Dynasty Storyline Miss: Blake Caused the Fire at La Mirage

Season 6 ended on one of the highpoints of the series - Alexis out maneuvered Blake into owning all of his holdings, including the mansion. Alexis evicts Blake and his “blond tramp” and is on the verge of gaining control of Denver Carrington. What more can she do? Apparently, Alexis is not finished and decides her victory is the perfect time to go into the newspaper industry for the sole purpose of destroying Blake and blaming the fire at La Mirage (caused by Claudia) on Blake.

Great job Claudia

Why would Alexis switch gears so quickly? Alexis can finally merge Colby Co and Denver Carrington (granted, she will be stuck with Ben and not Blake) - but turns away from that just so she can kick Blake while he is down. I get why Alexis would do it. But, what makes no sense is why others, especially the D.A. were quick to believe that Blake had someone set the fire at La Mirage.

Hasn’t Krystle suffered enough

It makes absolutely no sense that Blake would have someone set La Mirage a blaze while almost his entire family was there to celebrate Dominique’s engagement party. Would Blake really risk everyone he loves just because he was somewhat over-extended (final word about the South China Sea leases had not come in yet)? Who knew Alexis’s new venture can have such influence.

Thankfully, Jackie cleared this up very quickly

And to further show how ridiculous this is - Alexis and Dominique were able to figure out what had happened very quickly after Blake had been denied bail. It wasn’t a hard mystery to solve. It also helped that Dominque’s daughter, Jackie, just happened to see Claudia open the door to her suite with the flames going on behind her. So, Claudia actually opened the door and then just stood there - she didn’t try to run or anything. Wait, why am I trying to make sense of this.

The plot also led to a needless subplot of the husband of one of the individuals who died in the fire deciding to kill Krystle in revenge. Krystle is able to talk him out of shooting her. Further, poor Krystle had some sort of medical condition that required rest but Krystle was too busy playing Nancy Drew with Dominique to follow the doctor’s advice. Poor Krystle always seems to have medical issues. So fragile.

What, no Adam

Yes, it is important to keep the fighting between Blake and Alexis going after Alexis achieved her goal (and the second half of season 7 when Blake and Alexis were getting along was such a snooze), but the writers could have come up with something better. It is as if we are to ignore why the family was at La Mirage that night. The one good thing about this lame story line is that it only dragged on for about 5 episodes.

Dynasty Storyline Miss: Claudia's Oil Well

Okay, I admit that I am a little bit apprehensive about making this a storyline miss because I love Claudia and this did provide many entertaining scenes. (Claudia buying the furs, Claudia telling off Krystle, Claudia setting La Mirage on fire). However, the premise of the storyline is ridiculous and the writers totally changed Claudia.

Claudia was on the outs with Blake when Steven left her for a man (Blake probably blamed Claudia and her affair for this) and Claudia started carrying on with Adam (who was really persistent in bedding Claudia). To be fair to Claudia, Blake did her dirty by putting Prince Michael in charge of La Mirage after Claudia had been running it in Fallon’s absence. After surviving the wedding massacre in Moldova, Claudia succumbed to Adam and the two married even though Claudia refused to move back into the mansion.

Sammy Jo finally has the advantage

To make matters worse, Sammy Jo just inherited a ton of money (isn’t that nice) and rubbed it in Claudia’s face. Claudia will always be the poor Carrington dependent on others. As luck would have it, Claudia learned that Walter left her Blaidsel-Lankershim One, an oil well, in his will. Claudia is ecstatic that she will no longer be the poor Carrington. Claudia finally has her own source of wealth. (Go U.S.A.). There is just one problem, Walter had sold the well to Blake years ago. Blake lost it when Denver Carrington went bankrupt and he repurchased it. Walter had nothing to give Claudia.

That does not stop Claudia from obsessing about that well and how it belongs to her. Blake, of course, will not just give it to her. In order to get the independence that Claudia craves, she will become just as deceptive as others to get her oil well. It is a good thing she is married to the master of it. Adam tricks an ill Blake to sign over power of attorney to him. A power Adam will use to take Denver Carrington. Still, Adam will not give the well to Claudia until she blackmails him - she will tell Blake what Adam did. Adam secretly transfers the well to Claudia.

How many furs can one person own?

Now that Claudia has her well, she is done with all the Carringtons. What exactly Claudia will do with this well is a mystery? I guess Denver Carrington will operate it and Claudia just collects royalties. Further, before she leaves Adam, she purchases several furs and other expensive items to be charged to Adam. Alas, poor Claudia’s independence will not last long - he well is drying up. (Wow that was quick!). Claudia feels she is being cheated and tells Blake what Adam did and then holds a candle light vigil for all the Carringtons who done her wrong (the liars). Unfortunately for poor Claudia, the vigil sets her room on fire and she perishes.

By Season 6 of Dynasty, everyone was greedy and stabbing someone in the back. Also, it seems that wealth just lands in the lap of people - Sammy Jo, Michael Culhane, Jeff (again) - heck even Blake got bailed out from a half sister who showed up at an opportune time. Why should Claudia be left out in the cold? But, Claudia had to change her nature to get that wealth - I guess being married to Adam will do that to you. It’s a shame that it did not work out for poor Claudia who caused her own death. The writers ruined Claudia to make her like the others, and over an oil well that she had no right to.

Claudia’s last vigil

Dynasty Storyline Miss: Sean Rowan

Dynasty ends the boring second half of Season 7 with Alexis. upset and afraid of being alone, stealing a car and driving it off a bridge. Note to self - if you steal a car, drive it off a bridge since the police won’t seem to care. Fortunately for Alexis, an individual happens to witness the accident and rescues her. Unfortunately for us, this person was Sean Rowan.

Alexis is determined to find her savior and when she does, she quickly falls in love with and marries him in Mexico. What a beautiful story? The only problem is that Sean Rowan is actually the son of Joseph Anders who happened to have kept secret the fact that he had two children in addition to Kirby.. And Sean wants revenge against Alexis, Adam and Blake for what they did to Joseph and Kirby. Of course, Blake did nothing to Joseph and they were close friends until the end - but that does not matter.

Maybe it would have been better had Alexis drowned

And it is easy for Sean to get his revenge since Alexis is so quick to integrate Sean into her family and her empire. Determined to stop Blake from becoming Governor (jealousy perhaps?), Alexis runs for Governor herself and puts Sean in charge of Colby Co since her three children (remember, Amanda has ceased to exist) are co-running Denver Carrington. Alexis never put Dex in charge of Colby Co and Dex is a far better business person than Sean. Sean, of course, uses the power to enrich himself and sow seeds of discord among the Carrington siblings.

But, Sean is not done. To keep Alexis from dropping out of the race, Sean tries to assassinate Blake (would it not be easier just to kill Alexis at this point since that is Sean’s ultimate goal). Alexis takes the bullet which revives her campaign (did Alexis even run on an issue?) which, ironically, helps him retain control at Colby Co. He seduces Leslie, blackmails Dana, and interferes in Adam’s adoption of his son by bringing back the estranged husband of the surrogate mother. I am surprised he didn’t sell the drugs to Josh before Josh ODed or try to convince the aliens to abduct Fallon again.

Even after everyone learns the truth about Sean, his reign of terror does not end. He tries to kill Blake and Dex in Africa; kidnaps Adam’s baby and beats the hell out of Leslie (is Leslie still in that cabin?) before he finally is able to confront Alexis one last time. Of course, Dex is there to save Alexis and Sean is finally killed.

Revenge is a common theme throughout Dynasty - especially to avenge a wronged family member. Blake had to deal with members of the Grimes family, Jason had to deal with Zach Powers, and Alexis had to deal with the Anders family (among her several enemies).

He lasted one season too long

Sean Rowan so dominated a Season 8 that was not really that bad if you take him out of the equation. Alexis just happens to be rescued by Joseph’s son that no one knew about? Come on. Alexis just happens to marry him and hand Colby Co over to him? Come on. (Alexis being undone by her irrational hatred/love of Blake). Sean just happens to become so pervasive in the lives of many? Come on.

I get that there needed to be more conflict in Season 8 after the snooze fest that was the second half of Season 7, but this storyline just didn’t do it. Further, the storyline did not need to last all season. You can also see how the writers/producers knew the popularity of the show was fading so they would reach back to a time when the show was more popular (that happened a lot in the later season). for storylines. It actually worked in Season 9, but did not work here (or in Season 7).

Dynasty Storyline Miss: Krystle/Rita

Since I feel the need to post, I have been trying to come up with some ideas of what to talk about. With that in mind, I have decided to write about those Storylines that were great and those that were just horrible.

One of the most unpopular storylines, and rightly so, is the whole Krystle/Rita fiasco. Not only was the idea crazy, the storyline dragged on way longer than it should have. In fact, it was the length of the storyline that made it crazier. Had Sammy Jo just come up with the idea (it sounds like a scheme Sammy Jo would concoct, similar to making Claudia believe that Matthew was still alive) and it collapsed quickly - fine - no harm, no foul.

Why did Rita go to where Krystle was being held captive?

No, we actually have Rita taking the place of Krystle and no one seems to notice the change other than L.B. Blake has been married (twice) to this woman for more than 5 years and could not tell that Rita was not his wife. I mean, how much information did Sammy Jo actually know about Krystle or the mansion? Rita miraculously can run the mansion and remember everyone’s name (despite having Sammy Jo all of a sudden tied to her hip).

Then there is the intimacy part. Yes, Rita went out of her way to prevent having sex with Blake (including poisoning him), but how long should it take for Blake to realize, “Wait, this woman does not feel or act like my wife?” And then Rita decides to fool around with Joel in the mansion. Hello?

Meanwhile, Krystle is being held hostage in Delta Rho and constantly watched by Joel. And, the only reason Krystle was help captive at Delta Rho is that is where Krystle discovered Rita and decided to call Blake (for some reason). I wonder how they dragged Krystle into the attic since Joel is probably not that strong and dead weight Krystle (especially with the shoulder pads) has to be a lot. Okay, maybe that can happen and it is a good thing that Krystle had access to a bathroom. But then Joel takes her to some western bar where they happen to run into Alexis and Dex and Krystle says nothing because Joel threatened Krystina. Oh come on.

The stunt doubles had a tough job here.

Sammy Jo should have just tried her scheme and have it fail quickly. At least there was one good moment, the fight between Krystle and Rita - a fight where neither woman takes off her heels. Still, not worth the weeks of this stupid storyline.