DYNASTY: SEASON 8 (1987-1988)

 

It’s official. DYNASTY is back on track, thanks to a kinder eighth season. If you recall, season seven was almost abysmal. It was mainly about Kristina’s heart disease and her eventual recovery. Very, very boring, if you ask me. Sure, the remaining storylines were more watchable, especially in the first half of the season, but not enough to grant the overall season a must-see. Anyway, enough about that; let’s move on to season eight. 

Three well-known characters return: Fallon, Jeff and Matthew Blaisdel, the latter with a mission in mind, to take back what’s his: Krystle. Hurray for women’s lib. In the meantime, he holds the Carringtons hostage with the help of some Peruvian mercenaries, one of which is a fine specimen, but I digress. So, to recap this two-episode arc, Matthew fails to win back Krystle. He is instead killed by gay ambivalent Steven who, for the next few episodes, has a hard time dealing with it (not his sexual preference—well, that too—but Matthew’s death). He starts burying his feelings in work, like taking over his dad’s football team which is exactly what one should do when also struggling with his own sexuality. 

As for Fallon and Jeff, well, after being left stranded near the LA desert by a UFO, a comatose Fallon is found by Jeff who does not believe that she had been abducted by aliens (which happened during the second season ender of THE COLBYS which by then had been cancelled, hence Jeff and Fallon’s return to DYNASTY). Back in Denver to recuperate, and in between UFO survivor sessions (which end up going nowhere plot-wise), Fallon hardly gives a damn about Jeff’s feelings. She much prefers mentioning divorce but Jeff is adamant that they stay married, even though he winds up in bed with Leslie. You remember Leslie, Blake’s niece and troublemaker in the making? More on her later.

 

Newlywed Adam wants his bride Dana to give him a child but she’s unable to, on account of complications from an abortion as a teen. But get this: the father at the time had been the same Adam, who, back then, was just Michael Torrence: troubled, drugged up Michael Torrence. She keeps this all on the hush-hush for a few episodes while they hire a surrogate (Stephanie Dunnam). When the cat is finally out of the bag, instead of comforting his bereft wife, he blames her for killing his child, which is so much like Adam. However, he soon comes to forgive her and embarks on a custody battle with the surrogate mother who, having given birth to a baby boy, wants to keep the child. He loses the case but not before promising the world that’ll he’ll get his son back.

 

Blake is on a mission: to become governor of Colorado. With Krystle and Jeff (as campaign manager) at his side he sets out to achieve this, even if it means stepping away as chairman of Denver-Carrington (which he gives to Steven) and running against Alexis. Sabotaged by her on numerous occasions, he still manages to come on top, thanks mostly to his faithful wife who, despite experiencing some impromptu splitting headaches which she tries to hide, has become Nancy Drew in dishing out dirt from Alexis’ past. But in the end both candidates loose against a meatier opponent.

 

As for Sammy Jo, well, having a platonic in-house relationship with her ex, Steven, for the sake of their kid sure does not help her libido. In comes hot footballer Josh (Tom Schanley) who, in between many lines of cocaine, tries to sweep her off her feet but fails miserably. Oh, she still lets him ravish her (who wouldn’t?) but in the end nothing comes of it (the same regarding this plotline, I would say) and he winds up overdosing in his apartment, where a devastated Sammy Jo eventually finds him.

 

Speaking of Sammy Jo, Jeff is hardly indifferent to her plight. Let’s face it, he’s a good guy. A little slutty but a good guy. He’s also tall, dark and handsome, not to mention filthy rich and, more importantly, divorced from Fallon—finally. So no one is really surprised when he goes about setting his eyes on Sammy Jo. Of course, he ends up having a meaningful romantic relationship with her. They even end up hearing wedding bells on the horizon. But old habits are hard to break for him when Fallon is around.

 

Now Alexis. After leaving Adam’s wedding celebration in a borrowed car, and not to mention in despair, over a spat with Dex, she is saved by a total stranger—or so we think—when she suddenly drives off a bridge. This stranger turns out to be the cuckoo brother of—wait for it—Kirby. Yes, season three and four Kirby, boring Kirby, hysterical Kirby, glad she’s not around anymore Kirby. Anyway, to make a long story short, Sean, that’s his name, wants to avenge sis and dad from all the trouble Alexis caused, dad being Joseph, the then majordomo who committed suicide after setting a cabin on fire with Alexis and Krystle in it. So what does Sean do? He courts Alexis, marries her, cheats on her with Leslie (You remember Leslie, Blake’s niece and troublemaker in the making? More on her later) and screws up his wife’s business. Then it all comes down to Alexis finding out how rotten Sean is (kind of like her real-life ex-husband Peter Holm) and watching Dex fighting him off until a gun goes off as a season ender.

 

The season also ends with Blake learning of Krystle’s sudden disappearance from the mansion which forces him to recognize the severity of her health issues; Jeff taking over Denver-Carrington and putting himself in a compromising situation when he sleeps with both Sammy Jo and Fallon; Leslie being saved by Steven and Adam from troubled Sean (you remember Leslie, don’t you? Blake’s niece and... oh never mind.); Steven leaving a letter to bid farewell to his family (in real life the actor wanted out of the series); and Adam discovering he‘s really been a Carrington all along which, despite that happy fact, does not save his crumbling marriage. All in all a pretty good season, even though it dropped to #41 in the Nielsen ratings. Yes, I agree, the entire Sean storyline was a tad comical but the end result still managed to glue me to my seat. I even rushed to season 9 to check out the outcome of his faith, even though I had a hunch where it was going. But that, dear readers, is for another blog entry.

 

 

So until next post—Martin