How Did Pam Not Remember Being Married?

[Billy Wall]

Someone brought up Ed Farraday/Pam's long lost husband in another thread and it got me thinking. Every time I see that episode, it always puzzles me that Pam doesn't recognize him or have any recollection ever being married.

Even though she was very young at the time of their marriage, it seems unusual that she wouldn't know who he was.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Someone brought up Ed Farraday/Pam's long lost husband in another thread and it got me thinking. Every time I see that episode, it always puzzles me that Pam doesn't recognize him or have any recollection ever being married.

Even though she was very young at the time of their marriage, it seems unusual that she wouldn't know who he was.

Not really.

What we look like as kids is never the same as what we look like as adults.

So I'm not surprised she didn't recognise him.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I believe it. If it interfered with her now life of wealth and privilege, it was irrelevant while she could lecture everyone else in a pompous, self-righteous
way - especially the people who were creating that life of wealth and privilege

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

their initial encounter in The Store is one of my favorite bits of dialogue in the entire series:

ED: Pamela?
PAM: Yes?
ED: Do you remember me?
PAM: No.
ED: Well you should, I'm your husband!
PAM: Ed?

*cut to commercial*

the script is silly enough, but the delivery and timing takes it to dizzying heights of ridiculousness, right up there with "a semi-kidnapped Lucy sings at the Overcomer Club Talent Show in Austin". Unlike so many "true pro" character actors throughout the series (e.g. William Windom as Amos Krebbs in a similar "relation from the past suddenly appears, seeking money" role), the guy playing poor Ed wasn't the type who ended up in hundreds of productions over the years, and it shows here... Victoria hadn't come into her own, as well.

(I thought I had screenshots of that with captions somewhere, but unfortunately at some point amazon prime video cracked down on grabbing screen captures when watching in a web browser... so I stopped taking those)

 

[Mustard]

1. Pam and Ed had known each other only very briefly, and were teenagers
2. They were both around 10 years older in that Dallas episode

 

[KayLloyd]

Someone brought up Ed Farraday/Pam's long lost husband in another thread and it got me thinking. Every time I see that episode, it always puzzles me that Pam doesn't recognize him or have any recollection ever being married.

Even though she was very young at the time of their marriage, it seems unusual that she wouldn't know who he was.

To be fair, she didn't forget having been married to Ed, she just didn't recognize him 10 years later because they had only spent a few hours together before Digger found her and dragged her home after she eloped with Ed while on a school trip. They weren't exactly joined at the hip high school sweethearts. Her big mistake was not telling Bobby about the marriage, it was not consummated and annulled, he would have understood her youthful mistake.

 

[LMLDallas78]

*cut to commercial*

Ah yes commercial breaks, only seen here when it's been repeated on other channels.
Dallas was originally aired on BBC here so no ad breaks so I'd never remember where they were.

the script is silly enough,

I did like how Cliff and Bobby worked together here even if I didn't care for the story.

Loved David Digger here too.


Bitchy Sue Ellen being all righteous to Bobby! (Brilliant) And Lucy asking if she can visit the school for wayward boys.


I would have thought Pam would've remembered him as soon as he said do you remember me.

 

[Mustard]

The scene of the episode that really sticks in my mind was when Bobby blew his top at Pam, and ended with "If you don't find that annulment then you and I might not be married, and I don't like that, at all!".

 

[DallasFanForever]

Maybe subconsciously Pam didn’t want to remember him or their brief marriage. It was obviously something she wasn’t too proud of and hadn’t even told Bobby. If it was a mistake she didn’t want to talk about ever again then I can see why she’d try to bury it and not even recognize him at first.

 

[Toni]

Maybe subconsciously Pam didn’t want to remember him or their brief marriage. It was obviously something she wasn’t too proud of and hadn’t even told Bobby. If it was a mistake she didn’t want to talk about ever again then I can see why she’d try to bury it and not even recognize him at first.

Maybe there wasn't much to remember about Ed...

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Maybe there wasn't much to remember about Ed...

Digger had Ed up there in his bedroom and didn’t remember him at all the next day..

 

[Billy Wall]

Digger had Ed up there in his bedroom and didn’t remember him at all the next day..

Nobody seemed to even know who he was. That's strange.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Nobody seemed to even know who he was. That's strange.

tragically, the writers and producers seemed to forget after that episode as well.. a well-timed Ed Haynes barb out of JR or even Cliff somewhere down the line could have really put Pam in her place or gotten under Bobby’s skin.

 

[B.J. Ewing]

Someone brought up Ed Farraday/Pam's long lost husband in another thread and it got me thinking. Every time I see that episode, it always puzzles me that Pam doesn't recognize him or have any recollection ever being married.

Even though she was very young at the time of their marriage, it seems unusual that she wouldn't know who he was.

What puzzles ME is that you refer to Ed's last name being Farraday instead of Haynes, especially since you've watched the episode several times. (Kidding, of course.)

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Nobody seemed to even know who he was. That's strange.

Tragically, the writers and producers seemed to forget after that episode as well.. a well-timed Ed Haynes barb out of JR or even Cliff somewhere down the line could have really put Pam in her place or gotten under Bobby’s skin.

I think the reason they just dropped Ed Farraday Haynes in out of the bule was some of those early episodes were more self contained.

The Ed Haynes character was important because this episode brought out four interesting themes:

1) Bobby immediately chose the Ewing family over Pam when the news first broke. That was the first thread coming undone in the Pam and Bobby love story.

2) Once Bobby came around, he teamed up with Cliff to find the truth. This showed that while the feud was enjoyable to watch, Bobby teaming up with Cliff was even more enjoyable to watch.

3) Self-righteous Sue Ellen is ready to pounce on any weakness she sees in Pam and Bobby's relationship. She points out that the church board is concerned that Bobby can't keep a marriage together. This is in contrast to the healthy marriage enjoyed by Sue Ellen and J.R.

4) Digger Barnes stood up for Pam and confronted Haynes. This has some real meaning to it. Digger could have quietly stood by, hoping this would doom Pam and Bobby's marriage. He didn't do that. Digger wanting to come to the rescue showed he wants what's best for Pam, even if it helps Bobby and by extension the Ewing family.

It makes for a nice self contained episode because if you've never seen Dallas before you can stumble into this episode and get an instant scorecard.