Dallas - Season 4, Episode 19

"In hindsight, Digger Barnes would probably have been less of a douchewad husband."

"The Gathering Storm"
Original airdate: 3/27/1981

Episode summary: Jock's and Miss Ellie's marriage continues to deteriorate. Cliff is intrigued when he learns details about the Southeast Asian counter-revolution. Mitch continues to be irked by Lucy's modelling career.

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Recap: JR emerges from the bathroom and looks dismayed to find Sue Ellen enjoying breakfast in bed.  He asks her if she plans to lounge around in bed all day, and she's like, "Yeah, maybe" and asks if he even cares. He replies, "No, of course not. I thought you'd know that by now", and Sue Ellen assures him she's well aware of how tiny a rat's ass he gives about her or anything she does, and wonders why he'd even bother asking. When JR bitchily says he wonders why he married her in the first place, she reminds him that he couldn't get her into bed while they were unwed...and he bitterly mutters, "Now I can't seem to get you out of it." LOL. After the two firmly establish that neither could give less of a shit if the other lives or dies, JR ambles over to the hideously decorated nursery and promises Baby John that the two of them are going to spend a lot more time together, then tells the tot it's very possible his lethargic mama may not be living at Southfork for much longer.

When Bobby returns to Southfork just after breakfast has wrapped up, JR blabs to Ray and Donna that Bobby is on a senate committee that's tasked with voting on Takapa. Bobby wryly assures a smirky JR that he can handle the pressure of being put in the middle of his parents' tedious squabble, then heads upstairs with Pam. After JR rushes off to work, Ray tells Donna he predicts that Bobby will vote in favor of Jock's development project, then explains, "It stands to reason; he can't vote against his daddy. No way."

Pam asks Bobby if what JR just said is really true, and Bobby confirms it and laments, "Either way I vote, I lose" - but says he absolutely refuses to recuse himself from the panel. Pam looks appalled by the possibility of him voting against the interests of either of his parents, and Bobby says he prefers to think of it more like voting for what he believes is right,  then sanctimoniously declares, "I believe in my own integrity and I'm going to stand up and I'm going to be counted. Even if we have to leave Southfork. Or even Dallas." Pam's all "Yippeeeeeeee!!!" about the prospect of moving away from her shitty in-laws [sorry, no - that was just me, projecting] - but would prefer not to leave Dallas now that her mother has just moved back to town. Bobby's all, "Wuh? She has..?", then calls Rebecca's relocation to Dallas wonderful, and breezily assures Pam that he's pretty sure somehow things will all work out.

Mitch runs into his gal pal in the campus diner and bellyaches about how Lucy left the condo at the crack of dawn to bask in the limelight of being the world's runtiest fashion model while surrounded by flunkies who've been hired to wait on her hand and foot. He complains "it's just not right" that Lucy earns the big bucks by sitting around and getting her picture taken, while he works soooo much harder for far less cash. The gal pal, who looks outright disinterested in discussing this sore spot in Mitch's marriage, shrugs and mumbles that she can't grasp what his problem is...so Mitch explains that, to him, material things can only have meaning if he earned the money to buy them by working his fingers to the bone. 

Jock returns home and is told by Ray and Donna that Bobby now sits on the senate committee that will vote on Takapa. Jock nods approvingly while growling, "That's one vote we can count on" ... and Miss Ellie enters the room and asks him if he really thinks so little of Bobby, then accuses both him and Ray of wanting to "ravage the land". Jock insists that Bobby is smart enough to understand "good business", while Ray denies that they're land ravagers simply because they want to turn uninhabited swampland into something fun and useful. [Incidentally, is it even advisable to build something like a shopping center on swampland?] Miss Ellie chides Ray for not having a higher regard for the swampland, then bitchily accuses him of changing his values now that he's been officially declared a Ewing spawn. Jock bellows, "Damn it, woman! Get off Ray's back!" and complains that ever since she got interested in preserving swampland she hasn't "been fit to live with", and that he won't put up with it no 'mo. He barks, "I'm going to Dallas!" and Miss Ellie barks back that he should stay there if he's going to behave like such a prickly dickwad. After Ray rushes out of the room after Jock, Donna gently asks Miss Ellie, "What now?", and a sullen Miss Ellie replies, "At this moment, I don't give a damn." 

"I can only respect people who have a high regard for unspoiled nature."

"Who in the hell gave you permission to express an opinion, woman?"

Miss Ellie is lounging in the pre-dinner drinks sitting room by herself when JR arrives home and asks where Jock is. She tells him that she and The Grizzled One are separated, then dismissively says if he wants more info, he's going to have to talk to his daddy.

Rebecca tells Pam she really really wants to reunite with Cliff, and Pam warns her that Cliff is the bitter sort who doesn't trust people, and would more than likely pretend to love her 'cause of how wealthy she is. When a horrified looking Rebecca's all, "Wha-a-a?", Pam assures her that while it's a harsh assessment of her brother, it's completely spot on.

Leslie thanks JR for hooking her up with two prospective clients, and JR beams and proudly says he has the power to make her the most successful PR expert in Dallas. Leslie says it'll take time to build up her clientele, but that it's well worth the effort...as is their [non-existent] future together. JR assures her he's more than willing to prove how desperately he wants to jump into the sack with her - but adds that the timing isn't right, given that his parents' marriage appears to be on the verge of collapse. 

After enjoying a game of tennis, Clint tells Sue Ellen he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, and would looooove to buy them a house with a tennis court. Sue Ellen scrunches her face concernedly and says she doesn't want to hurt anyone, thinks things are perfect the way they are now, and doesn't want to add to Miss Ellie's/Jock's problems by initiating a divorce from JR. ​

Lucy returns home after a long day at the photo shoot. She kisses Mitch hello, grumbles about having to pose for thirty set-ups, then shows him the 18-carat gold necklace the garment folks let her keep. Mitch reacts by admonishing her for coming home so late, complains about how they're more like roommates than spouses, and expresses his resentment about the fact that they're not living on his meagre earnings, the way he decreed they would. Lucy mocks the idea of getting by on "the nickels and dimes" he earns as a valet and lab assistant, then rails about how fed up she is with his stupid macho act. He retorts, "I guess there's nothing left to be said!" and storms out of the condo, leaving Lucy staring sadly into space. 

"You disobeyed my command about both of us living on my meagre salary."

"I didn't think you were actually serious 'bout that."

Over at Southfork, Bobby urges JR to talk some sense into Jock, but JR says he's not touching that with a 10-foot pole and reminds him how stubborn their crotchety daddy can be [but refrains from mentioning how spineless he always is when it comes to him needing to stand up to Jock]. He adds that the marriage could soon end in divorce, which means goodbye, Ewing Oil if a judge orders them to sell the company and divide up the profits. 

Rebecca drops by Cliff's office pretending to be an old friend of his mother's. She tells him his mother would like to see him...and when he replies, "Uh, I assumed she was dead", Rebecca assures him she's very much alive and that she loves him. Cliff snarls that the woman doesn't know what love means, and that he couldn't care less if she's alive or dead. Rebecca reacts by staring back at him tearfully.

Mitch is studying with his gal pal, whining to her again about how he and Lucy don't share the same values...but that he doesn't entirely blame her for being so spoiled, given that she's a Ewing. The gal pal musters as much interest as she can in his ongoing marital issues and advises that one of them is going to have to change if they want to continue being married. 
​
Back at Southfork, Donna tells Miss Ellie that Takapa isn't worth losing her marriage over, and Miss Ellie says it's somewhat of a moot point, given how broken her marriage now is. She bitterly says that things were fine as long as she gave in on everything and was always the one to keep the peace, then frowns and says that Jock has disrupted her life once too often. When Donna insists that Jock loves her, she replies, "I can't put up with the Ewing ways anymore", and laments not being able to warn Donna about how toxic life can be when a woman marries a Ewing douchebag. 

"If you continue trying to turn Takapa into a nature preserve, you'll end up being divorced from Jock."

"Fingers crossed."

Cliff is hanging out in the Stardrift Lounge (where Afton sings) when he runs into his old college friend, Dave Stratton, who's sitting with two lovely ladies he introduces as the Smith sisters. Dave tells Cliff he works in the oil business and does a lot travelling...and Cliff perks up when Dave mentions that he just got back from Southeast Asia, and that he had been in whatever unnamed country just endured a counter-revolution. 

Bobby asks his assistant Phyllis to find out who owns a parcel of land located near the prospective Takapa development, and she promises to look into it first thing in the morning. 

Dave and the Smith sisters accompany Cliff to his apartment, where Dave tells Cliff that word on the street is that the Southeast Asian counter-revolution was financed by someone in the States. Cliff mulls that over for a few seconds, then asks if a certain Hank Johnson was there...and Dave says he was, but then dropped out of sight just before the bloodless coup began. Cliff stares contemplatively into space as he absorbs this juicy intel.

The next morning, Phyllis tells Bobby she can't seem to figure out who owns the mysterious parcel of land, then explains that the taxes are paid from a bank account in Waco, and the property is listed under a faux corporation. A few seconds later, Cliff calls to remind Bobby that his plane to Austin (to attend the senate committee meeting) leaves in an hour, so Bobby tells him he's going to need a delay, and that all will be explained when he arrives.

Rebecca tells Pam about how badly her conversation with Cliff went, and Pam's like, "Well d'yuh. I told you so." Rebecca tearfully regrets abandoning Cliff when he was a mere child, then says she has to be totes OK with her son only pretending he loves her so he can get money out of her.  

​JR drops by Jock's hotel room to tell his daddy that he and Miss Ellie can't stay apart forever, to which Jock growls, "The hell we can't" and says their rapidly deteriorating marriage might well end up in divorce. JR tells him there's more at stake than just the two of them splitting up, and reminds him that Texas is a community property state that will surely divide up Ewing Oil in the event of a divorce. Jock snaps, "Over my dead body, boy!" and says he'd sooner sell Ewing Oil than let his she-devil of a wife destroy it.

"If you stay away from Southfork too long, you and Mama are going to end up in Splitsville."

"Totally understandable. I'm barely marriageable now...if I ever even was forty-five years ago."

Over at Casa Yokel, Donna tells Ray she haaaates that Miss Ellie and Jock are fighting to the point of being separated. Ray says he's fairly optimistic that since the two have been married for forty-five years they'll get through the Takapa crisis - but Donna argues that the problems go deeper than just Takapa, and that she's never seen Miss Ellie so bitter and angry. 

Miss Ellie is sitting in the empty dining room, staring sadly into space as she contemplates the hopeless pit of hell her life has become ever since she began obsessing about preserving uninhabited swampland.

JR drops by Jeremy Wendell's office at Westar Oil, where he's introduced to Dave Stratton, who blabs to JR about how he joined Cliff Barnes for a drink the other night. He tells JR that Cliff was intrigued when he told him that the Southeast Asian counter-revolution was financed by someone in the States, and even more intrigued when he learned that Hank Johnson suddenly disappeared around that time. JR remains poker-faced at the mention of Hank Johnson...and after Dave exits the office, JR fibs to Jeremy that he has zero knowledge about anything Southeast Asia/counter-revolution related and changes the subject to his parents' crumbling marriage. He tell Jeremy he wants to avoid Ewing Oil being part of the divorce settlement...and goes on to say that if an autonomous Ewing Oil were under the general ownership of Westar Oil, he would have a list of requirements: a suitable title, substantial cash, generous stock options, and a kick-ass retirement package. Jeremy nods and says he always likes a solid acquisition, and JR grins while dramatically declaring, "Jeremy, I'm here to sell you Ewing Oil."

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