Dynasty Top Scenes - Blake's AIDS PSA

Season 7 of Dynasty was not only a mess but just odd at times. One of the oddest scenes, is this exchange between Blake and Steven in the season finale. Steven tells Blake that he is leaving Denver (again), and Blake does not want Steven to go because there is AIDS out there. What? Is there no AIDS in Denver? Maybe there is none in the Carrington Mansion. I am not sure about Delta Rho.

And, Steven’s response, that he may choose to be celibate if he has to, is just strange. Granted, I may be looking at this from my current eyes, and not thinking of how HIV/AIDS was viewed or portrayed in 1987. Props to Blake for noting that it was not just a gay disease. Further, Dynasty should have addressed the issue after the hysteria following the death of Rock Hudson, and his kissing scene with Krystle. But, the scene is just odd.

In the end, Steven (Jack Coleman) waits a year before leaving Denver - giving him the opportunity to kill Matthew, run Denver Carrington and a football team, and have some strange living arrangement with Sammy Jo. Maybe Steven should have taken his chances out there earlier.

Dynasty Episode Analysis - "The Hearing, Part 2"

There is so much going on in this episode as we transition to many storylines that will dominate Season 4. The shifting alliances of the Carrington sons, Alexis still being targeted even after Joseph’s death, Fallon and Jeff drawing closer together while Kirby is further isolated. With all that, the focus of this episode is the continuing custody battle between Blake and Steven over Steven’s son, Danny.

Even though Blake did not buy Danny from Sammy Jo, he did believe Danny would help fill the void in Krystle after she miscarried (thanks to Alexis). However, Steven had not died in the oil rig explosion and returned home for the son he did not know he had. Krystle graciously gave Danny to Steven (in an amazing scene on the stairs). When Blake challenged Steven’s right to raise his own child, Steven decided to take Danny and leave the mansion. The more Blake tried to keep Danny for Krystle, the more he lost Danny and Krystle.

Blake, why did you bring her back

When Blake learned that Steven was living with his lawyer, Chris Deegan, as friends, he was determined to get Danny out of that environment, even if it would tear the family apart. Nothing was going to stop Blake. The hearing did not go well for him. Alexis lied about Blake buying Danny. Krystle sang Steven’s praises as a father.

Blake had no choice but to have Andrew Laird, his attorney, call Sammy Jo to the stand to dispute that Blake bought Danny. But, Sammy Jo did more than just dispute the accusation against Blake. She lied about Steven as she painted him as a man always on the prowl to have sex with other men. Blake did convince Krystle that he never intended for Sammy Jo to say such things. But, Blake unleashed all of this.

Krystle was not thrilled

Finally, Steven takes the stand and decides that his principles are more important than winning custody of Danny. Steven refuses to answer Andrew’s question whether Chris is his lover. Supposedly, they are just friends but Steven refuses to say that because it should not matter. Yes, he is correct and yes, the only reason they are in court is because Blake did not believe that he and Chris were just friends - but, come on, put your principles aside. Steven is so much like his father.

Steven’s testimony greatly damages his chance to win custody which is really odd because Chris could have just testified that they were only friends. But, why allow for that, when you can have Claudia save the day. Yes, crazy Claudia. Claudia confronts Sammy Jo to tell her that Steven is a real man - and a slap fest ensues. Finally, Claudia has a solution to Steven’s plight - and tells him to pack (they go to marry).

The episode has an interesting and conflicting view of homosexuality and the rights of gay parenting (which was much more contentious at the time). Steven was 100% correct when he was on the stand that his sexuality should not matter as to whether he should have custody of his child. But, at the same time, he is pursuing Claudia and marries Claudia so as to keep his child. Further, Claudia had to make a point that Steven is a “real man”.

And neither was Claudia

It is disturbing that the custody of Danny only turns on the issue as to whether Steven and Chris are living together as lovers. Blake, in effect, is blackmailing Steven into being straight. And that is pretty much what happens for the rest of the season. Since Steven does marry Claudia he is allowed to keep his child. Later, when Steven is divorced from Claudia and single, Sammy Jo threatens to take custody of Danny by claiming that Steven is unfit because he is gay. Steven resolves that matter without going to court (giving Sammy Jo custody). Steven wants to live his true self with his son but others won’t allow it.

Other highlights from the episode:

• Someone trashes Alexis’s apartment which eventually forces her to have Mark move in as her personal protection.

• With Jeff and Fallon about to learn the truth about Jeff’s poisoning, Adam prepares to set Alexis up for the poisoning. Further, it brings Jeff and Fallon closer together.

• There is a thawing in the relationship between Krystle (who is living at La Mirage) and Blake.

Dynasty Top Scenes - Blake Wants to Straighten Steven Out

First season Blake was pretty bad ass, or maybe just an asshole. Anyway, in the first episode of Dynasty., Oil, Blake is determined to get his family in order before marrying Krystle. And, that includes straightening out his son Steven who has spent the last two years in NYC, following graduation, finding himself. Blake believes Steven has had sufficient time.

Steven has returned for the wedding and Blake waits to call for Steven to speak to him about his future. Blake wants Steven to work at Denver Carrington and finally give back to what he has taken for so long. (Fallon will give back by marrying Jeff.) Blake actually has a point here and Steven’s counter that the oil business is corrupt and harmful to the United States really is not much of an argument. It does provide a debate about capitalism (which we only see in Season 1, after Season 1- capitalism is great!).

Blake let’s his real motive out when he tells Steven how can he respect the opinion of a man who would touch another man. Wow! That is pretty harsh. Blake swears he did not want to tell Steven what he learned in such a manner, but he clearly did. Or, maybe Blake thought that he could force Steven to return to Denver to work and his homosexuality would just magically go away. Yes, Blake has a lot of power, but he is not that powerful.

Blake is ready to help Steven go straight, but Steven does not know whether he wants such help or that he wants to change. That, of course, sets off Blake who notes that it is a shame that the American Psychiatric Association no longer considers homosexuality a disease since he could have endowed an Institute for the study of “Faggotry” (that’s a new word). I don’t know why Blake still could not create such an Institute - it would be interesting. For the record, Magnus Hirschfeld had founded such an institute in Germany in 1897, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (which was destroyed by the Nazis). Blake was only 80 years late.

The scene works because this is when the audience learns that Steven is gay and really sets up the tension between Blake and Steven for the next 5 seasons (until poor Luke is shot and killed at Amanda’s wedding). The treatment of Steven’s sexuality is very Freudian and clinical. Blake has this weird mix of understanding of Steven’s sexuality and determination to make Steven straight.

The scene is also interesting because of this conflict between Blake the capitalist and Steven the anti-capitalist, living off Blake’s labor. Blake, rightly, calls Steven out for his hypocrisy. Further, Steven’s critique of Denver Carrington is not its harm to the environment, but the selling out of the United States by getting in bed with Middle Eastern despots and manipulating oil prices. Of course this is a product of the times - OPEC boycotts, price increases and the Iranian Revolution.

Things never go well between Blake and Steven in the library

Audiences today would definitely be harsh on Blake for trying to change his son (and saying he cannot respect his son because he is gay) but homosexuality was not an issue that most people spoke of in 1981 - which makes the storyline itself revolutionizing. There is a mixed record as to how Dynasty treated Steven’s sexuality but it also mirrors America’s changing attitudes at the time. Because of disco and the growing gay rights movement, discussions of sexuality were more common in 1981, but the growing evangelical movement and the AIDS crisis distorted the national conversation and Dynasty tried to steer a path.