From this post on, Toni will be played by...Miss Piggy (just kidding).
Here we go again...
6- "The Split", Season 4. This Leonard Katzman episode ends with a scene that seems out of a classic western, though updated and a lot more spectacular: it´s the showdown of J.R. and Dusty at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, a duel between the Bad and the G0od (the ugly, Baby Christopher, is about to appear in an upcoming episode). The position of the actors is constantly changing, and also the tone of their argument: the closer they are, the hotter the topic is (meaning sex, of course, thus giving a slightly homoerotic touch to the scene, which climaxes in a slap given by Lusty Dusty...you know what I mean?). After that, J.R., totally pissed off after his power has been cast among his inept family members, decides to go "all the way" and attacks Dusty verbally using the info he has on the latter´s recent "sexual incapability" and, foreseeing a future subplot, hints that Sue Ellen has been "rolling in the hay" with Clayton. In a sense, the viewer wonders: how low can you go, J.R.? Dusty almost cries right there, the poor thing. Again, everything makes sense in this scene and will prove to be pivotal in the plot development.
7- "My Brother´s Keeper", Season 6. In this case, the penultimate scene links to the last one. At Ewing Oil Bobby suddenly realizes that Pam must be at their divorce hearing and then it cuts to a close shot of Pam with big reddish hair and a black dress with a tear-shaped print (this detail always made me crack up!). Behind her at the courtroom are the three musketeers: Cliff, Katherine (both having silent orgasms for Pam´s divorce) and sweet Afton, who keeps an eye on the Kat because she knows what a beech she is!! The judge is a good old man friend of the Ewings, who looks like starting to cry about the whole trial. Pam looks like Donna in Season 9 (like a zombie), and hardly speaks. Though this choice is clearly replacing "The Letter" and avoid repetition, this Katzman-directed, Lewis-written eppi is truly amazing, showing how much J.R. and Cliff have changed, and how much Bobby and Pam still love each other. Broughton´s ending music is as devastatingly effective as is Victoria´s expression (and Morgan´s!) when the divorce is final.
If looks could kill...
8- "Fools Rush In", Season 6. Another Pam-centric cliffhanger, now with her shocking discovery of Mark´s rare leukemia. With a previous buildup scene showing us, among other things, what a party animal Katherine seemed to be, and Pam´s first encounter with Mark´s doctor Jerry Kenderson, the very last scene, written by skilful David Paulsen, is minimalistic and follows the rule of "less is more": she keeps trying to find out what Jerry needed to tell his friend and patient, and, with the strength that gives a big but shorter bouffant and a pre-Travilla gown, Pam sums two and two and finally learns that..."Mark is gonna die!" Until then we can only hear the buzz of people talking and piano music in the background, but the latter eventually fades into a few masterfully sad notes by Richard Warren, and then...Victoria tries to cry in a "for your Emmy consideration" way, which really moves me every time. Michael Preece directed this, and talented DOP Bradford May tried his best to make her look as gorgeous as ever...
9- "The Family Ewing", aka "the first Dallas episode that made people waste one hour of their lives", Season 8. I probably have a thing for the funeral scenes in soaps and no other TV character deserved grieving as much as dear Bobby Ewing. Ok, it was all a dream but I love this episode and it´s in my Top 10, or 15...The end with Bobby´s funeral is beautifully directed by Nick Havinga, scored by a Jerrold Immel in state of grace (despite that beech Capice!) and written by Mr. Katzman (hey, but wasn´t this guy out of the show already...?). In a way, it´s a labor of love to the show, and Barbara Bel Geddes was brought back thanks to the Soap Gods. The camera shows us the faces of all the people there, which also is a reminder of why we like it so much. Even Gary from the parallel universe of "Knots Landing" is there...and finally, of course, there is that underwritten, underplayed monologue by Larry Hagman. If we just could erase Jenna and Charlie from that scene...
Note to moi: Gary seems to be thinking, "My gawd, Sue Ellen´s shouldepads (left in the pic) are even bigger than Abby´s"
10- "Dead Ends", Season 7. In a season full of Dynasty-like episodic cliffhangers, this one is especially shocking and atmospheric. First we see Pam and Sue Ellen supposedly outside a Hong Kong hospital, (probably one in Tinseltown), at night. Pam gets into the clinic as Sue Ellen waits for her outside (wouldn´t this be dangerous there, or even in my own city?). Dressed as a nurse with a cape (superPam!), the employee she has bribed takes her to the room where Mark might be staying at. She walks down a corridor tear-eyed, and walks into the half-lit room. Then Pam sees the back of a dark-haired man lying on the bed, and calls him Mark, but he turns around and looks like an X-rated movie star from the 70´s. She apologizes and runs away, while the pornstache and the Chinese employee exchange mysterious lines that don´t mean a thing because of Pam´s dream. Despite the humorous tone of this paragraph, this scene is very well directed by Michael Preece upon a script by the Katzman. As usual, Broughton elevates the whole thing to another level, mainly in all the Hong Kong scenes. The scene couldn´t be filmed like that now, especialy because the Chinese guy (who is a corrupt man fascinated by "american" dollars) looks a bit like the grandson of Fu Manchu and I seemed to hear some kind of gong in the score. Completely inappropiate by today´s standards (the employee would be a transgender woman, maybe).
