Dallas Character Bobby's Temper

[Kenny Coyote]

Do you remember exactly Bobby when he was kidnapped? He was mistreated by everyone and cried in fear.

I was happy when the impulsive hero in him woke up, saving Cliff at the cost of his life.

This is the beginning of a Superman life, sometimes with some defect worthy of J.R. and other times to blame more than his brother.

Could you tell me what you mean by an "impulsive hero"? I'm curious to know what you mean by that because being impulsive is not a virtue. In fact, it's a vice. Acting upon a whim, allowing oneself to be impulsive is not blindness, but the refusal to see. Regarding Bobby specifically, he has the intellect to behave in a rational manner, but when he acts impulsively, he deliberately rejects rationality based on whatever he feels like doing at the time.

A perfect example of Bobby being impulsive is when Pam asks him if the baby he's bringing home is theirs. He sees that Pam wants the baby to be theirs, so he tells her what she wants to hear. He's operating on the idea that if lying to her will make Pam happy, that justifies his lie. If he'd had chosen to not act impulsively and had been honest with her, he would have said "No, this baby isn't ours; this is JR's baby. The maxim 'honesty is the best policy" certainly holds true here because while Pam would have been temporarily disappointed, any unhappiness she would have felt at that moment would have been minor in comparison to the incredibly destructive effects of telling her the baby was theirs, allowing her to bond with the child for a few weeks or even months, and then when the truth comes out, having to turn the baby over to JR, the baby's rightful parent.

To play that fast and loose with his wife's mental health was an unbelievably irresponsible risk to take. Impulsivity isn't ignorance, but the refusal to know. It's the rejection of what is rational in exchange for immediate self-gratification. Bobby is operating on the idea that it makes Pam happy right now and that's all that concerns him. What happens to Pam and her mental health, when and very likely if, JR discovers Bobby attempted to steal his child?

Bobby will worry about that later. That's the hallmark of an impulsive person. When asked how they'll deal with the consequences for their impulsive, irrational behavior, people say they'll worry about it later. Barring some miraculous event such as discovering the baby's father wasn't JR's, Bobby is setting events into motion that will almost certainly do his wife some serious, long-lasting harm, because Bobby is denying reality. He's rejecting rationality and acting solely on emotion. That's a recipe for disaster.

 

[southfork88]

I followed all your reasoning in the various posts and rationally you are certainly right. But everyone knows that we don't always act rationally. Besides, Dallas is fiction and ... even heroes can have flaws, including certain incredible vices like saving people for no plausible reason. These strange things did the Saints too ... and now also some doctors who die to save people from Covid-19.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

I followed all your reasoning in the various posts and rationally you are certainly right. But everyone knows that we don't always act rationally. Besides, Dallas is fiction and ... even heroes can have flaws, including certain incredible vices like saving people for no plausible reason. These strange things did the Saints too ... and now also some doctors who die to save people from Covid-19.

I love the way Dallas did things, the way they created their characters. I like Bobby. It's because I think he's a good guy that when he does something wrong that it has a different kind of impact on me then when JR does. It's also because Bobby carries himself as being so righteous and judgemental of others. Like when he told Jock that he had to become partners with Cliff in Ewing 23 or Bobby would move away. How could Bobby not see how unreasonable it was to tell his father to become business partners with the man who had tried to put him in prison just a couple weeks ago?

Bobby certainly holds himself to higher standards than the standards JR holds himself to. It makes sense that because of that, the audience does as well. Bobby presumes to be able to tell other people how to live their lives. Like the Bible says: Judge not, lest you be judged.

 

[Willie Oleson]

If he'd had chosen to not act impulsively and had been honest with her, he would have said "No, this baby isn't ours; this is JR's baby. The maxim 'honesty is the best policy" certainly holds true here because while Pam would have been temporarily disappointed

And then that whole scene would have been completely destroyed. It was obviously set up to create the twist of confusion.

being impulsive is not a virtue. In fact, it's a vice

It depends on the result of that impulsive decision. Jock's decision to make it in the oil business could have been an impulse.
JR could never resist the impulse to sleep with every woman in Texas, and to hell with the consequences.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

And then that whole scene would have been completely destroyed. It was obviously set up to create the twist of confusion.

That was a reply to Bobby being described as as "impulsive hero." Bobby being impulsive made that scene what it was, but it is not the action of a hero. He believed the baby to be JR and Kristen's baby. Telling Pam that the baby was theirs contradicted everything Bobby believed to be true. Bobby was placing Pam and himself on a course towards destruction. Pam wished for the baby to be theirs so Bobby told her it was theirs. Facts can't be changed by a wish, but they can annihilate the the person who believes they can be.

Jock's decision to make it in the oil business could have been an impulse.
JR could never resist the impulse to sleep with every woman in Texas, and to hell with the consequences.

Jock's decision to make it into the oil business was not based on the irrational, but Bobby's decision to tell Pam it was their baby was. JR's refusal to resist that impulse led to the destruction of his marriage.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Pam wished for the baby to be theirs so Bobby told her it was theirs.

She didn't ask anything so he didn't even get the opportunity to explain. I see a man on the spot, not knowing how to un-do the miracle, because that's what it is to Pam (who had returned from the hospital unexpectedly).

 

[Kenny Coyote]

She didn't ask anything so he didn't even get the opportunity to explain. I see a man on the spot, not knowing how to un-do the miracle, because that's what it is to Pam (who had returned from the hospital unexpectedly).

Bobby had every opportunity to explain. He could have used the time he spent lying to tell the truth. It would go something like this:

Pam: You got us a baby?!?!

Bobby: Oh no Pam, this baby is someone else's baby. (Gives her a hug) What are you doing home? I was going to visit you at the facility tonight. If you'd told me you left early against advice, I'd have warned you that I'd be arriving home with someone else's baby with me that I was watching for them for a few hours to avoid possibly getting your hopes up that he was for us.

Either Bobby does that, or based on everything he believes to be true, at some point in the future he's going to have to tell Pam that the baby he told her was for them doesn't belong to them and never did. Barring incredibly good fortune intervening, the following happens:

Pam: You let me bond with a baby you didn't even have any reason to think could ever become ours? Who does that???

End Of Marriage ( and very likely the decimation of Pamela's mental health)

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Pam should have bought Bobby a doll with detachable arms and legs.

With a few months of therapy with Dr. Elby, he could have learned to yell “I’m going to take you apart!” at the doll and literally take it apart instead of threatening and punching people all the time