Pam during the Ewing Oil contest

Chris2

Telly Talk Dream Maker
Ugh. I’m rewatching the 82-83 season and have just gotten to the point where Pam leaves Bobby. She’s utterly obnoxious the way she blames the Ewings for her mother’s death (they’re NOT responsible) and just declares that she’s taking Christopher away from Southfork.

Bobby should have fought for joint custody and never taken her back, given how she ran away again.
 

DallasFanForever

Telly Talk Supreme
Technically I think Pam should’ve left Bobby and ran away from that family long before there even was a Christopher LOL. But all kidding aside, Bobby was a very different man at this point. The fight for Ewing Oil had changed him so much and had directly or indirectly led to casualties. And Rebecca’s death was a consequence of that war. Of course neither Bobby nor J.R. had wanted there to be deaths because of them, but they both had blood on their hands imo. Many lives were destroyed because of the fight for Ewing Oil. So I can definitely see Pam’s side of things as to why she left with Christopher. As far as Bobby fighting her for joint custody of Christopher goes, this could’ve been an interesting storyline. But I can’t see Pam and Bobby in a custody battle realistically. He knew that despite their differences Christopher belonged with his mother, and no matter how much Bobby had changed by this point he still had much more of a conscience than J.R. A custody battle just wasn’t Pam and Bobby’s thing. They were still very much in love despite everything.
 

Angela Channing

Telly Talk Veteran
When people are grieving they often look for someone to blame so it was entirely plausible that Pam would blame the Ewings for Rebecca's death. I understand why the broke up Bobby and Pam as it lead to some great storylines but felt the reasons they used were a bit weak considering how devoted Bobby and Pam were to each other previously and how they had stood by each other regardless how much pressure the Ewings put them under.
 

Billy Wall

Telly Talk Dream Maker
Technically I think Pam should’ve left Bobby and ran away from that family long before there even was a Christopher LOL. But all kidding aside, Bobby was a very different man at this point. The fight for Ewing Oil had changed him so much and had directly or indirectly led to casualties. And Rebecca’s death was a consequence of that war. Of course neither Bobby nor J.R. had wanted there to be deaths because of them, but they both had blood on their hands imo. Many lives were destroyed because of the fight for Ewing Oil. So I can definitely see Pam’s side of things as to why she left with Christopher. As far as Bobby fighting her for joint custody of Christopher goes, this could’ve been an interesting storyline. But I can’t see Pam and Bobby in a custody battle realistically. He knew that despite their differences Christopher belonged with his mother, and no matter how much Bobby had changed by this point he still had much more of a conscience than J.R. A custody battle just wasn’t Pam and Bobby’s thing. They were still very much in love despite everything.

Rebecca’s death was caused by her and Cliff’s obsession with JR and nothing else. She jumped on a plane to stop a JR deal that didn’t even concern her. That’s her fault.
 

DallasFanForever

Telly Talk Supreme
Billy Wall I agree with you that Cliff and Rebecca’s obsession with JR definitely Is what led to her death ultimately. I just meant that I can see why Pam would blame the Ewings. Whether she was right or wrong she was grieving and the Ewings were gonna get the blame for what happened. To her it was the feud that had caused Rebecca’s death
 

Laurie!

Telly Talk Fan
Can't JR be described as "utterly obnoxious" for blaming the Barnes family or singularly, Pam or Cliff for everything negative in his life (otherwise his need for constant revenge was misguided)? Or wasn't Sue Ellen "utterly obnoxious" for blaming JR's cheating for her drinking and complete lack of independent thought?

The entire premise of the show...all the way back to Digger blaming Jock for every misfortune in his life, is based upon blaming the rival family. So I don't think it should come as a surprise that when the writers needed a reason for Pam to leave Bobby, they chose ...blame the Ewing's as the catalyst.

As has been said, Pam had no shortage of reasons for wanting away from Bobby's family but as we saw play out...when Pam left for good, there really wasn't a show left with any semblance of the original. It sucked...plain and simple. It was missing the thread that wove the two families together. The McKay's and Stevens were no replacement.
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
That season is so entertaining for the fact that Pam blames the Ewing's and Bobby in the wrong!

Good drama though. It probably happens plenty of times in real life, where people blame each other in the wrong.

I didn't like it when Bobby & Pam split up but it was great viewing to see if they'd get back together again or if that Alex Ward & later Mark Graison would make moves on her. :)
 
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