Ray and Jenna Season 10

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

You found a picture of it...!. Poor melting Susan in the Texas sun -- it's like Uncle Lenny was trying to bake her to death, and entomb her at Arlington.

Well at least Susan Howard had the good grace to depart Dallas with dignity.

The same cannot be said for Leonard Katzman.

 

[the-lost-son]

David Jacobs once gave this great interview in which he described the writing of TNT Dallas as plot-driven not character-driven. The same has to be applied for Ray&Jenna. The pairing of the two felt forced from the beginning.

The previous season proved more than ever what great and epic moments can be created by Donna&Ray. I liked them as the constant couple taking a backseat with their moments of drama in regards to JR&SE and Bobby&Pam. But somehow with Katzman in charge again they simply ran out of ideas for them or didn't care anymore.

The whole scenario of Donna, Ray, Jenna is something I fast-forward. The characters' motivations for the decisions they take are never explored because they are out just of character. They wrote some plots for some drama without any gravitas. Here my list:

- the break-up of Donna&Ray didn't make sense. It was just written out if the blue.
- Jenna, the once independent waitress, who lived in Rome and raised a child of her own acts like a helpless teenager who can't be left alone
- Ray not fighting for Donna (and later Margret). This proud cowboy who had such a hard time when he lost his father and who was a father figure to Mickey just did not fight for his offspring. (Let alone drinking out of frustration and telling Bobby off at his wedding.)
- Pam, the strong woman who once was ready to fight for and raise JR's child is now always close to a nervous breakdown. She doesn't seem to have any other occupation than reacting to Jenna. (Let alone her trying to buy Lucas, is the most out of character moment I can remember.)
- Bobby shaking hands with Ray letting go of Lucas feels like being at a cattle auction.

After that Ray&Jenna can't deal with a teenager who is now shipped to Switzerland. Old Jenna would never abandon Charly. If they had to write her out, make it Italy where she was born, but that's only a detail. After a few months of marriage the so righteous Ray sleeps with the first teenager. But it didn't matter and was forgettable when Jenna came back and they both left.
The final proof for the out of character writing of the show is Ray, the millionaire who suddenly sells the land Jock gave him. Old Ray would never have done that.

 

[Guzzler’s Frightening Hair]

after some thought, I feel the best way to salvage the Ray/Jenna/Charlie situation would have been to keep them on the show for another 2 or 3 seasons, following their lives in “Switzerland”, which would consist of stock establishing shots of the Alps, fake studio sets, and obvious California landscapes, with locals played by American actors with terrible ‘Swiss’ accents.

Ray would have a hard time interacting with the ‘locals’, who’d be unable to understand his clumsy quasi-Germanic adaptations of down-home American cowboy jargon. Jenna and Charlie would fare better, making friends and enjoying the sophisticated culture, with Charlie dating a series of seemingly polite Swiss teenagers. Baby Lucas would be so baffled that he’d attempt to crawl back to the USA, a saga detailed in a special two-part episode.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

after some thought, I feel the best way to salvage the Ray/Jenna/Charlie situation would have been to keep them on the show for another 2 or 3 seasons, following their lives in “Switzerland”, which would consist of stock establishing shots of the Alps, fake studio sets, and obvious California landscapes, with locals played by American actors with terrible ‘Swiss’ accents.

Ray would have a hard time interacting with the ‘locals’, who’d be unable to understand his clumsy quasi-Germanic adaptations of down-home American cowboy jargon. Jenna and Charlie would fare better, making friends and enjoying the sophisticated culture, with Charlie dating a series of seemingly polite Swiss teenagers. Baby Lucas would be so baffled that he’d attempt to crawl back to the USA, a saga detailed in a special two-part episode.

Show Ray and Jenna eating chocolate Swiss role with Jenna choking on it!

Charlie could fall in love with a teen who is related to the Von Trapp's!

It would be all so cosy leading up to the skiing accident which kills both Jenna and Charlie. The hills aren't alive with the sound of music!

 

[Rove]

Bobby shaking hands with Ray letting go of Lucas feels like being at a cattle auction.

Which isn't a stretch when Digger was prepared to sell Pam to the Ewing family all those years ago.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Which isn't a stretch when Digger was prepared to sell Pam to the Ewing family all those years ago.

Nobody could do being drunk better than Linda Gray & David Wayne

And Jim Davis is fantastic in this scene as Jock Ewing.

 

[Jock-O-Lantern]

David Jacobs once gave this great interview in which he described the writing of TNT Dallas as plot-driven not character-driven. The same has to be applied for Ray&Jenna. The pairing of the two felt forced from the beginning.

The previous season proved more than ever what great and epic moments can be created by Donna&Ray. I liked them as the constant couple taking a backseat with their moments of drama in regards to JR&SE and Bobby&Pam. But somehow with Katzman in charge again they simply ran out of ideas for them or didn't care anymore.

The whole scenario of Donna, Ray, Jenna is something I fast-forward. The characters' motivations for the decisions they take are never explored because they are out just of character. They wrote some plots for some drama without any gravitas. Here my list:

- the break-up of Donna&Ray didn't make sense. It was just written out if the blue.
- Jenna, the once independent waitress, who lived in Rome and raised a child of her own acts like a helpless teenager who can't be left alone
- Ray not fighting for Donna (and later Margret). This proud cowboy who had such a hard time when he lost his father and who was a father figure to Mickey just did not fight for his offspring. (Let alone drinking out of frustration and telling Bobby off at his wedding.)
- Pam, the strong woman who once was ready to fight for and raise JR's child is now always close to a nervous breakdown. She doesn't seem to have any other occupation than reacting to Jenna. (Let alone her trying to buy Lucas, is the most out of character moment I can remember.)
- Bobby shaking hands with Ray letting go of Lucas feels like being at a cattle auction.

After that Ray&Jenna can't deal with a teenager who is now shipped to Switzerland. Old Jenna would never abandon Charly. If they had to write her out, make it Italy where she was born, but that's only a detail. After a few months of marriage the so righteous Ray sleeps with the first teenager. But it didn't matter and was forgettable when Jenna came back and they both left.
The final proof for the out of character writing of the show is Ray, the millionaire who suddenly sells the land Jock gave him. Old Ray would never have done that.

Agree with everything you said. Great post.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

The Down Syndrome plot was implemented for easy sentiment, and they conveniently traded it off for a deaf but otherwise unencumbered boy.

Ray & Donna should have lost their adoption bid for Tony because of Mickey's death, despite Aunt Lil's redux-yet-heartfelt testimony. That would have put them back onto a plausible divorce direction, complicated by Donna learning once again that she was pregnant.

 

[Rove]

following their lives in “Switzerland”,

Dumb question. Why would the writers select Switzerland of all places? Oh, I sounded like Alexis Colby correcting Dominque Deveraux then. Switzerland just appeared to be an odd place to send Ray. If it was somewhere like Montana I could understand, heck, even Australia would have been a great fit for Ray. But Switzerland?

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Dumb question. Why would the writers select Switzerland of all places? Oh, I sounded like Alexis Colby correcting Dominque Deveraux then. Switzerland just appeared to be an odd place to send Ray. If it was somewhere like Montana I could understand, heck, even Australia would have been a great fit for Ray. But Switzerland?

Maybe Ray likes chocolate swiss roll.

Personally I think it was all the beautiful women with the pigtails.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

David Jacobs once gave this great interview in which he described the writing of TNT Dallas as plot-driven not character-driven. The same has to be applied for Ray&Jenna. The pairing of the two felt forced from the beginning.

The previous season proved more than ever what great and epic moments can be created by Donna&Ray. I liked them as the constant couple taking a backseat with their moments of drama in regards to JR&SE and Bobby&Pam. But somehow with Katzman in charge again they simply ran out of ideas for them or didn't care anymore.

The whole scenario of Donna, Ray, Jenna is something I fast-forward. The characters' motivations for the decisions they take are never explored because they are out just of character. They wrote some plots for some drama without any gravitas. Here my list:

- the break-up of Donna&Ray didn't make sense. It was just written out if the blue.
- Jenna, the once independent waitress, who lived in Rome and raised a child of her own acts like a helpless teenager who can't be left alone
- Ray not fighting for Donna (and later Margret). This proud cowboy who had such a hard time when he lost his father and who was a father figure to Mickey just did not fight for his offspring. (Let alone drinking out of frustration and telling Bobby off at his wedding.)
- Pam, the strong woman who once was ready to fight for and raise JR's child is now always close to a nervous breakdown. She doesn't seem to have any other occupation than reacting to Jenna. (Let alone her trying to buy Lucas, is the most out of character moment I can remember.)
- Bobby shaking hands with Ray letting go of Lucas feels like being at a cattle auction.

After that Ray&Jenna can't deal with a teenager who is now shipped to Switzerland. Old Jenna would never abandon Charly. If they had to write her out, make it Italy where she was born, but that's only a detail. After a few months of marriage the so righteous Ray sleeps with the first teenager. But it didn't matter and was forgettable when Jenna came back and they both left.
The final proof for the out of character writing of the show is Ray, the millionaire who suddenly sells the land Jock gave him. Old Ray would never have done that.

I mean, I read this and it’s almost like seasons 10 & 11 were the dream and season 9 wasn’t!?

You’re right, Pam became a neurotic shrew who was insecure about Jenna’s baby (okay this might be in character considering she almost killed herself when she couldn’t have a baby years earlier) but this was still the same women who wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything, she was a fighter yet by season 10 she’s a shadow of her former self.

Ray was a hypocrite but it’s no way he would have given up on his biological child to raise his nephew/stepson instead.

Everything about seasons 10 and 11 (as well as the following three years) seemed off!

 

[Chris2]

Dumb question. Why would the writers select Switzerland of all places? Oh, I sounded like Alexis Colby correcting Dominque Deveraux then. Switzerland just appeared to be an odd place to send Ray. If it was somewhere like Montana I could understand, heck, even Australia would have been a great fit for Ray. But Switzerland?

Ray secretly knew how to yodel.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Ray secretly knew how to yodel.

Only because some Swiss cow stepped on his foot! Or maybe it was Jenna!

 

[Chase Gioberti]

Ray is a madman in season 11 and he and Jenna and Charlie all belong in mental institutions. The way he acts when Brad Pitt shows up. And Charlie: “You we’re just being a good dad.” Do any of these people understand that he’s a stepfather that has way overstepped his boundaries? WTF?!?

 

[Guzzler’s Frightening Hair]

Ray is a madman in season 11 and he and Jenna and Charlie all belong in mental institutions.

I hadn’t thought of this before, but the powers that be missed out on a golden opportunity when they failed to bring back our favorite Swiss trio to inexplicably be residents of that mental institution JR ended up in. Maybe Ray could have punched out a visiting James Beaumont for making out with Charlie in a padded room while Jenna paced about in a zombie-like stupor, droning on about how Bobby loved emeralds more than diamonds.

 

[Jock-O-Lantern]

Ray is a madman in season 11 and he and Jenna and Charlie all belong in mental institutions. The way he acts when Brad Pitt shows up. And Charlie: “You we’re just being a good dad.” Do any of these people understand that he’s a stepfather that has way overstepped his boundaries? WTF?!?

Exactly. Since when is a stepdad allowed to make the decision to ship his stepdaughter out of the country? And if that's not bad enough, he cheats as soon as the get on the plane.

 

[Mustard]

- the break-up of Donna&Ray didn't make sense. It was just written out if the blue.

That's because the dream retconned the previous season's storylines. The very last scene before the dream started during Swansong was Ray and Donna talking at night, trying to sort out their marital problems. In the dream season, they sorted those problems out and got very close again, whereas in the post-dream season they never sorted their problems out and separated/divorced.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

If they had had Ray and Donna lose custody of Tony, because of his mercy-killing of Mickey three years before, at the end of the '85/'86 year, that could reestablish tension between the couple -- especially if Donna finds out that, once again, she's pregnant by Ray.

No dream scenario required.

So Ray and Jenna's relationship, two sad and rejected losers on the rebound. could occur as we saw it in Season 10 (DVD).

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

after some thought, I feel the best way to salvage the Ray/Jenna/Charlie situation would have been to keep them on the show for another 2 or 3 seasons, following their lives in “Switzerland”, which would consist of stock establishing shots of the Alps, fake studio sets, and obvious California landscapes, with locals played by American actors with terrible ‘Swiss’ accents.

Ray would have a hard time interacting with the ‘locals’, who’d be unable to understand his clumsy quasi-Germanic adaptations of down-home American cowboy jargon. Jenna and Charlie would fare better, making friends and enjoying the sophisticated culture, with Charlie dating a series of seemingly polite Swiss teenagers. Baby Lucas would be so baffled that he’d attempt to crawl back to the USA, a saga detailed in a special two-part episode.

You've been reading my diary! The two parter would show Lucas on the verge of a nervous breakdown brought about by Jenna's disinterest in her son and her increasing need for recreational drugs . Until that fateful day of the skiing accident where both Jenna and Charlie are killed.

 

[Chase Gioberti]

Also I now get to the point where they are getting ready to leave for Europe. Couldn’t remember why …

So they have to send Charlie to a European school to get her out of Dallas because of a couple of bad grades? She wasn’t doing drugs or committing crimes or even getting herself pregnant. Jenna was enraged when Charlie was pretending to do homework. Was she doing Coke like Olivia Cunningham or sleeping around while faking homework? No, she was looking at a magazine.

What was wrong with these writers. I would have rather had the three of them die in a home explosion than this crap.