Bobby's best college buddy Taylor "Guzzler" Bennett has arrived in Dallas, and he looks like he just walked off the set of a Doctor Who episode.
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Since the crew moved to California I assume this is not downtown Dallas anymore? I see an evil palm tree at the end of the street.
Guzzler is very playful, very busy, very energetic and very everything else.
Bobby invites him to dinner at Southfork, and Guzzler entertains the Ewings with his joviality and stories about his busy, successful life.
I vaguely remember this episode from my first watch back in 2002-ish, but even if I didn't then the underwhelmed expression on the face of Dallas' moral compass would have been the indication that there's something "too good to be true" about this jolly visitor.
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JR thinks he's too awful to be true.
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"I'm gonna go upstairs, I can't stand any more of that name-dropping. Next thing you know, that actress is gonna be Farrah Fawcett-Guzzler".
What's so funny about this scene is that the camera follows Sue Ellen walking towards the living room, but we still hear JR grumble.
"I never heard a man talk so much in my whole life. Babbles on like a blooming idiot".
Bobby and Guzzler are discussing Bobby's new construction business (although he hasn't even built a bird box) and thanks to Guzzler's enthusiasm he sort of manipulates Bobby into offering him a partnership.
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It almost looks like the first stage of the cul-de-sac.
JR has to deal with some unhappy business associates, and in order to keep them in line he dangles the carrot that is the oil on Southfork land.
It just so happens that Bobby and Guzzler decide to build a shopping mall on that very section of Southfork, behind closed Ewing Oil doors also known as the Red File Land.
JR panics and tries to persuade Jock and Bobby to build the mall elsewhere.
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It's very funny to watch him clutching at straws. But ultimately it's going to be Miss Ellie's decision.
It doesn't take long before Jeb Ames & co find out about the Red File Land fiasco, and in that moment - when he tells JR that Bobby must be stopped one way or another - he becomes one of Dallas' most fascinating characters.
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It's how this craving for (more) oil can turn men into murderous bastards, the
real JRs, as it were.
Surprisingly, JR slaps him in the face, it's one of those "oh!" moments, even more so because JR isn't a very "physical" man, at least not as much as Bobby and Ray.
Anyway, JR finds out about Guzzler's many business failures and he informs Pam, hoping she can change Bobby's plans - but she decides to confront Guzzler first.
It's a great scene without melodrama and without excuses. Guzzler's matter-of-factly "confession" makes it all the more poignant.
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"I was a big man on campus, it was the high point of my whole life. I could never be that again...I kept trying and failing….I can't figure it out. Somehow I just...burned out young".
But wait! There's a twist! Bobby knew all along. He wasn't going to be conned by Guzzler, he wanted his best buddy to feel like he was being part of something big.
Guzzler leaves Southfork (a business emergency, gotta dash!), Bobby pretends to believe him and Guzzler pretends not to notice it.
It was the most merciful thing to do, and maybe that's what friends are for.
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But I don't think he's going to pay the bills for the taxis and the dinners.