nuDynasty Episode Chat S5E16: My Family, My Blood

[Daniel Avery]

Episode Description:
"Fallon and Blake come up with a plan to beat Ben, and Cristal strongly advises against it. Dominique works hard to keep herself out of the family drama, no matter how much Ben tries to drag her in. Meanwhile, Adam continues to push Alexis to let him on her FSN show to promote his newest medical find. Sam tries to set up Culhane, and he wants no part of it. Alexis seems to have a major change of heart."

 

[Daniel Avery]

Side note: I tuned in about five minutes early and saw the CW actually produced and aired an actual commercial for Dynasty using clips from all over S5. I ask: NOW they have the idea to promote the show? [/smacks head] I hope someone has the decency to grab it and put it on YT.

Blake is with lawyers, trying to have them handle the will drama with Ben rather than launching into a dirty-tricks campaign....an idea that Fallon is not okay with. She wants to do what she always does, and Blake is wavering. In fact the only reason he isn't all over it is because Cristal asked him not to.

Ben meets with Alexis, trying to draft her in his war to have the will thrown out. She isn't in the mood to march into another war with Blake, but admits she will enjoy watching Blake suffer.

Sam offers to set Culhane up with a new woman, but Culhane tells him not to bother. When a seemingly perfect woman drops into Culhane's life, he assumes she's Sam's 'plant'. Still, they do hit it off. She says her husband died last year and this is her first foray into dating since then. They end up heading upstairs to one of the hotel's rooms half-way through their date.

Dom and Liam are scrounging in the kitchen for breakfast (no staff around?). Liam has signed a deal for another book, and Dom is in the finals for designing those uniforms for Nordic-Star...so they are both in a celebratory mood. She's also gleefully telling anyone who will listen that she is NOT getting involved in the will drama.

Adam drops by FSN as Alexis and Dom are doing their show, wanting to 'drop in' to plug his new anti-aging drug, but Alexis thinks he's too much of a wild card for live TV. Ya think? Since Dom is taking time off to pitch her designs for Nordic-Star, Alexis will be flying solo on the show. Adam appears to slip Alexis something in her smoothie to make her get sick (how sweet....) so no one is available to host the show....clearing a path for him. Um, isn't that how he killed his adoptive mother? She refuses to stay down, though, and heads to the set to tell him off and keep him off the stage. But in the end he crashes the show anyway....wearing a lab coat for effect. He has the nerve afterwards to tell Alexis she needs to work on her "trust issues" with regard to his supposedly poisoning her.

Dominique mentions that Ben had an idea to subpoena Tom's lawyer's files. Fallon and Blake want to break into Tom's lawyers' files to steal the records and weaken Ben's case, so Fallon and Cristal head for Savannah (where Tom used to live). (Where I used to live) Fallon leaves Liam to start writing his new book, but Liam has writer's block. I can't help but laugh when F&C meets with the lawyer and he has a deep Southern accent. Apparently no one in Atlanta has one, but Savannah is in the actual South. Or something. Anyway, Fallon finds out the transcriptions of all of Tom's conversations about his will are available to steal....um, to hear and makes plans to do her usual shenanigans. Cristal says it has "disaster" written all over it and they have a big argument about how Fallon just won't listen when people offer sound advice.

One of the club employees recognizes Culhane's "date" was married to the contractor who remodeled the Sahara Club. You know....Leo? Who died last year? They're almost as shocked as Leo was. She seems genuine when she talks to Sam, but it's a bit too close for their comfort. Culhane meets her for another date, though since he doesn't get a dangerous vibe from her.

Fallon actually doesn't go through with the burglary (thanks Cristal). She suggests digging up transcripts of Tom's therapist, hoping Tom spoke of his plans to change the will during a session. Blake says okay.....and as soon as Fallon leaves the room he orders someone on the phone to break into the lawyer's office in Savannah. Later, Ben drops by to gloat that the "lead" on the transcripts was in fact false, and the break-in makes Blake look very suspicious. Dom is furious that Ben planted fake info with her (the lawyer's transcripts) hoping it would get back to Blake and denounces Ben for good.

Fallon tells Cristal that although they have different "approaches," she is glad Cristal is around. She also asks Cristal to be Godmother to the baby.

Alexis drops by the mansion to leave an apology letter to Kirby for treating her so poorly (Kirby is away on a photo shoot, I guess). She admits that Adam might not have been responsible for her illness (since Dex called from his business trip to tell her he got sick too), and if she doesn't mend fences with Kirby, she might lose Amanda. Alone in Kirby's room, Alexis gets nosy and finds Anders's book of secrets! And in no time flat, Alexis has changed her mind about Ben Versus Blake. She runs to Ben with said book, saying it contains everything he needs. Talk about a fast 180 on this whole "mending fences with her enemies" thing.

 

[tommie]

I don't get how Fallon thinks she can pretend to be someone else considering she (and Cristal) are supposedly socialites that appear in the press.

Again, they are either writing a redemption arc for Adam or setting him up for a huge fall.

Finally, Anders' book of secrets comes into play again. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "randomly finding something" though as a plot device, same with randomly over-hearing a conversation. It's always struck me as rather lazy.

 

[vicki4471]

2 episodes in a row that have just been ok for me.
2 episodes in a row that Fallon has not gone to work or mentioned Fallon unlimited 1000 times.
It was nice to see the Liam and Dom interactions. They were cute and it was nice to see him getting screen time with other characters.
Liam smoking pot and getting busted by Fallon was funny..ish
Just put Culhene with Dom or Nina already and call it a day. 6 episodes to go and they want to dredge up the widow of the contractor he and Sam electrocuted. Blah
Cristal and Fallon have a nice dynamic. I like the scenes with them.
Where is Stacy? I thought she moved in. Last week Fallon could not let her out of her sight.
I cant look at Ben without seeing Ripley from station 19. Miss the accent soooo much.
2 weeks in a row Adam hasnt made me cringe.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Finally, Anders' book of secrets comes into play again. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "randomly finding something" though as a plot device

It was a really clumsy set-up for Alexis finding the book. One would think such a thing would not be in the top drawer of Kirby's dresser, but in a safe-deposit box or something more secure/hidden. But we're going to have to suffer more of these quick-fixes now that time is not on the writers' side. Rather than spend two or three episodes with Alexis learning of the existence of Anders's book, then scheming to steal it, reading it and then planning ways to use it, they condensed into a one-minute scene.

I've always been kind of ambivalent about Anders's Book of Secrets (ABS). I always worried that it would fall into the wrong hands (as it obviously has) and be used by someone who had no skill and nuance in its use (as it obviously will). Alexis having it is like handing a nuclear bomb to a tantrum-prone four-year old. Though they said Anders left it to Kirby as her "insurance policy" I never really bought that; they had no intention of having her weaponize that book in her own interest. Why else would she shove it into her dresser and go on with her life like nothing happened? Maddison Brown only got what....16 or 17 episodes this season? If they had any plans for her to use ABS , they would have had to invest in a plotline where she became alienated from the Carringtons, or at least in some situation where she had to look out for her own interests at the expense of the Carringtons. I think they always intended some other, more prominent character to steal ABS from Kirby---if not Alexis then perhaps Adam, Jeff, or some villain of the week.

I do wonder how Dex is going to react to how quickly his wife has reverted to old form. He is out of town for a few days and she's plotting with her ex-brother-in-law to destroy Blake, dragging all kinds of family dirty laundry out for everyone to see as if the past six months haven't happened. Isn't it odd that Alexis, who had forged something of a detente with Blake in the past few episodes, was so quick to jump into the Ben/Blake rivalry with the ABS as ammunition? I mean, Alexis has a new husband, better relations with her family members, and the new company to run---why would she jeopardize all that just to throw in with Ben, someone I got the idea she was not all that close to in the past? * Like I said, that book might end up being a nuclear bomb that Alexis sets off without realizing just how destructive it will be. Her marriage might be the first casualty (within weeks of the wedding!), as well as her relationships with her kids, and by extension her company (Adam co-owns it and it depends on Fallon's Shopping Network for publicity/sales). Alexis has already put her relationship with Amanda on thin ice by stealing ABS from Kirby (Amanda's girlfriend). She spent Christmas alone in jail because she had alienated everyone in her family, but had gone through all that effort to mend fences and be a better person (well, a less-awful person, anyway).

* They may elaborate in future episodes about just how close Ben and Alexis were in the past, but in this episode they were not acting as if they were anything more than ex in-laws.

 

[tommie]

It was a really clumsy set-up for Alexis finding the book. One would think such a thing would not be in the top drawer of Kirby's dresser, but in a safe-deposit box or something more secure/hidden. But we're going to have to suffer more of these quick-fixes now that time is not on the writers' side. Rather than spend two or three episodes with Alexis learning of the existence of Anders's book, then scheming to steal it, reading it and then planning ways to use it, they condensed into a one-minute scene.

Good point - I thought it was a really awful set up and the whole "Alexis wants to apologize to Kirby" was really forced. I've never been a huge fan of the whole set up of people either over-hearing convenient things or randomly finding things as it does scream laziness, but as you said, in this case it might be a case of a quick fix to get Alexis into position. On the other hand, I'd argue that the whole Adam/Alexis plot in this episode could've been skipped and just given her an episode to find out about it and then go on scheming to get it.

 

[Daniel Avery]

The highlight of Adam and Alexis's scenes in this episode had to be the call-back of the "poisoned smoothie". I admit I totally fell for it.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

How many episodes are left,6?
Why shouldn’t Alexis be cautious of Adam’s actions, he pushed her face into a lit fireplace
It’s dumb that the writers had Adam be insulted.
Bad idea in season 2 to write out NS that way, you could never be around someone who did that to you, it was pure shock.
More filler with Liam’s writers block, I guess it wasn’t a big deal his mother died a suspicious death with a face full of Adam’s product and face up with a heel in her chest.
Pointless scenes with someone who can’t act.
Nothing to see there.
More filler Culhane and his dating, why!?
Pointless stories with someone who can’t act.
We could have had more flashbacks with Blake. Ben and their parents, I guess it’s easier to write the same recycled trite for la mirage with RCR
Where’s the baby surrogate that Fallon couldn’t bear to be separated from?
It was a nice scene with Fallon asking Crystal to be the godmother but it really would have been character development if that scene was with Celia.
EH should be on a sitcom, oh wait she is.
Is Ben broke? His hotel set seems sort of seedy, I remember a mansion in Paris that his daughter threw a party in season 2 and that his wife had the cash. Did he get divorced? He told Blake he was expecting a child, did he visit his nephew in the hospital or was he not informed. These are the scenes that should have been put into play.
Not home shopping network nonsense and Culhane.
Adam was introduced so well and now mugs for the camera. I doubt he’s going to be held accountable for any of his actions before the show is done. It’s just not what this show does.
Didn’t miss Kirby, Amanda or Jeff
who should have been killed off season 2 and had Monica be the Colby head.
Maybe the trial with Alexis and Ben will be sort of fun and let’s see what the mini cliffhanger will bring next week
I doubt it’ll bring Steven
The very last scene with Ben and EH was good.
The episodic comedy show since season 3 just doesn’t work

 

[vicki4471]

It was a really clumsy set-up for Alexis finding the book. One would think such a thing would not be in the top drawer of Kirby's dresser, but in a safe-deposit box or something more secure/hidden. But we're going to have to suffer more of these quick-fixes now that time is not on the writers' side. Rather than spend two or three episodes with Alexis learning of the existence of Anders's book, then scheming to steal it, reading it and then planning ways to use it, they condensed into a one-minute scene.

I've always been kind of ambivalent about Anders's Book of Secrets (ABS). I always worried that it would fall into the wrong hands (as it obviously has) and be used by someone who had no skill and nuance in its use (as it obviously will). Alexis having it is like handing a nuclear bomb to a tantrum-prone four-year old. Though they said Anders left it to Kirby as her "insurance policy" I never really bought that; they had no intention of having her weaponize that book in her own interest. Why else would she shove it into her dresser and go on with her life like nothing happened? Maddison Brown only got what....16 or 17 episodes this season? If they had any plans for her to use ABS , they would have had to invest in a plotline where she became alienated from the Carringtons, or at least in some situation where she had to look out for her own interests at the expense of the Carringtons. I think they always intended some other, more prominent character to steal ABS from Kirby---if not Alexis then perhaps Adam, Jeff, or some villain of the week.

I do wonder how Dex is going to react to how quickly his wife has reverted to old form. He is out of town for a few days and she's plotting with her ex-brother-in-law to destroy Blake, dragging all kinds of family dirty laundry out for everyone to see as if the past six months haven't happened. Isn't it odd that Alexis, who had forged something of a detente with Blake in the past few episodes, was so quick to jump into the Ben/Blake rivalry with the ABS as ammunition? I mean, Alexis has a new husband, better relations with her family members, and the new company to run---why would she jeopardize all that just to throw in with Ben, someone I got the idea she was not all that close to in the past? * Like I said, that book might end up being a nuclear bomb that Alexis sets off without realizing just how destructive it will be. Her marriage might be the first casualty (within weeks of the wedding!), as well as her relationships with her kids, and by extension her company (Adam co-owns it and it depends on Fallon's Shopping Network for publicity/sales). Alexis has already put her relationship with Amanda on thin ice by stealing ABS from Kirby (Amanda's girlfriend). She spent Christmas alone in jail because she had alienated everyone in her family, but had gone through all that effort to mend fences and be a better person (well, a less-awful person, anyway).

* They may elaborate in future episodes about just how close Ben and Alexis were in the past, but in this episode they were not acting as if they were anything more than ex in-laws.

They said that in next weeks episode Fallons old nanny/ babysitter will pay a visit and drop a bombshell. Do you think Alexis and Ben are close enough that the bombshell is that Fallon is Bens kid and not Blakes?

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

I doubt they’re going to go that route again.
It was a cop out way to write out Steven,
I don’t think they thought aside from Sallie Patrick that the fans would revolt against an og characters paternity change.
A one episode character can’t bring too much at the end of a series. Why would a nanny know that information unless she saw Ben and Alexis in bed together and even then I don’t think there’s enough time left to explore that to end up finding out Fallon is indeed Blake’s kid.
As far as the book goes It didn’t make sense that Anders would keep a record when he was just as guilty and they were his family more than employers, he even chose them initially over his own kid.
.
And it really was sloppy and dumb how Alexis just happened to find it right in the top drawer of kirbys dresser, she didn’t even have to dig in her undergarments to find it.
We had a whole season for that book to
Come into play much more logically,
but that might have cut into important Culhane screen time.
That book of secrets must have plenty on Alexis back in the day as well and maybe even recent actions like her murdering Mark Jennings and Crystal # 2’s baby.
Speaking of Sallie Patrick I wish she was brought in to write the final episodes.
I know that would never happen but just to go out as good as it started. Sort of like the OG.
She had a homage to the show on her social media when news of it getting cancelled.
She only left out Nicolette who probably was a pain in the ass to deal with but was the best thing about this reboot.
Her leaving along with Nathalie and James ruined the series

 

[GillesDenver]

That could be a tribute to the storyline of the second season of the original show, when Fallon thought she was Cecil's daughter. But in the end, it will be revealed that she is Blake's daughter after all, like in the original version.

 

[Daniel Avery]

When I first read the background of Charisma Carpenter's character, I thought it was odd that Fallon, growing up in a house full of servants, would need a "babysitter" from outside the household. Now I wonder if the character was a lover/fling of Blake's whom he hired on as a so-called babysitter for Fallon as a cover story for her frequent visits. Revealing her past fling with Blake would count as a "bombshell," especially if she was underage at the time.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

Maybe there’s another Carrington child out there wanting their share and they’re neither gay, crazy or neurotic.

 

[Daniel Avery]

But how else to prove the child is a Carrington?

Then again, maybe it was going to be more to this woman's part, but they had to cut the plot short. She leaves without telling Blake about the baby (now eleven years old), but has a mysterious accident off-camera. The truth about her little girl Christina is revealed in her will, leaving Blake and Cristal to raise the little troublemaker in the finale. Turns out Christina is like Fallon was at that age, so look out.

 

[vicki4471]

With only 6 episodes left there has to be a significant time jump coming right? I mean would this season end without having Fallon's child be born? I just hope Stacy does not end up being a psycho. I still think brother Adam will be the one delivering the baby. No one on TV ever goes into labor in a normal way. There will be some disaster that strikes where a hospital birth is not possible so Adam comes to the rescue.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

With this PC reboot
Little Christina will be trans

 

[GillesDenver]

Maybe there’s another Carrington child out there wanting their share and they’re neither gay, crazy or neurotic.

Gay is the same than crazy or neurotic according to you ?

With this PC reboot
Little Christina will be trans

I never heard of trans babies...
But if Krystina decides to have a gender reassignment surgery when she's grown up, what's the problem ?

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

Of course nothing at all wrong with it.
That’s not the point.
this is a Dynasty message board
after all.
Just a fact this reboot with the exception of S1 has to check off every box except the decent storytelling one.
Steven was a complex character who happened to be gay he wasn’t ashamed of it like his 80’s version
He battled addiction and his families lack of morals and was the character with Celia who was the morality of the show and his exit damaged a lot of the other characters progression especially Fallons.
The other 2 crystals were way too shady even with the softening of C3 lately
,The CW gave the character and actor the boot in favor of a stereotype tho. Vapid and superficial.
He would have been recasted if they felt he was needed.
Amanda could have been a good addition
My opinion making her gay took a lot away from the potential of her character but she still had a lot of potential regardless of her sexuality, this Dex is pointless and a dud and so is EH Alexis so it didn’t matter going down that road again . After all EH and the guy who plays Dex have zero chemistry together.Alexis Colby , the most important character in the Dynasty world and the producers didn’t seem to care who got the recasted role in S3 because no one could upstage LG after season 1 , and NH did just that in S1 but sticking Amanda with Kirby made her just as pointless as Kirby who overstayed her welcome since S2 and if it didn’t bring a love triangle with her insane brother then why bother
Even Amanda having a relationship with Liam would have been a lot more intriguing
and had much more potential with conflict
A lot more than that stupid Eva character who was just an Evan redo
Just making a character gay, straight or anything in between just to do it without having a follow up story to tell isn’t good storytelling but of course the show runners now aren’t good.

 

[Lankershim Blasdel 1]

And BTW why didn’t we get a Culhane and Sam romance
It was a logical progression with all the time they spent together and how much they obviously care for each other
Why not have Culhane explore his feelings that he didn’t acknowledge to himself or kept deep inside. Instead of all these pointless scenes involving his dating life, it would almost justify all the screen kill time that was wasted on him the past 4 seasons,
Why not ship them In the final episodes I doubt Steven will return so why not:
The babysitter might be the underage girl Ben was fooling around with instead of watching his mother who drowned in the bathtub. With the book implying a Carrington brother was having an affair with but didn’t state which one.
And too bad we never got a DH reunion with NS Alexis and Marcia cross Sable. Oh well

 

[vicki4471]

And BTW why didn’t we get a Culhane and Sam romance
It was a logical progression with all the time they spent together and how much they obviously care for each other
Why not have Culhane explore his feelings that he didn’t acknowledge to himself or kept deep inside. Instead of all these pointless scenes involving his dating life, it would almost justify all the screen kill time that was wasted on him the past 4 seasons,
Why not ship them In the final episodes I doubt Steven will return so why not:
The babysitter might be the underage girl Ben was fooling around with instead of watching his mother who drowned in the bathtub. With the book implying a Carrington brother was having an affair with but didn’t state which one.
And too bad we never got a DH reunion with NS Alexis and Marcia cross Sable. Oh well

I agreed completely about the storyline with Amanda being gay being unnecessary. It felt sort of random like just trying to check a PC box. But I am also glad they DID NOT have a Sam /Culhene romance because that too would have been unnecessary. Just because a straight man and a gay man are close and care for each other it does not mean they have to develop romantic feelings and sleep together. I like the way their relationship is portrayed showing a straight man can be friends with a gay man without homophobia and paranoia taking over. The relationships Sam has with his straight friends is one of the few things the series has done right. Anders, Blake, Jeff, Culhene and Liam have all been close to Sam (most have even shared hugs with him) and there is no discomfort or anything.. None of the straight guys seem to give his sexuality another thought.