Dallas: Trust Me Recap

Lots of surprising and crazy twists in the second episode of “Trust Me,” Season 3 of TNT’s Dallas. About the craziest was the return of Judith Ryland, Harris Ryland’s mother. We had fervently hoped we would never have to see this campy bizarre character again. The absolute craziest line in the entire episode was Judith telling Harris that she was dealing with pyschopaths and criminals while he was still playing with his Easy Bake Oven. She could have said G.I. Joes  or Rock “Em Sock ‘Em Robots. But, no… what do you suppose little Harris was cooking up as a tyke in his Easy Bake?

Sue Ellen met with Bum to ask him to spy on John Ross. Bum can’t believe it and cautions her that if John Ross finds out, it will put the kabosh on their relationship. But Sue Ellen feels it is her duty to stop John Ross from making the same mistakes J.R. made, recklessly cheating, bringing years of pain and misery, so Bum reluctantly agrees. Apparently, it is all so unnerving that Sue Ellen has to break out her flask.

Harris Ryland returns home, heading straight to his safe. Emma comes in and wants to know how he got out of jail. He wants to know where his important papers are.  Emma feigns ignorance but Harris isn’t buying her act. He asks if she really thinks she can get away with giving his ships to the Ewings. Emma insolently says yes, but he throws the fear of God into her with a threat to have her put away, like he did to Judith. Emma runs to John Ross who assures her he won’t let that happen. She wants to have sex but he says he has business. She insists and he calls Bum for a meeting. Bum happens to be right outside taking snapshots of the two of them in flagrante delicto.  Bum shows up for the meeting quicker than a rabbit can shake its tail and John Ross shows up all out of breath, wanting help to get Harris Ryland put back in jail.

Out at Southfork, Ann tries to pull Bobby away from his work to come help her tell the beards apart on Duck Dynasty. Sheriff Derrick shows up to  inform them that Harris is out of jail. Bobby immediately knows a judge was flipped and vows to look into it.

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At Ewing Global, Pamela observes John Ross flirting with his secretary in an effort to get her to spy on Christopher. John Ross goes off to bribe the seismic expert, Howard, who will be conducting a new test for Christopher and Bobby to determine if they can stop John Ross from fracking on Southfork. They need to prove that the shale is not part of John Ross’s surface rights.

Nicolas arrives and congratulates John Ross and Christopher on their ingenuity in finding funds for the Arctic drilling project. Christopher goes all keep your enemies close on him with an invitation to a Southfork barbecue. He accepts. Elena blows her cork when she finds that out because they can’t tell her mother, the loyal Southfork maid, what they are up to just yet. Nicolas reminds her that they are doing it for her mother, too, who had millions stolen from her by J.R. (according to Cliff). Elena is going to the barbecue too, in the hopes of getting her hands on Bobby’s hard drive and some evidence that Cliff was framed for J.R.’s murder. Besides Elena, Christopher also invites Heather, that new worker he met last week,  when she rides up to register her complaints about the fracking.

When Judith makes her grand entrance into Harris’ study, he has a gun trained on her. As they trade barbs, Emma appears smirking that they can now be one big happy family again. Judith has no problem with Harris and the drug cartel, telling him a handed down family parable about how, in business, morality usually loses out to money. He warns her that these guys are hard core and they could all end up dead and she scoffs, bringing up his Easy Bake oven. But that can’t be half as embarrassing as when he takes her with him to meet his cartel contact, and helps the guy search her a wire, brazenly flirting with this much younger man. She also insists that the cartel will have to cough up a bit more money because they will be taking alternate routes now. Then she wants to seal the deal with a taste of the product, and snorts two lines of cocaine right in front of everyone, exclaiming: “Hot damn! Mama like.” There’s just no end to Judith’s shenanigans, is there?

The intrigue continues to build at the Southfork barbecue, as Sue Ellen, Emma and Pamela all watch John Ross flirt with various women.  Bum lies to Sue Ellen, saying John Ross hasn’t gone anywhere near Emma and wonder if she’s just projecting her experiences with JR on her son. Sue Ellen wavers while Pamela asks Nicolas to dance. Heather and Christopher are also out doing the Texas Two Step, but they don’t look as good as Nicolas and Pamela, which does not escape John Ross’s notice. That leads us to an aside — wow, that Juan Pablo di Pace is hot! How weird is it that they hired an actor that is better looking than both their male leads? Nicolas chats with Christopher, making a big deal out of how sexy Elena is, while Chris fishes for info on the Cliff Barnes connection.  He gets enough to suspect that Cliff isn’t really the one who brought Nicolas in. Wow, fast work, Chris!

The seismic expert comes clean to Bobby about the bribe but still has bad news: John Ross has the right to frack on Southfork. Elena gets a tiny lead off Bobby’s hard drive with the name of the waitress who testified that she saw Cliff at a bar the night J.R. died. Bum turns over his photo evidence of “Life with Emma” to John Ross, saying he didn’t think John Ross was that stupid but Bum keeps mum about Sue Ellen’s assignment, and just says he’s fulfilling JR’s request to keep an eye on John Ross.

The biggest twist of all comes (of course!) at the end when Bobby gets a call from Senator McAllister. He and Ann go out to meet the Senator and are ordered out of their car by a fellow with a gun. They are brought to a foreboding looking room where a man tells them they have to butt out of Harris Ryland’s release from jail. Harris walks into the room. Ann says he makes her sick. The man explains that Harris is not working with drug lords. He is working for the  CIA and proves it with his badge. Harris explains that when he was first approached by the cartel, he went to the Feds. He warns Ann that the cartel has photos of her and Emma and continued probing will put their lives in jeopardy.