This week picked up right where we left off… the aftermath of the explosion on the rig. John Ross and Christopher work together to free Pamela who is trapped under a large metal object (not before Chris checks on Elena first…forget about his twins and all). At the hospital, everyone is fine, mostly smoke inhalation; Pamela is the only one in any serious danger. Bobby frantically rushes through the ER looking for Ann who is absolutely fine. They reconcile and he forgives her for not telling him about Emma, who happens to be there looking for her mother when she runs into Harris. He tells her that he misses her and she responds, “I know”. Ouch. He tells her about grandma’s fall and will she go see her, of course. Emma visits her grandmother who has decided to throw Harris under the bus in hopes of getting Emma to side with her. She claims she was always afraid of him, he was horrible to her, threatened her. This is all after her crazy ass made him apologize earlier about accidentally throwing her down the stairs. She also makes him tell her that he never should have brought Ann into their lives, because she was just like his father… the plot thickens. Emma isn’t really buying grandma psycho’s line about her Dad. Harris walks in and blames it on the meds. Later on we see a drugged up Judith being taken god knows where on Harris’ orders.
Drew and Carmen arrive to see Elena and Drew is clearly upset about what happened, knowing it was all his fault. Carmen’s mere presence on screen annoys me. Drew begins having a panic attack and flees the hospital. He finds Roy and asks what happened? No one was supposed to be on the rig? Roy says that Drew must have done something wrong, screwed up somehow. Now he has to leave town immediately. Drew isn’t entirely convinced this is all his fault but he does seem scared of the potential fall out and begins packing. Emma arrives to see him and she recognizes that he’s packed his whole room. She convinces him to stay the best way she knows how…with her lady parts. After waking up in bed with Emma, Drew tells Roy he isn’t going anywhere and if they try to blame it on him, he’ll tell all.
Harris calls Cliff who is still completely unfazed by the fact that his pregnant daughter was on that rig and is currently in danger.
After the man from the Texas Environmental Safety and Hazards Administration shows up to let the Ewings know they’ll be launching an investigation, Sue Ellen turns on the charm for an old pal, Ken Richards who happens to work there and made a size able contribution to her campaign. We learn that J.R. had actually stolen her from Ken during her Miss Texas days. Ken says he’ll look into the investigation for her and comes up big later on. He provides her with some crucial information. They believe there were two explosions… and they believe they will find explosives on the rig.
The main plot point of the evening revolved around Pamela and the twins… the yo-yo story began with nasty Doctor telling Pamela and Christopher that she had suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm that needed to be repaired or she will die; where the babies sat made that difficult, her recommendation was to terminate the pregnancy. There was also a partial placental eruption and because she’s only 20 weeks, there was only a 15% chance of carrying the twins to viability. The doctor wanted Christopher’s permission (they are still married, remember the annulment wont go through until after Pamela gives birth). Julie Gonzalo brought me to tears as Pamela pleaded with Christopher, “you promise me, you promise me you won’t let them kill my babies. Promise me, no matter what”.
Bobby talks to the chief of surgery that suggests they go in through a vein as they did for Bobby so the babies would be untouched (the doctor didn’t think of this?) and Elena says she has the state’s best neonatologist on their way from Austin. Christopher is in major distress mode. He believes the explosion must have been his fault somehow, maybe he’d rushed the test? John Ross huffing and puffing about never forgiving him if something happens to Pamela wasn’t helping (this may have been the one and only time I’ve ever wanted John Ross to sit down and shut the hell up). I am by no means ever Team Christopher, but I must say I felt awful for him this week. As a woman, I completely understand where Pamela is coming from. I think any mother would risk their own life to save their babies and here’s poor Christopher tasked with making the decision in the event Pamela cannot.
John Ross calls Pamela’s mother, Afton and we were treated to the short cameo of Audrey Landers. I didn’t watch the original but dear God why were people excited about her return? In her short maybe 5 minutes on the screen, she marched around shouting at Christopher, Bobby, and John Ross… she SANG… why… and basically did nothing except be completely annoying. Oh and she won’t be on again the rest of the season. Why bother? Oh and didn’t Pamela say her mother calls her Rebecca? Yeah well she called her Pamela the whole episode. Apparently her singing is so annoying that Pamela’s aneurysm starts acting up and they have to do surgery immediately. John Ross and Afton want Christopher to save Pamela and sacrifice the babies, but Chris keeps his word to Pamela and tells them to save all three if possible. Thankfully, Pamela and the babies come out of surgery and are all good.
Back at Southfork, Bobby gets something delivered. It tells him that Pam Barnes (Christopher’s mother) had been in Abu Dhabi in 1989, but there is no future travel record for her and her passport has expired. Ann is not pleased about all of this but holds back judgement.. she doesn’t want to be all pot calling the kettle black, ya know.
Sue Ellen shares with John Ross the news about there being explosives on the rig and he begins to put the pieces together. Cliff and Harris have been working together to sabotage them.. but why? It would hurt the company? That’s it… he wants to devalue the company. As John Ross and Christopher are working this out together, code blue goes off in the hospital. They rush to Pamela’s room where she is writhing in agony. Now I’ve watched a lot of characters on television die… and I must say, many of them were tragically sad… but dare I say nothing compares to listening to a mother cry for her babies while watching their little fetal heart monitors fade to nothing. John Ross, Christopher, and Afton could only helplessly watch as the little Ewing twins faded into the night.
That's What Mimi Said... 