I wanted to do. I feel so often that they don’t write these things as well as they might. There’s a lot of family interaction that should go on — like in real families — and that was just something that I wanted to add.

I noticed it when I watched the episode and thought, “Oh, that’s so sweet.” It was a small gesture, but it says so much about who Ray is.

That was it. You don’t know if they’re going to pay any attention to that or not. You want to make the most out of your moment. That’s the thing: Even when I go back and I’m doing kind of a walk-on, I want to make the most out of it.

Back in the day

Let’s talk about this great character of Ray Krebbs. I’ve got to tell you: My dad loves you. You’re the reason he watched “Dallas.” He grew up loving westerns and considered Ray the last of the TV cowboys.

That’s very flattering. In my first meeting for “Dallas,” my agent told me, “Oh, there’s three male roles that you could possibly play: J.R., Bobby or this guy Ray Krebbs.” And then I saw the script. Well, here’s this cowboy that’s got a girlfriend up in the barn. He runs a ranch in Texas and flies a helicopter, and I’m thinking, “Well, hell, this is my only chance to play a western character. And what a cool one.” Because like your father and a lot of other people my age, we grew up on old westerns. It was Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy. And of course John Wayne and Gary Cooper and all the big film stars that played westerns. And then suddenly westerns dried up. So this was my chance to play a western character and pay homage to the blue-collar guys who work hard and try hard and don’t always get the attention.

Was that the secret of Ray’s appeal — he was someone the audience could identify with?

Yeah, very much so. And the writers and the producers always wanted to make Ray very vulnerable. Pride was his big hurdle in life. You know, he tries a lot things and he fails many times, but he kind of always bounces back. He’s always a very honest and straightforward guy. You can always trust Ray to do what he thinks is right.

Did Ray change as the show progressed?

I think there were a lot of changes in the character. The arc was over 11 years. In the beginning, Ray was pretty loose and fancy-free. In the first episode, he was J.R.’s buddy and he was up in the hayloft with this teenage girl. And then there’s the period of Ray and Donna, and then he graduates to being a Ewing. That, by the way, was a huge thing for me.

Tell me about that.

In the third year of the show, I was not happy. They were not giving Ray Krebbs anything to do, and the show was moving further away from ranch life. So I’m thinking, “Gee, I don’t need this. I have a film career I can go back to.” And Larry Hagman said, “Hey, whoa. Don’t run off here. This thing’s about to catch on. We need you.” And so we came up with some story ideas. I had one I liked, which is Ray marries a Mexican girl. They didn’t want to do that then. The other one was, Ray was an illegitimate son of Jock. So thank you, Larry, for convincing me.

Were you two good buddies?

Yeah, the whole cast was very familial. Larry, from the beginning, having had another series experience, saw that it was an ensemble show. He was looking to be at the top of the heap from the very beginning, but he also knew that we all had to work together and act as a family to promote the show and to bring out the chemistry. He was a leader in that way. And we all joined the club. We became a family. I had my life at home with my wife and children and I had my life with my “Dallas” family.

Besides Ray finding out he was Jock’s son, what are your other favorite storylines? Mine is Ray’s relationship with his cousin Mickey Trotter, and how he tries to take him under his wing the way Jock did with Ray.

The Mickey Trotter stuff was, once again, a case of: It’s Ray’s turn. When you have a big cast, it can’t always be your turn. And when it is, you can get excited about it.

Do you remember working with Timothy Patrick Murphy?

Well, sure. He was a great young guy. Always prepared. Easy to get along with. He had a nice edge to him at times. I thought he did a great job as Mickey.

I want to ask you about one of my other favorite moments, which is your performance during Bobby’s deathbed scene. There’s a shot of you just standing there, holding Susan Howard and sobbing. It never fails to move me.

For me, it really was saying goodbye to a friend [Patrick Duffy], who you love. It wasn’t hard to find that emotion. We were all pretty upset that he was not going to be on the show anymore.

Ray and Donna

I mentioned Susan Howard. How did you enjoy working with her?

We got along real well. She’s a very sweet girl. She brought a lot of nice things to the show — and she’s a real Texan. Our families got along well. She was a little bossy. [Laughs] And so I would come home and I would complain to my real wife about my stage wife bossing me around. [Laughs]

Well, you know, Donna was a little bossy.

That was her character too. Ray and Donna became one unit. It was “Ray and Donna.” And you know, you sometimes wish it didn’t quite happen like that. It’s better when they’re struggling in some way.

How did you feel when they wrote her out of the show? Because as you say, you were a pair and suddenly half of you were gone.

It’s just one of those things that nobody could do anything about. There were internal issues that were going on, and from my perspective it meant that there was an opening for Ray Krebbs to branch out and do other things — other business things, a new wife, new storylines. You know, after you’ve been on a show for a long time, you’re looking for those kinds of opportunities, so it was a mixed blessing. I know she was not happy leaving. But that’s just the way it turned out.

Let me get back to one thing. We touched on this briefly, but how are you and Ray alike and how are you different?

Well, I try to be honest with everybody in my personal life. I would say that Ray was like that, a straight shooter. I’m definitely a hard worker, which Ray was. I don’t have quite the amount of pride that he did. I don’t struggle with that. Ray had kind of a violent side to him that I don’t have. But you know, Ray was a guy that I liked to be. It was fun to be Ray. I never wanted to be any of the other characters. I never wished that I was Bobby or J.R. I know Kenny Kercheval wanted to play Ray. I think he was happy to be Cliff Barnes in the end.

I think I’ve read where he auditioned for Ray. I can’t even wrap my mind around what that would have been like.

He would have been good. He’s a wonderful actor. But they let me kind of develop this character. Certainly the story had a lot to do with it, but how I wanted to play it was pretty much was what I got to do and I can thank [producer] Leonard Katzman for that. Leonard trusted me. He was the guy who kind of gave me the nod for the part to begin with. If there was a lot of Steve Kanaly in Ray or a lot of Ray in Steve Kanaly, I don’t know. They got kind of mixed up along the way.

You once did a TV Guide interview where you said people on the set would call you Ray.

Not just the set! [Laughs]

You said that that didn’t happen so much to Linda [Gray] or Larry. No one called them Sue Ellen and J.R. in real life.

Larry would call me Ray sometimes. [Laughs] This was when we were neighbors in Ojai! “Hey, Ray. Oh, I mean Steve.” So it was an enduring character, I think. And I did my homework. I went to the rodeo all the time. And I made friends with all these cowboys. I went into the cattle business. This is funny: The first week I’m on the show, this one guy, who was a Teamster captain and a cowboy, came up and said, “Well, Mr. Kanaly, you’re doing a real good job with this Ray Krebbs, but I’ve got to tell you: Around here, see, nobody wears them damn Levi’s. You got to wear Wrangler’s. You’ve got to wear boot-cut Wranglers. That’s what the real cowboys wear.” So I began to understand that there was a real fashion and you had to pay attention. The cowboys and the people who love the westerns are very critical of what they see. And if you don’t have the right jeans on, or if you wear your hat in some funny way, or if it’s an odd hat in their opinion, they’re going to notice.

Switching gears a bit: You recently filmed a guest spot for “DeVanity,” an online serial.

Yeah. The producer, Michael Caruso, sent me some material and it was a six-page scene. And I read it and said, “Hell, this is good!” And Michael told me, “Well, I wrote it for you.” So I was obligated to say yes. And it’s virtually for zero money. But all the years I ever did “Dallas,” I think the longest scene I ever had was with Barbara Bel Geddes, and it was five pages.

So besides acting, what else are you up to these days?

I’m happily married to my original wife for 38 years. We’re best buds. We’re very invested in being grandparents. We have four grandkids now and they’re all up in San Francisco, so we try to go up there once a month for at least a week or so. One of my other main things is staying healthy, so I work out every day. I do that nearby at a school where I’m a volunteer, teaching a program that has to do with sport shooting. It’s very rewarding. And I paint and play the piano. I’ve done that all of my life.

Tell me about your painting.

I do watercolor, transparent watercolors. It’s something that I’ve done for years.

It’s hard to imagine Ray Krebbs picking up a paintbrush, unless he’s whitewashing a fence maybe.

Yeah, right. I guess there’s one area where Ray and Steve are not at all alike.

Share your comments below and read more Dallas Decoder interviews.

They’re back!

Audrey Landers and Charlene Tilton will appear on TNT’s “Dallas” next season, Dallas Decoder has confirmed. The actresses will reprise their roles of Afton Cooper and Lucy Ewing in an episode that will also feature an appearance by Steve Kanaly, who discusses his career playing Ray Krebbs in a new interview with our site.

His day in court

I always remembered the mystery surrounding Mickey Trotter’s death as boiling down to a single question: Did Ray or Lil pull the plug on him? Last week, when I re-watched “Ray’s Trial” for the first time in a few years, I realized “Dallas” also poses a second, more complicated question: Did Mickey want to live or die? Ray and Lucy each offer different answers during the course of the episode, and technically, both of their statements are accurate. Does that mean both statements are also true? I’m not sure anyone can answer that definitively, which makes the storyline feel a lot more interesting than I previously gave it credit for.

To appreciate this aspect of “Ray’s Trial,” it’s worth remembering two crucial scenes from the preceding episodes. In “My Brother’s Keeper,” when Mickey is struggling to come to grips with his paralysis, he pulls Ray aside and tells him, “The idea of living like a vegetable with some damn machine keeping me alive disgusts me. It’s the worst horror I can imagine. … If it happens, I hope and pray that no one’s going to let me live that way.” Later, in “The Quality of Mercy,” Mickey’s mood brightens when he realizes Lucy is determined to stand by him despite the fact that he’ll never walk again. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll get married yet,” Mickey tells her.

But this is “Dallas,” so of course that never happens. When Mickey slips into a coma, his respirator is disconnected off-screen by either Ray or Lil, the two people with him at the time. The district attorney charges Ray, although the show goes out of its way to drop hints that the real culprit is Lil and Ray is only covering up for her. “Dallas” doesn’t solve the mystery until the next episode, allowing the audience to spend “Ray’s Trial” pondering what Mickey wanted, which turns out to be the more interesting question anyway. At the top of the hour, Ray meets with his lawyer and recalls Mickey’s “worst horror” comment, holding this up as evidence that Mickey preferred death to being kept alive via medical machinery. Later, when Lucy testifies at Ray’s trial, she recalls the marriage plans she and Mickey were making before he slipped into the coma. “He wanted to live. He really did,” she says.

Once again, these are two characters offering two technically accurate but fundamentally different answers to the question of whether Mickey wanted to live or die. Who you choose to believe may come down to where you stand on the issue of euthanasia, which is where “Ray’s Trial” ultimately falls short. Scriptwriter Arthur Bernard Lewis doesn’t devote much time to examining the moral implications of Mickey’s death, which is somewhat surprising considering the difference of opinion Ray and Donna apparently bring to the issue. At one point, Ray tells his lawyer, “What I did was not immoral.” This seems to put him at odds with Donna, whose personal beliefs are hinted at in the previous episode when she declares, “Nobody has the right to play God.” So why doesn’t “Ray’s Trial” give us a scene of husband and wife debating the issue?

Even if the material feels incomplete, Steve Kanaly makes the most of it. In my recent interview with him, Kanaly recalled growing up watching westerns and admiring actors like Gary Cooper. The comment must have lodged itself in the back of my mind because when I watched “Ray’s Trial” a few days later, I was struck by how much Kanaly reminds me of Cooper. The actors share similarly quiet, dignified mannerisms, and both are able to say a lot without uttering a single line of dialogue. In Kanaly’s case, watch his haunted eyes in this episode and you’ll see everything that the script doesn’t tell us about what Ray is feeling.

The other performer to watch is Charlene Tilton, who appears only twice but makes a lasting impression. She does a beautiful job delivering Lucy’s tearful testimony, which supplies “Ray’s Trial” with its moment of emotional catharsis. My favorite scene, though, comes a few moments later, when Donna comforts Lucy in the courthouse corridor after Lucy reluctantly testifies against Ray. This is a brief scene and the script doesn’t give Tilton much dialogue, but none is needed. Her anguished expression says it all. The courtroom scenes also feature a couple of old pros — Richard Jaeckel as prosecutor Percy Meredith and Glenn Corbett as Paul Morgan, Ray’s defense lawyer — as well as a young Steven Williams, who appears here as a bailiff and later plays the police captain on “21 Jump Street.”

This episode’s other notable moments include Marc Graison’s polo match, which might be “Dallas’s” most thrilling horseback riding sequence since Jock Ewing surged across the Southfork plains at the beginning of the second-season classic “Bypass.” “Ray’s Trial” also marks Lois Chiles’ final appearance as Holly Harwood. In her last scene, Holly approaches J.R. in a cocktail lounge and taunts him over losing the battle for Ewing Oil. Besides giving Chiles one last opportunity to spar with Larry Hagman, I like how this scene mimics J.R. and Holly’s first on-screen encounter, which also takes place in a cocktail lounge.

The other highlight of “Ray’s Trial” is the arrival of Priscilla Presley, who makes her “Dallas” debut as Jenna Wade. It’s a fine first appearance, although it includes a bit of a curiosity. In one of Presley’s scenes, Bobby pulls up in front of Jenna’s home as she approaches the sidewalk. He invites her to join him for lunch, but when director Michael Preece offers us a close-up shot of Bobby’s car radio, we see the clock reads “5:45.” From this, we can deduce one of two things: Either Ewings eat lunch very late, which makes them a lot different than you and me, or Bobby has yet to figure out how to set the clock in his car, in which case he’s just like us.

Grade: B

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello again

‘RAY’S TRIAL’

Season 7, Episode 7

Airdate: November 11, 1983

Audience: 22.4 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Michael Preece

Synopsis: Ray goes on trial and frustrates Donna with his reluctance to defend himself. Bobby runs into Jenna, who now works as a waitress. J.R. woos the cartel.

Cast: Charles Aidman (Judge Emmett Brocks), Christopher Atkins (Peter Richards), John Beck (Mark Graison), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), Lois Chiles (Holly Harwood), Glenn Corbett (Paul Morgan), Michael Cornelison (Dr. Snow), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Steven Fuller (bailiff), Tony Garcia (Raoul), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Richard Jaeckel (Assistant District Attorney Percy Meredith), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Omri Katz (John Ross Ewing),  Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Joseph R. Maross (Dr. Blakely), Andrea McCall (Tracy Anders), Priscilla Presley (Jenna Wade), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Kate Reid (Lil Trotter), Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Ray’s Trial” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

The boys are back

“Dallas” will begin its third season on Monday, February 24, at 9 p.m., TV Guide reported today. The series will telecast eight episodes and then take a midseason break before resuming in the summer. Altogether, the season will consist of 15 hours.

“Dallas,” which will start its third season more than 10 months after its second-season finale, will be part of TNT’s aggressive push to capture more viewers during the winter months. The cable channel will pair “Dallas” with the new reality show “The Private Lives of Nashville Wives,” which will be shown Monday nights at 10, beginning February 24. TNT is also bringing back two of its top-rated summertime crime dramas, “Rizzoli & Isles” and “Perception,” for a four-week run on Tuesday nights, beginning February 25.

Wisely, TNT is saving this programming slate until after the Winter Olympics. NBC will broadcast the games from Sochi, Russia, beginning Friday, February 7. The closing ceremonies are slated for Sunday, February 23.

Of course, even though “Dallas” will get a pass from the Olympics, the show will still have its work cut out for it. Its Monday competition will include NBC’s “The Voice,” ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” Fox’s “The Following” and two CBS sitcoms, “Mike & Molly” and “Mom.”

“Dallas” averaged 2.7 million viewers on Monday nights during Season 2, although the audience climbed to 3.8 million when DVR users who record the show and watch it within seven days were counted. The audience included 1.6 million adults between ages 25 and 54, a demographic that TNT targets, and 1.4 million adults between 18 and 49, another group advertisers pay a premium to reach.

This will be the first time “Dallas” will start a new season without Larry Hagman, who died last year during production of Season 2 and whose famous character J.R. Ewing was laid to rest in the instant-classic “J.R.’s Masterpiece” episode. The show plans to keep J.R.’s memory alive while also continuing to focus on the Ewings’ next generation, led by cousins John Ross and Christopher (Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe).

Producers are otherwise keeping a tight lid on the new season’s storylines, although a handful of clues and tweets have surfaced since production began last month. TNT has also announced two new characters for Season 3: Nicolas, a billionaire played by new regular Juan Pablo Di Pace, and Southfork ranch hand Heather, who’ll be played by guest star AnnaLynne McCord in a multi-episode arc.

Other Season 3 guest stars are slated to include Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval) and Judith Ryland (Judith Light), as well as three fan favorites who’ll appear in a special wedding-themed episode: Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton) and Afton Cooper (Audrey Landers).

Perfect host

In “Barbecue Four,” a seventh-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), Bobby (Patrick Duffy), Jenna (Priscilla Beaulieu Presley), Ray (Steve Kanaly) and Donna (Susan Howard) gather around the Southfork dining room table.

J.R.: [Pulls out Sue Ellen’s chair] Darlin’, why don’t you sit in your regular place here? And that’s right, Jenna, you sit in Pam’s old chair. And Donna, why don’t you sit in Lucy’s chair, since we don’t have a regular place for you. [Pulls out the chair]

DONNA: [Sits] Thank you.

J.R.: And that’s right, Ray. You sit where Gary used to. You two have so much in common. Well, I think that’s about it now. I’d like to propose a toast. [Raises a glass] To Ewing traditions.

Miss Ellie and Clayton (Barbara Bel Geddes, Howard Keel) appear in the doorway.

ELLIE: May we join you in that toast?

J.R.: [Sets down his glass] Mama, well! How good to have you home. [He approaches and hugs kisses her, followed by everyone but Jenna, who remains seated.]

BOBBY: Why didn’t you tell us? We’d have picked you up at the airport.

RAY: Welcome home, Miss Ellie.

ELLIE: Oh, Ray.

SUE ELLEN: Oh, Miss Ellie.

BOBBY: [Shaking Clayton’s hand] Clayton, thank you for bringing her back to us.

CLAYTON: She wouldn’t stay away from Southfork another day.

BOBBY: Well, I know how that is.

ELLIE: I’ve been away too long. [Approaches Jenna, touches her shoulder] Oh, Jenna. Bobby told me that he was seeing you. It’s nice you’re here.

JENNA: Thank you, Miss Ellie.

J.R.: [Pulls out her chair] Here you go, Mama.

ELLIE: Thank you, J.R. [She sits.] Oh, I’m so glad to be back.

SUE ELLEN: You know how we feel.

ELLIE: Ray, I’m sorry about what you went through.

RAY: Well, that’s all behind us now, Miss Ellie.

ELLIE: Yes, but not the memories. I know how strong memories can be.

J.R.: Oh, you look wonderful. I mean, really wonderful.

ELLIE: Well, I did nothing but loaf and rest.

BOBBY: Well, it’s been good to you. You look terrific.

ELLIE: I’m sorry about the divorce.

BOBBY: I know, Mama.

ELLIE: Jenna, I hope I’m not embarrassing you, but I’d grown very fond of Pam.

JENNA: I understand.

ELLIE: Well, I may have been in Jamaica for a while, but I still know what time it is in Dallas and we should all be eating dinner by now. [They all laugh.] Clayton, please sit down. [Clayton sits in Jock’s old chair. J.R., Bobby and Ray each look bothered.] After all those restaurants we’ve been eating in, I’m really hungry for good old Southfork cooking. I mean, no matter how good the restaurant is, there’s nothing as good as eating at home. J.R., why don’t you take some of that food and pass it around before it gets stone cold?

J.R.: Oh, I’m really not hungry, Mama.

ELLIE: [Chuckles] You? Not hungry?

J.R.: I suppose it’s the excitement of you being home … with Clayton.

He smiles faintly and then looks at Clayton. The smile fades.

No two “Dallas” episodes invite comparison as much as “Winds of Vengeance” and “Blame Game.” Both segments — which debuted in 1978 and 2013, respectively — depict armed intruders invading Southfork and holding the Ewings hostage. The two storylines play on common themes, including stubborn pride and misguided justice, but the episodes also demonstrate the distinctions between the original “Dallas” and its TNT sequel.

In “Winds of Vengeance,” the old show’s fourth episode, blue-collar Luther Frick discovers his wife Wanda spent the night in a Waco motel with a wealthy stranger from out of town: J.R. Ewing. Frick and Wanda’s brother, Payton Allen, track J.R. to Southfork, where they hold him, Ray and the Ewing women at gunpoint in the living room as a hurricane bears down outside. Frick believes J.R. raped Wanda, so he vows to get “justice” for himself by having sex with Sue Ellen while Allen sets his sights on Lucy. At the last minute, Jock and Bobby arrive, punch out Frick and Allen and send the creeps on their way.

In “Blame Game,” one of TNT’s second-season “Dallas” episodes, slimy oilman Vicente Cano, who went to jail after tangling with J.R. and John Ross, escapes and marches into Southfork with a band of armed thugs. Cano believes the Ewings owe him the methane technology that Christopher developed, and so Cano and his gang hold the family hostage in the living room while Christopher retrieves his methane prototype from the office. When he returns and hands over the equipment, Cano grabs Elena and begins to make his escape, but her brother Drew arrives at the last minute and shoots Cano while Bobby and John Ross overpower the rest of his gang.

There are plenty of similarities here, beginning with the motivations of the villains. When Frick and Allen pull their guns on the Ewings, J.R. assumes they’re robbers and tells them they can have all the cash in the family safe. “We ain’t no thieves. We don’t want your money,” Frick says. Cano, in the meantime, believes Christopher’s methane technology will be lucrative, but profit isn’t his primary goal. When he bursts into Southfork, he slaps John Ross and says, “Did you think you could get away with turning me into the authorities and painting me as the one with dishonor?”

The two episodes also show how the bad guys humiliate the Ewings by exposing their secrets. In “Winds of Vengeance,” when Frick announces J.R. raped Wanda, he turns to Sue Ellen and asks, “You like him any better now, knowing what a hotshot lover-boy he is?” Sue Ellen’s response — “Him?” — causes Allen to laugh uproariously. Something similar happens in “Blame Game” when Cano tries to intimidate Christopher by threatening Pamela, only to realize John Ross’s ex-fiancée Elena has become the object of Christopher’s affection. “You Ewing boys share after all. I love it!” Cano exclaims.

There are also quite a few differences between the episodes. The hostage situation in “Winds of Vengeance” unfolds slowly, giving the actors plenty of time to explore the mental trauma their characters are experiencing by being held against their will. Linda Gray steals the show with her gutsy performance in the scene where Frick forces Sue Ellen to sing for him, but there are also examples of the Ewing women resisting their captors. In one scene, Sue Ellen smacks Allen and tells him not to touch her. Later, Allen tries to make Pam dance with him, but she fights back and screams, “I’ll kill you!”

Contrast this with the hostage situation in “Blame Game,” which comes at the end of that episode and is interspersed with scenes from Ann’s trial. This gives the segment a faster pace overall, but it also robs the hostage sequences of the tense, psychological vibe that “Winds of Vengeance” mined so effectively. “Blame Game” also offers no scenes of the women fighting back, and if there are sexual undertones to the story, they’re only hinted at: When Cano grabs Elena and heads for the helicopter waiting outside, he says he’s taking her as “an insurance policy,” then adds: “Who knows? Maybe we have something in common.”

On the other hand, “Blame Game” shows the Ewings interacting with each other while their captors are holding them at gunpoint, which is something we really don’t see in “Winds of Vengeance.” In one exchange, Sue Ellen sits with Bobby and laments his rivalry with J.R., calling it “a vicious cycle that our sons seem destined to continue.”

She’s probably correct that John Ross and Christopher are fated to fight each other, but if the Ewings want to break one of their other vicious cycles — their penchant for being taken hostage — there’s a simple solution: Hire some security guards, for goodness sakes. I mean, these people can afford it, right?

‘Bravery’s Going to Get Your Dead, Junior’

injustice

In “Winds of Vengeance,” a first-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. and Ray (Larry Hagman, Steve Kanaly) sit in chairs while Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), Pam (Victoria Principal) and Lucy (Charlene Tilton) sit on the sofa and the gun-wielding Frick and Allen (Brian Dennehy, Cooper Huckabee) hover nearby.

LUCY: What are you going to do with us?

ALLEN: We were going to get up a softball game, but the weather. …

J.R.: Look, fellas. If you’re here for anything to do with justice.

FRICK: Shut up.

ALLEN: We’ll prove it. [Motions to Sue Ellen] This is your wife, right?

J.R.: Yes.

ALLEN: [Walks toward her] Pretty.

He reaches for her. She smacks him away.

SUE ELLEN: Don’t touch me.

J.R. tries to get up. Frick holds him place.

FRICK: [Snickering] Now bravery’s going to get you dead, Junior.

ALLEN: [To Ray] Hey, you. You! You married?

RAY: No.

ALLEN: That gives us a choice.

FRICK: [To J.R.] Hey, you know I’m married too, mister. [Kneels beside him] Yeah. My wife’s name is Wanda. You know her?

J.R.: [Sheepish] No, I don’t know any Wandas.

FRICK: Well, you got a short memory.

J.R.: I just can’t remember anybody by the name of Wanda.

ALLEN: She says she knows you pretty good.

FRICK: You know, Wanda didn’t come home last night. Now me and her brother here, we went looking for her. And guess where we found her this morning? We found her in this old motel room. Her and her friend Mary Lou.

J.R.: So?

FRICK: So she said she had been kidnapped, right off the main street by two guys last night. She said they took them up to this motel room. They got them drunk. And then they raped them.

J.R.: Well, what does that got to do with me?

ALLEN: You were kind enough to leave a business card.

J.R.: Well, now a lot of people have got my business card.

FRICK: [To Sue Ellen] Well, missus, what do you think of ol’ J.R. Ewing now? Huh? [Silence] Yeah. Yeah, maybe I’m doing you a favor, huh? [Shouting] Huh? You like him any better now knowing what a hotshot lover-boy he is?

SUE ELLEN: Him?

ALLEN: [Laughing] Somebody’s got to take care of the little lady. Looks like you don’t.

He kisses her. She screams and pushes him away as Allen laughs.

‘Your Beautiful Wife and Children Will Not Escape Unscathed’

Dishonor

In “Blame Game,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Cano (Carlos Bernard) stands in the Southfork living room and speaks to Bobby and Christopher (Patrick Duffy, Jesse Metcalfe), who is held by one of Cano’s thugs. John Ross (Josh Henderson), Pamela (Julie Gonzalo), Elena (Jordana Brewster) and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) are seated around the room, surrounded by other members of Cano’s gang.

CHRISTOPHER: What do you want, Cano?

CANO: Only what I was promised. You’re going to call Ewing Energies and you’re going to send all your employees home for the day. [The thug releases Christopher.] And once the place is empty, my friend here is going to accompany you to your office, where you’re going to retrieve the plans to your methane patent and prototype that I was promised. [Slaps his right-hand man on the back.] Now, if you are not back here within one hour, your beautiful wife and children will not escape unscathed. [Cano stands over Pamela and strokes her hair, then yanks her head back against him.]

JOHN ROSS: [Rises] Let her go! [A thug pulls him down.]

CANO: Well, your cousin has to defend your wife? Oh, wait a minute. [Laughs] You Ewing boys share after all. [Slaps his hands together] I love it! Well, since this clearly where your heart lies, you have one hour to bring me the prototype. [Holds a gun to Elena’s head]

How do you think “Winds of Vengeance” and “Blame Game” compare to each other? Share your comments below and read more “Dallas Parallels.”

Bull run

In “Past Imperfect’s” best scene, Clayton Farlow storms off the elevator at Ewing Oil, barges into J.R.’s office and shoves him onto the sofa. Clayton, who is newly engaged to Miss Ellie, has just discovered J.R. has been poking into his past — and he’s none too pleased about it. “When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that I love your mother and all I want is a chance to make her happy?” he says. J.R. looks a little rattled as Clayton stomps away, but a big grin soon breaks across his face. He turns to a shaken Sly and says, “A man who gets that angry over a little snooping must have something interesting to hide. I wonder what that is?”

Larry Hagman steals this scene with his smile, but the sequence also demonstrates why Howard Keel was an ideal successor to Jim Davis. This requires a somewhat lengthy explanation, so hang with me. First, consider the dilemma “Dallas” faced when Davis died at the end of the fourth season. The producers could have gone in several directions, including recasting Jock with another actor. Wisely, they decided instead to kill off the character and give the audience time to adjust to life without the show’s beloved patriarch. Then, in Season 6, “Dallas” began testing possible love interests for Ellie, including Dale Robertson’s Frank Crutcher, who was just as crusty as Jock but not nearly as intimidating. I also get the impression the show toyed with the idea of turning Donald Moffatt’s character, regal lawyer Brooks Oliver, into a beau for Ellie, which would have represented a total departure from Davis.

Finally, the producers turned Clayton into Ellie’s new mate. Perhaps they realized Keel offered the best of all options: He’s a big, commanding presence like Davis, but he’s also gentlemanly enough to ensure Clayton will never be accused of being a clone of the crotchety Jock. Since joining the show a few years earlier, Keel — a onetime star of MGM musicals — had become one of “Dallas’s” most reliable utility players, dutifully fulfilling whatever role the writers assigned to Clayton: Sue Ellen’s father figure/suitor, J.R.’s business adversary, Rebecca Wentworth’s gentleman caller. Clayton eventually became Ellie’s friend, which offered the first hint of the warm rapport that Keel and Barbara Bel Geddes would perfect as their on-screen relationship progressed.

Clayton also became a strong character in his own right, as we see in the wonderful scene in “Past Imperfect” where he summons J.R., Bobby and Ray to the Oil Baron’s Club — not to get their permission to wed Ellie, but to give them an opportunity to air any grievances they may have with him before the nuptials take place. Keel’s exchange with Steve Kanaly in this scene, when Clayton confidently assuring Ray that his opinion matters too, is especially good. But never forget: No matter how well Clayton got along with Ellie, Ray or anyone else, “Dallas” was J.R.’s show, and so Keel’s chemistry with Hagman mattered most of all. And since J.R. was destined to despise any man who courts his mama, the producers needed to fill this role with an actor who could play off Hagman. In Keel, they found their man.

This is why J.R. and Clayton’s confrontation in “Past Imperfect” is so crucial: It establishes that Clayton is no pushover. In the scene, Keel is fire and Hagman is ice; it’s not unlike the dynamic that exists between Hagman and Victoria Principal when Pam gets riled up. Perhaps not coincidentally, Clayton, like Pam, is an outsider who isn’t afraid to stand up to J.R., which earns Clayton instant respect from the audience — and perhaps from J.R. himself. Keel’s physical stature doesn’t hurt (the actor stood well over 6 feet, so he can look Hagman in the eye), but his booming baritone matters even more. In “Past Imperfect,” when Clayton tells J.R., “You are a liar!” the line sounds like it should be accompanied by a lightning bolt. Can you imagine Frank Crutcher or Brooks Oliver pulling off a scene like this?

J.R. and Clayton’s confrontation is a technical achievement too. Hagman, who directed “Past Imperfect,” films Keel coming off the elevator and marching into J.R.’s office in a single, continuous shot. This kind of camerawork requires a lot of coordination: Keel must deliver his lines while in motion — when Sly tells Clayton he can’t enter J.R.’s office, Clayton exclaims, “The hell I can’t!” — and the dialogue must be timed so Keel and Deborah Rennard complete their lines before Keel rounds the corner and begins his exchange with Hagman. We don’t see a lot of complicated shots like this on the original “Dallas,” but when they pop up, they’re often in episodes helmed by Hagman or Patrick Duffy. Why do actors make such inventive directors?

There are also quite a few comedic scenes in “Past Imperfect,” a reflection, perhaps, of Hagman’s sitcom roots. The best of these moments occurs when Clayton sweeps into the Southfork living room during cocktail hour to present Ellie with an engagement ring. He faces her and J.R. stands between them, with Jock’s portrait looming over J.R.’s shoulder — a harbinger of the two obstacles Ellie and Clayton will have to overcome on their way to the altar. The funny part comes when Keel takes the drink out of Bel Geddes’ hand and hands it to Hagman; Ellie and Clayton never take their eyes off each other, and the sneer on J.R.’s face makes it clear he doesn’t appreciate Clayton treating him like a servant.

Hagman also showcases Ken Kercheval’s comedic timing throughout “Past Imperfect.” In one scene, Cliff is talking about offshore oil leases at dinner with Pam and Mark when Afton asks him when he’s going to take a break and taste his meal. Cliff ignores her and keeps talking, so she gracefully sticks a forkful of food into his mouth. The blabbing continues, but after a few moments, Cliff finally realizes what happened. “Oh, this is good. Afton, it’s terrific,” he says. In another scene, Cliff interrupts a romantic moment between Pam and Mark with another monologue about the offshore oil deal he’s pitching to them. They ignore him and walk away. “Well, I thought I was talking to somebody,” he says.

I like how Hagman frames the latter scene, with Pam and Mark facing each other and Cliff in the middle, looking at both of them. (It echoes the earlier cocktail scene with Ellie, Clayton and J.R.) Hagman delivers several other nifty shots in “Past Imperfect,” including one where Sue Ellen drops off John Ross on his first day of school and watches workers raising the Texas flag in front of the building. Hagman opens with a tight, stationary close-up of the flag; as the flag rises out of the frame, it reveals Peter Richards leaning against his jeep in the distance, waiting for Sue Ellen. It’s a cool effect, although it also illustrates how stalkerish Peter is becoming.

Speaking of John Ross’s first day of school: “Past Imperfect” seems to confirm what I suspected — that the beginning of “Dallas’s” seventh season takes place in the summertime. This makes sense, since John Ross attends a day camp in these episodes, and that’s the kind of thing kids do in the summer. But if we assume John Ross’s school year begins on the first Tuesday of September, how do we explain the scenes in this episode that take place one day earlier, when J.R., Bobby and their secretaries are shown going about their business during a typical day at the office? You don’t suppose J.R. was heartless enough to make everyone work on Labor Day, do you?

Grade: A

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Four’s a crowd

‘PAST IMPERFECT’

Season 7, Episode 13

Airdate: December 23, 1983

Audience: 20.1 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Paulsen

Director: Larry Hagman

Synopsis: Clayton tells the Ewing brothers he wants to make Miss Ellie happy, but he becomes angry when he finds out J.R. has been snooping into his past. Cliff, believing J.R. wants to bid on offshore oil leases, approaches Mark about bidding too, but Mark is skittish. After Sue Ellen breaks up with Peter, Lucy learns he’s dropped out of school. Bobby buys a boutique for Jenna to run. In Rome, Katherine searches for Naldo Marchetta, Jenna’s ex-husband.

Cast: Christopher Atkins (Peter Richards), John Beck (Mark Graison), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), James L. Brown (Detective Harry McSween), Roseanna Christiansen (Teresa), Pat Colbért (Dora Mae), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Michael Griswold (Thomas Hall), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Omri Katz (John Ross Ewing), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Alberto Morin (Armando Sidoni) Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (Jenna Wade), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Danone Simpson (Kendall), Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis)

“Past Imperfect” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Wrong turn, darlin’

The “Offshore Crude” scene where Sue Ellen goes to Peter’s apartment to break up with him is one of “Dallas’s” sillier moments. When she arrives, Peter is wearing nothing but a towel and a face full of shaving cream, so he excuses himself and returns to the bathroom to finish freshening up. While he’s at the sink, Sue Ellen stands with her back to him and pours out her heart, explaining why the two of them can no longer see each other. She finishes her speech and is surprised to see Peter is unfazed, until she realizes he didn’t hear a word she said because the water was running. Sue Ellen, who apparently is too drained to repeat herself, allows the none-the-wiser Peter to hug her tightly and gush about how important she is to him. “I love you. I really do love you,” he says.

Oh, good grief. Linda Gray and Christopher Atkins do their best to sell this scene, but there’s only so much they can do. Sue Ellen’s confession that she only slept with Peter to persuade him to go back to college isn’t credible, and I don’t believe she’d deliver such important news while he’s shaving and she’s facing the other direction. Frankly, I’m even a little surprised to discover the baby-faced Peter shaves. Like Bobby and Pam’s breakup at the beginning of “Dallas’s” seventh season, this is another example of how the writers rely on misunderstanding and miscommunication to drive their storytelling. Sometimes this show has more in common with “Three’s Company” than I care to admit.

Nothing else about “Offshore Crude” is quite this fatuous, except for the shots that depict the Ewings spending a leisurely Saturday afternoon by the Southfork swimming pool. These scenes were filmed on “Dallas’s” Hollywood soundstage, where the pool is noticeably smaller than its real-life Texas counterpart. So why does the show concoct a race between Bobby, Ray and Peter? It only takes Patrick Duffy, Steve Kanaly and Atkins a few strokes each to go from one end of the pool to the other. Bradford May, the show’s seventh-season cinematographer, makes the outdoor sets look a little more convincing than they did in previous seasons, although there’s still no mistaking them for the real thing. Scenes like this make me so happy the new “Dallas” films its exterior scenes outdoors.

The rest of “Offshore Crude” is standard-issue, mid-1980s “Dallas.” J.R. and Sue Ellen have a couple of good fight scenes, including one where he enters her bedroom and wonders if she’s avoiding Peter because she’s afraid his acne is contagious. I love how Gray hisses Sue Ellen’s response: “Your jokes aren’t funny. They are disgusting and boring.” (I predict I’ll spend the next week quoting that line to anyone who will listen.) Larry Hagman is also wonderfully diabolical in “Offshore Crude’s” final scene, when J.R. summons Edgar Randolph to his office and tells him he’s glad Edgar rejected his recent attempt to bribe him: “If my money can’t buy you, nobody else’s can either.” No matter how much time I spend with J.R., he always manages to surprise me.

I also like the scene where Cliff and Marilee sneak off to a bar on a Saturday night to plot their latest business deal. Fern Fitzgerald delivers another one of her delicious performances as the wine-sipping Marilee, who is clearly savoring this opportunity to mix business with pleasure. I also love seeing Cliff trade in his flashy suit for that nifty electric blue shirt. “Offshore Crude” also includes a fun scene between Miss Ellie and Clayton, who skip the usual family dinner at Southfork to take in a meal at the Oil Baron’s Club. The conversation is mostly designed to lay the groundwork for the arrival of his sister Jessica at the end of the season, but it also plays on the charming rapport between Barbara Bel Geddes and Howard Keel and ends with Clayton asking for the check so he can whisk Ellie away to the city’s last big-band dance club.

This turns out to be the only time Bel Geddes and Keel appear in “Offshore Crude.” What a shame. I’d much rather see Ellie and Clayton on the dance floor than watch the rest of the Ewings frolicking around that tiny pool.

Grade: B

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Unbought

‘OFFSHORE CRUDE’

Season 7, Episode 15

Airdate: January 13, 1984

Audience: 20.3 million homes, ranking 6th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Paulsen

Director: Ray Danton

Synopsis: Cliff decides to bid on the offshore oil leases after Sly lies and tells him that J.R. is planning to bid too. J.R. lets Edgar know he has damaging information about him. Peter tells Sue Ellen he loves her. After failing to find Naldo in Rome, Katherine returns to Dallas.

Cast: Mary Armstrong (Louise), Christopher Atkins (Peter Richards), John Beck (Mark Graison), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Morgan Brittany (Katherine Wentworth), Martin E. Brooks (Edgar Randolph), Roseanna Christiansen (Teresa), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Omri Katz (John Ross Ewing), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Anne Lucas (Cassie), Shalane McCall (Charlie Wade), Alberto Morin (Armando Sidoni), Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (Jenna Wade), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Offshore Crude” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

What’s in a name?

The titles and airdates for the first six episodes from “Dallas’s” new season are starting to pop up on TiVo and online TV listings. Stop reading now if you don’t appreciate breathless speculation about even the tiniest “Dallas” tidbits.

Here are the titles and dates: “The Return,” February 24; “Trust Me,” March 3; “Playing Chicken,” March 10; “Lifting the Veil,” March 17; “D.T.R.,” March 24; and “Like Father, Like Son,” March 31.

The listings also include a brief synopsis for “The Return,” the season’s first episode: “Sue Ellen plans a wedding for John Ross and Pamela; John Ross and Bobby dispute their joint ownership of Southfork; Elena returns to Dallas with a secret agenda; a mysterious stranger arrives.”

Keep in mind: This kind of stuff is subject to change, so take all of it with a grain of Southfork soil. Nevertheless, it’s worth considering what we might glean from this minutiae. For example, doesn’t “Lifting the Veil” seems like a good bet to be the wedding episode that brings Ray (Steve Kanaly), Lucy (Charlene Tilton) and Afton (Audrey Landers) back to Southfork? As for “D.T.R.”? Urban Dictionary tells us this expression is slang for “define the relationship,” although I wouldn’t put it past those crafty “Dallas” writers to give the acronym its own twist.

Thanks to Dallas Decoder reader Joe Siegler for tipping us off to the titles and airdates.

What do you think of the new “Dallas” episode titles? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more #DallasS3 news from Dallas Decoder. 

Ain’t over yet

It’s never too late to start watching “Dallas.” If you missed the original show and the first two seasons of TNT’s sequel series, fear not: This post will tell you everything you need to know before Season 3 begins on Monday, February 24. (*OK, this isn’t really everything that’s happened on “Dallas.” For that, you’ll have to keep reading Dallas Decoder every day.)

The Original Series (1978 to 1991)

In the beginning

Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), the youngest son of a rich oil and cattle clan, marries Pam Barnes (Victoria Principal) and brings her home to Southfork, the Ewing ranch. This upsets everyone, especially Pam’s daddy Digger (David Wayne), who blames Bobby’s daddy Jock (Jim Davis) for stealing his sweetheart, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), and cheating him out of half of Ewing Oil. While Bobby’s devious brother J.R. (Larry Hagman) is building the family empire and catting around, J.R.’s neglected wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) becomes an alcoholic and has an affair with Cliff (Ken Kercheval), Pam’s vengeful brother. Later, J.R. and Sue Ellen have a son, John Ross, while Bobby and Pam adopt Christopher, the orphaned child of Sue Ellen’s sister Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby) and sleazy Jeff Faraday (Art Hindle). Elsewhere, Ray Krebbs, Southfork’s foreman, discovers Jock is his daddy and marries savvy politico Donna Culver (Susan Howard), while Lucy (Charlene Tilton), the daughter of J.R. and Bobby’s middle brother Gary (Ted Shackelford) and his wife Valene (Joan Van Ark), gets engaged to everyone.

End of an era

More drama: Digger dies and so does Jock, leaving Ellie to hold the family together with help from second hubby Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel). Southfork burns down, but the Ewings rebuild it. Cliff hooks up with Afton Cooper (Audrey Landers), who gives birth to their daughter Pamela Rebecca, but Afton refuses to let Cliff near the child because of his fixation with destroying the Ewings. Cliff and Pam’s half-sister Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany) arrives, becomes obsessed with Bobby and tries to kill him, then vanishes under a big hat. Sue Ellen beats the bottle and divorces J.R., while Pam has a bad dream, gets burned in a car crash and runs away. Bobby has an on-again, off-again romance with first love Jenna Wade (Priscilla Beaulieu Presley), who gives birth to their son Lucas and then marries newly divorced Ray. James (Sasha Mitchell), J.R.’s illegitimate son, shows up for a while and emulates the old man. Bobby marries April (Sheree J. Wilson), but she dies. J.R. marries Cally (Cathy Podewell), but she leaves. In the end, Cliff finally takes over Ewing Oil, leaving J.R. alone and suicidal.

Hurts so good

Best Episode: “Swan Song.” The eighth-season finale finds J.R. and Sue Ellen’s marriage on the rocks, unlike the vodka she’s secretly swilling in her bedroom.  Meanwhile, Bobby chooses Pam over Jenna, but crazy Katherine runs him over with her car. The episode ends with the Ewings bidding farewell to Bobby in a deathbed scene that’s so beautifully written and acted, you almost wish it wasn’t part of Pam’s dream. Almost.

Shot in the dark

J.R.’s Greatest Moment: Who shot J.R.? Sure, taking a couple of slugs to the gut is no fun for our hero, but at least he makes billions of dollars in a risky offshore oil deal before he’s gunned down. Oh, and in case you didn’t hear, J.R.’s assailant turns out to be Kristin, his sister-in-law/ex-secretary/ex-mistress, who’s revealed as the shooter in one of the most-watched broadcasts in television history. (Props to Sue Ellen, who figures it all out.)

TNT Season 1 (2012)

When cousins clash

J.R. emerges from a nursing home and tricks Bobby into selling him Southfork so he can tap the ocean of oil flowing beneath it. Like their fathers, John Ross and Christopher (Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe) butt heads, except their rivalry has an added twist: John Ross has fallen for Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster), who was Christopher’s childhood sweetheart. Christopher marries Rebecca Sutter (Julie Gonzalo), unaware that she’s the daughter of Cliff, who is now the gazillionaire owner of Barnes Global and still hell-bent on destroying the Ewings. Rebecca kills her lover Tommy Sutter (Callard Harris) in self-defense and has Cliff’s henchman Frank Ashkani (Faran Tahir) dispose of the body. Meanwhile, Sue Ellen runs for governor; Bobby’s new wife Ann (Brenda Strong) feels threatened by ex-husband Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi), who knows she’s harboring a dark secret; and John Ross, Christopher and Elena form a company, Ewing Energies, but the partnership is threatened when Elena breaks her engagement to John Ross and reunites with Christopher, who dumps the pregnant Rebecca.

Bad does good

Best Episode: “Family Business.” In one of Hagman’s most poignant performances, J.R. learns Bobby is secretly battling cancer and returns Southfork to him, ending the season-long war for the ranch. Later, in a chill-inducing musical montage (set to Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around”), poor Bobby suffers a seizure and Rebecca shoots Tommy, splattering blood over her unborn twins’ stuffed animals. Hmmm. Foreshadow, much?

Pass the torch

J.R.’s Greatest Moment: Who loves J.R.? His son John Ross, who ends the season by gazing at the Dallas skyline with dear old dad and asking him to teach him “every dirty trick” he knows so he can push Christopher and Elena out of Ewing Energies. J.R. beams with pride and tells John Ross that he’s his son “from tip to tail.” Hey, J.R. may have given up the fight for Southfork, but he wasn’t giving up his devious ways — thank goodness.

TNT Season 2 (2013)

All about evil

Rebecca reveals she’s Pamela Rebecca Barnes and hooks up with John Ross. Ann shoots Harris after learning he kidnapped their daughter Emma when she was a baby and sent her to be raised by his control-freak mother, Judith (Judith Light). Ann gets probation, Harris recovers and Judith falls down the stairs. Frank takes the blame for Tommy’s death and kills himself at the request of Cliff, who causes Pamela’s miscarriage. When J.R. is murdered in Mexico, it appears Cliff is the killer, so Bobby, Christopher and newlyweds John Ross and Pamela plant evidence on Cliff to make sure he’s arrested. Oh, and Christopher also discovers Cliff covered up his mom’s death. Elsewhere, John Ross somehow inherits half of Southfork; Sue Ellen loses the election but continues to tangle with Governor McConaughey (Steven Weber); Emma (Emma Bell) sleeps with Elena’s ne’er-do-well brother Drew (Kuno Becker), becomes John Ross’s mistress and turns Harris in to the cops for drug trafficking; and when Christopher dumps Elena, jailbird Cliff asks her to become his proxy at Barnes Global, which the Ewings now control.

Mourning glory

Best Episode: “J.R.’s Masterpiece.” Our hero is laid to rest in an instant-classic hour that brings back several stars from the original series. The highlight: On the night before J.R.’s burial, Sue Ellen takes a heartbreaking tumble off the wagon, then delivers a mesmerizing eulogy for the man she calls “the love of my life.” Can someone please explain how Linda Gray didn’t win an Emmy for this performance?

Only you

J.R.’s Greatest Moment: Who killed J.R.? J.R. did, of course. It turns out he was dying of cancer and arranged his own death so Cliff could be framed for the crime, thus ending the Barnes-Ewing feud … for about 2 minutes, at least. Only a handful of people know the truth, including Bobby, J.R.’s loyal private eye Bum (Kevin Page), Christopher and John Ross, who gets it right when he says, “The only person who could take down J.R. … was J.R.”

What are your favorite “Dallas” memories? What do you want to see happen in Season 3? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Mama sees all

Here are the questions we’re pondering as we await tonight’s telecast of “Lifting the Veil,” TNT’s latest “Dallas” episode:

• What will Sue Ellen do about John Ross? In “Playing Chicken,” Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) continued to plan a traditional Southfork wedding for the recently eloped John Ross and Pamela (Josh Henderson, Julie Gonzalo), even though she harbored lingering doubts about her son’s fidelity to his bride. Sue Ellen told Ann (Brenda Strong) she feared John Ross was sleeping with Emma (Emma Bell); Ann then shared Sue Ellen’s suspicions with Harris (Mitch Pileggi) and asked him to help her reign in their daughter. Meanwhile, Sue Ellen met with Bum (Kevin Page) to determine if he told her the truth about John Ross being faithful to Pamela. After Sue Ellen laid a major guilt trip on Bum, he confessed everything. “I lied to you, Sue Ellen. You were right about John Ross and Emma. I’m sorry,” Bum said. Sue Ellen’s response: “Not nearly as sorry as I am.” How will she deal with the truth about her son?

• What will Judith do about John Ross? When Harris told Judith (Judith Light) that Emma and John Ross are sleeping together, Judith was nonplussed. “Good for her. John Ross is a nice-looking young man,” she said. But Judith changed her tune when Harris told her John Ross now possesses Harris’s secret files, which he said contains “unflattering” information about her. She told Harris, “I’m sure we can find something to compromise young Mr. Ewing enough to convince him to return those files. And by ‘we,’ of course I mean ‘me.’” What should worry John Ross more — the fact that Judith thinks he’s cute or the fact she wants those files back?

• Will John Ross and Pamela say, “I do”? Emma seemed determined to undermine John Ross’s marriage. She buddied up to Pamela during a shopping spree and then ruined her plan to surprise John Ross with new lingerie: Emma bought the same outfit and wore it for John Ross first; when he saw Pamela wearing it, he was rattled and lost interest in having sex with his wife. Given all the turbulence in John Ross’s life, we wonder: Will his wedding to Pamela go off without a hitch?

• What will Elena and Nicolas do next? Nicolas (Juan Pablo Di Pace) tracked down Rhonda Simmons (Emily Kosloski), the woman whose testimony helped convict Cliff (Ken Kercheval) of J.R.’s “murder,” and offered her $25,000 to admit she lied, but Rhonda refused to betray the Ewings. Meanwhile, Elena (Jordana Brewster) came up empty-handed when she searched for surveillance video to prove Cliff’s gun was stolen from the firing range. The setbacks frustrated Elena, but Nicolas confessed his love for her and they had sex — unaware that Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) was digging into Nicolas’s past in Mexico, where he met a beautiful woman named Lucia (Angélica Celaya), who introduced herself as Nicolas’s wife. Should Elena continue to trust Nicolas — and should Christopher trust Lucia?

• What will the Ewings do about their business? John Ross blackmailed Bo (Donny Boaz) into joining his Southfork drilling venture by threatening to expose the ranch hand’s drug-dealing past. But John Ross’s scheming was for naught: Bobby (Patrick Duffy) shut down the project when he revealed the state would refuse to issue John Ross a drilling permit because the project endangered the lesser prairie chicken, a threatened species in Texas. If the Ewings can’t tap the oil under the ranch, how will they finance their Arctic drilling plans?

• Will our old favorites have much to do? John Ross and Pamela’s wedding will bring three stars from the original “Dallas” back to Southfork: Lucy (Charlene Tilton), Ray (Steve Kanaly) and Afton (Audrey Landers). When Kanaly spoke to Dallas Decoder before production on this episode began, he told us Ray and Lucy don’t have big roles in this episode, but suggested Afton will be featured more prominently. If nothing else, will we hear the divine Miss Cooper sing?

What “Dallas Burning Questions” are on your mind? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and watch “Dallas” tonight at 9 on TNT.

If only she knew

Here’s what happened in “Lifting the Veil,” TNT’s latest “Dallas” episode:

• John Ross blasted Emma. On the morning of his wedding to Pamela, John Ross (Josh Henderson) received a call from his secretary Candice (Jude Demorest), who told him Stanley Babcock, the railroad commissioner who denied his drilling permit, was willing to see him. John Ross dashed off to the meeting, but not before blasting Emma (Emma Bell) for spoiling Pamela’s plan to surprise him with sexy lingerie. “You may screw like a woman, but you act like an attention-starved little brat,” he said, leaving Emma seething.

• Harris and John Ross cut a deal. When John Ross arrived for his meeting with Babcock, he was surprised to find Harris (Mitch Pileggi) waiting for him instead. Harris offered him a deal: If John Ross agreed to return the top-secret Ryland files, Harris said he would help John Ross get his permit from Babcock. After some haggling, John Ross agreed to return only one item from Harris’s files: a flash drive that Harris covets above all else. After John Ross met with Emma and sweet-talked her into agreeing to give up the flash drive, he was summoned by Harris to an upscale brothel, where Babcock (Currie Graham) was indulging in his kinky fetishes with a prostitute dressed like a dog. John Ross interrupted Babcock and persuaded the humiliated man to give him the drilling permit.

This left John Ross and Harris with nothing to do but wait around the brothel for Bum to retrieve the flash drive from Emma and bring it them. Harris killed the time by presenting John Ross with a wedding present: the “company” of two prostitutes who were all too eager to please John Ross. But before anything serious happened, Bum (Kevin Page) showed up with the flash drive and gave John Ross a stern look. “You’re flying mighty close to the sun with all this,” Bum said.

• Sue Ellen clashed with Afton — and John Ross. Back at the ranch, the wedding guests began arriving, including Lucy and Ray (Charlene Tilton, Steve Kanaly), who couldn’t help but notice John Ross was nowhere to be seen. Pamela (Julie Gonzalo) noticed too and grew increasingly anxious, while Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), upset over her son’s infidelity, took a nip from her flask. The tension finally erupted when Afton (Audrey Landers) turned to Sue Ellen and snapped, “All the despicable things J.R. did to you through the years. You’d think you’d have taught your son better than this.” Sue Ellen’s cutting response: “Just so you know, Afton, the most despicable thing J.R. ever did was you.” Poor Ann (Brenda Strong) had to referee.

But the drama was just beginning. Once John Ross arrived, Sue Ellen finally confronted him over his affair with Emma, but he told his mother the relationship was his business. Sue Ellen refused to back down and threatened to tell Pamela everything, but John Ross pointed out how his mother’s breath smelled of liquor and said, “You have looked the other way your whole life, Mama. One more time’s not going to hurt.”

• John Ross and Pamela exchanged vows. After Afton slapped John Ross on the back of his head for going AWOL, he urged Pamela to forgive him. “We are meant for each other. I know that with every cell of my being. OK? I’ll prove it to you. I just need you to give me the chance,” he said. She agreed and went through with the ceremony, but before the couple sped off in Ewing V for their honeymoon, John Ross let Bobby (Patrick Duffy) know that Babcock promised him the drilling permit. “I’ll give you credit, John Ross, you are more and more like your daddy every day. But he never drilled this ranch. And mark my words: neither will you,” Bobby said.

But Bobby wasn’t nearly as confident in private. After blasting Babcock over the phone, he turned to Sue Ellen and told her he doesn’t “have a move left” to stop John Ross from drilling. Sue Ellen’s response: “But I do.”

• Christopher and Elena continued to move on. In Mexico, Drew (Kuno Becker) overheard Christopher’s conversation with Lucia (Angélica Celaya), who confirmed that Nicolas isn’t her husband’s real name but said he has nothing to hide. Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) returned to Southfork and confronted Elena (Jordana Brewster), who said Nicolas is getting a divorce. “For someone who needed an annulment before marrying me, you seem pretty cavalier about playing around with a married man,” Christopher said. Elena’s response: “I’m not playing around. I’m playing him.”

Later, Christopher and Heather (AnnaLynne McCord) made love in the barn, while Nicolas (Juan Pablo Di Pace) assured a rattled Elena that his marriage is indeed over. But this turned out to be not so true: Lucia arrived in Dallas and blackmailed her estranged husband into reconciling with her. “The Ewings are determined to know who you really are. If you don’t do as I say, I’ll tell them what you owe and who you owe it to,” she said.

• Harris and Judith schemed. Harris’s precious flash drive turned out to contain encrypted CIA files; once the drive was back in his possession, he was summoned to the office of the madam who runs the brothel, who turned out to be … Judith (Judith Light). When she asked how Harris planned to get the rest of the files from John Ross, Harris showed her pictures of the prostitutes trying to seduce John Ross and told his mother one of the young women is only 16. Harris suggested he was going to frame John Ross by making it look he actually had sex with the girl, but Judith couldn’t fathom how her son would accomplish that. This is when Harris introduced his mother to his secret weapon: Candice, John Ross’s secretary, who has been secretly working for Harris all along.

What did you think of “Lifting the Veil”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and look for Dallas Decoder’s critique later this week.

Gang’s all here

“Dallas” has slipped again in the ratings: “Lifting the Veil,” the latest episode, was seen by 1.78 million viewers on March 17. This is the TNT drama’s smallest audience yet. There is a bright spot, however: The show drew roughly 600,000 viewers in the advertiser-prized demographic of adults between ages 18 and 49, up from about 500,000 viewers in this category during the previous Monday telecast.

“Dallas” also continues to get a lift from DVR users who record the show and watch it a few days later. The previous episode, “Playing Chicken,” debuted to 1.99 million viewers on March 10, although when DVR users are counted, the audience increased to 2.7 million viewers. This haul includes 1.1 million adults between ages 25 and 54, a demographic that TNT targets, and 889,000 adults between ages 18 and 49.

“Dallas” is averaging about 2.1 million viewers on Monday nights this winter, down from 2.7 million last year. The show is essentially tied with the crime drama “Perception” as the second most-watched drama on TNT’s winter schedule. Only “Rizzoli & Isles,” which is averaging 3.9 million viewers on Tuesday nights, is more popular.

TNT will pull both “Rizzoli & Isles” and “Perception” from its schedule after tonight and bring them back in June, while “Dallas” will continue to show new episodes until mid-April and then take its long-planned midseason break. The second half of “Dallas’s” third season will begin Monday, August 18, TNT announced last week.

How About Some More Retail Therapy?

Buckle up

Since we told you about the Ewing Oil Company Store last month, the independent online retailer has added several new products, including its most exclusive offering yet: a J.R. belt buckle like the one John Ross inherited on “Dallas” a few episodes ago.

The bronze buckle, which measures 3 inches by 4 inches, features a rope twist border and a flowering field surrounding the “JR” initials. The price: $65.95. Stephen W. Phillips, who owns and operates the store, plans to sell 23 buckles in honor of Ewing 23, the oil field that famously blew up on the original series.

The buckles will ship in the summer, Phillips said. Each one will come with a Ewing Oil stock certificate, a J.R. Ewing business card and a replica of John Ross’s black credit card.

Other recent additions to the store’s inventory: new versions of the J.R. liquor decanters (each one named for one of his mistresses; we’re partial to the “Harwood” model), a Braddock County road sign and a Harris Ryland bake oven.

If the store adds green corsets to its lineup, we’ll let you know.

“Drill Bits,” a roundup of news about TNT’s “Dallas,” is published regularly. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Long time coming

“Lifting the Veil” reveals new truths about several “Dallas” characters, beginning with John Ross. We’ve always known he was as ambitious and as charming as J.R., but in the scene where Sue Ellen confronts him about his infidelity and he treats her cruelly, we discover the son can also be as mean as the father. This episode offers fresh insight into Sue Ellen’s psyche as well. It’s clear now that she’s having trouble letting go of the past, although to be fair, every time she takes a nip from her flask, we’re reminded that the past has a pretty firm grip on her too.

The confrontation between mother and son is the hands-down highlight of “Lifting the Veil,” an hour that brims with history and heartache. The scene begins when Sue Ellen enters John Ross’s bedroom while he’s getting ready for his wedding and tells him she knows he’s been cheating with Emma. John Ross dismisses the relationship as “just business,” which only disgusts Sue Ellen further. “Just like your daddy, finding a way to explain infidelity,” she says. John Ross responds by pointing out the smell of alcohol on his mother’s breath, but she doesn’t back down and threatens to tell Pamela about his affair. John Ross is nonplussed. He brushes past Sue Ellen and delivers his lowest blow yet: “You have looked the other way you’re whole life, Mama. One more time’s not going to hurt.”

Josh Henderson does a nice job bringing John Ross’s dark side into the light, just like Larry Hagman used to do with J.R. For Henderson, though, this amounts to a creative risk: Until now, he’s played John Ross as a (mostly) likable rapscallion, but in this scene, the actor shows us he’s equally adept at making his character seem like an unapologetic jerk. Henderson makes John Ross’s ever-growing hubris feel believable throughout this episode (including during his pre-wedding visit to the brothel), but especially in this scene. Linda Gray, in the meantime, is as magnificent as ever. You can feel Sue Ellen’s pain when Gray delivers that “just like your daddy” line; it’s the character’s saddest moment since her graveside eulogy for her ex-husband in “J.R.’s Masterpiece.” In some ways, “Lifting the Veil” serves as a kind of companion piece to the funeral episode. The first one shows Sue Ellen grieving the loss of J.R.; in the second, she mourns his “return” through the sinful nature of their son.

I also like how Bethany Rooney, a first-time “Dallas” director, stages John Ross and Sue Ellen’s confrontation. The conversation unfolds while he’s fastening his cuff links and putting on his jacket; the casualness of his actions makes his words seem even more devastating. This is one of those times I wish TNT’s Southfork sets more closely resembled those used on the original “Dallas.” J.R. and Sue Ellen’s old bedroom was such a battleground; how cool would it have been to see John Ross and Sue Ellen clash in that setting? On the other hand: the newer bedroom has become a consequential place in its own right. This is where Sue Ellen once slapped J.R. and where she got drunk on the night before his funeral. It’s where John Ross defended his relationship with Pamela to his father and now, it’s where he defends his unfaithfulness to her to his mother.

Speaking of Pamela: I also like the “Lifting the Veil” scene where John Ross pleads with her to go through with their wedding, despite the fact that he was missing for much of the day. Henderson is so heartfelt, it almost inoculates John Ross from the anger we feel toward him after he’s mean to his mama. (Emphasis on “almost.”) Julie Gonzalo makes Pamela’s disappointment palpable, and I like how Taylor Hamra’s script gives her a line where she notes how much John Ross’s apologies sound like the ones Cliff used to offer her. It’s a subtle reminder that Pamela is still haunted by her daddy, just like John Ross is haunted by his.

This brings me to a gripe: I wish “Lifting the Veil” played up the old Barnes/Ewing feud a little more. The wedding of J.R.’s son and Cliff’s daughter is a moment of consequence to students of “Dallas” mythology; I’m glad Rooney gave us a glimpse of the framed photograph of J.R., but I would’ve also loved a shot of Cliff, stewing in his Mexican jail cell, knowing his daughter was marrying a Ewing back home. Likewise, “Dallas” does such a nice job of incorporating Audrey Landers into the narrative whenever she guest stars — Sue Ellen and Afton’s bitchy exchange was a special treat for longtime fans — so I can’t help but wonder why the show seems to struggle to find meaningful things for Steve Kanaly and Charlene Tilton to do when Ray and Lucy visit.

Additionally, it’s worth noting this episode takes place in a single day — you’d have to dig deep into “Dallas’s” past, all the way back to 1978’s “Barbecue,” to find another — although I wish the focus remained on the doings at Southfork the way it does in the early episode. I could do without most of the “Lifting the Veil” scenes set at the brothel (the fanciest little whorehouse in Texas?), especially the silly bit with the railroad commissioner and his canine fetish. The revelation that Judith Ryland is the madam is also a bit much, especially when you consider the show has already established her as a drug smuggler. Does Mother Ryland rob banks too? On the other hand: I like the twist that Harris is secretly working with John Ross’s secretary, Candice, although I’m not wild about his scheme to use her to collect, uh, DNA evidence from John Ross in order to frame him for a sex crime.

My reservations about the Rylands aside, you’ve got to love Judith Light’s 1980s lion’s–mane hair in her brothel scene, as well each actor’s pitch-perfect look at the wedding. Since interviewing “Dallas” costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin and hairstylist Charles Yusko, I’ve developed a much greater appreciation for how crucial the wardrobe and hair teams are to establishing each character’s persona. To see what I mean, go watch the wedding scenes at the end of the new show’s first episode, “Changing of the Guard.” Notice how much more sophisticated and womanly Gonzalo’s character looks in “Lifting the Veil” when compared to the earlier wedding? The two sequences were filmed just two years apart, so the change in the actress’s appearance is achieved mostly through Yusko and Kunin’s magic.

In a show that has more than its share of big stars, it’s always worth remembering that some of the brightest work behind the scenes.

Grade: B

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Like father, like husband

‘LIFTING THE VEIL’

Season 3, Episode 4

Telecast: March 17, 2014

Audience: 1.8 million viewers on March 17

Writers: Taylor Hamra

Director: Bethany Rooney

Synopsis: John Ross blackmails a Texas land-use commissioner into giving him a permit to drill on Southfork, while Harris tells Judith he’s secretly working with Ewing Energies secretary Candice, who’s going to help Harris frame John Ross so he can blackmail him and reclaim his files. Sue Ellen confronts John Ross about his affair with Emma, but John Ross dismisses his mother’s concerns and exchanges vows with Pamela. Christopher returns from Mexico and warns Elena that Nicolas is married, but Nicolas assures Elena he’s getting a divorce. Later, Lucia arrives in Dallas and threatens to expose secrets from Nicolas’s past if he doesn’t reconcile with her, while Christopher and Heather make love.

Cast: Kuno Becker (Drew Ramos), Emma Bell (Emma Ryland), Jordana Brewster (Elena Ramos), Angélica Celaya (Lucia Treviño), Candice (Jude Demorest), Juan Pablo Di Pace (Nicolas Treviño), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Julie Gonzalo (Pamela Ewing), Currie Graham (Commissioner Stanley Babcock), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Josh Henderson (John Ross Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Judith Light (Judith Ryland), AnnaLynne McCord (Heather), Jesse Metcalfe (Christopher Ewing), Mitch Pileggi (Harris Ryland), Brenda Strong (Ann Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Denyse Tontz (Chastity), Erika Page White (Sapphire)

“Lifting the Veil” is available at DallasTNT.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Barnburner

The only thing the Ewings love more than a dip in the pool is a roll in the hay. In “Lifting the Veil,” TNT’s most recent “Dallas” episode, Christopher and Heather (Jesse Metcalfe, AnnaLynne McCord) got romantic in the Southfork barn, continuing a tradition that goes back to “Dallas’s” earliest days. Here’s a look at the five hottest hayloft scenes from the original series.

Pammus interruptus

5. Lucy and Jimmy. Lucy (Charlene Tilton) was hot to trot for Camaro-driving Jimmy (James Canning) when he attended a Ewing Barbecue with his Uncle Digger. But as soon as she lured Jimmy to the hayloft, killjoy Pam arrived and told Jimmy he had to take Digger home before he drunkenly belted out any more verses to “The Yellow Rose of Texas” on the dance floor. Pam then hung around the hayloft for some alone time, which turned out be a big mistake: J.R. showed up and tried to mend fences with her, which ended in a different kind of hay roll for poor Pammy.

Power tools. Grrr.

4. Ray and Jenna. Not long after Jenna (Priscilla Beaulieu Presley) started shacking up with the newly divorced Ray (Steve Kanaly), she went roaming around his house and eventually wound up in the barn, where she found him doing manly Ray things. The next thing you knew, these two were undressing each other in one of the stables. Was it the sight of the shirtless Ray working with power tools that turned on Jenna? Or was this her way of thanking him for taking in her and her two bratty kids? We never found out. Maybe it’s better that way.

Stacked

3. Sue Ellen and Dusty. Hey, look everyone: Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) is home from the sanitarium — and just in time for the annual Ewing Rodeo. Hooray! How is she going to celebrate her return to Southfork? Well, for starters, she’s going to tell off J.R.’s latest tramp, Mandy, and then she’s going to head over to the barn for a little extra-marital lovin’ of her own with Dusty (Jared Martin). Good plan, Sue Ellen! I suppose it’s kind of shocking to see this uptown lady cavorting in such a down-home setting, but let’s be honest: When Sue Ellen rolls in the hay, she makes it look classy.

Virgin territory

2. J.R. and Laurette. “Dallas: The Early Years” is full of historic moments, but the biggest event of all might be when the teenaged J.R. (Kevin Wixted) loses his virginity to his poodle-skirted girlfriend Laurette (Bethany Wright) in the Southfork barn. It’s a kick to see J.R. learning how to charm a lady — he calls her “sugar” and brings along a bottle of beer to get her in the mood — and even though this isn’t exactly the kind of romantic setting we’re used to seeing our hero in, it beats that time he seduced a different floozy (cough, cough Afton) in his own marital bed.

Head games

1. Lucy and Ray. “Dallas’s” first roll in the hay is still the kinkest — and the ickiest, in retrospect. On the day Bobby brought home his new bride Pam, Lucy was in the hayloft getting chummy with Ray, who was still carrying a torch for Pam, his ex-girlfriend. Naughty Lucy even made Ray call her by Pam’s name during their encounter, which is pretty darn twisted. Years later, the audience discovered Ray is Lucy’s uncle, which rendered their past relationship into the Storyline No One Dare Speak of Again. Maybe the producers forgot about it, but the fans never did. (Do we ever?)

What’s your favorite “Dallas” hayloft scene? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more Dal-Lists.