Episode 16 -
Lover, Come Back - is a strange one that needs to be discussed in isolation.
The first part of the episode has a distinctive sitcom vibe. The cartel shows up at Ewing Oil in order to be wooed by JR's spectacular news and it kinda looks like a four-man's act in which they all get to say a line that describes the problem from the past.
Even the reminder that Seth Stone had killed himself sounds surprisingly light-hearted in this conversation which actually isn't a conversation at all.
They're greedy bastards and it's the sound of money that literally makes them dance, but somehow they manage to be quite likeable.
JR & The Four Despicable Me's.
While the repossession of the Asian oil leases guarantees an open-door policy for any of these cartel characters, because soap characters avoiding each other never works, it also inevitably highlights the soap fluff of this ambitious storyline of foreign politics that can only happen around the edges of the Dallas scripts with an exotic plant in the background.
It's sort of like "Asian oil leases" is mentioned one time too many, at least that's how I felt when I watched this scene.
The sitcom vibe continues in another grey-beige setting. We're still a few years away from the office peacocks barging in and out in haute couture.
Politician freshman Bobby Ewing is surrounded by a team of buzzing consultants while Pam adjusts to the role of dutiful politician's wife i.e. making coffee.
Had this been filmed in the 21st century there would have been doughnuts too.
She actually has something to say but she's repeatedly and comically interrupted by the ambitious city guys who are obviously much more prepared than she is.
So far, it's been a low-key season for Cliff Barnes who is mostly lurking in the shadows of his darkly decorated condo. Somehow it always looks like midnight and all that's missing is a theatrical thunderbolt.
And it's precisely that knowledge of what Cliff's capable of
but isn't happening yet that makes it all very effective. The few scenes he gets crackle with promise of wicked drama.
Sue Ellen and Dusty are reunited although it's very uncertain where this is going. Sue Ellen is very in character when she tells him that living with a disabled lover isn't the beginning but the end of a mockery, but the big reveal is yet to come (also in grey beige).
It's coming from a new Dallas character, Dusty's father Clayton, who dramatically declares that his son "is impotent!"
I guess at that time it had the topical relevance similar to Miss Ellie's mastectomy, but at the same time I'm unfortunately reminded of Channing Carter's hysterical confession to her THE COLBYS husband Miles that she is "barren!"
There's something politically incorrect about a lover and father discussing a man's erection problem, but that's all part of the fun of watching Dallas.
However, Dusty isn't simply a Dallas character; he's also the handsome man in romantic, soft-lit commercials for alcohol, chocolate bonbons and LPs that we got in the early eighties.
Therefore, the lack of Dusty's sexuality should not be underestimated.
Speaking of THE COLBYS, after Ray and Donna have announced their engagement, Jock surprises everybody with
his news that he's altered the trust fund of "the boys" in order to include not-Miss Ellie's-son. And how it shows on her face!
Of course it's terribly rude to do this without informing his wife first, but one gets the impression that this is actually the point of it.
Not only is he
not going to be guilt tripped by his sins from the past, he's flexing his muscles to show that he can do whatever the hell he wants. It's what soap patriarchs and matriarchs need to do, occasionally, and it's as simple as that.
When I watched this episode I had Dead Or Alive's follow-up hit single
Lover Come Back (To Me) mentally playing in the background. After I finished watching the episode I wanted to hear the song for real so I hopped over to youtube to play the video. And it's so amazing to discover that this song is actually dedicated to the Dallas episode as shown in the story board.
The line obviously refers to the repetition of Sue Ellen knocking on Dusty's door in three different scenes.
The story board, from top to bottom and left to right, opens with a sign that represents the iconic opening scene of the highways leading in and out of Dallas City.
The second image is a reminder of a character who didn't show up in this episode: song birdy Afton Cooper, followed by image three which is a floor plan of Cliff's condo, with "planning something something" as the hidden message.
I'm sure I don't need to mention what image four stands for (so tall and proud), and then we get the spindle in Leslie Stewart's sneaky recording device.
I get the feeling that she's on the way out, but she herself also informs us that she done with it. Since we already know about her recordings the scene looks a bit lacklustre from her point of view, and the thrill is in watching JR almost-but-not-quite confessing to his international crime.
But anyway, image six is something on top of something, that can only be a conference complex built on a swamp - Takapa! The next illustration, and I really struggled with this one, it gives me Asian vibes, like an Asian restaurant or something. Or maybe an Asian oil well?
The penultimate image is my favourite one because it elevates a scene that can be easily overlooked. It's Mitch dismissing Lucy's secret cleaning lady, and I believe she said "but I'm not expensive" and there's something sad about these two working class characters being put in this situation. Thanks to the rich nitwit with her big, dancing hair.
The image clearly shows that the poor, defeated cleaning lady moves towards the left of the screen where Lucy and Mitch's door is.
The last image could be two things: new character Clayton, or a resident character being in a lonely and dark place. That could be Pam, Cliff or Miss Ellie.
Or...an unborn child. Gasp.
