'Dallas' recap: Mineral Rights? Mineral Wrongs!

dallas.jpgWhile pretending to help her shady brother look for a way to rip off the Ewings, Rebecca comes across a paper trail that uncovers Southfork's mineral rights. She turns Bobby and Christopher on to this trail, even if they aren't ready to forgive her for all the scamming and so forth. This eventually leads them to Jock Ewing's safe deposit box and the paperwork they need to stop the drilling. They triumphantly present this to John Ross, who's already got a heap of trouble to deal with. Vicente -- one of the Venezuelans behind the fake Del Sol deal -- comes knocking on his door, wondering why the first oil shipment is late. Without having to hear the words outright, John Ross knows his life is at stake here, and not just in a figurative sense.

Unable to reach his daddy for help, John Ross goes to mama Sue Ellen and uses his crappy childhood to guilt her into bailing him out. She's reluctant, but goes to meet with Harris Ryland. She offers him a cushy position with the Railroad Commission of Texas once she's governor, if he'll just send his tanker trucks back to Southfork. He declines the bribe, but agrees to do her the favor anyway. This worries Sue Ellen more than if he'd just taken the deal, because now she'll owe him one. Of course, it all ends up being for nothing, with the mineral rights in question and everything.

On the non-petroleum front: John Ross continues to pretend to be a decent human being with Elena, but his charade is threatened when Marta decides she really, really wants him back. J.R. has landed in Las Vegas to get a mani-pedi and some dirt on Cliff Barnes. It has something to do with gambling and maybe building casinos in Texas. It's not entirely clear, but it means a high-stakes poker match between the old coots in the near future, so yay. Also, Rebecca is pregnant, but who didn't see that coming from a mile away? Stay tuned for the full weecap.