The final break up of JR and Sue Ellen

[Grangehill1]

JR spent so long promising Mandy that he would get rid of Sue Ellen and have her move to Southfork eventually. But it never happened.

In season 10 they split up yet Mandy returned AGAIN at the end to try and get him back but it didn’t work. It seemed he truely loved Sue Ellen.

And like he said if it would have been anybody he left Sue Ellen for it would have been Mandy.

And then season 11 rolls along and within 5 minutes JR is more than happy to dump Sue Ellen and promise everything to Kimberly Cryder just to get West star. Why????? From
memory he didn’t even try and argue about what Kimberly wanted. And Kimberley was a terrible character who had zero chemistry with Jar (unlike Mandy.)

Leonard Katzman and the writers really dumped on JR and Ellen with this storyline. They’d spent so long getting them back together just to throw it away again. And what a season to throw it away. We’d already seen just a few episodes before the end of Ewing oil, the departures of Donna and Pam, plus a bit earlier Jamie and Jack and Mandy all leaving. Too much change too quickly for the audience. So to split up JR and Sue Ellen AGAIN so soon was a massive misfire.

Why didn’t they keep JR and Sue Ellen together? What was gained by splitting them dramatically? Even introducing Nicholas Pearce as Sue Ellen’s lover seems temporary as they killed him off at the end of the season. So what was the point to it all?

Season 11 has always been my least favourite. I think it’s just awful. The regular characters don’t interact with each other and there’s just too Much change. As I’ve said many times on this forum as well, the cliffhanger should have been JR and Nick fighting and the gun goes off. Nick goes over the balcony and then JR turns to find Sue Ellen has been shot by the stray bullet. Th how it should have ended.

But the way JR and Sue Ellen split up was a huge mistake.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Season 11, despite the Katzman/Paulsen/Lewis triumvirate in place, has major problems --- in part because the writers didn't have their usual spring hiatus planning time, which is why the pacing (and some of the details) are a bit "off".

That said, the entire point of the toxic JR/SueEllen relationship was that they couldn't be happy -- either together or probably not even with somebody else. JR perpetually chased Sue Ellen whenever she got away, and once he reined her back in, he contemptuously lost interest yet again and was back on the prowl. Likewise, Sue Ellen would dally with nice men but ultimately lose interest and return to her ultimate bad-boy, JR.

It was a sick codependent bond and was supposed to be. They were never going to be at peace and didn't really want it -- the drama of their dysfunction, the game, was what they were all about.

And Sue Ellen only finally left once she'd become bored with the cycle.

 

[Grangehill1]

But it was the way they broke them up this final time that was SO bad. It doesn’t make any sense logically and we ended up with two seasons of Sue Ellen wreaking revenge on JR.

in 11 she got her revenge by stopping the West Star take over. But then in 12 for some reason she wants revenge AGAIN. Why? She’d already shot him and got custody of John Ross. Why make a movie and want more revenge?

it was so short sighted splitting them up

 

[Monzo]

After the end of Ewing Oil, J.R.’s professional future was arguably more important to him than his romantic happiness with Sue Ellen. Besides, he likely assumed that he would end up back with Sue Ellen eventually—didn’t we all? J.R. surely would have found a way to get his hands on Kimberly’s shares, only to cast her aside afterward. From the start, it seemed clear that Kimberly was in for a rude awakening when it came to J.R., whereas with Nicholas, I wasn’t quite sure where things were heading. I certainly didn’t foresee that he would end up falling to his death.

The sense of dissatisfaction regarding the split likely stems from the fact that fans did not assume this separation between J.R. and Sue Ellen would be the final one—and, in all likelihood, no one behind the scenes assumed it would be, either. During season 11, I didn’t get the impression that things were truly over for J.R. and Sue Ellen as a couple; it wasn’t until season 12 that I stopped seeing any future for them. Even though Sue Ellen remained completely fixated on J.R. (to take revenge on him for Nicholas's death), I no longer sensed any sparks between the two. In theory, this could have been a positive development, but neither Cally—as a wife for J.R.—nor Don—as a husband for Sue Ellen—ever really convinced me.

 

[Grangehill1]

The split in season 11 was played for laughs. JR wanted Sue Ellen to walk in on him and Kimberly and Sue Ellen laughingly went along with it and played dumb. The writers KNEW they couldn’t repeat what had happened before so at the time I knew they would never be getting back together. It was all tonally so wrong

 

[CryptCreeper72]

After the end of Ewing Oil, J.R.’s professional future was arguably more important to him than his romantic happiness with Sue Ellen. Besides, he likely assumed that he would end up back with Sue Ellen eventually—didn’t we all? J.R. surely would have found a way to get his hands on Kimberly’s shares, only to cast her aside afterward. From the start, it seemed clear that Kimberly was in for a rude awakening when it came to J.R., whereas with Nicholas, I wasn’t quite sure where things were heading. I certainly didn’t foresee that he would end up falling to his death.

The sense of dissatisfaction regarding the split likely stems from the fact that fans did not assume this separation between J.R. and Sue Ellen would be the final one—and, in all likelihood, no one behind the scenes assumed it would be, either. During season 11, I didn’t get the impression that things were truly over for J.R. and Sue Ellen as a couple; it wasn’t until season 12 that I stopped seeing any future for them. Even though Sue Ellen remained completely fixated on J.R. (to take revenge on him for Nicholas's death), I no longer sensed any sparks between the two. In theory, this could have been a positive development, but neither Cally—as a wife for J.R.—nor Don—as a husband for Sue Ellen—ever really convinced me.

There were a couple of scenes in season 12 where I saw some sparks. Sue Ellen went to see JR after he was kidnapped and he thanks her for helping him. He makes an overture at her and Cally of course sees it from the balcony.

I agree that no one thought that would be there last breakup and I suspect that if Linda hadn't left the series we would have seen another reconciliation.

 

[CryptCreeper72]

But it was the way they broke them up this final time that was SO bad. It doesn’t make any sense logically and we ended up with two seasons of Sue Ellen wreaking revenge on JR.

in 11 she got her revenge by stopping the West Star take over. But then in 12 for some reason she wants revenge AGAIN. Why? She’d already shot him and got custody of John Ross. Why make a movie and want more revenge?

it was so short sighted splitting them up

I never got her need for the movie revenge either. She finally beat him at his own game, making sure he didn't get West Star. It seems like that should have been satisfying enough for her to just walk totally away and get on with her life.