New Kid on Dallas: Emma Bell

In the 1st part of the Dallas Season 2 premiere, Battle Lines, we were introduced to the latest addition to the cast of Dallas: Emma Brown played by 26-year-old actress, Emma Bell. The actress say that the fact that she has the same name as her character was simply serendipity. The character was already named Emma when she came in for her audition.

Bell’s character, Emma Brown is 22 years old, so it is probably inaccurate to call her a kid, but in the grand scheme of things, the younger generation on the show are all kids — the kids of the original cast. Brown is the daughter of the rich, powerful and evil transportation executive Harris Ryland and his ex-wife, Ann, who is the current Mrs. Bobby Ewing.

As far as Ann knew, Emma disappeared from a state fair at the age of 2 years old when Ann turned her back for just a second or two. That was the last time she ever saw her daughter and she believed that Harris had no idea of her whereabouts either. But in the Season 2 premiere, Bobby Ewing found out that Harris and his mother, Judith Brown Ryland (Judith Light, also new in the cast this season), are the ones who put the snatch on baby Emma, spiriting her away to England and poisoning her mind against her mother.

Denette Wilford of HuffPost TV Canada points out that Judith Light is in reality only 3 years older than Mitch Pileggi so how in the world can she be playing his mother? Um, Botox, maybe? Or maybe she’s like Boardwalk Empire’s Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol) and had Harris when she was like 15. (In real life, Mol is 8 years older than Michael Pitt, who played her son, Jimmy). Whatever, it sure looks like Harris Ryland’s mother is every inch as mean and evil as he is. We’ll have to keep watching to find out whether they really think they were right on the grounds that Ann was an unfit mother, or are just sick control freaks without a conscience.

Whatever happens, Ann will still have Bobby by her side to keep her strong, we hope. Or does Bobby have his limits, too? That’s an awful lot of secrets, Ann!