Did Ray really need to be Jock's son?

[LMLDallas78]

We all know Steve Kanaly was threatening to leave, should he have?

What did it really change? Ray didn't even change his name.

Apart from a bit of friction with JR and voting shares, how did it affect the other members of the family?

Should Miss Ellie have been more resentful towards Ray?

Would you rather someone else had been Jock's other son? Someone who was more of a threat to JR and Bobby for Ewing assets?

 

[Chris2]

I thought it was a big waste of the “unknown illegitimate son shows up“ trope to use Ray as the son, instead of as an opportunity to introduce a new character to the canvas. And we know that the show struggled mightily over the years to expand the family (cousins, second wives, etc). Having Ray be the son was a missed opportunity.

Ray was a dull character to begin with, so it wouldn’t have been a big loss had he left. He was only interesting when paired with the more dynamic Donna.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

We all know Steve Kanaly was threatening to leave, should he have?

What did it really change? Ray didn't even change his name.

Apart from a bit of friction with JR and voting shares, how did it affect the other members of the family?

Should Miss Ellie have been more resentful towards Ray?

Would you rather someone else had been Jock's other son? Someone who was more of a threat to JR and Bobby for Ewing assets?


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Would Steve Kanaly really leave a Number 1 TV show on which he was a regular? I don't believe it.

I thought Ray was good with Donna.
SK does look like he could be Jock's son, but it seemed a little too contrived.

 

[Billy Wall]

I didn't particularly care for the "Fourth Son" storyline. I didn't like the "now that I'm a Ewing, I must prove myself" mindset they gave Ray.

 

[Ewing4]

Wouldn’t it had been something if Cliff turned out to be Jock’s son. What is Rebecca was the nurse in the war that Jock has the affair with. They causally knew each other from Texas and have an affair. Then she goes back home and marries Digger, but is pregnant already. So when Digger is dying he tells the truth to everyone that Cliff and really Jock’s son. Cliff sprials from this and has to adjust to being a Ewing. Pam is Diggers daughter and still searches for Rebecca, who Cliff is mad at for never telling him the truth. Just a fun thought.

 

[LMLDallas78]

Ray was a dull character to begin with

I used to giggle at him in the hayloft with Lucy and rather enjoyed their naughtiness, that storyline could've continued if he wasn't Jock's son.

His one nighter with Sue Ellen shouldn't have just been forgotten.

Ray should have remained the naughty raunchy foreman who everyone went to in times of need or when relationships broke down, but as soon as he was Jock's son he really wasn't exciting to watch.

Would Steve Kanaly really leave a Number 1 TV show on which he was a regular? I don't believe it.

I thought Ray was good with Donna.
SK does look like he could be Jock's son, but it seemed a little too contrived.

Another one of Larry Hagman's buddies he didn't want to see go apparently. They all stick to the same story so I guess it must be true.
They must have thought a lot of each other.

 

[Sarah Danner]

Good ole Ray had his way with every Dallas leading lady from the opening years except Miss Ellie.
Not even J.R. could say he bonked Sue Ellen, Donna, Pam, Jenna and Lucy.

 

[DallasFanForever]

To me Ray was more synonymous with Donna than anything else. I don’t think making him Jock’s son was necessary but it did add to the animosity between him and J.R.

Personally I’d rather they didn’t make him Jock’s son because of what had happened between him and Lucy. I found it very cringeworthy and til this day I can’t look at a loft the same but I guess that never happened as they pretty much swept it under the hay and never mentioned it again.

 

[Seaviewer]

I don't think he looked all that much like Jock except for the grey hair. It was probably not necessary but did provide a gripping few episodes as it was revealed and then added a layer of intrigue that would not have been there if had been just the foreman.

 

[Rove]

I think for shock value it would have been best if Ray's parentage was written in Jock's Will. As we know JR had access to that prior to the reading and it would have been interesting to see his reaction.

I do think making him Jock's son was an early flaw in Dallas. I preferred when Ray acted as JR's dirty right hand in those early episodes. That said, his relationship with Donna was awesome and they should have remained together. If the writers believed there was no further story for Ray and Donna they should have shipped them to Washington. Rather than Donna being targeted by some political group perhaps Dave Culver could have sought out Ray for his knowledge in the cattle industry. This way both Ray and Donna could have made special guest appearances in Dallas.

Win/Win.

 

[tommie]

I've said it before, but I really disliked them making Ray Jock's son, especially as it forced them more or less to ignore a pivotal plot point in the early episodes - Lucy and Ray sleeping together. I think it would've been more interesting if Ray had been kept as the dirty right hand and been included in Jock's will as a "thank you" for a favour; it wasn't like he ever got a huge percentage as the "lost" son anyway. I could see JR's head exploding at the thought of this non-Ewing getting even a minimal cut.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I liked Ray being Jock’s son, but I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to take his character in a different direction in reaction to his new status. Instead of being constantly insecure about being a “real Ewing” businessman and feeling inferior to and envious of Donna, Ray could have doubled down on being a “man’s man” cowboy, secure in his position running the ranch, looking down on physical coward JR and the two-faced politicians in Donna’s old circles. If he started branching out, it would be in ranching-related business where he was knowledgeable and comfortable, not real estate development with Punk Anderson and the great Pat Powers.

(while they were at it, they should have had him get Lucy, Sue Ellen, and even Pam pregnant)

 

[tommie]

(while they were at it, they should have had him get Lucy, Sue Ellen, and even Pam pregnant)

It's interesting, because I think they pretty much added him into the "Who's the daddy" plot with John Ross early by having Swellin' seducing him after one of her and JR's endless brawls. In theory, with Ray being Jock's son it could explain why John Ross tested positive for being JR's son (blood tests weren't that accurate IIRC, but more in a sense that you could safely rule out someone). Not that I want such a retcon, mind you, but it felt to me like they just had that random scene and it never lead to anything - I guess due to JR exploding in popularity.

 

[LoganRhinewood]

I liked Ray best when he was the ranch foreman and not Jock's son. I really disliked his whole angle of "I now have to prove myself as a Ewing" even though no one really expected it from him. To JR he was always "the halfbreed" anyway, and Bobby liked him just the way he was. I always admire Miss Ellie for embracing him the way she did (yes she did dislike him for a while but that was because she thought he was out to replace her beloved Gary). I wouldn't have been so forgiving in her position. I do get why they went down the "son we never knew existed" trope road with Ray, he needed more interesting storylines, Kanaly was right about that, but really, I'm sure the writers could have thought of something even without making him Jock's son.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I wouldn't change it. It had to happen.

I do wish much later they'd addressed his romance with Lucy, if only to inform the audience -- who never forgot -- that Ray was not intentionally an incestuous pedo (Lucy was of age in Texas).

 

[Bobby Southworth]

In my opinion, he worked better as the ranch foreman, but I did enjoy the episode "The Fourth Son", and Ray's emotional reaction to finding out he was Jock's son, and also Jock's reaction. That said, I'm torn because I find a lot of Ray's story-lines after this to be dull and sometimes annoying, but truth be told, he played a very human and real character. Maybe that was the problem?? True to life isn't always the most interesting thing to watch on TV, especially a bigger than life show such as "Dallas". His attitude at times, though, the stubbornness irritated me.
Since Dallas was loosely based on the 1956 film Giant, starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean, it might have been more interesting to see Ray played along the lines of James Dean's Jett Rink? character. So, yes, in a sense, Ray staying as somewhat of a bad guy, but then striking it rich on the land Jock gave him.

 

[LMLDallas78]

I do wish much later they'd addressed his romance with Lucy,

Absolutely they should have addressed this. Just to completely dismiss it from any future reference was wrong.


No way were the audience going to forget, we were more intelligent than that, even if the writers weren't.

I wonder if they would have addressed it somehow? especially if they knew it would still get discussed 45 years later.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

There was an advantage of having Ray as a character before he was Jock's son.

Back during the original run, people (including me) could think:

"I'll never be J.R., Sue Ellen, or any of the Ewings. But I could certainly imagine being the ranch foreman like Ray"

 

[Sarah Danner]

Steve Kanaly's monologue during the final act of Ewing vs. Ewing was beautifully scripted and acted.

 

[Mustard]

It made Ray's sexual relationship with a teenage Lucy from the early episodes rather embarrassing. LOL.

The reason that the storyline of Ray being Jock's son was done was because Steve Kanaly was basically saying that the character of Ray had run its course, before that storyline change introduced a lot of new interest and dynamics into the Ray character.

To me Ray was more synonymous with Donna than anything else. I don’t think making him Jock’s son was necessary but it did add to the animosity between him and J.R.

What it did do was increase the insecurity that Ray felt about being Jock Ewing's son, and his insecurity about how he measured up against Donna. If he's just the ranch foreman who works at Southfork, that dynamic isn't there in anything like the same way. It would have just been an old fashioned sexist thing of a man wanting to be the breadwinner and feeling emasculated if his wife earns more money than him or if she has more presence than him in the local community or public life. Of course, there was that in the Ray and Donna relationship too, but when it was combined with the Jock Ewing son thing and feeling like he didn't fit into that, it adds an extra dimension.

I do wish much later they'd addressed his romance with Lucy

Yes, they should have done it at some point.

if only to inform the audience -- who never forgot -- that Ray was not intentionally an incestuous pedo (Lucy was of age in Texas).

I don't think she was of age. The age of consent is 17 in Texas, and it seems that it was back then too. Lucy was 16 at the start of the series, being born around late 1961, assuming that it's the winter of 1977-78 in the Season 1 DVD miniseries.