New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 265691" data-attributes="member: 22">A Ewing is a Ewing (DALLAS, 28 Jan 83) v Ewing Rise (DALLAS, 25 Sep 87)“I’m a good listener,” Donna Reed’s Ellie told a brooding Donna Krebbs on the cardboard patio in The Ewing Connection. “I’m a good listener,” Barbara Bel Geddes’s Ellie tells a troubled Clayton when they meet by chance in Galveston restaurant in A Ewing is a Ewing. Whereas Donna poured her heart out about her marital woes, Clayton is too discreet to discuss his disappointment at Sue Ellen using their friendship to try to persuade him to refine JR's oil.For most of A Ewing is a Ewing, JR is on the back foot. His attempts to get the family to celebrate Miss Ellie's failure to get Jock’s will overturned are coolly rebuffed. Then he grovels amusingly to an army colonel who tears a strip off him for advising Harwood Oil to break its contracts with the military. This makes the scene where he lures Holly to his office after hours and rapes her all the more shocking. This is no “their anger turned to passion” or “he kissed her until she liked it” scenario; everything about the assault is premeditated. Fascinatingly, after the rape scene, JR goes back to physically intimidated — first by Clayton when he bursts into his office and threatens to break him in two if he tries to use Sue Ellen against him again, then by Holly when she pulls a gun on him: “You ever touch me again, you’re a dead man.”In Ewing Rise, the opening episode of Season 10, Ewing Oil has just been shut down by the government. Weirdly, Cliff is more upset about the loss of the company than JR is, even after he is awarded $58,000,000 for the 5% share he inherited from Jamie. It’s hard to grasp what Cliff's problem is exactly, but he seems to feel as if he let Digger down by not being able to hold on to his share for longer. (This is conveyed by a speech he delivers to his dead father. In lieu of a Jock-style painting to talk to, he addresses his monologue to a random point in mid-air in the middle of a restaurant.) JR, meanwhile, puts on a brave face about losing his daddy's empire: “If you thought I was tough before, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”However, the really big news in this ep is that Pam has been horribly burnt in a freak car accident. And because it was an accident, there are no accusations, no threats, no shouting — in fact, no conflict of any kind between the Ewings — which creates something of dramatic vacuum. Instead, we have Bobby looking glum, Ellie blubbing like a baby as soon as she hears Pam’s been hurt (is this the same matriarch who was so stoical when Jock had a heart attack in Bypass?) and Cliff flapping about ineffectually. Jenna, JR and Sue Ellen all look dutifully concerned, but kind of detached. Character-wise, the most revealing moment is Bobby choosing to let his emotional guard down in front of JR rather than Ray.The one really juicy scene of the ep is Wilson Cryder assuring April that West Star is not yet done with JR: “We feel that JR will make a mighty effort to climb out of the hole which he has dug for himself and when he does, we're going to be there, shovelling dirt right back on top of him.”And the winner is ... A Ewing is a EwingBONUS BEATS:[MEDIA=youtube]S3aLsfI6dJA[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?