Dallas

Dallas

Episode 10: Revelations

By: Carlos Uribe

Dallas is a show about the wealthy, powerful, and scandalous Ewing family. It's a continuation of the 1978-1991 CBS series of the same name.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The biggest surprise of this season finale is the lack of an actual cliff-hanger. The finale was busy putting the pieces in place for the next season, although some of of that is reverting things back to their default position. This is a lot because of the numerous revelations that characters learn about John Ross. The characters learn of his involvement with the plot to steal Southfork. This causes his relationship with Elena to breaking down and an end to their engagement. The alliance that he had just established with his cousin is now on very shaky ground and he announces his intention to steal Ewing Energy away from Christopher and Elena. Who does he announce his plan to? J.R.. John Ross isn't interesting in learning the oil business from his father but how to play dirty. It appears that John Ross has gone back to being a replica of his father but with a difference: he doesn't have Elena holding him back. He's gone as far as to consider her an opponent rather than someone he's interested in being in a relationship with. While I'm glad that the alliance is going to be only temporary, it's actual necessity is called into further question this episode. It turns out that the Marta de Sol videos that Bobby's investigators discovered seem to take of their common enemy-the Venezuelans. While I understand why the characters set up the alliance, it really wasn't necessary to get the brothers to be have some sort of peace for the show. They could have had a truce and this revelation could have broken that cease fire. John Ross's involvement does lead to Christopher getting back together with his true love, Elena. Of course, that isn't until he ends his marriage with Rebecca.

Let's talk about Rebecca. Christopher finds out that Rebecca kept more from him: she's not actually Rebecca Sutter and Tommy isn't her brother. This leads to his breaking up with Rebecca. This isn't the biggest development concerning Rebecca. Not by a long shot. Tommy's death led to a pretty big revelation for the audience. She's not alone but is working with some kind of group. A group that is able to get rid of Tommy with little problem and that clean out his motel room. A group that seems to have resources. It isn't until after Christopher threatens Rebecca that she decides to go back to her original mission: to bring down the Ewings. That's because she wasn't really after their money: it's personal. Her father is Cliff Barnes. Cliff had not only been using Rebecca to get close to the Ewings, but the Venezuelan drug lord that had owned the Southfork deed had been a business partner of Cliff. It makes one wonder just how much Cliff had planned as that seems to suggest that he was behind the whole Venezuelan deal. This is a pretty big reveal for the show and it's one that caught me by complete surprise. It managed to work effectively because the show had set up Cliff for those tuning in for the first time.

The season finale was a great way to end the episode because of Rebecca: the mystery of just who she was and the answer helped make it work so well. There might not have been any major cliff-hangers but the reveal was pretty jaw-dropping. Once again I can't speak for Dallas, but it sure seems to be worthy of the Dallas legacy. Now that the first season is over, can this remake really call itself Dallas? This is the only version of Dallas I know and while it's not exactly able to live up to the Dallas brand, it isn't a bad show either. If anything, this would probably be the actual quality of the original if it had never gotten cancelled and it was still on the air. The show does have a lot of good elements: JR is entertaining as heck and probably the reason I'll check out the original Dallas and the original characters are very fleshed out.

The problem has always been the next generation. Christopher and John Ross both haven't been as developed as well as they could have been. The series talks about how the two have been so close but there is nothing to really indicate that in this season. They truly seem to hate each other and only the Ewing name keeps them from letting each other die when the time comes. John Ross seems to be J.R. if he had a large conscience, which removes half the fun of that type of character. Christopher is more alike to his father. The two are really smug and aren't really likeable. If Dallas can find a way to make Christopher and John Ross be more distinctive and not be just defined by their family then the series would be significantly better. Don't get me wrong, family should be important to their characters-but it shouldn't be their entire definition.

Dallas is going to return in January. I'm not going to review the second season simply because I'm going to be too busy with other shows, but I'll be watching it. The reboot has managed to make me a Dallas fan and I do have intentions of checking out the original.