A structured guide to Sue Ellen’s most unforgettable drinking scenes — from Southfork confrontations to full-blown collapse.
By James Holmes
“There’s nothin’ uglier than a woman who can’t handle her liquor.”
— JR Ewing
This page gathers Sue Ellen Ewing’s most memorable drunk scenes into a structured ranking format, so the moments are easier to browse by episode, circumstance, drink, and quote. The list below follows the scenes you provided, beginning with the Southfork barbecue in Episode 5.
23Scenes currently listed
5Earliest featured episode
223Latest featured episode
Top Scenes
The early years gave Sue Ellen some of her sharpest, saddest, and most darkly funny drunken moments — often in full view of the Ewings.
1
Episode 5: Barbecue
Episode 5
Champagne, red wine
Circumstance: Word spreads at the Ewing barbeuce that Pam is pregnant. Sue Ellen commiserates with a group of sympathetic Texas matrons.
Sue Ellen: "Is Jock Ewin' gonna love JR less because Bobby Ewin' gave him his first grandson? Yes, because Jock Ewin' loves JR less to begin with."
JR: "You take Sue Ellen there. One man and one man alone has known that Mrs Ewin'."
Sue Ellen: "I think 'known' is just a little bit strong. Knowin' requires observation, study and frequency, none of which we seem to have, JR."
2
Episode 9: Bypass
Episode 9
Bourbon
Circumstance: While Jock is in the hospital, Sue Ellen fantasises about becoming mistress of Southfork, much to Pam's disgust.
Sue Ellen to Pam: "If it does happen, and when I do take over, the first thing I'm gonna do is throw you out."
Miss Ellie: "Nobody's taking over. Not while I'm alive."
3
Episode 10: Black Market Baby
Episode 10
Champagne, bourbon
Circumstance: Following Jock and Ellie's anniversary dinner - at which Jock casually mentions he has given up hope of Sue Ellen ever producing a grandchild - Sue Ellen attempts to seduce JR, before ending up in bed with Ray Krebbs.
Sue Ellen: "Maybe the Ewin' man I married isn't all the man that he claims to be."
JR: "You better stop drinkin', Sue Ellen. There's nothin' uglier than a woman who can't handle her liquor."
4
Episode 13: Election
Episode 13
Martinis
Circumstance: A party at Southfork to celebrate the senate election victory of the Ewing candidate over Cliff Barnes.
Sue Ellen to Pam: "I was just thinkin' how nice it would've been if JR didn't get what he wanted, for once."
5
Episode 14: Survival
Episode 14
Red wine, bourbon
Circumstance: After a boozy lunch with Cliff, Sue Ellen returns to Southfork to learn that a plane carrying JR and Bobby is missing.
Sue Ellen: "Do you know what happens if JR is dead? I lose everything."
Pam: "Stop it, Sue Ellen. I'm not gonna stand here and listen to your disgusting self pity about your finances."
6
Episode 25: Call Girl
Episode 25
Bourbon
Circumstance: JR is angry when a heavily pregnant Sue Ellen skips dinner with the family favour of drinking alone in their bedroom.
Sue Ellen: "You gonna hit your pregnant wife?"
JR: "You take care of that baby, Sue Ellen, cos it's the only thing standing between you and the gutter."
7
Episode 26: Royal Marriage
Episode 26
Red wine
Circumstance: At a Southfork party, Pam drags Sue Ellen upstairs after she is seen flirting outrageously.
Male guest: "Pregnant or not, Sue Ellen, you are a fine lookin' woman."
Sue Ellen: "But it's just so boring. I can't do half the things I'm used to doin'. I'm just forced to be good, you know?"
8
Episode 27: The Outsiders
Episode 27
Bourbon
Circumstance: A jovial JR discovers Sue Ellen drunk in the den.
Sue Ellen: "You managed to evict some widows today?"
JR: "You keep drinkin' like that and you're gonna be evicted onto a trash heap, dear."
9
Episode 28: John Ross Ewing III, Part 1
Episode 28
Bourbon
Circumstance: After drinking at JR's office, Sue Ellen is discovered passed out in her car by Bobby and Pam, who carry her back to Southfork.
Sue Ellen: "Why won't Cliff talk to me? I called him tonight and he just won't talk to me."
Pam: "I guess he doesn't wanna hurt you anymore."
Sue Ellen: "But I love him, Pamela. I love him. Don't leave me."
Sue Ellen to JR: "You're daddy must've given you a tongue lashin' last night, JR, cos what I am you made me, and you're stuck with me. Till death do us part, JR. That's the way it's gonna be, isn't it? Till death do us part!"
10
Episode 29: John Ross Ewing, Part II
Episode 29
Alcohol smuggled into the sanitorium
Circumstance: Locked up in a sanitorium, Sue Ellen bribes an orderly named Hatton to supply her with alcohol.
Sue Ellen: "This still smells like mouthwash."
Hatton: "Can't you keep this place clean? You're a slob, you know that?"
Sanatorium Era & Early Collapse
These scenes capture the period where Sue Ellen’s drinking stops being a background habit and becomes a full-blown crisis.
11
Episode 51: Jock's Trial, Part 1
Episode 51
Bourbon
Circumstance: Having finally left JR, Sue Ellen waits for Dusty in his hotel suite. Upon learning from a news report that he has been killed in a plane crash, she picks up her first drink in 23 episodes, and proceeds to trash the room.
12
Episode 52: Jock's Trial, Part 2
Episode 52
Hip flask
Circumstance: Outside the court room where Jock is on trial for murder, JR admonishes Sue Ellen for nipping from a hip flask.
Sue Ellen: "It's my nerves."
13
Episode 53: The Wheeler Dealer
Episode 53
Vodka, disguised with club soda
Circumstance: JR attempts to expose Sue Ellen's drinking in front of the family.
JR: "The first step in curing an alcoholic is to get them to admit what they are."
Lucy: "Why, JR? Are you willing to admit what you are?"
Later in the same episode, Bobby and Ray rescue Sue Ellen from a bar where she has been picked up by Mark Jennings from DYNASTY.
14
Episode 55: No More Mr Nice Guy
Episode 55
Bourbon
Circumstance: In flashback, Sue Ellen recalls drinking at a bar before arriving at Kristin's condo, gun in her hand, intending to kill JR.
Sue Ellen: "Are you telling me the truth?"
Kristin: "I swear."
Sue Ellen: "Oh my God! I must have shot JR!"
Relapses
After long stretches of sobriety, these relapse scenes hit harder because the damage is emotional as much as physical.
15
Episode 129: Things Ain't Goin' Too Good At Southfork
Episode 129
Vodka
Circumstance: After a break of 74 episodes, Sue Ellen falls off the wagon when she catches JR in bed with Holly Harwood. She then makes a drunken pass at Clayton Farlow.
Sue Ellen to Clayton: "You've always wanted me, and now I want you."
Sue Ellen: "You bastard! You finally came home."
JR: "I was so worried about you, Sue Ellen."
Sue Ellen: "When were you the most worried? Before or after you made love to Holly Harwood?"
16
Episode 130: Penultimate.
Episode 130
Vodka
Circumstance: Bruised, battered and bandaged, Sue Ellen heads for the drinks cabinet, as Bobby tries to explain that JR was set up by Holly.
Sue Ellen: "Sure, she raped him!"
Bobby: "Sue Ellen, you're not listening to a word I say."
Sue Ellen: "You're right, and I don't wanna listen either. Because I was there and I saw them together. She didn't have a gun to his head. He was enjoying every single minute of it."
17
Episode 131: Ewing's Inferno
Episode 131
Vodka, cooking wine
Circumstance: Pam attempts to console Sue Ellen.
Pam: "Sue Ellen, you don't need that."
Sue Ellen: "Oh yes I do. You just don't understand, Pam."
JR: "Gimme the bottle. You shouldn't be drinkin', you know that."
Sue Ellen: "Unlock the liquor. Because I am gonna drink myself into oblivion."
18
Episode 132: The Road Back
Episode 132
Champagne
Circumstance: Following the fire at Southfork, Pam takes Sue Ellen on a shopping spree and attempts to keep her sober.
Sue Ellen: "Pam, don't be a nag. What else do I have except the Ewing name and JR's money? I might just stay here and see how much I can spend."
19
Episode 188: The Ewing Connection
Episode 188
Bourbon
Circumstance: JR blames Sue Ellen when John Ross is rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis. After learning his condition is serious, she picks up JR's abandoned drink.
JR: "You're a totally unfit mother!"
20
Episode 190: Deliverance
Episode 190
Martinis, vodka, etc.
Circumstance: At a Ewing party at the Oil Baron's Club, Sue Ellen swipes drinks and swigs from a hip flask. Just before passing out, she sees Dusty across a crowded room.
Late Falls
These later scenes show Sue Ellen at her most brittle: angry, humiliated, defiant, and often drinking in public view.
21
Episode 191: Swan Song
Episode 191
Vodka
Circumstance: JR comes to Sue Ellen's room to sarcastically congratulate her for staying sober during Lucy and Mitch's wedding, before ordering her to leave Southfork. After he leaves her room, she starts to drink.
JR: "You're either gonna leave on your own or you're gonna be driven off."
Sue Ellen: "Why? So you can be free for that Winger tramp?"
22
Episode 192: The Family Ewing.
Episode 192
Vodka
Circumstance: The day after Bobby's death, Dusty finds Sue Ellen drinking in a bar. Unable to persuade her to stop, he knocks her unconscious.
Sue Ellen: "You see, if I stay here and I drink enough, then I don't have to face anybody - not Miss Ellie, not my son, not even you."
23
Episode 193: Rock Bottom
Episode 193
Vodka, wine
Circumstance: After being humiliated by JR at Bobby's funeral, Sue Ellen goes on a drunken binge. She is eighty-sixed from a bar, and watches heplessly as her car is stolen.
Sue Ellen: "I said I want another!"
Two days later, she comes to in a motel room and realises her wedding rings are missing. Lost, she accepts a belt of wine from an old man in the street.
Sue Ellen to her reflection: "You are disgusting. I hate you."
24
Episode 223: Return to Camelot
Episode 223
Martinis, looks like whisky
Circumstance: Sue Ellen and Pam have dinner to celebrate Bobby and Pam's engagement.
Pam: "Sue Ellen, please don't do that."
Sue Ellen: "Pam, it's either here or some place else."
Later, Sue Ellen runs into Mandy Winger, JR's mistress, while drinking her lunch in a Dallas restaurant.
Sue Ellen: "It won't be too long before he gets tired of you and comes knockin' at my bedroom door again."
Mandy: "Tired of me? Tired of me? I'm years younger than you, Sue Ellen. Prettier. JR loves my body."
