Dallas

Everyone took a step towards the dark side on tonight's Dallas - but some ventured closer to depravity as J.R.'s death made the "Ewings Unite!" and the Barnes family all but fall apart.

If anyone would have understood the reason for John Ross being late to the reading of his father's will, it was J.R. Ewing. I could hear him chuckling from the great beyond as Emma's last minute tryst ended with John Ross sheepishly having all eyes on him because he was the last to enter the conference room.

When J.R. gave Gary his best bottle of Scotch I laughed out loud. He never could help himself from kicking Gary when he was down. That bottle was his final shot. There never was much brotherly love between those two.

J.R. had written that Sue Ellen would always have his heart and that he split his rights to the oil under Southfork between both her and John Ross, thus keeping mother and son tied together once again.

Speaking of Sue Ellen, I loved that she called Valene to get Gary off her back. Not that Sue Ellen doesn't need help to stop drinking but I don't see Gary being the one she'd turn to. The pair were never close. Heck, they didn't even like one another and she's admitted to him that she was using him to get the oil pumping again on Southfork.  So Gary proclaiming how much he cared about her felt all wrong.

For a man who claimed he wanted to get back together with his ex, Gary sure had a funny way of showing it. I don't think he could have been any ruder to Valene if he tried. Then Valene stormed into Sue Ellen's office and announced in this Dallas quote…

You are just as sadistic as J.R. ever was. 

I wished Sue Ellen didn't look so upset by that. Valene was always a whiner.

But back to the will. The biggest twist was Miss Ellie's letter. She never felt that J.R. had the love for the ranch that Bobby did which is why she left it all to him…but now that's changed. Half of Southfork now belongs to John Ross. Bobby loves Southfork. Having to share with the nephew he doesn't trust will certainly cause problems down the road.

However, for now the Ewings are on the same page and John Ross and Christopher working together was just a hoot. These two really are more like brothers than cousins.  When they're fighting they want to kill one another, but when they band together they can be damned funny. I want to see more of their great banter.

Now that J.R.'s gone, Bobby and Christopher were willing to take a page from his playbook to save their methane deal. They were also more than willing to pimp out John Ross to do it…not that he seemed to mind.  

Of course Elena wasn't thrilled to find out that her fiance had stepped over to the dark side. I wonder if her disapproval will mean he'll be less likely to do it again or simply less likely to share it with her when he does. 

Unfortunately for Elena, she had no idea that her biggest problem was her brother. 

Trouble certainly follows Emma Ryland. The girl should come with a warning label. Apparently now that she's out from under her father's thumb she's embracing her inner vixen. First with John Ross, then with Drew. Who's next?

When Elena's life was threatened Drew had a couple of choices. He could have gone to Bobby and told him what happened in the hopes that the Ewings could protect his sister. Instead, he built the bomb. Did he have any idea that his sister would be on the rig when the bomb blew?

The biggest shock of the night was Cliff. What happened to this man? He was always a selfish little weasel but he became a soulless monster the moment he gave the order to set off the bomb knowing his pregnant daughter could be hurt or killed in the blast. It's as though those babies, his future grandchildren meant nothing to him because they were fathered by a Ewing.

For all of J.R.'s machinations, he never would have knowingly put his own family so blatantly in danger. It's what makes Cliff's relentless vendetta against the Ewings so frightening. There's really nothing he won't do to win and he truly doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. It's why he's become nothing more than a lonely, bitter old man.

So is Judith Ryland dead or alive? Who will be injured in the explosion? Will Drew's involvement be revealed? And how long will we have to wait to find out who killed J.R.?