Marta Del Sol

Varela's casting was announced in July 2011. ==Character development==

Characterization Marta was originally meant to be an environmentalist and fill the role of opposition to the Ewing's plans to drill for oil on the Southfork Ranch. Varela told a writer from El Mercurio that "Marta is a sophisticated woman, educated, smart and professional. Immediately I identified with her." She added that she would find her own life experiences useful while playing Marta. When Varela auditioned for the role she was unaware that the writers had planned for Marta to be manipulative. She told Gabrielle Chung of Celebuzz that the writers had been "sneaky bastards" and not told her how the storyline would develop. Marta gets involved with John Ross and seduces him as part of her plan to secure the Southfork Ranch from the Ewing family. Valera decided her character loved John Ross from the pilot episode when she makes a "truly genuine gesture" towards him. She believed that John Ross would not always give Marta the same respect and ultimately be her downfall. In her dealings with the Ewing family, Marta steals the Southfork Ranch from Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy). She then helps John Ross in his attempts to con J.R. Marta begins taking pills and becomes more unstable over time. She told Jen Heger from Radar Online that "Marta will have to suffer the consequences for double crossing J.R. Ewing." In July 2012, a reporter from the Toronto Sun said that Varela would be departing the series after Marta is killed following a fall from a balcony. Varela told ''Latercera's'' Cerda Maira that she always knew that Marta would only feature in the first seven episodes of the first season. But she did find it hard to say goodbye to Marta and her colleagues. She added that "I had grown fond of everyone and I had fun as both Veronica/Marta and did not want it to end. But everything has an end and so I could give way to another stage of my life, I am also happy to be alive." ==Storylines==

Marta helps J.R. with a plan to reclaim control of Southfork and is introduced to his son John Ross. They begin to plot to remove J.R. from the deal. John Ross is upset that his relationship with Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster) has ended and he goes back to Marta's hotel room for sex. She drugs him and records their sex session. She manages to convince Bobby to sell the ranch to her. J.R. goes to visit the Del Sol family who claim to be unaware of Marta's plans. He is introduced to the real Marta Del Sol and realizes he has been doing business with a fraud. Marta is revealed to be named "Veronica Martinez", but she carries on posing under her new identity. He warns Marta to never scam him again and lets her in on the new deal with Vicente Cano (Carlos Bernard). J.R. and Marta cut John Ross out of the new deal. J.R. discovers that Marta has a history of stalking men. Marta arranges a series of dates with John Ross but he does not turn up and spends time with Elena. Marta becomes angry and hands him the recording of them having sex. Marta begins to follow John Ross and Elena. She breaks into Elena's home and sticks a knife through a picture of John Ross and Elena kissing. John Ross asks Vicente for more time to meet an oil shipment deadline. In exchange he tells him that Marta has been stealing money from the deal and stalking him. He requests that Vincente attempt to get her to leave town. Marta follows Elena and steals her mobile phone. She calls John Ross and pretends that she has kidnapped Elena and in exchange for her freedom he has to meet with her. She bemoans John Ross for getting Vincente to go after her. She reveals that she has money and would like to leave with John Ross. He rebuffs her advances and during a fracas she scratches John Ross' neck. As he leaves two of Vincente's henchmen arrive and throw Marta off her balcony. As John Ross was seen leaving her room beforehand, he is charged with murder. ==Reception==

Alex Fletcher from Digital Spy described Marta as John Ross' "scheming partner in crime" and a Us Weekly columnist named her a "sexy villain". A reporter from The Huffington Post branded her a "villainous vixen". Access Hollywood's Jodie Lash said that Varela had been "heating up" the show as "the bad and mad girl who's been causing trouble for John Ross and his father, J.R. Ewing." She added that Marta "really brings out the crazy" on John Ross. Mandi Bierly of Entertainment Weekly described the character as "a woman with anger issues who's into bondage and filmed her sexcapade with John Ross." She later opined mixing champagne and lithium in a revenge plot would come naturally to Marta and predicted that she would end up murdered. Terry Linwood from D Magazine called her an "all-around psycho", "psychohosebeast", "crazy" and a bunny boiler. Jarett Wieselman from Entertainment Tonight said that "Dallas was second-to-none when it came to shocking revelations, devious double-crosses and smoking hot stars. TNT's Dallas is picking up right where the original left off and rolling all of those attributes into one character: Leonor Varela's "Marta Del Sol." A writer from the International Business Times said that Marta turned out to be "shady a character as anyone and could give those Ewing boys a run for their money." A reporter from Inside Soap said that Marta had a history of "violence fuelled by jealousy" and was "as stable as a bucking bronco at the Southfork rodeo". Digital Spy's Fletcher held a similar opinion, naming her as John Ross' "psychotic bit on the side", "crazy former lover", "crazy eyed date raper" and a "crazy-eyed drug-sex woman". Fletcher stated that Marta became more "dark and ludicrously disturbing" as the series progressed. He predicted that she would be murdered by the end of the series. The writer concluded that "when not watching her own violent, druggy sex tapes, she's making threats to John Ross, doing some crazy-eye, head-wobbling manic acting and generally causing mayhem for the entire Southfork clan." Vanessa Millones from Latina magazine also believed that Marta was crazy and lived up to the "Latina loca stereotype". ==References==