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And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do a cliffhanger! The first season of the Dynasty reboot left many lives hanging the balance but let’s get to some of the other juicy stuff first.
Cristal is none too pleased about being Blake’s prisoner so he indulged herself in a little arts and crafts to pass the time — mainly shredding Blake’s suits, chainsawing the antlers off of some deer trophies (what did those poor deer ever do to her?) and smashing his car’s windows with a golf club. And somehow when he finally found a jacket that seemed unharmed, he completely missed the bejeweled epithet ‘DOUCHE’ on the back. Later, prior to Steven and Sammy Joe’s wedding, she decided to hold a press conference declaring that Blake would also be stepping away from the company to focus on family and visiting all of the ‘shithole countries’ where Steven’s charitable foundation operates. Yes, she actually said that to the press, and then pretended that she hadn’t read the statement before it was given to her. Blake did manage to diffuse the situation though, but Cristal’s fun at Blake’s expense is a minor blip compared to the storm that’s coming.
And that was mainly in the form of the Colbys, who are now leveraging their Carrington blood to exercise their voting rights to sell the company. Jeff and Monica figure if they can’t join them, beat them and it seems they have the power to call the vote. Thanks to Fallon, Blake has been removed as CEO of his own company, diluting his power to be Blake Carrington and pull every string possible to thwart the Colbys and save his family business. As things stand, it all falls on Fallon’s shoulders. But …
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There’s another Carrington now, long lost brother Adam / Hank. Fallon decided it was time to get his paperwork taken care of to make him official but Blake was already one step ahead of her. What neither of them know, though, is that he’s not Adam, he’s just Alexis’ boy toy and they’re working together to screw Blake out of millions (or billions, according to Jeff) for Alexis. Hank gets a percentage and all he has to do is vote yes to sell the company. That is until she finds out that Fallon is now CA’s CEO. Not wanting to hurt her real children, Alexis tells Hank that he now has to vote no and they may have to wait a year or ten to collect their money. Crashing the pre-wedding ceremony, Jeff and Monica demand they take a vote and of course it’s two to sell and two against the sale with the deciding vote coming down to Hank. Fallon and Jeff try to woo him with words but Jeff dangles the B-word and Hank decides he wants his payday now, so he votes with Jeff and Monica to sell Carrington Atlantic. Which does not set well with Alexis.
As the wedding ceremony approaches and Alexis is still not in attendance, Cristal volunteers to get her and … catches her and Hank in a passionate kiss. Alexis claims it’s not what it looks like, but Cristal’s not buying it. Hank runs out and the two women have a few words and, finally, our first Cristal / Alexis catfight erupts … and unlike in the original series, the stuntpeople aren’t men in wigs and dresses. It is a knock down, drag out fight that nearly destroys the loft but Alexis gets the upper hand and gets out, locking Cristal in, and making her miss her nephew’s wedding.
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Prior to the ceremony, Steven was surprised by the appearance of Mrs. Daniels, who can’t seem to accept the fact that Steven is now batting for a different team. It was bad enough that she forced him to have sex with her in order to get Sam’s immigration paperwork taken care of, but then to show up at the wedding and drop a pregnancy bomb on Steven is way, WAY out of line. And, serious, how old is Mrs. Daniels? I know actress Kelly Rutherford, whom I adore, is almost 50 but they’ve appeared to have aged her up a few years on the show, so could she really, truly be pregnant? Of course the news seems to have had the affect it was meant to have, totally throwing Steven off his game and bringing a lot of concern to Sam, who thinks Steven is getting cold feet, even after they say their I do’s.
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Fallon got a few surprises of her own. First Michael lets her know that after the ceremony, he’s outta there. Not just the Carrington mansion, but Atlanta altogether. And then Liam shows up out of the blue … or because Sam forgot to uninvite him. Either way, he finally gets to tell Fallon the truth about his book being a tell-all about his own family who, a bit too coincidentally, have billions and ties to the oil industry. Perhaps that fake marriage will pay off some benefits after all. That and Liam actually loves Fallon. But seeing them together again seems to cast doubt in Michael about his decision to leave, and Anders (who has been playing Cupid all episode) advises Culhane to make his move before it’s too late. I don’t know about you, but I’m on Team Liam.
What no one seems to realize is that Claudia Blaisdell is lurking around the mansion. Pulling a fast one on the orderly at the mental hospital by faking her water breaking, she and Matthew manage to break out of the joint and head straight for the mansion to reveal Blake’s sins to the press … after the wedding. Matthew doesn’t want to completely ruin Steven’s day. But Claudia begins to feel as if Matthew is really there for Cristal, to protect her because he still loves her. Matthew assures her that is not true but is alarmed when he finds a gun that Claudia ‘borrowed’ from the gun safe. In a bit of a rage, she takes the gun and runs out of the dressing room, locking Matthew inside. So now that’s two people locked in two different rooms.
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After the wedding, the family is to take photos in another part of the barn (the wedding was rustic chic) but no one knows where Cristal is. Anders goes off to find her and discovers the door to the loft is locked. He tells Cristal he has a spare key and goes to retrieve it but while he’s away someone else manages to break the lock off the door … and that someone is Claudia. Confronting Cristal and waving the gun like the lunatic she is, Cristal does all she can to convince Claudia she’s on her side and she will help her expose Blake if they just leave now. But seeing Matthew enter the room makes Claudia even more upset and it’s clear she’s going to shoot. Matthew runs in front of Cristal as the gun goes off and … disappears, a figment of her imagination (which begs the question has he always been just a ghost or is he really locked in that room?). Unfortunately, with no Matthew to block the bullet, Cristal is shot in the abdomen. Horrified, Claudia makes her escape but everyone waiting to take pictures in the room below heard the shot. Outside, Claudia encounters Hank attempting to hot wire a car, but she offers to help him get away. Apparently she’s no stranger to grand theft auto. But did she leave Matthew behind, or just his ghost?
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While Anders is off getting the key, he’s greeted by … Kirby (an obviously uncast role as of yet as all we see is a leg and hear a ‘Hello, daddy’ from her, which is certainly a nod to the original first season finale where Alexis made her entrance with her face obscured by a giant hat because Joan Collins had not yet been cast). And, unfortunately, Sam invited her to the wedding before he found out she was a bit unwell mentally. As a child she used to dismember Fallon’s dolls and burn them in the fireplace. Just one of her charms.
But in the barn, someone has locked the rest of the family in the room below the loft. That would be Blake, Alexis, Fallon, Steven and Sam. Not only have they locked the door — or rather put a screwdriver in the lock so the door could not be opened — but they’ve set the stairway on fire with one of the oil lanterns Sam insisted on having for decoration. Blake attempts to get the door open while Steven tries the windows but none of them would budge. Fallon, Sam and Alexis are nearly overcome by the smoke and no one realized the windows are glass and they could have just broken them. As the flames began to consume the wooden structure, Cristal could see the flames coming through the floorboards as she lay in the loft bleeding out.
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But it’s Michael Culhane to the rescue, managing to get Blake, Fallon, Sam and Alexis out of the room. Knowing that Cristal was in the loft, Alexis took off up the stairs to get her despite the intense flames. And a huge wall of flames separated Michael from Steven who was still frantically trying to get the window open. Knowing there was nothing he could do, Michael also ran up to the loft to get Alexis. Fallon, Blake and Sam made it outside but a burst of flames blocked the door before Blake could run back in, trapping Steven, Cristal, Alexis and Michael, their fates unknown until Dynasty returns in the fall. And that is a cliffhanger!
Original Dynasty fans will remember a season finale that found Alexis trapped in a fire, waking up in the hospital the next season in full makeup. There was also another fire from an oil rig explosion that resulted in Steven’s face being bandaged for several episodes before he was revealed to be a completely different actor, so one has to have some concern for James Mackay’s tenure on the series. Will Steven survive the fire, severely burned and be unveiled as someone completely different? And who set the fire? Whoever it was was wearing a black jacket and white gloves. Could it have been Hank? He is wearing a black jacket and needed the Carringtons dead before his secret was revealed. Who else has that much of a grudge against the family? It’ll be a summer of guessing!
What did you think of the season finale? Tell us in the comments section below!
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