Season 7 (1984 - 1985)
Man, oh man, what a day for nits!
First, let's discuss the weirdness surrounding the now-departed Afton Cooper.
- AHN Anne pointed out, as I also saw, that Afton did not take her purse when she left Cliff's house, so why did she have it with her upon entering the Ewing Oil offices?
- Then, when she finds Bobby on the floor, Afton taps the phone hook three times and suddenly gets an operator. Without dialing zero! Fancy that.
- Why does Afton lie to Captain Fogarty? She says she called Ewing Oil to find out whether JR was there and then came over to see him. Come on, Afton! When you called him it was a bright, sunny afternoon! When you came to see him it was night time! You waited at least two hours to come over.
- This is a possible nit: when Sue Ellen returns to Southfork at the beginning of the episode, she's still dressed just as she was at the restaurant - except she's wearing a nice black scarf. She wasn't at the restaurant. Not that she couldn't have taken the scarf off to eat, but this seems odd.
- When Bobby is transferred to the ambulance, I find it interesting that such a huge crowd forms around the ambulance at the Ewing building at that time of night. Also, as Tim noticed, it's surprising how much they resemble the crowd that formed four years ago when JR was shot.
- The doctor's diagnosis of Bobby's injuries is highly suspect. If you watched the cliff-hanger, you'll probably remember that of the three shots that hit Bobby, one was very low, at about stomach level, and two were higher. One was slightly to the left of the other; presumably this is the one that grazes his temple. So the third shot should also have hit Bobby in the head, right? So where did the second bullet that lodged in his intestinal tract come from? This is very strange. Also, if Bobby was hit twice in the abdomen, shouldn't there have been a lot more blood than we saw?
- As Anne and I both noticed, many of the ladies of Dallas decided to get their hair done during the off-season, which translates into about two Dallas hours. Sue Ellen has a new hair-do, Donna has a very bad new hair-do, Charlie's hair has grown a tremendous amount, and Pam also has a new hair-do, which is a big improvement. At least Pam's new hair-do makes sense when you consider she was away in San Antonio.
- When Jenna alerts the nurse that Bobby needs some pain medicine, she turns towards Pam when the nurse indicates it's her turn to talk. Should she be talking into the speaker so that the nurse can actually hear what she says?
- In Bobby's flashback, the chair he's sitting in "bounces" when he is shot. I checked and this does not happen in the actual episode. In the actual course of events, the chair remains perfectly still even as Bobby is shot.
Now let's discuss the ridiculously bad dialogue that makes this episode feel weird.
- Either Afton does something else very strange in this episode, or Sue Ellen gives us some very misleading dialogue. Sue Ellen tells JR that they've been at the hospital for about an hour. Afton finally arrives. So are we to believe that it took Afton one whole hour to get from Ewing Oil, where she was being questioned by Captain Fogarty, to Dallas Memorial Hospital? Or does Sue Ellen mean that they've only been at the hospital for an hour, including the time it took JR to check on Bobby's status?
- Now it's Sue Ellen's turn. When she calls Jenna to tell her about the shooting she says "Bobby's all right". Then Jenna says she doesn't know what Sue Ellen is talking about. Sue Ellen replies, "I hoped you hadn't heard." What exactly does this mean? First Sue Ellen is assuring Jenna that everything is OK, then she hopes Jenna hasn't heard? This is very confusing.
- And to complete the triangle, let's turn to Jenna. After hearing the news from Sue Ellen, she tells Charlie to stay home. Then, as she goes upstairs to dress, she tells Charlie not to go to school today. Wouldn't this be the same thing as staying home? Anne wondered the same thing.
- And finally, Anne noticed that Bobby's doctor said, "We won't know how bad [the bullet wounds] it is until we cut him open. Sorry to be so graphic." That didn't strike me as particularly graphic, but then "ER" wasn't around in those days. You're right. Maybe he saw how uncomfortable Sue Ellen looked when hearing the details.
AHN Jason's corner:
- The curse of the season change over do's.... It has already been mentioned about Pam,
Donna, Charlie, and Sue Ellen, but Jackie's hair has straightened out over 'night'
(season) and Katherine lightened her hair between seasons...
- How can Katherine visit her family's home if the owners aren't even willing to sell?
Isn't that trespassing? I don't remember. I'll have
to take another look at this.
- This is a possible counternit about Sue Ellen. I believe you mentioned she was sporting
a scarf in this premiere that was not seen at the restaurant when she met with JR and
Peter. It was established that off camera after the restaurant scene that she went
to Southfork and moved some things into JR's room. Then she left with the gun and
returned. Presumably she took the scarf when she left with the gun... It's possible, I suppose, but why would she do that?
Four years ago, after JR was shot she came home and changed purses...I guess she
considers it good luck.
- Afton was seen leaving Cliff's with no purse but is seen with one in Ewing Oil. It
is possible that she had it in her car and took it in when she came to see JR at the
office... Very odd of a woman to leave her purse in
her car...especially when she's not expecting to go anywhere, right? I mean...unless she
READ THE SCRIPT and knew she was going to have that fight with Cliff.
- Would a hospital release Bobby's medical info to Jackie? She is not kin, yet she
tells Pam that they told her his info. And why would the doctors release his info to
radio reporters? Isn't that a violation of doctor/patient privilege? I'll have to think about this a bit.
More of AHN Anne's corner:
- How did Jackie's friend know Cliff's car? Good question! After his oil strike, I know Cliff got a vanity plate with "CLIFF B" on it, but he's not rich at this point, so I don't know how she knew.
- Looks like Pam got a new car, too. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just that most people don't buy a new Porsche when their Mercedes is brand new. Most people aren't the Ewings.
AHN Tim's corner:
- When JR and Sue Ellen are in bed, the phone rings, and JR says,
"Don't the servants ever answer the phone around here?" Excellent question under
the right circumstances. However, when JR said this, it was late at night (Teresa and
Raoul had probably already gone to wherever it is they go at night), and JR only let the
phone ring once or twice. Even if one of the servants intended to answer the phone, this
would not have been enough time for them to stop what they were doing, walk over to the
phone, answer it, and then find the Ewing who the call was for. Yes. I suppose you're right. I guess JR was
just ticked off at not having his way with Sue Ellen.
Introducing AHN Erik's corner:
- When Bobby tells Jenna to call the nurse that his headache is killing him, Jenna just says that he needs something for pain, but when the nurse arrives she says "This should help that headache of yours". Jenna didn't tell the nurse Bobby had a headache! You're right! The nurse must have read the script. Of course, in the next episode, Bobby talks a lot about his headaches so the nurse could have figured it out on her own.
- Did anyone notice that the hat that Marilee Stone is wearing at the beginning of the episode is the same hat that Katherine is wearing minus the white ribbon? They must shop at the same store!
- Also, what I found odd is that the doctor tells JR, Sue Ellen, and Lucy to wait "more comfortably" in the waiting room, but in the next scene, JR is pacing the floor, and the three of them seem to be sitting next to a row of patient beds!! What's going on here? Maybe they're renovating the patient waiting room at Dallas Memorial. My guess: thanks to Lucy, they made a wrong turn and ended up in a ward room.
Kind of a letdown after yesterday. Only a few nits this time.
- The sound guys are messing with our minds. When Sly calls JR using her portable phone, she presses seven numbers, just as she should; the first motion she makes is turning the phone on, which is also good. But the sound guys only give us five beeps. Why?
AOL Marc pointed out: Bobby discovered the bug in his phone by unscrewing the mouth piece. Why did Ray and Donna need to hire some guy to use some fancy equipment, they couldn't just unscrew the mouth piece? Bobby knew what to look for, why wouldn't Ray or Donna? Good call!
AHN Anne's corner:
- Pam's car. I know that I tend to overdo it when it comes to
this subject, but I had to comment on something: the license plate! Did you notice that it
read "Ewing 3"? Pam is not a Ewing anymore, so this just doesn't make sense. She
can afford her own car, meaning that Bobby probably didn't get her one and besides, Pam's
car while living at Southfork had the license plate "Ewing 6," so there must be
a "Ewing 3" still at Southfork, and that tells us that Pam couldn't just get a
license plate like that for old time's sake because it already exists. I thought this was
a little too much to believe.
Pam technically still is a Ewing - her name
is still Pamela Ewing, and everyone calls her Mrs. Ewing. If I remember correctly, though,
your nit about the license plate is valid. I remember that in the second season, JR's car
was Ewing 3, because Jock's car was Ewing 1 and Sue Ellen's wagon was Ewing 2. The only
explanation could be that after Jock's death, they 'retired' Ewing 1 in his honor or
something, and Ellie decided she didn't need a car anymore, so JR became Ewing 2 [which I
believe he still has], and then Bobby got Ewing 3. And then Pam got the right to the
license plate as part of the divorce settlement. Confused yet? The point: your nit is
valid. How did Pam get Ewing 3?
- Two years ago, I thought Clayton was the greatest new character on "Dallas." Now I totally concur that the man is a big ox as well as being the king of contradiction! "I don't like to keep things from your mother." You don't? That's funny, because it seems that in the past it wasn't a problem. The fire. Jessica's history. Why stop now? You tell 'em, Annie! You tell the world! I told you about Clayton - not that it's his fault, it's just the way his character is written.
Episode 164: If At First You Don't Succeed
- I know it's tough to play a sick or dying person. It must be really tough. But we nitpickers don't deal in reality. During his first conversation with JR, You can see Bobby's eyes moving behind the dark glasses, looking this way and that.
- JR's license plate is Ewing 3 today. That's okay because it probably always has been. So why the heck did Pam have his license plate yesterday? See above for an explanation.
- JR canceled his security guard services just because Cliff was arrested? That's quite a bit of confidence he has in Cliff's guilt. It's too bad because it would have been useful to keep Martha Randolph out of his office.
- AHN Anne had a bunch of nits and some castigation for the newest member of the cast: Mandy Winger. She comes over to Cliff's house without being invited, which is fine, except you'd think that he would have an unlisted address. She says that she thought they had a good thing going even though she knew he was completely hammered at the time and that he didn't remember her at the line-up. And then, to top it off, she thought he might look her up when he, as mentioned, didn't remember ever meeting her and didn't know her name.
- I had a feeling this would happen. When Katherine has her flashback about shooting Bobby, she follows the same path that she did in Episode 161. But this time, she doesn't see the Phantom of Ewing Oil! There's no reflection of the white-shirted dude in the glass! Where did he go?
- Pam tells Cliff that Katherine was going to inject Bobby with poison. It's hard to see what Katherine does with her hands when she prepares the injection to kill Bobby, but it doesn't look like she goes into her purse or anything. That means that whatever she was preparing to inject, it must have been on the table next to Bobby's bed. So someone please explain to me why there was poison, or for that matter anything injectable, near Bobby? Even if it's pain medicine which Bobby requires on a regular basis, it should be at the nurse's station.
- Angela, Pam's maid, tells Bobby that "Pam's out back." Pam? Not 'Mrs. Ewing'? Did she go to the Teresa school of household engineering?
AHN Anne's corner:
- How could the police hold Cliff for attempted murder when
Katherine's fingerprints are on the gun?! Maybe they talked about this earlier, but she
wasn't wearing gloves in the flashback. You'd think the police would wonder why the gun
with Katherine's prints was in Cliff's apartment and you'd think they would scrutinize her
alibi. I would if I were on the force!
Probably Katherine wiped the prints off.
This is somewhat iffy.
- When Pam came over to Cliff's house, the writers made it seem like it was the same night
Katherine was arrested. If so, I doubt that Pam would have heard about her sister's
arrest. There weren't any members of the press around and so it would take a little longer
for the news to travel. Could be just me. I
think it was the same night because Mandy and Cliff were basking after their time
together. News could have traveled through some busybody like Sue Ellen. It does seem kind
of quick, though.
- This is in reference to the scene in front of the courthouse when Katherine tells Cliff
to get out of her way. By that time, her lawyer had her by the arm, a few steps down from
where Cliff was standing and the lawyer was standing between Katherine and Cliff. In other
words, Cliff wasn't in her way! She kind of gave him a shove with her opposite arm and the
whole thing was really poorly choreographed. Tell me I'm not losing my mind. You're not. I noticed that Cliff was no longer in her
way, and maybe Morgan Brittany is just playing her character to the full - you know,
pretending Cliff is in her way and giving him a shove just for the hell of it
- There's a bit of a continuity blip at the beginning of this episode. After the kids come back from riding, Bobby gets off his horse, with Christopher still on the saddle; then there's a cut and he's instantly holding Christopher in his arms.
- Jamie's first dinner at Southfork was a pretty good scene in an otherwise dull episode. I realize the reason that just the adults are present, but it strikes me as unrealistic. Where are the kids? Where are Charlie and John Ross and Christopher? Is Teresa looking after them at a separate table in the kitchen?
- And speaking of AWOL eaters, where's Mandy at the business lunch with Wendell? Cliff was insisting that she come. Lest you say that he planned all along to use Mandy as his 'secret weapon' for gathering information, let me remind you that at this point in the episode, Cliff has no idea what Wendell wants from him.
- I just realized something. We all know the real reason for this, but are we supposed to believe that Clayton and Ellie have been on their honeymoon for a month? There's only so much world to see, for crying out loud!
- And finally, when Jenna and Jamie have their private conversation late in this episode, Jamie says she doesn't know who Jenna's father is and asks for his name. Why? Sue Ellen already told her at the beginning of this episode that Jenna's last name was Wade. The only explanation I have is that the writers want the audience to think that maybe Jamie is a fraud, but it seems like a pretty silly way of going about it.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Jamie says that she grew up in a trailer and that there was
barely enough money for her daddy's funeral. In fact, she had to wash dishes at a
restaurant to save up and come down to Dallas. This girl is poor. And yet she has
enough money to get her teeth capped? I know that this is just part of the whole TV thing
and that you can't have a character with yellow teeth, but it totally contradicts the rest
of her appearance and you just have to wonder.
Good call! Too bad they couldn't have just
gotten some make-up guy to stain the teeth a little.
- Secondly, why is it that the characters on "Dallas" go out to the diving
board, dive in and then get out right away? What is the point in getting all wet if you're
just going to get out of the water right after you get in? It's not just Jamie, but she
was so irritating today that I'm going to single her out. I think it's because they figure people look better wet. Or, more likely,
it gives them reason to dress the women in bikinis.
AHN Anne's editorial rant:
Why didn't anyone mention Katherine in this episode? Maybe the storyline is getting old, but if she had tried to kill me and was running loose somewhere, I'd be freaked out of my mind! Besides, Pam and Cliff were trying to see her before and it just would make more sense if they brought it up sometime in today's episode.
Episode 167: Shadow of a Doubt
- As with most Pam-based episodes, there's not much here. AHN Anne found this one: I guess Pam's become very well-known since the divorce, because everybody seems to know her and where to reach her. First, she tells Mark's housekeeper to call her if anything unusual happens, then the mechanic from Mark's garage knows where she lives! It's incredible. I think the housekeeper would probably know how to reach her, but I also found it hard to believe that the mechanic would know that Pam lives at 227 Antioch Drive. Good call.
- When Mandy talks to Cliff about overhearing Sue Ellen and Jamie talk that afternoon, she tells Cliff she saw "Sue Ellen Ewing". The waitress addressed her as "Mrs. Ewing" at the restaurant. How does Mandy know Sue Ellen's first name? I don't think it's likely that Cliff ever told her about Sue Ellen - it's not the kind of thing you'd tell a prospective girlfriend. The only other possibility is that Mandy had seen her in the newspaper or something, but then she should have recognized her immediately, without just passing her by.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Even a cowboy like Ray could figure out that if there's no
sound coming from the microwave, it's not running. At least I'd hope he could. My respect
for Ray dwindled at that point.
I noticed this too. This was pathetic. I
agree with you wholeheartedly except that I never respected Ray.
- Pam asked Jerry Kenderson about practitioners of panaceas. She
asked if there were some in South America, Europe or Asia and then she had the nerve to
ask him if he could write up a list for her! What was even more surprising is that he said
he could. I guess there aren't quite as many as I would have thought.
This storyline is terrible. I almost don't
want to comment. But if I must, I'll agree with you.
- I loved it when "Miss Ellie" said that it isn't like
Lucy to miss important family gatherings. Whatever! Aside from Miss Ellie's wedding, when
was the last time Lucy showed up for anything having to do with the family?
Before Ellie's plastic surgery. It's
possible that the surgeon messed up a few neurons while he was at work.
- Clayton said that getting "Miss Ellie" away from
Southfork is like a miracle. That was just funny. Since Clayton's been around, she's never
at Southfork; she's traveling somewhere for months at a time. The big ox strikes again!
Well, when it comes to ends-of-seasons,
Ellie is always absent. You're right about this too. Obviously the writers think we have
really short memories. I guess they never pictured people watching Dallas episodes one
after the other.
- Another comment, rather than nit: Does Charlie ever sleep at home? No, I don't think so. But I wouldn't complain if I were Bobby; it allows him unhindered access to Jenna's charms whenever the heck he wants. Go on, guy!
- Why does Miss Ellie keep switching rooms? During the second season, she and Jock had a room with a similar set-up to J.R. and Sue Ellen's. Third season they had another room with a different bed and different furniture. And now they have a room with double doors and a completely different style. I wonder if Clayton would be so mad about Jock's ghost haunting the room if he knew that Jock had never slept there. Good call! Fortunately, as far as I remember, they stay in this room until the bitter end, even after Ellie's reverse plastic surgery.
Episode 169: Oil Baron's Ball III
- I think that Bobby is a bit unclear on the concept of 'setting a date' for his wedding. When Clayton asks him when this mysterious date will be, he says 'in about a month'. Would that be more or less than a month, Bobby? Do you have a day of the week in mind?
- At the Oil Baron's Ball, why is it that Mandy has no purse?
- Did anyone notice the scene where Teresa and John Ross are playing checkers? She has seven captured checkers and he has two! Come on, Teresa! You're beating the tar out of a six-year-old, who is your boss's grandson? This doesn't seem like a good career move.
- Mike Granieri noticed that no matter how much money Sue Ellen spends on clothes and bathing
suits for Jamie, there just never seems to be enough money for a bra.
I'm really, really, trying very hard to
refrain from making some infomercial-related comments here.
AHN Anne's corner:
- First, do you really think that Pam would tell Mandy that she's
still in love with Bobby? They don't know each other that well at all, and it seems
unlikely that she would open up so quickly.
Yes, I suppose it's true. Then again, it
might have something to with seeing Bobby and Jenna get so hot and heavy over the last
little while.
- Secondly, how did J.R. know that Bobby and Jenna were planning
to get married in a month? I suppose that could have Jenna mentioned it to him, but I was
just wondering how he knew the exact time they were planning.
That's the great thing about JR - he
probably didn't know! He might have just made the whole thing up. He's a fast thinker on
his feet.
- Thirdly, how is it that Teresa had such a hard time getting John Ross into bed, but Lucy says, "Come on" and he goes without a struggle? Just outnumbered, I guess. Or maybe Lucy lets him win when they play checkers.
- Lastly, "Miss Ellie" was whispering to Punk away from the microphone so that the audience couldn't hear her, which makes sense. But when she started talking to the crowd she wasn't speaking into the microphone, either. That was a little bizarre. You're right. This is strange.
- There's a continuity blip when Eddie and Lucy are drinking. Lucy's hand instantaneously moves from her side to the beer bottle. Fastest elbow in Texas?
- After meeting Naldo, weird things happen to Jenna's skirt. From the two times we see her standing, we can clearly see that it comes below her knees. Yet when she sits down and is talking to Bobby, it's well above her knees. Did she hike it up for some reason?
AHN Anne's corner:
- In this episode, both Clayton and "Miss Ellie" say
that she and Jock were married for forty years. In Clayton's case, we'll excuse him; the
man is a little dense. But "Miss Ellie" should know how long she was married!
She and her sons constantly used to talk about how the union lasted forty-five years. Why
round down?
Well, Ellie seems content to wash
everything but the memories away, so what's five years?
- Why would J.R. say that Jamie is an outdoor girl, but offer
her a job at another oil company, then be so opposed to her working at his oil company? I
mean, duh, I know why he wouldn't want her there, but Sue Ellen might have wondered, since
she was putting on the pressure.
Yeah, this is an odd one too. Maybe JR was
just making a suggestion and hoping Sue Ellen would drop it.
- Kendall is a very bad secretary, especially for a purported receptionist. When Cliff calls for Sly, why didn't she ask who he was and whether he wanted to leave a message?
- When Bobby makes a call in the beginning of this episode, he dials eight numbers from his office phone. That's okay - I have no problem with that - except that ordinarily you don't need to dial 9 to get an outside line from Ewing Oil. I'm not saying this is a nit yet - but let's keep watching.
- When Jenna gets into the passenger seat of Bobby's car, she raises the sun visor. That's a very natural thing to do except that the sun is to her right! Is she just raising it so she can use the mirror? Shouldn't she be more concerned about Charlie's welfare than her hair or lipstick?
AHN Anne's corner:
- Jenna's street is not a one-way, so one would think that Bobby
would pull up with the passenger side closest to the curb, and he does: the second time
'round! When he comes to talk to Jenna about Naldo the first time, he pulls up the other
way. Even if he was only planning to stay for a minute, that's a major parking violation.
What a moron!
Another one for the tote board. Rack 'em up.
- It was surprising enough that Jenna didn't suspect Naldo at
first in the disappearance of Charlie, but if she was smart, she probably would have
insisted on searching his room when she and Bobby arrived at the hotel. They met in the
lobby, for crying out loud! Any level-headed mother would come to the hotel unannounced,
find Naldo's room number and go inside. Too bad Ray wasn't there, because if they had
followed this plan, he would be the one to get the maid to open the door. :)
Ray was busy admiring Donna's oil field, of
course! But you're absolutely right. Bobby obviously doesn't trust Naldo one bit so I
would have thought he would have insisted on this anyway, despite Naldo's protestations.
The fact that Jenna didn't clue in to Naldo's possible involvement shocks me, though.
- How did Charlie get to Southfork and into the stables? Did she
take a cab with all that cash she has lying around her
room? I asked myself this right away! Maybe
she took some money from Jenna's purse, but I doubt a cabbie would take a young
girl all the way to
Southfork in the early morning even if she had a wad of cash in her fist. That seems
rather unlikely.
- When Pam and Jerry Kenderson are talking, Jerry tells Pam he 'changed his mind' about making the list of holistic healers for her. Then, after she pressures him, Jerry replies that he will 'finish' the list for her. Doesn't finishing the list imply that he had at some point started it? That's not the impression I got from what he said.
- The psychic asks Pam to touch all of the cards she lays out in front of her. But Pam is nervous and the psychic steadies her hand before she touches all of the cards. Then Pam takes her hand away! So doesn't that invalidate the reading?
- Jenna obviously doesn't know her husband-to-be very well. What does she figure Bobby is going to do when he hears that she plans to introduce Charlie to Naldo? "Bobby, whatever you do tonight, don't come to the Ventura Restaurant on McKinney, okay? Especially not at seven o'clock! Why? Oh, no reason. I certainly won't be there..."
- When Lucy comes to Eddie's construction site, we see Eddie working with a power saw. Eddie is using no eye protection. Eddie is using no hand protection. He's wearing short sleeves and his hair is probably longer than regulation. Even in 1985, there were safety regulations for construction workers. This is ridiculous. No union would stand for this.
- When John Ross finds Bobby and Jenna at the barbecue, he calls them 'Bobby' and 'Jenna'. Shouldn't that be 'Uncle Bobby' and 'Aunt Jenna'? I remind you that when Lucy returns to Dallas in 1989, she is constantly referred to as 'Aunt Lucy', even though she is really a cousin to John Ross and Christopher. So why the disrespect now?
- Not a nit, just a comment: even in the thirty seconds we've seen her on screen in this capacity, I'd already say that Jamie is a better receptionist than Jackie at Barnes-Wentworth.
- Another comment: I hope we never again see Jeremy Wendell in a cowboy hat! He looks like he has no head!
Mike Granieri asked: Could J.R. have waited any longer to fish Marilee out of the pool? If she was a non-swimmer she'd have drowned.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Pam: I think that Mark may still be alive!
- "Miss Ellie": You mean you think he survived the crash?
Need I say more?
No, your point is well taken. It didn't hit
me at first but this whole exchange was really dumb and pointless - much like the whole
darn storyline!
- As Jamie and Clayton go off to dance at the barbecue, there remains the issue that he
has a drink in his hand. The logical thing to do at this point would be to set the drink
down, but the man takes it out to the floor with him! What happens next?
Maybe he set it on a waiter's tray, like Ray
does. But it's a strange thing to do. Couldn't he hand it to "Ellie"?
-Was Marilee supposed to have slapped Jamie? It looked and sounded like she got nothing but air and if so, it defeats the whole purpose of the action in this scene. Agree? Well, I heard a sound that was supposed to be the impact, and Jamie 'sold' the slap by turning her head slightly. But from Jamie's instantaneous recovery and lack of damage to her face [for example, she doesn't immediately raise her hand to rub the sore spot], it must not have been very hard, so I guess it does defeat the purpose. I wish Jamie had slapped Marilee back but I guess pushing her in to the pool was the next best thing.
Episode 173: Do You Take This Woman...
I'll leave it to AHN Anne today, since I found nothing other than what she did:
- Since Bobby's been around, it seems that Charlie plays hooky more often than not. In real life, Jenna would probably oppose the idea. On the show, she kind of shrugs it off, but when Bobby asked why Charlie didn't come with her to the ranch on a school day, even a laid-back lady like Jenna would be a little concerned. This could become habit-forming for Charlie. Actually, I wouldn't classify Jenna as 'laid-back' - she gets really uptight about what Charlie does sometimes. And I wouldn't expect this kind of behavior from Bobby - at least Ray [in the 87/88 season] was concerned about Charlie's education and future.
- Charlie's not the brightest girl in the world (and Shalane
McCall is certainly not the best actress in the world) but her general attitude would give
the impression that she tries in school, so why didn't she have any books with her when
Naldo came to pick her up? I guess, more to the point, why didn't she have anything ready
to spend the night at Martha's?
She had books in her hands - I checked. And
since she spends so much time at her friends' houses, she must have a spare set of pajamas
at each one. It would save Jenna a lot of hassle!
- Convenient, wasn't it, how Bobby's car was all set to go right
outside the house, with nothing blocking it from taking off from Southfork? And Bobby had
the keys, too. Those Ewing men are prepared for anything!
Good call! There ought to be a lot of limos
and what not in the driveway.
- At the beginning of the episode, after JR calls the ranch from Jenna's condo, Sue Ellen tells everyone that "the wedding is off". How does she know this? JR just said to send the guests home because they can't find Jenna. Maybe they WILL find her and the wedding will be back on again. What if she's just stuck in traffic?
- AHN Anne, as I did, loved it when the hotel manager explains to Bobby and J.R. that he can't give out personal information about the guests and Bobby says, "Listen, I'm Bobby Ewing..." and then the manager is more than happy to help. Why didn't you say so? In that case here's Naldo's credit card number. :)
- When JR calls Phyllis and Kendall into the office on a Saturday for an emergency Jenna search, why doesn't he ask Jamie to come too? As JR put it, "they're on the payroll". Isn't Jamie on the payroll? Why would JR give Jamie special consideration?
AHN Anne's corner:
- How did Donna and "Miss Ellie" know about the call that Bobby received? He and J.R. were the only ones in the room at the time and they drove off without an explanation. We don't know for sure whether JR and Bobby said 'nothing'. Maybe JR said something cryptic to Donna on the way out. But it is strange.
- Finally, I had to make another comment about Bobby the Driver.
As he pulls up to park on Sylvan Drive, did you notice that half of his car is blocking a
driveway? I'm sure that he's just breaking the rules because he only plans to stay for a
minute, but Bobby really needs some help with his parking skills!
I didn't notice but of course, I'll take
your word for it. I'd really like to see Patrick Duffy's driver's license!
- This is an understandable nit. During the scene where Naldo interrupts Jenna's shower, at one point you can see a bit of the upper portion of whatever Jenna is wearing - it's black, probably a bikini top. Clearly Priscilla Presley was uncomfortable about actually being naked in this scene. It's more clear during the teaser, but if you look closely during the episode, you'll see it. That said, she and the cameraman do a good job of trying to hide it.
- And if Jenna is so uncomfortable about being with Naldo, why didn't she lock the bathroom door when she went in to take her shower?
- AHN Mike also pointed out that if Naldo was intending on getting in with Jenna, why is is wearing his suit pants? I realize he is a dapper dresser but wearing pants in the shower during sex is neither practical (especially if the partner is unwilling) nor fashionable. Hey, you're right! I hadn't thought of that! I suppose it's probably just because he didn't want to be wearing just underwear, but it doesn't make sense. As I said in the summary, if I had Priscilla Presley in a compromising position like that, it would be probably be kind of painful to wear tight jeans!
- And, finally, when Jenna throws soap [or shampoo, or whatever it is] at Naldo, it gets all over him - on his face, his chest, his pants, everything. Naldo grabs a towel and gets the soap out of his eyes and then chases after Jenna into the other room. Suddenly, there's no lather on his pants! So in his sex-crazed rage, he stopped to clean his pants? If I were chasing after a compromised Priscilla, I would most assuredly not do this.
- Today, John Ross calls Pam 'Aunt Pam' when she comes to Southfork to drop Christopher off. So why in Episode 172 did he call Bobby 'Bobby' and Jenna 'Jenna', leaving out the 'Uncle' and 'Aunt'? Has Sue Ellen taught him some respect in the last week?
- I think I can understand why the producers like working with Eric Farlow, the young toddler who plays Christopher. Many is the time we've seen him sit very quietly while Pam and Bobby have an important conversation. But today, he shows more patience than I've seen in all the two-year-olds in the world combined! He rushes out to the pool in a bathing suit to greet his daddy, and then JR and Bobby have a fairly long conversation about the events of the night before. All this time, Christopher stands perfectly still. Any two- or three-year-old I know would by screaming and shrieking, "Daddy! I wanna go in the water!" That said, you can hear once or twice that JR's voice is dubbed over some of the shots of Bobby and Christopher. That means that this scene must have been done in several takes.
- If Eddie, like most young people in the construction business, has a hard time making ends meet, then how did he afford that nice-looking entertainment center? It looks like he's got a brand-new TV and VCR!
- I figure at least Eddie watches TV. Ray and Donna obviously don't. Did you see where Ray puts his TV? It's underneath the bar table that separates the kitchen from the living area! How can you see anything down there? And the reception must be terrible.
- When Jenna calls Southfork, she dials seven numbers. Good! That
means it must be a local call, right? Then why the heck does Jenna have to put in a
dollar's worth of coins? Aren't local calls free, or at least they should only cost you
the quarter you have to put in, right?
There is one answer to this, but it still doesn't make sense. In a big metropolitan area
like Dallas, there's usually more than one area code in effect because of the sheer volume
of phone numbers that exist. Since Jenna doesn't know where she is, she can't know she's
in a different area code. But if she is, shouldn't she get an obnoxious sounding operator
on the line telling her "You must dial the area code before you can reach this
number" or something like that, and then have to redial? You do here in Toronto.
Otherwise, chalk it up to a special tax for calling Southfork from a pay phone.
Of course, the real reason is so Jenna has to fumble in her purse so Naldo can come and
dramatically hang up the phone on her, yada, yada, yada.
- JR's detective, Peter Adams, says that "Jenna's daughter, Charlie" was not present at the wedding. How does the detective know that her nickname is Charlie? Her real name, according to Naldo, is Charlotte. Charlie is an unusual nickname for a girl, so I find it hard to believe that he would have guessed this or learned it through ordinary means. It's possible that he's just very thorough, but it's worth pointing out.
- Today, we see clearly that JR dials seven numbers to call Harry McSween. So why did Bobby dial eight numbers for an outside call in Episode 171?
- Pam has really improved her control over her emotions! When Dr. Benton reveals that he's seen Mark Graison, Pam starts sobbing in her special way as she thanks him for the information. Then he says that Mark's probably gone to Jamaica, and Pam stands up to continue her gallant search. Instantly, her voice is perfectly clear because she's stopped crying!
- And after speaking with Pam, Dr. Benton in San Serrano dials eight numbers to call someone using his pulse-dial phone. [A nice touch, by the way]. I don't want to give away who he is calling, for those who haven't seen it, but this is almost assuredly not a local call. So why eight numbers? There should be at least eleven.
- AHN Mike also asked: What's with JR's changing hair color? It could just be the lighting but I think he's going through some hairpiece experimentation in this episode and the prior one. Larry Hagman is getting grey on the sides at this point and his hairpiece in #174 has no grey in it. In 175, in the early scenes it appears he is wearing a different one with some grey mixed in with the light brown base. Later, in Bobby's office, JR's hair appears to be almost black on top with no grey.
AHN Anne's corner:
- When Clayton helped Bobby up the stairs, after Bobby
specifically said that he didn't need any help, why did "Miss Ellie" say
"I'll help"? This seemed really out of place to me because A) she didn't help
and B) how was she planning to help when Bobby didn't want anything and Clayton was with
him anyway? Do you see where I'm coming from or am I just overreacting
because I think "Miss Ellie's" gone a little bananas? I see where you're coming from. It is a nit, but I think
it was mostly to set up the next segment where Ellie self-servingly says that Bobby
'needs' her. Obviously the writers want us to see that Ellie is the one who 'needs' her
family to 'need' her. That actually makes it a nice touch, because it creates some
emotional consistency for the moment!
- Another minor detail I have to comment on is how J.R. was giving instructions to his
detective after dialing up McSween at the station. He had the phone on his desk for at
least five seconds after dialing the number. Unless Harry heard J.R.'s voice at the other
end of the line, logic would tell us that he'd hang up before J.R. got to speak with him. I'll have to look at this again.
- I couldn't help but point out that I was right. Sue Ellen has taught her son some respect, and John Ross calls him 'Uncle Bobby' now. Good.
- For all his smarts, Bobby is surprisingly naive at one point in this episode. He tells Scotty Demarest that Naldo would have to use Charlie's passport to get her out of the country. Doesn't Bobby figure that if he wanted to, Naldo could have made Charlie a fake passport? Or does Bobby feel that Naldo would never do something so dastardly?
- The Hanson fellow tells Ray and Donna that there's a coffee machine near the storage room where they are searching for information about Jamie's document. When we return to the pair busily hunting for clues, Ray's coffee cup has a logo on it. This is very strange from a coffee cup dispensed from a machine! It's almost as if Ray went to a coffee shop or something... but we all know that's impossible, since Ray claims they've spent the whole darned day cooped up in there!
- AHN Anne thought it was really strange how Sue Ellen and Jamie switched accents. Jamie's voice was pretty southern today, especially for an Alaskan migrant and Sue Ellen basically dropped the drawl altogether when she was chewing J.R. out at the end of the episode. Linda Gray's from California, right? I remember when she spent the night at Clayton's hotel room a couple seasons ago and you commented on how her natural voice took over. That happened today, too. It's like when she does her best acting, she can't do the accent consistently. I agree. I didn't notice the loss of accent, because the scene was very well done and I was frantically making notes, but you're probably right.
AHN Jason's corner:
- When Donna and Ray leave Sam's office storage, it looks like
they forget to turn the lights out. Maybe not a nit, but pretty sloppy... It's possible that if they turned that light off, they'd
be in pitch darkness - maybe there's no light out in the hall. But it is a nit of sorts.
I'd expect better from Donna.
- During the fight scene between Sue Ellen and J.R., she accuses him of destroying
her and Jamie's friendship. How exactly can he do that? He didn't sleep with
Jamie, for God's sakes...she just told Sue Ellen the truth. Why give him the satisfaction
of ending the friendship? Yes, you're right!
She must have read the script and knew that she'd have to choose between JR and Jamie,
which would ultimately end their friendship. This is truly a nit. Good one!
- It wasn't clear how much time elapsed between Bobby's call to Jamie and her visit
to the restaurant.. but if Jamie
was alone in the office (when Bobby called), who covered so she could go find J.R.?
Maybe the Phantom of Ewing Oil? May not be such a bad temp..heck if he wants to
commute, he could take over Jackie's job at Barnes-Wentworth...
Excellent! I totally missed this!
- At the beginning of this episode, Clayton asks Ellie to go upstairs so he can talk to JR alone. Ellie goes to the kitchen rather than upstairs. Why? Does she know that Clayton will leave without bringing up the nightcap he promised, and she really wants some milk or something?
- I don't know how big Laredo is, but my atlas says that about 80,000 people live there. That's a good-sized city. Good enough that Bobby should be able to get a better hotel room than the two-star room that he settles for.
- When Pam comes to Southfork to retrieve her son, why are Christopher's things packed and ready? Pam returned unexpectedly from the Caribbean, right? Ellie and Clayton don't know she's back, right? So why are they packed and ready?
AHN Anne's corner:
- The only major thing I saw today was how Cliff told Mandy to lend Pam one of her
nightgowns. At first I thought, "Well, Pam should have a nightgown with her" and
then I realized that she didn't have a suitcase! What happened to all her clothes if she
just got back from Jamaica? It never ceases
to amaze how Pam creates nits through no fault of her own. You're right.
- How old is Christopher? I totally agreed with you two days ago when you said that he
must be an extraordinary child to wait next to Bobby for five minutes and today he was
eating, with utensils, by himself and without even a phonebook to help him reach the
table. Doesn't it seem strange that "Miss Ellie" and Clayton would sit so far
away from him? Even an extraordinary toddler might want some help! There was something about this scene that really bugged
me. I thought it was just the huge quantity of food on Christopher's plate, but this was
also somewhat disturbing. Thanks for pointing it out.
- Also, I thought it was really uncalled for of Jamie to get mad at Sue Ellen. Sue Ellen
didn't do anything wrong and Jamie talked at her as though it was all her fault. The
newest Ewing hasn't been around that long, it doesn't seem to be her place to criticize
someone else's marriage. I know this was very intentional on behalf of the writers, but in
terms of character development, I feel that Jamie overstepped her bounds. What do you
think?
You might be right in that it was simply to
generate heat between Jamie and Sue Ellen from the writers' point of view. But bear in
mind that Sue Ellen did defend JR's conduct even though she knows in his heart what a worm
he is. I looked at this conversation one step deeper and said that maybe Jamie cares
enough about Sue Ellen to tell her that she's being a fool to fall for JR's schtick; as a
friend, she wants Sue Ellen to break out of her shell and be her own person instead of
being "Mrs JR Ewing", for her own good. You could spin this either way - I know
what you mean.
- After Mandy hangs up on him, JR presses what sounds like three buttons to call Mandy back. At first, I thought he just decided not to continue with the call, but you can hear the phone line trying to dial. How would three button-presses accomplish what JR wants to do? I can understand if he hits a redial button or something, but three?
- The district attorney says that he's unwilling to let Jenna post bail because she's under arrest for felony murder? Uh, no. Felony murder means that a murder was committed in conjunction with or as a direct result of a separate felonious crime - for instance, a murder during an armed robbery, or in conjunction with a rape or kidnapping or some other serious crime. What felony was committed by Jenna, according to the district attorney? None that I can see.
- Bobby tells Harve he's not sure about the license plate of the car in which Veronica drove away in because it's a California plate. So what? It used the English alphabet, right? It's not like it was in Cyrillic! I understand your wanting to be careful, Bobby, but give yourself some credit. You can read, even if that phone dialing thing is still not graspable.
- Pam acts surprised when Bobby says he didn't know Mark was sick and dying. How the hell would Bobby know this? Pam told no one, outside of Cliff, Katherine, and Afton. I don't even recall if Mandy knows, but maybe she does. The point is it's a pretty well kept secret at this point and Pam should know that.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Teresa now calls Ellie 'Mrs. Farlow' instead of 'Ms.
Ellie'. Hmmm, the plastic surgery and fancy dresses now must make Ellie a more
formal character. Yeah, you're right!
This went right over my head! Maybe it's Donna Reed's influence, because I'm quite sure
that when BBG comes back, she becomes 'Miss Ellie' again. Good call!
- At the beginning of the episode, Bobby brings in Charlie and puts her on the couch of
his hotel room. Doesn't he have a bed for the girl? Also did Veronica give him any
clothes for Charlie? Or has she been wearing the same outfit since she was
kidnapped? It's hard to see if
Charlie's wearing the same things. I think she has the same coat, but I noticed the couch
thing too. I figure Bobby expected her to wake up any minute or something, but this is
very un-Bobby-like. Since you noticed it too, I guess that makes it a nit.
- While Jenna is pouring some Ice Tea, she and Sue Ellen have a talk like this...
>Jenna : Would you like some?
>Sue Ellen: No thanks..
>Jenna: Well if you change your mind, let me know (???)
Umm.. this may be normal except that A) Jenna is the guest and Sue
Ellen is the lady of the house - and should be hostess.... B) Sue Ellen was
standing right next to the pitcher and could get a glass any old time she changes her
mind... C) What the heck are the servants for if not to get them drinks if they want
them? a minor point but weird...
This whole conversation was from the
Twilight Zone.
- Ellie and Sue Ellen spat about the future of Ewing Oil. Ellie remarks that Sue Ellen should care about John Ross's future and how much Ewing Oil could mean to him... Yeah it's already brought SOOO much happiness to her own sons, their wives, their families...etc.etc.... geez when is the last time Gary has come home to visit and chat about the good old days with the power struggles with J.R........ I was very uncomfortable about how the situations were reversed all of a sudden. I almost expected Sue Ellen not to mention anything about Miss Ellie going to court to break Jock's will, but she did and the writers took great pains to point out how the situation was somehow 'different' because Ewing Oil would be taken over by outsiders. But this was very weak. Personally, I blame that big dumb ox Clayton's influence.
- Pam and Jackie are seen finishing up lunch and heading back to the office.... Umm, who is watching the phones at Barnes Wentworth while Jackie, the dedicated secretary (snicker snicker) is at lunch? Maybe the Phantom of Ewing Oil did change careers!!!!!! Well, Jackie's got to have lunch SOMETIME, right? Nice touch, though, invoking the Phantom!
- When JR plays back the tape with Cliff, Cliff introduces himself, and then the surprised JR asks "Who?" That's not what happened! Cliff said who he was, and the first thing JR said is "What do you want?". Who's been doctoring the tapes?
- AHNs Anne and Jason both noticed that newspaper from 1930. It was in perfect shape! That surprised me. And unless that newspaper was a personal copy, it should be on microfilm or covered in plastic to keep it in good shape. I'm not really all that impressed by artifacts, but I cringed to see J.R. throwing that around. Doesn't he appreciate its significance as a historical document?
- Anne also wondered what is up with J.R.'s face after the fight? Bobby's pretty strong and he got two or three
good punches in there, so why didn't J.R. have some bigger bruises? After the fight, all
he had was a little bit of a bloody lip and that went away the next day.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Despite how angry Bobby was with JR I still find it hard to
believe that he would drag JR, Ray and himself to the office in soaking clothes. It
could ruin their cars and they all could catch a bad chill. Maybe Bobby doesn't care
about JR or himself, but I thought it was kind of rude for him to impose on Ray like
that....
- I got a good chuckle when Bobby wanted to talk to Pam alone so he had Christopher go
'play' off somewhere in the park. Nice parental guidance. Neither of them even
looked in his direction during their talk. So un-Pam-like....
Episode 180: Sins of the Fathers
- One of my pet peeves showed up today. Pam leaves Bobby at the Oil Baron's Club, and now her ex-husband will have to pay for her drink.
AHN Anne's corner:
- What was on Harve's chin in the first scene? Even if he cut
himself shaving, it's unlike the behind-the-scenes crew to
keep that sort of thing in the shot. I'll
have to look at this again. I'm not sure about this.
- What was Ray doing at the defendant's table with Bobby and J.R.? I thought that Ray wasn't a part of Ewing Oil. He doesn't have any reason to be there. Well, he does own 10 percent of the company, right? Somebody has to support JR and Bobby. Clearly their fake mother doesn't care enough to be there.
- The other thing is about the bread. The finished product is carefully sculpted into lumps, but the dough Jenna's about to put into the oven is flat. Plus, I'm not the expert cook, but she's making a hell of a lot of bread considering how much dough most people use for one batch. And did you notice how it the loaf she put in the pan rose to top without even sitting on a radiator? I'm no cook, but I think you're right all the way.
AHN Jason's corner:
- At the court house, we see all the Ewing clan that was
subpoenaed to the hearing except for Gary.. My question: Does Gary still have
an legal claim to Ewing Oil? If so wouldn't he have to be there? He was
subpoenaed in CA at the end of the last episode. Anyway, I thought Lucy was
given his voting rights way back in 1981 when he last visited.... If so, shouldn't she
have been subpoenaed with the rest of the clan in the last episode..of course, she so
rarely is home, it would be next to impossible to serve her papers....
One at a time. Gary owns ten percent of
Ewing Oil, as per Jock's will. I don't think he necessarily has to show up at the
hearing...technically, no one does, but if nobody did they couldn't present their own
case. Ellie doesn't show up, of course, and nobody says anything about that.
Lucy got the voting rights as part of Jock's interim will, which was superseded and
negated when Jock's actual will was read, giving Gary his piece of the company. LOL about
trying to serve her the papers...
- Which brings me to the next nit. At the breakfast table, both
Lucy and Donna are absent. Lucy I could understand since she is never home, but if Ray is
there, shouldn't Donna also be there?
Yeah! I guess you could explain it by the
fact that Ray is going to Galveston with JR, but I would have thought Ellie would be nice
enough to ask Donna to come over too!
- In Mandy's grocery bag, she has a loaf of some kind of bread. Shouldn't that
be in some sort of paper or plastic bag to protect it from going hard? I never
noticed that kind of bread (French?) sold without a wrapper....
Hmm. I'll look at this again. I saw some
bathroom tissue [or so I thought] but I could be wrong.
Episode 181: The Brothers Ewing
- I'm impressed with Cliff's spending habits! He got a phone with speed dial. Notice when he calls Mandy, he presses only one button, and voila! The phone rings. Wow.
- Not only that, but AHN
Jason noticed that Mandy's machine picks up after one
ring...not a lot of time for her to pick up if she wanted to take the call. A bit
strange...
- That Laredo newspaper is weird. AHN Todd noticed that it must be the smallest newspaper ever! Granted Laredo
probably isn't the biggest town in Texas, but this is ridiculous. As I pointed out before, Laredo has 80,000 people in it!
And since they got Jenna's picture from the Oil Baron's ball, their reporters clearly get
around. They should be able to do better than this.
- I realize that Pam's just playing with Christopher, but when she points out 'Hong Kong' on the globe, she puts her finger in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! Wake up, Pam! It's not dream time yet...
- And why does Pam have such a prominent picture of Cliff in the living room? It's a full-size 5" x 7" photograph, sitting on a side table, not even a mantle. What's up with that? Shouldn't such a precious picture be in a more special location?
- The conversation at the end of this episode bears some scrutiny. The boys are talking to Clayton and JR gets all upset at him for not agreeing to their plan to divert Ewing assets to him and then buy them back later. Then Ellie comes in and says she agrees with Clayton's decision. How does Ellie know what they're talking about? How long has she been standing in the hallway eavesdropping? If you listen to the conversation carefully, you'll see that Ellie doesn't say anything specific about the topic but keeps talking about 'Clayton's decision'. I don't see how Ellie could know that Clayton 'decided' anything unless she's been privy to practically the entire conversation.
AHN Anne wondered when Ray came in and asked where everyone was, Bobby gave an account as
to
the whereabouts of "Miss Ellie" and Clayton and Jenna, but that's not everyone
Bobby! What about Sue Ellen? And if you're feeling generous what about Lucy and John Ross?
AHN Todd's corner: [after a long absence!]
- When Ray pulls up to Southfork in the truck you can hear the
engine roar and then shut off. Right after this Ray puts the truck in Park, and then
turns the key off. I think the sound guy was drunk when he dubbed that bit in.
- When JR walks into his office after telling Kendall to tell him when Ray shows up he
walks down and sits at his desk. There have always been two chairs in front of his
desk, but they are usually out from the desk a few feet and are slanted toward each
other. Today they were tucked right into the desk as if he were a school
teacher. I have never seen anyone have to pull the chair from his desk to sit down. The chairs must have read the script. Good call!
AHN Jason's corner:
- In the scene with Donna and 'Miss Ellie' in the kitchen, look
at the plate of eggs that John Ross was eating.. As Donna sits down it is on her
right side.When the camera moves during her talk with Ellie, the plate appears to move to
her left side... strange. The plate is a
victim of a bad cut. I don't know whether to blame Lorimar or TNN for the cut, though.
- What the hell does this Betty chick think Eddie is saying when he calls her
'basic'? Even with her limited intelligence, she
should be able to see that is hardly a compliment. Instead she beds him...geez.... This would be an interesting poll of the week! We'll ask
the ladies if they think that Eddie is hot stuff, and we'll ask the men whether they'd be
willing be sleep with trailer park trash like Betty even if she were the last woman on
earth.
- Lastly, I am still snickering over this growing Ray/Lucy dialogue...Now he is
giving her love advice. OH, methinks they are unconsciously wanting to relive the
good ol days. Come on Ray and Lucy, admit it. You did it and liked it.....
And then, like the rest of the family,
conveniently forgot it ever happened.
- Sue Ellen and Pam don't appear to be in first class. A trans-Pacific flight should have seats with high headrests to make sleeping more comfortable, even in the economy class section. I would expect the first-class section to be a lot nicer than this! And also, not quite as large.
- Also, why are Pam and Sue Ellen first off the plane? The first nit established that they weren't in first class, right?
- JR and Sue Ellen went to Saudi Arabia for a business trip? Give me a break. Sue Ellen would have died of boredom after twenty minutes in Saudi Arabia. Trust me on this.
- A piano in Mandy's new condo? Is this standard furnishing in this particular building? Or maybe the movers haven't finished?
Jeff Reimer submitted: This is when Sue Ellen came to visit Pam at her office, but talked to Cliff instead [a few days ago]. I noticed that the computer and telephone cords were missing from Jackie's desk. Later on in Episode 182, the computer power cord was there. You are right that Jackie sure doesn't do much because she can't.
AHN Todd's corner:
- I was really impressed that the flight attendants could
remember the two Mrs. Ewings' names. Do they remember all of the names in first
class? I really doubt it. Unless they have super special privileges on even a
public flight, this is ridiculous.
Maybe they remembered the fact that they
were both 'Mrs. Ewing'. That's kind of unusual - two Mrs. Ewings on one flight.
- Back in the office, the stage managers must have put the chairs
back to their original position.
Yeah, they read the script again!
-Mandy sounds an awful lot like Jenna when Bobby was trying to impress her. She told JR
that "I will not be a kept woman! I pay my own way" Very original! Recycled storylines and dialogue? On Dallas? No. :)
AHN Anne's corner:
- I love Mandy's apartment. How narcissistic is it to have your
walls plastered with pictures of you? It's like Roger's wall of Lucy, but she's obsessed
with herself. Freaky.
Just another case against Mandy's continued
presence on the show.
- Also, why is it that Mandy has answering machine tapes lying around her floor? That
seemed unlikely.
Ridiculous is more like it, for someone who
seems to be such a fastidious housekeeper.
-And Jackie. Dear Jackie. Doesn't she have any work to do? There's no typewriter in
sight, she just spends her hours doodling on a notepad. I realize that Cliff hasn't given
her much to do lately and that her secretarial skills are minimal anyway, but come on! She's got a computer, which wasn't really in vogue as a
'word processor' back then. Good point.
AHN Jason's corner:
- When JR wakes up in the morning at Mandy's house, she has
thoughtfully placed a coffee pot and cup out for him. Being so domestic, shouldn't
she have removed his glass of booze from the night before? Seems kind of sloppy....
- JR decides to prevent Mandy from getting the message Cliff left by stealing the tape in
her machine.. He selects some tape at random off the floor and inserts it in
the machine.. How does he know it is meant all set up with an announcement? It
could be blank for all he knows... Also why not just erase the message on the other
one. Trust me, it works. My ex-roommates did this all the time to
me.......
I know. JR probably doesn't care - he just
doesn't want Mandy to hear Cliff's message. And, as you pointed out, Mandy's a domestic,
so why are there tapes on the floor? Shouldn't she have them arranged in a neat little
container, sorted by month?
- Mandy comes home that night to find all those flowers in her apartment. Gee that is
really nice. One question though.. How did the florist get into her place? It
looks like she unlocks the door, as she still had her keys in her hands when she entered
JR's "Garden of Evil" ..... JR
probably got the superintendent to let his guy in...I'll open the floor on this one. What
does everyone else think about this? And, by the way..."Garden of Evil?"
- I liked it how Teresa just happen to appear just as Lucy was about to have that spat
with Betty. Teresa didn't even say a word just hung in the background and
snatched away Christopher on cue... Like ESP.
She read the script. Who'd have thunk?
- This is a possible nit... It's Hong Kong kind of warm to be wearing fur coats? I
am no geography major.. but isn't that a fairly hot environment? It's hard to say. Hong Kong is just south of the Tropic
of Cancer, so it is warm all year round. It might be January or February though - and I
can tell you that I was in Saudi Arabia last year around March, at the same latitude, and
during the night and early morning it is rather cool. Of course, if it is early morning,
Pam and Sue Ellen should be very tired because they couldn't have slept very comfortably,
given the fact that their seats had no headrests!
- After traveling half way around the world, why the heck do they just accept the fact
that they can't see "Mark" until the morning. It was fairly early in the
afternoon, judging by the sun and come on... the thought of seeing a presumed dead loved
one would make me a lot more anxious than Pam seemed when she placidly agreed to wait one
more day....
Just heat-numbed, I guess. I don't know
why Victoria Principal agreed to put up with this stupid gimmick for any extended length of
time. Her character has gone nowhere in a hurry for two weeks, except for the great scene
with JR a few days ago.
- The DOA on TWA (Or whatever Veronica's airline is...)
Why does it take 3 or 4 men to open the bathroom door? Shouldn't there be a safety
unlocking mechanism for the airline staff to use to prevent little kids or other people
from locking themselves in the bathroom....also I would think a sick person would be
sitting down on the john not (apparently) leaning on the door... I know it is a bit more
dramatic to have her fall
out than to find her on the can but still... Both points are absolutely valid. I'm not sure what airlines do, but
there must be some way to override the lavatory locks, especially for the reasons you
mentioned. I don't want to give away how Veronica died, but I'm trying to figure out how
she falls out as if she was standing up with her back to the door, or at least leaning on
the door. It is possible though that she had her head over the toilet.
- Before we start, let me just make a comment: the scene where Ray tells Donna about why he's joining the fight for Ewing Oil was very well done on Steve Kanaly's part! I had a lot of respect for him and for the Ray Krebbs character at that point.
- What exactly is Mandy cooking? Why is it that her pot boils over in thirty seconds? And to think that yesterday we called her a domestic!
- Pam says she'll pay Wong half of the money he wants when they meet, and then half after meeting "Mark Graison". Shouldn't the guy say 'Who's that'? How much does he know about what Pam wants? Did he find out about the real Mark Graison, and Pam's true quest? I would think he wouldn't know anything more than he said - that Pam just wants to see the 'Swanson' fellow.
- When Pam enters the clinic, a voice on the intercom pages "Dr. Graham" or some name like that. Two points. First of all, why would there be a "Dr. Graham" at a clinic in Hong Kong? It's possible, of course, but unlikely. Second of all, is this really the kind of paging system you have or want at a clinic? It sounds more like the kind of thing you would find at a hospital, not a private clinic. But that can't be, because this is isn't a real hospital, right?
- There's a terrible cut in the clinic when Pam is about to enter Swanson's room. You could blame it on the fact that suddenly the cut changes to an angle from behind the frosted glass, but it is really poorly done.
- Okay, so Veronica's a drug user. Probably has been for some time, right? She pumped herself with cocaine and heroin, probably in Los Angeles. I'm not a drug user - never have been, never will be - but I do know that it's not a good idea to consume alcohol when you've got cocaine or heroin in your body. And so would anyone who's used drugs for any extended length of time. Certainly Veronica would have a better way to calm her nerves than to do something so potentially dangerous as suck back drinks.
- I just realized something. JR is selling off some of some of his offshore tracts, right? Wait a minute...remember when Cliff was bidding for his offshore tracts? Didn't JR say that Ewing Oil had never gotten involved with offshore drilling because it was so risky? So when and why did he acquire these tracts? Even assuming that Ewing Oil did acquire some offshore tracts at one point, they can't have very many, so I find it hard to believe that JR thinks Bobby won't notice. Couldn't he find some land tracts to sell? This is extremely odd.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Bobby parks his car "Ewing style"--right in front the the antique store-- and looks like he considers putting money in the meter, then changes his mind. Come on Bobby, you want to ask this guy a lot of important questions, take your time, do it right and put a quarter in... Don't pull a Cliff (being cheap..) Hmm. Maybe it's Saturday. Or maybe there's already some time left on the meter from the last person who parked there. Of course, it's most likely that Bobby remembered that he's a Ewing and no cop would dare give him a ticket.
- That antique dealer is kind of a creepy guy...first he says he
kept busy with his paperwork then he says he noticed Veronica (and several others) on both
flights from all parts of the cabin.. I doubt I could do this if I was busily
engulfed in paperwork. This whole thing was weird. I was waiting
for the writers to insert a tip-off that this guy was the actual killer or something, but
they just let it go.
- This is a real gripe of mine and I am taking it out on Cliff today. Ever notice how many
people fix a drink, tea or coffee , then they start to talk, maybe take a sip then
leave.... Cliff's lawyer did this today and the guy Cliff talked to yesterday (Was
it Jordan Lee?) did the same. One whole sip...geez...
This is almost as annoying as when somebody
orders a drink and then leaves before the drink arrives, or at least before paying for it!
You're right.
- When JR comes to Mandy's house he says he sees her pot boiling over. But when she rushes
to it, it doesn't look to be boiling, at least not over... And how did it happen so quickly? Thirty
seconds? Give me a break! AHN Anne noticed this too.
- Where are all of her flowers? Did they wilt over night? Tucked away someplace? This is a good point.
It would be hard to hide them all!
- I found it hard to believe Phyllis could copy those papers in 10 seconds
flat. I timed her. We could use secretaries like that in our office!!! Maybe the photocopier was already warmed up. But
you're right! Unless she's got one of those super-duper Minolta machines, this should take
at least SOME time.
- I also noticed that she knocks on Bobby's door, then immediately comes in with the
Airline seating notice. I am surprised she didn't wait or try to buzz him... Yeah! I noticed this too! She should have waited for a
response of some sort! Then again, maybe Bobby said to bring it to him as soon as it
arrived.
- Why is Ray wearing a wool scarf in JR's office when they meet
with the PI? How cold is it in there? Did JR sell the Ewing Building heating system off
through his German friend and pocket the profits in his Swiss account? I didn't notice! I'll check it again.
-And speaking of his German friend, the Ewing Building and downtown Dallas is shown at
night before they cut to the meeting in JR's office, yet JR says "good morning"
to him.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Did you notice how half of the people walking down the Hong
Kong street are Caucasian? And the street was pretty sparsely populated to begin with. I
thought China and surrounding areas were really busy all the time. Was this scene even
shot overseas? Yes, I noticed this! I wasn't
too sure what to make of it but I'm quite sure that this was actually shot in Hong Kong -
a friend told me that this is what Hong Kong looks like, only it is definitely more busy
in the middle of the day. I think they might have 'cleared' a street or two for the
benefit of the two actresses.
- Do you think that a waiter would have a phone in hand just waiting for Pam to ask for
it? Also, does everyone in Hong Kong speak English? Americans can be so ethnocentric! Yes, they can. The phone thing doesn't bother me so much
- it's clearly a very upscale restaurant. But the quality of spoken English is quite
surprising.
-We've covered this ground before, but I still think that the circumstances of Ray's
parenthood don't exactly merit pride. When he was talking about how finding that Jock was
his father was the proudest moment of his life, I was sick to my stomach. Regardless of
how great Jock Ewing was, Ray is still illegitimate. Doesn't that bother him at all?
Doesn't that bother
ANYBODY at all? I never thought about it
that way. That is interesting. But maybe he's looked past it because he just feels that
anything's better than being the son of the town drunk..
Just a quick comment about the rampant purple eye shadow in this episode. Woof! Both Sly
(whom I'm glad to have back, by the way) and Marilee indulge and it's just too '80's to be
attractive. Along those lines, Sue Ellen is turning to the dark side with that new hair
style,too. I can deal with any style from that decade except spikes. I don't care much for Sue Ellen's hair right
now. I'm glad that Pam's hair is coming back to normal. I'm fairly certain that Sue Ellen
goes to the hairstylist between the time that Bobby dies in the hospital and he is laid to
rest [i.e. the off-season]. I think she accompanied Miss Ellie while she was having her
plastic surgery undone.
NOTE: The 'error' to which this episode refers must be 'Pam and Sue Ellen's Excellent Adventure'. You'll see what I mean.
- Pam calls Cliff from Hong Kong. It's clearly night there. It's also night in Dallas, as Pam apologizes for calling 'so late', and the next scene is a late-night scene with Christopher and Bobby. The two cities are ten hours apart! If it's 'late' in Dallas, it should be the middle of the day in Hong Kong. I guess Pam really does have a problem with the time difference!
- And finally, why are the lovely ladies wearing fur coats today in Hong Kong? The other day I offered the excuse that it may have been early morning, but today it is clearly not.
- And finally, on the flight back, Pam and Sue Ellen still do not appear to have been able to procure first class tickets.
- AHN Anne submitted: Okay, I have a nit about the trial. How could the judge overrule Scotty's objection to the hotel manager's opinion? When a witness gives an opinion, that is a witness other than an expert, isn't it hearsay? The judge can't put the objection aside on the basis that it's an opinion, can she? That was always true on "Perry Mason" anyway. The prosecutor steps out of line when he questions Bobby, too. He doesn't have the right to ask Bobby if it's possible that Jenna had killed Naldo. That's hearsay, too. Actually, Bobby's entire testimony, except for the part about Jenna leaving him at the altar twice, is hearsay. If the prosecutor wants to know what Jenna said and Jenna did and what Jenna said she did, he should ask Jenna, not Bobby. Jenna could invoke her fifth Amendment right to keep silent, but that would be the proper procedure. This is ridiculous and I want to ask Judge Fenerty to declare a mistrial because Jenna's counsel is incompetent for not objecting! [At ease, Ahmer, at ease.]
- AHN Anne also submitted the following rant: With all that's going on she ["Miss Ellie"] could use someone to talk to, eh Clayton? Yeah, what are you doing around Southfork but taking up space! And then the group hug, with "Miss Ellie" on the outskirts so that her hair doesn't get messed up. Maybe if she would just take a look at some of the old photo albums, she'd realize that she doesn't need to have such an elaborate hairstyle to be Miss Ellie!
- AHN Mike pointed out that not only do Sue Ellen and Pam have problems with time differences while in
Hong Kong, they also have trouble with climate differences. Two episodes earlier they get
off the plane in winter coats which are totally unnecessary there. In Friday's episode,
they are standing at that temple on the bay in heavy long sleeve, long skirt layered
outfits while everybody around them is in short sleeves and airy garments.
- AHN Mike also asks was something cut? Ray says he stopped by Southfork to tell them
"about Alf Brindle" but he never says anything.
AHN Jason's corner:
- When Mr. Wong sees Pam and Sue Ellen's plane take off, he picks
up a phone and rotary dials three numbers... Three? and what is this
with rotary phones in the Orient. Pam used one in the restaurant too. Don't
they have push button ones?
I wasn't too sure what to make of this.
Three numbers is bizarre, because usually phone numbers in this part of the world have six
numbers. Rotary phones, however, were and still are quite common. Whether you'd find this
in an upscale area of Hong Kong International Airport is questionable.
- I liked it how Jamie put the (possibly) greasy and hot Chinese food bag on Jackie's
computer. I know she doesn't use it much but still.... Also it looks
like they are going to eat right on Jackie's desk (which kind of looks like a card
table....)
Yes, somebody else submitted something about
Jackie's computer. It's a good thing she never uses it!
- When the prosecutor starts questioning one of the witnesses (I think the hotel
clerk) he asks "on the night of the 27th.".. Shouldn't a
month and year be added to this for clarity? Certainly
a month should! Good call!
- I noticed Scotty referred to Veronica as Ronnie in his conversation at the
restaurant... When did they get that close?
He did? That's odd. They never met. The only
thing he ever said to her was 'Howdy, Ms. Robinson!'.
- Also how did Ann know to call Bobby at the restaurant? Was she psychic? Hmm...I see your point. I figure she called Southfork
first, and said it was urgent, so she was given the number of the Oil Baron's Club. But
wouldn't it have been more likely that Teresa would ask her to leave a message or
something? I doubt Bobby constantly keeps the hired help apprised of his whereabouts, so
I'd say you're right.
- I've never traveled in this part of the world, but how far does it take to go between Hong Kong and Tokyo? Sue Ellen tells Pam that they have an hour until they arrive in Tokyo. Notice that she's just gotten a drink from the cart. This means that the flight has reached its cruising altitude, so they've been in the air for a while. Does anyone know?
- This one's about Jackie - and believe it or not, it's not about her incompetence in the business world! I think I just figured out what they did with Barbara Bel Geddes' wardrobe - they made Jackie wear it! She looks so ridiculous wearing that blue sack dress, doesn't she?
- Does Rhonda look familiar? Well, add about thirteen years to her jailbait body, and make her hair a little longer...that's right! She was Jennifer Jantzen, Bobby's love interest in War of the Ewings.
AHN Anne's corner:
- These writers are pretty knowledgeable about the oil industry,
but they don't know jack about the legal profession. Don't you think that the prosecutor
would object to the whole spiel about Jenna and the gun? Even if she did know what to do,
she could have pretended not to, so that doesn't seem like very solid evidence for the
defense. True, I thought about this. But
then again, maybe he and Scotty have an understanding not to object to all of the
wackiness.
-And then the letter that Bobby brought into court should have been brought under more
scrutiny I thought. The prosecutor didn't have access to the letter beforehand, which is
customary when you're introducing something as evidence. Then wouldn't they have to bring
in a sample of Veronica's handwriting to verify that she actually wrote the letter?
Sheesh.
He could object, in which case the letter
would have to be verified. I think we should give him a little leeway though, If I'm the
ADA, I want to get this over with and not give the jury a chance to think about it, right?
The more the jury thinks about it, the more likely they are to vote not guilty. If he
objected to the letter, there would be delays while the letter was examined. He could ask
for a little bit of time to look it over, but I think he suffers from gross
overconfidence.
-Sue Ellen is so funny the way she keeps insisting that Pam stop off for a few days and
rest. You know all she wants is to go shopping. And how does it happen that they changed
planes? The first plane they took on their way out of Hong Kong wasn't this nice. And I
doubt if they stopped off before, because Sue Ellen said that they were changing flights
in Tokyo. And now they're in first class. This show is so absurd sometimes.
Well, it looks like first class from the
nice drink cart, but the seats haven't changed. Northwest Orient must be a really nice
airline if it has this big a first class section!
I can't really tell whether they've changed planes - they didn't show a whole lot of the
first plane. What bothers me is that Sue Ellen says it'll be an hour to get to Tokyo,
after she's gone to get a drink. This means they've reached cruising altitude. Hong Kong
and Tokyo aren't that far apart, are they?
AHN Jason's corner:
- When JR meets Nathan Billings, the waitress serves the guy what
looks like a Perrier bottle but she calls it club soda or something...weird. Interesting. I didn't notice.
- Jamie is credited at the beginning of the episode but does not appear (TNN edit I
presume). Also Sue Ellen's line about JR sleeping with anyone he likes is in the preview
but not seen during the episode
Eddie is also mentioned in the closing
credits but is AWOL.
- Shouldn't Jenna be standing during the reading of the verdict? Most definitely! I can't believe I missed that!
- Also Bobby barely looked at the letter when Anne gave it to him yet he knew it was what
he wanted.... Speed Reader? hmmm... And shouldn't the letter have been
marked as evidence?
Yes and yes. I think it probably didn't take
him long to get the gist of the letter.
- All this talk at the trial about the silencer.... Why doesn't Scotty have the gun
experts test to see if the bullet fired into Naldo was used with a silencer? if it
was, then Jenna's defense would be much stronger.. (The silencer was not on the gun
when she was found.) Seems a lot easier to use then tracking down witnesses who to
testify about no sound coming from the room that night... Ah, but then it would be hard for Jenna to be convicted and this
storyline would end too soon! More than once I've been of the opinion that Scotty should
be fired for incompetence.
Joe Stanganelli submitted: When Nathan Billings meets Rhonda, and she said she just got out of the bath, I didn't see a drop of moisture on her! Not even sweat! Perhaps a minor, little noticeable flaw in J.R.'s setup.
- After learning about Jenna's conviction, I really think that Pam and Cliff should show some more concern. [Pam, at least.] Jackie, in her silly way, only tells them that Jenna was found guilty. We, the audience, know that she was only convicted of manslaughter, but Pam and Cliff do not. Remember that Jenna was actually on trial for murder and under risk of being given the death penalty! [This is Texas...]
- Jamie tells Sue Ellen that she knows the new man in her life because they used to be lovers. Surprisingly, Sue Ellen has to think about it. Give me a break, Sue Ellen! Who else could it be? Dusty? Clint Ogden? Peter Richards? JR? DUH! This is the pinnacle of tom-foolery.
- The pretty stewardess who tips off Bobby works for ConWest Air. ConWest Air? Wasn't it Transglobal Airlines that Veronica used? Maybe the two airlines have a working relationship, like Canadian and USAir, but this is the first we've heard of it.
AHN Anne's corner:
- I thought the judge was going to give Jenna, Bobby and Charlie a few minutes alone together. They got thirty seconds! That judge bites. Heartily agreed. What was that all about? I wonder whether Judge Judy bases her show on this kind of thing.
- The whole Jamie-Sue Ellen scene was stupid. How did Jamie know
about Sue Ellen's relationship with Cliff? How can Sue Ellen justify getting mad at Jamie
for not being a friend? They stopped being friends last week.
I believe that Cliff told her...I'll have to
check the summaries about this. Why they're having lunch together is a different question.
This is silly. It approaches the status of CPT [classic plot trickery]. Is there any
reason for Sue Ellen and Jamie to be in the Oil Baron's Club other than to have the
conversation with Marilee?
- This may not be worth mentioning, but I thought it was kind of dumb for Lucy to offer
Eddie iced tea without ice. You can't have iced tea without ice! Yello! Maybe she was sending him a subtle hint? I can't imagine
what, though.
- Did you notice how Ray said that Lucy had had two good men in her life: Mitch and
Mickey? That struck me as amusing; I think Ray just called himself a loser! :) Another great example of how the writers wanted us to
completely forget that whole incest thing.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Another sort of Charlie nit. She has a guest bedroom at Southfork. So presumably do Jenna, Bobby, JR, MS Ellie and Clayton, Lucy, Donna, Sue Ellen, Christopher, and John Ross. Exactly how many bedrooms are there in this house? Doesn't look that big from the outside.... Good point! Especially with Donna around...this is getting egregious.
Episode 187: Terms of Estrangement
The stupid Jack Ewing laugh meter: 3
- The scene where Bobby, Ray, and the Video Tape guy analyze the flight record gets a beating today. Let me start off with asking why George Parrish wouldn't have remembered that Veronica spilled a drink on him? In all of the clues he gave Bobby, he never mentioned that. Especially the fact that the drink ruined some of his precious paperwork.
- Ray Krebbs is starting to bother me. Did anyone notice in the opening scene that he decides that he's had a hard day warming up the couch in JR's office, and so decides that he's entitled to put his feet up on JR's desk? Not even JR puts his feet up on his desk - I'm sure it's a nice oak or mahogany table! Shouldn't JR immediately snap at him to get his dusty cowboy boots off?
- The Video Tape guy tells Bobby that the plane landed five minutes after Veronica left to go to the lavatory. This is ridiculous! Five minutes before the plane lands, all of the passengers should be in their seats with their belts fastened because the plane is going to land! And most definitely we should not see drinks being served if the plane is about to land. A blatant oversight by the writers.
- Towards the start of this episode, Jamie and Sue Ellen have a fight over the scene in the restaurant in yesterday's episode. Towards the end of this episode, Sue Ellen comes to Barnes-Wentworth and she and Jamie are suddenly very amicable. Sue Ellen even invites her to lunch. What happened? Did all of that Awareness advancement kick in? And even if it did, why is Jamie so willing to renew the friendship after Sue Ellen has been so rotten to her?
- I'm really struggling to refrain from commenting about the horrendous psychobabble that we hear at the Institute for Advanced Awareness. The spirit of Dr. Elby lives...
Joe Ormata submitted: I found it highly unusual that the surveillance tape would have close ups like
that. Generally surveillance tapes look at a group of people not the actions of
one. So why the close ups? Are we to believe that this camera on the plane knew when
to go in for a close up to witness the drink being poisoned? Most likely the camera
is automatic and not being controlled by a person which makes this all the more
unbelievable. What do you think?
I think you're exactly right. I caught this
right away and it's stupid that they want us to believe that the camera read the script.
Or, as AHN Jason said, at the very least the close-up should be extremely
grainy.
AHN Anne's corner:
- I swear I was cringing to see Lucy working out with those heavy
earrings on! Doesn't she know that she could rip her earlobes off that way? That was stupid. But not as stupid as Ray doing a few
lifts of forty pounds and then stretching like he just had a killer workout.
- How does Ray know that Mitch sent her a letter? Regardless of whether he's a Ewing now,
he shouldn't be looking through other people's mail! And why isn't he avoiding the house
these days? Considering what's going on with Donna, it would seem to be pretty awkward if
they ran into each other. Yes, I noticed
that. That was just dumb.
-When speaking from either side of the glass window in prison, one has to speak into the
vent in the window, otherwise the other person can't hear, am I right? Okay, well, Jenna
stood up and spoke right into the glass, then spoke from the door, which is really far
away from that vent. How was Bobby supposed to hear her is what I'd like to know?
It would be almost impossible. You're
absolutely right.
- When "Miss Ellie" was playing the piano, Clayton said he knew that tune. He
could recognize it after one note. Well, I couldn't! Do you know what she was playing? I
was kind of hoping he'd burst into song. :) I have no idea what she was playing and I
think Clayton was just showing off. I couldn't help but think of a herd of water
buffaloes.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Lucy mentions during her love chat with Ray that she and Mitch
broke up 2 years ago. More like three since he left town - Spring 1982.
This episode took place in Spring 1985.
Time must flow differently in Lucy's world.
Good call.
- I got a good chuckle out of the Video Tape Guy's comment that the man who sat next to
Veronica was obviously an assassin because of the way he moved around the plane-- this was
before he spiked her drink.... Also did anyone else see him do what looked like
spiking Veronica's first drink? I noticed it and thought it looked odd. Hard
to tell if that was what he did because this was before the camera zoomed in......
- When they were done viewing the tape, the VTG just shut off the TV. He didn't switch off the VCR or rewind the tape. Thought that was kind of strange. It is strange.
From Doug Wille:
- Regarding the videotape of Veronica's flight: Isn't it
fortuitous that she happened to be sitting in the row that had no seats directly in front
of it? Even in first class, you cannot see, at the camera's angle, 3/4s of the seat! The
videotape guy did mention that he had relevant portions of the tape blown up to see
better. Still, as noted, it should be grainy, unless Sony or Toshiba owned the airline. Absolutely. I can forgive the convenience of Veronica
having a well-placed seat, but the picture quality is better than we could achieve today!
- And, how many women would get up and go to the toilet and leave their purse?
Especially if they are sick? She would want her bag for aspirin or other pills,
tissues, etc. What if there is a line at the toilet? She'd wipe her face with a tissue,
maybe have a smoke, check her makeup, etc. If she thinks she's going to puke, she'd want a
breath mint, gum, whatever.
- Since Jason had two children (or did he?), everybody in the litigation had to know that
both children would get Jason's one-third in any court claim. So, Jamie and Cliffie
never could have had two-thirds control, without Jack's consent. And Jack's share (16.67%)
would be worth approx. $333.33 million. (If we can say that Ewing Oil is worth
approximately $2 billion at this point.) That would have to make the papers all over the
world. So, Jack lays low, figuring things would straighten themselves out. After all, he had found out the truth and thought that the Ewings
would have by this point, also. That still does not explain Cliff overlooking Jack's
role until this point. (And, I guess Digger didn't leave any of his estate to Pam.) Both points are well made. I figure that
Jamie didn't make very much of it because she hasn't seen Jack in five years, but you are
right to point out that eventually he would hear about it and show up to claim his
inheritance - or so Cliff and Jamie should believe. As far as Digger not leaving anything
to Pam: well, Pam wasn't his natural daughter, as we know; whether he forgave her for
marrying a Ewing is never clearly spelled out. I doubt he left her nothing, but he
probably left the bulk of what little inheritance he had to Cliff, figuring that Pam was
well taken care of and didn't need it.
Episode 188: The Ewing Connection
The stupid Jack Ewing laugh meter: 2. [He really controlled himself today.]
- One of AHN Jason's pet peeves comes to light today. Before going to the airport, Lucy takes one sip of the orange juice from a practically full glass and then leaves it there.
- Sue Ellen tells her psychobabble chums that in yesterday's episode, JR called her unfit in front of the 'whole family'. Since when do Clayton and Ellie constitute the whole family? AHN Anne reminded me that she also wasn't by the bar when we saw her, as she claimed. You're not doing yourself any favors by exaggerating, Sue Ellen.
- That dumb cowboy Ray just has no respect for nice things. Like the uncivilized dolt that he is, he puts his feet on JR's desk again while waiting for Jack to arrive at Ewing Oil.
- And speaking of Ray, he reaches the height of silliness later in this episode. When taking John Ross to the hospital, he tells the doctor that the young boy keeps losing consciousness. Well, Ray, maybe it's because you're lifting him by the neck and letting his head hang over like a wet noodle!
- I'm going to take some space to talk about cabbageing. What's
cabbageing, you ask? Well, cabbageing occurs when the writers of a show include dialogue
that is designed to recap and summarize events, in case we forget or missed something. For
instance, every time somebody gives us details of how "Jamie's document will split up
Ewing Oil", they're cabbageing for us. Bear in mind that Dallas was originally a
weekly show, so this was necessary because people might forget some of the things that
happened the previous week. And some amount of cabbageing is necessary to maintain the
flow of the show.
That said, today's episode, by far, contained the largest amount of shameless cabbageing I
can recall. It was absolutely ridiculous how the talk of the 'fight for Ewing Oil'
pervaded almost every conversation. The only place where it was fitting was during the
scenes with Jack, who it concerns very closely. Other than that, it was totally egregious.
Joe Ormata pointed out that when Lt. Spalding took the call in Bobby's office he was told it was on line 2 but didn't do anything like hit a button to connect him to that line when he picked up the phone.
AHN Anne also asked whether
Jenna's trial would really be big news in Atlanta?
That's hard to believe. I noticed this too.
On the newsgroup, Gina found that when Sue Ellen called the hospital to check on John Ross at the end of Thursday's episode, her nails were not painted....or maybe a clear, whitish color.....Then the show opens today with her at the piano and she's got a brownish colored polish on them....Boy, sometime in between drinking and trying to get in the hospital, she had time to do her nails.
AHN Jason’s corner:
- When Clayton is giving the nurse info on John Ross, he
tells her that the child’s name is John Ross - actually he is John Ross #3. Jock is
the original John Ross. This wouldn’t be a big deal except if there was ever a need
for a blood transfusion (say in surgery) the computer may get confused as to who has which
blood type….Wouldn’t that be a great cliffhanger…..
That’s a good point, but I
would imagine that the computer would realize that the original John Ross is dead. And
probably the second John Ross is listed as JR. Of course, since Clayton’s an
outsider, he probably shouldn’t realize this subtle point anyway.
- I liked it how Sue Ellen was able to find which hospital John Ross was in on the first try. (Ok it is possible.) But would they really give out any info on him over the phone to a hysterical woman claiming to be his mom. I mean the Ewings are the equivalent to royalty…. Sue Ellen didn’t even give her name. Didn’t JR say he was taken to Braddock Emergency? I don’t remember. But you are right about Sue Ellen probably needing to give her name to get any proper info.
- I also think the ‘Sue Ellen drinks again’ scene would have been more believable if she HADN’T found out which hospital John Ross was in. I mean she knew where he was and could go over there right away and be with him. But if she was desperate and couldn’t go to see him, now that would be a reason to drink…. Just my thought. As we find in the next episode, she did try to go over there but they wouldn’t let her see her son because she was so drunk. Why she waited until she was drunk to head over there is a good question.
- This isn’t exactly a nit but could Jack’s jeans be any tighter? I am surprised he was able to walk in those. If he ever got caught in a rainstorm, he would be crushed to death… Oh, boy, let’s not go there. The whole newsgroup is being torn apart by this issue – did Dack Rambo stuff his pants or is the big Ramboski the real thing? I’d like to hear some SENSIBLE input on this if anyone has some.
- Not a nit but Lucy and Mitch really didn’t seem to care about their families. I know they were there to talk about themselves but the ‘ How’s Afton and mom’ ‘good’ move on to the next topic was a tab unrealistic. A sentence or two… that’s all I ask.. If not, why bother to bring them up ….Also isn’t Afton pregnant with Pamela Rebecca at this point? You’d think Mitch would mention he is going to be an uncle. Now that last one is an excellent point! When we see Pamela Rebecca in 1988, she looks to be about four or five. More importantly, since Afton left Cliff at the beginning of this season, she must already have been pregnant, right? So Mitch should definitely say something. The only reason he wouldn’t is if Afton specifically asked him not to because she was afraid Cliff would come after her and the child.
From a new submitter, Caroline:
I am an enormous Pam and Bobby fan and my all-time
favorite scenes are the ones where they got back together. I just have a couple of
quibbles. In the scene where Pam has cooked Bobby dinner which ends with their first kiss
for years (WAY TO GO ABOUT TIME TOO!) they seem to have forgotten why they got divorced.
They talk about it was all because they had to go back to Southfork when J.R. was shot.
Excuse me, but what about Katherine's and JR's scheming, especially the letter she tricked
Pam into signing. Pam was going to tell Bobby she wanted to try again and Bobby only said
he was letting her go because he thought that's what Pam wanted. I've
been thinking about this since you sent it. Though you're right, I can't help remembering
that it was Pam's inflexibility to see how much Ewing Oil meant to Bobby that first caused
the rift between them. JR and Katherine just widened it so that the gap could not be
bridged. All of last season I couldn't help thinking that Pam has no one to blame but
herself for not sticking by Bobby if she really loved him so much.
That said, it's so good to see them back together!
Episode 189: Deeds and Misdeeds
- Joe Ormata pointed out that when Jackie tells Cliff he has a call on 'Line 3', Cliff just picks up the phone and starts talking. Shouldn't he press the button for Line 3?
- And speaking of the phone system at Barnes-Wentworth, Jackie tells someone on the phone that the extension for the accounting department is a four-digit number. That means that internally, you should be able to press four numbers and get someone else who works for the company, right? So shouldn't that mean that you would have to dial nine to get an outside line? Otherwise, how would the phone line know whether you wanted to dial out or not? That's how it works nowadays - it's possible that there were different phone systems back in 1985.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Did you notice that Mandy's eyes were green today? Blatant
color contacts!
- When Bobby put Sue Ellen to bed, wouldn't it be wise to take off her jacket and shoes?
Bobby's so careless, sometimes.
I know. I caught this too. The jacket maybe,
but the shoes? Come on.
- Secondly, Mandy's busy night includes washing her hair, huh? Well, I know that's the
classic excuse for getting out of
something, but her friend might have said that it only take half an hour to wash your
hair. Maybe it would take longer for Mandy to shop, but seriously!
- Lastly, Charlie's letter to Jenna was only about a paragraph, yet Jenna had two pages in
her hand! Could be that only a portion of the actual letter was read, but in any case,
Jenna's eyes wandered all over the page. Think she committed the whole thing to memory? Good call.
AHN Jason’s corner:
- At one point, Donna says to Clayton that she and Ms
Ellie recently had a talk about her marriage. Something tells me this scene was deleted
because I don't remember the two of them having a heart to heart for several episodes.
It could have happened off screen.
The less we see of Donna Reed, the better.
- Halfway through reading Charlie's Letter, Jenna's eyes
look like they are focus on the wall and not on reading the letter.. (I also found
Charlie’s nagging guilt trip in that letter as annoying as Shalane McCall's voice
over. Take some acting lessons....)
I think someone was under pressure
to justify Priscilla Presley earning a paycheck.
-At the beginning, JR says that John Ross is 7 shouldn't he be six. He was born in spring 1979 and this is spring 1985.... Time flows differently for children on these shows. Soon Christopher will experience an unbelievable growth spurt!
From Doug Wille:
- Charlie's letter. I guess Charlie signed it "Your
daughter, Charlie" in case Jenna forgot who she was?
- In court, Wyndham's documents say he bought Jason and Digger's shares of Ewing Oil in
1931 and Jock bought them back in 1932. What about the taxes? An
"entrepreneur" like Wyndham would have surely filed taxes on an oil company (if
it wasn't making money, he would have had a nice write-off). I'll give the writers credit
for not having the sales done in Texas since any lawyer would have checked state records
(a deed of transaction would be filed). However, that does not explain why the lawyers
conveniently forgot to check other states: after all, like today, it is not unreasonable
for corporate transactions to be done in states with less tax burdens (although Texas has
always been among the lowest for these types). So, both legal teams should have checked
all of the states, along with Mexico and Canada in the general time frame of 1930 to the
marriage of Jock and Miss Ellie (since she would recall it, or at least Barbara Bel Geddes
would have).
This is very interesting. However, Miss
Ellie [even as BBG] might not remember because at the time Jock was married to Amanda. If
my memory serves, Ellie and Jock didn't get married until about 1935 or so, when the
Depression was at its worst. I guess Jock didn't even tell her!
- Andre Schuman: I can't buy this story line. So, someone (I'm not telling) hires a
hitman to kill Naldo (nice glossy, by the way) and frame Jenna to get her out of Bobby's
life? To prevent detective Bobby from figuring it out, why not kill Jenna and frame Naldo?
Or kill them both? Yeah, I liked Naldo's
picture! And unfortunately, I don't remember the whole story behind this - we only find
out bits and pieces for a while. I'll comment about this later.
-What happened to Mitch's girlfriend? I
didn't like her anyway. Compared to her, Lucy's a goddess.
- Lt. Howard calls Bobby at Pam's house. Think about this. Why would Bobby leave Pam's number with the lieutenant? He certainly wouldn't have expected to be there for more than a few minutes, because he was planning to spend the day with his lovely ex-wife and their son. Did he leave a full itinerary with the good detective?
Doug Wille had an
alternate viewpoint: Bobby probably left his itinerary with Phyllis, considering the
urgency of the matter. At least, that awful Lt. Lee Spalding is gone. If he asked to
be invited to Bobby and Jenna's wedding one more time, I was going to scream! At least Harry McSween knew his place, although I'm sure he got to go to
a few barbecues.
Isn't it the week-end though? Does Phyllis
know Bobby's whereabouts 24 hours a day? This is strange.
- During Schuman's flashback, strange things happen. We see him knock out Naldo and then take out his chloroformed hanky and grab Jenna. This whole thing takes about fifteen seconds. During the actual episode, Jenna was grabbed almost immediately after Naldo entered the room - within about three seconds.
Doug Wille also
wondered who closed the door when Jenna is grabbed.
Good point! As Jason is sure to point out,
it must be the Phantom of Ewing Oil...
- When Wallace Wyndham begins his testimony, we see Sue Ellen walking into the courtroom and taking a seat. Where's she been all this time? The ladies room, taking sips? I hope not. But anyway, that's not all. She moves during the testimony! She starts off sitting behind Clayton, in the center aisle. At the end of the testimony, she's way over at the side aisle. Huh?
- And where are Punk and Mavis at the Ewing victory party? Shouldn't they be around someplace? After all, Marilee and Jordan Lee were there, and they were on Cliff's side at the beginning.
Introducing AHN Joe's corner:
- One, what is Bobby doing questioning a suspect in an official
police investigation?
Maybe Howard is one of those renegade cops
who doesn't like having a partner. Or maybe Bobby just enjoys being the bad cop. This was
pretty strange.
- Two, couldn't this whole thing with Jenna have been cleared up with a powder residue test
to see if she really fired the gun?
I think I see what you mean but please give me some details. Even with a small gun like
that, there would be powder on her hands?
AHN Jason clarified this a little: I think he meant that anyone who fires a gun gets some powder on his
hands. Since Jenna didn't fire it, she wouldn't have the powder. If this
killer was a real professional, he should have placed the gun in her hand first, then
squeezed the trigger so she would have powder marks.....sloppy- but then again he did get
caught.
- Third and last, even if this hit man confessed, everything in the legal world
takes forever to happen. This would include Jenna's release from prison even with
the confession. Very true. Must be nice
being a Ewing.
AHN Anne's corner:
- Didn't you think it was odd that Pam came all the way down to
the courthouse with Cliff and Jamie and then didn't stick around for the hearing? She just
walked away! Pam halfway funded the whole case; my guess is that she'd be interested.
I don't know whether she walked away or
maybe just went to freshen up or make a phone call or something. I didn't see her during
the court scenes but they didn't cut to Cliff's angle much.
- Once again, there had to have been something more interesting than Bobby and Jenna for
headlines. Wherever Katherine is, I highly doubt that the Ewings would make front page
news, even in Texas. If Ted Kennedy's wife was released from prison, we'd hear about it,
but not in screaming bold print. Yes, this
is somewhat ridiculous. Of course, the blonde wig is supposed to make us think that it's
not Katherine, but...oh, I don't know what I'm saying.
AHN Jason’s corner:
- When Bobby and Pam are relaxing after dinner, Christopher is
taken up to bed at 9pm. Isn't that a bit late for a 4 year old? (I don't remember
being allowed to stay up that late when I was ten much less 4) Doesn't Pam care
about her little snooky wooky? I believe
it's the weekend, although this is never made totally clear. So maybe Pam's snooky-wooky
gets to stay up a little bit later.
- The Naldo flashback bugs me for reasons other than those already mentioned. When the
killer 'trashes' the room, he gently places the lamps down to look like a struggle.
First nit- he only touches the lamps nothing else.-very implausible for a real
struggle. Second- in a real struggle, the lamps would be thrown down and the bulbs
would most likely have blown. That happens whenever I have lights on and I knock
them over... small nit but worth the mention...
It's a good point. I do believe he
overturned a chair or something but I could be wrong.
A difficult episode to pick at because of all of the abrupt cuts, but we might set a record! Here goes!
- Though we know the 'real world' reason, I must ask: why is Katherine wearing the wig? Certainly when she's home, alone, watching TV and drinking tomato juice, there's no need for her to wear the dumb blonde wig. AHN Jason spotted this too.
- Cabbageing lives! When Cliff's attorney asks him why he didn't ask Jamie to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, Cliff tells the whole world what a pre-nuptial agreement is, as if he didn't know. Excuse me, Cliff, but you did go to LAW SCHOOL at one point, didn't you?
- It wouldn't be right if Lucy didn't do something stupid before she left. When she announces her wedding plans to the family, she says she's going out back to look for a 'good place' to have the ceremony. Has she been away from Southfork so long that she doesn't remember the 'good places'? And then to top if off, she settles on the livingroom, of all places. Sheesh. AHN Jason spotted this too.
- The final scene is very touching. It almost made me cry. [Almost!] But then I got a bit upset when I asked myself what that stupid orderly was doing! He's standing there the whole time with his back turned while Bobby's lifesigns are bouncing up and down. Then when he finally flatlines, the guy just leaves without a word? Shouldn't he call a doctor? A nurse? Push a button? Something?
- AHN Mike pointed out that in yesterday's finale, Katherine had blood red fingernails in the hotel scene where she threw the tomato juice at the TV screen. The next morning when she was behind the wheel of the deathmobile, her nails were either without polish or an off-white color. I guess when you're sitting around a hotel room all day in a blonde wig plotting a murder, you have plenty of time to change your nail polish.
AHN Jason's corner:
- Shouldn't Bobby's face have bandages or something on it? Even though he is a goner, you'd think the doctors would make an effort to help him fight the possibilities of infection from all those scrapes and bruises.
- How come Gary and Val didn't show up to Lucy's wedding? Doesn't she always whine that they never come visit her enough? Yes, you're right! Not that I want to see more of Ted Shackleford, but it's a valid point.
- JR has the new fangled phone seen at the end of the next season. Does this phone come and go as it pleases? It is not regularly seen.
- As the deathmobile goes to hit Pam, Bobby pushes her out of the way. In doing so, she loses a shoe that the car seems to run over. Yet in the next sequence, it is not in the driveway-apparently it is on her foot!!
- When the gardener checks Katherine, she is wearing gloves, yet every time we see her in the car, she is not.....
AHN Anne's corner:
- I thought it was really bizarre to have classical music playing in the background when Jack and Jamie were reunited. It just doesn't seem right that it would be on in Cliff's house, you know? I did love Lance Rubin's score for this episode, though. He captured the essence of it, from sad to romantic. It was the best he's ever written for Dallas.
- When Katherine was watching that Dallas society show at the beginning, was it very likely that the Ewings would take the first few minutes? And do you think that every single one of them would get so much love from the camera? Once again, I'm probably underestimating the importance of the Ewings in Texas, but really!
-Also, isn't Katherine trying to get at Jenna? You'd think she'd
be staking out Southfork to kill her instead of waiting for Pam to come out of the
woodwork. Do you agree? I mean after seeing Pam and Bobby together I'm sure she'd chase
after Pam, but she couldn't have known that before.
Katherine's motives are difficult to
understand. If she wanted Jenna dead, she could have had her killed by Andre
Schuman. If she was just after
Bobby, then it's difficult to understand why she's been doing what she's been doing.
- I was so taken away by the whole emotional impact of this episode that I feel guilty criticizing it. This one made me cry. The last scene was the best acting from everyone in the cast, even Donna Reed, and all of the elements were just right for a very dramatic finish. If you didn't notice how beautiful and haunting the music was in that last scene, you must be deaf. I'll miss Bobby. I didn't realize how much I loved him until today. And when J.R. shed that single tear? That was an absolute gem! I could go on forever. Weren't you touched? I really think that you can tell a lot about the cast of a show from scenes like this. Except for the moronic orderly, this scene was perfectly executed and I was downright touched. Kudos to Larry Hagman, and the rest of the cast. You can't fake this.
Introducing AHN Bill's corner:
- When did JR change in the eyes of Mitch and Lucy?? I know the victory party was a happy occasion.. but Jeez.. too many "nice to see you JR's" from a guy that screwed over his sister .. didn't Mitch punch him out a few times?.. and Lucy too.. JR drove away her mama and daddy twice. she spends her whole time on the series against him breaking his balls.. and she's suddenly on friendly terms? Oh, that's all done out of love. :) Seriously, though, all that stuff was a long time ago. Lucy's stayed out of JR's way and JR's stayed out of hers, and Lucy's leaving, so that's definitely cause for celebration. It is a good point, though.
- Pam wouldn't notice a car with a woman sitting in it on her driveway for what I
assume is the better part of an evening and two mornings? Katherine wasn't that far
away that she couldn't be seen. Perhaps it was well
hidden. I'll be tactful and say that Pam isn't known for her keen sense of perception.
- When Katherine's car hits Bobby.. it is on the right side of a pretty wide driveway..
Bobby had only had to move about 10 feet from the back of his car to push Pam out of the
way. and when Bobby is rolling on the ground after being hit with the back of
Katherine's car about 5 feet away, it is still proceeding straight on the right side..
then ALL OF THE SUDDEN in a split second.. you see Katherine's car almost proceeding in a
straight manner on the LEFT side of the driveway.. and it hits the yard worker's truck as
opposed to Bobby's car that he was only about 10 feet away from.
There was something that bothered me about this,
but I haven't had a chance to review the tape. Thank you!
- Another POOR thing about the Bobby gets run over scene.. Katherine's face is all cut
up (but not bleeding).. and her horn honks for a few seconds then stops.. but we never see
her face hit the steering wheel.. the only thing on the wheel that could be causing the
honk is her hand.. which clearly falls BEFORE the horn stops. THEN when the horn
DOES stop and the guy goes over to reveal who it is.. THEN we see her face against the
wheel?
Excellent call! The AHNs and myself were obviously
wracked with grief at what was to come..
- Was Katherine's crash really that bad that she'd die instantly? Pupils fixed
and dilated 5 seconds after THAT crash??
That's an outstanding point! It's possible that
Katherine, realizing the end was near, had a look of horror on her face which simply
became exaggerated when the crash actually happened.
- The radio in Cliffs place (which LOUDLY interrupts low volume music with a news story -
kind of weird unless the president is shot or something) states that Bobby was undergoing
surgery for "massive internal injuries". Yet when we see him at the hospital, he
is in a regular room? Not only is it likely that he'd die on the table.. but
wouldn't he have to be in recovery for a few hours instead of in a regular room?? Or
is he supposed to have lived for four or five hours after being flipped by a speeding car? He really should be in the ICU or something. This
whole thing was really silly. It's a shame they ruined such a nice scene by making it so
unrealistic - no doctors attending or anything, just the incompetent orderly.
- The family is arranged all at the foot of his bed or to the left of his bed? Don't
you think it more likely that his mama would be right there by his side where no one is
standing.. of course this is for camera angles, but it's still a nit.
Okay, you caught me. I was mesmerized by this scene
- it's the best scene ever on Dallas, in my opinion. I noticed this, but it was such a
nice effect that I decided to let it go.
- The scene was moving enough to make several people on the newsgroup and your other
nitpickers CRY.. but doesn't seem to evoke much emotion from Clayton.. the rest of the
cast does real well in this scene (esp. Ray, JR and Pam), but Clayton must just have a
hard heart. Clayton, as I have said before, is a
dumb ox. No one believed me before, but now they do. This proves it once and for all.