39 - 40 - endgame / brave new world

My post on the Ultimate Dallas Forum from October 3, 2014 (episodes aired on September 22, 2014):

The Great:

- All the little pieces that were part of the cliffhanger in the strict sense: Elena shooting Nicolás and him ordering to kill Chris, Emma reconciling with John Ross and giving him the file on his sis, the slow execution of everybody involved with that godawful drug cartel, Sue Ellen mentioning she might find love again (wonderful Linda! You go girl!), the bitchy moment between Ann and NuTracey (who always looks like a scared squirrel but sounds like a new Lauren Bacall), Judith´s last entrance and exit, and JR3´s last shot (including Larry´s laugh). Great. I hadn´t seen a finale like that in decades. Honestly. I was screaming and ahhhing in my sofa and finally, when Chris´s brains got all blown out and John Ross said he had a sister, my jaw dropped. I´m still looking for it. 11 of 10 (as a finale), too bad the first half of the season was so weak and distasteful.

- Exterior shooting: This show seems to be always ready to take the camera out, even (or especially) in the cliffhanger episodes, if we have to remember: they shot in exteriors in the two previous finales and it showed off!! I loved that, during all the season, there were constantly shots of Dallas at night. If we had known that less than one month would pass, this (and other things) would´ve been more understandable. But the fact is that I enjoy this "noir" feeling of TNT Dallas. Yes it´s grittier and more violent that TOS, and we need many more family scenes with the Ewings, and terminate the Ramos saga, but this is the proper way to update the series: as a "noirish" story of unfit people who scheme even at night, when business are made.

- The acting: It was all at the same level, top-notch. I wished Linda had something more to do (watch out Swellin: the Judith Wicked bitch is coming!) but I have the feeling they´re cooking something good for her. Finally they gave the Duffster a bit of humor after all those murders and let Emma Bell play a more human side of her role. Di Pace was not only good with his nonsense lines but he excelled and looked oh-so-elegant even with a cane! Were they teasing us again with the plane scene? Brenda, Julie, Judith, Mitch and Antonio Jaramillo were just great. I noticed how instantly Josh managed to become his former JR3 in the last scenes, and he´s undoubtedly a classy, charismatic guy. Sorry but only Jordana´s scene with the gun was one good moment with her in this double instalment. I think she´s been more lost than one of us asking to bring VP back!!

The Good:

- The ensemble work: It wasn´t centered on only one or two storylines, this one was a multi-cliffhanger like the ones from middle 80´s. Remember "Ewing Inferno" and "End Game" from "Dallas", Seasons 4 & 6 from "Dysentry" or every "Falcon Crest" cliffhanger from Season 4 on? That´s the way I´ve always wanted to feel since this show started and now´s when they have delivered! And you know what? After such a big finale, I don´t even mind the earlier episodes of the season. The same happened with Season 2. I mentioned before that Cidre´s seasons may be more "passable" as miniseries. If you watch them back-to-back, you can find more positive things and be more entertained.

- Continuity: A-. Yes it can be better but it has improved a lot since the beginning of the series. Ewing 6, the McKay backstory, Afton & Sue Ellen resentful to each other, JR´s (still awful) ubiquitous portrait, Sue Ellen´s trauma with sanitariums and her past nightmares, and a few more. I´m ok with these for now. We all know that the reason of Carmen not being Teresa is a matter of Cidre´s ignorance about the original series (I´m beginning to think if she´s letting someone else to do part of her work at this point!) and that Jordana´s out-of-the-blue vengeance plot was because of having Jordana in contract for 7 years! Still, the only Latin characters I really enjoyed in this continuation were Marta del Sol, early Nicoquín and druglord Luis. Carlos del Sol was just a stereotype rather unbelievable as JR´s friend, if you ask me, unlike Bum, who seems to have probably gone out for a drink at the same places than Rattagan...

- The pacing: It was a great idea scheduling both episodes in the same night. You go from such a heavyweight episode as "Endgame" with murders, drugdealing, creepiness galore, to an increasing emotional rollercoaster in the last episode when you know that, oooops, "One Ewing will die" (Do you know that this slogan had been previously used by The Simpsons a couple of weeks before when they killed off a very minor character? One character will die! The answer to whom was very "cidrian" by the way...) There were 6 (main) possibilities: Bobby, Sue Ellen, John Ross, Chris and, by marriage, Ann and Pamela. I even feared that it might be one of those exiled Ewings out there (Gary? Ray? Finally unimaginative Cidre finding a way to use those characters dramatically?). Luckily, it wasn´t one of the latters. I was ok with Chris because, IMHO, he was not accomplishing the job he was made for: fighting JR3´s evilness with his own weapons. At least, Jesse had been more bearable acting-wise with his subplot of the Heather girl.

Back to the countdown of Which Ewing will die?, they released Ann right away so she seemed to be safe. Then Emma and, of course, Sue Ellen were seen where they belonged to. Nobody would dare to kill off Bobby again, so my bets were on JR3, Pamela or Chris. During the last 15 minutes, any of these might have been written out with a big murder or death scene. I almost forgot about the slogan when they dropped the big JR secret (jaw-dropping moment, and this time for real!). How many times people here have complained about JR not having a daughter? I even gave him one in my own fanfic "Ewing Empire"...That plot may be great if done well. And when the bomb scene came, and the car was blown, I was speechless!! She did it. After all this time and her big-mouth statements, she and her team had the balls to kill off the CREEPSTER for good!! And then, the big revelation: JR3 has a SISTER!! Wow! I really hadn´t watched anything like that in two decades...I´m sure I´ll re-watch the season in a few months and find things better because it´s already happened with the two previous seasons. If you WHERE they´re going to, then you can understand WHY they´re taking the long route at first. It´s all a matter of hindsight.

The Bad: Nothing. I want to end on a positive note. I voted the top choice.

The Big Doubt:

- Will it be renewed or not? Does the brand and the actors deserve it? A big yes. Does TNT and Cidre´s team deserve them? Maybe. Does the final decision will affect my feelings and opinion of the original, beloved series? A big NO. I watch this as a way of giving the story a better end than the two awful telemovies and it already is, even if the last we see of the new generation is poor Chris´s blown-out brains and mischievous John Ross dreaming about a sister he doesn´t know!! Bobby and Ann would be happy together but with Tracey as a menace, Harris would NEVER get rid of his big bad Mama, Emma would probably become a model like Lucy and marry a rich doctor, and Pamela would let his daddy rot in jail. Julie Gonzalo has been mistreated and wasted this season and that´s a shame, and a double shame, because the showrunner said after airing the midseason finale that the "threesome and vomit" thing was the beginning of a big revenge plot...like what? Slapping JR3´s face and sleeping with Sheik´s son (anyone else thought when watching that scene of that "Knots Landing" finale when Gary found Abby and Peter in bed, and how different Gary´s reaction was then?)? Pamela needs a deep rewriting and resetting back to Season 2. Hopefully she will find her aunt Katherine or a still richer hot man and divorce that Peter Pan-esque John Ross...

It´s been a pleasure being in your company. Good night and good luck.

Update: You can read here about tnt´s decision to cancel dallas.