Recap: JR is in a flower shop, placing a standing order for two dozen yellow roses to be delivered to Sue Ellen's house every morning at 9:00am until she finally succumbs to his remarriage proposal. He also places an order for one dozen red roses to be delivered to Marilee Stone's address - but makes it clear to the clerk that that order is strictly a one time thing 'cause he doesn't want Marilee to get any ideas. Bobby gets a call from Detective White, asking him to stop by police headquarters sometime today. Over at Casa Yokel, Donna tells her New York editor (Ed Chapman) that she faces a boring-as-fuck conundrum regarding her decision to write a sequel to her bestselling Sam Culver biography:
Ed Chapman makes it clear that he really really wants her to write the book and urges her to give it more thought. He then heads out - just as Ray returns home and gives Donna a supportive canoodle. Rebecca drops by Cliff's office to read him the riot act for embezzling $4.5 million from Wentworth Tool & Die. She chides him for betraying her and herself for naively trusting him despite repeated warnings from Pam and Katherine. Cliff attempts to explain that when a fantastic oil drilling opportunity arose and looked as though it would make him a fortune, he figured 'why not borrow several million dollars from the family company without getting any kind of green light from the woman who ultimately holds the purse strings?' ... then hastily points out that when the deal went sour, he managed to repay most of the "loan". Rebecca snarks that she doesn't give a rat's ass about whatever deals he was trying to make, admonishes him for being greedy, and orders him to send a resignation letter to the board immediately. A distressed Cliff assures her he'll resign without protest - but hates the idea of this quasi-embezzlement destroying their newly forged mama-son bond. Rebecca shoots him the stink-eye as she coldly replies, "Goodbye, Cliff" and exits the room. Ouch.
Bobby arrives at police headquarters and learns that Detectives White and Howard are starting to show an interest in investigating the drug ring he'd warned them about during the previous episode. They inform him that when they searched Jeff's apartment, they found an envelop with Bobby scrawled on the back of it...and that if he's willing to put his life on the line to serve as bait so they can catch the drug dealers red-handed, they'll hand over the envelop. Seems like kind of a blackmaily thing for a police department to be doing with respect to a civilian's safety in the interest of scoring a major drug bust - but then I'm a recapper, not a Texas-based drug enforcement agent. That evening, Ray drops by the main house to attempt to talk sense into Miss Ellie about her continued resistance to face the fact that Jock is dead. He reminisces about when he first arrived at Southfork and idolized Jock, aka a grizzled old goat who knew when to express affection and when to use a firm hand. He pauses for a few seconds before adding that he also recalls that someone in a bar once called Jock out for being a "land grabbin' crook" [I'll assume he's talking about The Dove Hunt episode from Season 3] ... and after hearing what Donna stumbled onto while researching her book, he can't help but wonder if there's maybe some truth to Jock's past dickishness. He insists to Miss Ellie that Jock would not want them to put him on a pedestal [I think that's highly debatable] ... and until they start remembering him like he really was [an unbearably gruff misogynist who sired sons that now have perpetual daddy issues], they won't be able to do justice to his memory. Miss Ellie chews on Ray's words of wisdom for a few seconds, then silently gets up and exits the room. The next morning, Pam brings Miss Ellie a breakfast tray and tells her the family is worried about her not coming downstairs for breakfast. Miss Ellie assures her she's fine, and that she just needs to be alone for awhile. Cliff calls Sue Ellen...and when Sue Ellen tells her nurse-nanny to tell him she's not home, Cliff leaves a message for her to call him back. A few seconds later, Sue Ellen receives JR's first delivery of yellow roses...and she beams at them with delight before retiring to the living room to re-watch video footage of herself winning the Miss Texas beauty pageant. Bobby calls Joe Smith and leaves a message to call him back asap. JR drops by Sue Ellen's house to 1) deliver more yellow roses, and 2) gleefully inform her that Rebecca just fired Cliff for embezzling money from Wentworth Tool & Die. Sue Ellen looks shocked by the news, then offers JR a drink...and JR lays it on thick about how goooooorgeous she looks in her blue top, guzzles the drink, and announces that he has to head back to the office now. Sue Ellen stares at him longingly, and he gazes at her lovingly as he tenderly touches her face...and after he exits the house, he smiles happily to himself at the rapid progress he's making with Operation Convince Sue Ellen to Jump Into an Ill-fated Remarriage.
Bobby receives a return call from Joe Smith, so he tells him he wants to buy $100,000 worth of cocaine. Joe pretends to be cagey for a few minutes, but then readily agrees to meet up with him at an abandoned warehouse tomorrow evening. Lucy interrupts Miss Ellie's quiet, contemplative bedroom time to inform her that Punk Anderson has dropped by for a visit, and she's all, "Yay! Punk!" and tells Lucy she'll be right down. Punk gives Miss Ellie a warm hello hug, says his wife Mavis sends her love, and invites her to accompany them to the upcoming Oil Baron's Ball. Miss Ellie declines and says she's never gone to the ball without Jock, so Punk argues that she has to attend 'cause he and the other cronies are planning to announce the launch of a memorial scholarship in Jock's name. Miss Ellie stares back at him confusedly while murmuring, "Memorial scholarship?", and Punk's like, "Well duh...the man is dead" ... and Miss Ellie shoots him a sad stare, then heads back upstairs, where she touches and hugs Jock's clothes. Afton is primping in her workplace dressing room when JR drops by to report that Cliff has been dumped:
He happily pronounces, "He's all yours, honey. I just thought you'd be pleased to hear that", adding the caveat that due to Cliff's current unemployability, she may have to financially support him for the foreseeable future. Afton shoots him a the fuck? look and says she didn't want Cliff to be put through the meat grinder...and JR's like 'OK whatever' and says that, as a special thank you for giving him a heads up on Clayton having the hots for Sue Ellen, he'd be more than happy to grant her any future favor she might request. Afton declines the offer, and he just kind of shrugs and happily scampers off. Miss Ellie is spacily wandering around Southfork, glancing happily at the horses and then staring contemplatively into the distance. Rebecca worriedly wrings her hands and tells Pam she's now rethinking her decision to fire Cliff in such a cold-hearted way. Pam assures her she absolutely did the right thing, remarks on how Cliff's fatal weakness has always been his ambition, and doubts seriously that he's capable of ever changing. Rebecca concurs, but then wonders aloud if Cliff should be allowed to make mistakes, and Pam says he should, but that he should also have to pay the price for making them. Mitch drops by Southfork to check in on Lucy and to announce that he's accepted a job at a burn centre in Atlanta. Lucy agrees that a dullard such as himself leaving the show is undoubtedly the best thing for everyone, then asks him to write her a letter to let her know how he's settling in. Mitch agrees, gives her a cheek kiss, and heads back to his car.
Miss Ellie pets Jock's horse and sadly tells him how much she misses her grizzled old goat of a husband. A despondent looking Cliff wanders around his apartment, then walks over to a console table, opens the drawer, and pulls out a pistol. As he stares down at it, Afton happens to drop by to see how he's doing, and he natters about the shitty turn his life has suddenly taken and assumes she's here to smugly say 'I told you so'. Afton clucks sympathetically about his current misfortune and offers to fix him a snack and/or hit the sheets with him - but Cliff says there's nothing he wants at the moment...and Afton gives him a comforting canoodle. That evening, Bobby arrives at the abandoned warehouse and calls out to Joe Smith...and within a few seconds, both Joe Smith and his henchman Griff appear from wherever they were hiding. They openly admit to killing Jeff Farraday when he tried to jerk them around during his latest drug purchase, then demand to see the money. Bobby opens his briefcase to reveal the piles of cash - just as Detectives White and Howard storm the warehouse and yell, "Freeze!" Bobby strikes Griff in the face to subdue him, while Joe Smith surrenders without incident...and the detectives thank Bobby for his cooperation and invite him to return to police headquarters so they can give him the envelop they found in Jeff Farraday's apartment. Bobby lifts his shirt, revealing that he was wired up when Joe Smith and Griff stupidly admitted to killing Jeff, and hands over the tape containing their confession. JR tells Sue Ellen that Miss Ellie would looooooove it if she and John Ross joined them for dinner tonight, 'cause lately she seems to be missing the way the family used to gather together for meals. Sue Ellen says she'd be positively delighted to once again dine with the Ewing clan at Southfork. Over at Casa Depression, Afton asks a despondent looking Cliff what he's thinking, and he's like, "I'm not" and says he's so discombobulated by his entire life being ruined within the last 24 hours that he just wants to flee Dallas. Afton implores him to not let JR win this way, suggests they join forces so they can beat him together...and decides that now is the perfect time to tell him that she'd really really like it if he would give her a commitment. Cliff mumblingly asks her why she'd want to hang with a loser, not least 'cause she was openly disdainful about how big a loser he was prior to becoming a CEO, then gets all defeatist and says he has zero ability to ever beat JR.
Over at police headquarters, the detectives tell Bobby he's off the hook for Jeff's murder, 'cause the bullet that killed him was successfully traced back to Joe Smith's gun...and they predict that Joe Smith and Griff will be put away for a long time. One of the detectives hands Bobby the envelop bearing his name that was found in Jeff's apartment, and Bobby hastily opens it and finds that it's a paid invoice for Kristin's hospital stay in Los Angeles. He scrunches his face confusedly and says he's not sure what exactly to make of the invoice, and the detectives are like, "Good luck with that" and thank him again for helping out with the drug bust. Miss Ellie emerges from her bedroom to have dinner with the family. She happily greets Sue Ellen before seating herself at the end of the table...then gets a haunted look on her face as she stares intently at Jock's vacant chair. After a few seconds, she gets up and runs into the kitchen and cries, "Jock! Oh damn you! Damn you!" as she knocks dish-ware onto the floor in an awkward looking tantrum. JR and Bobby rush into the kitchen to see whassup, quietly take note of her grief-fuelled outburst, then tiptoe back to the dining room. Miss Ellie rails, "Why did you leave me? Whyyyyyyyy?", weakly knocks over some more bowls, then sinks to the floor as she squeaks, "Whyyyyyyyy did you diiiiiiiiie?" The next morning, Miss Ellie drops by Casa Yokel to ask Donna to forgive her bitchitude about Jock being an alleged land grabber, then gives her her blessing to write her book as she sees fit. Donna reverently replies, "No ma'am" and says she wouldn't do that to her - but Miss Ellie points out that while Jock was a super awesome man, he likely did lots of things he regretted and would never lie about...and Ray solemnly concurs that, nope, Jock was a man who never ever lied. Miss Ellie firmly admits, "Jock is dead" and once again urges Donna to write her book...and as Donna looks overwhelmed with emotion, Miss Ellie says she totally accepts that Jock is never coming back, and that she's cherishing all of the wonderful, "forever" memories she has of their life together. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
1 Comment
Kyle
11/14/2023 06:55:04 pm
The canonization of Jock Ewing has begun. I seem to recall that Jock waited something like 40 years to tell Miss Ellie that he was married previously. A lie of omission is still a lie. Leave a Reply. |
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