Deeper, darker dirtier

TNT’s Dallas returns with its Southfork residents 20 years later only to reveal that old habits and family feuds are hard to change

Blood may be thicker than water but oil is thicker than both fits aptly with the setting of what constitutes TNT’s latest. Who says a reboot fails to pack a punch? The TV show Dallas may not be new to the network but last week’s premiere, a rebooted version of the 1980’s soap classic re-started with a dramatic bang.

The first episode of season 1 introduced us to a new generation of the Ewing family tree filled with lust, greed, and a whole lot of drama. The Ewing family as we know from the first version which aired from 1978 to 1991 cracked it big in the oil business. With a rebooted version based on the same storyline, the writers of the series decided to add a new kind of fuel to rekindle the age-old feud between JR and Bobby Ewing, sons of Miss Ellie who inherited the 150-year-old Southfork Ranch from her family. The Ewing family has two legacies — Oil and the Southfork Ranch — and like a hereditary disease, it spreads to cousins John Ross and Christopher.

Christopher is the good guy like his father Bobby. He abandons drilling in favour of exploring alternate energy sources with his hopes and ambitions deeply rooted in methane hydrates (frozen methane trapped on the ocean floor). John Ross is JR’s and Sue Ellen’s son and the first grandson of the family (Christopher is adopted). In his mind, he is the Ewing that is sole inheritor to South Fork Ranch and to everything underneath it (the area in and around South Fork is brimming with oil). Drunk with the thought of power, John Ross is the typical bad guy who is a liar and a cheat, motivated solely by his greed.

The first episode of season 1 had enough material for the audience to figure out what and who will be causing much of the tension in the Ewing family in the following episodes to come. Bobby with his morals and ideals is the younger brother while his older brother JR is the typical Texas businessman for whom his older brother position automatically translates into taking important decisions for the Ewing estate, without much consideration for Bobby.

Now, before JR decides to make his move, Bobby decides to offer up the land to Marta Del Sol, a woman who promises to protect the environment but transforms into a shady character, well-equipped to give all those Ewing boys a run for their money.

The first episode showed a glimpse of the drama that was brewing between JR Ewing and his son, John Ross with JR snapping back to his conniving ways. But his son goes on to prove that the apple does not fall too far from the tree and is as devious as his old man, making it clear that he wouldn’t mind stepping on his father’s toes if that is what it takes to rise to power.

The show left me dangling from a cliffhanger and if you too are interested to know more about South Fork’s most raucous family then stay tuned.

Tags: Dallas, Southfork residents, TNT

Category: TV