In the first two seasons of TNT’s Dallas, Jordana Brewster‘s Elena Ramos has been paired first with John Ross, and then later back with her original Ewing romance, Christopher, in the second season. Rejected by Christopher after he found out that she was in contact with her fugitive brother, who was responsible for the blast that killed Christopher’s unborn children, Elena also learned some vital information from Cliff Barnes revealing that the late J.R. Ewing swindled her father and assigned him useless land that took him to his death.
It hasn’t been a good year for Elena, has it?
We spoke with Jordana on the set of Dallas two weeks ago, to learn a little bit more about Elena’s mindset going into this — more specifically, why doesn’t Elena just tell Bobby about what J.R. has done, and yes, we got answers. Read on:
“It’s so funny, because we’re about to shoot a scene in which he asks her that,” Brewster said to the “why didn’t she just tell Bobby” question. “I think Elena’s been in the family for so long, and she’s witnessed so much screwing, both literal and figurative, and so much backstabbing, and so much happens with her family, not only the loss of the land, but more as the season evolves… and I think Cliff’s manipulative, and I think he’s convincing, and I think so is Juan Pablo’s character, Nicolas/Joaquin, and she just gets sucked in to this vortex of lies and deception, and I think she believes that the only way to get revenge is through bringing them down, and it’s not so simple.”
“It’s not as easy as ‘here, Bobby. Here’s what you did. Now make it better.’ It’s not just a business deal to her. This is huge. This is an entire family that’s been screwed because of J.R.’s greed. So it’s not just about money. It’s big, so it requires something big to show them up,” Brewster continued.
Which is not to imply that Elena isn’t conflicted about the idea. “She questions herself constantly. With everything she’s doing, she’s like ‘I still love these people, and what am I doing with them? And some of them are good, and some of them are bad… how can I be doing this?’ That’s what’s really interesting about her journey this season. And some of it doesn’t make sense to her, and I think that’s reflective of what we do as human beings. One thing makes sense one day, one thing doesn’t make sense the next day, and she’s confused throughout the process. It’s not black and white to her. We’re still shooting the scenes, and I’m not sure how the season ends, but I think she does get justice, ultimately.”
Elena’s storyline this year also reunites her with childhood friend Joaquin, now going by the name of “Nicolas Trevino.” Before talking about the situation, Jordana shared her amusement with what now seems to be a trope for the Elena character. “I ask the writers, ‘how come Elena only hooks up with people that she knew as a kid?’ I find that very odd,” she observed.
“He’s also a childhood friend of hers, and you end up wondering who’s pulling the strings. Is it Elena, or is it Nicolas? I love working with [Juan Pablo Di Pace]. We have wonderful chemistry and we get along great. It’s definitely a relationship where the audience will sort of wonder what Nicolas’ intentions are, because it’s Dallas, after all,” she said.
Dallas is new again tonight (March 3) at 9PM ET on TNT. Take a look at some video from this interview below:
Disclaimer: Travel arrangements for our Dallas set visit were provided by Warner Bros. Television.
