D.T.R. Recap: Dallas (TNT)

Last week, John Ross pulled a fast one on Bobby Ewing so you know how that goes — this week in D.T.R. (Dallas, S3 E5), it was Bobby’s turn to pull a fast one and he pulled off a doozy with the help of Sue Ellen.

After the honeymoon, John Ross beholds the world from Dallas Love Field and asks Pamela if she’s ready to rule it with him. This reminds Pamela that she hasn’t exactly been involved in Ewing business lately. She wants to help with the Ryland Transport deal and says she and Emma are pretty close now. Uh, yeah, Pammy honey, but not half as close as your hubby and Emma. John Ross steers her in a different direction, and they start canoodling in the limo.

They are taken to the drilling site where Bo explains someone dropped tools down the well and they have to get them out and repair the damaged drill bit. A day and a half setback. John Ross wants them to pull a night shift but Bo says they are all pretty ragged. When the possibility of outside workers getting a night shift with double pay is introduced, Bo will talk to the men. John Ross spies Bobby on his horse, watching from the field and waves a false howdy.

John Ross’s mom, Sue Ellen, is up in Austin bearing gifts for the Governor — JR’s personal whiskey. She wants him to get railroad commissioner Babcock to resign. Mama Bear warns that the commish is involved in shady doings that will come back to haunt the Governor, who suspects this is really about her little boy. Sue Ellen explains she is not trying to help John Ross, who already has Babcock in his pocket. She is trying to stop him and the lengths she will go to include threatening to harm the Governor’s chance at a presidential bid. Hizzoner is not intimidated. He’ll take his chances since no one will believe Sue Ellen, a woman who has been investigated for bribery. Sue Ellen calls Bobby and reports that the Governor took the bait. Men like him and John Ross lust for control, she says, but now it’s time to show them who is really in control.

At Ewing Global, Bobby finds some “unique” Mexican art work in the lobby that John Ross brought back to bust his chops. John Ross says he’ll take it to Southfork if Bobby doesn’t like it but Bobby plays it off, as his secretary smirks. In Sue Ellen’s office, she demands to know if John Ross is still sweating up the sheets with Emma. No, he lies, insisting it was just business. Pamela won’t find out. Sue Ellen says if he believes that he is reckless and dumb. John Ross says she is only butting in it because of what happened with JR but — newsflash — he’s not JR.

Christopher and John Ross get into a fracking confrontation. John Ross vows to frack Southfork dry, if he has to, to get the Arctic leases. His secretary Candice arrives and Pamela is displeased to see her touchy feely way of delivering papers, not to mention her provocative outfit. John Ross leaves for a meeting that turns out to be with Emma. He brought her a necklace and puts it on for her. Then he tells Emma what he really wants — the ships she promised. Emma wants to know why her father is still a free man. John Ross says Harris will be locked away for good once they can decode that encrypted flash drive. She agrees to see her grandmother. John Ross runs into Ann on his way out and claims he forgot his briefcase.

Ann barges in on Emma and sees her admiring the necklace John Ross gave her. Ann says she not stupid and knows what’s going on but Emma goes for the jugular, calling Ann a liar and ex drug addict. Ann kicks her insolent butt out. After regaining her composure, Ann calls Harris and tells him what went down. They both fear for Emma’s safety.

Harris sets up a meeting with his CIA contact and says he wants out because his family has been threatened by the cartel. That’s a no go, the CIA man says. Harris shows him some dirt he has that he will use unless he gets extra security. Nobody on Dallas can get anything unless they have some leverage, you know.

While a dismayed Pamela watches John Ross and his secretary working “closely,” she gets a call from her daddy Cliff. Shocked, she doesn’t want to talk to him and insists he murdered J.R. while Cliff insists he was framed. She hangs up and turns to see Candice flirting away with her husband. Pamela storms off. Sue Ellen and Bobby can see what’s going on too. Bobby says he’s sure it’s innocent but Sue Ellen says there is nothing innocent about John Ross. Well, his mother ought to know.

Back to the Governor, he meets with Babcock. They drink J.R.’s whiskey, not suspecting a bug is in the cork. They discuss Babcock’s doggie-costumed hooker and illegal campaign contributions while Sue Ellen and Bobby listen in outside. JR would have loved this scam, Bobby crows. The family that blackmails together stays together, Sue Ellen chirps. What a couple of hypocrites, huh? It’s okay for them to use J.R. type dirty tricks but not John Ross.

Emma meets up with Grandma Judith at a cocktail lounge. Emma tells Judith she wants that ship deal to go through but Judith says they are not doing business with the Ewings. Out comes the leverage. Emma knows all about the brothel business and has an envelope with half the dirt Harris collected on Judith. She will turn over the rest of it when the ship deal goes through.

Judith explains the difference between a working girl and a whore to Emma. Never let a man screw you for nothing, she says. Her girls are always in control and are well paid for it but a whore gives without receiving and is a fool. Judith warns that John Ross doesn’t care about Emma and will never leave Pamela for her. Why would he buy the cow when he’s getting the milk for free? Emma says John Ross cares about her but Judith says if that’s what she believes, she’s a worthless creature. She warns Emma not to let him manipulate her.

Judith later tells Harris they need to break up Emma and John Ross. Harris says Candice is working on it but it’s not fast enough for Judith. She also wants Harris to get Emma to come home to piss Ann off.

Emma and John Ross meet up and she’s wearing a sheet. He asks about the deal. She says he’s only nice when he wants something. John Ross admits he’s been inattentive. Besides a piece of him, Emma wants a piece of the Arctic leases now. She tells him Ann kicked her out and they need to be more discreet. John Ross wants her to get back in good with Ann so they can keep seeing each other. So Emma returns to Southfork and apologizes. Ann is also sorry for losing her patience.

Emma lies and says she broke it off with John Ross. Ann says she can stay, but when Harris shows up, Ann tells him that she doesn’t quite believe Emma. He informs her that there will more security coming from the CIA. He wanted to talk Emma into going home with him but now he thinks she will be better off with Ann. Yeah, but Ann won’t be better off with Emma.

Sue Ellen has her way with the Governor while John Ross gets a package containing the coveted leases signed by Judith. Then he gets a text from Sue Ellen that says: “turn on Channel 5. I couldn’t look the other way.” John Ross watches Babcock resign. His interim replacement is none other than Uncle Bobby. John Ross gets madder than Bobby did last week. He makes an angry call to his mother calling her an enemy that he now has to watch out for. Sue Ellen listens to it on voice mail and requires a swig from her flask to cope.

In Bobby’s office, John Ross rips into his uncle asking if it was his plan or Sue Ellen’s or did they both conspire to ruin the company. Bobby reminds him that he is the steward of Southfork and will always preserve his grandfather, Aaron’s values. John Ross says he is cutting off his nose to spite his face. Christopher points out that John Ross doesn’t care whose life he ruins and he is more selfish than JR ever was. As if. Anyway, John Ross says if he’s as bad as his father ever was, then they can put up all the roadblocks they want and he will blow right past them.

Christopher, Heather and Bo: Christopher looked up Heather in the stables. She complained about John Ross laying off ranch hands but Chris said there was a plan in place. He asked her out for a drink and she agreed, as long as it was a no strings deal. At the bar, she got Chris to talk about high school and Elena, and asked if he was the one to DTR (define the relationship). About to talk about her last bad relationship, she got a call and had to go. Chris insisted on taking her home. She blurted out that she has a kid.

Who is at Heather’s with the kid but Bo? He had to bring their son, Michael, back so he can work. As they begin to argue, Christopher comes up and tells Bo to leave. Bo tells him to stay away from his family. Heather explains they were together since high school but only married briefly. Michael comes out with a transformer type toy and Christopher gloms on to that to get in good with the kid. Mm mm. If Dallas runs for another season, what do you want to bet Heather ends up sleeping with John Ross?

Cliff, Nicolas and Elena: Nicolas and Elena met with Cliff Barnes at the Mexican prison. The Ewings getting his daughter sucks the most, Cliff says, and he’s not particularly thrilled the Ewings got to the gun range and Rhonda. He is paying Nicolas and Elena to be smarter than the Ewings, but evidently he doesn’t trust Nicolas worth a damn. Cliff pulls Elena to the side and tells her to keep an eye on him.

Nicolas and Elena are successful in getting a state attorney to turn over J.R.’s murder investigation files to them. As they look for clues, Elena wants to know if Nicolas minds working for such a terrible person as Cliff, who creeped her out for real. Nicolas says Cliff is just a tool to get justice. As he begins to kiss Elena, his eye catches something strange on the autopsy photo — an incision that is not mentioned in the report. Cliff also tells Elena and Nicolas that Pamela has been brainwashed by the Ewings and actually believes he killed JR. He wants Elena to tell her the truth. Elena says Pamela will be devastated but Cliff points out that she herself was devastated to learn how her father really lost his land. Elena agrees to turn Pamela against John Ross.