Was Sue Ellen Selfish For Leaving When They Were Searching For Jock, Or Was She Right To Leave?

[Snarky Oracle!]

Sue Ellen and JR were both bitches. But I don't blame her for leaving that night.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I don’t think she was selfish for leaving really. The awkwardness of staying in your ex-husbands house with his family had to be difficult at that point considering they were divorced less than a year.

On the other hand, given the circumstances of Jock’s possible death looming over the family, I would’ve understood if she did stay. Divorces and personal feelings tend to go out the window during a time like that anyway. I think she made a fair compromise by staying as long as she did before leaving.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

I was looking at some of his books on Amazon today. He also wrote Sliver and A Kiss Before Dying, which were not great movies in the 80's or 90's. Reading some of the reviews and descriptions made me want to read Kiss Before Dying.

Sue Ellen was absolutely NOT being selfish.

She was finally free. JR treated her horribly, but she loved him desperately. JR was always Sue Ellen's real drug of choice, alcohol was just a poor substitute. She knew if she got herself sucked back into his life, she wouldn't be able to resist falling back in love with him. Especially considering JR always had the most appeal to her when he was doing his wounded little boy act and needed her emotional support. She was trying to protect her own "sobriety." In more ways than one.

Ellie was the one who was selfish here. She was basically asking Sue Ellen to put her own emotional health on the line because the family needed her support. Yet the family never did a damn thing to support Sue Ellen while JR was abusive to her right on front of their eyes.

In addition to that, here they have a woman with a very serious drinking problem, and they keep an open bar in the middle of the living room and have drinks before every dinner. They only time JR locked up all the liquor was after she was in the car accident that ultimately killed poor Mickey. Not once did they ever discuss whether or not they should have the open bar or drink in front of her so much.
Maybe all the Ewings were alcoholics, but they were more functional than Sue Ellen.

 

[Billy Wall]

In addition to that, here they have a woman with a very serious drinking problem, and they keep an open bar in the middle of the living room.

I agree, but what was even worse is for Sue Ellen herself to have a bar in her own living room during this time.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

I agree, but what was even worse is for Sue Ellen herself to have a bar in her own living room during this time.

Yes. She has her own place, yet she puts a glittering bar in the living room. She probably did it so she could pick up a glass, stare at it with a quivering lip, and dramatically set it down. No one does alcoholic or "on the verge of relapse" better than Sue Ellen

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

You can’t compare Pam & Sue Ellen. Bobby adored Pam & generally always supported her. I took Sue Ellen’s words to mean if she saw JR like a hurt little boy it would too hard for her to leave

I wasn't really comparing them, merely pointing out that although Pam didn't really get along with Jock at times she was still concerned about him and the family especially Miss Ellie if Jock was really dead.

Although if we do compare them we see that Pam put her torn feelings aside for the good of the family. Sue Ellen obviously had difficulty doing that with regards to JR.

 

[Toni]

Nope - she wasn’t selfish at all. If I had been writing the show, after Sue Ellen discovered JR cheating on her with Holly Harwood, I would have had her wise up for good, divorce JR, and take her little boy and cut ties with the Ewings. But not before telling them all off. I didn’t like the whole revenge story with the film or Kimberly Cryder. I would have rather had her say, “Life is too short for me to put up with my rotten husband and his pathetic excuse for a family. Buh-bye!” Ultimately, hatred isn’t the opposite of love; indifference is. Of course, indifference isn’t as dramatically satisfying.

 

[Toni]

I think that the real problem of this episode and Sue Ellen´s scenes was how often she changed her style from one scene to another. She really kept herself busy while recalling that Jock once called her "gallivanting drunk" (or whatever).