Welcome back Soap Fiends!! Could the twisted web of family drama and power struggles in Dynasty's fourth season mirror your own family's Thanksgiving squabbles? Probably not, but grab your popcorn anyway, because this ride through episode three's bombshells will make your relatives seem downright harmonious. Your host Jett is here to guide you through the emotional aftermath of Joseph's suicide and the effect it has on his daughter Kirby, as well as the Carrington family dynamics that follow. Witness the fiery clash between Alexis and Blake, sparked by accusations in Joseph's final note, and feel the tension as loyalty becomes just another pawn in their opulent power plays.
Fasten your seatbelts as we head to the courtroom where Blake's antiquated custody claims over his grandchild pit him against his son Stephen's more progressive values, and the drama doesn't stop there. Follow Fallon as she digs deep into Adam's murky past, and don't miss the confrontation between Blake and Stephen that takes family feuds to a new level of disbelief. With character analysis and plot twists that give the term 'high drama' a run for its money, this episode's exploration of the Carringtons' world of extravagance is one you won't want to miss.
If you love Soaplore, check out
Televisionofyore.com for a blow by blow recap of iconic t.v
Join the Vintage Primetime Soap Opera Social Club on FB
Welcome back Soap Fiends!! Could the twisted web of family drama and power struggles in Dynasty's fourth season mirror your own family's Thanksgiving squabbles? Probably not, but grab your popcorn anyway, because this ride through episode three's bombshells will make your relatives seem downright harmonious. Your host Jett is here to guide you through the emotional aftermath of Joseph's suicide and the effect it has on his daughter Kirby, as well as the Carrington family dynamics that follow. Witness the fiery clash between Alexis and Blake, sparked by accusations in Joseph's final note, and feel the tension as loyalty becomes just another pawn in their opulent power plays.
Fasten your seatbelts as we head to the courtroom where Blake's antiquated custody claims over his grandchild pit him against his son Stephen's more progressive values, and the drama doesn't stop there. Follow Fallon as she digs deep into Adam's murky past, and don't miss the confrontation between Blake and Stephen that takes family feuds to a new level of disbelief. With character analysis and plot twists that give the term 'high drama' a run for its money, this episode's exploration of the Carringtons' world of extravagance is one you won't want to miss.
If you love Soaplore, check out
Televisionofyore.com for a blow by blow recap of iconic t.v
Join the Vintage Primetime Soap Opera Social Club on FB
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me. Actually, I'm not gonna raise the baby personally. You've seen how I raise kids. I'm not gonna do it. Crystal lord will and she comes back. She's gonna raise the baby.
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Welcome back to another fun full edition of soap lore. I'm your host, jess, viewing, reviewing, loving and lathering up with one of the soapiest primetime storylines of 1983. That's right, y'all. It's time to pull out your fin debris and let's get ready to watch season four. Episode three of Dynasty Is Joseph the pen pal from the grave. We'll explore that and many other topics on today's episode. So, whether you're new to this or true to this, I hope you enjoy it. Tell the kids it's time to play outside or out of sight. Tell bae no questions, suggestions or concerns for the next 25 to 35 minutes, everyone else in earshot. Be cool, be quiet or you will be kicked out. We've got to get to the bottom of this story. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soap Lore. What's up? Party people? Welcome back to another fun film edition of scope war, still the official gathering place for newbies and novices and od diehard fans of the golden age prime time.
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If I don't know anything else, I know season four is magnificent across the board. If season one is where you throw spaghetti up against the wall, season two is where you try to solidify some sort of identity. Season three you know who loves you, who hates you. Season four, it is all systems go. They are not afraid to be as wild and outlandish as they want to be. We got two shootings in an indiana jones adventure series. Come on now. Today's gonna be no different. I'm gonna run through the show as quickly as possible, got my timer set See if I can condense it in under 10 minutes, and then we'll jump in with some particulars.
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This episode in particular had me scratching my head. It's time to dive into a little bit more of the lore in soap lore. Last we left, joseph had met his untimely demise at his own hands. Three episodes in it's like I had to ask myself why would they do this to Joseph? For a character who is stoic, doesn't have a lot of lines, but his presence is felt. It seemed like a random exit. So I'm like did he get a new show? Did he get this? Oh no, apparently Joseph was a little bit too chatty. We'll get to that.
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At the end of this episode, kirby is told by Jeff that her father committed suicide. She was already pressed. She kind of had a feeling something was happening. He's been acting really weird, but this, this is too shocking. She can't believe that he actually took his own life. Jeff is terrible, absolutely horrible, at delivering this news. He's acting like he's telling her they're having Escargot for dinner. But I thought about it. Is there really any proper way to deliver this sort of blow to someone Clothed only in her silk robe and anguish? She darts out of her room, runs down the stairs, runs about three quarters of a mile till she gets to the pond where she can have a respectable breakdown. It was a little bit reminiscent of Stephen's 400 yard dash the time he got drunk.
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The detective formerly known as Gary Ewan, accompanies Blake to Alexis's penthouse. He wants to ask her more questions, which, frankly, she's not in the mood for, considering she was almost smothered to death in the hospital while recovering from almost being rotisserie to death For whatever reason. Her hesitancy irritates Blake and he blurts out that Joseph is dead. Now she is shook, even more so once she hears how he died he killed himself. That's random. While she stands there gobsmacked, the artist formerly known as Gary Ewing reads her Joseph's final soliloquy, and it goes a little something like this Mr Carrington police are bound to discover that I was the one who started the fire. I tried to stop that evil woman from ruining yet another life and failed. I pray my death will satisfy her need for vengeance, joseph. Now Alexis quickly goes from being gobsmacked to insulted Like what. Gary Ewing wants to know what she thinks. The note means she's like clearly he's nuts. There were two women in that cabin, by the way. How do you know? He's talking about me and Blake's looking on all annoyed. He walks Detective Ewing out the door and he's like hey, could you be a little bit discreet about this? I don't want his daughter finding out that he killed himself. She just thinks he's dead. We don't need to go any further than that. The artist, formerly known as Gary Ewing, agrees.
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Once the detective leaves, the gaslighting begins. So Blake spins around. He confronts Alexis for playing country Dom. He's like I know, you know you were the evil woman in that. And she kind of scoffs like I mean, yeah, clearly, alexis, what did you do? She quickly explains to him that you know what I got in a little verbal spat with him. I was never going to tell Kirby about her allegedly whorish mother. I just wanted to put him in his place. They were just being catty. She and him were always catty.
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Blake calls fouls. He chastises Alexis for bullying Joseph potentially to death. Now she counters his argument with a gentle reminder. Uh, remember that time he tried to burn me and my fly ass first to death and I think he snuck into my hospital room to try to smother me like a Mississippi pork chop. Blake is all, please. He barely touched you. Joseph was a saint. He gave his life to protect his daughter.
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Now Alexa scoffs at this and reminds Blake that Joseph was a catty, conniving little mother butler who was always running and telling Blake her business. She's over this and far too rich to take Blake's crap. So she throws out an accusation that Blake slept with Joseph's sexy little wife. She's like wasn't she the attic nympho? Wasn't that her sobroquet? I've never heard that word before, but you better believe I'm gonna be using it in sentences. He threatens to finish her off. I'll kill you my damn self, alexis, if you don't shut your trap. And she's just standing there all like oh of trap. And she's just standing there all like oh, my god, why so violent? Back at the mansion, steven is poking holes in the confession. Why would you tell the world that you tried to kill someone but you wouldn't tell us why you killed yourself? Fallon reminds him that their mother is quite killable and she and joseph never got along like she's not surprised at all. That he tried to offer. It's perfectly natural.
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Later on in the episode, alex Alexis tries to start some ish with Crystal about not seeing Danny. She accuses her of alienating her two kids and she tries to start some stuff. So I feel like she needs that frenemy Joseph was her frenemy. In the privacy of the library, it is decided that they are going to tell Kirby that her dad did kill himself, but they're not going to tell her why. They're not going to mention Alexis, they're not going to mention her potentially whore of a mother, they're not going to bring up Alicia at all. They have a whole new story planned and Blake's going to be the executor of said story.
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So they go upstairs and Kirby is, of course, she's lying in the bed, she's got a lot on her mind and Blake says all blah, blah, blah. Alexis wanted my company, blah, blah, blah, and your dad, like some sort of noble knight and samurai, wanted to stop her. So he, yeah, he tried to burn her alive and then he felt bad so he killed himself. I guess, in a moment of like paternal love, he says to her that she and Jeff can live in the mansion for as long as they want, forever. He wants them to stay there forever and ever. And she's like, okay, thanks.
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I guess over at Steven's apartment, chris Steven's really, really, really wants Blake to know that they're not lovers, they're just friends. And Stephen is so unbothered he's like been there, done that, I ain't explaining absolutely nothing to him. He holds on to that thought even after Chris tells him that Sammy Jo called from New York and she was pissed about him. Their living situation. Stephen not one to be parented by anyone reminds Chris that he can't lose baby. I'm divorced, I got custody of the kid. She can be mad as she want to be, I'm not changing nothing. Plus, all this talk about reconciliation with family is killing Stephen's vibe. He's got something to be tomorrow. He's got to be nice and tranquil and all this chatter, chatter, chit, chit about ex-wives and babies and not being lovers is just, it's a lot.
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Needs to clear his mind for the activities for the next day, blake decides to eulogize joseph in the library with other servants. He allows them a brief moment to feel sad and then you know it's chop, chop. Get back to work, that liver ain't gonna pate itself. Oh, and the best part of the show? It is a triumphant return of my girl, claudia. The Stallion Steven is all smiles when picking her up and taking her back to a suite at you guessed it La Mirage. I suppose Chris and his parenting vibes would ruin his plans if they went back to the apartment. He can't very well bring her there when Chris is like, oh my God, but what is your dad going to say? What is he going to think?
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Steven waits no time welcoming, wink, wink, claudia back into the free world. He's putting that brand new face to work. Welcome to your future baby. Remember our past? You were the first woman I've ever been with. He's clearly had some practice since then, because he has his paws all over her recently lobotomized body. Okay.
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And then he starts to wax poetic about their first time together and allegedly claudia says you know, make this night mass forever, make the sun when or make the stars wonder where the sun went. It's extremely corny, but apparently they've been all hot and bothered for each other all this time they have been waiting. She's like the first time I get out of this loony bin. It's gonna be on steven, it's on site and he's thinking the same thing Interesting, we'll get into that later. He tells her he hasn't touched a woman since well, since Sammy Jo. She thinks she hasn't touched a man who mattered since old Stevie. Steve meaning Jeff was just a fluke. So they do the do. After they get done doing the do, they share more kisses.
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And Blake comes up. Yet again, stephen can't seem to catch a break. Claudia wants to know why Stephen and Blake are once again not getting along. Is this about Danny? And she goes on about how Danny deserves a grandfather. He doesn't have any other grandparents and like he has a grandmother, and I mean Sammy Jo's deadbeat dad. Whoever he is, he's got people, but she's like. You know, it's just such a beautiful thing for a child to have a grandparent. My daughter had a grandparent. I legit had forgotten about Lindsay by this point in the story. Cannibal uses conversation. Okay.
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So Alexis, fresh off of being almost murdered twice in the last few days, thinks that the only man in the world who could save her is the gigolo tennis pro himself, old Marky, mark Jennings. He's less than enthused by the proposition she makes Would you be my bodyguard? He promptly informs her that you know what? Not only will I not be your bodyguard, let's say you happen to be trapped in another burning building. I'm going to walk right the F by. I ain't risking nothing, baby. Alexis also tries in vain to figure out where Joseph's funeral is, but nobody wants to tell her about it because she's persona non grata.
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Obviously, after the funeral, jeff asked Crystal to talk to Kirby Curbs and help her. You know, get over this whole dead thing. Remember last week Kirby slipped and told Crystal that it wasn't Jeff's baby. Well, this time she's like to hell with it. I need to tell somebody. Not only is it not Jeff's baby, I was raped by Adam. This is his seed, this is his monster gremlin baby. I don't want this damn thing. And Crystal's just looking like dang, okay, cool. Curbs tells her you're not going to say anything, right? She's like absolutely. Or you're not going to say anything, right? She's like absolutely. I'm going to keep my whole mouth shut. I'm not going to say a word.
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Brief conversation and appearance from lawyer Andrew, who basically tells Blake it would be very, very tacky to try to take custody away from your gay son because he's gay and, quite frankly, that's not illegal. You're just going to ruin, like, your kid's life. Why don't you try to be his father instead of trying to sue him for you know his seed or whatever? Blake's like. I'm saving this kid from just a weird household. He can live here with me. Actually, I'm not going to raise the baby Personally. You've seen how I raise kids. I'm not going to do it. Crystal, lord willing, she comes back, she's going to raise the baby and that way he'll have like a normal childhood or whatever. And Andrew's like dude, just stop, don't do it, walk away.
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Fallon is on her CSI-ish this episode. Adam comes into her office because, of course remember he's saying a la mirage after leaving Alexis's penthouse, after she basically showed him she was not going to be the loving and tender mother he had hoped for. Hey, sis, I'm heading back to Billings. I wish it could have been different with us and she's like it could never be different. I can't love you if I don't trust you and I don't trust you. You lied to me about the doctor. You said you didn't know him. You've known him since you were a baby. I don't know. Adam, I can't trust you any further than I can throw you. You also lied about the mercuric oxide case, acting like you didn't know nothing about that. Turns out you were definitely on that and he's like wow, you're super suspicious. You must get it from your mom. You know she thought I tried to kill her. You guys are weird and suspicious. And he leaves the room. She promptly picks up the phone, dials the operator and asks for Billings Montana, more specifically, any company that produces mercuric oxide.
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In a not so surprising turn of events, stephen, who's still feeling like you know, dad, I'm so sorry you lost your favorite butler. Let me come see you. Blake actually invites him over, so it's like cool, he's thinking they're talking about that, right, because Philip was Stephen's mother butler. They get over and Blake is pouring the scotch and he's like son, I want you and Danny to move back into the mansion. Got a couple options for you.
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Option one move in, bring Danny back. Leave your quote-unquote friend Chris to his own devices. I'll have Danny in the house and I can look. Look over him as a as a proud grandfather. Stephen's like okay, that's random. Option two option two take custody away from you, despite me having a criminal record and rage issues. Option three give me Danny, leave him with me, and Crystal she may or may not be on board, but I mean hopefully she'll stay, stick around and raise him.
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And Steven, by this point, is like wow, you really brought me over here so you could basically threaten to take my son. So the option is moving with you so you can have my son, take me to court, so you can sue me for my son or hand over my son. That's basically what you're asking me. And he's like, yes, now what happens next is almost too upsetting to talk about. In the aforementioned fit of rage, bird-chested blake reaches out and grabs steven as he tries to leave. Now steven grabs him back because you know what he? He ain't no punk. And they do this sort of middle school homecoming, homeschool dance-like fight, like they're both like trying to steady themselves on a barrel or something. I guess you could call it a fight.
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To my shock and horror, young strapping fresh off an oil rig where he worked 18-hour days lifting slippery ocean 100-pound pipes, strapping strong Steven is overcome by bird-chested Blake. I can't even tell you what else happened. I got so upset I had to turn it off. I would say, out of all the soap operas, dynasty has the most soap tax. They're obviously flying at the seat of their pants still, which is a little bit surprising here. But come on, okay, I can pretend people walk in and out of a sanatorium all the time. I can pretend that you were pregnant for three days. You have this baby. I can pretend that Kirby's walking around about three months pregnant, not showing whatever. It doesn't really matter. I, whatever.
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You will never convince me that Blake Carrington is number one intimidating in any way. I can't think of a single person who's actually been afraid of him number two ever in his life been a strapping young anything. He probably. He looks like he. He rolls a mean sock. I'm sure he puts one hell of a crease in a pair of silk pants. That that that's as tough and as as industrial as I think this name could ever be. You are not going to tell me under any circumstances that someone who is almost head and shoulders taller than you, 40 years, your junior, fresh off of a rig where all he did was rigorous physical labor all day, that he couldn't have mopped the library floor with you. But here we are. So it's pretty obvious I had to calm down and tell myself just watch it, there's like 30 seconds left. Basically, blake tells him I'll see you in court, which is exactly the sort of fighting I expect a man like him to do.
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You don't put your hands on people, even with Ted Denard, let's be honest. He got lucky, he tri honest, he got lucky. He tripped and fell. He tripped and fell because he was drunk. Had he been sober, I'm sure Ted would have mollywhopped him, polite or not. Like you're not running at me, old man, I'll throw you out the second floor window. No, supposed to believe that Stephen was overcome by this old man. And now they have to go to court. For what exactly you want? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. We will have to use soap, tack, soap. What exactly you want? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. We will have to use SoapTac, soaptac, soaptac. This isn't even like a cleanup on aisle four.
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Blake Harrington has a Murder rat, not a murder. It's what was it? Manslaughter was reduced to manslaughter. He's supposed to be on parole for two whole years. He's not actually married. Both of his wives have left him. One accused him of trying to kill her. He actually did kill someone and then he tried to beat someone to death. I find it very hard to believe, despite his immense wealth, that a court of law would ever hand over a fresh baby to him. Stephen, on the other hand, has a steady job, has his own apartment. He is climbing the corporate ladder. Feel how you feel. At the end of the day, we want the safety of the child to be put first and if that's paramount in the situation, you don't put him with the man who has shown time and time again when he gets pissed off, somebody damn near does.
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I left out the whole crystal blake dialogue this time just because I didn't find it interesting. I still don't, but basically, crystal has moved out of the mansion. She's still kind of floating around and all her fly jewelry and furs as a newly single woman for a woman who's trying to make a name for herself. She has yet to fill out a job application. She has yet to visit a bank. She didn't have any mad money stash. She's not opening stores. She didn't have her own Etsy shop, no tea shop. She's not doing anything Selling Herbalife, avon, mary Kay, something. She's doing nothing. She's still munching and living on them, which I mean you know what? More power to you.
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One thing about a soap opera is that the morning season is incredibly short. Doesn't matter how many people drop dead on the show, you're not going to cry about it for more than a couple of episodes. So Kirby, in her dress, she is upset. She's still not shedding a lot of tears. I cackled when she took off running. I okay, I want to know, like from a cinematic point of view, is that, is that the point? Is that the point? Is it so we can watch the entire house? We're like, oh my gosh, they have so much space. Look how far she can run.
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Remember when Steven I'd like to compare three different scenes Steven and his drunken. I can't remember why he got drunk, I don't remember, but this was season one, I believe Season one, maybe season two. He gets drunk, he goes off on Blake and he starts sprinting from the library. He runs about 800 yards to the pool, which is in a different location now, and he trips and fall, busts his head, falls in there. Then he's you know, of course he's womp, womp, womp. He's laid up in the hospital, but he ran for like 10 minutes. Then Kirby curbs runs all the way down the stairs out the back of the house, which is pretty logical. I guess you're just kind of running off that, that angst or whatever.
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And speaking of angst, do you guys remember season one Lindsay totally forgot about Lindsay until Claudia brought her up this episode. I can't remember what she saw, but she did that. She was so extra. We kind of need to bring her back at some point. She was just wide-eyed I think she's dead though wide-eyed and just overly dramatic as a 14 year old girl. And she takes off running down the street because I think she saw her. I can't remember who she saw. One of her parents did something upsetting, but if Donnie's ain't gonna do anything else, they're gonna be dramatic. So in my mind I'm thinking in a foot race, out of all the dramatics, would it be dramatic? Angsty Lindsay, who would win a foot race? Drunken Steven, or crying Kirby, my money's on Lindsay, you just you got to give it to the youth. Plus, nobody and I do mean nobody has been more dramatic on the show since then. Also, this is the first time that Kirby has actually said that Adam raped her. Oddly enough, crystal just kind of looked shocked. I guess it is a shocking thing to hear, but nobody, she didn't say are you going to go to the police. Her only advice is like you got to tell Jeff. I'm like, why are they so cavalier about this? Like, why bring that I don't know Cat's out of the bag? At least partly the K's know about it, crystal and Kirby. It remains to be seen if Jeff will find out sooner rather than later.
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Alexis, alexis can the villain be the victim? Absolutely, I would argue that most villains become that way because they were victimized at some point. It is probable that Alexis may have been a sweet, semi-docile woman at some point. She was thrown into this wildlife style by her ragey husband. Imagine how crazy he was. Younger Blake was probably a handful back in the day.
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She is reeling from the loss of her kidnapped child. She's acting out. I choose to believe. Her backstory is that you know what she was on the up and up. If I remember correctly, she didn't come from a lot of money, but she was like money adjacent. One day she said you know what this good girl thing is getting me? Absolutely nowhere. I'm going to throw caution to the wind and enjoy my life, and it's been happily ever after, ever since, even if she's had to stir the pot to mess up a few people's lives in the process.
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It is what it is, blake chastising her for you can't really blame her for, joseph.
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Truth be told, I had all but forgotten about that. They got to talk about the secret sooner or later. I hope it's not one of those things that they just kind of drop off and don't talk about again. Because I started thinking today if you wanted to keep a secret or change an identity, you just have to, like you'd have to hope that Kirby didn't know her mother's name, which would be weird. You'd have to. You'd have to go to Great Leans to kind of keep her hidden. But in 1980, maybe it's not so hard 20 years prior to that is, you know, 1963. And as far as I know, people didn't even have pictures on their driver's license. Back then you could find a driver's license in a parking lot and assume that identity. Just move to the next town, that sort of thing. So it's odd to me Fun storyline, but it's odd that whatever this secret is has been kept this long.
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And what's more, what could Alexis gain by saying anything to Kirby? She doesn't seem to want to. I love watching her delight in other people's misery. It is so much fun. I think that's it. That's all for this episode.
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We've got the hard part out of the way. Now we just got to figure out who Alicia is, what the big secret is and what Kirby's going to do about it. Oh, also, is she going to tell Jeff about this baby? Oh, and Adam? Adam is now privy to the fact that Fallon has picked up his scent. She's got the resources and she probably thinks like him. I like the contrast between Steven Adam and Fallon. She's a lot more docile, but she's sharp as a whip. I hope Fallon is a lot less boring this season. All right, guys, enjoy yourself. Join me next time as we run through the rest of Knott's Landing. Can't wait to finish season one. In the meantime, in between time, keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your soaps closest. Be kind to yourself, because you deserve it, no question about it. Stay moisturized, stay hydrated, Mind your own business and keep all of your drama on TV. Bye.