nuDynasty Episode Chat S01E17 Enter Alexis (March 30)

[Willie Oleson]

I didn't see any Carringtons laughing, except for Cristal.
I think the success of Alexis depends on the chemistry she has with Blake and Cristal, Dynasty's golden trio.

That is, if Fallon permits it. She's hijacked the entire show! Good luck with that, Alexis

 

[tommie]

One minute, Sammy Jo looks to be a suspect in an attempted murder and Steven was being forced to pretend he and Ted were a couple for the sake of his campaign. Now nobody seems to care about Ted and his 'accident,' and Steven is proposing to Sammy Jo in public, "campaign" be damned.

This was definitively re-written. Remember, Ted's "accident" happened right at the end of episode 13 - the original episode order. In all honesty, part of me wonders if the plan was to have Ted survive at all. Not that I mind the re-writes, mind you. It's not as clumsy as some of the "gotta save the show" re-writes I've seen.

 

[Dw725]

This is Dynasty 2.0 people. It's not the original Dynasty. They can't tell the same stories exactly as they happened. If Liam doesn't end up being Adam, I will be shocked. They have totally made a point of how he and Fallon have not slept together and there was that reference at the funeral where some old lady recognized him as someone's child. He might know about the situation but Fallon doesn't. Does Alexis? Maybe that's where she's gonna come into money. Fallon even mentioned her mother couldn't find out about their sham marriage. Maybe Alexis blackmails Fallon.

I'll be surprised if the show gets the boot. It's held it's ratings with the move to Fridays which I'm shocked by and the Netflix thing certainly helps.

I liked the past 2 episodes a lot except for Joseph being on Alexis's side. Not surprising as I think about it. He's never acted like the original. I won't lie. I love the new Joseph with Sammy Joe

 

[Dw725]

Thinking about it for a second, do we really know Alexis had money in the original Dynasty? She slept around and went on yachts with people which was proved true by Andres. But did she have money? She moved into the studio. That's where she is now. Alexis didn't really have power until Cecil died. She had power over Blake before then, but it was never said she had money. She charged everything to the house just like new Alexis did.

 

[tommie]

Thinking about it for a second, do we really know Alexis had money in the original Dynasty? She slept around and went on yachts with people which was proved true by Andres. But did she have money? She moved into the studio. That's where she is now. Alexis didn't really have power until Cecil died. She had power over Blake before then, but it was never said she had money. She charged everything to the house just like new Alexis did.

Alexis didn't have money when she arrived on original Dynasty - she had Blake's alimony, which seemed enough to keep her busy with pool boys in Alcapulco, but not enough money to even attempt to usurp Blake. An alimony that was based on the condition that she'd never set foot in Denver again or else she'd lose it. It was never adressed if she continued to get something from Blake after she moved into the cottage.

This Alexis seems to have taken a huge one-time payment (which might indicate that she's short-sighted) which she spent over the course of a decade. Remember that Blake commented on that she had tried to start a cosmetics brand under the name Carrington which made Blake trademark the name and shut her down. I also don't think this Alexis grew up "white trash" - it sounds like they owned a significant piece of land and had a horse farm that ended up being grossly mismanaged and eventually sold to Tom Carrington.

 

[xab]

It's strange... I have the feeling this episode was season 2 opening... Is Michael written out? Are the Colbys and their failed and boring revenge down and out for good... ?
I must say I had fun. Maybe too much. Like a "Naked Gun" without Leslie Nielsen... It's really fast paced, fast and furious (Fallon gunning around, a catfight in a pool...) It's like they're desperately throwing everything in the air, like a firework to draw a deaf audience...

Nicolette Sheridan is really doing a very good job, better than I had expected, I must acknowledge.
Of course as predicted (by me at least) it's more a mix between Eddie Britt and some "housewives" of a trashy reality show than a glamorous and devious lady.
She maybe not be English, but she got dressed like one yet. I mean Patsy Stone of course. (I demand Joanna Lumley for Mrs Morell's part. She would be absolutely fabulous as Alexis mother... )

I had another weird feeling: Natalie Kelley looked very jaded... As if she understood that Nicolette Sheridan's arrival had sidelined her character and already stole the show. Maybe it's the reason why she goes nuclear on cleavages...?

 

[Alexis]

Regarding the original Alexis and her money situation. It is never said on the original show explicitly that Alexis came from money. However, certain things did imply that Alexis did come from money. Maybe that money was drying up by the 1960s when she married Blake. It was a trade off of sorts. Alexis bagged a rich husband, who at that point was a self made man. And Blake bagged a stunningly beautiful high class English lady. Together they were a power couple. His money and her breeding, taste and knowledge and desire of all things beautiful.

It's stated that Alexis' father was a hatter. I believe Joseph mockingly brings it up to Alexis implying that her father was mad. As in mad hatter. However Alexis quickly reminds him that her father made very important hats, or something along those lines. It's implied Mr Morrell was hat maker to the King.
When Caress shows up later she also speaks in the same high class clipped British accent, she's supposedly well educated, a writer and she seems well bred. All this despite being in a South American prison for a few years. She also mixed in the same circles as Alexis and multimillionaire Zach Powers. Then we have Amanda, who was raised by Alexis' cousin Rosalind Bedford, who was married to British diplomat Hugh Bedford. Again this implies that Alexis' family had money. It's also no coincidence that Alexis and Caress' cousins Sable and Francesca somehow managed to marry into the very wealthy Colby family. Then of course we also find out that Alexis had at one time been romantically involved with the future King of Moldavia.
It's never said but there is a feeling that these women were from semi-aristocratic English families. Families that were in trouble after two world wars, the money was drying up and they needed to save the family. How? Have their young daughters bag a wealthy yank. And so off they went to California, to Denver...

It's all part of the magic of DYNASTY that is somehow more vivid and more real than what was ever really shown on screen. Sometimes the history just reaches out at you. It speaks a thousand words without saying any. @Richard Channing has somehow been able to make the ghosts of DYNASTY's past speak.
I think most who post here sort of agree with this version of Alexis' family background. @Snarky's Ghost @Gabriel Maxwell @Gatsbyesque @Willie Oleson @tommie @Ked

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

This post should probably be repeated on the oldDYNASTY page, too, somewhere:

Regarding the original Alexis and her money situation. It is never said on the original show explicitly that Alexis came from money. However, certain things did imply that Alexis did come from money. Maybe that money was drying up by the 1960s when she married Blake. It was a trade off of sorts. Alexis bagged a rich husband, who at that point was a self made man. And Blake bagged a stunningly beautiful high class English lady. Together they were a power couple. His money and her breeding, taste and knowledge and desire of all things beautiful.

It's stated that Alexis' father was a hatter. I believe Joseph mockingly brings it up to Alexis implying that her father was mad. As in mad hatter. However Alexis quickly reminds him that her father made very important hats, or something along those lines. It's implied Mr Morrell was hat maker to the King.
When Caress shows up later she also speaks in the same high class clipped British accent, she's supposedly well educated, a writer and she seems well bred. All this despite being in a South American prison for a few years. She also mixed in the same circles as Alexis and multimillionaire Zach Powers. Then we have Amanda, who was raised by Alexis' cousin Rosalind Bedford, who was married to British diplomat Hugh Bedford. Again this implies that Alexis' family had money. It's also no coincidence that Alexis and Caress' cousins Sable and Francesca somehow managed to marry into the very wealthy Colby family.
It's never said but there is a feeling that these women were from semi-aristocratic English families. Families that were in trouble after two world wars, the money was drying up and they needed to save the family. How? Have their young daughters bag a wealthy yank. And so off they went to California, to Denver...

It's all part of the magic of DYNASTY that is somehow more vivid and more real than what was ever really shown on screen. Sometimes the history just reaches out at you. It speaks a thousand words without saying any. @Richard Channing has somehow been able to make the ghosts of DYNASTY's past speak.
I think most who post here sort of agree with this version of Alexis' family background. @Snarky's Ghost @Gabriel Maxwell @Gatsbyesque @Willie Oleson @tommie @Ked

When @Alexis says: "It's all part of the magic of DYNASTY that is somehow more vivid and more real than what was ever really shown on screen. Sometimes the history just reaches out at you. It speaks a thousand words without saying any," I would argue, first and foremost, that's it's the casting.... It's hard to explain what makes for perfect casting, but the top producers -- Spelling, Esther, maybe even the Pollocks (who apparently 'found' Beacham and O'Mara) -- knew enough about what DYNASTY could and should be to place the right actors in the right roles. And then, like pimps, left the stars -- and the viewers -- alone to fend for themselves.

Which is for me the unforgivable irony of DYNASTY: fanwanking is ten times more effective and more interesting than what the producers actually gave us, in terms of tone and plot and character. And that should never have happened.

In Season 3 thru Season 8, you can easily see what the show should have been doing, yet some adamantly neurotic impulse from the brass keeps tripping them up, almost literally frame by frame. Nothing is allowed to breathe or flow.

Yet there seemed to be this entire, vital, subterranean DYNASTY -- both past and present -- going on that we knew existed on instinct, but seemed to be occurring on another frequency we couldn't quite access directly.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

... or, more simply put, the past seemed more real than the present.

 

[Alexis]

This post should probably be repeated on the oldDYNASTY page, too, somewhere:

Oh, Before the crash there was a whole thread on this, and literally everyone seemed to have the same version of the past. Even though it wasn't ever explicitly said on the show.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It's implied Mr Morrell was hat maker to the King

I've always thought of Alexis as someone who came from a good home, middle class. Enough money to live relatively comfortable and give their daughters the best education possible.
But not so much money that they'd live in a mansion or anything like that.
As Snarky has mentioned several times, she was almost there, she knew enough about it to pose as the upper class but she also knew that she wasn't which could have caused some kind of subconscious inner conflict, dare I say "neurosis" which I thought was quite apparent on the show itself.
And if you combine that with a narcissistic and self-indulgent personality, well then you have a Very Difficult Person. The person that was so much fun to watch.

Maybe she thought that Big American Money would make up for it, but I don't believe that's the only reason she married Blake since he wasn't the established tycoon at the time she married him. He was in the process of becoming one, and Alexis had a nose for winners.
She could have married a super rich dandy a la Peter De Vilbis but that wouldn't give her the same status as the future Mrs. Tycoon. Not to mention the fact that Blake probably looked more manly than the aforementioned dandy types. And of course Blake fell in love with her too.

But I thought the Scott family was slightly wealthier, closer to the British upper class and that's also why I think Sable & Jason's story is different from the Alexis & Blake story.
Not sure why, not much information was given regarding that subject, it's just a hunch. I could imagine Sable and Frankie's father as someone with a high rank, a General or a minister.

 

[Alexis]

I've always thought of Alexis as someone who came from a good home, middle class. Enough money to live relatively comfortable and give their daughters the best education possible.
But not so much money that they'd live in a mansion or anything like that.
As Snarky has mentioned several times, she was almost there, she knew enough about it to pose as the upper class but she also knew that she wasn't which could have caused some kind of subconscious inner conflict, dare I say "neurosis" which I thought was quite apparent on the show itself.
And if you combine that with a narcissistic and self-indulgent personality, well then you have a Very Difficult Person. The person that was so much fun to watch.

Maybe she thought that Big American Money would make up for it, but I don't believe that's the only reason she married Blake since he wasn't the established tycoon at the time she married him. He was in the process of becoming one, and Alexis had a nose for winners.
She could have married a super rich dandy a la Peter De Vilbis but that wouldn't give her the same status as the future Mrs. Tycoon. Not to mention the fact that Blake probably looked more manly than the aforementioned dandy types. And of course Blake fell in love with her too.

But I thought the Scott family was slightly wealthier, closer to the British upper class and that's also why I think Sable & Jason's story is different from the Alexis & Blake story.
Not sure why, not much information was given regarding that subject, it's just a hunch. I could imagine Sable and Frankie's father as someone with a high rank, a General or a minister.

I've just always thought that Alexis and Sable were from very similar backgrounds. Both equally wealthy, only reasonably wealthy. Fathers that were originally military men or diplomats. It all just makes sense that way.

 

[Ked]

I've just always thought that Alexis and Sable were from very similar backgrounds. Both equally wealthy, only reasonably wealthy. Fathers that were originally military men or diplomats. It all just makes sense that way.

I still would have loved a little mini-series that focused on Alexis and Sable at boarding school. Just to get a glimpse of all the shenanigans they got into as teenagers before they each found their respective husbands.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I've just always thought that Alexis and Sable were from very similar backgrounds

Well, they were related through their mothers families, and we don't know much about those families.
It's just that Sable and Frankie seemed a little bit more comfortable/natural in their roles of wealthy and upper class women and I don't know if that's only because they married Old Money.

 

[Ked]

Well, they were related through their mothers families, and we don't know much about those families.
It's just that Sable and Frankie seemed a little bit more comfortable/natural in their roles of wealthy and upper class women and I don't know if that's only because they married Old Money.

Well, Sable was married to Jason for 25-30 years, whereas Alexis was married to Blake only 6-8 years and then spent the next 16 years globe-trotting while living on an allowance. So Sable spent way more time immersed in the world of the rich, and presumably, so did Frankie - but I'm only guessing that because I assumed she married soon after her own banishment. As for Caress, there was never any mention of a husband, so it could be possible she spent the years working, earning her living. Or she could have married a wealthy old geezer who soon kicked the bucket, leaving young Cassie a thrill-seeking widow.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Ted's "accident" happened right at the end of episode 13 - the original episode order. In all honesty, part of me wonders if the plan was to have Ted survive at all. Not that I mind the re-writes

To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it when I watched these last two episodes (until Daniel mentioned it).
And at this time we don't even know if these storylines have ended.
Surely it's possible to do a continuing story without continuing everything that happened in the previous episode? Hence why the Colbys didn't feature in this episode.
I think (hope!) that this Ted business turns out to be a very nasty surprise.

they owned a significant piece of land and had a horse farm that ended up being grossly mismanaged

Could this be an interesting background story? Do we want to know more about it?

 

[Willie Oleson]

As for Caress, there was never any mention of a husband, so it could be possible she spent the years working, earning her living

Yes, I think she was the one who actually had to work. With some blackmail business as a sideline. The kind of person who knew where and how to contact the Wrong People, as it were.

 

[Ked]

Yes, I think she was the one who actually had to work. With some blackmail business as a sideline. The kind of person who knew where and how to contact the Wrong People, as it were.

I like the idea of Caress as a "working girl", albeit one who managed to stay afloat through semi-dishonest means. She could have had a few skeletons in her closet, and could have brought in some bad people who make trouble for the Carringtons.

 

[Grant Jennings]

I loved this episode but it definitely felt like there was some serious re-tooling going on. I wonder if we've seen the last of Michael and the Colbys. I was looking forward to seeing Mrs. Colby, based on what we know about her (adulteress, suicide attempt) she sounds more like Frankie than Sable. I also suspect they were going to reveal Monica is Tom's daughter. Now I wonder if all of this has been dropped.

Liam's mother's name is Laura - the same name as the mother of Millie Cox/Dominique Deveraux. Just a coincidence? I wonder if they dropped "Monica is a Carrington" in favor of "Fallon is married to her uncle"? Have Fallon and Liam had sex?

I'm loving Cristal, she's very shrewd and "above it all". In some ways she seems closer to how the original Krystle was supposed to be. I also like the relationship between Fallon and Cristal; there's a grudging respect between them and Cristal is the one who continually reaches out to help Fallon. The way this is being handled is much better than the "one apology and now we're besties" from the original.

Alexis is very different from the original - excellent! Nicollette Sheridan is credited as "special guest star", does this mean she won't be in every episode? I would much prefer that she fly into Buckhead unexpectedly to stir up trouble and leave - until next time, over this becoming "The Alexis Show". Or is she a "special guest star" the way Ricardo Montalban was on "The Colbys" and Heather Locklear was on "Melrose Place"?

 

[Michael Torrance]

A few thoughts about the last three episodes(which I watched), and especially #17 :

Posters here and reviewers on media like Liam and they have mentioned all sorts of valid reasons except for the obvious one: he functions as Krystle did in the original DYNASTY, the outsider through whom the audience sees the action--for instance his reaction at Fallon slapping Steven. That will likely go away if/when his past is revealed and a more sinister dimension is shown. That function also reveals how badly this Cristal was conceived in peach Dynasty.

Sheridan was good in the role they wrote, and the first half of the episode showed promise, but then they quickly cut her at the knees and got rid of the one fleshed-out character all in one swoop. However, the original Alexis, though likely also in bad finances as posters here noted, had her tongue and pedigree and sly wit as powerful weapons. I don't see this one with any ammunition.

The frenemies relationship between Fallon and Cristal works. Ditto for finally creating some tension between the two siblings.
Sam and Anders are very different from the original, almost 180 degrees different. It works for Sam, but I am not sure for Anders. I am also concerned that Sam may soon be irrelevant.

The Colbys seem gone--and frankly, good riddance the way they were written, but the show just killed years of possible story in the process. I liked the speculation I saw that maybe Monique was Tom's, a mix of Monica and Dominique. But alas that was not meant to be. And how horrible to not have a Sable!

I am more curious about the show than I was in the first few episodes when I stopped watching. I don't trust them based on their track record, but I will see how it goes week to week.