What will happen on the April 15 Season finale of Dallas?

On April 15, Dallas closes out its second season with a two-hour finale comprised of two episodes – “Guilt By Association” and “Legacies” – and, hopefully, we fans will get satisfying answers to the two biggest questions of the year: Is Pam Ewing returning to Dallas and Who killed J.R.? The bigger question may be whether Dallas will return for a third season. It’s no secret that season two has seen the show struggle against competition from first-run episodes of broadcast fare whereas its debut run of episodes ran in the relatively competition-free zone of the summer. Mind you, the television season was pretty crummy across the board for all the networks. Even the biggest creative risks failed to connect with audiences. Smash, anyone? The Ewings’ winter greeting was a chilly one indeed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the season two premiere was down 32% from the numbers logged by the summer finale of season one. From a season high (so far) of 3.56 million viewers for the epic J.R. funeral episode, the show has steadily lost eyeballs to average about 2.6 million viewers for the past few weeks. Viewership dipped to 2.44 million for this week’s two-hour episode. The positive spin online has it that TNT executives didn’t expect Dallas to show big numbers in the winter anyway. Let’s hope this is true because ratings this low typically earn a quick cancellation for shows airing on the broadcast networks. I for one hope TNT sticks with the show and builds the budget to bring in a heavy hitter now that Larry Hagman is no longer around to carry the show with his magic. Are you listening, Ms. Principal??? The fact that TNT chose to lump together the season’s final four episodes into two two-part installments smacks of burning off episodes, a common practice in TV programming when the suits lose faith in a show. In short, it ain’t a good sign. For this reason, Monday’s season finale better rock it or it will be the Dallas finale, period. Here’s what I’m wondering about, along with some fearless predictions

Will Elena lose Christopher over her support for Drew?

Chris and Elena may be a coosome twosome, but Dallas is a soap and there’s not much drama in sexy dips in the Southfork swimming pool, no matter how hard-bodied the actors are. I expect Christopher will confront Elena about lying to him about calling the Dallas police on her cellphone. He can never forgive Drew for his part in the death of Christopher’s twins and I think Elena will find herself a single gal again next season.

Is Drew and Emma’s romance doomed to end in tragedy?

The opposites-attract love story between Emma and Drew plays like Romeo and Juliet and with both parties enmeshed in dire circumstances one can only assume the two are headed toward disaster. Might Drew meet an untimely end in his search for Vickers?

Can Ann rehabilitate Emma?

Really, now. Does anyone care? I like Ann but Emma’s just plain annoying.

Will Christopher find his mother Pam in Zurich?

Fans want Pam to return badly and we’re finally getting to the point in the show where we’ll learn if producers are serious about bringing back the character, whether or not she’s played by Victoria Principal. The best clue we’ve received so far that Pam’s still alive is a fuzzy security camera image showing a pointy-nosed, thin-lipped woman hidden by dark sunglasses and a big hat. It looks suspiciously like a get-up Pam’s evil half-sister Katherine Wentworth might dream up. History shows she’s worn the look before. Chances are Christopher will find the wrong sister when he and Elena show up in Zurich and that would be an electrifying moment.

Who killed J.R.?

The list of suspects is a long one if you consider the entire history of people wronged by J.R. throughout the show’s original run but logic dictates the culprit would need to be somebody from the show’s recent past. My money’s on Cliff, who has evolved into a bitter man without a conscience. He used to be annoying but now he’s downright ruthless, sacrificing his adopted son Frank and the lives of his daughter’s babies just to achieve his obsessive goal of destroying the Ewings. I think he’s the one who hired the trigger man who shot J.R. in Mexico to stop him from tracking down Pam. Unless Katherine did it, that is.