It was the shot heard around the world inspiring one of the biggest questions in television history: Who killed J.R. Ewing? And now, TNT's Dallas is doing it again.
After the real life, sudden passing of Larry Hagman, the show shut down production to mourn and regroup. Though Hagman did not feature as prominently into this second season of the TNT version as he did the original, his presence was still felt in most scenes, looming over his young scheming son John Ross (Josh Henderson) and tugging at his brother Bobby's (Patrick Duffy) emotions, too.
Showrunner Cynthis Cidre decided to pay tribute to Hagman in a classic way-- with another "Who shot J.R.?" debacle. Only this time, some more shocking news comes out of his funeral that makes us personally wonder if maybe he shot himself (well, or at least hired someone to shoot him).
Hear us out! First of all, the episode is entitled "J.R.'s Masterpiece," so that, to us, implies he has a strong hand in the events that are occurring. His funeral brings together a number of long lost Ewing members, and of course tensions are high, despite the mourning. But things were not entirely going his way before that fateful shot, and maybe in death, sympathy and his estate division will allow his side of the family to get the upper hand in Ewing Energies. Or maybe J.R. found out he was sick again and just didn't want to limp along to the end. Or maybe he thought he found a way to finally bring the Ewings together, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
We may be wrong on the motive, but we just want to see J.R. stay on top, even in death, and how could that be true if some lowly Ewing enemy took him down!?
Either way, "J.R.'s Masterpiece" is bound to be an extremely emotional episode for the Ewing clan and fans alike. This time around, there is no possibility of Hagman popping back up, and as the rest of the season unfolds, his memory will way heavy on the characters and the show itself. TV lost a legend when Hagman passed, and now Southfork has lost a legend, too.
Dallas airs on TNT on Monday nights at 9 p.m. "J.R.'s Masterpiece" airs on March 11 2013.
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