Recap: JR is in his Ewing Oil office, staring despondently out the window while Bobby is in his office, discussing a $3 million project with a couple of old white men. Bobby says he'd be happy to move ahead with the deal, providing JR signs off on it - but when the camera pans over to JR's office, we see that he's ignoring his buzzer thing. He then picks up the phone to call Sue Ellen, but is told by her personal nurse-on-duty that the lady of the manor isn't home at the moment. While that's happening, a Mr. Hunter arrives at Ewing Oil to discuss some pending business with JR. Sly fibs and says he's not around, but that Bobby is - but Mr. Hunter insists on only speaking to JR. A few seconds later, JR emerges from his office and staggers towards the door, and an irked Bobby explains to the two men he was just meeting with that they're going to have to put their project on pause on account of JR isn't currently functioning as co-president 'cause he's been taking Jock's death particularly hard. Bobby then gets a call from Harv Smithfield, informing him that they have some important decisions to make now that Jock is presumed dead...and the two agree to meet at Southfork later in the day. Sue Ellen returns home after a shopping trip with her high society friend Dee Dee Webster. Dee Dee tells Sue Ellen now that she's divorced it's good for her to be getting out more, then offers to set her up with an eligible bachelor. As Sue Ellen chews on that prospect, Dee Dee says it's getting late and that she needs to rush home to cook dinner for her douchebag of a husband. That evening at Southfork, Lucy and Pam are sifting through a mountain of condolence letters when Miss Ellie and Bobby enter the kitchen, expressing concern that JR isn't home yet. Bobby scrunches his face confusedly as to where his brother could possibly be, and then he and Pam head upstairs to the nursery to lovingly coo at Christopher. Miss Ellie then asks Lucy to clear the table of all the letters 'cause, for some reason, she wants the family to have dinner in the kitchen instead of in the dining room. JR is peacefully snoozing at his mistress Serena's place when she suddenly pokes him awake to tell him it's 2:00am and reminds him that he had once instructed her to never let him stay overnight at her apartment. She grabs his boots and places them atop him...and he stares at her sadly as he self-piteously replies, "To what? I've got no wife. I've got no daddy. I've got no son. I've got no home to go to." He then shoves his boots onto the floor, buries himself under the covers, and barks at her to shut off the light.
Bobby arrives at Ewing Oil the next morning...and when he learns that JR is in his office, he makes a beeline over and is dismayed to find his disheveled brother pouring himself what looks like a glass of milk. JR ignores his brother's glare of disapproval and says that Sly told him his signature is needed on some important papers...and when Bobby hands him the documents, he scribbles his name without bothering to read what he's signing, then abruptly gets up and exits his office, leaving Bobby staring after him concernedly. Miss Ellie is preparing food in the Southfork kitchen when Harv Smithfield arrives at the ranch to discuss what he describes as very serious personal matters. He explains that since Ewing Oil is a family-owned business, Jock's "sudden" absence has left many things up in the air about the day-to-day operation of the company. Miss Ellie breezily reminds him that Jock had implemented a voting shares system, but Harv points out that that was really only designed to be a short-term method of running the business while he was wildcattin' in South America...and that his final will and testament might well override it. Miss Ellie tells him he's being premature in talking about Jock's will, firmly says she no longer wants to discuss it, then invites him to sit down, stay awhile, and have dinner with the family. Donna arrives home after an autograph party and finds Ray slumpily leaning on the kitchen counter guzzling booze. She apologizes for getting home later than expected, then excitedly tells him that her book is currently ranked #5 on the Best of Non-fiction list. Ray grunts something that makes clear how tiny a rat's ass he gives about her literary success...and when Donna lets that slide and offers to fix him something to eat, he declines and announces that he's off to meet up with his ranch hand friends in a Braddock watering hole and will get a bite there. As he staggers towards the door and heads out, Donna mutely stares after him, her expression a mixture of concern and fed uppedness. Sue Ellen is at what looks to me like a pretty wretched dinner party, where the wives are in one cluster, gossiping about a mutual acquaintance who's cheating on her husband...and the husbands are across the room in a different cluster, cackling about a mutual friend who's cheating on his wife with his hot secretary. A few seconds later, a handsome bachelor named Tom Flintoff arrives to join the party, and Dee Dee cheerily steers him inside and introduces him to Sue Ellen. Over at the Braddock watering hole, Ray runs into an old friend, Bonnie Robertson, a pretty blonde who coquettishly asks him to buy her a drink. She remarks that it's been awhile, so he mumbles that he hasn't been around lately 'cause he recently got married. Bonnie says she knows all about it 'cause she's been reading about his wife in the papers, adding, "I bet she keeps you hoppin'." Ray insists that Donna's "a fine woman" - while he, on the other hand, is a total dumbfuck loser who can't do anything right, including keeping his marriage on track. [No argument here.] Bonnie asks, "Doesn't your wife understand you?" and Ray says she understands him just fine, then abruptly changes the subject and agrees to buy Bonnie a drink. Following a romp at Cliff's place, Afton gets dressed and tells Cliff she's heading home now...and when he looks surprised that she's leaving so soon, she says she gets the distinct impression that he's bored with 1) her, and 2) her constant nagging about helping launch her singing career. Cliff denies it and says he's sorry he hasn't been more interested in scoring her a lucrative recording contract, and weakly promises to pretend to keep trying. Afton comes right out and asks him if his heart is with another woman, and he fibs and assures her it's not, then breezily chalks up his general moodiness to some non-existent work-related problems.
The second Afton is out the door, Cliff telephones Sue Ellen, who has just returned home from the wretched dinner party. They exchange a few niceties before the call is cut short by Tom Flintoff, who unexpectedly drops by Sue Ellen's house to forcibly smooch her and coo about how beautiful she is. Sue Ellen makes it clear that she's not into it and yells at him to get out, and Tom responds by holding up both hands, warning her that after another long, lonely month with no bedroom action, she'll be begging him for it. He swaggers towards the door, then snidely predicts, "You'll be calling me", and Sue Ellen slams the door after him. Bobby gets a call from the doctor's office, inquiring about Christopher's medical records, so he says that the documents are in his office and that he'll for sure deliver them sometime today. He then calls Phyllis to ask her to move his morning appointment with Harv Smithfield to the afternoon. Bobby drops in on his lawyer friend Eric to "hypothetically" ask what an adopted baby's medical record would look like. Eric says he's getting increasingly unsettled by his many adoption questions, then back pedals on that and says that if he personally were going to adopt a baby, the certificate would likely show only the baby's first name and the first name of the parent(s). He then warns Bobby not to do anything illegal and stupid, and Bobby gaily exits his office with little doubt that he's about to do something illegal and stupid. While out for lunch, Mitch tells a bummed looking Lucy that she shouldn't lose herself because of Jock's death, reminding her that years ago he lost his father and got through it 'cause he had to keep the family going. He adds that it really helped to throw himself into his studies, and Lucy says she wishes she had some general direction in her aimless life, or was at least good at something. Mitch asks, somehow with a straight face, "Have you ever thought of looking for a real job?" - LOL - and Lucy responds to that by looking touched about his concern, and thanks him for caring enough about her to listen. She then decides that, yep, she should prolly find some sort of activity to occupy her days...and happily remarks on how much easier it is for them for communicate now that they're separated. Mitch grins in agreement before announcing that he has to get back to the hospital. Miss Ellie and Pam are feeding Christopher when JR enters the kitchen and tells his mama that with Jock gone he's no longer motivated to put any effort into running Ewing Oil. Miss Ellie points out that the demise of the family patriarch has been hard on all of them, then reminds him that Bobby needs him to at least somewhat function at a base level in his role as co-president. JR's like, "Yeah, whatever", then heads over to the phone to try to contact Sue Ellen, but once again gets her answering machine. Bobby arrives at Ewing Oil - just as Phyllis and Sly head off to lunch. Alone in the office, he sits at Phyllis's desk, pulls out a bottle of liquid paper from her drawer, and proceeds to alter Christopher's medical certificate by blotting out Kristin's first name and surname and then typing Jane as the sole identifier...and I'll assume he's keeping his fingers crossed that no one in the doctor's office is going to get suspicious about why there's so much white paint on an original document. Punk drops by Casa Yokel to discuss with Ray a potential new real estate deal. Donna tells him that Ray is in the bedroom, asleep - just as Ray appears in the doorway looking more grisly than usual in an unbuttoned work shirt and his bedraggled grey pageboy 'do in fugly disarray. He snarlingly tells Punk to "tell it to a Ewing", self-piteously recalling that he fell flat on his face during his most previous attempt to launch a real estate development. Punk's all, "Yeah? So what?" and says that he endured lots of failures on the road to learning how to be a savvy developer. Ray refuses to reconsider and grumbles, "You're talking to the wrong man" ... and as a befuddled Punk shakes his head and ambles towards the door, Donna discreetly explains that Jock's death has hit Ray pretty hard. Punk points out that his death has hit all of them pretty hard, then promises to keep in touch.
Over at Ewing Oil, Harv Smithfield tells Bobby he told Miss Ellie that it's impossible to operate Ewing Oil as if Jock were still alive...and when Bobby asks, "How come?", Harv explains to the nitwit that the entirety of the company's stock belongs to Jock, and that his estate needs to be settled properly - otherwise the legal complications could quickly get overwhelming. He sympathizes about how difficult this must be, but implores Bobby to convince Miss Ellie to agree to petition for a hearing to have Jock declared legally dead. A few seconds later, a disheveled JR staggers into the office, and Bobby fills him in about what he and Harv just talked about. JR just kind of shrugs disinterestedly and fake applauds Bobby for doing a fine job of running Ewing Oil, then sourly suggests that maybe Jock left him (meaning Bobby) everything in his will, something that should make him happy. After he exits the room, Bobby tells a bewildered looking Harv that he'll do his best to sort through this familial clusterfuck and get back to him. Cliff learns that the drilling on Barnes-Wentworth 1 is going well, and that it's likely to turn a profit in a few weeks. He's so buoyed by the news that he buzzes his secretary (Marie) to ask her to make him a lunch reservation at The Cattlemen's Club. Lucy drops by Roger Larson's studio to tell him she's decided to pursue modelling, and that she was very impressed about the fact that he wasn't pushy about it when he first approached her. Roger says he thinks that they could have a very good working relationship, then offers to connect her with a guy who's put a lot of girls on the covers of national magazines. Lucy says she's definitely excited [about what seems to me like kind of a long shot - but then I'm a recapper, not a modelling scout], and Roger tells her he'll set up a meeting with this cover model guru asap.
JR is sitting alone at The Cattlemen's Club, mopishly staring into his drink, when a smiling Cliff ambles over with a fresh drink as a thank you for signing over ownership of the oil field formerly known as Ewing 6. He tells JR that the rebranded field is back in operation and "pumping its little heart out", and JR makes it clear that he has zero desire to talk to him, pours what's left of his drink into Cliff's glass - LOL - and abruptly gets up and staggers out of the restaurant. JR storms over to Sue Ellen's new digs to snarlingly ask her why she refused to stay on at Southfork during the Jock is Missing crisis. Sue Ellen tells him she couldn't bring herself to stay at that dreary ranch a moment longer, and makes it clear that there's absolutely nothing between them anymore. JR insists that she's going to listen to what he has to say, then drunkenly rails at her for taking away his son...and mumbles about how [pathetically, desperately] hard he's always tried to make Jock proud of him, and hates the fact that he died believing his eldest son had allowed his ex to permanently remove John Ross from Southfork. When he vows that he won't let her get away with it, she warns that she can call the police...and JR tells her to feel free to do that, along with hiring bodyguards - but growlingly warns that as long as John Ross is not living at Southfork, "You're not going to know one moment of peace on God's green earth." He then staggers through the front door from whence he came, leaving Sue Ellen staring after him worriedly. Late that night, Bobby tells Pam he's having problems falling asleep 'cause he's so stressed about having to convince Miss Ellie to declare Jock legally dead. He adds that JR's meltdown isn't helping matters, and he worries that the company Jock spent his whole life building is soon going to be left in ruins. Pam clucks sympathetically, then gives him a comforting cuddle and urges him to try to get some sleep. The next morning, Bobby finds Miss Ellie in the kitchen and tells her they need to talk about the Jock is Dead situation, and pronounces, "Daddy is not coming back, and we all have to face that." He tells her they can't continue to run Ewing Oil in this kind of haphazard limbo, and that all matters of business need to be settled in a proper, legal fashion. Miss Ellie responds by tearing up and moaning, "Nooooo..", then nonsensically reminds him that this is still Jock's house, incoherently mumbling, "You're Jock's son, and I'm Jock's woman, and the rules we live by are the rules he made, and that's the way it will be." As Bobby struggles to make heads or tails of what in blazes she's nattering on about, she tearily declares, "He's alive, Bobby." When an aghast looking Bobby cries, "Mama!", she explains that as long as she believes Jock is alive, he'll somehow be alive...and Bobby stares back at her with an expression of speechless bewilderment. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
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