Dallas: Ewings Unite Recap

In “Ewings Unite” (Season 2, Episode ), after the reading of J.R.’s will, Bobby Ewing laid it on the line to his adopted son, Christopher, and his nephew, John Ross. They can no longer afford petty in-fighting since they are up against the combined forces of Barnes Global and Harris Ryland.

Everyone has to wait for John Ross before the will can be read because hot pants Emma stops by for a quickie. J.R.’s will, as you may have expected, contained a bunch of clauses that reflected upon his opinions of the recipients. He left Bobby his cowboy boot collection, with the proviso that Bobby take better care of them than he does his own. To his brother Gary, he insultingly left a prized bottle of Scotch, a final slap in the face seeing as how booze is Gary’s biggest weakness. To Christopher, he left his copy of “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli, with this advice: “being smart and sneaky is an unbeatable combination.” J.R. left Ann his dove hunting gun, provided that he wasn’t dead because she shot him. Sue Ellen was left his heart and J.R. said she was the only woman he ever loved. He also left her half of the oil he owned under Southfork. He called his son, John Ross, the best man he ever knew and left him the other half of the oil. After reading J.R.’s will, the attorney broke out a codicil to Miss Ellie’s will, to go into effect after J.R.’s death. In it, she explained her reasons for cutting J.R. out of ownership of Southfork — he was never a rancher. But she did not intend to extend this exclusion to her grandson, John Ross. So upon J.R.’s death, John Ross inherited half of Southfork, much to the dismay of of Bobby, Ann and Chistopher.

While Christopher vowed to look for his mother, Bobby took the opportunity to explain to John Ross that J.R. used Miss Ellie’s wishes as an excuse for a lot of his wicked schemes — being cheated out of his birthright. John Ross no longer has that excuse. They are going to drill on Southfork and Bobby makes it clear that it’s time to take the gloves off. Christopher says it’s about time and the cousins go to work together. John Ross already has a plan to compromise the transportation cougar who stands in the way of Christopher’s progress.

Sue Ellen gets a visit from Gary who wants to lend his support to help her get back on the wagon. She boldly lies that she’s already on the wagon, then coldly tells him that she was just planning to use him, but now that Bobby will be drilling the Southfork oil, she doesn’t need him anymore. As soon as he leaves, Sue Ellen gives Valene a call and claims Gary misses her. She suggests that Valene hop over to Dallas to collect Gary. When that happens, Gary is like – what are you doing here, and Valene knows she’s been had. She storms over to Sue Ellen’s, accusing her of trying to get her hooks into Gary, and says: “Once a bitch, always a bitch!” Sue Ellen goes to Gary and tells him not to worry about her. He will regret losing Valene if he does not go with her, just like she regrets her lost moments with J.R.

Cliff Barnes visited Harris Ryland, who was somewhat amused by Cliff’s continued vendetta in the name of his daddy Digger but the Lord knows Ryland has his own parental problems. Cliff made him an offer he simply could not refuse: enough money to get out from under his mother’s thumb. Alone with his henchman, Roy Vickers, Ryland wants to know what Drew’s interest in Emma is — why did he run out to protect her with a gun on Southfork? It turns out Ryland owned the truck with stolen goods Drew was driving to make extra dough. Drew lost their shipment when he was arrested. Ryland sends Vickers to spy on Drew and all of a sudden, Emma pops up and invites Drew out on a date. This kind of makes you think that Emma was planted on Southfork, but whatever — when Vickers informs Ryland about the date, he decides to make Drew plant a bomb on Christopher’s methane rig. Drew refuses but is strong armed with the threat that his sister Elena will be killed. So using his demolition skills from the military, Drew makes and plants a bomb on Christopher’s methane rig.

Ryland’s mother, Judith, decides to go back to London because her son will not apologize for his mistreatment of her. Ryland can’t wait to get rid of her until he finds out she plans to freeze all his bank accounts and disown him, cutting him out of the business entirely. “You’re dead to me,” the vindictive woman sneers and in the ensuing argument, Judith Ryland Brown falls down the staircase and it certainly looked like she was dead to us. We can only hope.That woman seriously gave us the creeps!

Although Barnes Global already underbid Christopher’s transportation deal, Allison Jones was willing to make that problem disappear for a little loving with Christopher, who refused. John Ross, the stud of Southfork, has no such scruples and sets Jones up for blackmail. You have to admit, this was all pretty lame. The woman couldn’t have been that stupid or horny, could she? Bum got pictures of John Ross and Jones loving it up on a balcony while calling up Christopher to say “Welcome to the dark side.” Christopher was happy enough to be on the dark side when he got the chance to throw the photos in Jones’ face, but his fiancée, Elena, wasn’t too happy to hear about his fall from integrity. She and her brother just found out that Bobby is agreeable to selling them back the land that the Ewings brought from their father, so she let Christopher know about her plans to go into business with Drew.

Pamela Barnes meantime got the cold shoulder from both the Ewing cousins when trying to explain that she had nothing to do with her father’s attempt to screw up Christopher’s deal. She later saw John Ross alone and he said he believed she was innocent of double-dealing on that one. He suggested she come out to the rig for the meeting with the transportation people.

So Pamela, the Ewings and Elena all meet at the site of the rig with the transportation people who okay the deal. Roy Vickers is watching the scene on a tablet, preparing for the right moment to set the bomb off. He gets worried when he sees Pamela and her pregnant belly and calls to inform Cliff of this unforeseen circumstance. Cliff gives Roy the go ahead, in spite of the danger he is putting his daughter and grandchildren in, and hangs up. The bomb goes off.