Dynasty is back and so is Steven

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So the Powers That Be at Dynasty really played us this time, making us believe they had canned another regular cast member after sending Steven off to Paraguay. Even actor James Mackay played along, telling fans on his Instagram account that it was not his decision to leave the show. Then he briefly popped up a few episodes ago definitely not in Paraguay but it was still unclear if he was back or not.

This week he’s definitely back with his name reinstated in the opening cast credits among all the regulars and now we learn Steven is in Paris and how he got there is of some concern to Fallon and Sam, especially since he called Fallon to request assistance in getting a new passport from the embassy as his has been lost or stolen. So off they go to Paris for a surprise ambush … I mean visit, but without letting any other family member know what’s going on.

Steven certainly seems a bit rattled and not just by the shock of finding his sister and husband in the family’s Paris flat. He’s jittery and unkempt, something Fallon notes when she makes a quip about his unruly hair. Poor Sam doesn’t know what to think, but at least Steven seems happy to see him. But how did he get from Paraguay to Paris? Well, during a really bad (drug) trip, Steven found himself under the ‘care’ of a man named George, who decided to bring Steven to Paris — after he learned of the Carrington family flat there — to sober up. Steven insists George has only taken care of him to get him back on track but … he finally admits to Sam that they hooked up, and everything that was going on was why he sent the divorce papers, but then he instantly regretted doing that. Sam had to admit that he did kiss a guy and almost hooked up with another, so apparently their mutual sins cancel each other out. But can Sam move forward with Steven when he’s still obviously in a dangerously addictive phase?

And what about this George character? Every attempt Steven makes to have him meet his family members fails. George never shows up for dinner, George doesn’t arrive with Steven to a party thrown by a French cousin (who also does some digging and finds no evidence of a Brit named George Emerson existing), and the one time George appears in the flat, he vanishes just as Sam arrives. So is George real or a drug-fueled hallucination? It seems the latter as Sam finds Steven’s passport in a bowl on a table.

To compound matters, it turns out George Emerson is the name of a character from the book (and movie) A Room with a View, Steven’s favorite novel. So George is a phantom, right? Steven now seems to think so, so he checks himself into a rehab facility in Paris, and tells Fallon and Sam that he just needs a complete break from the pressures of being Steven Carrington, sending them away and asking they reveal none of this to the family. On the flight home, Fallon asks Sam to not move out of the mansion because she couldn’t bear to lose another brother. Awww.

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Back at the hospital, Steven has another visitor — George, who is very real. In fact, George has been gaslighting Steven this whole time, hiding his passport, claiming Steven had given him the wrong restaurant name when he was to meet the family, and even hanging a noose in the flat for everyone to see so they thought Steven was suicidal. George makes it quite clear he’s insanely jealous of Steven Carrington’s privileged life and then … Steven realizes George is, in fact, his long lost brother Adam, who has now drugged Steven into a stupor and will be making his way across the pond to claim what is his.

While that was the main focus this week, back in Atlanta the Carringtons were still dealing with the fallout from the mysterious shooting that claimed the life of Mark Jennings and Cristal’s baby. Cristal believes her family put the hit on Mark since they had done him harm in the past. Blake believes it was a result of the ‘roughing up’ he had planned and then called off, with his ‘associate’ disobeying the order to leave Jennings alone. So while Blake deals with Mack, he asks Alexis to check in on Cristal.

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Alexis actually does have some comforting words of advice for Cristal, being a mother who also lost her child, but when leaving she overhears the commotion in Blake’s study and sees Mack in the room. Alexis then conveniently tells Blake she saw Mack the day of the shooting, securing her alibi and sentencing Mack to something far worse than a vicious tongue-lashing. Next thing we know, Blake is pummeling a bound Mack in the wine cellar, Cristal walks in, sees what’s happening, has no idea who the guy is but assumes he was hired by her family, spits in his face and leaves Blake to take care of it. The last we see of Mack, his body is being wrapped in plastic and dumped into a lake by Anders. Talk about family loyalty. Alexis thinks she’s off the hook, but is she? And what happens when Adam arrives … and Nicollette Sheridan exits???

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments section below!