It has taken many years and numerous efforts by a multitude of people over the course of his life, but finally J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) has been reduced to practically nothing.
Clayton gave him voting power on the board at WestStar Oil, but through the scheming of Clayton's son Dusty (Jared Martin) and WestStar executive Carter McKay (George Kennedy), J.R. was tricked into selling the controlling stake in Ewing Oil to his archenemy, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval).
Finally, J.R. lost his closest family member as his son and namesake John Ross (Omri Katz) disowned him, deciding to stay in London to be with his mother Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and her new husband Don Lockwood (Ian McShane).
The fallout from these events appeared to be too much for J.R. to bear, and as the penultimate episode drew to a close, he took his father Jock’s pearl-handled six-shooter out of his nightstand.
In the intervening time between the end of the previous episode and the beginning of this one, J.R. has consumed a significant amount of bourbon whiskey and is walking around Southfork in a drunken stupor.
During J.R.'s return to Southfork, Bobby comments on how he found J.R. babbling incoherently, claiming the devil was talking to him; the shot J.R. fired blew a giant hole in the mirror and he left for Paris the next day.
J.R., however, was present when the revival series premiered and remained a character for the first season and a half; following Larry Hagman's death, J.R. was shot and killed by an associate at his request as he was dying of terminal cancer.
Although the audience had dwindled considerably, with the series ending at #63 for the 1990-91 season, Dallas' final telecast was the second highest rated program of the week.