TV Review: Dallas 3×11 – “Hurt”

Funerals Are All Right for Fighting

Drew’s funeral: the remaining family Ramos is furious with the Ewings and is making it known. The Ewings attempt to make themselves scarce, but Elena whips out J.R.’s letter. “This ends now,” she growls, launching into a tirade against Bobby, Christopher, and John Ross. Pamela, Sue Ellen, and Ann are all horrified to hear about Cliff Barnes’s framing. Bobby defends his choices—with J.R. dying it was up to him to bring Cliff to justice, one way or another. He gave Cliff a chance to confess to his crimes (i.e., giving the order to blow up the rig and killing his unborn grandchildren), but he refused. Bobby regrets nothing.

Christopher is confused as to why Elena is so angry. She reveals how the deeds to their familes’ lands were switched, meaning her father died trying to find oil on dry land. “What I want is for my father and brother to be alive, but what I’ll take is restitution,” she declares. She wants the money made from their land and part of the property. She also reveals that Nicholas is a family friend, causing him to make that vomit face he’s so fond of before demanding they have Cliff Barnes released. Elena gives the Ewings until 8 o’clock that night to make a decision.

Strife Amongst the Ewings

Ewing family meeting time: John Ross outright refuses to cave to Elena’s demands, while Christopher thinks they should give her what she wants. Sue Ellen sasses all of the boys for determining the fates of their whole family without discussing anything with the womenfolk. Preach, Sue Ellen! She crumples the letter J.R. sent her requesting a reconciliation dinner before he died. “If he loved me, then why did he lie?” She wants to know who actually killed J.R., but Bobby isn’t talking. Ann makes Bobby’s day better when she reams him out for lying to her. Bobby smashes two decanters of liquor and a framed picture of J.R. against the wall.

Sue Ellen visits Bum for more answers. Sue Ellen claims that she should have been there for J.R., but Bum was the one who took him down to Mexico for treatments. “He was brave. He loved you very much,” he says sadly. He requests her forgiveness, but he isn’t the one Sue Ellen needs to forgive.

You Shouldn’t Be Late When You’re Being Extorted

The Ewings are late to meet the Ramos family with their decision. Christopher asks to speak with Elena alone. He tells a story in which a teenaged Elena couldn’t handle using fake IDs and threw up from the guilt. Christopher makes his point: “This isn’t you Elena—it’s Cliff and Nicholas!” Elena’s response: “You’re just jealous!” Oh, girl.

Bobby ultimately gives Elena what she requested, plus an apology. “You could have had your restitution without burning bridges,” he explains. Elena disagrees; this was the only way to stop the poison and lies running rampant on South Fork. Bobby gets the pardon from Carlos Del Sol and hands it over to Elena—it’s up to her whether she wants to use it or not. Elena gave her word to Cliff Barnes, so she tells Bobby it’s being used. Bobby warns her that if Cliff Barnes comes after the Ewings again, he’ll fight back with everything he has. Any harm Cliff causes will be on Elena’s head. “You broke my heart today Elena,” Bobby says, disappointed.

You’re a Free Man, Cliff Barnes

Elena calls Cliff with the news of his impending pardon. Cliff’s reaction? “I’m not stopping until I wipe the Ewings off the Earth. And you made it possible!” Now Elena’s making the vomit face. Elena, dearest, you don’t have the stomach for scheming.

Elena visits Pamela and hands over the land she received from the Ewings. The piece she requested was the land that Jonathan Ewing took from Pamela’s grandfather. She also hands Cliff’s pardon to Pamela so she can make the call about whether or not to free her father. If the girls on this show were ever on the same side, they could best everyone.

Who Knew Mexico’s Organized Crime Lords Loved Tea?

Nicholas freaks on Elena for revealing his identity—it should have waited until she public offering of Ewing Global. Really, he’s terrified for himself and her, having been threatened by Mexico’s finest organized crime. He asks where she got the letter and Elena lies, claiming she took it from his wallet at work.

Nicholas talks to Luis, his shady business associate. Luis reminds him that they have to get Ewing Global to get more product moving. I do love when people on Dallas outright tell us their plans instead of showing it. Normally that kind of writing is clunky, but Dallas is so dramatic and soapy, it’s nice to firmly know everyone’s intentions. Emma meets Luis for tea. She wants her father locked up for good, but Luis isn’t sure—is Emma just a spoiled little girl, pissed that her daddy took her T-bird away? Harris, concerned about Emma’s activities, has her tailed. He and Ann confront her and reveal that he’s working with the CIA—he allows Luis and his associated shady shadesters to use his trucks and routes for transport so the CIA can track their activities. Luis threatened Harris’s whole family if he crosses them, so Emma’s actions might have disastrous consequences. Stunned, Emma admits that she agreed to move more drugs if they would put Harris away.

The Ewing Boys Are Back

Bum tells John Ross that Nicholas was the origin of the sex video text sent to Pamela. He goes to Nicholas’s apartment to confront him and reveals that Elena slept with him in order to steal J.R.’s letter from his wallet. His smirk game is strong in this scene.

When Nicholas confronts Elena, he claims he’s just upset that he couldn’t stop her from degrading herself. Elena wants to run away. Ugh, Elena, no.

Christopher finds the letters that he and Elena wrote to each other as teenagers. The letters mention her friend Joaquin, who Christopher realizes must be Nicholas/Javier. Nicholas must be using both Elena and Cliff for his own agenda, and Christopher is going to find out exactly what that agenda is.