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Not unexpectedly, Dallas begins with a Romeo and Juliet tale that instantly exposes an old feud between two families and strips the civilized veneer from several major characters. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), youngest of three sons of independent oilman Jock Ewing (Jim Davis), arrives at the Ewing clan's Southfork ranch just outside Dallas, Texas, with a new wife, Pam Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business rival of Jock's and one-time suitor of the Ewing matriarch, Eleanor (or "Miss Ellie," played by Barbara Bel Geddes). Pam's also the sister of a state senator, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose vendetta against the Ewings is played out in the legislature, imposing costly regulations on their business and holding committee investigations into questionable practices of company president J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). Pam's status as the newest Ewing causes an uproar in the family (besides being a Barnes, she also dated the Ewings' genial but lonely foreman, Ray Krebbs, played by Steve Kanaly) and prompts Dallas' charming villain, J.R., to make many Iago-like attempts, over the first two seasons, to drive her from Bobby's arms. Pam has a different set of problems with the other, jealous Ewing women, including J.R.'s possibly barren and alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and teenage Lucy (Charlene Tilton), daughter of exiled Ewing son Gary (Ted Shackleford). With new and old resentments flying and everyone deeply suspicious of everyone else's motives (even the ailing Jock doesn't trust J.R.), there's plenty of drama to chew on. Still, storylines are often larger than the sum of these parts, with lots of kidnappings, marital affairs, plane crashes, and shootings ratcheting up suspense. Dallas is pure pleasure, a little guilty, perhaps, but not a sin. --Tom Keogh

A remarkable number of story threads found their way into season 3. Starting with a two-parter concerning the kidnapping of a newborn baby belonging to J.R. (Larry Hagman) and Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray), problems just keep on sprouting like weeds. First, there's Sue Ellen's emotional deep-freeze and refusal to nurture her child as a healthy mom should, which in turn prompts the childless Pamela Ewing (Victoria Principal) to free her maternal instincts toward J.R.'s son, much to the chagrin of J.R.'s brother, Bobby (Patrick Duffy). Meanwhile, teenager Lucy (Charlene Tilton), abandoned daughter of missing Ewing son Gary (David Ackroyd), threatens to teach J.R.'s son, one day, to turn against the Ewing clan, inspiring J.R. to escalate plans to get rid of Lucy any way possible. (Gary, by the way, kicks into gear a famous Dallas spin-off by moving to Knots Landing, California.) Matriarch Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) faces a mastectomy, making her worry that husband Jock (Jim Davis) will stop loving her, though he faces problems of his own when a skeleton found buried on Ewing property turns up near Jock's missing handgun. (Whoops.) Finally, J.R.'s almost Shakespearean manipulation of the sale of Asian oil fields to old family friends, just before those fields are nationalized, is brilliantly wicked stuff. His actions have enormous, grievous ramifications--not least of all for J.R. --Tom Keogh

In Dallas: The Compete Fifth Season, J.R. won back his estranged wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray). Yet she seems to be having second thoughts about life as a Ewing, prompting J.R. to take another crack at convincing her to stay with him--while doing his bidding in unscrupulous business maneuvers, of course. Sue Ellen and sister-in-law Pamela (Victoria Principal) become unexpectedly close, and even more unexpected is Pamela's request to husband Bobby that he drop the fraternal competition with J.R. to run Ewing Oil for good. Abortions, tensions, and a chance for longtime, obsessive enemy of the Ewings Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), so recently comatose, to get even with his nemesis are all on the menu. As usual, watching Dallas is like witnessing a car crash and being too mesmerized to leave. --Tom Keogh

There's also more collateral damage than ever from J.R.'s machinations, notably the complete destruction of chronic loser Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose romantic overtures toward Sue Ellen stand in J.R.'s way. Not only does poor Cliff lose Sue Ellen's affections, he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake deal dangled by a J.R. confederate, costing him the respect and support of his family and threatening his health. But there's also the infant son of Sue Ellen's late sister to think about: Bobby and baby-starved Pam (Victoria Principal) want to adopt him, but J.R. claims to be the father and threatens to take the boy away. (How do most of these people manage to live under the same Southfork roof?) Meanwhile, young Lucy (Charlene Tilton) deals with divorce and the emotional aftermath of being held hostage, and Jock's son Ray (Steve Kanaly) threatens his marital stability with impulsive investments in real estate. Everything comes to a head with a new eruption in the old Ewing-Barnes family feud, and an internal fight for control of the Ewing empire. Down and dirty, and completely irresistible. A nice special feature provides a tour of the real-life Southfork ranch. --Tom Keogh

Another suspect in the shooting, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), brother of Bobby's wife, Pam (Victoria Principal), tries to jumpstart his return to Texas politics by making trouble for the Ewings in the Texas legislature. Bobby himself, burned out on the family business, tries his own hand at the state senate, a useful place to be once Jock and Ewing matriarch Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), mired in a personal conflict that heads toward divorce, find themselves on opposite sides in a land dispute. Other story threads include a rocky marriage between granddaughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) and a medical student (Leigh McCloskey), and extramarital distraction for lonely Pam and Sue Ellen. Perhaps the biggest scandal of the season is J.R.'s manipulation of a counterrevolution in the Southeast Asian country where Ewing Oil fields were disastrously nationalized--a crime that could come back to haunt him. --Tom Keogh