Who Was a Good Mother?

[Monzo]

Which mothers in the Dynasty universe gave you the feeling of being a good mother?

There is a poll on this topic. Since Sable and Monica demonstrated their maternal qualities primarily on The Colbys, the other mothers from that spin-off are also included among the poll choices. Women who, while they did not give birth to children, nevertheless raised them, are also on the list.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Claudia, Sammy Jo and Sable got the soapiest motherhood storylines.
Sable even upped the ante by becoming the soapiest grandmother in the Dynastyverse: she wanted Scott to be raised as a Colby because that would make her the grandmother of Jason's first grandchild, and a new connection between her and Jason would need to be established. I presume this story arc would have developed in season 3 as she would continue her battle against sister dearest, Jeff and now also LB.

Alexis was at her most formidable as the mysterious un-seen mother, as the on-screen mother she could never be taken seriously because she's a narcissistic sociopath.
Krystle's best mother moment was when she had to give Danny to Steven. That wasn't just a baby moment for the heck of it, it was part of new story developments. You know, the sort of thing that can happen when you live in a soap.

Emily Fallmont was a slut.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Emily Fallmont was a slut.

And she died for her carnal crimes. Killed in a shadowed parking lot by a stationary taxicab.

As all sluts eventually do and must.

 

[Toni]

Which mothers in the Dynasty universe gave you the feeling of being a good mother?

There is a poll on this topic. Since Sable and Monica demonstrated their maternal qualities primarily on The Colbys, the other mothers from that spin-off are also included among the poll choices. Women who, while they did not give birth to children, nevertheless raised them, are also on the list.

I voted for Krystle and Sable. If I could choose, I'd say Dynasty 's season 9 Sable. Colby's Sable was a psycho with her children...

 

[Ked]

I voted for Krystle and Sable. If I could choose, I'd say Dynasty 's season 9 Sable. Colby's Sable was a psycho with her children...

Yes, I voted for them as well. Krystle is the mom you want to protect. Season 9 Sable is the mom you want protecting *you*.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

In an alternate reality I'd vote for Dominique. In that version she waa Kirby's mother who reunites with her daughter in Paris and learns what happened to Kirby. She comes to Denver to avenger her daughter's treatment by Alexis and Adam.
Dominique's backstory would come to light in that she was put in the sanitarium for dubious reasons. She killed her lover in self-defense, but nobody believed her. As a highly intelligent, strong-willed Black woman she wasn't going to be treated fairly. Now she's back. She's got the money, power, motive and the right writers to make her the perfect avenging angel.

 

[Ked]

In an alternate reality I'd vote for Dominique. In that version she waa Kirby's mother who reunites with her daughter in Paris and learns what happened to Kirby. She comes to Denver to avenger her daughter's treatment by Alexis and Adam.
Dominique's backstory would come to light in that she was put in the sanitarium for dubious reasons. She killed her lover in self-defense, but nobody believed her. As a highly intelligent, strong-willed Black woman she wasn't going to be treated fairly. Now she's back. She's got the money, power, motive and the right writers to make her the perfect avenging angel.

They COULD have done this! And they wouldn't even necessarily have to have Kathleen Beller in this season; she could have been "safely away in Paris where you Carringtons can't hurt her anymore!"

That also would have occupied Adam's time this season... what exactly DID he do in Season 5, aside from getting together with Claudia? I think everyone would have preferred him being trampled by Dominique. Althooooooough... that does bring to mind about how they originally planned for Claudia to have an affair with Brady, Dominique's husband. Imagine if they kept that, and later had the whole ClaudiaxAdam thing; that would mean one hell of a rivalry between the two women! O_O

I wonder how a catfight between Dominique and Claudia would have gone.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Claudia should have become friends with Dominique but had an affair with Brady. This level of betrayal would have resulted in Claudia being the Dominique's next target.
Back to the mother issue, Krystle was the best mother, but Rosalind Bedford could have arrived in Denver for Amanda's wedding. She would turn out to have been a very good mother to Amanda, which would infuriate Alexis, especially when she and Krystle overhear Amanda's telling Rosalind that she will always be Amanda's real mother. Krystle would be able to remind Alexis of this once in awhile.

 

[Ked]

Claudia should have become friends with Dominique but had an affair with Brady. This level of betrayal would have resulted in Claudia being the Dominique's next target.
Back to the mother issue, Krystle was the best mother, but Rosalind Bedford could have arrived in Denver for Amanda's wedding. She would turn out to have been a very good mother to Amanda, which would infuriate Alexis, especially when she and Krystle overhear Amanda's telling Rosalind that she will always be Amanda's real mother. Krystle would be able to remind Alexis of this once in awhile.

Claudia sleeping with a friend's husband would certainly be interesting, considering she knows what it's like to have one's husband cheat on her (arguably she already did this in Season 2 when she seduced Jeff - except Claudia and Fallon weren't really friends, and Fallon wasn't in love with Jeff at the time).

Ooh, yes! That WOULD have been juicy for Rosalind to be used like that! Plus, she also could have died during the Massacre, thus giving Alexis motive to swoop in and become Amanda's "real" mother... and I can see Krystle making the sarcastic quip that Alexis herself was the one behind the Massacre so she could do exactly that... or better yet, it would *Rita* who makes that quip, because Krystle would be far too classy to make such a joke.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

@Ked ...Rosalind coming to Moldavia for the wedding and dying in the massacre is exactly what should've happened. We needed a body count and all we got was Luke, the prince's shoulder, and Lady Ashley who'd been dead for years.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I forgot to vote for Francesca Colby. She sacrificed the joys of parenthood so that Jeff could be raised as a Colby.
"Saintly" doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

[GillesDenver]

"Saintly" doesn't even begin to describe it.

I think "Slutty" is what you wanted to write.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I think "Slutty" is what you wanted to write.

 

[Willie Oleson]

 

[Ked]

Poor Frankie. She actually did have the potential to be a very tragic character, yet the way how she was portrayed/written (and, let's face it, acted) made it too hard for that.

That's always the angle I go for whenever I do a rewrite of the character (along with always renaming her "Helen"). If you think about the timeline of events (as well as the ages of all the characters and whatnot), she would have been a mere teenager when she eloped with Phillip, who then almost immediately enlisted in the army, and from what I've read, soldiers had to serve for at least one year before they could go home on leave. So that's one year alone in the Colby mansion... with Jason, who would have been significantly older than his teenage sister-in-law. If anything, Frankie/Helen could *potentially* be forgiven for the affair, on account of how young, vulnerable and lonely she was; but Jason... nah, man. You are *way* too old to be making a decision as stupid as that.

And then Phillip returns, and his wife tries to make up for her affair by having sex with him as often as they can before he has to leave again... and after finding out that she's pregnant, her husband goes MIA. At first, Frankie/Helen assumes that her unborn child is Phillip's; after all, they had sex way more times, it *had* to be his child. Seven years later, Phillip is officially pronounced legally dead, and the family holds a memorial service for him...

...only for afterwards, brother-in-law Cecil reveals that Phillip sent him a letter before he went missing... one that detailed that a medical test confirmed that Phillip was sterile... and thus, not the father of Frankie/Helen's son, Jeff/Geoff.

Immediately, Helen knows who Geoff's father is: Jason... who is, by this time, happily married to Helen's own sister, with whom they also have a beautiful set of twins. If this got out... it would destroy the entire family... *especially* Sable. And so, Helen leaves not so much so that Geoff can be raised as a Colby, but so that her dear sister's life won't be ruined.

Of course, it becomes much more difficult to keep Helen/Frankie sympathetic once we get to the actual main storyline when she returns 20+ years later. I could never buy Jason pining for her for all those years. Honestly, how could one possibly do that when they're married to *SABLE* of all women?! Sable Colby was a freakin' goddess of a woman, so full of life and charm and spice and class, and she just adored her husband, practically worshipping the ground he walked on. How on EARTH do you make him stop drooling over her (like how he was when they first appeared on DYNASTY) and start fawning over Frankie? Especially when the showrunners seemed determined to make poor Katharine Ross (who was gorgeous in "Secrets of a Mother & Daughter" a mere 3 years prior) look so terrible?

And there were other issues, but I'm too lazy and tired to go over them.

 

[Monzo]

In my view, Rosalind was a pretty good mother to Amanda; however, the fact that Amanda completely cut her out of her life suggests otherwise. I can understand why Rosalind didn't attend the wedding—Alexis probably didn't want two mothers of the bride present—but Amanda really should have turned to Rosalind for support, especially after Alexis caught her in bed with Dex. An interaction between Rosalind and Caress at that point (possibly teaming up against Alexis) could have been exciting. Above all, Rosalind could have served as the reason for Amanda's sudden departure from the show—perhaps by receiving a serious diagnosis and facing a long battle with an illness, prompting Amanda to stand by the woman who had raised her.

It was certainly advantageous for the creation of The Colbys that Jeff’s mother was never really a focus on Dynasty, though I do wonder why that was the case. Was it because her backstory would have been too similar to Alexis's (a mother forced to leave her child behind)? I could easily imagine Jeff's mother appearing at the start of the fifth season; she could have learned of his wife's death and seized the opportunity to reconnect with him. A storyline centering on Jeff and his mother would have been more interesting than watching him hunt for treasure with Nicole. Then again, perhaps the fifth season already had too many surprise relatives lined up (Blake's sister, Alexis's daughter, Sammy Jo's father), leaving no room for Jeff's mother.

I’ve noticed that Karen Atkinson hasn’t received a single vote so far. I wonder why that is. She presented herself as a loving mother—she was even willing to act as a surrogate to support her family after her husband left her—and yet, no one views her as a good mother.

 

[Ked]

In my view, Rosalind was a pretty good mother to Amanda; however, the fact that Amanda completely cut her out of her life suggests otherwise. I can understand why Rosalind didn't attend the wedding—Alexis probably didn't want two mothers of the bride present—but Amanda really should have turned to Rosalind for support, especially after Alexis caught her in bed with Dex. An interaction between Rosalind and Caress at that point (possibly teaming up against Alexis) could have been exciting. Above all, Rosalind could have served as the reason for Amanda's sudden departure from the show—perhaps by receiving a serious diagnosis and facing a long battle with an illness, prompting Amanda to stand by the woman who had raised her.

In Rosalind's case, I think that's simply a matter of the writers not realizing any of her character's potential. They wanted another daughter for Blake and Alexis, so therefore, Rosalind wasn't important (aside from being apart of the explanation of Amanda's appearance).

Although interestingly, I remember a scene where Amanda described Rosalind as being "distant" while Amanda grew up, while the visiting Alexis was far more affectionate. Maybe Rosalind knew that someday, Amanda would find out the truth, so therefore kept the girl at arm's length to avoid getting attached. This actually would explain Amanda's own icy demeanor in the present day; we could have gotten a scene between her and Rosamind where the latter admitted that she regretted how she raised Amanda.

All of your other ideas for Rosalind are excellent, though, and what could/should have been done!

It was certainly advantageous for the creation of The Colbys that Jeff’s mother was never really a focus on Dynasty, though I do wonder why that was the case. Was it because her backstory would have been too similar to Alexis's (a mother forced to leave her child behind)? I could easily imagine Jeff's mother appearing at the start of the fifth season; she could have learned of his wife's death and seized the opportunity to reconnect with him. A storyline centering on Jeff and his mother would have been more interesting than watching him hunt for treasure with Nicole. Then again, perhaps the fifth season already had too many surprise relatives lined up (Blake's sister, Alexis's daughter, Sammy Jo's father), leaving no room for Jeff's mother.

I'm not sure why Jeff's mother wasn't mentioned all that often; probably because the writers had other things to concentrate on. But yes, Season 5 would have been a good point to introduce Frankie for the reason you specified; though I suppose they could have justified her staying away until Season 6 by saying that she cut off ALL contact from the Colbys and had literally no idea what was going on with any of them, and that she only comes back because she discovers that Cecil is dead - and therefore can't tattle to anyone about Jeff's true father.

I’ve noticed that Karen Atkinson hasn’t received a single vote so far. I wonder why that is. She presented herself as a loving mother—she was even willing to act as a surrogate to support her family after her husband left her—and yet, no one views her as a good mother.

My guess is that she's forgettable? Or maybe it's because people resent her for suddenly changing her mind about giving Adam and Dana their child. It's like, lady, you were paid to do this, you've already got children to take care of, and this wealthy couple also want children... why are you making things so much more difficult than they need to be?

 

[GillesDenver]

Some interesting tidbit about Francesca "Frankie" : I already knew that the writers of "the Colbys" wanted to called her Anthea (a greek name) but I learnt last week that after that they considered calling her Antonia "Tony".

 

[Willie Oleson]

she was even willing to act as a surrogate

Yes, she sure acted like a surrogate mother. Hateful bitch.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Come to think of it, Alexis was a good replacement mother to little Jeff, and they continued to have a special relationship. We never found out how she felt about her cousin Francesca.