Pam is a nitwit to blame Bobby and the Ewings for her mother’s death

[Chris2]

Rewatching 82-83 (which will always be season 5 to me). Bobby never should have stood there and accepted blame for Rebecca’s death. Why?

• Rebecca chose to involve herself in the Barnes/Ewing feud. She’s been gung-ho all season to punish the Ewings, and she’s obnoxious. Don’t go into battle if you don’t want to deal with consequences.
• The plane crash had nothing to do with the feud or the battle for Ewing Oil. By Pam’s logic, any action Rebecca took during that period could have been chalked up to the battle. “Mama wouldn’t have gotten hit by that car if she hadn’t crossed the street after meeting with Cliff to talk about the battle!” “Mama wouldn’t have choked on that apple if she hadn’t been so ravenously hungry after her latest strategy session to take down the Ewings!.” Ridiculous.
• Rebecca is a hypocrite. Her abandoning Cliff to his drunken murderer of a father did far more damage to Cliff than the Ewings ever did.
• The Ewings didn’t swindle Cliff in the land deal. JR did, and Rebecca has no right to lash out at the rest of the family.

If I had been Bobby I would never have let her walk off Southfork with my son because she was blaming me for her mother’s death. I would have looked at her and said, “OK, then by your logic, you’re ultimately responsible for your mother’s death. Because if you hadn’t been so adamant about tracking down your mother and including her in our lives, she never would have involved herself in the Barnes/Ewing feud to begin with. I don’t think I can forgive you for that, so I’m taking Christopher and moving to a hotel so I can have some alone time. See ya!”

 

[Willie Oleson]

But convoluted frustration is a great tactic to hook the viewers. Not only does the problem need to be fixed but also the thinking process behind it.
And therefore there has tho be a nithwith ath Southfork.

 

[Chris2]

This is true. And if Pam wasn’t using convoluted logic, how else would the writers have gotten her over to the south of France to gallivant with her sexy mustache man?

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

This is true. And if Pam wasn’t using convoluted logic, how else would the writers have gotten her over to the south of France to gallivant with her sexy mustache man?

Listen buddy how dare you attempt to sully the memory of my Step Mother.

She has always been a wonderful parent to me and I won't have you besmirch her good name.

Persist in running her down and I'll have drugs planted in your car or house and you'll be visited by FBI agents.

You've been warned.

 

[Billy Wall]

Pam was just looking for an excuse to leave.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Pam was just looking for an excuse to leave.

I'm looking for an excuse to have the OP arrested.

I have powerful friends and they should know not to cross a Ewing or they'll live to regret it!

 

[Laurie!]

I think she left Southfork because of the culmination of events just prior. Her mother's death was just the last straw.

Don't forget, she just found out Bobby had lied to her about Christopher, lied to her about Faraday, set a man up with a prostitute who planted cocaine, etc. Bobby truly was obsessed with winning at any cost at that point.

If Pam is a nitwit to blame Bobby for Rebecca's death, weren't they all just nitwits? Every single character blamed someone else for everything and that was the core of the show.

The Ewings were to blame for all Barnes' problems and the Barnes's were to blame for all the Ewing's problems. JR was to blame for Sue Ellen's alcoholism, etc. That's DALLAS!

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I think she left Southfork because of the culmination of events just prior. Her mother's death was just the last straw.

Don't forget, she just found out Bobby had lied to her about Christopher, lied to her about Faraday, set a man up with a prostitute who planted cocaine, etc. Bobby truly was obsessed with winning at any cost at that point.

If Pam is a nitwit to blame Bobby for Rebecca's death, weren't they all just nitwits? Every single character blamed someone else for everything and that was the core of the show.

The Ewings were to blame for all Barnes' problems and the Barnes's were to blame for all the Ewing's problems. JR was to blame for Sue Ellen's alcoholism, etc. That's DALLAS!

Yeah poor Pam had to put up with the Ewing's and their idiosyncrasys.

I'm not surprised she wanted space away from Bobby and his dysfunctional family.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Bobby wasn’t directly to blame for Rebecca’s death but Pam had had enough at this point. Bobby had changed considerably during this time and Pam felt he was no longer the man she had married. Everything was getting blamed on the fight for Ewing Oil at this point. It was destroying lives, whether intentional or not.

Rebecca’s death, Mickey’s accident, Sue Ellen going back to the bottle, Pam and Bobby separating, Miss Ellie’s depression, Driscoll’s suicide, the Southfork fire; these were all casualties of the war. I prefer to view it as Bobby and J.R. are both responsible for it all on some level, or at the very least I like to wonder how many of these things wouldn’t have happened if there was no battle for Ewing Oil going on between them.

Either way, it’s the best season of the show, but the most telling scene comes early the next season when Bobby, J.R. and Ray meet. “We all have blood on our hands” was something they all agreed on, and they we’re right. For those three to agree on anything it had to be true.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Bobby wasn’t directly to blame for Rebecca’s death but Pam had had enough at this point. Bobby had changed considerably during this time and Pam felt he was no longer the man she had married. Everything was getting blamed on the fight for Ewing Oil at this point. It was destroying lives, whether intentional or not.

Rebecca’s death, Mickey’s accident, Sue Ellen going back to the bottle, Pam and Bobby separating, Miss Ellie’s depression, Driscoll’s suicide, the Southfork fire; these were all casualties of the war. I prefer to view it as Bobby and J.R. are both responsible for it all on some level, or at the very least I like to wonder how many of these things wouldn’t have happened if there was no battle for Ewing Oil going on between them.

Either way, it’s the best season of the show, but the most telling scene comes early the next season when Bobby, J.R. and Ray meet. “We all have blood on our hands” was something they all agreed on, and they we’re right. For those three to agree on anything it had to be true.

Yeah that season had a terrible affect on me on it's original run.

I wet the bed at least four times during that season!

I'd wake up and have to do the breast stroke to get out the bed!

I'm kiddin' of course!

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Pam - she could blame everyone and anyone, except for Miss Ellie (for some reason)
JR was right - Pam had a knack for accumulating unearned income.
She lived off Ewing and Wentworth money.
Granted, she had the department store job. She expected Bobby to be supportive,
but she would not support him in the Ewing Oil battle.
She even sided with Miss Ellie against Bobby, instead of...talking to him and trying to work out
some sort of solution, like a mature person.
Bobby was not responsible for Rebecca's fate, and Pam was wrong to blame him.
Bobby had no responsibility for Cliff's choices, which was what led to those events..
Katherine wasn't entirely wrong about Rebecca flighting Cliff's battles, although
to be fair, both Cliff and JR were rivals, and neither told Rebecca what to do.
So JR wasn't at fault either

 

[LMLDallas78]

she could blame everyone and anyone, except for Miss Ellie (for some reason)

Ah yes Miss Ellie, always completely blameless.

I have to admire her and Pam though, they both had that gift of evading any blame and remaining paragons of virtue.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Ah yes Miss Ellie, always completely blameless.

I have to admire her and Pam though, they both had that gift of evading any blame and remaining paragons of virtue.

That's because both of them were very sweet. I love them both.

 

[LMLDallas78]

That's because both of them were very sweet. I love them both.

Yes they were, but there's a difference between being sweet and being a Mary Sue.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Rewatching 82-83 (which will always be season 5 to me). Bobby never should have stood there and accepted blame for Rebecca’s death.

This was a great season! As @James from London has pointed out, the season was tightly written and every character moved the plot forward.

Rebecca was an interesting character as she provided even more history for Cliff and Pam. She also was able to add another layer in the contest for Ewing Oil.

It was a bold move by the writers to have people actually dying over the battle for Ewing Oil.

For some people, such as Walt Driscol, there was no gray area at all. He was minding his own business and was sucked into the Ewing Oil vortex and died as a direct result.

Others, such as Rebecca Wentworth were a step removed. Her death opens a new question: Where do you draw the line between people who died because of the contest for Ewing Oil and how many people died in the same period, not directly related?

It's this ambiguity that allows each character to inject their own perspective. It opens the door for J.R. to share the blame with Ray and Bobby when he says,

"None of us have clean hands, boys."

Brilliant.

 

[Billy Wall]

Bobby wasn’t directly to blame for Rebecca’s death but Pam had had enough at this point. Bobby had changed considerably during this time and Pam felt he was no longer the man she had married. Everything was getting blamed on the fight for Ewing Oil at this point. It was destroying lives, whether intentional or not.

Rebecca’s death, Mickey’s accident, Sue Ellen going back to the bottle, Pam and Bobby separating, Miss Ellie’s depression, Driscoll’s suicide, the Southfork fire; these were all casualties of the war. I prefer to view it as Bobby and J.R. are both responsible for it all on some level, or at the very least I like to wonder how many of these things wouldn’t have happened if there was no battle for Ewing Oil going on between them.

Either way, it’s the best season of the show, but the most telling scene comes early the next season when Bobby, J.R. and Ray meet. “We all have blood on our hands” was something they all agreed on, and they we’re right. For those three to agree on anything it had to be true.

I agree with just about everything, but Rebecca's death. She could have stayed home, but she allowed Cliff to make her just as obsessed with the Ewing's as he was.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

She could have stayed home, but she allowed Cliff to make her just as obsessed with the Ewing's as he was.

Billy Wall makes me think of a possible plot twist:

Let's say that Cliff gets on the plane instead of Rebecca and he is killed in the crash.

And Rebecca blames J.R. (rightly or wrongly).

Now Rebecca goes on a crusade to destroy J.R.
Instead of milquetoast Cliff, the Ewings are facing a calm, cool, and collected Rebecca, who not only has the smarts to wage a serious battle, but also has the money.

Could have been interesting. . .

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Billy Wall makes me think of a possible plot twist:

Let's say that Cliff gets on the plane instead of Rebecca and he is killed in the crash.

And Rebecca blames J.R. (rightly or wrongly).

Now Rebecca goes on a crusade to destroy J.R.
Instead of milquetoast Cliff, the Ewings are facing a calm, cool, and collected Rebecca, who not only has the smarts to wage a serious battle, but also has the money.

Could have been interesting. . .

That would certainly be interesting.
I wish Rebecca had stayed. She could have been a strong adversary against the Ewings
She was right when she asked Miss Ellie if her answers would be the same if her son had been Cliff

 

[LMLDallas78]

Here's Rebecca being very hard on Cliff then guilt ranting at Miss Ellie.

This might've been a better Cliffhanger if the words at the end were different and from someone else. Sue Ellen threatening not to remarry JR was a bit un-dramatic. I know their love triangle led up to this, but much more could have been made of it.

Rebecca shouldn't have been killed off. She could definitely be a strong force.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Rebecca shouldn't have been killed off. She could definitely be a strong force.

I’ve always had mixed feelings on this one. I thought killing off the mother of a main character and making her a casualty in the war was an excellent idea. It was so well written, yet I enjoyed the actress and the character so much that I feel there could’ve been so much more.