Recap: Pam is straddling Bobby on their bed, giving him a back massage...and Bobby is complaining that his back is in knots 'cause of how hard he's been working on the ranch lately. Pam chirps about how happy she is that he's OK with her working and figured he couldn't possibly be as stubborn and bull-headed as the rest of the men in his family. That said, she promises that her job will never become a burden on their marriage. Bobby saucily asks, "And how will you do that?" and she leans in and gives him a big smooch. A mysterious blonde guy [who, ironically, looks a lot like Ted Shackleford] is parked in front of Digger's house, and he's staring at the house and also down at a newspaper article featuring a photo of Pam and Bobby at a gala. Aunt Maggie exits the house, yelling at Digger that she'll be back in the morning, and the mysterious blonde guy makes a beeline over to her and asks her if Pamela Barnes lives here. Aunt Maggie says no, and when the mysterious blonde guy says he needs to talk to Pam about something personal, Aunt Maggie tells him she prolly wouldn't be interested 'cause she's a married Ewing woman now. The Ewings are having breakfast on the patio, and Jock is grumbling about not being able to eat salt - fallout from his heart attack during the Bypass episode. Bobby starts gabbling about the construction deal JR helped set him up with: the construction of a school for wayward boys. JR approves of the tax break they'll be getting with this project and assures Jock that it's a win-win. Jock grumbles at Bobby for not being more focused and says that ever since the pilot episode he's gone from wanting to be a business executive at Ewing Oil (which he somehow blames Pam for), to working as a ranch hand at Southfork, to wanting to become a construction foreman. Bobby snarks back that he's been making his own choices, and assures his grizzled father that he'll one day carve out a place for himself. Digger is drunkenly lumbering in an alley, where he finds one of his wino friends drinking from a something in a paper bag. Digger offers to buy him a drink at the seedy bar down the street, and the wino eagerly takes him up on it...and across the street, the mysterious blonde guy is watching. Bobby is showing the eleven acre lot to the building committee for the school for wayward boys. The uptight Reverend Thornwood bitchily reminds him that a number of people are bidding on this project and that despite the Ewings' generous land donation, they still have to go through a fair tendering process. An uptight woman haughtily asks Bobby why his plans don't include bars on the windows - but before Bobby can respond to the bizarre question, Reverend Thornwood gives him a guilt trip about how he and Pam haven't been seen in church lately. Inside the seedy bar, Digger's wino friend is passed out and Digger babbles incoherently to another drinker. When Digger tries to order another drink, the bartender tells him he knows he's out of money and therefore refuses to serve him. The mysterious blonde guy steps in and offers to pay for a round of drinks for Digger and himself, then seats himself beside the hopeless drunkard and tells him he heard he was the best damn wildcatter in all of Texas and that he had a beautiful girl. Digger nods proudly, then sadly says his daughter is lost forever now that she's married to a Ewing. He bitterly adds, "It's a wonder she finds time for her job at the store" and the mysterious blonde guy perks up at that tidbit. Digger then scrunches his face and goes, "Do I know you?" then decides he doesn't really give a rat's ass either way and guzzles his free drink.
As Bobby wraps up an invigorating swim in the Southfork pool, Pam comes over and asks him how the tour of the empty lot went. He tells her it went OK - but since there are other companies bidding on the construction project, the two of them are going to have to become pillars of the community until the bid is awarded to him. Pam chuckles and agrees. The mysterious blonde guy drops off Digger at his house...and as Digger staggers up to the front door, the mysterious blonde guy rushes after him, produces a whiskey bottle, and says, "Well, I guess I'll go off somewhere and drink this." LOL. Digger goes, "No! Come on in!" and the two disappear inside the house. The mysterious blonde guy drops by the store where Pam works. She's just about to run an errand when he chases after her calling, "Pamela! Pamela! Don't you remember me?" She whirls around and stares at him blankly and says no, so he retorts, "Well you should. I'm your husband" and Pam's all, "Wha-a?! Ed??"
Ed Haines, the man Pam was briefly married to but hasn't seen in ten years, wryly tells her that getting caught up with her husband is more important than running an errand. Pam insists they're not married - but he disagrees, coos about how beautiful she is, then pulls out a copy of their marriage licence from Juarez, Mexico. Pam's like, "Ooooh yeah" and recalls that they were just kids when they ran off to get married. She informs him that the marriage was quickly annulled after he was shipped off to Vietnam, and that she later dumped him via mail and sent him a copy of the annulment papers. Ed bitterly retorts, "The mail wasn't very regular in North Vietnamese prison camps" and Pam sheepishly apologizes and says she had no idea he was a POW. She asks him why he didn't contact her before now, so he explains that he was in a veteran's hospital, recovering from PTSD and his various POW injuries. Pam tells him she moved on and is married to Bobby Ewing now, and Ed scrunches his face in confusion and says he doesn't get how she can be married to two men at the same time. She wails, "Would you please believe me? I am not married to you!" and Ed's like, "Yeah, whatever" and tells her he's staying at the Sage Rush Motel, and that she should feel encouraged to give him a call. Southfork. Pam calls the ranch looking for Bobby, but Miss Ellie tells her he went out somewhere. Pam then calls Cliff and says she needs to see him, like pronto. Pam rushes over to Cliff's election headquarters to tell him about The Ed Situation, and explains that they thought it would be romantic to run off and get married before got shipped overseas. However, once Digger got wind of the idiotic decision, he immediately arranged for an annulment. Sounds like he was a lot more functional back then. Ed claims he never received the annullment papers, but Cliff points out that they have to be on file at the Records Department. Pam perks up at that and goes, "Oh right! Good, let's go!" but Cliff says the office is closed until tomorrow. Pam insists she needs them tonight for when she tells Bobby, so Cliff says that Aunt Maggie probably has a copy...and the two rush over to their cars and drive off. Ed arrives at Ewing Oil and tells the secretary he needs to speak with Mr. Ewing regarding Mrs. Ewing...which sounds like a misunderstanding waiting to happen. The secretary buzzes JR and tells him that a Mr. Haines is here to see him, and JR tells her to send him in. When Ed enters his office, he starts rambling about Mrs. Ewing's past, and JR assumes it's a blackmail attempt and barks at him to get to the point. Ed informs him that he married his wife when he was in the service, and a puzzled JR goes, "Sue Ellen..?" and Ed's like, "No - I'm talking about Pamela." He pulls out his marriage licence and hands it to JR, and JR studies it carefully and says it looks plenty legal - but his family's lawyers will need to verify. He asks Ed what he wants, and Ed simply says, "Pamela" so JR explains that Pam is actually married to his brother Bobby...but that he'll personally see to it that justice will be swift for the shameless bigamist.
Aunt Maggie can't find the annulment papers and tells Pam and Cliff she had no idea that the mysterious blonde guy was Ed Haines. Digger smugly says he knows where the papers are, and after admonishing him for not speaking up sooner, Pam and Cliff follow him upstairs. Digger rifles through his drawers and searches through the various boxes he stores under his bed...but there's no sign of the annulment papers. He comes across a box containing old family photos and Pam's birth certificate...but he's dumbfounded when the annulment papers are nowhere to be found. Pam freaks out and wails, "Ooooh noooo! What am I going to tell Bobby?!" The Ewings are sitting on the patio, impatiently waiting for Pam to return home. Jock gruffly asks Bobby where in the bloody hell she is and grumbles, "Your wife should be here. She knows when we have dinner." Bobby says she's running an errand for the store, and Jock growls, "I told you no good would come of her going to work." Sue Ellen tells Bobby that some members of the building committee have expressed concerns about him, particularly Pam's familial connection to a hopeless drunkard...and Lucy accuses her of being the one to stoke that rumor. Bobby assures Sue Ellen that the committee meeting went very well...and for good measure, he quoted scripture to the uptight reverend. By this time, Pam has arrived home, and Bobby kisses her hello and says he was worried, and she discreetly tells him she'll explain later. As the family heads inside to put the feedbag on, JR announces that he had an interesting visitor today: Ed Haines, an army veteran who was captured by the Vietnamese and served time in a prison camp. Pam begs him to stop talking, but JR ignores her and blurts out, "He's Pam's lawful husband!" then turns to Bobby and solemnly declares, "Bobby, I'm afraid you're married to a bigamist." LOL. Jock growls, "What the hell are you talking about?!" so JR hands him a copy of Ed's/Pam's marriage licence. Bobby fibs and tells JR that Pam already told him all about her previous marriage, and Pam wails, "It was annulled! I was just a kid!" and insists that Ed is looking for some kind of payout. JR tells her he didn't ask for a cent [well...yet], and when Bobby angrily tells him this is none of his business, JR says it is, actually, 'cause he has the family name to think about...and Jock gruffly agrees. Sue Ellen reminds Bobby that he's looking to partner with a very religious building committee who won't take kindly to this type of scandal, so Bobby tells her that Pam isn't a bigamist, and that clearly Ed is running some kind of scam. JR argues that he had his investigators look into Ed's background, and they verified his prison camp story...and that it seems like all he wants is his wife back.
In their bedroom, Pam thanks Bobby for standing up to JR on her behalf - but Bobby snarlishly demands to know why she has never told him about Ed. She tells him she never gave it much thought, on account of she and Ed never doinked...plus, the marriage was annulled so quickly. She adds that Digger has the annulment papers but isn't able to locate them at the moment, so she and Cliff are headed to the Records Office first thing tomorrow morning. Bobby insists on tagging along and warns, "If you don't have proof of the annulment, then you and I might not be married. And I don't like that at all!" So there. Cliff, Bobby, and Pam are dismayed when Records Office clerk Harry tells them there's no record of the annulment, and deduces that it was never filed. Bobby's like, "Produce those papers! I'm a Ewing!" (LOL) but the guy refuses, so they have no choice but to amble away and come up with a Plan B. Cliff tells Pam and Bobby that the filing of an annulment triggers four copies, and that Digger's attorney would still have a copy. Pam reminds him that his lawyer is long dead, but Cliff says that his secretary in Fort Worth would still have possession of his files. He offers to drive there and retrieve the annulment papers...and Bobby abruptly snaps, "I need to talk to someone!" and storms off. Bobby drops by the Sage Rush Motel for a one-on-one with Ed. He asks him how much money he wants, but Ed insists he doesn't have a price. When Bobby barks, "How much?!" Ed stubbornly retorts, "I'm still in love with Pam." Bobby offers him $10,000 to go away, but Ed pretends to be sickened by the bribe and tries to goad Bobby into hitting him. Bobby refrains and warns him to get out of Dallas, then gets back into his car and squeals off just as Harry pulls up. Ed looks alarmed and asks him what he's doing here - and says he just missed Bobby Ewing. Harry irritably says he thought this was just a quick blackmail scheme, and had no idea he'd be going up against the all powerful Ewings. He asks Ed whassup with the copy of the annulment papers in the Fort Worth office, and Ed smugly says they're at the bottom of a lake. He tells Harry he unwittingly stumbled into a family feud, and since the Ewing brothers don't see eye to eye when it comes to Pam, he figures he could walk away with $100,000. He offers a cut to Harry if he keeps his end of the bargain, and Harry likes the sound of that and agrees. Sue Ellen drops by the den where Bobby is doing some paperwork. She slips into her annoying southern belle routine and tells him she's becoming very concerned about the building project, since there's no way Reverend Thornwood will want to work with a man whose wife is a bigamist. Apparently, the good reverend believes that if a man can't handle his family, he can't handle business matters. The conversation is interrupted by a scuffle in the foyer...and Bobby and Sue Ellen rush over to see whassup and learn that Cliff has dropped by unannounced to give Pam and Bobby an update on Operation Find Pam's Annulment Papers. He tells them he found nothing in Fort Worth and recommends hiring an attorney to settle the tedious matter.
The next day, Digger, Cliff, Bobby, and Pam dine at an outdoor restaurant and discuss The Case of Pam's Missing Annulment Papers. Bobby says he's willing to pay whatever Haines wants just to get him out of their lives - but Digger insists on settling this man to man. Bobby says he's off to another building committee meeting, and Pam says she also needs to leave and tells her father and brother they'll think of something. Digger asks Cliff to drive him over to the Sage Rush Motel so he can give Haines the what-for and find a resolution to the matter before it becomes a full-blown scandal. Pam makes a beeline over to the nearest pay phone and calls Ed. When Digger arrives at the motel, he orders Ed to stop bothering his daughter, and Ed retorts by blaming him for taking his wife away from him. He snarls, "Stay away from me, you drunk" and saunters off. Cliff looks perplexed by the drunk crack and asks Digger why Ed would call him a drunk when, shockingly, he's not currently drunk. Digger thinks hard and finally remembers encountering Ed in the seedy bar. During a committee meeting, Reverend Thornwood tells Bobby he can't condone his marriage to a bigamist (not sure how he would have heard 'bout that unless Sue Ellen told him), and Bobby tries to keep the conversation focused on construction and floor plans. Digger suddenly bursts into his office and says he now remembers what happened to those annulment papers! Bobby hustles him into the hall, where Digger tells him he recalls that Ed was in his house the other day...and that while they drank he showed him his box of old photos. That must have been when Ed stole the annulment papers. Bobby digests this latest development and says, in that case, the papers must be on file at the Records Office...so he's off to strong-arm Harry. Bobby ushers Digger over to JR's office and tells him to make himself comfortable in there 'cause JR will be gone all day. Haha! Pam meets Ed in the park, and he's surprised she showed up alone. She tells him the Ewings kicked her out of Southfork, and she now needs him to lean on. He perks up at that and asks her how much money they gave her in severence, and she says she got nothing and just has her crummy retail job to live on. She tells him she'll come to him tonight, and they can both hightail it out of Dallas, and Ed fake promises that he'll be waiting for her at the motel.
Cliff threatens Harry with a court order to turn the Records Office upside down, and Bobby blurts out, "I'm a Ewing!" again and asks him what it'll take to settle this thing peacefully. Sounds like he and Cliff should have agreed upon a uniform strategy. Bobby threatens Harry with kidnapping and says he'll abandon him in the middle of nowhere and drive off...and Harry finally caves about his part in Ed's blackmail scheme and admits that he made a copy of Pam's annulment papers to cover his ass. In the next scene, Bobby and Cliff rush over to the Sage Rush Motel to confront Ed about his nefarious scheme, and are disappointed when they learn he already checked out. Over dinner at Southfork, Bobby announces to the family that Pam's annulment papers were uncovered at the Records Office...and Sue Ellen informs Bobby that Reverend Thornwood called to say he's accepting Bobby's contact for construction of the wayward boys' school. She self-righteously adds, "I'll do anything to help the family." (Except keep her trap shut about Pam's personal business.) Jock gruffly praises Bobby for proving himself, and Miss Ellie says she's just glad this dumb storyline is finally over. JR looks pained as he asks Bobby what the hell Digger Barnes was doing sleeping on the couch in his office, and Bobby explains that he didn't want Digger mixing with the religious folk from the building committee...and everyone chortles at the visual of JR finding Pam's drunkard father snoozing in his office. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
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