Kenny Coyote
Telly Talk Star
The following is an excerpt from season 6's episode "Things Ain't Goin' Too Good At Southfork" complete with my commentary in brackets. Pam has just returned earlier than she planned from her vacation in France with Mark Graison, after receiving a phone call from Afton Cooper.
(Bobby is feeding Christopher his dinner when Pam walks in)
Bobby: Well, welcome home! Look who’s here! Mommy’s home!
Pam: Bobby, why did you bring Christopher back here?
Bobby: Well because I’m his father and I figured he was better off here with me, when you’re not around.
Pam: Well, I’m taking him home with me now.
Bobby: Well fine. Honey, I’d have thought I was trying to kidnap him or something.
Pam: Well after that phone call I didn’t know what to think. I was afraid you might keep him.
Bobby: Well who called you and told you told you something like that?
Pam: Well it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was frightened.
[Well it matters to Bobby! If someone made a phone call to your wife and said something to make her think that, wouldn’t you want to know who made the call? But since it only matters to Bobby and not to Pam, she treats it as a non-issue and doesn't answer his question.]
Bobby: Alright, I just figured that Christopher was better off here with me than in a hotel room with a nurse.
[Rightly so!]
(Pam gives Theresa instructions in the background to get Christopher’s things together.)
Bobby: Well how long has it been since I’ve seen you? A week? And you come roaring in here like I’m public enemy number one? It wasn’t me who ran off to France.
[Excellent point. What if the roles were reversed and Bobby had flown to France with Katherine. Imagine the outburst Pam would have unleashed. But since it was Pam flying to France, on Mark’s private jet, it’s a non-issue as far as Pam is concerned. She’s so entitled! Yet Bobby remains fairly calm, despite it all. BTW, this is “the bad Bobby” – the bad guy Bobby became during the contest for Ewing Oil. He became so bad that Pam had to leave, according to her. If this calm, reasonable response is from “the bad Bobby”, who was “the good Bobby”? A saint?]
Pam: What have you been doing since I left?
Bobby: Boy, that must have been some phone call you got.
Pam: What’s going on between you and Katherine?
Bobby: What makes you think there’s anything going on between us? She’s your sister!
Pam: That’s not an answer to my question!
[As if Pam’s been answering Bobby’s questions. Pam’s self-centeredness is off the charts!]
Bobby: It’s the only answer you deserve right now.
Pam: What is Katherine to you?
Bobby: You really want to know? Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. She’s everything that you should be but aren’t. She’s doing everything she can right now to help me. She really cares whether I win or lose. She listens to me. She really tries to understand. And you know what’s funny about all that? Rebecca was her mother too Pam, yet she doesn’t blame me for what happened to her. I guess what it comes down to is that right now Katherine’s just about the best friend I have in the whole world, and that’s it! Final! Period! Can you say the same thing about Mark Graison? Is he just a friend to you?
[Katherine loved her mother, Rebecca, but doesn't blame Bobby for Rebecca's death. Katherine blames Cliff, since it was originally Cliff’s flight. Rebecca was only on the plane because Cliff got so drunk, he forgot about his flight. Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Still, does Pam blame Cliff for Rebecca’s death? Of course not. She’d never do something as irrational and cruel as to blame her own brother for her mother’s death - Pam’s blaming her husband instead.]
Pam: I don’t know Bobby.
Bobby: Well that about says it doesn’t it?
Pam: This isn’t how I wanted things to work out at all.
[Yet she bailed on Bobby in his hour of need and then went to France with Mark anyway, didn’t she?]
Bobby: It makes it sound pretty final.
Pam: I don’t want it to be.
[How disingenuous can Pam get? Then why did she bail on Bobby during the first period of time in their marriage when he needed her, rather than the usual situation of her needing him? And why did Pam then almost immediately go on a vacation to France with Mark Graison?]
Bobby: I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you get Christopher and take him back to the hotel, and maybe we’ll talk sometime.
End Of Scene
This entire situation and the aftermath brings to mind these words from “In My Darkest Hour” - lyrics by Dave Mustaine
Don’t try to understand
Knowing you, I’m probably wrong
But oh, how I lived my life for you
Still you turned away
Now, as I die for you
My flesh still crawls as I breathe your name
All these years I thought I was wrong
Now I know it was you
Raise your head, raise your face, your eyes
Tell me who think you are
(Bobby is feeding Christopher his dinner when Pam walks in)
Bobby: Well, welcome home! Look who’s here! Mommy’s home!
Pam: Bobby, why did you bring Christopher back here?
Bobby: Well because I’m his father and I figured he was better off here with me, when you’re not around.
Pam: Well, I’m taking him home with me now.
Bobby: Well fine. Honey, I’d have thought I was trying to kidnap him or something.
Pam: Well after that phone call I didn’t know what to think. I was afraid you might keep him.
Bobby: Well who called you and told you told you something like that?
Pam: Well it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was frightened.
[Well it matters to Bobby! If someone made a phone call to your wife and said something to make her think that, wouldn’t you want to know who made the call? But since it only matters to Bobby and not to Pam, she treats it as a non-issue and doesn't answer his question.]
Bobby: Alright, I just figured that Christopher was better off here with me than in a hotel room with a nurse.
[Rightly so!]
(Pam gives Theresa instructions in the background to get Christopher’s things together.)
Bobby: Well how long has it been since I’ve seen you? A week? And you come roaring in here like I’m public enemy number one? It wasn’t me who ran off to France.
[Excellent point. What if the roles were reversed and Bobby had flown to France with Katherine. Imagine the outburst Pam would have unleashed. But since it was Pam flying to France, on Mark’s private jet, it’s a non-issue as far as Pam is concerned. She’s so entitled! Yet Bobby remains fairly calm, despite it all. BTW, this is “the bad Bobby” – the bad guy Bobby became during the contest for Ewing Oil. He became so bad that Pam had to leave, according to her. If this calm, reasonable response is from “the bad Bobby”, who was “the good Bobby”? A saint?]
Pam: What have you been doing since I left?
Bobby: Boy, that must have been some phone call you got.
Pam: What’s going on between you and Katherine?
Bobby: What makes you think there’s anything going on between us? She’s your sister!
Pam: That’s not an answer to my question!
[As if Pam’s been answering Bobby’s questions. Pam’s self-centeredness is off the charts!]
Bobby: It’s the only answer you deserve right now.
Pam: What is Katherine to you?
Bobby: You really want to know? Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. She’s everything that you should be but aren’t. She’s doing everything she can right now to help me. She really cares whether I win or lose. She listens to me. She really tries to understand. And you know what’s funny about all that? Rebecca was her mother too Pam, yet she doesn’t blame me for what happened to her. I guess what it comes down to is that right now Katherine’s just about the best friend I have in the whole world, and that’s it! Final! Period! Can you say the same thing about Mark Graison? Is he just a friend to you?
[Katherine loved her mother, Rebecca, but doesn't blame Bobby for Rebecca's death. Katherine blames Cliff, since it was originally Cliff’s flight. Rebecca was only on the plane because Cliff got so drunk, he forgot about his flight. Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Still, does Pam blame Cliff for Rebecca’s death? Of course not. She’d never do something as irrational and cruel as to blame her own brother for her mother’s death - Pam’s blaming her husband instead.]
Pam: I don’t know Bobby.
Bobby: Well that about says it doesn’t it?
Pam: This isn’t how I wanted things to work out at all.
[Yet she bailed on Bobby in his hour of need and then went to France with Mark anyway, didn’t she?]
Bobby: It makes it sound pretty final.
Pam: I don’t want it to be.
[How disingenuous can Pam get? Then why did she bail on Bobby during the first period of time in their marriage when he needed her, rather than the usual situation of her needing him? And why did Pam then almost immediately go on a vacation to France with Mark Graison?]
Bobby: I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you get Christopher and take him back to the hotel, and maybe we’ll talk sometime.
End Of Scene
This entire situation and the aftermath brings to mind these words from “In My Darkest Hour” - lyrics by Dave Mustaine
Don’t try to understand
Knowing you, I’m probably wrong
But oh, how I lived my life for you
Still you turned away
Now, as I die for you
My flesh still crawls as I breathe your name
All these years I thought I was wrong
Now I know it was you
Raise your head, raise your face, your eyes
Tell me who think you are
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