S04E16 The British Are Coming

[tommie]

 

[GillesDenver]

Catherine Oxenberg is old enough to play Rosalind now.

 

[Grant Jennings]

Snarky has objected to the name Ashley Mitchell being "too Gone With The Wind", is the name Eliza Bennett is "too Pride and Prejudice"?

Yoga instructor, I don't believe it. Amanda is Blake's daughter, right?

 

[Daniel Avery]

It would be too cool to have Oxenberg's ex, Casper Van Dien, play Ben Carrington, given his resemblance to Grant Show.

 

[Grant Jennings]

It would be too cool to have Oxenberg's ex, Casper Van Dien, play Ben Carrington, given his resemblance to Grant Show.
View attachment 29595

I imagine Steven, after leaving the clinic, going to live with Ben in his chateau. I keep hoping for the following scene:

Blake is in his study, he pours himself a drink, walks over to the shelves flanking the fireplace (which is lit), takes down a framed photograph and looks at it (we don't see it). Blake walks over to his desk, puts down the photo and says "Suri, get me a phone number in Paris". Suri answers "Paris, Texas or Paris, France?" Blake, who is not amused, replies "of course the one in France!" Suri asks for the number and Blake gives Ben's name. Suri asks "I have a listing for Ben Carrington in Saint Denis, France; would you like me to dial that number?" Blake says yes and picks up his phone as the camera pans over to the photo. Blake says "Ben, I understand you have something of mine." We see the photograph is of Steven as Blake says "I want my son back."

 

[Daniel Avery]

Description:
"Blake makes a life-changing announcement, in more than one way; Fallon calls on NeNe Leakes to help stir the pot of competition in the online shopping world; Alexis attempts to make amends with Fallon and Adam, but they are both suspicious of her."

 

[Daniel Avery]

Alexis gives Fallon some family-heirloom earrings over lunch, then asks for help getting Adam to talk to her. As they chat, a young, pretty blond is watching them.
Fallon tricks Adam into making a house call to a "sick friend," not knowing it's to Alexis's enormous penthouse. He berates her about bringing Oliver into their lives and nearly getting Kirby killed (well....) and says he will never trust her again. My my, hypocrisy on display. She later visits the hospital to give Adam another "Morell family heirloom," which he takes but doesn't warm to her. As she walks away upset, the blond woman is seen watching them, too.

Blake has to get a ton of signatures to get his name on the ballot, and he enlists Cristal to help.

Dominique has signed a deal to flog her clothing line on a rival shopping network, so Fallon decides she needs to play dirty....since Dom is family, and that's how they do things in that family. Liam does not approve, but shrugs it off since she won't listen anyway. Fallon does a video chat with NeNe Leakes (a reality star?) and makes her think that other channel is replacing her (Leakes) with Dom. Leakes pushes for a new, more expensive deal with the other channel which leaves Dom out in the cold. When Fallon suggests Dom come on board her channel, Dom turns her down flat, which gives Liam a bit of a chuckle. Fallon then angrily says she will develop her own line instead. To beat Dom to the punch on announcing her line, Fallon flakes out on an award ceremony that Liam really wanted her to attend with him, since he's up for an award. Eva, Fallon's assistant, shows up at the awards ceremony and Liam asks her to sit with him. (Uh-oh....)

Sam is still kind of weirded out by what happened with Leo, but Culhane seems to be moving right along with his life. Anders's ghost is lingering around offering advice that they seem to be ignoring. Sam thinks he needs to go to "the woods" to wait for a sign that he did the right thing. The "three" of them end up camping it up (so to speak) but Culhane opts to ditch the arrangement because he doesn't want to listen to the advice Anders is giving him about "dealing with his regrets about Leo". On the ride back, Anders is in Culhane's back seat (I guess he left Sam to the bugs and bears?) telling him he should let go of the guilt for good.

Adam returns to the penthouse and says he will lighten up, but Alexis must never, never lie to him. Because yeah, that's always been her strong suit. Case in point: the young woman shows up and Alexis warmly greets Amanda. She apologizes for not attending Amanda's mother's funeral, but Amanda flatly tells Alexis she knows everything....that Alexis is not her cousin, but is in fact her mother. Someone named Gabriel Jurgens is her father (according to her birth certificate). So Alexis tells her the story of the yoga instructor, how her cousin couldn't have children, etc. Adam shows up and Alexis immediately introduces Amanda as "his cousin". After Adam leaves, Amanda says she will set everyone straight on just who she really is, since she's missed out on an entire life.

Cristal seems to have gone out and gotten all the signatures Blake needs to get on the ballot. Too bad she shows up a few seconds late to drop off the signatures. "Do you know who I am?" she asks. No, he doesn't. Good, because she picks up the stacks of various candidate signatures, tosses them everywhere, then adds Blake's pages to the pile. Now they are all going to be counted, because the guy has no way of knowing who was turned in before 5 and who was at 5:01. Or something. Is this how Biden won Georgia in 2020?

So Amanda shows up to Blake's press event at the manor to introduce herself but Fallon is her usual frantic, dismissive, and sarcastic self. Adam shows up and tells Fallon she's their cousin from London, but Fallon insists they don't have a cousin from London, then walks away from them to get into a back-and-forth with Dominique. They eventually make up and Fallon apologizes for being so overly-driven. Blake is about to formally announce his candidacy for Senator when Alexis shows up, desperate to get Amanda to keep her mouth shut for the time being. Alexis sees Fallon, Adam, and Amanda all chatting in the corner and assumes the worst. As Blake is the center of attention, Alexis is loudly heard telling the kids Amanda is their sister. "We have a secret sister?!?" is the sound-bite of the day. Adam is amazed that Alexis broke the "don't lie to me" thing in record time, as if he never met Alexis.

Afterwards, Blake and Cristal have a poorly-edited* scene by the fireplace, where Cristal says she will support Blake all she can in his campaign, but she also wants to have her own life. He understands, what with the recent brush with death and all.

Alexis tells Amanda she was lucky not to have her as a mother, if today is an indication. Not having Alexis in her life made Amanda's life better, and Alexis wanted her to have the best life possible. Will Amanda stay at the penthouse with her? Sure.

* I say "poorly edited" because the scene (of them in bed) cuts back and forth between the two, and Blake is sitting higher in the bed when he talks, then lower in the bed when she talks. I'm not usually a stickler for such things, but it distracted me from what they were saying with Blake going up and down in the bed (and not in a good way).

 

[Mason Carrington]

I really don’t like where this Liam and Eva storyline is potentially heading. I hope, if anything, it’s an unrequited crush on the part of Eva (ie. she’s in love with him but he never returns the feelings). I would hate for them to ruin Fallon & Liam, like they normally do with every other relationship.

 

[tommie]

I liked the twist of Culhane being the one who was badgered by Anders-the-Ghost. I'm a bit sad that it means that it probably means a Ghostly Anders won't be the one actually running Blake's joke of a campaign.

I like Amanda. I'm sure she'll turn out to be Blake's.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I guess those who tuned in expecting a tense, loud confrontation scene between Amanda and Alexis were disappointed. I did not get a sense of the "cathartic" feeling Alexis should have felt, having this huge secret finally out in the open. But neither did I get a sense of Alexis's desperation to shut down Amanda's efforts to meet/tell everyone. It was just....shrug-worthy. Not that I needed slut-shaming insults and pottery-tossing, but the directors didn't seem to "dial in" to the importance of this reveal in the lives of Alexis and Amanda. It is obviously early in the story, but this feels like a lot of missed opportunities.

I'm reminded of Alexis's scheme to steal Carrington Atlantic away from Blake when she first returned. She went so far as to hire a fake Adam (coercing him to cut off part of a finger as part of the hoax) because her takeover hinged on each relative having a vote on dividing up the company (or something). If S1 Alexis had been carrying around this Amanda secret, it would have been a lot less complicated for her to simply bring Amanda to town, "confess" that Amanda was Blake's secret child (not the product of some affair), and produce a "real" kid rather than hire some dummy to pretend to be Adam. That's the problem with ret-cons---past behavior suddenly makes no sense when the past gets rewritten.

Seeing how casual (un-worried, mostly) Alexis seemed about this twenty-year old secret being blown wide open made it seem less of a big deal than it should be. Even if (okay, when) Amanda is revealed to be a Carrington, I can't help but wonder if they will just slide her into the family dynamic without fanfare, in much the same way "the real Cristal" moved in and was being treated like part of the family after two or three episodes.

 

[Ferdnand Colby]

Well...
I'm not really sure how I feel about Amanda.
First, I'm a little surprised about how "normal" she is. Not really sure if I miss Ms. Oxenberg's acting skills (yeah, that's ironic) or if I'm flattered about the fact this girl is not over-the-top. I honestly wanted a big reveal or confrontation (more drama), considering this was supposed to be something shocking. At least to the Carringtons. Is she going to be a new Fallon? I doubt it, but... she was a pampered royal pain in the ass when we saw her in original Dynasty. And I miss that. Maybe she finds a Prince Harry who decides to leave the Crown, updating the story to Meghan Markle's not fairy tale. Times have changed, undoubtedly...
BTW, I only saw her scenes, 'cause felt kinda bored about Dominique's arc, and Blake's political career. Special mention to Mr. Dale, who is such a responsible guy. He is still working, even his character is dead (and buried), but the ghost... boring... The only interesting thing I found in this episode was Liam and the new assistant dynamic, which Fallon can't see, even when is happening right in front of her (the suit scene), but the Carrington lead lady is full of herself. Fuller.

 

[tommie]

I liked the Dominique plot - not because it was very creative (it wasn't, it's basically Fallon scheming for the zillionth time), but that it finally showed Dominique as being in charge rather than a clown.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

Why would Alexis want forgiveness from Adam?
Why would a character who ‘s faced was pushed into a burning fireplace then reconstructed to look like her daughter want to be forgiven by her insane son. The writers should have had Alexis go for blood with Adam,
Also she should have been a widow by now taking control of Colbyco
Whatever this version of that company is. Jeff is another pointless character that should have been gone by now and didn’t the better incarnation of the Alexis character was given a fortune that her next husband would expire?
Early in this series Alexis was written like a bit of a sociopath just like the early version of the original. IE causing the miscarriage of Kristen in the original on purpose not by accident mistakenly in this version and paying a kid to pretend to be her long lost son to take control of Carrington Atlantic in this reboot. n
Now this character is more of a dumb blonde but in the actresses defense it was done to Nicolette’s version too

 

[Ferdnand Colby]

Totally agree. I was thinking exactly the same. I know Adam is apparently a good person now and everyone had amnesia, but, if someone causes such an injury, not to mention the trauma, and disturbs my sanity that much, I think I would at least be pissed. In soap world that would mean revenge. But in Fallon's Dynasty (I am tired of this allusion every other episode), people hurt or kill someone and then have a party. And everybody is happy again

 

[Grant Jennings]

Why would Alexis want forgiveness from Adam?
Why would a character who ‘s faced was pushed into a burning fireplace then reconstructed to look like her daughter want to be forgiven by her insane son. The writers should have had Alexis go for blood with Adam.

Guilt, lots of guilt:
1] The guilt Alexis felt after Adam was kidnapped. Sure, it's her nature to blame other people when anything goes wrong but she's still a human being and a mother. After Adam was kidnapped I imagine she played "what if...?" "If only I hadn't _______ my son would be safe at home."
2] The guilt over having someone impersonate your kidnapped, believed to be dead son and even having him amputate a finger to pull off the charade.
3] Guilt over sending your other son out to "find" his long lost brother knowing it's just a ruse.
4] Guilt over accepting your son's death and ending the search for him only to learn he was alive all the time. Instead of living the pampered life you could have given him, he lived modestly and not very happily which has caused him to be mentally disturbed.
Even if Alexis didn't experience guilt over #2 and 3 initially she should have once she learned Adam was alive.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

Guilt, lots of guilt:
1] The guilt Alexis felt after Adam was kidnapped. Sure, it's her nature to blame other people when anything goes wrong but she's still a human being and a mother. After Adam was kidnapped I imagine she played "what if...?" "If only I hadn't _______ my son would be safe at home."
2] The guilt over having someone impersonate your kidnapped, believed to be dead son and even having him amputate a finger to pull off the charade.
3] Guilt over sending your other son out to "find" his long lost brother knowing it's just a ruse.
4] Guilt over accepting your son's death and ending the search for him only to learn he was alive all the time. Instead of living the pampered life you could have given him, he lived modestly and not very happily which has caused him to be mentally disturbed.
Even if Alexis didn't experience guilt over #2 and 3 initially she should have once she learned Adam was alive.

Yes I agree but I think you’re giving the people who write this show way too much credit.
Alexis doesn’t seem to have any guilt about completely forgetting about her favorite son
(I’m assuming in this reboot Steven is still Alexis favorite)
The way they dropped his story is really sloppy
If any characters were to be forgotten it should be culhane and Sam.
James was a decent actor and did fine in that role unlike the two that are still on the show.
The guy who plays michael doesn’t act he just gives exaggerated expressions like a silent film star and the other guy should have been like the original Sammy Jo after Steven left,
a scavenger and conniver, his husband is gone and aunt has died and he desperately wants to stay in the lavish carringron lifestyle that he got used to and terrified to be poor again ,not an overnight billionaire. I liked the actress who’s playing Amanda but have little hope she’ll have too much to do,
We’re not going to get her sleeping with her moms husband and then getting married off to a Moldavian in this version unfortunately.
This incarnation is a vehicle for Liz Gilles who before this I had not heard of her.
Pamela Sue Martin wasn’t a great actress but was perfect in the role of Fallon,
She had attitude and charm for days and even after the writers ruined Fallon, the actress still brought life and excitement in Fallon.
She was an important part of the whole ensemble but if they tried to make her the center of the universe like they’re doing now it wouldn’t have worked like this show doesn’t work.
When she left the show was never the same.
Unfortunately Liz doesn’t have the “it” that PSM had.
This Fallon is a neurotic mess that cannot deliver a straight line even when it’s needed.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Seeing how casual (un-worried, mostly) Alexis seemed about this twenty-year old secret being blown wide open made it seem less of a big deal than it should be.

She gave up Amanda to be raised by a cousin who couldn't get pregnant. I think the difference to the OG Amanda and Alexis is that she was not more than a visiting aunt. She barely has deep emotional ties to her other children, so why should it be different towards Amanda?

 

[GillesDenver]

The new penthouse (image courtesy of Facebook) is clearly inspired by the original :

 

[Grant Jennings]

The new penthouse (image courtesy of Facebook) is clearly inspired by the original :
View attachment 29854

As is the fact that people arrive unannounced and unexpected via what should be a private elevator.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Alexis did make that one, off-hand remark about how just anyone seems able to get past the security in the lobby of the building, but not in terms of "I need to get those inept fools fired," but more along the lines of "It's so hard to find good help nowadays."

Thanks for the photos of the set! It's cavernous---actually quite remarkable for a set that, for now, will only function as a base for two characters. At least when she was living at La Garbage, there was more opportunity for interactions with other characters. Now, people will have to have an excuse (that is, they'll have to be furious enough at something she did) to barge in. They can't say "Oh, I was just in the neighborhood." I fear having such a remote home will make her even less accessible for scenes/events. Look at how much more Dominique gets to interact with the Carringtons since moving into the loft.

In the south, we bring food over to welcome a new neighbor. Maybe Alexis's new neighbors could bring over a gift basket of home paternity tests?