Conundrum (Dallas)

Plot

Background

Events

• J.R.'s place as eldest Ewing child would have been taken by Gary, who would also take over for J.R. as heir to the Ewing Oil fortune. Bobby thus becomes the middle brother, and the Ewings would have a third son named Jason.
• Since Gary was not anywhere near the oil man that his brothers were, Ewing Oil went bankrupt under his watch. As such, Jock died from a stress-related illness instead of being killed in a helicopter crash and a heartbroken Miss Ellie died two years later without ever meeting Clayton Farlow. The non-existent Jason would have become a shady real estate developer and cheating husband who would eventually trick Bobby and Gary into selling their stakes in Ewing Oil and Southfork, leaving the property in his hands once his parents died. This would result in the destruction of the ranch in favor of "Southfork Estates", a development of tract houses built in its wake. Jason would also become a family pariah, as Gary wants nothing to do with him and Bobby was swindled out of $500,000 in a bad real estate deal of his.
• Having never met Pam , and due in part to losing all of his savings in Jason's deal gone wrong, Bobby's wild ways caught up with him and he became a down-and-out hustler owing thousands in gambling debts and child support which he cannot pay. Carter McKay is connected with his gambling debts, as due to his firing at WestStar Oil he went into the casino business in Las Vegas. Bobby later settles his debt, but Adam tells J.R. it will not be the last time he runs into money trouble.
• Gary became a successful divorce lawyer who never married, and thus never had J.R.'s niece Lucy. However, he still meets Valene Clements - in this universe, Valene Wallace - who is seeking an inheritance from her late husband's estate. They agree to go on a date together, hinting that Gary and Val were always destined to meet.
• Without having met J.R., Cally Harper never left her poor roots, and lives with an abusive husband in a shack. She finally takes a stand and shoots him dead, but will eventually go to jail for murder because no one would believe her husband beat her.
• Without J.R. in the way and forcing him to be a part of the Ewing-Barnes rivalry, Cliff Barnes became a politician. When J.R. sees that Cliff has become Vice President of the United States, he tells Adam of its impossibility, that Cliff would ruin the country, and that he did not like the fact that Cliff would rise to his position of power. To make matters worse, Cliff becomes Acting President when the sitting President is disabled by a stroke. Adam goes on to tell J.R. that Cliff will become one of the great Presidents, and that it did not matter whether he liked it or not.
• Since J.R. was never born, Kristin Shepard never met him, and became a successful con artist in Los Angeles. She poses as a hooker initially and then a police officer, which sees her accept a bribe from an embarrassed customer.
• Having never met J.R., Sue Ellen has entered acting and become a successful soap opera star. Since Nicholas Pearce never met J.R., he was able to form a relationship with Sue Ellen, who did not develop her alcohol problem that plagued her throughout her marriage.
• With J.R. out of the picture and Jock dying before he could find out, Ray Krebbs never knew of his Ewing blood ties. After an injury he suffered in a Ewing Oil-sponsored rodeo, Ray was forced to become a ranch hand and would often find himself out of work. Fortunately for Ray, however, he was able to have a great family life with a wife and children who loved him unconditionally, even if he could not always provide for them. One of his sons is named Jock.

Resolution

Reception