Dallas - Season 2, Episode 3

"Your wife doesn't mind you having romantic picnics with your ex-girlfriends, does she?"

"Old Acquaintance"
Original airdate: 10/7/1978

Episode summary: Pam gets miffed when Bobby starts spending a lot of time with his ex-girlfriend, Jenna Wade.

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Recap: Jenna Wade (played in this pointless standalone episode by the sultry Morgan Fairchild) emerges from a bathroom and hops into the sack with her married lover, Maynard Anderson (hey - it's Andrew Laird from Dynasty!). As the two roll around on the bed together, Maynard coos about how beautiful she is, when suddenly - ack! - Maynard's wife, Melissa, enters the room and glares at them in disgust. Maynard growls, "What are you doing here?" so she informs her philandering husband:

1. She has a telegram for him, summoning him to an important meeting tomorrow in Washington D.C.
2. He has to stop publicly humiliating her with his bimbo mistress

"Oooh Jenna...you are sooo much hotter than my dried up shrew of a wife."

"Oh. Hi, honey."

Southfork. Jock is reading the paper while the Ewings are gathered around the breakfast table. He reads aloud an article about the appointment of Maynard Anderson to "an important energy post", then nods approvingly and says in his usual gruff fashion that Anderson is exactly the kind of no-nonsense Ewing puppet they need in that position. Bobby weighs in and says he thinks Anderson is just doing what's good for Anderson. Lucy interjects to cheekily suggest that Ewing Oil should hire Anderson's mistress, Jenna Wade, to be their secretary - and Bobby chides her for being a smart aleck and quickly drops the issue. Pam asks who Jenna Wade is, so Sue Ellen explains that she's a shameless hussy who bounces from man to man...and then the table goes silent. Someone reminds Lucy that she'd better toddle off to school...and when Pam asks again who Jenna Wade is, Bobby avoids answering by telling JR they should probably leave for the office right now. On his way out, JR gets a call from Maynard Anderson, who whines about how his wife is threatening to sabotage his new appointment as Energy Whatever and needs his help keeping Jenna away from him. JR jots down Jenna's phone number and tells him not to worry, then smirks evilly.

JR is on a pay phone downtown, telling Jenna that of course Bobby would be delighted to see her again. He tells her to come by his office in about an hour so he can orchestrate a seemingly random bump-into between her and Bobby.

Pam tells Miss Ellie she's off to meet Bobby for lunch and says she now gets why Sue Ellen keeps so busy with her luncheons: there's not a whole heckuva lot to do on the ranch once breakfast is over. She brings up Jenna Wade again and says she gets the feeling she's a "delicate topic", so Miss Ellie spills the beans about how Jenna and her father were friends of the Ewings for years...and that Bobby and Jenna were an item. Jock suddenly appears out of nowhere and gruffly adds, "For awhile, everyone thought they'd get married!" and when Miss Ellie shoots him the stink-eye, he concedes that that was a long time ago. Pam shakes it off and says she can't let herself worry about Bobby's old girlfriends, then ambles off. Miss Ellie chides Jock for his lack of subtlety - but he just shrugs and says he always liked the idea of Bobby marrying Jenna. Miss Ellie defends Pam by saying she's a lovely girl, and Jock says he likes that Jenna isn't Digger Barnes' daughter. Not sure why this still matters to anyone.

When Bobby and JR return downtown after an off-site meeting, they notice a blonde woman waving from the sun roof of her car, yelling, "Yoo hoo! Bobby!" JR pretends to wonder who on earth that could be, then heads inside the Ewing Oil building, leaving Bobby to wander over to Jenna. She asks him if she can have a kiss...so he kisses her on the cheek, which she disappointingly refers to as "brotherly". He asks her whassup, so she tells him she's in trouble and needs his advice...and Bobby's like, "Scoot over", then gets into her car and drives over to a nearby park. As the two stroll along a walking path, Jenna whines about how she just got kicked to the curb by Maynard Anderson...and when Bobby asks her why the hell she'd get involved with a married man in the first place (right?!), she haplessly shrugs and give him a dumb non-answer: "He was there." She blames Bobby for introducing her to the good life, then taking it away from her...but then admits to being "wild" when she ditched him to run off with another man. Since she couldn't very well come crawling back to Bobby, she eventually hooked up with Maynard Anderson, who was good to her and her daughter Charlie. Bobby asks, "If he was so good to you, why do you only have $200 in your pocket and nowhere to live?" (hee!) and Jenna gets angry and tries to whirl away, but Bobby grabs her arm and tells her she should have come to him. He then asks about her condo and says it must be worth something, but Jenna says it was paid for with corporate funds, so she had to give it back or risk Melissa Anderson sabotaging her husband's appointment. Bobby tells her to find an apartment and a job, and that he'll float her enough cash until she can sort out her hot mess of a life. Jenna says it's probably time she learned how to stand on her own two feet [well d'yuh, you're a grown ass woman] and promises to do her best. She then leans in for a smooch, and when she and Bobby unlock their lips, they stare at each other longingly.

Ewing Oil. JR pretends to want to meet with Bobby  to discuss something oil-related when Jenna calls to inform Bobby that she found an apartment...and since he's paying for it, she needs him to come over and sign the lease, like pronto. Bobby jots down the address and tells JR he has to run an errand, and JR says he's A-OK with that and grins devilishly.

Bobby hops into a cab and rides off just as Pam arrives downtown in her fancy red Mercedes. The secretary informs her that Bobby just left...and then JR appears and tries to sound super casual as he says, "He ran off to sign papers...something about an apartment for Jenna Wade." Pam remarks that the woman's name seems to be coming up a lot in this episode, but JR says she shouldn't read too much into that, and that she and Bobby have been over for years. Pam sarcastically asks him if he's trying to comfort her, then turns and heads out.
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Southfork. The family is delaying dinner for Bobby, who hasn't been seen since he rushed out of the office to sign Jenna's lease. JR needlessly announces to everyone that Anderson's affair with Jenna is over 'cause it's pretty hard to keep a mistress and hold public office. As Pam shoots him the stink-eye, Miss Ellie remarks that Jenna always seems to cause trouble every time she turns up, and Sue Ellen concurs and says she broke her daddy's heart when she got herself knocked up out of wedlock. A few seconds later, Bobby calls the ranch to tell Pam where he's been all day, and she's like, "I know. I found out at the office" and orders him to get home immediately. She then informs the family that Bobby has been unavoidably delayed and that they can go ahead and have dinner without him.

The next day, Pam is swimming in the Southfork pool when Bobby comes over and says she didn't wake up when he returned home at midnight. Pam asks him what took him so long at Jenna's, and he says he had to stick around and help move all her stuff into her new place. He says they used to be friends when they were kids, and that he used to be in love with her - and Pam looks hopeful as she repeats, "Used to be..?" Bobby leans in for a kiss just as the phone rings - and, naturally, it's Jenna. She tells Bobby she needs to confer with him about her latest dilemma: Melissa Anderson is trying to run her out of town. Pam perks up when she hears that tidbit, but Bobby argues that Jenna shouldn't have to leave her hometown. He agrees to meet Jenna at noon...and when Pam scrunches her face in irritation, Bobby invites her to come along.

Bobby and Pam pull up in front of a school playground, and it looks like it's where Jenna's daughter goes to school. Pam greets her with a cold hello and icily says she's been wanting to meet her, and Jenna awkwardly says she's been curious about her too. She then starts yammering to Bobby about how Melissa Anderson found out where she's living and wants her gone 'cause she thinks she's too much of a temptation for her adulterous husband. She whines that she doesn't want to leave Dallas 'cause it's home for her and Charlie - cue Charlie, who comes running over to showcase her adorableness to Pam and Bobby. Pam greets her politely and asks if she can see her doll, and Charlie hands it over, then promptly forgets about it and scampers off. Jenna tells Bobby she's worried that Melissa Anderson could slam doors in her face, and Bobby assures her, "If that happens, I'll open the doors." Needless to say, Pam looks less than thrilled to hear that.

JR lunches with Maynard Anderson to further discuss The Jenna Situation. Anderson complains that his wife is on his case about ordering Jenna to leave Texas. JR gleefully tells him that Bobby and Jenna are getting along great, and mentions that the day Bobby had rushed off to help with her apartment, he didn't return home until dawn. Anderson scowls with jealousy and moans about how much he looooved Jenna, and JR rolls his eyes and chides him for sounding like a love-sick school boy who's allowing his mistress to ruin his political career. When Jock arrives to join them for lunch, he remarks to a mortified Anderson that it looks like Jenna has him "on the end of a string". He gruffly adds, "In my day, we handled our women a little bit different." Ick, Jock.

Jenna's place. Charlie is distraught because her favorite doll is MIA (after Pam stole it), and Jenna promises her they'll find it, then tells her to stay off camera until the thing turns up. JR drops by unannounced to check out her new digs and helps himself to a drink. He laments what a shame it is that she and Bobby never got married, then leers at her and creepily remarks, "It would have been nice, having you within reach." Ew..? Jenna reminds him that she and Bobby have been over for a long time, but JR insists that Bobby never really got over her. Jenna says he seems pretty happy to her...and JR pretends to agree that Pam is a fine woman and all, but suggests there's trouble in the marriage because of Pam's need to transform Bobby from a boring single guy into a boring married guy. Jenna chuckles and accuses JR of using her to break them up, and JR laughs and says, "If we both profit, so much the better." He reminds her that she holds "the high card", meaning that she's the mother of Bobby's child. Jenna just stares back at him mutely, not denying or confirming that what he just said is true...leaving viewers guessing about the boring mystery of Charlie's paternity.

"It would have been nice to have had a hot blonde sister-in-law within groping range."

"Ew."

Bobby meets up with Jenna in the park for an impromptu picnic. She tells him that Charlie has been distraught about losing her favorite doll, then wonders aloud if she should take her daughter and leave Dallas. She tells Bobby that the way he looks at Charlie makes her realize she hasn't been fair to her daughter (not sure what that's supposed to mean) so Bobby reminds her that he asked her a long time ago if Charlie was his spawn - but she never gave him a straight answer. And speaking of continuing to not give him a straight answer, Jenna avoids the question altogether and asks him if he loves her. Bobby says he used to love her and used to want to marry her - up until she ran off with someone else. She explains that she wanted someone more exciting than a dullard oilman/rancher, and figured he'd still be around whenever she was ready to settle down. Bobby gets irked and says he'd rather not rehash all this for the umpteenth time, and Jenna gets angry and storms off. 

Pam once again finds herself alone in bed, so she goes down to the kitchen, where she finds Bobby guzzling beer. She tells him they should talk about whatever's been going on with him, but Bobby doesn't know what to say and assures her they'll somehow work it all out before the end credits start rolling. Pam says she's very worried about all the time he's spending bonding with Jenna, then throws in the towel and heads back upstairs. Bobby stares into space until he spots Charlie's missing doll on the kitchen counter, and then stares down at it for several long seconds.

The next day, Bobby drops by Jenna's apartment to return Charlie's doll. Jenna thanks him and asks him if he could give her a lift downtown 'cause she has to buy some stuff for Charlie. Bobby chirps, "Sure!" and asks her if she has enough [of his] money [in her purse] and she assures him she has adequate funds.

Downtown. Pam is lunching with Cliff, who announces he's running for State Senate and could use her help with the campaign. Pam agrees that she could use some time away from the boring ranch and tells Cliff she's very proud of him.

After lunch, Cliff heads back to work...and on the way he bumps into Bobby and Jenna, who look like they're have a delightful time shopping together. Cliff shoots Bobby a perplexed stink-eye and tells him he missed him at lunch. Bobby just stares back at him in mute horror, so Cliff introduces himself to Jenna as Bobby's brother-in-law, then specifies, "I'm Pam's brother." Bobby tries to pretend that nothing is amiss and asks him how Digger's doing, and Cliff just shrugs and says the old man is still pickling his organs with a regular supply of booze. He then glares at Bobby and snidely tells him he's getting to be more like JR every day, then wishes them both a fun day shopping.

"Hi Bobby. Fancy running into you and this hot blonde."

"This is pretty much exactly what it looks like."

Pam is horseback riding when she spots Bobby return to Southfork, so she trots over to him and angrily asks him how he spent his day. He sarcastically asks her if she wants a minute-by-minute account, and she bitchily retorts, "How about second-by-second?!" and reminds him that he hasn't been home for dinner all week. Bobby explains that he took Jenna shopping 'cause Charlie needed some stuff...and Pam says that if he is, in fact, Charlie's biological father, they can work something out - but she does not like the idea of him spending so much time with Jenna. She snarks that if he prefers Jenna's company to hers, then he should just stay away...and Bobby snaps, "Fine!" then climbs back into his car and squeals off.

Miss Ellie notices Pam fuming by a fence and ambles over to talk to her. She asks her where Bobby went, and Pam bitterly says he's probably with Jenna, and that it sucks to watch someone you love slowly slip away. Miss Ellie advises her not to be such a wuss, then says she once knew a woman who had to force a man to do right by her by horse-whipping him into submission. The fuck? Pam grimly says she doesn't think physically assaulting Bobby would help, and Miss Ellie shoots her a mischievous grin and says, "It worked on his daddy all right." Pam chuckles and then moans about how much she wants Bobby, so Miss Ellie says, "Then go get him." Pam mulls that over for a few seconds, then stomps off to reclaim her man.

"I once had to horse-whip Jock to teach him who's boss."

"That's...kind of psychotic."

Bobby drops by Jenna's apartment once again and tells her he needs a stiff drink while they finish their unfinished business. He asks her again if Charlie is his daughter, and Jenna's like, "Excuse me while I go blow-dry my hair" (LOL) and rushes over to the bathroom. Bobby, meanwhile, ambles down the hall to peek in on Charlie, who's fast asleep, cuddling her doll.

Jock is in the kitchen at Southfork, smoking a cigarette and reading the paper. When JR enters the room, Jock gruffly asks him if he has anything to do with the tension between Pam and Bobby. JR tries his best to look innocently perplexed by the question and assures his father he is in no way involved. He then mentions that Cliff Barnes is running for State Senate, and Jock says they'll deal with that problem when the time comes, and orders him to leave Pam and Bobby alone. 

Bobby pours himself another drink as he waits for Jenna to finish blow-drying her hair. She finally emerges from the bathroom in a negligee and lavender robe...and a few seconds later Pam arrives to find out where everyone stands with this boring-as-fuck love triangle. Pam lays her cards on the table and declares her love for Bobby, then asks Jenna what she wants. Jenna comes right out and says that Bobby would make an awesome husband and father for Charlie - and Pam tells her she'd much prefer it if she could get that with someone else. She then asks Jenna if Bobby is Charlie's father, and when Jenna once again refuses to answer, Pam's like, "Stop avoiding answering the fucking question: IS BOBBY CHARLIE'S FATHER OR NOT??!!! [Yeah sure, some of that frustration was me, projecting.] Jenna drops her eyes and admits that nope, Bobby isn't her daughter's father...and Pam looks relieved and says, "Well, that makes things more simple." Bobby grabs his coat and abruptly leaves, and Pam stares quizzically at Jenna and asks her why she didn't lie. Jenna says that while she has no problem jumping into bed with any married man who's willing to be her sugar daddy, she somehow can't bring herself to tell a lie. She adds, "Even JR knows that." Pam's all, "Wha-a? JR?" so Jenna tells her that JR called her 'cause he knew Bobby wouldn't be able to resist helping her through her current crisis. She then shows Pam Bobby's goodbye present: a signed lease and a check that covers a year's worth of rent. She says, "I hope you don't mind" and Pam says she does, actually, but that she'll have to get over it.

After Pam flees Jenna's apartment, she finds Bobby outside, waiting for her. She tells him again she loves him and doesn't want to lose him, and he assures her she won't and that even though his behavior during this entire episode demonstrates otherwise, he loooooves her more than anything in the whole entire world. Pam smiles with relief and says, "I needed to hear that!" and the two hug, kiss, canoodle, and head back to Southfork. End credits: you may now roll.

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