Recap: Bobby finds Pam lounging by pool and reminds her that it's time for her to return to Brooktree for some more intensive therapy...and after some hemming and hawing about how she doesn't think she needs anymore sessions with Dr. Conrad, she agrees to go inside, pack a bag, and return to the hospital. JR summons Jordan Lee and Vaughn Leland to his office so he can rail at them about what they're putting him through with the insane 25% interest rate attached to his ginormous loan repayment. He informs them that Cliff has given him a ten day extension in exchange for ownership of Ewing 6, and Jordan and Vaughn chuckle and tell him they're well aware of Cliff's side deal and don't much care 'bout that 'cause they're mostly looking forward to him being thrown out of Ewing Oil when he's unable to repay the loan that has, no doubt, depleted the company's cash reserves. Over at Southern Cross, Dusty announces to Sue Ellen and Clayton that he's going to spend the day riding herd with the ranch hands, and then camp with them overnight while they move the cattle. He tells Sue Ellen he'll see her tomorrow...and once he's out of earshot, Sue Ellen tells Clayton she strongly senses that she's about to lose (er, dump) Dusty because of his stupid male pride. A shirtless, sweaty Ray (blech) is chopping wood at Casa Yokel when Donna wanders over to hand him a beer and point out that they don't actually need any wood. She urges him to open up to her about what's bugging him, but he refuses and cryptically says he generally feels lousy about what a clueless dumbfuck he is and would prefer to work out his problems on his own. Donna looks visibly disappointed by being shut out, says she wishes he had more faith in her being a comforting sounding board for him when he's in need of support, and dejectedly shuffles off. JR asks Sly to book him on a plane to New York this afternoon 'cause he wants to meet with Paul Winslow, aka a stockbroker he met through Leslie Stewart during Season 4. He gets on the phone with Paul to float the idea of taking Ewing Oil public, and Paul says he'd be thrilled to chat about that further and looks forward to their meeting. Bobby drops in on an old college friend, Dr. Alan Cosby, to ask how one might go about determining a child's parentage. Alan says that since it's 1981 and DNA testing isn't really a thing yet, the best he can do is rule out who the father couldn't be. Alan delicately asks him if he unwittingly fathered a child out of wedlock, and Bobby assures him he's asking for a friend, then adds that he truly wishes the child in question had sprung from his loins. During therapy, Pam candidly tells Dr. Conrad that she really didn't want to return to Brooktree 'cause there's not a whole lot more to say about her unsolvable mommy/abandonment issues. She calls their back-and-forth regarding her mental health issues futile, then blurts out, "I need a baby! I can't have one! I can't adopt one! I think it's useless that I stay here!" and Dr. Conrad just stares back at her with an 'I'm pretty fed up with you too' expression tinged with dejected dismay. Bobby arrives at Ewing Oil and is mystified to learn that JR went to New York for a couple of days. He asks Phyllis to pull information on the company's health plan so that he can peruse the file, and when he glances over JR's health record, he sees that his blood type is B, and that Christopher's is AB. He stares incredulously at the document, leaping to the [spoiler: false] conclusion that the compatible-for-parentage blood types are irrefutable proof that his philandering brother is Christopher's bio dad. He mutters, "JR, you're about as low as a man can get." Bobby meets up with Jeff Farraday, demanding to see the baby so that he can take him to a doctor and verify that his blood type is, in fact, AB. Jeff agrees, but only for another $5,000, so Bobby tells him he'll give him a final payment of $30,000 if the baby is medically proven to be Kristin's love child. Jeff promises to hand over the baby tomorrow and makes it clear that he's A-OK with never stepping foot in Dallas for the rest of his life. Sue Ellen's attorney, Arthur Elrod, calls to tell her that her divorce hearing will be held in two weeks, then asks her to stop by his office tomorrow morning for some pre-hearing prep. That evening at Southfork, Donna tells Miss Ellie that Ray has been brooding over the San Antonio project, and is so wrecked about it that he refuses to talk to her. Miss Ellie clucks sympathetically and tells her that Ewing men find it difficult to admit wrongdoing, then says she always thought that, out of all the sons Jock sired, Ray is most like his bio dad. Donna complains that Ray always feels like he's in competition with his half-brothers - and now her, ever since she penned the Sam Culver biography and then had implausibly instant success in finding a publisher and getting a $50,000 advance check. A few seconds later, Bobby enters the room and says that Pam is newly depressed about being back at Brooktree, then bids then both goodnight and trudges upstairs. Donna tells Miss Ellie that she doesn't want to add to Bobby's problems by getting him involved in trying to get Ray to open up, so Miss Ellie offers to have a one-on-one with the yokel to see if he's willing to talk to her. Donna thanks her and says that that sounds like a marvellous idea. Sue Ellen arrives at Arthur Elrod's office and tells him that JR was behind the shutdown at Southern Cross, and that Clayton told him to go to hell when he tried to strong-arm him into kicking her off of his ranch in order to regain custody of John Ross. Arthur warns that the divorce hearing could turn into a messy shit-show, especially now that JR feels he has nothing to lose. In New York, JR meets with Paul Winslow to ask him how much cash he can raise if he's willing to take Ewing Oil public. Paul tells him he'd have access to an enormous sum of money, but then explains that first they need to consider how many shares to put out on the market and then get SEC approval...and that this entire process could take a few months. JR pales and is all, "Wuh?" and says he was hoping to fast-track the process in order to quickly access a giant bundle of dough so he can pay off his monster loans - but Paul firmly tells him that taking a company public is not an overnight kind of thing. JR stares despondently into space for a few minutes, tells Paul he'll let him know if he decides to move ahead with this ill-thought out idea (that would, uh, seem to require the approval of the family via the voting shares system that Jock just ordered be implemented), then rushes out of the office...leaving Paul staring after him in bewilderment. Sue Ellen returns to Southern Cross and finds Dusty hanging by the pool with the ranch hands, drinking beers and yukking it up. When she wanders over, Dusty introduces her to the guys, one of whom lets it slip that Dusty signed up to compete in a rodeo tomorrow...and when a concerned looking Sue Ellen asks Dusty if this is true, he says he mostly did it to see what kind of shape he's in when it comes to bronc riding. Miss Ellie summons Ray to the Southfork living room and encourages him to think of her as Jock's stand-in in whom he can confide his troubles. Ray looks anguished as he explains that he constantly feels the need to prove himself to the Ewings (despite their general horribleness), as well as to Donna, 'cause of what an impressive woman she is to have been married to the late great Sam Culver. He says he's mystified by how this savvy, brainy angel could possibly be happy married to a dumfuck cowboy such as himself...and when Miss Ellie asks him to explain exactly what's been getting under his skin lately, he confesses, "I guess I just got plain in over my head" and tells her that the San Antonio development project turned out to be a[n avoidable] bust. Miss Ellie calmly asks him what he needs, so he says he prolly could turn things around for $3 million...then whines about how he feels like too much of a jerk to confess any of this to Donna, given that most of the investment was her [late husband's] cash. Miss Ellie points out that it's far worse to not tell his own wife what's going on in his turnip for a brain, then pivots and asks him if he'd be willing to accept help from her, and charitably refers to him as "one of my Ewing sons". Ray says he'd be very grateful for her help 'cause he really just wants to get himself out of the mess he created before he admits any of it to Donna...and Miss Ellie says that first thing tomorrow they're going to meet with Franklin Horner to see about securing him a loan. JR is sitting in his New York hotel room, staring contemplatively into space. Clayton, Dusty, and Sue Ellen arrive at the rodeo...and as Dusty happily scampers off to check in at the registration table, Sue Ellen tells Clayton that, based on the fun vibe of this event, she totally gets why Dusty feels the need to re-enter the world of cowboyin'. Phyllis calls Bobby to inform him that JR is due to return from New York today, and Bobby lets out a sigh of relief. Sue Ellen worriedly watches as Dusty rides atop a bucking bronco...and when he appears to perform well, the spectators enthusiastically applaud. Over at the bank, Miss Ellie tells Franklin Horner she'd like to withdraw $3 million from the Ewing Oil reserve fund in order to loan Ray some much needed cash...and Franklin's like, "Sorry, no can do" and informs her that, at the moment, the company's cash reserves are pretty much nil. Miss Ellie's all, "The hell?", so he explains that JR has taken out some hefty loans to pay for some very expensive crude oil holding tanks, in order to hoard an insane amount of oil for the dopey purpose of preventing Clayton Farlow from having it. Franklin goes on to explain that, with the price of oil dropping, JR has had to pay for the related expenses with Ewing assets, which explains why there's currently nothing left in the company's coffers. An aghast Ray pulls Miss Ellie aside and tells her he doesn't want to add to her problems and will therefore no longer accept her financial assistance with the San Antonio project. Unbeknownst to anyone, Pam has checked herself out of Brooktree and called a cab to transport her to Southfork. At a downtown medical center, a nurse hands little Christopher to Jeff Farraday and tells him that the testing has confirmed that, yep, he's definitely Kristin's spawn. After they leave the center, Bobby hands Jeff an envelop containing $30,000, and Jeff hands him the baby and tells him to take good care of the cute little tot. Over at the rodeo, Dusty competes in bronc riding event #2 and looks to have another good performance. Bobby calls Donna and asks her for a favor: get Miss Ellie out of the house for a few hours this afternoon so that he can privately berate JR for doinking his sister-in-law and fathering little Christopher. Donna agrees to take Miss Ellie into town for some shopping, and Bobby thanks her for her help. As the rodeo starts to wrap up, Sue Ellen pulls Dusty aside to tell him that it's painfully obvious he belongs in Cowboy/Rodeo World without her...and when he half-heartedly says he doesn't want that, she insists that, yep, he truly does. She sadly calls herself a constant reminder of his penile inabilities in the sack, and that she really has zero desire to stay on at Southern Cross and watch him be alive and happy doing something in which she can never be, or have any interest in being, included. She says she'll always love him and assures him he'll have a wonderful life without her in it, then kisses his cheek - just as the other rodeo-ers drag him off to celebrate his bronc riding successes. He pleads with Sue Ellen to talk to him later, but she just stares back at him in mute tearfulness. Back at Southfork, Miss Ellie blabs to Donna about everything Ray confided in her - which I thought was pretty dickish of her - and Donna grumbles, "That damn pride of his.." and says she can't even lend him the cash he needs, 'cause otherwise he'll know that she knows why he's been so damn moody lately. As they get into Donna's car to head into town for the contrived shopping trip, JR happens to pull into the driveway. Miss Ellie's all, "Stop the car!" and tells Donna to go to town without her 'cause she has a bone to pick with JR and needs to pick it now. A few minutes later, Bobby arrives at Southfork with Christopher in tow, angrily muttering, "JR, it's time for you to stand up and be counted." [Dunno exactly why that pronouncement made me burst out laughing.] He carries Christopher into the house and is all, "Ack!" when he overhears Miss Ellie in the living room, rebuking JR for depleting Ewing Oil's cash reserves. A few seconds later, Pam happens to descend the staircase and sees the baby Bobby's holding. She shrieks, "You got our baby! I don't believe it!", then cries out for Miss Ellie to come look at the brand new baby that she and Bobby just got...and Miss Ellie and JR appear in the living room doorway and are all, "The fuckity fuck?" while Bobby stands uselessly in the background, his normally wooden face etched with an expression of helpless anguish. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
1 Comment
Kyle
9/19/2023 05:44:56 pm
Bobby is uber-annoying in this storyline. Just how is it his business that JR fathered an out-of-wedlock child? He’s going to the extreme of buying the child so he can spring the child on JR at Southfork? What’s the point of doing that, so Bobby can feel superior?
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Dallas homepageRecapper: Isabel K. French
Your contributions help keep the site ad-free
|
|