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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 4290" data-attributes="member: 22">13/Apr/81: DYNASTY: Blake Goes to Jail v. 17/Apr/81: DALLAS: Full CircleWhen Krystle returns to the Carrington mansion in the aftermath of Ted Dinard's death, we see the action from her perspective. However, this isn't the sweepingly cinematic, opulent world she introduced us to in the pilot. This time, the view - of cops on walkie-talkies, corpses on gurneys, family members nervously giving statements, Blake being led away in handcuffs by DALLAS banker Franklin Horner - is shaky and handheld, tense and cramped.(Another indication of how far we've come in twelve episodes: "You've got hold of somethin' good," Matthew told Krystle back in the pilot. "Grab it around the middle and run with it." "Run from the both of us," he urges her now, "Blake and me.")Blake isn't the only oilman in Soap Land facing possible criminal proceedings this week. With help from West Star, Cliff Barnes has now accumulated sufficient documentation to link JR to the counterrevolution in South East Asia. These two cases provide us with an opportunity to see how the Carringtons and Ewings are regarded in a wider context. When Blake is charged with first-degree murder, Andrew Laird spells out why: "This would normally be a manslaughter charge and you'd probably get probation, but … you stepped on a lot of political toes. You supported a lot of the wrong people in political campaigns, you passed out a hell of a lot of money to causes resented by a hell of a lot of people, and they've been sitting around just waiting for a chance like this - to watch Blake Carrington go under." By contrast, when presented with Cliff's findings, the Senate Investigative Committee in Austin elect to shelve any further enquiry. "The Ewing name still carries a lot of weight in some circles," says Bobby, by way of explanation. With JR apparently no longer the business pariah he was three months ago, perhaps Blake should import Leslie Stewart to Colorado to clean up his image within the political community.Cliff's solution is to do what he did with Wild Bill Orloff's trust deed in "Spy in the House" - he calls a press conference. "I'm not without friends," he brags to Afton. This line is echoed by Blake in DYNASTY: "We still have friends," he reminds Andrew. This is a veiled instruction "to try to buy off practically anyone outside of the White House" who can help keep Blake's butt out of jail.Sure enough, following Cliff's press conference, the shit hits the front page of the Dallas Press: "Alleged cover-up in Asian Coup by Senate Committee." A strong media presence can also be felt on DYNASTY - the photographer crashing Ted's funeral, the Carringtons fighting their way through a crowd of reporters to get into the courtroom, former rig worker Ed Cleves talking to the TV news about the time he saw Steven and Ted together. "Damn idiot thinks he's a movie star," says Matthew, watching from his office.Fallon is called as a hostile witness for the prosecution, but unlike Pam and JR during Soap Land's previous two murder trials, does not fall into the prosecutor's trap of giving away information that will implicate her loved one still further. Despite being an eyewitness to Ted's death, she simply lies her face off, claiming that it was Ted who attacked Blake before tripping over and falling to his death.The trial is fascinating from the get-go, clouded as it is by issues of class and sexuality. Prosecutor Jake Dunham derives much amusement from Blake's downstairs maid Jeanette's precise definition of the term "majordomo", which she then admits she learnt from Joseph the majordomo, and scores a cheap point from Fallon when he asks what exactly she does for a living. Defence attorney Andrew, meanwhile, speaks of Steven having "gone awry" during his time in New York and of homosexuality as "a life of shame".Jeanette's turn on the witness stand is arguably the only decent scene the actress gets in her nine-year stint as the character - and the poor thing is only there because she had the misfortune of hearing Blake utter the words, "I'll kill him," on the night of Ted's death. JR makes a similar promise this week in front of his divorce attorney, which has the potential to be equally incriminating: "If Sue Ellen took my child, I'd kill her," he vows.There is an impending "end of an era" feel about this week's DALLAS. Sue Ellen's admission to Pam, "If it hadn't been for John Ross, I would have left JR last night", feels like another small tear in the invisible fabric that binds the Ewings together. The absence of Jim Davis, who died nine days after this episode aired, is more keenly felt in the light of Larry Hagman's death. In the background of the scene where Miss Ellie calls JR from Paris, we can see Jock's Stetson placed on a table. When the scene cuts back to JR at Southfork on the other end of the line, his hat is positioned in the same way. This little touch seems to resonate all the way to the final moments of "JR's Masterpiece" where Bobby is left holding his brother's Stetson.Speaking of the future, Pam's discovery that she can't have children, Kristin's return to Dallas after the birth of Jesse Metcalfe, Julie Gonzalo's future parents getting it on, JR and Sue Ellen each suddenly discovering an interest in Baby Josh, Cliff reuniting with a rich and powerful mother … it kinda feels like the seeds of New DALLAS are being sewn right here.I don't think I've ever found the reconciliation scene between Cliff and Rebecca so moving before. With the actors undergoing so many shifts of emotion, especially Ken Kercheval, this is another scene with "Douglas Sirk women's picture" written all over it - which adds a touch of irony to JR's comment elsewhere in the episode, "This is the real world, it's not a 1940s movie."The Coopers' story also seems more interesting this time around - Lucy's situation is more sympathetic and Leigh McCloskey's acting far better than I'd previously given them credit for. With Lucy leaving Mitch and Krystle returning to the Carrington mansion but not to Blake's bed, this leaves only two of the five Soap Land couples to have tied the knot since January still living together as husband and wife. (I don't know - young people today, etc.)And the winner is … it's a tricky decision as neither show really puts a foot wrong this week. However, only one has Brian Dennehy grandstanding in front of a jury and Al Corley perspiring on the witness stand. And so it has to be … DYNASTY.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?