SC.2a: INT. SOUTHFORK UNSPECIFIC ROOM
(Black screen and title of the scene in white letters: "Lucas". Fade into the first scene: We see a close shot of Lucas Wade in 2005, surrounded by his two "fathers", Bob and Ray.)
Lucas: My mother is dead. My sister is dead. I have no family now...
Ray: Yes you have, Lucas. We the Ewings are your family. We love you.
Lucas: You caused the car accident that ended my mother´s life. You screw everything...
Bob: Please Lucas, think about it. It was just an accident. Ray didn´t have anything to do with her death...And he´s right: we are your family now. Come here son... (he embraces Lucas slowly. Lucas´s face is expression-less, as he pulls his right hand onwards...Bob´s face is frozen as he feels a deep ache in his stomach, which seems to be bleeding.) Son...I love you...I´m so sorry. (Bob pulls away and falls down: Lucas has stabbed him with a big knife. Lucas looks up, but Ray is nowhere to be seem, and starts calling him out...Then he wakes up. It´s been all an awful nightmare. Lucas is sweating and looks distressed) Oh my God dad...How could I do this to you...
SC.2b: EXT. SOUTHFORK PRAIRIE
(The sun has just risen and Lucas is riding his horse, slowly but steadily. He looks serious and hurt. The nightmare still ressonates in his head. He keeps on riding and, half an hour later, he returns to Southfork, where he spots Ellie, leaning on a fence. He whistles and she waves at him.
Lucas: Good morning Ellie.
Ellie: Morning, Lucas. You look awful. Couldn´t sleep well?
Lucas: Nah. Hopefully when he´s home again, things will be back to normal...
Ellie: I know what you mean. Who would have said that Southfork would lose its three male owners...Luck you, Chris and Maggie are around...
Lucas: I´m not sure if that´s enough to stop John Ross...He´s always in war mode...
Ellie: I know what you mean. I must go back to the house. I´d to take a shower before breakfast. And say goodbye to Lucy, Peter and Curtis when they leave...
Lucas: Yep, me too...
Ellie: May I ask you something, Lucas?
Lucas: Not about my love life (he says with a naughty smile).
Ellie: How could you adapt yourself to the fact of being one of them, of being a Ewing?
Lucas: Actually I didn´t want to. My sister forced me to. Charlie was broke and wanted me to get money from Bob. So I got a job at the next door´s ranch and came around to see what my father look like. I also asked around about him: I wanted to know how he was, and in the end, I told Charlie off and decided to leave Dallas again.
Ellie: Why did you come back?
Lucas: I let her take the reins of my life, as usual. I´ll never forgive myself for all that happened in those days...You know, the kidnap, that accident, Ray´s arrest at the barbecue, and then...the whole hell of the trial. If I had been them, I´d have Charlie respond for her acts...but look at her now. Today, she´s out of that clinic: starting out a new life with a new body and no scars, neither on the outside, not in the inside, you can bet that...
Ellie: You know what there was a settlement, don´t you?
Lucas: Of course. I also know that my sister is a escape artist. I´ll believe it when I see her where she belongs to...Paying for all the damages she´s caused all these years...
Ellie: I wish I could help you...
Lucas: You have, cousin. Come here (the couple hold each other while a blast from the past invades Lucas´s mind)
SC.2c: INT. WAREHOUSE AT LUBBOCK
(Subtitle: "4 Years Earlier". Flashback effect. We see a close shot of a fortysomething man, muscled and shaven headed. It´s Detective John Doe, who was helping Bob to find missing Lucas.)
John: Give me that gun, brat. You don´t know what you´re doing...
Lucas: I know...and I also know what a despicable man you are (Charlie is looking at them, sitting on the floor)
Charlie: Just give it to him Lucas. Don´t be a fool.
John: You shut up! (he pulls her arm and makes her put on her feet)
Charlie: He wants all the money for himself, Lucas. We shouldn´t have trusted him (John slaps Charlie´s face, and Lucas steps forward as he points the gun at John´s head. We see a close shot of a hand taking a long knife and John´s face again: he´s been stabbed and falls down heavily).
ACT TWO:
SC.3: INT. PAM´S OFFICE AT THE SHEPARD BUILDING, IN DALLAS DOWNTOWN
(Black screen and title of the scene in white letters: "Sue Ellen". Fade into the first scene: Establishing shot of the Shepard Building in Dallas. Subtitle: "2005". Cut to a close shot of an angry Sue Ellen.)
Sue Ellen: What? You let Shania leave to New York?
Pam: She confessed she didn´t remember her true mother´s face nor had any photo of hers. She really believed that Mandy was her mother, and you and I had noticed their mutual resemblance.
Sue Ellen: Oh Pamela...You told me that Mandy went to the Oil Barons´ Ball last week, and what would someone like her would do there but stirring up trouble? And Shania was there too...
Pam: Half Dallas and Houston were at that building that evening. But this doesn´t mean that someone was going to drop a bombshell regarding another of J.R.´s secret children...On the contrary, it was your son John Ross who revealed that Christopher was among the guests after exiting the Witness Protection Program.
Sue Ellen: This is not about my son, Pam, it´s about two despicable women who try to get a hold at the Ewing fortune... (Pam opens a drawer in her desk and hands a document to her friend)
Pam: Please read this, Sue Ellen... (The latter reads the sheet silently)
Sue Ellen (looking up to Pam): So what? She admits that Mandy convinced her to become my friend at the clinic so Shania would be the perfect assistant once both were out...but she always believed Mandy was her mother because she told her details of the old woman who took care of her when she was a child. So this allows her to fly away with the man I hired to gather information about her?
Pam: Is that true?
Sue Ellen: Well, yes. Tyler was the child we used to play John Ross when I produced that movie about J.R. Later on, he got into trouble and turned to me in search of help. I treated him as my own son, and encouraged him to follow his true vocation, acting, and move to N.Y. I used to call him, once in awhile, whenever I needed some digging into someone´s past.
Pam: Only this time, Tyler fell for Shania...
Sue Ellen (frowning): So it seems! I even ordered him not to use his real name so it would be easier for him not to involve himself with Shania...
Pam: Have you read the last paragraph, Sue Ellen?
Sue Ellen (reading it and looking surprised): She gives her 50 % of the magazine income back to you and only asks for a letter of recommendation to work as a secretary in N.Y. That´s all?
Pam: Yes Sue Ellen, that´s all. Do you think that she sounds like a greedy person?
Sue Ellen: Well, maybe not, but as sure as hell that Mandy Winger is a greedy woman! (Laying the document down over Pam´s desk) My hypnosis session helped me to remember that it was Mandy who tried to kill me with an overdose...
Pam: I talked to Dr. Chow after that session, and she told me that no jury would ever admit that as a proof, and also that mind plays games so sometimes, we do see in hipnotic state what we want to do...
Sue Ellen: And I always wanted to take revenge on my husband´s lover, didn´t I?
Pam: You said it, not me... (smiling a sweet smile)
Sue Ellen: This is not over yet, Pam. Shania may be J.R.´s daughter, and may not want a piece of the Ewing cake, but I won´t rest until put Mandy behind bars, where she belongs!
Pam: Oh Sue Ellen. I talked to Dusty on the phone before you returned from France. He told me about Shania´s polarity...Shouldn´t you have explained that to me too? You got the medical record of Shania out of the clinic and didn´t even mention it.
Sue Ellen: I have the feeling that you want to play the devil´s advocate here, Pam, and if you don´t give up, maybe we shouldn´t be partners...nor friends either. About Dusty, I´ll talk to him as soon as I come home (Sue Ellen turns away and leaves the office, while Pam watches her astonished. Cut to next scene, that fades into the back of a waiter).
SC.4: INT. THAI RESTAURANT, IN DALLAS DOWNTOWN
(Fade into the scene from the previous one. The waiter walks away from the camera and we see Sue Ellen´s profile looking on the right and then on the left, as searching for someone in the restaurant dining-room. She finally sits at her table, where someone is waiting for her: Andrea Thorne, her son´s fiancée, who puts the menu down. Cut to Sue Ellen)
Sue Ellen (ironicly): Hello, Andrea. So, you´re marrying my son, aren´t you?
Andrea: Yes. I´m so glad to meet you, at last...First of all...
Sue Ellen: First of all, I´d like to know why I had to find out about my son´s wedding when I read the "Dallas Press" in a plane flying from Paris to Dallas...
Andrea: Well, I guess that someone might overhear one of our conversations at the Oil Barons´ Ball. I wanted to talk to you in person.
Sue Ellen: Oh really? Don´t tell now that you wanted to ask me for John Ross´s hand...
Andrea: Actually no, I didn´t (Sue Ellen smiles, still high-browed). But where I come from, tradition still is important. But not in an old-fashioned way.
Sue Ellen: What´s that supposed to mean? If I may ask...
Andrea: I only knew my mother. She never married my father though he was single. She wanted to become a successful actress, but sacrificed her dream to give me the best education she could. My father never helped us in any way at all.
Sue Ellen (looking surprised): I am sorry to hear that...
Andrea: If we were in Hawaii, John Ross probably should need my mother´s approval to marry me.
Sue Ellen: And why don´t you invite her to stay here for awhile?
Andrea: I would. But she´s dead. She died when I was ten. I became the local teacher´s assistant in two months, and I managed to be independent when I was 16. I got my Degree in Business at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, in Oahu.
Sue Ellen: And now you´ll tell me you were the top pupil in your class...
Andrea: Yes. But not in my class, but in the 55 years of the College´s history (Andrea smiles wide open and winks, while Sue Ellen also smiles and just dares to say...).
Sue Ellen: Maybe it´s time to order...
Andrea: I ordered our drinks. I know you drink Evian water with a slice of lemmon (she looks at the glass in front of Sue Ellen, who suddenly blushes up). I prefer Thai Iced Tea. Oh I hope you like Thai food...
Sue Ellen: Well, I am an open-minded woman. If I hadn´t tried Thai food when I was in Orient, I´d have never forgive myself for it...
Andrea (calling the waiter with the hand): Oh wonderful! Then you will order the food...this time (Sue Ellen´s eyes are wide-open. Fade into next scene. The dining-room is almost empty.)
Sue Ellen: I must say...I didn´t know this restaurant. But the food was exquisite... (drinking all the water in her glass)
Andrea (smiling): I´m you like it. Thai cuisine is not for all tastes...And now for the desserts...
Sue Ellen (shaking her head): Oh no, I couldn´t...Not even coffee.
Andrea (handing something to her): Here you are.
Sue Ellen (blinking, looking confused, as she opens the folder. Andrea stares at her, while Sue Ellen reads the first page and turns to the next) I...I...can´t understand.
Andrea: It´s easy. We talked about traditions, about our jobs, about the people we love...This is another tradition: the dowry. My dowry. As would be wife of your son, from the bride to the groom´s mother. From woman to woman. But this must be a secret between us until John Ross and I are legally married.
Sue Ellen: So...you own 50% of Wentworth Industries, and you want to give it to your future husband in your honeymoon, so to say (Andrea nods) Something tells me that you and I are going to get along, Andrea (Sue Ellen smiles, honestly surprised).
SC.5a: INT. OLD SOUTHFORK RANCH, DREAM SEQUENCE
(Establishing shot of the old Southfork Ranch at night. We hear the phone ringing 80´s style, and Sue Ellen, wearing her current 00´s look, picks it up after taking one of her big earrings off)
Sue Ellen: Hello, Southfork Ranch? (Sue Ellen´s smile turns into a nasty gesture when she hears who is calling her) Oh my God (lowering her voice)! Why are you calling here?
Kristin: Thanks, little sister, I´m also happy to hear you... (She takes the old-fashioned phone and begins to walk through a room) How is your dear J.R.?
Sue Ellen: It´s none of your business! What do you want now?
Kristin: Oh this time it´s not my fault. You know, my son Christopher, the nephew you never visit, has got into a big trouble, and he needs some help from her rich aunt...
Sue Ellen: No more money, Kristin, I told you the last time...
Kristin: Don´t you even want to know where Chris is spending the night? He´s at the prison of the Melrose Avenue Police Station.
Sue Ellen: Is this another of your lies?
Kristin (mocking of her): Oh my dear Sue Ellen, when did I ever lie to you? No, it´s true. He´s been arrested by the police in possession of something they called..."angel dust", or some other corny name. Too bad he had in his car a lot of it...
Sue Ellen: How much for bailing him out?
Kristin: 250.000 dollars, just that. Please transfer them in the morning, as soon as you can. Poor Chris, we wanted for him such a healthy life, just like Mama gave to us...but he couldn´t even graduate from high school...
Sue Ellen: Ok. You´ll have it. But keep on mind that I´m only doing it for one reason, and you know why (She abruptly hangs up. Cut into Kristin back in California, who makes her very usual grin and turns down to somebody else in the room: it´s Chris´s father Jeff Farraday). We got it, darling. She´s never been so sweet to me, Jeff! (She sits on his knees)
Jeff: Fine. We were so lucky that you gave birth to J.R.´s son...This way we´ll always have whatever we need. Chris will be out of jail tomorrow, but we have to figure out how to spend the remaining 248.000 dollars...
Kristin: Yes, we made the deal of the century...the deal of the century... (this sentence is repeated and echoed, as she and Jeff laugh out loudly. Suddenly, Sue Ellen, back to 2005, wakes in the lonely bedroom of her mansion.)
Sue Ellen (sweating and trembling): Oh it was a nightmare...Oh thanks God, it was a nightmare... (Cut into next scene)
SC.5b: INT. SUE ELLEN´S OFFICE AT SHEPARD BUILDING
(View of the Dallas skyline at high noon, the next day. Zoom into Sue Ellen´s office and medium shot of her opening the door to her nephew Christopher Ewing. She kisses him and shows him a seat. She sits by his side)
Sue Ellen: Thanks a lot for coming with such short notice.
Chris: Anytime, Sue Ellen. Is anything wrong?
Sue Ellen: Actually, it´s a very complicated situation but I´ll try to make it simple for you. I need an urgent solution, if there is one (I hope).
Chris (smiles at her and nods): I´m all ears.
Sue Ellen: I don´t know if your mother talked to you about my former assistant, Shania Wyatt.
Chris: The brunette who was at the press table at the Oil Barons´ Ball? (She nods) Yeah, though she didn´t mention anything specific.
Sue Ellen: Well then. She left a month ago, and only asked your mother for a letter of recommendation. I had total trust on her until recently, when she began to do strange things, like staying late at the office, for instance. We even have a tape of her with a guy she brought here... (Sue Ellen blinks) I had the feeling that she was in cahoots with someone from my past who wanted to ruin me. Her name is Mandy Winger...
Chris (slightly blushing up): Is she the one who was on that cover not long ago?
Sue Ellen (mumbling): Yes. So, I had the feeling that Mandy was the one responsible for my...overdose. Do you remember a couple of years ago, when...?
Chris: I´ve been told, yes, and it was Shania who saved your life, wasn´t she?
Sue Ellen: Yes, apparently. I called a detective to follow Mandy´s steps since Shania vanished, and found out that she managed to get into Shania´s apartment posing as her mother. The next day, I went with John Ross to her flat, and bribed the landlord to do the same thing. Everything was upside down, Shania´s clothes and bags were gone, and we found an empty safe box. You know, one of those you can lock down with a little key...We did find out a receipt from one of the biggest Dallas banks. Her bank balance was on it, and it seemed that she also had rented a safe box at the bank. All we could find out was that Mandy had been at the bank, asking to see the safe. Of course, she wasn´t allowed to, but I knew that bank office´s director, and she told me that Shania´s safe was available now. She herself took everything and cancelled it.
Chris: I´m a bit confused...Where am I supposed to fit in that scenario?
Sue Ellen: Right here: someone has been embezzling my accounts. Not only the account related to my corporation, but also one of my personal accounts too. It´s been millions that I´ve lost in only one month. This has hurt my companies, and I have received, very discreetly, offers to sell them out. Obviously, they are using dummy companies for it, and I´m afraid they are also using my own money... (Chris stands up and walks a few steps while he puts his glasses off and on)
Chris: Wow! When you called me and said you needed my help, I thought your intranet had been having problems...but this is serious, really serious, a BIG problem.
Sue Ellen: I´ll be honest to you, Chris. You´re not only my ex-sister-in-law´son, but also my late sister´s natural son. You know I do care about you and I don´t want you to have the kind of problems that lead you to the WPP. If it´s too dangerous, just tell me the name of someone else who can dig deep down and give me the name of the person who has done this to me. I don´t want you hurt at all...
Chris: No, I´ll take care of it, Sue Ellen. It better stays in the family. What about Mandy? Where is she now?
Sue Ellen: She seems to have vanished, but leave Mandy to me. I know how to handle her...and believe me, she´ll regret to have started all this. And I´ll make her pay... (Chris looks at her, a bit afraid of Sue Ellen...)
SC.6a: INT. SUE ELLEN´S LIMO DRIVING TO LOVE FIELD AIRPORT
(Close shot of John Ross talking on his cell phone. Shot/reverse shot of the conversation. John Ross is waiting outside the courtroom, while Sue Ellen is inside her limo, on her way to the Love Field airport)
John Ross: Where the hell are you Mother? The Jury´s back, and it doesn´t look good! You should be here with us! Aren´t you worried about him?
Sue Ellen: Of course I do, son. But I got news about Mandy Winger when I was leaving for Court. She´s booked a one-way ticket to New York and I must stop her. She´s the key person to get my empire back! She´s been hiding not far away from Dallas with a false identity...
John Ross: What is most important to you, your business or giving support to the family who´s always been by your side?
Sue Ellen (cynically): Oh John Ross, darling...don´t preach me. Tell me, did you ever meet a woman called Abby Fairgate, or Ewing, or whatever her name is now? I want a straight answer...
John Ross (babbling): Well, no, not exactly...I met her daughter Olivia, long ago...
Sue Ellen: Oh really? And was that before or after you started your relationship with Andrea?
John Ross: A few months after that. Why, what happened to her?
Sue Ellen: My detective, aided by Christopher, tracked down the dummy company that stole my corporations...down in California. I talked to Gary and he told me that you gave Olivia false hopes when you dated her...
John Ross: Olivia was a cutie, clever and independent, and I liked that. But it was a one-night stand only.
Sue Ellen: Well, not for her. Gary says that Olivia mentioned you a lot in her calls, and seemed to be quite hooked on you. Maybe you thought that Andrea was a better marriage material...
John Ross: Oh Mother, why are you so nasty sometimes?
Sue Ellen: It seems that Olivia had a heartbreak because you ignored her, and she began to use drugs again. Did you know she was an addict?
John Ross: Yes I did, but you can´t blame me for that!
Sue Ellen: This is not the blame game! It´s the answer to why I am ruined now!
John Ross: What do you mean?
Sue Ellen: I also talked to Valene. She said, succinctly, that Gary´s ex-wife Abby is the most horrible person she had ever met, after your father, of course. She added that, when Abby wanted to take revenge on someone, all hell might break loose. She has no scruples or morals. And after Olivia´s breakdown, she found out about her affair with you...and set her sight on us, specifically on me and my company...Oh and she´s been wrecking chaos on their lives too.
John Ross: What are you gonna do?
Sue Ellen: The only link between Abby and the dummy company is Mandy Winger. She sold her the info that Shania had on me. And she´s been waiting for the right time to leave...
John Ross: Don´t do anything crazy mum!
Sue Ellen: We are arriving at the airport, keep me updated about the verdict... (she hungs up)
SC.6b: INT. SUE ELLEN´S LIMO ARRIVING TO LOVE FIELD AIRPORT
(The limo parks in front of one of the taxi-free spots, and Sue Ellen gets out of the car. She looks at her gold watch and begins to look for someone who can fit the physical depiction of Mandy.
Sue Ellen (getting into the car again): Please Jared, let´s drive around a little, I must find someone urgently.
Jared: What does she look like?
Sue Ellen (handing him the magazine with Mandy´s latest cover): Remember her?
Jared (smiling ear to ear): If she´s here, I´ll find her (he drives off as Sue Ellen frowns, anxiously. Cut to another area of the airport where Mandy is talking on her cell. We can´t hear what she is saying. The camera zooms out and we see Sue Ellen´s limo driving around that area.)
Jared (pointing at Mandy): Isn´t that the woman in question?
Sue Ellen: Yes she is, please Jared drive slower, and stop when I tell you. And please don´t leave, I´ll pay the traffic ticket if the police come around... (The limo gets closer to the camera, and then it cuts to Sue Ellen´s door. She gets up and looks up to Mandy...But she is terrified when she thinks she´s lost her.)
Jared: Look back, Mrs. Ewing! (Mandy, with her sunglasses on, tries to run away from them, and she calls a taxi. Then Sue Ellen shouts out loud her name)
Sue Ellen: Mandy Winger! (Mandy gets nervous and another person takes the taxi, and suddenly she begins to run away) Mandy, stop! (She shouts louder. But the camera shows a bus coming around and its driver brakes suddenly...but too late: we see the shocked face of the driver; Sue Ellen gets closer and sees the bloody body of her eternal nemesis Mandy (which we don´t see). A minute later, a cop shows up.)
Cop: Did you know this woman, madam?
Sue Ellen (a cold look in her face, next to Jared, who is almost teary-eyed): Hardly. I just tried to stop her because I saw the bus coming her way...
SC.7: EXT. GREENWICH PARK, LONDON
(Traveling shot of the park from left to right, and zoom into two small figures while we hear their voices speaking. The action is back to the present. Subtitle: "London, 2008".)
Sue Ellen: I can remember the day you, John Ross and I arrived in London, twenty years ago...
Don: So do I... (smiling)
Sue Ellen (ironicly): What? Why are you laughing at me?
Don: Nobody´s laughing at you! I´m sure you don´t remember what you wanted to do first here...
Sue Ellen (playfully): Hmmm. Visiting the Tower of London? Having tea with Lady Di?
Don: No, not at all. You wanted to go buying a big hat for the Ascot Racecourse! You thought there was one race every week, and you were determined to make good connections there to launch your new company...
Sue Ellen: Oh mine! I completely forgot that...lucky me. I can´t believe I was so self-absorbed back then (both of them laugh). It´s been so great to laugh again, I didn´t realize I´ve been missing you so badly...
Don: Me too, Sue Ellen (he kisses her cheek). Right before your call, three months ago, I had a funny feeling. I was almost sure you were going to call me, and you did.
Sue Ellen: That´s what you get when you let someone read your diary...They get to know you too well.
Don: You also came here about two years ago, after your brother-in-law was sentenced. And after Mandy Winger died before your eyes, and you lost control of your companies. I´m going to tell you the same thing I told you then: you still got it. And I´m not talking about your beautiful brown eyes...You still got the capacity to pull yourself together, no matter what happens, and build up something out of the blue. You lost your companies and you were sure that the women who tried to kill you got away with it. But you took you cell phone and called me, and the next day, you were here in London. I was a little scared when I saw you, but I tried to hide it.
Sue Ellen: Did I look so awful?
Don: You didn´t dare to look at my eyes, that´s it. Until the second week, you didn´t tell me what had happened. Of course, I knew that already thanks to John Ross. That damned trial, then knowing that J.R. had a daughter, and, in the middle of that, your new relationship with Dusty...I decided to let you alone for awhile, and time healed you. I was sure of that, and I wished for it so strongly.
Sue Ellen: I just...feel as if I´m stuck in a loop. Everything´s going fine, and suddenly, once again, I have to start over, as if everything I have done until now is worthless. I do know I can make it on my own again, but every time, it´s harder and harder...That´s what happened when John Ross got married and I almost lost my business. And that young woman...not being sure, ever, if she was responsible for my overdose, and knowing that she is J.R.´s daughter...That was the last drop. And you helped me a lot, Don.
Don: I´m not only your ex-husband, Sue Ellen...
Sue Ellen: ...I know: you´re my best friend too. But it´s time to go back home and face everybody. Face my family, the Ewings. My son and his wife Andrea. I´ve isolated myself by focusing on my business, and I may have lost the most important thing I´ve had: my family. And maybe even Dusty. So...I´ll take a flight back to Dallas tomorrow, and maybe, if I´m lucky, the Ewings will forgive me for not supporting them in the last two years. What do you think, do I have a chance?
Don: You better do, because next week I´ll fly to Hungary and start filming a movie...
Sue Ellen: And do you think I´d be helpless in London without you? I could go see "Piaf" one more time...or even "The Graduate".
Don: I´m afraid "The Graduate" is back to the U.S.
Sue Ellen: Too bad...I found it so...exciting (they both laugh loudly). Don (looking all serious again), thank you so much for being such a good friend. I miss you...and I love you. Now I´m sure everything will go back to normal for me (she embraces him and Don softly caresses her hair).
Next: Act 3 (Ray)
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