How would J.R. have gotten out of that Season 5 DVD hole when he had stockpiled 5 million barrels of the Farlows' crude oil at $35 per barrel ($2 per barrel above the market price at the time of the stockpiling), taking out $200 million in loans, using $50 million of Ewing Oil assets as collateral to finance a part of the loan? J.R. did this initially to force the Farlows to hand over John Ross while forcing them to pay extra for the crude. Instead, Clayton refused J.R.'s blackmail offer, so J.R. was stuck with 5 million barrels of crude, only to then see the market price of crude fall and fall in the short term, down to $30 per barrel at one point, with debt repayments soon due, with Cliff Barnes and the cartel having bought into the notes that had been held by Franklin Horner and the Cattlemen's bankers.
J.R. was totally screwed without Miss Ellie saving him there. The irony, as Clayton and Miss Ellie noted, was that, for all of J.R.'s blackmail, Sue Ellen ended up leaving the Southern Cross of her own free will and taking John Ross with her. No wonder J.R. laughed when he was alone in the room. Miss Ellie and Clayton agreed $33 per barrel when the market price by then was just $30 per barrel. J.R. had paid $35 per barrel, so the Clayton and Miss Ellie deal was still a $10 million loss for Ewing Oil on what J.R. had done, but enough to pay the loans and end the crisis. J.R. could never have made that deal with Clayton, nor would he have even accepted $33 per barrel from Clayton, even though he would have taken $32 or even $31 from that Mr. McCoy. J.R. still protested to his mother, to her face, about her doing the deal with Clayton at $33, even though he was relieved afterwards.
