Denial, Anger, Acceptance: Dallas (TNT)

Season 3 of Dallas resumed on August 18, 2014 with its ninth episode, “Denial, Anger, Acceptance.”

And we picked up right where we left off last April in “Where There’s Smoke“. Bobby and Christopher are inside with Southfork on fire. They find Bo McCabe and, as predicted, he gets blamed for setting the fire. Then they find Sue Ellen. Meantime, John Ross is still trying to revive Pamela from her overdose while Emma stands there looking like a scared green rabbit. The paramedics finally show up and when Pamela is wheeled into the hospital, Christopher and Bobby are already there.

Uncle Bobby rips John Ross a new one when he finds out Pamela attempted to commit suicide and accuses Emma of sending Pamela the sex video (that Nicolas sent) when she shows up. Heather will not believe that her ex-husband set the fire until Bo tells him herself. Ann arrives and tells Bobby she was at the market getting groceries when the fire broke out. Then she confronts Emma with the news that she has to move out of Southfork. Was that ridiculous or what? Emma might have said, “No kidding?” instead of “That’s not fair.”

Elena call Nicholas from the hospital to tell him the status while he is supposedly out looking for her brother, Drew. He assures her that he will take care of Drew when he finds him, even if it is against his will. When he hangs up, we see he already knows where Drew is. Right there with him and Luis and a henchman. Nicolas must convince Drew not to pursue his vendetta against the Ewings or Luis is going to kill Drew.

Judith Ryland shows up to pick up Emma and drops a bombshell on Bobby. She saw Harris kiss Ann when she was supposedly at the market buying groceries. Of course, in Judith’s version, Ann was a willing participant. Ha! We knew Ann wasn’t going to tell Bobby about that. She could have just said “I’ll tell you later” when he asked where she was but oh, no, not Ann. She had to lie.

Emma runs to John Ross, who was just kicked out of Sue Ellen’s room, to swear she had nothing to do with any video. He concludes that Harris Ryland sent it. When Emma asks what they are going to do, John Ross coldly fills her in on the first rule of cheating: when the wife finds out, it’s over. (That one wasn’t in J.R.’s book). She tells him not to be stupid. They are still business partners and can do great things together.

As Bobby surveys damages at Southfork, John Ross arrives for a change of clothes. He tells his uncle that he really loves Pamela and knows what a heel he has been. Bobby is unimpressed with cheap talk and tells him to let his actions speak for him. John Ross finds a ring in the debris and puts it in his pocket.

Back at the hospital, John Ross continues to feel sorry for himself, this time with Elena. He asks her if he is just a sociopath, too broken to be fixed. Elena believes every day brings an opportunity to do better. John Ross says Harris did him a favor by sending the sex video to Pamela. Elena immediately knows Nicolas did it and leaves him a message saying so.

John Ross finally gets in Pamela’s room with his sad tale. He brings out the ring he found. It’s the one he gave her when they married in Las Vegas. Pamela coldly throws it in the trash. Pamela tells him that she wasn’t trying to kill herself. She just wanted him to have a memory of her going into convulsions whenever he thinks about screwing that piece of trash (Emma). Pretty twisted, eh? Sort of like what Emma did with the green bustiers, only more macabre.

Sue Ellen wanders off to the gift shop, still having scattered flashbacks of her binge before the fire. Suddenly, a wedding card triggers a memory. She sees herself setting the wedding invitation of John Ross and Pamela on fire. She desperately steals a bottle of aftershave for its alcohol content. Out in the hall, she uncaps the aftershave but throws it out and runs to confess to starting the fire.

Good thing for Bo because he is being interrogated in his hospital bed. Christopher comes in and says he is innocent. Bo and Christopher thank each other for what they really did in connection with the fire. Heather bring her son in to see his father and Christopher leaves after an uncomfortable minute or so.

Ann goes to see Bobby at Southfork continuing to apologize. Bobby says he loves her but when he looks at her now, he wonders what secrets she is keeping from him. He needs time to figure things out. Bad move, Bobby. Kicking Ann out just makes her more vulnerable.

Nicolas goes to talk with Drew who learns that Sue Ellen confessed to setting the fire. Nicolas says now no one will ever know Drew did it but Drew wants everyone to know he did it. He’s not giving up his vendetta and he wants credit for the Ewings’ destruction. Nicolas reminds him that he and Elena are setting the Ewings up. He also explains that he lost so much of the cartel’s money, that the plans have to go through or the cartel will kill him. Drew says if Elena knew the truth about Nicolas she would despise him. Nicolas asks Drew to let him protect him or he will be killed. Drew says they shouldn’t lie to each other — Nicolas knew Drew was a dead man the moment he was brought to this place. Luis comes in and Nicolas tells Drew to get up. He yanks a holy medal off Drew’s neck and says “Give your father my love.” Drew says he knows he is going to hell and will save Nicolas a seat. Nicolas makes the sign of the cross and kisses the holy medal. Luis’ henchman shoots Drew in the head.

Well, it was an interesting thing for Nicolas to say about Papi. Did he think Drew was going to heaven or does he know that Papi is in hell, too?