This is the season after Pam’s car crash. I’m rewatching because it’s available on Amazon Prime and I’ve seen it far less often than the first 9 seasons and miniseries, so it’s sorta new to me. I’m about a third of the way through the season.
I know it’s been said countless times, but I cannot believe how badly they botched Pam’s exit. I know they were keeping the door open for Victoria Principal’s potential return. And they clearly wanted for everyone to move on as quickly as possible (outside of Bobby and Christopher, no one else seems to give a fig about Pam’s disfigurement and disappearance). But the way they did it actually prolonged it! They could have had Pam presumed dead in an accident or plane crash or something, without a body. That lets everyone accept her “death” and grieve and move on. Instead, she’s the elephant in the room all season (and arguably, for the rest of the series). Bobby should have gone after her and reassure her of his love. Yet, he just lets everything happen - her running away and the divorce. And he’s very angry about it for a long time instead of just grieving her loss. I seem to remember he’s still hung up on her over two years later during his dalliance with the “lookalike”. Meanwhile, we, the audience, keep waiting for Pam to show up again. Talk about papering over a wound instead of dealing with it.
Southfork seems vastly depopulated and now very male-centric, with its three youngest - and female - characters gone: Pam, Donna, and Lucy. What a mistake it was to get rid of Donna. Her sensible presence would help ground things in the wake of Pam’s accident. Instead, we get zombie-like Jenna trying to replicate Donna’s friendship with Ellie, and failing miserably. This would have been a good time to bring back Lucy if they could have figured out how to write for her. Or maybe Clayton had a never-before mentioned young daughter. We needed more, younger family members at Southfork. And I don’t mean awful characters like James. Instead, we got Leigh Taylor Young, prettyboy Andrew Stevens, and wooden Jack Scalia, plus that cranky old man that Cliff is now hanging out with (who thought HE would be an interesting character?). April and Cliff seem pointless and completely disconnected from the proceedings. They needed to get rid of all these extra characters and rebuild the family.
I think I would have written out Cliff, now that the Barnes/Ewing feud was over. Or at least drop him to recurring. I would have had J.R. and Sue Ellen divorce, and Sue Ellen become the new adversary for the family. And eventually bring in new wives for JR and Bobby.
I know it’s been said countless times, but I cannot believe how badly they botched Pam’s exit. I know they were keeping the door open for Victoria Principal’s potential return. And they clearly wanted for everyone to move on as quickly as possible (outside of Bobby and Christopher, no one else seems to give a fig about Pam’s disfigurement and disappearance). But the way they did it actually prolonged it! They could have had Pam presumed dead in an accident or plane crash or something, without a body. That lets everyone accept her “death” and grieve and move on. Instead, she’s the elephant in the room all season (and arguably, for the rest of the series). Bobby should have gone after her and reassure her of his love. Yet, he just lets everything happen - her running away and the divorce. And he’s very angry about it for a long time instead of just grieving her loss. I seem to remember he’s still hung up on her over two years later during his dalliance with the “lookalike”. Meanwhile, we, the audience, keep waiting for Pam to show up again. Talk about papering over a wound instead of dealing with it.
Southfork seems vastly depopulated and now very male-centric, with its three youngest - and female - characters gone: Pam, Donna, and Lucy. What a mistake it was to get rid of Donna. Her sensible presence would help ground things in the wake of Pam’s accident. Instead, we get zombie-like Jenna trying to replicate Donna’s friendship with Ellie, and failing miserably. This would have been a good time to bring back Lucy if they could have figured out how to write for her. Or maybe Clayton had a never-before mentioned young daughter. We needed more, younger family members at Southfork. And I don’t mean awful characters like James. Instead, we got Leigh Taylor Young, prettyboy Andrew Stevens, and wooden Jack Scalia, plus that cranky old man that Cliff is now hanging out with (who thought HE would be an interesting character?). April and Cliff seem pointless and completely disconnected from the proceedings. They needed to get rid of all these extra characters and rebuild the family.
I think I would have written out Cliff, now that the Barnes/Ewing feud was over. Or at least drop him to recurring. I would have had J.R. and Sue Ellen divorce, and Sue Ellen become the new adversary for the family. And eventually bring in new wives for JR and Bobby.
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