Truth hurts
In “Bail Out,” an eighth-season “Dallas” episode, Pam (Victoria Principal) stands in her office doorway and greets pilot Gerald Kane (James Cromwell), who has flown from Corpus Christi to see her.
PAM: You’ve certainly come a long way for just a conversation.
KANE: I figured I owed it to you to say what I have to say to you in person.
PAM: Well, please sit down. [They sit.]
KANE: I surely don’t feel too good about what I’ve done.
PAM: Well, what have you done?
KANE: I’ve lied to you, Mrs. Ewing. I never flew Mark Graison down to the Caribbean. Truth of it is, I’ve never even laid eyes on the man you were looking for. I know I should have told you all this before, and I tried to three or four times when we were down there but … well, I never could convince myself to do it until now.
PAM: [Dumbfounded] But what about San Serrano? Mark was in the clinic down there. And just yesterday, Dr. Miller was here. The doctor from the clinic in Jamaica? Well, he came here with another doctor who actually saw Mark in Hong Kong.
KANE: I don’t think so.
PAM: What do you mean, you don’t think so? You think they were lying too? Well, why would they lie to me? Why would you lie to me?
KANE: I was … persuaded to.
PAM: Who persuaded you?
KANE: Somebody who convinced me that it would be easier on you if you still believed that Mark Graison was alive. And I went along with it because I saw how desperately you wanted to believe.
PAM: [Rubs her temples] Mark Graison is alive and there’s no doubt about that.
KANE: Believe me, Mrs. Ewing. The whole thing was a hoax. Now I don’t know about these doctors you saw, but … well, if I could be bought off, so can they.
PAM: You mean that somebody paid you to lie to me?
KANE: Yes.
PAM: No one has any reason to do something like that to me.
KANE: Obviously somebody has.
PAM: Who? Tell me who! I want to know their name!
KANE: J.R. Ewing.
PAM: [Screams, slaps him] J.R. Ewing?! [Sobs]
Watch this scene in “Bail Out,” available on DVD and at Amazon and iTunes, and share your comments below.
