Am I the only one who cannot tolerate the Mark Graison character?

Karin

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I didn't like Mark Graison either. It wasn't just that he went after Pam who was a married woman. It was the fact that he called her at home and Bobby answered the phone and we learnt that he and Bobby knew each other and were old pals. So Bobby was surprised when his "pal" wanted to talk to his wife. In my opinion that's two no-nos. You don't go after married people and you don't go after your friends spouse. So that made Mark instantly unlikable to me.

It didn't help either that he was into playing Polo which is such a posh sport and it somehow reminds me of Prince Charles!
Or the fact that Mark was a playboy. I don't think we ever saw him work. We just saw him have a good time.

Also after he'd first spent the night with Pam he didn't even stick around for breakfast. He left before she woke up.

So yeah definitely not likable. Also a bit of wasted character since more could have been done with Cliff and Mark. They could have teamed up against JR but Mark didn't really want to do much business with Cliff.

So well the only good thing Mark had going for him was that Pam's brother preferred him over Bobby. So it made it easier for Pam-Mark and Cliff-Afton to socialize. Poor Katherine was sort of left out though. We never saw her with a boyfriend. So she just had to watch the happy couples around her.
 

Kaleid

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So yeah definitely not likable. Also a bit of wasted character since more could have been done with Cliff and Mark. They could have teamed up against JR but Mark didn't really want to do much business with Cliff.
To be fair, he had seen how Cliff did business and probably realized, much like Pam would later, that he would have simply been Cliff's personal banker, watching his investment dollars evaporate into thin air.
 

Taylor Bennett Jr.

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Poor Katherine was sort of left out though. We never saw her with a boyfriend. So she just had to watch the happy couples around her.
they were kind of trying to set her up with Jerry Kenderson, but she wasn’t interested. I’d say “poor Jerry”, but in this case he was probably better off! Who knows, though, maybe if she’d found someone nice like that she would have dropped the Bobby obsession and had a wonderful life.

Kind of like if Penny Ames hadn’t died and Cliff married her and stayed in New York as a lawyer and raised a family there. The Ewings and Digger’s obsession with them might have been an annoyance, not a life-consuming vendetta.
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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Ed Farraday Haynes. It’s the only husband left.

That's wrong as well, I can finally reveal who was in that shower all along!

Everyone prepare themselves for a shock!

Mark & Bobby.jpg
 

Billy Wall

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Pam was way more unbearable during this time period. She was playing Mark while still trying to hold on to Bobby. Just saw the episode where Bobby and Pam run into a dejected Clayton after Miss Ellie broke off the engagement. Pam asked Bobby about Clayton and Bobby's says "I don't know, I haven't been home a couple of nights." Pam gives Bobby the coldest stare. Lol
 

Jock Ewing Fan

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Pam was way more unbearable during this time period. She was playing Mark while still trying to hold on to Bobby. Just saw the episode where Bobby and Pam run into a dejected Clayton after Miss Ellie broke off the engagement. Pam asked Bobby about Clayton and Bobby's says "I don't know, I haven't been home a couple of nights." Pam gives Bobby the coldest stare. Lol
Pam leaves Bobby over something that wasn't his fault, sees another man in Paris, continues to see that man, and Bobby is supposed to do what?

they were kind of trying to set her up with Jerry Kenderson, but she wasn’t interested. I’d say “poor Jerry”, but in this case he was probably better off! Who knows, though, maybe if she’d found someone nice like that she would have dropped the Bobby obsession and had a wonderful life.

Kind of like if Penny Ames hadn’t died and Cliff married her and stayed in New York as a lawyer and raised a family there. The Ewings and Digger’s obsession with them might have been an annoyance, not a life-consuming vendetta.
Jerry seemed nice, but not a developed enough character.
Besides, in the end, she leaves them all for JR, eventually
 

Snowcat

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It's interesting, Dusty also got involved with a married woman but I never see him and his morals being dragged over the coals on here. Mark seems to get unfairly targeted when all he did was pursue the woman he loved.



And this is why in a nutshell! It's always Pam and Bobby shippers who basically just resent him for contributing to their break up and them staying apart and then start finding reasons to hate him, when really he was for the most part a pretty decent, nice guy.
The difference between Mark & Dusty is Pam told Mark to back off & he didn’t. That’s why I can’t stand him. Sue Ellen wasn’t committed to JR.
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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The difference between Mark & Dusty is Pam told Mark to back off & he didn’t. That’s why I can’t stand him. Sue Ellen wasn’t committed to JR.

You don't understand.

Mark only had Pam's best interests at heart.

And besides he loved her so much but Mark was manipulated into pursuing Pam by Cliff, Katherine & JR. :(
 

DallasFanForever

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I never got the impression Mark was manipulated initially. He went after Pam right after their very first meeting. The manipulations came later with J.R. and Katherine but Mark went after Pam on his own in the beginning. If she wanted to back him off, the time was when he showed up in disguise with the flowers. She had already told him she wasn’t interested but then at that meeting they had a long talk while laughing and drinking and she started pivoting. Clearly at that point she wasn’t as happy with her marriage to Bobby and what the contest was doing to it or she never would’ve even spoken to Mark again.
 

Billy Wall

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Mark was initially wrong for going after a married woman, even though he sensed trouble in her marriage to Bobby. BUT, Pam could have been more firm in telling him to back off. When Mark invited her to breakfast to talk about "MISS ELLIE'S CASE" she should have taken Miss Ellie with her or declined. Miss Ellie is the one he should have invited to breakfast.

Fast forward to after they've been dating for awhile, she starts playing Mark for a fool. She's dating Mark while she's still trying to hang on to Bobby. She can't stand the sight of seeing Jenna with Bobby. Mark ask her to marry him and she strings him along until she finds out that he's dying and then she agrees out of pity.

There's a lot of other examples, but Pam was the most selfish person on the show during this time. Mark might have started out in the wrong, but as time went on, Pam was worse than Mark, Bobby and Jenna.
 

DallasFanForever

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Miss Ellie is the one he should have invited to breakfast.
I couldn’t agree more. Technically if his mind was already made up, which he even admitted as much to Pam, there was no need for a breakfast at all but if he was going to take anyone out that morning it definitely should’ve been Miss Ellie. It was her case that was at stake. Perhaps Pam should’ve sent her mother in law instead and then maybe Mark ends up living at Southfork in a couple of years and haunted by Jock’s painting.

Fast forward to after they've been dating for awhile, she starts playing Mark for a fool. She's dating Mark while she's still trying to hang on to Bobby. She can't stand the sight of seeing Jenna with Bobby. Mark ask her to marry him and she strings him along until she finds out that he's dying and then she agrees out of pity.
All valid points but I’m willing to give Pam the benefit of the doubt here. I know she didn’t handle things perfectly that season but obviously she was very confused. She wanted Bobby back, still loved him of course, but at the same time he had moved on with Jenna. Not just any woman, but Jenna, a rival of hers since long before the divorce. She cared for Mark but he wasn’t Bobby, so her emotions were all over the place and she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore. Plus the return of Jenna didn’t exactly help in keeping things uncomplicated. I’m not excusing her, just looking at it from her point of view that season.
 

Ollie james

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Pam climbed into bed beside Bobby and then spent a year dreaming of getting back with Mark only to have dream shattered when she woke up to Bobby in the shower. Bobby was Pams husband but her dream was to be with Mark
 

DallasFanForever

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Pam climbed into bed beside Bobby and then spent a year dreaming of getting back with Mark only to have dream shattered when she woke up to Bobby in the shower. Bobby was Pams husband but her dream was to be with Mark
Well, I think Bobby was always her first choice before Mark. I think the only reason she dreamt of marrying Mark was because in the same dream Bobby was dead. If Bobby had remained alive in her dream then my guess is Mark wouldn’t have been as prominent. Maybe since Bobby was dead in her mind she was reminded of Mark’s death also. Plus it hadn’t really been that long since she went searching for him.
 

Billy Wall

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I'll like to also add, Pam and Mark were getting along perfectly fine until she found out that Bobby was seeing Jenna.

Her, Mark, Cliff and Afton were having breakfast when Bobby came to pick up Christopher and Bobby mentioned Jenna. She tried to hide it, but even Mark could tell that the mention of Jenna caused her attitude to change.

Once again, Pam was just being self centered. She knows that Jenna is the only one that can truly replace her and that drove her crazy.
 
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DallasFanForever

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I'll like to also add, Pam and Mark were getting along perfectly fine until she found out that Bobby was seeing Jenna.
I agree but then there’s the reality that Pam didn’t sleep with Mark until Jenna was back in the picture. She was still putting Mark off because of her feelings for Bobby but once she witnessed him and Jenna being physical she decided to sleep with Mark. So I guess the question is if Jenna doesn’t return does Pam still keep stalling Mark because Bobby is still available.
 

Chris2

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I’m rewatching these episodes and Pam really comes across as unlikeable the way she jerks around both Bobby and Mark. I think it would have been funny if Bobby and Mark both realized at the same time that they didn’t need Pam and her drama. And they go off to hang out together.

“The Letter” was also completely unnecessary to break up Bobby and Pam. It would have been far more satisfying if Bobby, after seeing Pam with the Pornstache yet again, said to her, “You know what? I’m done. Go be with your boyfriend. See you at the divorce hearing!”
 
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