August 1 Dallas Episode Recap: Family Business

August 1 – It seems like old times as a medical crisis puts J.R. on the outs with the entire Ewing clan and inspires the next generation to continue the Ewing legacy of business with a 21st century twist. The young Ewing couples bask in the calm after the storm of Marta’s murder as Christopher and Rebecca go baby-toy shopping and John Ross learns from Elena that Chris sold his methane technology rights to prevent Bobby from allowing drilling on Southfork. John Ross realizes how far his uncle was prepared to go to save his life in jail. Rebecca’s elation over her tentative new understanding with Christopher is abruptly doused when Tommy shows up at her place demanding she snatch Christopher’s key card so Tommy can break into his office to steal the secrets to his technology. We also learn that the two were indeed lovers at one point. Tommy’s customer, an imposing bald guy named Frank, is getting impatient waiting for the information, much like Vicente Cano was with John Ross. Frank is also miffed that Tommy has upped his asking price. Will Tommy end up with Marta in the great beyond? Sue Ellen is having her own problems with a dangerous man when Harris Ryland drops by with a vulgar gift of a bottle of wine and a demand that she help him launder some money or he’ll reveal her blackmail scheme against the medical examiner who worked on Marta’s murder case. She offers to return his big donation but he says no deal. He’s not letting her out from under this greasy thumb. John Ross and Elena figure out a way to pump oil on some of Southfork’s neighboring land without affecting the ranch and present their idea to a surprised Bobby. A skeptical Christopher thinks John Ross is back to scheming and starts a heated confrontation that Bobby has to break up. While reading the riot act to the Ewing cousins, Bobby collapses unable to feel his face. The Ewings rush Bobby to the hospital, where Elena tells John Ross his uncle has cancer. The doctor informs Bobby, Ann and Christopher that it’s actually a dangerous brain aneurysm, not cancer, that presents an immediate threat to Bobby’s life. Over his family’s protests, Bobby insists his condition be treated at Southfork, where he can be surrounded by family. Rebecca drops by Southfork to support a stressed-out Christopher and gives him a neck rub, which Elena walks in on, of course. When Chris goes to help Ann settle Bobby in, the two women eye each other. Does either of them have the right to be comforting Christopher in his hour of need?

Becca, at least, resists the temptation to swipe Christopher’s pass key for Tommy and instead stops by a safe deposit box from which she retrieves a gun! Now, I’m sure Rebecca may have good reason to protect herself from terrible Tommy, but why is a sweet young thing like her packing heat in the first place? Maybe she’s been spending too much time with Ann, who threatens to shoot J.R. when he shows up at Southfork upon learning of his brother’s health emergency. Old J.R. has worn out his welcome again. Not only has Bobby’s “wife number three” banished him from seeing his baby brother but John Ross lays a guilt trip on him and pressures him to sign over the deed to Southfork to Bobby, egged on by Christopher, who reminded John Ross how his uncle was always there for him when J.R. wasn’t. J.R. refuses to do it even after Sue Ellen slaps him and reminds him that his ruthless drive to come out on top has always left him with nothing. It’s only after Bobby calls for J.R. and tells him that he still loves him despite everything he’s done that J.R. downs a stiff drink and signs over Southfork to Bobby in the presence of a photo of Miss Ellie. True to form, however, he reminds Bobby that he’ll get the ranch in the end if anything happens to his younger sibling. Inspired by the legacy of Jock Ewing, Christopher and John Ross decide to form a partnership called Ewing Energies with Elena as a partner. J.R. would see profits from the new company but have no role in it (or so they think). Bobby advises the entrepreneurial trio to keep their eyes on each other and proudly wishes them well.  Bobby later learns from his detective that Marta kept a cloud drive that may include evidence that J.R. was involved in the Southfork swindle. Realizing that he may have to expose his brother’s crime to the police proves a shock to Bobby’s system and he has a powerful seizure that may prove fatal! Sue Ellen and Rebecca deal with their tormentors in different ways. Sue Ellen sadly shares Harris’ blackmail scheme against her with Ann and resigns herself to ending her bid for governor. Becca, meanwhile, refuses to give in to an enraged Tommy and has a violent confrontation with him in her apartment. She pulls her gun on him and he wrestles her for it. Suddenly the gun goes off! Next up: the first season finale of Dallas 2.0. See y’all there, pardners!