Ah, the "Dallas" ninth season. I think it's my favorite of all.
Mandy Winger is brought in (voluntarily) to get Cliff off the hook, then becomes J. R.'s lover. Then becomes a spy for Cliff against J. R. then rejects Cliff's using her and falls in love with J. R. While becoming a top model. It sort of puts my life to shame.
Money-grubbing Barbara Bel Geddes is back as the Matriarch of Southfork after the unpopular one-year reign of Donna Reed as Miss Ellie. Big whoop. As far as I care when they sacked Reed they could have rolled in Anne Baxter or even Diane Brewster.
Priscilla Presley is driven out of her mind. Or is that a putt?
But the most wonderful story line of the ninth season has lovely star Barbara Carrera ("Condorman") nestle in as a mysterious Femme Fatale, Angelica Nero, who lures J. R. into a genuine plot. Nero and her partner Grace are very vague about it all. J. R. Thinks it's all about money but she has some sort of wacky Prisoner of Zenda scheme involving long-lost cousin Jack (Dack Rambo). Usually I think TV shows are running out of steam when they steal the Prisoner of Zenda, but in this case it works for me. Possibly because I've carried a torch for Carrera all the decades.
And then there's poor Steve Forrest. He rides in as an elderly cowboy who has a cloud of mystery hanging over him (don't they all?) Whatever his mystery is, it has no time to get off the ground.
Also during the ninth season Pam gets off her grief for Bobby by the too-timely arrival in Dallas of Bobby's old chum Matt, a great friend we've never hear of before. He's played by Marc Singer, who apparently can't act with a shirt on. And guess what Matt has? An emerald mine. Or does he? Pam goes down to Columbia to check it out and gets herself kidnapped first crack out of the box.
Twice in this season J. R. gets sucker-punched, once by Mark (John Beck, apparently playing a zombie though it doesn't show) and then by Matt. It must be wishful thinking, i suppose, given the ninth season's conceit; though as they're all good Americans I'd like to see fair play. Anyone who waks into an office and slugs someone without a word of warning is little better than a thug.
This is the first "Dallas" season with any genuine excitement and color other than just wheeling-dealing--and after eight years that stuff got old. I yearned for something new and got it.
And Lucy's living in Atlanta and makes only flashback appearances. I always fast-forwarded through her storylines, anyway. Lucy makes me sick. Though, as I currently live within fifty miles of Atlanta, it scares me that she's so close.
Barbara Carrera in a yarn of intrigue. Marc Singer with an emerald mine. No Lucy. Yep, it's my favorite season.
But then, there's that icky Bobby in the shower coda. Couldn't they have done it with Barbara Carrera? But is it Bobby? Or Mark or Matt in disguise? (Spoiler) No, that's silly.
Never having seen the show before I've been binging on it for a few months. I doubt I'll continue with it. After a season of good, old-fashioned adventure I hate going back into the stuffy offices of Ewing Oil and Barnes-Wentworth. So far ad I'm concerned, "Dallas" reached its zenith in its ninth season, building up to a magnificent final episode with more cliffhangers than a dog has fleas. The show had no place to go but down. And by all reports it did.
Mandy Winger is brought in (voluntarily) to get Cliff off the hook, then becomes J. R.'s lover. Then becomes a spy for Cliff against J. R. then rejects Cliff's using her and falls in love with J. R. While becoming a top model. It sort of puts my life to shame.
Money-grubbing Barbara Bel Geddes is back as the Matriarch of Southfork after the unpopular one-year reign of Donna Reed as Miss Ellie. Big whoop. As far as I care when they sacked Reed they could have rolled in Anne Baxter or even Diane Brewster.
Priscilla Presley is driven out of her mind. Or is that a putt?
But the most wonderful story line of the ninth season has lovely star Barbara Carrera ("Condorman") nestle in as a mysterious Femme Fatale, Angelica Nero, who lures J. R. into a genuine plot. Nero and her partner Grace are very vague about it all. J. R. Thinks it's all about money but she has some sort of wacky Prisoner of Zenda scheme involving long-lost cousin Jack (Dack Rambo). Usually I think TV shows are running out of steam when they steal the Prisoner of Zenda, but in this case it works for me. Possibly because I've carried a torch for Carrera all the decades.
And then there's poor Steve Forrest. He rides in as an elderly cowboy who has a cloud of mystery hanging over him (don't they all?) Whatever his mystery is, it has no time to get off the ground.
Also during the ninth season Pam gets off her grief for Bobby by the too-timely arrival in Dallas of Bobby's old chum Matt, a great friend we've never hear of before. He's played by Marc Singer, who apparently can't act with a shirt on. And guess what Matt has? An emerald mine. Or does he? Pam goes down to Columbia to check it out and gets herself kidnapped first crack out of the box.
Twice in this season J. R. gets sucker-punched, once by Mark (John Beck, apparently playing a zombie though it doesn't show) and then by Matt. It must be wishful thinking, i suppose, given the ninth season's conceit; though as they're all good Americans I'd like to see fair play. Anyone who waks into an office and slugs someone without a word of warning is little better than a thug.
This is the first "Dallas" season with any genuine excitement and color other than just wheeling-dealing--and after eight years that stuff got old. I yearned for something new and got it.
And Lucy's living in Atlanta and makes only flashback appearances. I always fast-forwarded through her storylines, anyway. Lucy makes me sick. Though, as I currently live within fifty miles of Atlanta, it scares me that she's so close.
Barbara Carrera in a yarn of intrigue. Marc Singer with an emerald mine. No Lucy. Yep, it's my favorite season.
But then, there's that icky Bobby in the shower coda. Couldn't they have done it with Barbara Carrera? But is it Bobby? Or Mark or Matt in disguise? (Spoiler) No, that's silly.
Never having seen the show before I've been binging on it for a few months. I doubt I'll continue with it. After a season of good, old-fashioned adventure I hate going back into the stuffy offices of Ewing Oil and Barnes-Wentworth. So far ad I'm concerned, "Dallas" reached its zenith in its ninth season, building up to a magnificent final episode with more cliffhangers than a dog has fleas. The show had no place to go but down. And by all reports it did.
