Dynasty Discussion Thread

[j swift]

I never enjoyed the long lost relatives of Blake (with the exception Dominique).  However, between Caress and Sable, the writers could write in as many of the Morells as possible.  I was always amused that none of Alexis's relatives liked her from an early age.

[amybrickwallace]

 

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[Khan]

Those bitches were just too basic to appreciate the majesty that was young Alexis.

 

("Young Alexis," by the way, would make for a KILLER series -- with Dame Joan narrating her character's young adventures, of course.)

[j swift]

As someone who is totally confused by the re-boot, I really like this idea.  A series about early Alexis, meeting Blake, hiring the staff, etc would be fun.  

[YRBB]

 

 

I think it was pretty clear the showrunners no longer understood or even liked Krystle. Following the steep decline in quality starting in Season 3, one of the characters to suffer the most was Krystle. I'm pretty sure Esther referred to her as "boring" at some point. Rita, therefore, was a great opportunity to have Linda Evans but make her "interesting" versus a boring housewife.

[Franko]

How many of us are familiar with James from London, at Soap Chat? He's written many, many insightful commentaries on the '80s super-soaps, then outdid himself with an oral history of Dynasty. It holds together better than I expected. Forgive the intrusion from another site, but, well, here's the story breakdowns for several seasons of YOUNG ALEXIS. Personally, I think it should be a theatrical experience, not unlike the "Spoon River Anthology."

http://soapchat.net/threads/the-dynasty-verse-an-oral-history.6952/

 

[te.]

 

Or Alexis's years of exile in Europe, banging pool boys, being an artist model, harassing Jackie Onassis etc.

 

Though it might end up being similar to The Bitch and The Stud.

[Khan]

 

And that would be wrong, because...?

[All My Shadows]

I started season 7 about a week ago, and you can immediately feel that the show is out of its heyday from the very first episode. It's actually quite sad. I mostly like Ben, but jesus, his story is going on wayyyy too long, and then Leslie comes in, and I see someone upthread said she was meant to be the Amanda replacement, but I'm getting more of a fake Fallon from her than anything else, along the lines of early assertive Fallon.

Sammy Jo has gotten so boring with Clay, and I'm confused in regards to her and Steven seemingly falling back in love with each other? But why???

Dominique is clearly on her way out. All of the fire she came in with is gone, and she's just another earnest Carrington. Shame that they got bored with such a fun character.

The show doesn't even look the same anymore, it's darker and less glamorous, and that just takes all of the fun out of watching.

[pdm1974]

I watched the whole series a couple of years ago, and I remember season 7 was probably the most boring. Season 9 was actually really great and tightly written...but the times had changed.

[All My Shadows]

The end of season 7 really sucked! Dominique gone with no fanfare at all. I am already sick of Leslie and her desperation to belong in the family. Every "Uncle Blake" makes me cringe, but I adored it when she ran up on Fallon, desperate for some kind of familial welcome, and Fallon paid her dust.

So am I really supposed to believe that Blake and Alexis are told that Adam really isn't Adam and all they do is decide to adopt "Michael Torrance?" They have no interest in finding the real Adam? This man who's only been in their lives for five years, they never raised him, he's been way more trouble than he's worth the entire time, etc, and they're all "Aw you've always been our son!" No, he hasn't!

The Sarah story was depressing, and did they really need to give us two big "OMG what about Krystina!?!?!" stories?

Lonely Alexis was also depressing and just represents how far away from the heyday we are, and it was a quick separation.

The only thing getting me through season eight is that everyone has always said that season nine was fantastic.

[All My Shadows]

I'm currently making my way through the early episodes of season nine, and it does have a better feel than the previous two seasons. Jeff and Fallon were very needed after The Colbys ended, and it's nice to see them back in the center of the action in the final season. There wasn't enough of them in season eight, and I'm liking this little triangle with Sammy Jo, though Jeff and Sammy Jo makes no sense at all. On the other hand, Jeff is the sexiest he's ever been, even in all of those unfortunate outfits they have him wearing.

Karen Atkinson is an awful bitch and I wish she would have been murdered, honestly. It's not often that the show has painted Adam as a victim, but that entire storyline took a turn for the miserable once everyone jumped on Karen's side in the custody hearing. Dana is useless to me, too.

Yay, Leslie is gone! I like to believe she died in that cabin.

It's nice to see Alexis sparring with Sable and sexing with Dex, completely out of her depression and the Sean mess. I know we don't see much of her in this season, but I'm glad she's at least back to her old self.

As I near the end of the series, I find myself waffling between being extremely sad that it's ending (it's taken me a decade to watch the entire thing) and extremely eager to go back and rewatch the first two seasons just to get a taste of them again since it's been so long since I've seen them.

[Chris B]

Enjoy that final season! It was such a wild, gothic and fun ride. One of the very best primetime soap seasons. I thought David Paulsen did such a good job of making Blake, Alexis and Fallon interesting again and knowing what he was dealing with budget wise he somehow made it work. When he was hired he was told absolutely no location shooting, which is what led to Linda Evans leaving and Joan Collins episode count being reduced. Even with those things it still worked so well. Krystle got an exit story fitting a queen and with Sable around I honestly never noticed when Alexis wasn't around. Whenever they *did* use her it was very well done. They also proved Emma Samms wasn't the problem but the writing was.

[KMan101]

 

That's such a good idea!

[j swift]

Here's the thing, they despised each other for most of the original run of the series (except for that odd tangential story when Blake got amnesia and Alexis took care of him).  So, it would be interesting to know what was the initial attraction.  Did Blake admire her cunning ways until it bit him in the butt?  Did Anders teach Alexis how to manage a large home (somebody taught her how to chill champagne and not to eat caviar with a silver spoon, even if she got it wrong when Dominique came for their first visit)?  What brought Alexis to Denver in the first place and did she like there?  What was Alexis like while pregnant (she popped out four kids in pretty quick succession so either the maternity wardrobe budget would have to be huge or they would need to fast forward the pregnancies between seasons)?  

 

The new show seems determined to tell Krystal/Cristal's story which I think is the least interesting backstory in the cannon of the series.  

Edited December 26, 2019 by j swift