By Season Four, Jock Was Starting To Lose His Grip On The Family.

[Mustard]

I didn’t understand how this worked at the time either. I couldn’t understand why Bobby was always flying to Austin instead of Washington, yet Dave was always shuttling back and forth to DC and they were both senators. I didn’t figure this out til years later.

And when they say "state senate", they mean the Texas senate in Austin, as in the senate for the state of Texas. The one in Washington DC is the US senate, which has 100 senators altogether, 2 from each of the 50 states of the USA.

 

[Snowcat]

David Paulsen, the producer of season 10, said they never had any intention of having Wes Parmalee be Jock. And shooting for the part of the season where Parmalee was revealed not to be Jock was completed within a few episodes of the initial Parmalee episodes beginning to air. Viewer reaction simply wasn’t a factor in the direction of the story.

I’m not sure I believe this. I thought other producers said the opposite. If they really didn’t intend him to be jock, then why the match of the X rays? That is simply impossible

He was Jock, the X rays were conclusive enough to show that along with the bullet wound.

The explanation that he wasn't was just badly written in my honest opinion but they had to provide some sort of explanation to write the character off the show.

However I do think that the way Barbara Bel Geddes plays Miss Ellie when Clayton wants to go after Wes certainly suggests that there's more to Wes's departure than meets the eye largely because we never see what happened between Ellie and Wes when they meet for the last time. Who knows what Wes really said to her? Did he provide further proof that he was Jock? Did he leave because he saw his family had moved on and that his presence was tearing them apart because they didn't believe him?

One other thing I noticed on a recent rewatch is when Clayton asks Ellie about what Wes said she mentions him being all alone without a family, she also says that she'd tell him more later but when she does this Clayton is in the background and Ellie's in the foreground with her back to him so make of that what you will.

Miss Ellie said she would tell him later but she never did. I think they did this to leave the door open that he was Jock. The perfect time would have been in Season 11 after JR lost Ewing Oil. That would have been a good time to see if Steve Forrest would have let JR have it the way Jim David would have.
I could also see Jock being the person who made up the story about whoever they thought Wes Parmalee was. He could’ve called Punk & the people in South America & told them to go with this narrative because of the trouble his return was causing the family. Punk cared enough about the family & Miss Ellie that he would have gone along with this regardless of who he believed Wes was

Has anyone else noticed that by season four, Jock was starting to be treated like an old man and the family was starting to lose respect for him? Even Lucy tells snaps at him during a brief discussion about Mitch. Never would have happened in the earlier seasons. Bobby gets into a heated argument in front of his friends. Again, never would have happened in the earlier seasons. JR lets some marketing woman get between him and getting back into the cartel. Something that would have delighted the one man he wanted to impress. Miss Ellie files for divorce.

By season four, the mighty Jock Ewing is living in a small apartment. I know they couldn’t have known the end was near, but I’d wish the writers would have given Jock a little more respect than they did in season four.

I don’t know about that. Families naturally evolve. My dad grew up in a joint family. 2-3 generations later, no one lives together. As much as parents may wish for the family to stay together it is nearly impossible as people begin starting their own families. If I didn’t know Jim Davis had cancer, I do not think I would have noticed a difference. I can really see it it the scene where Miss Ellie comes home late & Jock was asleep in the chair.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

I have to mostly respectfully disagree. Any season that features the classic "Real power is something you take!" scene shows that Jock hadn't lost a lot of his hold. The only real thing I see is the trouble between him and Ellie, but she had been cold to him before, granted, not to the point of divorce. I do also see where Jim Davis' health towards the latter half could cause someone to think he was coming across a little weaker, but he stayed till the very end, doing what he loved. That's strength. Dallas lost a great talent at the end of that season, and even though some good stories came out of his crash in South America, I would have loved to have seen some more years with him.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I have to mostly respectfully disagree. Any season that features the classic "Real power is something you take!" scene shows that Jock hadn't lost a lot of his hold. The only real thing I see is the trouble between him and Ellie, but she had been cold to him before, granted, not to the point of divorce. I do also see where Jim Davis' health towards the latter half could cause someone to think he was coming across a little weaker, but he stayed till the very end, doing what he loved. That's strength. Dallas lost a great talent at the end of that season, and even though some good stories came out of his crash in South America, I would have loved to have seen some more years with him.

Yeah Jim was a lovely actor, lost far too soon into the shows run

At least the Ben Stivers and Wes Parmalee storylines honoured the character of Jock Ewing and made us all appreciate Jim's performance in the role. Steve Forrest gave a lovely performance and if anyone was going to take over the role of the Ewing patriarch it would've been him.

Kudos to both Jim Davis and Steve Forrest two wonderful actors with great screen presence.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Just my opinion, the family seemed to be more willing to challenge him in season four where they didn’t before.

We are seeing more of this in real life out here in Texas. The wildcatters who were praised for risking it all looking for oil are now viewed as outlaws who are destroying the environment.
Imagine this scene at the Ewing dinner table (and it's better if you can imagine it in Jock's gravelly voice)

Jock: What's the news, J.R?
J.R: Well, Daddy. You'll be glad to know that pipeline spill is all cleaned up and we will be back to full capacity on Monday
Jock: How much did all that cost us?
J.R.: The cleanup was about 5 million, figure another million in fines, and the lost oil revenue of 10 million. It could have been worse
Lucy (interrupting): It was worse. A LOT worse for the animals and the groundwater.
Jock: Just what in the hell are you talking about?
Lucy: The groundwater is contaminated. And a lot of animals died. But to you and J.R. it's just another business deal
Jock: The hell it is! You just heard your uncle say that we paid 5 million for cleanup and another million in fines. What do you want us to do?
Lucy: I want you to stop polluting the environment

Jock: You listen here, little girl. Factories gotta produce, trucks gotta run, people gotta heat their homes. And breaks are gonna happen. Spills happen. Things go wrong. But we gotta keep that oil moving. Otherwise this whole world shuts down
Lucy: Oil is so dirty. We'd all be better off without it and without the greedy oil companies making millions off it. It's destroying our world. They're all evil! All they care about is money, including you and J.R.

Jock (choosing his words carefully, and pointing his finger directly at Lucy): Now you listen here. Don't you sit in this house that Ewing Oil provided, in that chair Ewing Oil provided, eating the food that Ewing Oil provided, and accuse Ewing Oil of being evil because of the way we provided it.

 

[Billy Wall]

We are seeing more of this in real life out here in Texas. The wildcatters who were praised for risking it all looking for oil are now viewed as outlaws who are destroying the environment.
Imagine this scene at the Ewing dinner table (and it's better if you can imagine it in Jock's gravelly voice)

Jock: What's the news, J.R?
J.R: Well, Daddy. You'll be glad to know that pipeline spill is all cleaned up and we will be back to full capacity on Monday
Jock: How much did all that cost us?
J.R.: The cleanup was about 5 million, figure another million in fines, and the lost oil revenue of 10 million. It could have been worse
Lucy (interrupting): It was worse. A LOT worse for the animals and the groundwater.
Jock: Just what in the hell are you talking about?
Lucy: The groundwater is contaminated. And a lot of animals died. But to you and J.R. it's just another business deal
Jock: The hell it is! You just heard your uncle say that we paid 5 million for cleanup and another million in fines. What do you want us to do?
Lucy: I want you to stop polluting the environment

Jock: You listen here, little girl. Factories gotta produce, trucks gotta run, people gotta heat their homes. And breaks are gonna happen. Spills happen. Things go wrong. But we gotta keep that oil moving. Otherwise this whole world shuts down
Lucy: Oil is so dirty. We'd all be better off without it and without the greedy oil companies making millions off it. It's destroying our world. They're all evil! All they care about is money, including you and J.R.

Jock (choosing his words carefully, and pointing his finger directly at Lucy): Now you listen here. Don't you sit in this house that Ewing Oil provided, in that chair Ewing Oil provided, eating the food that Ewing Oil provided, and accuse Ewing Oil of being evil because of the way we provided it.

And I certainly read that with everybody’s voice in mind. That can see that scene playing out in 2023.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

And I certainly read that with everybody’s voice in mind. That can see that scene playing out in 2023.

Unfortunately, it is playing out a lot right now.

As you know, I'm in the middle of it because I service the oil wells. It's interesting because there are a lot of small towns in Texas and Oklahoma where the truck I'm driving costs more than the average house in that area. In these towns, I'm a hero. I work for a company that provides a lot of high paying jobs.

Two hours later I go into a university town and I'm an outcast. I'm working for a company that is destroying the environment. (Same company, same truck, same name on the door).

It's an interesting dynamic, that is for sure.

One nice thing. We had protesters out at an oil field last week (they drove there, by the way. In gasoline powered cars.) They told us that they were protesting oil in general, not those of us working the field. They gave each of us a bottle of water that was nice and cold.

Good times. . .

 

[Seaviewer]

Two random strangers flying on the same helicopter having the exact same x-Ray is next to impossible.

But they didn't have the exact same X-ray. Parmalee had many more breaks, some of which happened to be in the same places as Jock's. That didn't strike me as all that improbable at the time.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Always thought that season 4 was the weakest f the original run, until seasons 13-14 (also the dream season)
Never cared for that Leslie character - no charisma, why would JR be attracted to her - Yuck.
Jim Davis health was failing, that was a factor, and I always thought that Digger should not have been written out

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Always thought that season 4 was the weakest f the original run, until seasons 13-14 (also the dream season)
Never cared for that Leslie character - no charisma, why would JR be attracted to her - Yuck.
Jim Davis health was failing, that was a factor, and I always thought that Digger should not have been written out

I'm actually rather fond of season four. Especially the episodes were Jock discovers Ray is his son.

William Windom gives a great performance as Amos Krebbs, in total contrast to the character he would eventually become known for that of Dr. Seth Hazlit who was a very jolly, homely person in Murder, She Wrote.

I actually liked seeing Miss Ellie and Jock at odds with each other, it injected a bit of drama into their relationship because I'm a sucker for a happy ending. When they did make it up and Miss Ellie apologised for her actions I get a warm glow when I see resolutions like that. It was lovely to watch.

All the more devastating because we sadly lost Jim not long after the season wrapped production.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I wasn’t the biggest fan of season 4 DVD myself. This season definitely had its lulls for me but it does pick up momentum towards the end. Probably my least favorite season of the early years.

 

[Snowcat]

But they didn't have the exact same X-ray. Parmalee had many more breaks, some of which happened to be in the same places as Jock's. That didn't strike me as all that improbable at the time.

Parmalee also had a bullet wound in the exact same place as Jock

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Parmalee also had a bullet wound in the exact same place as Jock

And that is of course impossible. Two different men can never have the same bullet wound or the same X rays.

Wes Parmalee had to have been the real Jock Ewing all along.

 

[Seaviewer]

Parmalee also had a bullet wound in the exact same place as Jock

That I don't remember. I'm just about to start a rewatch of season 10 so I'll keep my ears open for that one.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I'm actually rather fond of season four. Especially the episodes were Jock discovers Ray is his son.

William Windom gives a great performance as Amos Krebbs, in total contrast to the character he would eventually become known for that of Dr. Seth Hazlit who was a very jolly, homely person in Murder, She Wrote.

I actually liked seeing Miss Ellie and Jock at odds with each other, it injected a bit of drama into their relationship because I'm a sucker for a happy ending. When they did make it up and Miss Ellie apologised for her actions I get a warm glow when I see resolutions like that. It was lovely to watch.

All the more devastating because we sadly lost Jim not long after the season wrapped production.

Agree about William Windom, and how I prefer this type of performance. Could have been more material developed.

Sometimes I thought the Dallas writers gave too much material to characters that were mediocre, and not enough to good actors whose

characters had more potential

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

But they didn't have the exact same X-ray. Parmalee had many more breaks, some of which happened to be in the same places as Jock's. That didn't strike me as all that improbable at the time.

Parmalee had other breaks & injuries which were probably sustained during the chopper crash into the lake.

However the contents of Jock's X ray still matched Parmalee's. Two different men can never have identical injuries on an X ray so Wes had to have been Jock Ewing all along.

 

[Brian Kinney]

However the contents of Jock's X ray still matched Parmalee's. Two different men can never have identical injuries on an X ray

Do you know how xray images looked in the 80s and how they look now? I think Parmalee faked the xray images, the IDs were not on the image. they were sticked to the images. I know you're disappointed because Jenna's father was also dead and you wanted Parmalee as a replacement granddad. So sorry for you!

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Do you know how xray images looked in the 80s and how they look now? I think Parmalee faked the xray images, the IDs were not on the image. they were sticked to the images. I know you're disappointed because Jenna's father was also dead and you wanted Parmalee as a replacement granddad. So sorry for you!

They don't look faked to me. If Doctor Danvers is talking Bobby through them it's hardly likely that they've been interfered with.

 

[DallasFanForever]

If the X-rays were faked for arguments sake, then I smell a Wendell. I wouldn’t put it past Jeremy to do that if he and Wes were indeed working together the entire time.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

If the X-rays were faked for arguments sake, then I smell a Wendell. I wouldn’t put it past Jeremy to do that if he and Wes were indeed working together the entire time.

It's possible but highly unlikely.

When Wes met with Wendell about selling Ewing Oil, Wendell commented that he didn't care if Wes was Jock or not he just wanted to stick it to the Ewing's. Wes gave him a funny look when he said that. If Wes was really Jock he wouldn't have wanted that and indeed it doesn't happen because Wes goes to say goodbye to Miss Ellie at Southfork before he finally left Dallas.

So is he or isn't he Jock? Well, it's all been left up to the viewer. It's possible he was a fraud after all but it's also equally possible that Jock did indeed survive the chopper crash in South America. There's also those X rays! I will always maintain that Wes was Jock because of them.