- On the heels of Nicolas' arrival, John Ross goes to great lengths to keep his plans for Ewing Global moving forward, locking horns with Bobby in the process. Meanwhile, Sue Ellen's suspicions of John Ross' infidelity threaten to derail her alliance with her son. Harris Ryland's surprise return creates concern and Emma enlists the help of her grandmother, Judith Ryland. Bobby and Ann's investigation into Ryland's release from jail leads to a shocking revelation.—Anonymous
- Bobby refuses to allow fracking on Southfork and Christopher, who reassures the cattle ranching staff, is confident he can handle the Barnes interests threat another way, but John Ross refuses to risk missing the deadline for the concession bids, or to trust on seismic data, so he tries to bribe the company geologist, who duly reports that to Bobby but concludes the oil is low enough for the drilling rights to belong to JR's heir. Sue Ellen suspects John Ross of cheating his bride like JR used too do to her, and instructs PI Bum to make sure, but he only warns off John Ross privately. Harris Ryland is bought free by the Mexican cartel and opposes Emma's deal with John Ross to do Ewing Global's logistics, but she brings back her grandmother Judith from the mental institution, who takes charge of the family firm again and reaches a deal in Mexico. Nicolás Treviño enjoys attending a South Fork ranch barbecue to see his foster mother Carmen Ramos.—KGF Vissers
- Sue Ellen meets secretly with Bum, the PI. She asks him to follow John Ross because of her suspiciouns about him with Emma Ryland. Bum cautions that John Ross finding out his mom is having him followed could damage their relationship. But after spending 40 years being cheated on, Sue Ellen doesn't want John Ross ot make the same mistakes as his father. Bum agrees to look into it. When he leaves, Sue Ellen takes out her trusty flask and takes a long pull.
Harris Ryland comes home and looks through files -- the ones he knows Emma went through to get him sent to jail. Emma is surprised to find him out of jail, but doesn't spend much time trying to hide what she is up to with the Ewings and the Ryland transport ships for the arctic drilling. Harris asks if she's back on drugs, then goes a step further, suggesting he could put her in a "secure therapeutic setting" so she doesn't hurt herself -- even though she said nothing of the kind. It's the same move he pulled with his mother.
Emma goes to John Ross, who assures her he'll get Harris back in jail. She pulls him into bed as he calls Bum for help. Taking pictures of them in bed with his telephoto lens, Bum tells John Ross he'll be right there.
Later, John Ross tells Bum he wants to get Harris back in jail. Bum notes that John Ross seems out of breath. He claims he had to take the stairs.
Back at Southfork, Bobby goes over the seismic maps that show the shale top. He's puzzled that it's closer to the surface that his last mapping in 1980 and decides to have another map done. Ann ask him to come to bed. "When I watch 'Duck Dynasty' without you, I get all the beards confused," she says. There's a knock at the door.
It's the sheriff, Derrick, letting them know Harris Ryland was released from jail. Even though Derrick thought it was open and shut, the judge tossed the case for insufficient evidence.
The next day, Bobby and Ann go to their friend Ellis, the US Attorney. Bobby is sure the judge was bought off, but Ellis doesn't want to touch it.
Bobby decides to go to his US Senator friend Joe McAlister.
At Ewing Global, Pamela watches as her husband flirts with Candace, his secretary, to find out what Howard, the seismic guy, is doing in with Christopher. Nicolas Trevino comes in and Christopher invites him to a barbecue at the house on Saturday.
Later, Nicolas (who is really Joaquin, Elena's adoptive brother) meets with her looking for evidence the Ewings framed Cliff Barnes for J.R.'s murder. But there's nothing on the Ewing servers. Elena wants to go through Bobby's personal computer, and Nicolas suggests she do it at the barbecue on Saturday. She's worried about him going to Southfork and running into her mother. But he points out Carmen is working as a "servant" for the people who caused Elena's father's death and she deserves better.
John Ross drops by nervous Howard the seismic guy's office. Howard twitches and tries to not feel awkward as John Ross schmoozes him, telling him he's a "seismic superstar" and he values his loyalty. He tells Howard he's sure he'll find the shale is within his surface rights, because it's "the right thing to do." He tosses a stack of $100s on Howard's desk.
John Ross comes home to find Pamela annoyed that he's late, they were supposed to pick centerpieces for the reception. She asks him about his secretary and he assures her that flirting isn't cheating and, hand to god, nothing is going on with her. "If I ever find out you've been stepping out on me, God's wrath will be the least of your worries," Pamela tells him.
"You are so sexy when you're scary," he says.
In the stables, Heather the hot ranch hand gives Christopher an earful about fracking Southfork. He assures her he's trying to stop it, then invites her to the barbecue.
In the house, Elena is upset to see her mom slaving in the kitchen for the barbecue. Elena warns her Joaquin is coming and asks her to pretend not to know him. She assures her mother everything she's doing is justified, but Carmen knows that if Cliff Barnes is involved it's about destroying the Ewings and she wants no part of it.
In his study, Harris hears an ominous thumping in his hallway. He draws his gun, then sees his mother Judith come in, with a cane. Emma got her out.
Judith offers to forget about him throwing her down the stairs, but warns him she's in charge of Ryland Transport now. She wants to meet his drug smuggling partners, saying it's time to renegotiate.
At the barbecue at Southfork, Sue Ellen watches her son flirting with a blonde. Emma and Pamela also take note. Sue Ellen commends Ann on the party. "In the old days, these things would end up in a fist fight in the pool," she says.
Sue Ellen meets with Bum who tells her John Ross never went near Emma. She admits it's possible she's projecting J.R.'s wrongs onto her son.
Heather arrives at the barbecue and drags Christopher out on the dance floor to two-step.
Pamela sizes up her husband flirting and invites Nicolas Trevino to dance.
Bobby checks in on Howard on the back 40. Howard turns over John Ross's bribe and tells him what John Ross tried. Bobby shakes it off and tells Howard to keep the money.
Christopher sits down with Nicolas and offers him gobs of money to stop blocking their sale of Ewing Global's commerce division. Nicolas admires Elena and asks Christopher if she's dating anyone.
Nicolas finds Carmen in the kitchen and, with Ann there, she pretends not to know him. When Ann leaves, Carmen gives him a big hug. She warns him not to lead Drew or Elena astray.
With everyone out enjoying the party, Elena sneaks into Bobby's study and hooks up to his computer. She runs into Christopher back outside, but Nicolas interrupts and asks Elena to show him the sights. She agrees. When he goes to get the car, Christopher warns her: "I know it's not my place to tell him not to go out with him, but don't go out with him."
She promises Christopher she's not that easy.
As soon as Elena leaves, Heather comes over to Christopher to thank him for inviting her. Then she kisses him, and follows it up by telling him she's direct. She tells him she's interested when he's ready.
In Bobby's office, Howard prepares to report his findings to Bobby, Christopher, and John Ross. He reluctantly says the shale is within John Ross' surface rights.
But Christopher says they don't need to frack, he thinks he has something on Nicolas. He checked a deal Nicolas mentioned and found Nicolas got the numbers wrong, which makes Christopher think it's a phantom deal. He thinks there another reason Nicolas is helping him.
Christopher suggests they look into his background in Mexico. John Ross doesn't want to wait that long and announces he's going to start fracking. Bobby decides to contact the Railroad Commission to see if they'll delay John Ross.
At Nicolas' place, Elena goes through the contents of Bobby's computer. She finds an email from Bobby to Carlos Del Sol about the waitress in Mexico. "Talked to Rhonda Simmons. She agreed to play ball with us about JR."
Bum meets with John Ross and gives him the pictures he took of John Ross with Emma, telling him to not be so careless. He tells him JR asked him to keep an eye on John Ross and although JR was a great man, the way he ran around on Sue Ellen was a sin. "Grow into your father's greatness, not his weakness," Bum says.
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Judith and Harris Ryland meet with Harris' drug dealing connection, who is wary about doing business with Judith as the head of Ryland Transport. To reassure him, she guides him to essentially feel her up and check for a wire, as Harris is totally embarrassed.
Because of Harris' legal troubles, she informs the drug dealer that the drugs will now be carried by trucks from a shell corporation, carrying drilling fluid and waste water. They'll use the shale trucking routes, private roads with no border patrol.
Judith asks for more money and reminds the dealer how much he's losing while they're shut down. He agrees and she asks to seal the deal a taste of their product.
Someone brings over fat lines of cocaine and she snorts them up like a pro. "Hot damn. Mama like," she says. Harris can barely stand to watch.
The dealer warns them another interruption in the shipments will be fatal for Emma.
Back home, Harris removes the tape recorder he was wearing, which clearly captured his mother negotiating a drug deal. He gets a call from someone informing him there's a problem.
Bobby gets a call from Joe McAllister, the Senator. Bobby and Ann drive to meet him late at night. McAlister wouldn't tell him what it was about, but that late at night, Bobby knew it was something big.
On the road, their car is cut off by two black SUVs and a man with a gun invites them to come with him.
In a dark and scary warehouse, a serious looking man in a suit warns them to stop looking into why Harris was released. Then Harris joins them. Bobby can't believe Harris is working with a drug lord, but then the man in the suit pulls out a badge. He's CIA.
Harris explains: "Four years ago, the Mendez-Ochoa came to me to run drugs. I came to him."
The CIA is interested because the cartel are ex-commandos of the Mexican Army and only run drugs to earn enough money to overthrow the government. The cartel thinks they flipped a dirty judge and Bobby's questions are making it difficult. He warns Ann that if the cartel finds out who he's working for, they'll kill her and Emma.
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