All good drama series use cliffhanger episodes in order to build suspense and keep the audience interested in the future outcome. Dallas was the grand master during it's heyday, using every trick in the book.

Sue Ellen, the alcoholic wife of J. R., was hitting the bottle again because of a pregnancy she feared was the result of an affair with Cliff Barnes.

Pregnancy? Alcohol? OK, those two things mix like oil and water. But it was going to get worse for Sue Ellen. J.R. showed little compassion for his wife and he locked her up in a sanitarium.

Sue Ellen plans and her escape and manages to pull it off by hitting a nurse over the head with a bottle. Somehow, she manges to find her car, gets drunk and is driving down the road, probably not looking for a Grateful Dead concert. Alcohol? Cars? Of course, Sue Ellen has a serious accident and now her life and the unborn baby's life are in imminent danger.

Undergoing a cesarean section, the baby is delivered alive and rushed off to be placed in an incubator. The Ewing family gathers at the hospital to be with Sue Ellen, and Cliff Barnes also arrives because he wants to see his son. It probably would've been wiser for him to wait this thing out, away from the hospital, but that's television....

Season 1 ends with J.R. at the bedside of Sue Ellen, and Bobby walks over to his older brother and says it's time to go. J.R. is sad that his marriage with Sue Ellen is not happy, but he wants her to live.