Bullets Don't Seem to Have Much of an Effect on Me Darlin'

When the Dallas reboot was announced, much like every other reboot, I found it unnecessary. Sure the original invented, or at the very least perfected the nighttime soap back in the eighties. It also created the best whodunit ever in the history of television (or so I am told, the original was a bit before my time). But it would come back a relic and would have to compete with more cerebral modern day soaps like Revenge.

It did not help when Dallas came back it returned focusing again on the very eighties plot of the hunt for oil and tried to bring it into the present with buzz words like fracking and alternative fuels. And where Revenge focused on hunting down the people responsible for the death of someone, the big struggle at the heart of the new season of Dallas was once again land. It also did not help that the signature character from the original started of the season in an almost catatonic state in a nursing home.

But once J.R. Ewing rose from his chair, put on his ten-gallon hat, and sharpened his eyebrows, things got started with double crosses (and triple, and quadruple) coming at a furious pace. And things did not slow down as J.R. and J.R. Jr. tried to outmaneuver each other and Bobby to get control of Southfork and the oil underneath it. With J.R. losing his fastball and J.R. Jr. not picking up the slack, thankfully Assistant Director Skinner stepped in as a worthy antagonist tormenting ex-wife Ann and blackmailing Sue Ellen for political favors. And tonight he will be looking for other kinds of favors from a member of the fairer sex. And all that manipulating led us to the final.

We left Dallas last week with blood splattering on a pair of teddy bears. And Rebecca and her “brother” were not the only people left in the balance as Bobby crumbed to the floor. Okay, not much of a cliffhanger because they already killed Bobby once, it is not like they would kill him off again, and if they did, it may not even stick again. Rebecca, who became the most interesting character in the second half of the season, was the more curious case. Thankfully you will not have to wait very long at the start of the finale tonight to see how the shootout played out.

With all the double dealing and devious playing, the show does find a way to wrap up all of this season plots in a nice little bow (and a little too nice) with the exception of one, which may be a red herring to misdirect you from what happens to set up the second episode. But that is excused because Dallas saved it biggest reveal for last, a shocker so big, I will not even hit at it to avoid you from spoiling yourself. I will suggest that you have the Ewing family tree handy, especially if you are new to the series. But for those spoiler hounds that just have to know how the season ends, the last sight you see tonight is “To Be Continued”. (After the finale airs I am going to add a very spoilery addition talking about the big twist, so once you watch, return here to see my thoughts).

Spoiler Alert!!! Do not read if you have not seen the season finale.

Wow, I did not see Rebecca turning out being Cliff’s daughter. That reveal had me running to Wikipedia to check out the Ewing Family Tree because I thought that would make Rebecca and Christopher cousins. But from what I understand, they are only cousins by adoption, not blood. And according to Wikipedia, Cliff does have a daughter named Pamela Rebecca Cooper. Still kind of creepy for an uncle to use his daughter to seduce his nephew, blood related or not. What really through me off the scent of Rebecca being related to Cliff, even when she met with his rent boy, was I was convinced that Rebecca was Ann’s daughter (but this is a soap opera, so that is not completely out of the question, Brenda Strong who plays Ann, was on the original series as “Cliff’s One Night Stand”). So I wonder if that was just a red herring or it will play a big role next season. But anything that keeps Assistant Director Skinner involved, I am all for.

Dallas 1.x (or 15.x depending how you look at it) gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. You can download Dallas on iTunes.