At the end of season 9 it appeared that both Sue Ellen and Jamie Ewing had been killed in separate bomb explosions. However, the real kicker was a startled Pam awakening from slumber only to find a beaming Bobby Ewing bathing in the shower despite having been killed at the end of season 8. What should we make of this? Prior to this being aired it had been leaked that Patrick Duffy was to return to Dallas. The question on everybody's mind was how were they going to pull that one off? Well ideas ranged from a dopple-ganger, a long lost twin brother or even that he had never been killed and his death was faked so he could work for some secret government organization. This was all up in the air until it was finally revealed that the entire previous season was nothing but one of Pam's dreams! With the return to Camelot we see a concerned looking Bobby who walks out of the shower to comfort a stunned looking Pam saying "you look like you have just seen a ghost". Yes that's what it felt like, but Bobby reassures Pam that none of it happened. For the viewer you then had to cast your mind back back to the end of season 8 and pick up the stories. The dream was never mentioned again. The only real continuity problem was the introduction of character Ben Stivers who turned up at Southfork only to turn up again, this time as Wes Parmalee in this season.
Never the less a two hour opener was enough to get things back on track with new stories and before long Bobby's character just picked up from where he left off in season 8 too! With Bobby out of the series the ratings began to slide, whether it was his omission or just glam-soap fatigue or other factors Dallas was a shadow of it's former self in season 9.
In all honesty Bobby could have returned by saying his death had been faked so he could go underground for the CIA and track down Katherine Wentworth or something like that, but the writers and producers took a bold move and abandoned season 9 and started season 10 a fresh. So what happened to our dysfunctional family? Well most of the characters had become boring, they were all soppy and lovey-duvy with each other and the stories were unconvincing and aimless. To make matters worse the main plot was convoluted and turgid and many of the sub-plots were wishy-washy. It all ended in a train wreck that could not easily be untangled but best remedied by rubbing out series 9 and starting a fresh.
In this new season they were back with a vengeance, Cliff and Jamie were at logger heads, Donna and Ray were now irreconcilable, Sue Ellen turned over a new leaf and her character finally moved on. She started to become more assertive, forgot about Dusty and took control of her life. It was bold and it was needed but more importantly it worked, with her money she could have easily done something rather than just go shopping! Also, a much higher profile was given to Ewing oil nemesis Jeremy Wendel, and Jack Ewings ex-wife was hot on his trail after learning of his 10% Ewing oil windfall. All a complete contrast to the circumstances left in the dream season. Also, it was the first time since the 1983-84 season that Clayton the original Miss Elie (Bel Gedess) and Bobby were all in the show together.
This season had a more Dallas had a more Texas feel to it, the episodes moved fast and JR embarked on what was one of his boldest or reckless schemes since either illegally selling oil to Cuba or financing a coup in an oil rich country. He decided to hire the best mercenaries in the business to blow up oil wells in the middle east and start a war. Consequently, all this chaos would cause the global price of oil would go through the roof, what an interesting idea! It's ironic that 20 years after this season aired after a US president from Texas started a war in the middle east oil is almost $130/barel, maybe he was inspired by this story line from Dallas. JR was clearly 15-20 years to early with his ambitions! All in all not a bad start to this next phase in Dallas, it was not the golden years but it was a good effort over all.
Never the less a two hour opener was enough to get things back on track with new stories and before long Bobby's character just picked up from where he left off in season 8 too! With Bobby out of the series the ratings began to slide, whether it was his omission or just glam-soap fatigue or other factors Dallas was a shadow of it's former self in season 9.
In all honesty Bobby could have returned by saying his death had been faked so he could go underground for the CIA and track down Katherine Wentworth or something like that, but the writers and producers took a bold move and abandoned season 9 and started season 10 a fresh. So what happened to our dysfunctional family? Well most of the characters had become boring, they were all soppy and lovey-duvy with each other and the stories were unconvincing and aimless. To make matters worse the main plot was convoluted and turgid and many of the sub-plots were wishy-washy. It all ended in a train wreck that could not easily be untangled but best remedied by rubbing out series 9 and starting a fresh.
In this new season they were back with a vengeance, Cliff and Jamie were at logger heads, Donna and Ray were now irreconcilable, Sue Ellen turned over a new leaf and her character finally moved on. She started to become more assertive, forgot about Dusty and took control of her life. It was bold and it was needed but more importantly it worked, with her money she could have easily done something rather than just go shopping! Also, a much higher profile was given to Ewing oil nemesis Jeremy Wendel, and Jack Ewings ex-wife was hot on his trail after learning of his 10% Ewing oil windfall. All a complete contrast to the circumstances left in the dream season. Also, it was the first time since the 1983-84 season that Clayton the original Miss Elie (Bel Gedess) and Bobby were all in the show together.
This season had a more Dallas had a more Texas feel to it, the episodes moved fast and JR embarked on what was one of his boldest or reckless schemes since either illegally selling oil to Cuba or financing a coup in an oil rich country. He decided to hire the best mercenaries in the business to blow up oil wells in the middle east and start a war. Consequently, all this chaos would cause the global price of oil would go through the roof, what an interesting idea! It's ironic that 20 years after this season aired after a US president from Texas started a war in the middle east oil is almost $130/barel, maybe he was inspired by this story line from Dallas. JR was clearly 15-20 years to early with his ambitions! All in all not a bad start to this next phase in Dallas, it was not the golden years but it was a good effort over all.
