Wednesday, August 8, 2012

DALLAS Season 1 Finale Review: It Was Excellent 'From Tip To Tail'


The first season of TNT's DALLAS came to a close on Wednesday night with shocking revelations and a number of unexpected twists and turns.

If you haven't watched the episode yet, be warned there are SPOILERS ahead.

The episode opened with the aftermath of last week's gun struggle between Rebecca and Tommy.   We see Tommy fall to the floor, shot dead by his former lover.  Rebecca rushes to get her phone to call... Christopher? Elena? No, some mystery person who immediately sends a team of people to her apartment to dispose of the body.

We also saw Bobby collapse last week and his life was hanging in the balance as tonight's show began.  J.R. made his way into Bobby's room and in a poignant moment told his unconscious brother: "I love you, Bobby. And I don't know who I'd be without you."

Bobby finally woke up and recovered (quite quickly I might add). He then found out Marta's Veronica's videos were uploaded to a cloud drive and once that drive was recovered there was enough evidence to prove J.R. and John Ross were involved in the shady deal to steal Southfork from the get-go.  John Ross was especially busted since he initiated the deal with Fake Marta.  Elena, who had agreed to marry him, overheard John Ross saying he didn't want her to find out and broke off their short-lived engagement.

Christopher noticed that Rebecca had bruises from her run-in with Tommy and had Bum track down her "brother."  When they arrived at Tommy's empty hotel, Christopher answered a phone call from Tommy's sister, the real Rebecca Sutter.  He came home and confronted his wife, Rebecca, demanding to know who she really was.  When she refused to tell him, he told her he was going to take the babies and have her locked up.

Meanwhile, Ann, knowing Sue Ellen was about to leave the governor's race because Harris was blackmailing her, went to he ex's office to talk to him.  He tried to put the moves on her, and it looked like she was caving when she started unbuttoning her dress.  But after a couple of buttons we saw a microphone.  She had recorded Harris confessing and told him not to mess with Sue Ellen or her family.  He went to grab her and she punched him in the face!  It was a stand-up-and-cheer moment and a breakthrough of sorts for the character of Ann.  And it allowed Sue Ellen to stay in the race!


Now that Christopher dumped Rebecca he went to see his first choice, Elena.   He told her about the time he first kissed her, and first knew he loved her and first wanted to marry her.   He gave her back her old engagement ring (her second of the night) and they made love.

Rebecca made her way to a private jet where it was revealed that her father and his men were the ones who helped her out with Tommy's body.  And her father is... Cliff Barnes! Rebecca is actually Afton's daughter, Pamela Rebecca Cooper (seen in DALLAS Season 11 and the reunion movie).  She has been working with Cliff to bring down the Ewings.

In the final scene, J.R. walked into his old office space and John Ross asked him to “teach me every dirty trick to take the company away from Christopher and Elena.” J.R. smiled as only he can and said, “Now that’s my son, from tip to tail.”

The season finale was near perfect and wrapped up a fabulous first season of DALLAS.

What did you think of the finale?

Photo Credit: Bill Matlock


Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Dallas.

6 comments:

  1. I had a feeling Rebecca might be Cliff's daughter.

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  2. First I thought it was odd her name was rebecca. Most fans know that Pam and Cliff mother was named Rebecca. But, my concern was that in the 1997 movie was Pamela Rebecca, and how close she was with Christopher and John Ross. Are we supposed to believe that the 2 movies never happened and it was another dream?

    This is what Cliff wanted to begin with (in 1978), he wanted Pam to be the Family spy, but she refused. She fell hard for Bobby and even had to compete with Jenna Wade (Morgan Fairchild, then Priscilla Presley).

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  3. Exec producer Cynthia Cidre has said that if it happened on the original series it was "written in stone." And that TNT's DALLAS picks up where the original series left off. I think the movies never happened in this iteration of DALLAS. Otherwise, Christopher would obviously know Pamela Rebecca. Cidre said in a new interview today that she didn't think fans would guess because she used Pamela's middle name. I'm not sure she remembers (or thinks we'd remember) that Cliff and Pam's mother was Rebecca, a very famous name in the show's history.

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  4. Loving the show but something has to be done about all the commercials. TNT should charge more for commercial time. Seriously guys...way to many ads.

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  5. Some nice references to the original series in the Season Finale for me...
    #1 -When Christopher and John Ross are playing basketball, they refer to their youthful basketball games with the McKay boys (which would be Carter McKay's sons fro
    m the next ranch over). Trouble is, I only remember Carter having a son (Tommy) and a daughter (Tracey), but continuinty hasn't always been Dallas' strength.
    #2 - Rebecca eating Chinese Food. Her daddy must be so proud!
    #3 -The Ewing Oil/Energy offices are indeed in the Ewing Oil #1 building featured in the first (let's say) seven seasons which is a very nice touch. However, I believe their offices always faced away from the city towards a rail line. A nice nod, but another continuity error of sorts.
    #4 -Rebecca being Afton and Cliff's daughter. I always knew this was coming. Pamela Rebecca Barnes is named after Cliff's sister Pam and Cliff/Pam's mother Rebecca Wentworth. Funnily enough, if Christopher weren't adopted he'd be married to his cousin! This could lead to lots of great twists that bring Afton, Mitch and even Katherine Wentworth back on the show! It also sets the show up with many of the same dynamics as Bobby marrying a Barnes in 1978.

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