Thing’s Ain’t Goin’ So Good At Southfork, Again


connie25starring Steve Kanaly and Michele Scarabelli

Much shouting and screaming can be heard from inside Ray’s house. It is still night, and the house is still in darkness. As the camera position changes, it becomes clear that Ray and Connie have left Ray’s bedroom and are now in the midst of a struggle at the top of the stairs. As Ray frees himself from Connie, he races downwards with the maniacal woman chasing on his heels.

“She can’t have you!!”

Connie continues to catch Ray, now at the foot of the stairs. Ray grabs Connie’s arm in order to hold back her knife and prevent it from doing anymore damage. The knife is already drenched in Ray’s blood as Connie screams…

“I LOVE YOU..!!!”

With his left hand clasped around the gaping wound, Ray overpowers Connie and lays her a hefty blow across her face with the back of his right hand. Connie collapses solidly to the ground and her head bounces off the edge of the stairs.

Ray takes a moment to breathe as he sees the fallen body of his one-time lover. As he draws in deep breaths, he is reminded of the blood escaping from his body. With his recent attack over, Ray’s adrenalin-induced stupor begins to fade rapidly. He struggles towards the nearby telephone. Grasping it, he calls the police and asks for an ambulance. His last word is “Help..! before he falls to the floor – straight onto his wound – knocking Connie from the stairs at the same time.

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AFTERMATH

That was Michele Scarabelli’s final scene in Dallas. However, Connie Hall would be mentioned again on a number of times in the future. Those occasions are described here in – the AFTERMATH…

connie27Later…

Ray’s wife Jenna has returned home and is shocked to see a pool of blood on the floor at the foot of the stairs. As her eyes follow the bannister upwards, she sees many more puddles of blood… She grabs the ‘phone and calls Bobby. She tells him that there is blood everywhere and that Ray is missing but is even more shocked when she realises that the phone she’s holding is also covered in blood. Bobby says he’ll contact the police before coming over to the house…

Later, at the hospital…

Jenna and Bobby rush into Ray’s room. Ray is exhausted on the bed, slowly recovering from the ordeal. When Jenna tells him that they’ve been talking to the police about the “crazy woman”, Bobby remarks how strange it is that the woman would break into Ray’s house “like that”. He adds that the sheriff is doing some blood tests to find out “what she’s on” that caused her to “flip out” like that. Ray tells his wife that the wound isn’t all that bad and that she should return home to rest up after her long flight home. Jenna is full of questions but she agrees. As she leaves the room, Bobby starts to question Ray. Although Ray won’t confirm anything, Bobby makes some pretty accurate assumptions and he warns Ray that the best thing he could do is to talk to Jenna sooner rather than later.

Later, at Ray’s home…

Ray is resting in bed when his wife comes in with a food tray.

“You know, when I think of what a lunatic she was…”

As Jenna tries to feed her husband, she combines smalltalk with worrying words that she has about Ray’s recent confrontation with the “lunatic”. Ray tries to intercede but is frequently interrupted by Jenna – almost as though she doesn’t really want herself to hear the truth. However, Ray eventually gets to say what he wants to say…

“I was not stabbed by a burglar. I knew the woman…”

Jenna is puzzled by his comments but Ray continues to tell Jenna everything about the affconnie28air.

“It was very innocent, at first… I didn’t know she was crazy… that she was this psychotic person.”

In complete silence, Jenna stands up from the bed and turns her back on her husband. Slowly she moves towards the bedroom door and disappears into the hall. Ray is left alone with his pain and bandages.

Later…

Ray struggles from his bed and makes his way to the living room. There his wife is reminiscing over the family photographs where she has found the photo frame with the picture missing – the one that Connie took in order for her to make herself look like Jenna. Jenna asks Ray what happened to the photo. As Ray continues to tell Jenna about the affair, he tries to comfort her by stating that they never slept together in that house. Jenna explains to Ray that she may be able to understand why he did what he did if he tells her everything that happened…

Later, in the next episode…

Ray and Jenna are picking at their food. Neither of them are hungry and neither of them have said anything for some time. Ray asks Jenna to tell him how she’s feeling but she doesn’t have a lot to say. She asks Ray if he’s going to press charges. He tells her that nothing will be gained from going public and that he’s spoken to the sheriff. The sheriff told him that Connie will leave the state if Ray doesn’t press charges.

The conversation continues as Ray tries to prove his love for his wife in the best way he knows how.

“I wish that this had never happened… But it did.”

“I wish I could walk out. But I love you…
I just don’t know if I could ever get the two of you out of my head.”

Later…

Jenna visits Miss Ellie because she has no one else she can talk to. Following a long conversation concerning Ray’s background, Miss Ellie tries to convince Jenna to give Ray a second chance.

The following morning…

Ray is up early and tending to the horses, together with watching over his thoughts. He is startled when Jenna appears in the stables. Jenna reveals that she is willing to fight for her family. She is willing to give Ray his second chance – but not where they are now. Not so close to Southfork and the Ewings. Not so close to everything that’s “bad” for them. Ray reveals that he will do anything to keep Jenna and his family. Although they don’t know where their family will eventually end up, their first step is to go to Paris and tell Charlie, their daughter, of their plans. Ray asks to come along – and you can tell from his eyes the reasons he wants this.

A little later…

Ray is talking to O’Clayton who he asks to sell his ranch for him while he is away. He reveals that he and his family will be moving away from Southfork – permanently.

Michele Scarabelli doesn’t feature in the next episode, and neither Ray (Steve Kanaly) or Jenna (Priscilla Presley) appear after the following episode (they are removed from the opening title sequence).   The Connie Hall episodes have concluded.

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THE MICHELE SCARABELLI FACTOR

Michele only appears for a short time in these episodes (the opening scene of episode 280 only) in order for Connie to conclude the previous episode’s cliffhanger with Ray. ((Although it should be noted that a reshowing of several episodes only a few days later resulted in the same UK television station removing all scenes of Connie and her knife. The sequence goes from Connie holding the pillow to Jenna arriving home and finding the blood on the floor. This is significant in that it removes Michele’s appearance from this episode totally.))

There is conflicting information in these episodes. When Ray and Connie are struggling on the stairs, Ray hits Connie rather hard and she falls to the ground – unmoving. This makes you ask whether Connie is alive or dead. When Bobby talks to Ray in the hospital we learn that the sheriff has been told that “some strange woman” had broken into his house for burglary purposes and then attacked Ray. This implies that Connie didn’t survive – otherwise surely she’d have given her own story to the sheriff about what really happened. However, this is all turned around in the following episode when Ray tells his wife that he has spoken with the sheriff and was told that Connie would leave the state if Ray didn’t press charges. Even if we are to believe that Connie did survive and that she didn’t tell the sheriff the real story (which, in itself, is odd because she clearly wanted everyone to know her “love” for Ray), then how likely is it that this psychotic woman would be in a clear enough mind to not only stop being so obsessed with Ray but also to come up with a scheme to stop from being charged?

Connie Hall has been a wonderful character to watch and it’s a joy to experience Michele having the chance to work on such an interesting role. As Ray moved away with his family, this left no option for Connie to return again. This is a missed opportunity equal to the opportunity missed in that Connie never had the chance to meet with Jenna – now that would have been something special.

An interesting point to ponder… We are not told of where Ray eventually settled on moving to. It doesn’t take the most agile mind to consider that, after five years of wandering, he may have settled down in the heart of Africa – and who should wander “innocently” into his life? Someone who looks remarkably similar to Connie and she obviously still has great animosity towards him. In the words of most popular films – only the names of the characters have been changed. (Information – check out Okavango in which Michele portrays Jessica McKenzie and Steve Kanaly plays J.D.)

With the many facets that Connie had, she is an excellent example of Michele at her best. A truly first class performance.