Waking up from a season-long dream, Pam realizes that Bobby is still alive and well, and it’s quickly back to corrupt business as usual at Southfork and Ewing Oil. Season 10 appropriately sees a return to the less flashy template of Season 8, although there is one major holdover from the infamous dream. Steve Forrest was introduced as ranch hand Ben Stivers in Season 9, and he is reintroduced here as a new incarnation of the same character, only this time his name is Wes Parmalee. (Pam’s obvious psychic abilities go unmentioned.)
It doesn’t take long for the bomb to drop: Is Parmalee actually Ewing patriarch Jock, seemingly returned from the dead? While J.R., Bobby, and Clayton are certain he’s a fraud, Miss Ellie is more easily swayed. The Parmalee storyline dominates the first half of the season, and while it’s great drama, it lacks a truly satisfactory conclusion, and the season’s second half is arguably stronger. With the oil business facing tough times, J.R. hires fanatical mercenary B.D. Calhoun (Hunter Von Leer) to blow up an oil field in Saudi Arabia, thus driving up the price of Texas crude. Things don’t go as planned, the CIA starts sniffing around, and Calhoun returns to take bloody revenge on everyone’s favorite oil slick. The situation worsens when J.R.’s botched scheme is leaked to the public, and the government begins an investigation that may bring Ewing Oil down for good.
Season 10 is very traditional “Dallas,” although it clearly signifies a major shift in the series’ mythology. It is not only the final season for both Victoria Principal and Susan Howard, but also the first for Sheree J. Wilson’s April Stevens, who would last through the final season. Further, while the “Dallas” DVDs have never been gold standard, this set is unusually erratic in video quality, and the second episode has terrible audio. Here’s to hoping that Season 11, set for an April release, will at least be of the usual consistent mediocre standard.
