Dallas - Season 4, Episode 14

JR enjoys Louella's post-coitus prattling

"Start the Revolution With Me"
Original airdate: 2/6/1981

Episode summary: JR sets a dangerous plan in motion to regain control of his oil leases in Southeast Asia. Pam and Alex grow closer during an out-of-town business trip. Sue Ellen suspects she's being followed.

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Recap: Hank Johnson calls Ewing Oil to inform JR that the government of whatever fictional Southeast Asian country controls his oil leases is more destabilized than ever, and that there are a few higher up revolutionaries they can probably work with to get the ruling communists out. JR perks up at that development and says it sounds promising...and when Hank says he'll do his best to avoid causing any unnecessary bloodshed,  JR replies, "Yeah, whatever. Just give me a call when you're ready to move."

Leslie Stewart arrives at Ewing Oil to show JR her latest ad work on Operation Boost JR's Image. She hands him a strategic plan she cobbled together titled 'Ewing Oil: People Before Profits', and he laughs heartily and says he doubts anyone involved in the Texas oil industry would buy that bullcack. Leslie shrugs unconcernedly and says she's planning to run her ads not in local papers, but in the more swanky national papers and promises that one day soon Ewing Oil will be viewed as an international powerhouse. JR looks intrigued by the prospect and invites her to lunch (aka some much needed sexy time), but Leslie says she's going to be too busy finalizing the ads over at the ad agency. A dejected JR asks if he'll see her later, and she smiles and politely replies, "Of course."

Bobby is meeting with Jim Lassiter prior to their quick flight to Oklahoma City to wrap up the necessary paperwork for the sale of Lassiter's solar company. Bobby excitedly chirps, "We have a deal!", then calls Pam - who's sporting a fuzzy new Donna Summer 'do - to tell her he'll be out of town for the day. He promises to be back in plenty of time to escort her to Liz Craig's dinner party this evening...which I can only assume means that no way in hell will he be back in time to escort her to Liz Craig's dinner party this evening.  

Sue Ellen and Clint are wandering down memory late, aka their old Dallas stomping grounds, reminiscing about their first date. After the two smooch, he gazes at her lovingly and coos about how it feels as though all the years between college and now haven't passed. The two agree to meet up for dinner tomorrow night...and Sue Ellen happens to glance behind her and notices that, several feet away, a strange man is not-so-subtly spying on them. 

"What would you say if I asked you to go steady?"

"I'd say 'sign me up, 'cause I've been looking for a new rich man to glom onto'."

Richard Leecock, a top architect in Dallas, is pitching ideas to Jock, Ray, Punk Anderson, et. al. about the prospective Takapa (Texas/Louisiana) swampland development. Once he's finished his presentation, exits the office, and is out of earshot, Punk says that Richard is the best architect around and that he'd prefer to cut the bidding process short and just hire him. Jock mulls that over and asks Ray what he thinks...and when Ray says they should probably consider other bids, Jock gruffly concurs. Punk scrunches his face in annoyance, but agrees to endure a more drawn out bidding process.

At Southfork, Miss Ellie and Donna are hosting another Stop Development of the Takapa Swampland meeting with their high society lady friends. They tell the ladies they're still trying to figure out who's behind the development [hmm...I wonder], then hand out pledge cards so they can continue donating money to the cause. Donna tells Miss Ellie that Cliff has been eyeing Dave Culver's soon-to-be-vacated State Senate seat, but that she isn't sure she wants someone in the State Senate who isn't totally onboard with their current Save Takapa campaign.

Sue Ellen giddily tells Dr. Ellby that her new boyfriend Clint is sooooo attentive, and gushes about how alive, young, and pretty he makes her feel. Dr. Ellby agrees that, yep, she seems happy all right - but warns that, given what a vapid simpleton she is, she tends to see things as she wants them to be, not as they are...and that it's pretty clear that she and Clint want different things out of this ill-fated extramarital hookup. 

Donna drops by Dave's office to ask him if he's decided whether or not to take the Senate seat he was offered, and he happily tells her he's going to go for it. Donna asks him what he thinks about Cliff taking over as his successor in the State Senate, and he replies that while Cliff is bright, ambitious, hard working, and knowledgeable, he's worried he's the type who'd be willing to sell himself to the highest bidder. 

Bobby calls Pam at The Store to tell her he's going to be a no-show for Liz's dinner party 'cause he's stuck in Oklahoma City for the next several days, sorting out all the paperwork associated with the Lassiter deal. Pam makes it clear how miffed she is that she has to attend Liz's party solo, and slams the phone down before storming out of her office. 

Leslie drops by JR's office to inform him that she's lined up several high profile interviews for him...and he nods approvingly and invites her out for a celebratory dinner, but she declines and explains that she'll be too busy meeting with a NY Times writer. JR's all, "I'm sooooooo frustrated that you continually refuse to shit where you eat!" and says he doesn't much care for her preoccupation with business [despite having hired her as his chief PR consultant] and would rather she spend the evening in bed with him. Leslie chuckles in response and suggests he think of her as a man...or at the very least a professional who may not be in the habit of jumping into bed with her horniest clients. After she heads out, Louella pops by the office to tell JR that her husband is on the road yet again and hints that she wouldn't mind some company for dinner, and he mulls that over and decides that since a romp with Louella is pretty much a sure thing 'why the hell not?'

"Whaddya say you blow off the rest of your workday to hop in the sack with me?"

"Nah, I'm good."

Over at Southfork, a sullen looking Miss Ellie ambles into the sitting room, where Jock is pouring himself his nightly drink. When he asks her what's wrong, she accuses him of not giving a crap about his sons...aside from Ray, his illegitimate yokel spawn. Jock denies that - just as Sue Ellen interrupts to tell Miss Ellie that Baby John is asking to be tucked into bed by his grandma. 

Post-doink, JR is sitting on the end of Louella's bed, getting dressed while rolling his eyes as she prattles nonsense. Louella eventually notices his glumness and asks whassup, and he brusquely says he doesn't want to talk about it. She advises him not to let Leslie's rejection get to him, 'cause [well, Leslie excepted] he can have any woman he wants...and JR chews on that for a few seconds before beating a hasty retreat. 

Dinner party! Pam is chatting it up with Liz Craig, who asks her if she wouldn't mind supervising an out-of-town photo shoot tomorrow. Pam chirps, "Yes please!" - just as Alex Ward arrives at the party and wanders over to flirtily say hello...and Liz takes the hint and saunters off to mingle and give the two a moment alone.  

Sue Ellen is primping at her night table, decked out in a furry negligee, when JR returns home. She comes right out and tells him she went out for the evening and adds that she knows he no longer cares what she does and with whom she does it...and he gives up on pretending to have any interest in their soulless shell of a marriage and is all, "Nope, I really don't." She remarks on how interesting she finds it that he hired an attractive female PR consultant and asks if he's slept with her yet, and JR irritably says he hired Leslie 'cause she's an expert in her field, aka not the usual type of cupcake he likes to surround himself with. Sue Ellen correctly assumes that if he hasn't yet hit the sheets with Leslie it's 'cause she's not into him, then jokes about how he must be losing his touch...and JR shoots her a hateful glare before storming out of the room.

"You probably don't care that I've been gallivanting all over town with my old boyfriend."

"Not just probably. I definitely don't give even the tiniest of rat's asses what you do."

Pam arrives at her hotel room and finds it filled with a ridiculous amount of flowers. She quickly realizes they're from Alex, who has posted a handwritten 'Hello, pretty lady' sign on the adjoining door...and when she opens the door, she finds a grinning Alex standing before her. 

JR glances at the various Ewing Oil ads that Leslie has placed in all of the major newspapers and says that while he's impressed, his myopic daddy will only be truly satisfied if he can do business with the local cartel. He wants to find a way to get back into their good graces...and to that end figures he needs to regain control of the oil leases in whatever fictional Southeast Asian country nationalized them during the recent coup. Leslie warns him to not do anything resembling overthrowing a foreign government, and JR pretends he zero interest in doing something so heinous and says he merely wants to do whatever is necessary to regain his status as Dallas' top oil man. After he exits the office, Leslie opens her drawer and shuts off the recording device she was running during the conversation, then stares contemplatively into space.

JR calls his banker in Zurich to inform him that he needs to make a sizeable withdrawal from his secret account asap.

Pam and Alex are out on the town, dancing together...and Alex gazes into her eyes and schmaltzily coos about how much he loooooves to admire her beauty.

​Sue Ellen and Clint wander out of a movie theater together, and Sue Ellen gushes about how much she loooooved the romantic film they just saw. She tells Clint that while she wishes they were doing more than sneaking around, she's not completely ready to give up the Ewing gravy train that is her dysfunctional marriage to JR. She then notices the same man from before spying on them a few feet away - but he disappears by the time Clint turns around to get a look at the man for himself. Clint tells Sue Ellen he's perfectly willing to dump his wife so that they can be together, but Sue Ellen says that for now she's happy enough enjoying their sneaking around time...and the two smooch and make plans to meet up again tomorrow.

Pam is overseeing the photo shoot when Alex wanders by and tells her she's so much hotter than all the models. The two then make plans to meet up later, and Pam smilingly gets back to work.

Leslie arrives at Ewing Oil - just as JR is wrapping up a meeting with a stockbroker, who's trying to convince him to take the company public. Once the stockbroker is out of earshot, Leslie points out to JR that going public means he'll be beholden to stockholders and won't have the freedom to do all of the nefarious, underhanded things he regularly takes glee in doing. JR mulls that over and gushingly compliments her savvy smarts, and says she's so darn capable she could one day run the world. 

Pam and Alex return to the hotel, giggling while guzzling champagne. Alex gazes lovingly at her and gives her an intense smooch - a few seconds before Bobby calls to inform Pam that he'll be back in Dallas tomorrow and that he misses her. A deflated Alex dejectedly shuffles to his adjoining suite as Pam and Bobby exchange over-the-phone I love yous.

"I absolutely loooove your sassy new 'do."

"Thanks. I figured 'why not channel my inner Donna Summer?'"

JR gets a call from Hank Johnson, who reports that they've "hit pay dirt", and that "people are primed" to retake control of the embattled fictional Southeast Asian country that controls his oil leases. He warns JR that the re-coup attempt is going to cost plenty of money, then gives him a heads up that someone named Claude Brown will be calling him to set the plan in motion.

Alex drops by Pam's photo shoot to invite her to breakfast, and she eagerly accepts and says she's relieved that he's not miffed about Bobby's phone call cutting short last night's hanky panky.

During a meeting with Donna and a group of political cronies, Dave Culver announces that he thinks Donna is the best person to take over his state senate seat - but Donna's all, "Wuh?", makes a blech face, and says she's not remotely interested in public office. LOL. The cronies look disappointed by her reaction and agree to meet tomorrow to haggle about who their second choice should be. 

Lucy has ditched class to treat Mitch to a romantic picnic - that she proudly specifies was prepared by caterers - in the park. Mitch chides her for blowing off school and says it's important for her to pursue her own goals and dreams, but she poutishly points out that she's being a good wife, then gigglingly hands him two large gifts: a pair of cowboy boots and a microscope. A dismayed Mitch is all, "Holy shit! These things are sooooo expensive!", and Lucy cackles, "So what?" and leans in for giddy smooch.

JR meets up with Claude Brown in an out-of-the-way watering hole to discuss Operation Overthrow a Fictional Southeast Asian Communist Government. Claude tells JR he'll do his best to help the revolutionaries seize power, but cautions that it could get messy...and that it's a serious crime in the U.S. to overthrow a foreign government. JR snappishly says he doesn't need a lecture - but Claude warns that if word got out, the consequences could be prison and a destroyed Ewing empire. He tells JR there's still time to change his mind about unleashing such a dangerous plan, but an unfazed JR's like, "Nope, I'm A-OK with all the risks" and downs his drink while staring defiantly into space.

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