John Ross was on fire as he handled every provocation thrown at him with equal measures wit and guile in "The Enemy of My Enemy."

I love Dallas because every character is more complex than they first appear. John Ross possibly most of all.

Where Christopher was still getting schooled by his Daddy on how best to handle this challenge to the ownership of Southfork, J.R. took a different route with John Ross, as he explained in this Dallas quote…

 I tossed him in the briar patch so he could learn how to get out of it. | permalink

That shouldn't come as a surprise. J.R. and Sue Ellen have spent as much time using their son against one another as they have parenting him. And throwing his child in the deep end to see if he could swim certainly seems like a tactic J.R. would use.

But John Ross seemed to be coming into his own. First, he was planting the seeds of doubt in Elena concerning Christopher in case Chris came forward with that DVD. 

I'd say John Ross was able to make Christopher look like the bad guy but, really, Chris has done that to himself. Telling Elena she couldn't be trusted and then trying to pay her off isn't something that girl is going to forget anytime soon, especially if John Ross is there to remind her.

Then John Ross stood up to uncle Bobby. It looked like Bobby wasn't completely above getting his hands a bit dirty since he'd convinced the rigging crew to call a sick out. 

When John Ross figured out that Annie must have pulled some strings with her ex to have the tanker trucks stopped he was quick to throw it in Bobby's face.

John Ross: I just never pegged you as the type to have his wife do his bidding. | permalink

That's when I knew John Ross was really on a roll.

Bobby took the news of Annie going behind his back better than I expected. He seemed more hurt that she hadn't come to him first. 

Did anyone have any ideas about the significance of that necklace? It must be something serious and devastating for Annie to drop to the ground in tears the way she did but then later she chose to wear the piece of jewelry. Obviously it's something very distressing but close to her heart. I wonder if Bobby knows the whole story.

That Bobby stormed off to find Harris didn't surprise me. That he only back handed the man did. I was expecting a punch but perhaps he's mellowed in his golden years.

The story surrounding the safety deposit box bothered me. I found it hard to believe that no one would have opened that box over that many decades, especially since the bank had probably changed hands multiple times.  It all seemed a little far fetched to me.

I loved how John Ross bluffed his way through Christopher's threats to have him sent to prison. Even when he's on the losing end he never backed down. Perhaps he picked that up from his Daddy.

But when Bobby and Christopher showed up to claim their right to Southfork's oil I kept waiting for John Ross to let them in on the rest of the story. If their Venezuelan friends don't get that oil, they'll be the ones owning Southfork's land. That's quite a standoff.

John Ross certainly had a lot on his plate. He's had to deal with unhappy and possibly dangerous investors, he's guilted his mother into helping him get his oil tankers back, and kept crazy Marta at bay, at least for now. I doubt we've seen the last of her. It wouldn't surprise me if J.R.'s private investigator and right hand man ends up with a knife in his back soon.

Rebecca's pregnancy wasn't a complete shocker but what was up with the nose bleed? I've never heard of that as a sign that someone is expecting. I'm wondering if there's more to that story and I can't wait to see Christopher's reaction when he hears the news. 

Finally, we had J.R. enjoying himself in Vegas. J.R. toys with Cliff like a cat toys with a mouse. He can't help himself and that's one of the best things about Dallas. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.