Sir RaiderDuck OMS

And if they hadn't received the standard SAMCRO Lobotomy, they'd both realize that it's not a huge step from killing friends of members to killing members themselves; now that their leader has decided outright murder of friends of the club is an acceptable price to pay for furthering his own goals, NOBODY is safe. At this point, Jax doesn't care who dies in the name of avenging Tara. Others may love these victims more than Jax loved Tara and may decide to take their own revenge on SAMCRO and its members' families in retaliation, and Tara herself would have been horrified at all of this, but Jax seems oblivious. Either Lin sees right through it, or Sutter thinks we're all idiots.

But at least Clay was killing people who he believed to be threats to him or his position. And when he sent Chuck Zito and those other two nomads around to beat up people to undermine Jax's authority, he was visibly angry when one of them messed up and killed someone (IIRC, punching the guy and saying "I told you NO KILLING!"). These two guys? Friendly and obedient, posing zero threat to Jax, Jax's position or SAMCRO itself. Jax murdered them simply to further his revenge plot against Lim. Charles Manson did the exact same thing: having his followers murder people to kick-start his bizarre "Helter Skelter" race war. Sutter has turned this show's protagonist into a serial killer. And Lin only trusts Jax's story if someone sneaks into his home and lobotomizes him.

Not unless PD or LG specifically asked off the show, and it's not like either was getting a lot of recent acting gigs before Dallas started up again: Duffy had been making 5-minute comedic YouTube videos co-starring a talking crab, of all things.

So Lin's supposed to believe that two guys off the turnip truck killed ten of his enforcers? And isn't it a little cold-hearted of Jax to murder two people he has zero beef with in order to further his weird revenge plot? Is NO ONE in the club objecting to any of this??? I don't remember even Clay stooping this low, and am having trouble seeing what separates Jax Teller from Charles Manson at this point.

This should be the title of the entire SOA forum. I'm reminded of a line from The Sopranos: "If you want to commit suicide, pills are a lot easier." So what exactly was the purpose of killing Jury's two hired hands? Was Jax afraid they'd blab about who really killed Lin's crew? And did it not occur to him that they might be missed, and Jury would be less likely to help in the future if it became known that working with SAMCRO is only slightly safer than booking a seat on the RMS Titanic?

Oh, so that's why everyone was stoked when Judith Light joined the show. She can seriously bring the dramatic chops. And I have a legitimate inkling (based on a certain actor's tweets) on who will be knocked off next week, but I put that in the Spoilers thread. Given the mediocre ratings for this season, it probably won't matter anyway.

It'll be Elena or Pambecca. I saw a tweet by either Jordana Brewster or Julie Gonzalo (I honestly can't remember which) a few months ago after filming had finished saying something to the effect of "I had a great time on Dallas and I loved doing the show and working with all these great people!" There's nothing wrong with that tweet per se, but everything was noticeably in the past tense and I remember thinking "Either she was killed off or she thinks the show will be cancelled." It now appears the former was the case. ETA following the finale: Well, I sure got that one wrong. I do remember reading the tweet, but I guess the actress in question simply didn't think the show would be renewed. And it may not be.

Like I mentioned in another thread, Almanzo first talks the hermit into selling his wheat, then Charles talks the merchant into only charging a fair price. I suspect the truth was a lot darker and probably involved threats of violence from people who were literally going to watch their families die without that wheat.

Something was rubbing me wrong about the plotting this episode, and I finally realized what it was: Sutter is plagiarizing himself, specifically Season 6 of The Shield: Our violent protagonist (Jax Teller/Vic Mackey), wanting to avenge the murder of someone close to him (Tara Knowles/Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky) acts on lies told by someone else close to him who actually committed the murder (Gemma Teller/Shane Vendrell) and tortures and kills a gang member who had nothing to do with the murder itself. If an episode this season ends with Gemma tossing a manila envelope filled with a handwritten confession into Jax's lap, I may give up the show altogether....

Maybe Rockmond Dunbar had another acting gig lined up?

Horatio, Marcellus and Fortinbras all survive, with Horatio informing Fortinbras that Hamlet named him (Fortinbras) as his heir. Assuming Sutter sticks with this structure, my money's on Alvarez as Fortinbras.

Generally, the only time you have a really fast legitimate burial is with Muslims, who are supposed to bury the dead before the next sundown, a sensible precaution put in place by whoever wrote the Koran as a way to prevent the spread of disease (just as the Old Testament prohibitions against pork and shellfish are largely there because those two foods can get very nasty very fast when there's no refrigeration around). For example, when Dodi Fayed (Princess Diana's boyfriend) died on a Saturday night, he was buried that Monday. She wasn't buried until the next weekend, IIRC. I wasn't as bothered by the pastor thing. It's not like the SAMCRO crew busted in and opened fire on everywhere. They busted in and were immediately shot at. Firing back would be a natural response in that situation, especially for these meatheads. And Jax shooting the pastor is also a natural response in that situation: if the deaths of the two others were found out with the SAMCRO members all having served prison stints, they'd likely land back in prison for life, if not on death row. Why leave a witness at that point? Wendy would be the most likely, albeit with a Childrens' Services person making regular check-ins. I actually knew someone in a similar situation: a guy who, when his longtime girlfriend went to prison for drugs, was awarded custody not only of their child but also of her child from a previous relationship: he was the only one in the picture who both wanted the child and was a half-decent parent, so the court let him have both. And although I didn't know it while he was living next door to me (because I was too naive to see the signs), he was dealing pot out of the apartment anyway.

Three more examples of needless retconning: While Carter McKay and the Ewings certainly mixed it up, I remember them departing on at least decent terms (and McKay helping get Jeremy Wendell sent away for good). Now all of a sudden he hated the Ewings enough to poison his grandkids against them? Whatever, Cidre. So now the ne'er-do-well Tommy McKay had two children who were never even hinted at in the original show? Whatever, Cidre. And if they had to recast Tracy, would it have killed them to get someone with at least a passing resemblance to Beth Toussaint? Whatever, Cidre. And am I the only one who really doesn't give a damn what happens to Emma or Ann? On a brighter note, let's all give Candace a hand. Lord knows she could use one.

We actually had a locust (or grasshopper, or whatever) infestation one evening in Phoenix the first summer I was here (in 2007). I walked a block and 1/2 from the office where I worked to the store to grab some lunch in the early evening and there were locusts EVERYWHERE. The weirdest thing was the birds. Normally birds shy away from human contact but on that night, I walked inches aways from a couple of birds who didn't even notice me: they were too busy eating locust after locust after locust. "Farm Aid" and the government's policy of endless handouts for farmers were both still a century off.

A minor exchange from the latter seasons, but a classic nonetheless: Christopher (referring to Michelle Stevens, who's just moved into Southfork): "I like Aunt Michelle! She's bitchin'!" A very resigned and put-upon JR: "Yeah, that's ALMOST the word I was thinking of."

Disagree somewhat. Josh Henderson brings it every week, and Julie Gonzalo is almost as good. Metcalfe, Brewster, Bell and whoever plays Nicoquin? Meh. Sue Ellen and Cliff had several affairs during the original show's run, and there was originally some doubt as to who was John Ross' father (DNA testing determined it to be JR). Even though they were no longer romantically involved later in the original series, they still treated each other like old friends. And even though I initially cut Cidre a lot of slack because it was her pilot script and original vision for the reboot that gained the necessary buy-ins from LH, PD and LG, thus making Dallas's return even possible, I'm getting bored and annoyed with this Mexican Mafia bullshit and the entire Ramos clan. If Cynthia Cidre wants to produce her own drama about La Eme taking over the Mexican government, I wish her all the luck in the world. But that's not Dallas.

Which "Nellie:" Nellie Owens or Genevieve Masters?

Carmen had a line about "I can't go back there," so hopefully we'll never see her again. And with Skeletor and Nicoquin riding off into the sunset, maybe this is it for the Ramos cl... oh, who am I kidding? Cidre will probably write them back in if there's a Season 4. Also, another major continuity break tonight: Elena gives Pambecca a deed to some Southfork land and says "This is what your family took from Cliff" or whatever. Uh, no. Anyone who's seen Dallas: The Early Years knows that a drunk, broke Digger Barnes sold that land to Jock Ewing; Jock even tried to talk him out of it, but Digger was adamant. It was only after he realized the land had oil on it that he came up with this "stolen" malarkey.

Given the very mediocre ratings for the first two episodes, this may be the end of Dallas as we know it. I'll miss Bobby, Sue Ellen, Cliff, John Ross and Pambecca, but not much else.

Remember that bobody smiled in photographs because of the long exposure times. An an example: stand in front of a mirror and crack a nice, natural smile. Now hold it for three or four minutes, which would have been a late-1800s exposure time. See if you don't look and feel ridiculous. Hence, everybody had these dour, serious expressions in the photos of the days.

The old TWoP board on Little House made reference to "That mime that raped Sylvia." As I must have missed that episode, what happened? And who was Sylvia?

And don't forget FW's big speech to Almanzo about how great the United States is because of its freedom (which RWL's buddy Ayn Rand herself could practically have written) and how it is "the biggest country in the world" (a statement which, AFAIK, has never been factually correct).

Somebody help me out here: Cliff is in a Mexican jail/prison/gulag/whatever because the gun registered to him and found in the trunk of his car with his fingerprints on it was positively identified as being the one that shot and killed JR. He was also known to be in the same town as JR when the killing happened, and his personal animus against JR can be attested to by pretty much anyone who's ever met him. But a Mexican court is going to presumably throw all of this out and free Cliff because a handwritten letter found in John Ross' wallet, allegedly in JR's handwriting (and who exactly signs a letter to his son with his full fucking name???), says it was a all a setup. Do I have this right? [rant]And if this run is actually the end of Dallas after 17 or 18 combined seasons (depending on whether you count the original miniseries as a "season") and 397 total episodes, would it really be too much to ask to have one courtroom-related storyline handled even halfway realistically? Just one? From David Jacobs to Leonard Katzman to Philip Capice to Leonard Katzman again to Cynthia Cidre, this show and its producers have never ever ever given us a courtroom scene that didn't assume we were complete morons.[/rant]

Opinions wildly vary on RWL's contributions. She was a well-known columnist and ghostwriter and certainly assisted with the novels. While she always maintained that she did nothing more than "advise" her mother, the notes and letters with her mother she left behind show that she helped shape the narrative structure of the early novels in particular, with her influence decreasing as the later books were written (due both to LIW's clearer memories of the events that had happened later in her life and also with LIW simply becoming a better writer with practice). Did RWL write the early novels based off her mother's remembrances, or simply edit what was already written? Nobody knows for sure. What's not in dispute is that RWL knew what was marketable, and certainly prodded her mother to include elements that would be enjoyable to read and sell books.

A quick note about Mr. Edwards: most Ingalls historians believe "Mr. Edwards," like Nellie Oleson, was a composite character. In Edwards' case, he was a composite of several unnamed people who befriended the Ingalls family or were otherwise kind to them throughout Laura's childhood and adolescence.