@Sarah I know that you hurt when Sue Ellen hurts. I guess that's testimony to that the characters on Dallas are multilayered and the actors are doing a great job of making them come to life. They seem realistic. They become like real people who we can relate to or care about.
I agree with a lot of what you said
@Rove. I think there's something very special about a couple who has shared more than 50 years together. My maternal grandparents were married 65 years and they did have a remarkable connection. My paternal grandparents were together for about 40 years before my grandpa died early, leaving my grandma a widow at 56, yet she never remarried. He was simply the love of her life.
I think in some ways it is unrealistic for a woman like Miss Ellie to remarry, yet I can see why she did considering that it's a soap opera it made for good drama to bring in a new partner for her and in some ways I liked Clayton more than Jock, even though their connection was never really the same.
Anyway if it's one thing I love about Dallas it's the fact that they have many great couples to root for that are all different from each other.
There's
Jock and Miss Ellie who had that special connection that comes from spending many years together and watching their family grow and expand. They have shared a life with all the trials and tribulations. He has been to war, she has raised the kids. They have worked the ranch and he has built a business empire. She has stood by him through all the years and even forgiven his infidelity during the war. Their love is strong and it's solid.
Then at the beginning
Bobby and Pam were the young newlyweds that were so much in love and yet they constantly had to fight for their love. The threat against them was always from the outside. Their families who didn't want them to be together. Over time they became more and more tortured and more and more star-crossed lovers.
JR & Sue Ellen had something else, it was dysfunctional, it was complicated and fascinating. There was this love-hate relationship. It was passionate. It was the can't live with or without each other. No matter what happened they always gravitated back to each other. Having John Ross also bonded them stronger together and it seemed like they became happier after having produced an heir to the Ewing empire. There were moments of great happiness but also of great dispair. It was like a constant roller coaster with highs and lows. It was like the threat against their relationship came from the inside, it was their own destructive behavior pattern that caused them to break up. Not other people interferring.
Donna & Ray were a classic case of opposite attracts and yet if you scratch underneath the surface they have more in common than you think. Both of them lost their parents at a young age. They are both committed to making their relationship work, but Ray is more conflicted than Donna and sometimes he set out on a self-destructive path. Donna has the patient to stand by him and wait for him to get better. She can sense when he is hurting. She makes Ray feel more secure about himself and happy. But at the same time he is always in her shadow as she is a born leader and someone who is used to succeed in whatever she does.
At least that's my interpreation of the different couples. What is yours?
Also I agree that the Dallas cast had more chemistry than a lot of couples who are celebrated today for their remarkable chemistry!
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