Dallas Season 2 Premier Thoughts
So “Dallas” returned with two episodes back to back as the season 2 premier. It picked up right where last season left off. John Ross, Elena, Christopher and Bobby had formed a new Ewing Enterprises company, but John Ross is still against Christophers plans for clean energy and is plotting to take over the company. Meanwhile Christopher is in a legal battle with Rebecca, fighting for an annulment as well as custody of the babies. Anne opened up to Bobby about her long lost daughter, while the election for Governor was coming up and Sue Ellen looked to be a shoe in . . .
I definitely had a lot of issues with some of these stories. I kept having to remind myself it’s a soap, reality is boring in soaps, and real world rules don’t apply. However sometimes when they do something so absurd, it just irks me. A lot of things irked me in these episodes, but I still overall enjoyed it.
Let’s start with the Rebecca fiasco. Christopher located Tommy’s real sister, the real Rebecca Sutter, who agreed to testify against fake Rebecca in exchange for Christopher not going after her brother. Everyone thinks Tommy has just gone missing, and Rebecca is trying to find him. Later the fake Rebecca revealed who she really was to all and what she wanted. Her real name is Pamela Rebecca Barnes, and she doesn’t wan an annulment, she was a divorce and half of Christopher’s shares of Ewing Enterprises. John Ross, wanting to undermine Christopher, agreed to help Pamela against Christopher. He wanted to make Christopher and Elena hurt, so they bribed the real Rebecca to not testify against Pamela Rebecca in court. This would assure a messy divorce. They also offered to the real Rebecca and help her find Tommy. In court, the real Rebecca turned on Christopher and claimed she could not say she was present when her brother and Pamela Rebecca planned their scheme. Also the lawyers for Pamela claimed she legally changed her name to Rebecca Sutter, therefore she wasn’t lying to Christopher about who she was. They pointed out that Rebecca fell in love with Christopher, came clean about the original scheme, and wanted to make the marriage work. The idiot judge agreed with them and said they would have to proceed with a divorce, not an annulment. What what what ?!?!?! What a crock of a technicality to let Rebecca Pamela off on! I couldn’t believe that. She never fully came clean as to the extent of the scheme, so she should have been held liable for that.
Fortunately Pamela was getting too full of herself and ignoring what her father’s initial plan was. She was to destroy Ewing, not sail away with it. When her father’s henchman tried to put her back on course, and felt slited as being treated as only the family driver, he decided to exact his own revenge. Since he got rid of Tommy’s body after Pamela shot him, he had Tommy’s phone, which he sent to Christopher. He made it seem it came from Tommy, who wanted Christopher to know the truth should anything happen to him. On the phone were voicemails from the real Rebecca, revealing she did know the truth all along and was in on the plan with them and was waiting for her cut. Another voicemail was from Pamela threatening to make Tommy disappear. Christopher played them for the real Rebecca and suggested they go down town and she recant her testimony. He didn’t seem to be wanting to take no for an answer either.
Meanwhile Elena proved herself to the company by scoring a sweet deal to get them cheap oil rig platforms that had run dry, but could be used to drill for methane. This also saved them money and allowed John Ross to buy a truck fleet he wanted to continue moving oil. Everyone agreed to give Elena part of their shares in the company so they all were equal partners. What the others don’t know is that John Ross is already scheming against Elena to get his hands on all of her shares! Christopher knows he’s up to something and asked his secretary to become new BFFs with John Ross’s secretary.
Anne learned that Harrison had supposedly found their long lost daughter, who was kidnapped from Anne when she was a child. He gave her a photo and said his DNA was a match to this girl. However, Harrison would only tell Anne where she was if Anne got the incriminating tape she made for Sue Ellen back. Sue Ellen didn’t like giving that leverage up to Harrison, but did so. She also warned him that she wouldn’t be blackmailed when Governor. He thought she’d change her mind, power changes people. Unfortunately for Sue Ellen, that dream fizzled when the night before the election the medical examiner she bribed last season resigned and came forward to the press about what Sue Ellen did. Sue Ellen lost big time.
Harrison delivered on his promise and told Anne where their daughter was. She was on some farm riding a horse when Anne showed up too see her. First of all, I can’t believe Anne didn’t do a google image search on the photo of this girl. Had she, she would have found the truth out on her own most likely. The picture was a professional shot of the girl and the horse after a competition. Stupid! When Anne introduced herself, the girl, Emma, said she knows who Anne is and wanted nothing to do with her. Anne fell into a depression, and Bobby went looking for answers. He found out that Harrison took Emma all those years ago, and Harrison’s mother had raised her in Europe to keep her from Anne. What what what ?!?!?! In the real world those two would be arrested for kidnapping charges, even today. However we know that won’t happen.
I do have to say I love that they cast Judith Light as Harrison’s mother and Emma’s grandmother. Watching her be a nasty witch and go up against the Ewings will be fun. Of course the death of Larry Hagman is still hanging over the show. He filmed only 5 episodes, but is said to appear in 6 through editing. It also looks like the way they are writing him off will be an homage to the classic series, only this time it will be “Who Murdered J.R.” storyline.
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