Kristin vs Katherine

[DallasFanForever]

Katherine or Kristen is a tough one for me. Both were fantastic characters and in my opinion gone way too soon from the show. I’ll give Kristen the nod considering she will forever be the answer to the most famous cliffhanger trivia question in history. Who shot Bobby didn’t really have the same impact obviously. I do feel however that if Bobby’s death wasn’t a dream, Katherine would possibly be on the same level as Kristen. I think she would be remembered as an even greater villain had she really killed him. The dream might’ve saved Katherine’s life, but it hurt her standing as a villain as well.

 

[Mustard]

Just my opinion, but there is a cultural belief (at least in the US) that women are far more cunning and vindictive than men.

Same as bullying in the school playground. Boys will have physical fights and make up quickly afterwards in a lot of cases, while girls will tend to be less physical but much more vicious in mentally bullying and/or ignoring some girls and it tends to last longer and fester in a way that feuds between boys don't.

Men act out of emotion (primarily anger) while women play the "long game" and plan and plot and bide their time. It think it's that perception that guides the writing of the female antagonists in Dallas.

Men tend to be more single minded, so are better when they focus on one specific thing to do or achieve. Women are better at multi tasking, i.e. doing lots of different things at once. Of course there are exceptions to this, but that's generally how it is.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Just my opinion, but there is a cultural belief (at least in the US) that women are far more cunning and vindictive than men. Men act out of emotion (primarily anger) while women play the "long game" and plan and plot and bide their time. It think it's that perception that guides the writing of the female antagonists in Dallas.

And like with most stereotypes, there's some truth in it.

Would it be sexist to think this is true in many cases, but not all? I have a feeling most women would concur with this. In fact, most of the people I know who have said this are women.
One could argue that many, not all, women learned to be cunning and play the long game because culturally and historically, that was their only option. I bet Mae West and Abby Cunningham, to mix real life and fantasy, would agree.
In terms of Kristin vs. Katherine, Kristin was overall better developed, but as I've said before, Morgan Brittany had something, imho, that when she was in the scene, just fascinated me. It wasn't her looks. She stood amongst great beauties such as Victoria, Priscilla and Patrick.

 

[CeeCee72]

Would it be sexist to think this is true in many cases, but not all? I have a feeling most women would concur with this. In fact, most of the people I know who have said this are women.

Nah. Not sexist. Like I said, most stereotypes have some truth in them.

 

[Grangehill1]

A combination of things with Pam. Not just miscarriages, but the neurofibromatosis worry, Digger's death, the Hutch McKinney revelation, finding her mother was actually alive only to be rejected initially, talked to her later and then finding her again, Bobby in the first half of Season 4 DVD running Ewing Oil like a man possessed and treating Pam awfully to the point that she nearly had an affair with Alex Ward, Cliff also being unsympathetic to her searching for their mother. All that on top of the baby worries just caused Pam's previously strong mental state to unravel. It could have gotten worse for her too, if Bobby didn't have Christopher with him that day. That put Pam back in the right mental space. That of course makes it all the more baffling for the brass to expect the audience to believe that Pam would abandon Bobby and Christopher like she did in Season 11 DVD.


Exactly

On my last rewatch I found it even more remarkable how quickly Bobby and Pam separate once she has Christopher. It’s like she got all she wanted and left

 

[the-lost-son]

That's really a tough decision. Kristen, Katherine, Jessica - Dallas knew how to (re)create these crazy sister storylines. I'd liked to have another crazy sister of Donna btw.

The characters of Kristen and Katherine are very alike and left the series both with a bang. They didn't overstay their welcome for sure and that's perhaps the biggest reason for their appeal.

On the one hand I love how the characters progressed and especially ended, on the other hand I can't help thinking of storylines which could have been.

For example Kristen reclaiming Christopher with some epic fights between Bobby and a fiery Pamela (instead of Lisa Alden we never heard of, giving the storyline some gravitas). Or Katherine fighting with Cliff&Pam over Wentworth industries, similar to the fight of Ewing Oil with everyone dragged into it.

Pam's last year was kind of lackluster with her more sidelined. This could have put some fire into the character giving us early Pam once again.

 

[Mustard]

On my last rewatch I found it even more remarkable how quickly Bobby and Pam separate once she has Christopher. It’s like she got all she wanted and left

Well, Pam left because of the death of her mother soon after failing to stop the Battle for Ewing Oil. Just look at how much Dallas changed from the start of that season, with Cliff fighting for his life, to 17 episodes later when Rebecca dies, and even more so by the end of the season. Cliff fighting for his life seemed so long ago even midway through the season.

 

[Snowcat]

That's really a tough decision. Kristen, Katherine, Jessica - Dallas knew how to (re)create these crazy sister storylines. I'd liked to have another crazy sister of Donna btw.

The characters of Kristen and Katherine are very alike and left the series both with a bang. They didn't overstay their welcome for sure and that's perhaps the biggest reason for their appeal.

On the one hand I love how the characters progressed and especially ended, on the other hand I can't help thinking of storylines which could have been.

For example Kristen reclaiming Christopher with some epic fights between Bobby and a fiery Pamela (instead of Lisa Alden we never heard of, giving the storyline some gravitas). Or Katherine fighting with Cliff&Pam over Wentworth industries, similar to the fight of Ewing Oil with everyone dragged into it.

Pam's last year was kind of lackluster with her more sidelined. This could have put some fire into the character giving us early Pam once again.

I was very surprised Katherine didn’t fight Cliff for Wentworth industries.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

They tended to kill off some characters too early. I can understand why they did what they did with Kristin, who else could have feasibly been in the pool, Teresa? but her coming back years later as The Lost Son suggested sounds intriguing. Digger is another. Had they known Jim Davis was going to die shortly, I'm assuming this would be different.

 

[CeeCee72]

They tended to kill off some characters too early. I can understand why they did what they did with Kristin, who else could have feasibly been in the pool, Teresa? but her coming back years later as The Lost Son suggested sounds intriguing. Digger is another. Had they known Jim Davis was going to die shortly, I'm assuming this would be different.

If they had known about Davis dying, I would have hoped they would have had the foresight to keep Digger around. Reuniting him with Miss Ellie would have been an incredible plot.

 

[Mustard]

If they had known about Davis dying, I would have hoped they would have had the foresight to keep Digger around. Reuniting him with Miss Ellie would have been an incredible plot.

The interactions between Digger and Rebecca would have been interesting. Digger might get somewhat bitter with her too, not only for leaving him, faking her death etc. but for becoming as rich as she was, at least at first. Keenan Wynn carried on acting right up until his death from pancreatic cancer in October 1986, so he could have stayed in Dallas for some years more than his early 1980 departure.

A potential Miss Ellie and Digger reunion would have certainly stirred up some tempers even more than Miss Ellie and Clayton Farlow did. With all that happened in Season 6 DVD during the Battle for Ewing Oil, that would have been another massive plot tearing the family apart had it been pursued.

 

[lbf522]

To me Kristin was a one note character who hated her sister. Sue Ellen and Kristin were sisters in name only which was obvious in Kristin's actions. She sleeps with her sister's husband, deludes herself into believing that he will marry her, shoots him when its obvious that he will never do that and frames her sister for his shooting. If Sue Ellen had not figured it out, she would have gone to prison and Kristin would not have spoken up. I never understood the crossover with Knots Landing. To me Kristin had no redeeming qualities. As for Kristin's death, shame the writers left it to the viewer's imagination. The pool should have been placed underneath the terrace if we were to believe that she either fell or was thrown from there.

As for Katherine, I had a lot of sympathy for her in the way he mother shafted her. Her father passes on, then he is introduced to two half siblings she has never hear of before, then her mother brings her half brother Cliff into her father's company where he has no business in and after her mother's death, fighting Cliff's fight with the Ewings, in Rebecca's will she makes Katherine part owner of a company that should be solely hers. I wish the writers had her challenge her mother's will in court instead of making her a psycho chasing after Bobby.

 

[Richard Channing]

Thinking about it, both of their deaths were kind of strange. Whereas most characters in a soap can usually survive quite a horrific car crash with just a few scratches and a head bandage, Katherine met her maker in a glorified fender bender. And as for Kristin, drowning in a swimming pool cause she was so high she couldn't swim or get out of it?? Just how much angel dust was she on???

 

[Mustard]

Thinking about it, both of their deaths were kind of strange. Whereas most characters in a soap can usually survive quite a horrific car crash with just a few scratches and a head bandage, Katherine met her maker in a glorified fender bender. And as for Kristin, drowning in a swimming pool cause she was so high she couldn't swim or get out of it?? Just how much angel dust was she on???

Kristin fell off the balcony, hit her head on the concrete on the edge of the pool, which knocked her unconscious, and then she fell in the pool and drowned. That makes it all the more suspicious why J.R. was up on the balcony looking as calm as you like at the time when Cliff jumped into the pool and looked at Kristin's body. Why wasn't J.R. saving her? I was never convinced, and still aren't, that we know the whole story about Kristin's death. I think J.R. at the very least, stood by and let her drown.

As for Katherine, car crashes can be a bit of a lottery, especially when at high speed. If you're lucky, you'll be unhurt or have minor bruises. If you're really unlucky, you'll break your neck and die.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Thinking about it, both of their deaths were kind of strange. Whereas most characters in a soap can usually survive quite a horrific car crash with just a few scratches and a head bandage, Katherine met her maker in a glorified fender bender. And as for Kristin, drowning in a swimming pool cause she was so high she couldn't swim or get out of it?? Just how much angel dust was she on???

the way Kristin busted through the balcony fence, she must have been a hellacious Red Rover player in elementary school gym class!

 

[Richard Channing]

Kristin fell off the balcony, hit her head on the concrete on the edge of the pool, which knocked her unconscious

Ah ok, I forgot that bit, that makes more sense.

Why wasn't J.R. saving her? I was never convinced, and still aren't, that we know the whole story about Kristin's death. I think J.R. at the very least, stood by and let her drown.

Good point.