Recap: Pam arrives at the "drunk ward" of the hospital and finds her Aunt Maggie (Digger's sister) sitting in the waiting room. Aunt Maggie gives her a hug and warns her that Digger's not a pretty sight, and Pam's like, "Shocker" and wryly reminds her she's been through his benders before and knows exactly what to expect. The two enter Digger's hospital room, where he's sweating buckets and shaking uncontrollably. Aunt Maggie tells Pam he's almost out of the woods, and Pam stares down at the hopeless boozer, gently touches his hand, and whispers, "I'm sorry." Gary, Lucy, and Valene arrive in Dallas...but before they approach the gates of Southfork, Valene asks Gary to stop the truck so they can stare out at the ranch and psych themselves up for whatever mental torture JR has in store. Valene says she's not looking forward to seeing JR or Jock again - but Gary assures her that Jock has mellowed substantially in recent years, and JR isn't the spiteful douchebag he once was. Lucy concurs and points out that JR hardly ever torments Pam anymore - but Valene says that's probably 'cause being married to Bobby offers her a measure of insulation. Gary looks suitably sheepish and tells Valene he regrets the dickish way he abandoned her at Southfork all those years ago and didn't know that JR and Jock would run her out of town and then hunt her down across state lines to kidnap Lucy and bring her back to Southfork (which, as no one has pointed out, was a fucking felony). Valene shudders at the memory and recalls that she believed she would have been killed if she ever returned to Texas to try to get her daughter back. Eventually, she became resigned to the fact that Miss Ellie was going to be the one to raise Lucy, and figured the woman would do a decent enough job. Sort of. Valene and Gary stare doe-eyed at each other as they both announce that they never remarried...and a few minutes later, the three climb back into the truck and enter the gates of Southfork. The Ewing clan (minus Pam) emerges from the house to politely greet Gary and his brood. Valene asks Bobby if his wife is around, and he tells her her father is sick, but that she'll be back later. JR magnanimously says he'd like to "bury the hatchet" and Valene doesn't look like she really buys that, but nods and mumbles, "Sure." Jock gruffly urges everyone to go inside to enjoy a feast around the family dining table. Hospital. Pam tells Aunt Maggie she can't wait for Digger to be released from the drunk ward so she can take care of him at home. Maggie says she'll take him home only after he's completely sobered up, then urges Pam to stay away until Digger has fully overcome his drinking problem. Good luck with that, Maggie. As Gary leans against a fence and gazes across his family's ranch, Ray cruises over in his blue truck. The two men greet each other warmly and quickly get caught up on each others' lives...though I notice that Ray left out the part about his icky romps with Gary's teenage daughter in the hayloft. Gary remarks how much he loves the ranch, but not so much the oil business. Ray says he too loves the ranch and that between himself and Jock, the property is extremely well cared for. He then throws Gary a bone by halfheartedly declaring, "The ranch could always use another good man" and quickly gets back into his truck and drives off. LOL.
Lucy and Valene amble over to where Gary's standing. Lucy gushes to her estranged parents about how obvious it is that they still carry a torch for each other, and asks them about their plans for the future. [A spin-off called Knot's Landing...but you're not invited, Lucy.] Valene says they hardly know each other anymore, and a hopeful Lucy retorts, "We could." Gary grumbles about how there's nothing for him to do on the ranch, particularly now that Ray is installed as foreman (or whatever his job title is). Lucy breezily says that Ray could easily be let go, but Gary doesn't like the sound of that. JR drives over to say hey and to offer a business proposition for Gary: he wants him to take over the reigns of a "jewel of a company" named Q&R. Gary looks intrigued, then reminds JR he doesn't know nothing from nothing about business and prefers ranching. JR dismissively says that Ray already has that task well in hand, and insists that where his smarts are needed are at the helm of Q&R. LOL. Gary says he needs to think about it and thanks JR for the opportunity. Lucy tells JR she wants to ride back to the house with him so that her parents can enjoy some alone time together. After Lucy and JR leave, Valene warns Gary that JR's business proposition is nothing more than a mindfuck, and implores him to go with her to California...and that they could maybe/possibly/if they have time come back later to retrieve Lucy. Gary scrunches his face in confusion and is all, "Wha-a?!" Pam returns to Southfork and tearfully tells Bobby that Aunt Maggie recommended she stay far away from Digger until he fully dries out. Sounds like a plan I could definitely get on board with. Lucy rushes over and urges Pam to come meet her skanky mama, and Pam politely greets Valene and apologizes for not being around earlier...and explains that she was visiting her sick father. Lucy excitedly tells Pam and Bobby that JR made Gary an offer to run a small business - but Bobby looks skeptical and is all, "Wha-a?" Pam is too distracted to focus on Gary's dead-end future as a businessman and politely excuses herself and tells Bobby she's off to her aunt's house to forcibly check on Digger. JR orders Gary to get his ass in the study and read through a mound of paperwork about Q&R. Valene looks less than thrilled by the edict, so Bobby quietly assures her he'll keep tabs on the situation to ensure that JR doesn't do anything to take advantage of Gary's dimwittedness. JR hands Gary a pile of file folders and tells him it would be a good idea to read everything over carefully...and Gary earnestly opens the folders and begins reading, but already starts to look overwhelmed. Aunt Maggie is dismayed when Pam arrives at her house, and irritably tells her defiant niece that Digger is asleep. Pam tells her she brought magazines and puzzles to keep Digger busy while he recuperates - but Aunt Maggie sternly reiterates that Digger has no interest in seeing her. She tells her that the barbecue episode made everything worse, especially when Jock humiliated him in front of everyone. She urges Pam to leave, but Pam refuses and stomps over to the bedroom where Digger is lying in bed, sweatily twitching in his dirty wife-beater shirt. Yeesh...he looks more orgre-ish every time he's on camera. Pam apologizes to Digger for making him attend the barbecue...where, apparently, she forced liters of booze down his throat and then made him dance in front of everyone like a buffoon. She tells Digger she really looooves Bobby, but Digger just grunts at her, and then rails about how Jock was "doin' it to me again" while she just stood by and watched. He shoves her away from him and bellows, "Get out!" and a tearful Pam flees the room.
Gary is still in the study, looking like he's unable to make heads or tails of the paperwork in front of him. Bobby pops by and suggests he take a break so they can go horseback riding together...and Gary perks up at that, and the two start faking boxing with each other. When JR enters the room, Bobby chides him for burying Gary under so many files, but JR says he's eager to set Gary up in his fancy new job at Q&R, then makes a crack about all the catching up he needs to do if he's going to win the respect of his daughter. A deflated looking Gary rethinks the horseback ride and glumly tells Bobby he'd better get back to work. In the kitchen, Miss Ellie assures Valene that everything is going to work out just fine, and Valene thanks her for taking such good care of Lucy. Miss Ellie tells her it's time she took charge of the spoiled nymphet, but Valene says she doesn't yet know if she'll be sticking around...or, for that matter, if Gary should stay. Miss Ellie tells her she'll see to it that nothing bad happens, and Valene replies, "If you say so, that makes it true." Mmm, no...it actually doesn't, since Miss Ellie appears to have zero clout at Southfork. Valene runs into Bobby and tells him she's deciding whether to slink off the ranch with her tail tucked between her legs or stay and fight. She wails about the headgames JR is playing with Gary, but Bobby insists that Gary wants to work. Valene reminds him that Gary is not cut out to be a businessman and says he can't take that kind of pressure. Bobby comes out to the patio looking for Gary, and JR manages to keep a straight face when he tells him he's still in the study, reading through his mountain of files. Bobby asks him what the rush is with this new business, so JR explains that it will give Gary a much needed jump-start in his new life so he can start making money and live happily ever after. Bobby seems to buy that and says he really likes having another brother around...and Sue Ellen narrows her beady eyes and tries not to sound sarcastic when she says, "Can't have too many brothers around now, can you?" Bobby warns JR not to do anything to torment Gary, and JR assures him he's always "on the level". When Pam returns to Southfork after her disastrous visit with Digger, Jock asks her if the drunkard is OK. She snappishly retorts, "Fit as a fiddle" but Jock ignores her sarcasm and tells her to let him know if there's anything he can do. Pam snaps, "You've done enough already!" and then she and Bobby storm upstairs together. Jock is ambling outside the house when Digger squeals down the long driveway in his shitty little car. He smashes into a light post (LOL), then slams on the breaks and storms over to Jock, unmistakably drunk. (I guess his drying out period was shorter than what Aunt Maggie was hoping for.) He drunkenly announces that he's here to return all the magazines, puzzles, etc. that Pam brought over earlier, dumps the stuff on the driveway, then accuses Jock for the thousandth time of stealing his money and his sweetheart - shit that went down over forty fucking years ago. Jock asks him what the hell he wants, so Digger says he wants money, namely $10,000, as the bride price (I'm assuming, anyway) for when Pam married Bobby. Jock laughs at the stupidity of the request and pulls a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and throws it at the hapless lush. Digger bends down to pick it up, stares at it gleefully, and chirps, "Sold!" He then gets back into his car, which no one stops him from doing despite the fact that he's completely shitfaced and could so easily maim or kill someone. After he squeals off, Jock heads back inside, while Pam continues to stand on the driveway looking totally mortified.
Pam rails to Bobby that she's fed up with her drunken buffoon of a father and doesn't give a rat's ass about him anymore. Good for you, Pam! Pam heads downstairs to drop in on Gary, who's still reading over the Q&R files. She apologizes to him about the scene with her father, and Gary (who I don't even think witnessed it) just shrugs and is like, "Whatever" and wails about how he's not cut out for "this business stuff". Miss Ellie drops by with some milk and cookies...and then Lucy bounds in to see how her pop is doing. Gary accidentally spills the glass of milk all over the Q&R files, and the womenfolk immediately come to his aid and start mopping up the mess while firing questions at him about whether or not he has copies of the stuff. A fed up looking Gary bellows, "It's only a glass of milk, damn it! Leave me alone!" and storms out. He heads straight to the bar in the living room and pours himself a drink...and Valene suddenly appears behind him and watches as he stares at his drink, silently willing himself to put it down. She shakes her head in dismay and exits the room, leaving Gary staring into space like a zombie. Early the next morning, Gary slinks out of the house with a suitcase...while JR watches with delight from his bedroom balcony. Valene runs out of the house after Gary, still in her nightgown. She asks him if he ended up drinking last night, and he tells her he didn't...despite really really wanting to. He says he needs to leave before his ineptitude tears the family apart. Valene asks, "What about Lucy?" and he just kind of shrugs and says he can't be the type of father she needs, and that she's probably better off staying with Miss Ellie...even if it means her hating him forever. Valene reminds him that she probably won't be allowed to hang around Southfork without him there, but he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about that and whines, "I can't stayyyy." Valene sadly tells him she was just about to sneak into his room for a doink...and Gary grins and says, "That would have been nice." He tells her he doesn't belong with his family, blah blah, then urges Valene to hit the road too. The two kiss...and as he strolls away clutching his suitcase, Valene declares, "I never loved nobody the way I loved you" and Gary turns around and grins, says goodbye [as though he's not going to be moving in with her very soon on Knot's Landing], and continues to walk away. What a shitbag.
JR approaches Valene and smarmily says, "You'll catch your death on a morning like this" and she glares at him and snaps, "I'll catch my death anywheres around you." JR chuckles and retorts, "Then don't hang around me, honey." Valene snidely tells him he handled this "perfectly", and he agrees that, yep, he did, and offers to give her $5,000 to get out of his orbit, like pronto. Valene tells him where he can shove his check and insists she can't be bought with Ewing money...even though she (and Gary) will soon move into a house in Knot's Landing that Miss Ellie buys for them. Miss Ellie is upset that Gary left without saying goodbye, and she tells Jock she just wants to aimlessly roam around Southfork for awhile. He gruffly tells her they all got their hopes up too high, and she nods spacily and wanders off. Lucy is angry that Gary has, once again, ditched her with her extended Texas family. She asks JR where her mama went, and he's like, "I dunno. Maybe she went looking for Gary." Lucy looks hopeful and says she's sure she'll come back and bring Gary with her. Pam returns to Aunt Maggie's house, because apparently she didn't get enough verbal abuse from Digger the first time around. When Digger barks, "Get out!" at her again, she tells him she's ashamed of the hopeless drunkard he insists on being...but since he's the only father she has, she can't not love him and for some God-knows-why reason still wants him in her life. Bobby is upset that Gary split so abruptly, and angrily wonders aloud why it's necessary for a man to be ruthless in order to fit in with this family. He says he likes Gary and his way of looking at things - and JR reminds him that, in one fell swoop, Gary ran out on his child and broke his mother's heart. Bobby insists he was pushed out, and Miss Ellie chimes in and admonishes him for blaming JR. Lucy, meanwhile, has learned that Valene never returned to the Forth Worth diner where she was waitressing and wonders if this means she found Gary and the two are on their way back to Southfork. JR pulls out his checkbook and 'fesses up about the $5,000 that was paid to her skanky mother to leave town...and a crestfallen Lucy is all, "Wha-a?!" and slugs JR across the face. JR looks startled, then makes a joke about how grateful he is that she didn't kill the messenger...even though in this scenario he's not so much the messenger, but the briber. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
1 Comment
Amina
10/8/2018 11:03:38 pm
not the messenger, not the briber... more like the monster Leave a Reply. |
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