Can a glamorous sparkling water experience set the tone for a thrilling episode of Dynasty? Prepare for a wild ride as we dissect the juiciest moments of Season 4, Episode 4, "The Hearing Part 1." From Alexis's bold 80s glam transformation to a shocking nursery showdown with Kirby, we navigate the highs and lows of Carrington drama. Plus, we spotlight a standout character outside the usual suspects who steals the show and keeps us hooked despite the episode's slower pace.
The tension only escalates in the courtroom, where Steven's refusal to validate on invslidste his relationship with Chris to his father, Blake, leads to an emotionally charged legal battle. With testimonies from Krystal, Fallon, and Alexis, we witness the harsh prejudices against gay men unfold under intense cross-examination. We also uncover the peculiar TV trope of identical grocery bags, adding a humorous twist to the drama. Finally, I share some practical advice on staying prepared for life's unexpected moments, ensuring you keep the drama on-screen while practicing good self-care. Buckle up for a podcast episode that's equal parts intense and entertaining!
Can a glamorous sparkling water experience set the tone for a thrilling episode of Dynasty? Prepare for a wild ride as we dissect the juiciest moments of Season 4, Episode 4, "The Hearing Part 1." From Alexis's bold 80s glam transformation to a shocking nursery showdown with Kirby, we navigate the highs and lows of Carrington drama. Plus, we spotlight a standout character outside the usual suspects who steals the show and keeps us hooked despite the episode's slower pace.
The tension only escalates in the courtroom, where Steven's refusal to validate on invslidste his relationship with Chris to his father, Blake, leads to an emotionally charged legal battle. With testimonies from Krystal, Fallon, and Alexis, we witness the harsh prejudices against gay men unfold under intense cross-examination. We also uncover the peculiar TV trope of identical grocery bags, adding a humorous twist to the drama. Finally, I share some practical advice on staying prepared for life's unexpected moments, ensuring you keep the drama on-screen while practicing good self-care. Buckle up for a podcast episode that's equal parts intense and entertaining!
He's giving, I manage a strip club. More than he's giving I design fine pieces of bikini wear. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome and welcome back to Stoked Lawyer, the official gathering place for movies novices and OG diehard fans of the golden age of primetime. I'm your host, ched, viewing and reviewing the soapiest, studsiest primetime storylines of 1983,. We are lathering up with Season 4, episode 4 of Dynasty, the Hearing Part 1. So, whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy, tell the kids it's time to play outside or out of sight. So obey no questions, suggestions or concerns for the next 25 to 35 minutes, everyone else in earshot. Be cool, quiet or be kicked out, because we have got to get to the bottom of our stories. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soap Lord. What's up party people? Welcome or welcome back to another fun filled edition of Soap Lord. We're gonna have to make this one fun because, as quiet as kept, the hearing part one was a little bit of a dud. There's been very few times where I just thought to myself geez, I could have skipped over this one. I actually contemplated skipping over this episode and episode five, now that I've watched four. Nay, for the existence of one character, and one character only. Somebody's back is throbbing from carrying the show. Here's a hint. It's not one of the Carringtons. Huh, ironic. Go ahead and pour yourself up something bubbly and enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Here in the States we are entering the summer months and I decided to treat myself. I love a good sparkling water. I was at my local grocery store today and I noticed they have like the kind of artisan sparkling waters. I got a berry one today, baby, it was so good. It was in one of those old fashioned corked tops where it's got the little apparatus on it, like when you're canning things and you put them in the glass jars with the seal and it's got the little lever. You know what I'm talking about. If you're an aesthetic queen, you probably had a glass jar like this in your kitchen at some point holding flour. You know the ones. They got the little hinge metal thing. I take a sparkling water today with one of those. It was fantastic. I feel so bougie, so Parisian. Oh, baby, it was good. It was like champagne bubbles. Enough about that. That might have been the juiciest part of this episode. No, I'm kidding, let's go ahead and jump into season four.
Speaker 1:Episode four, the Hearing part one, now that Joseph is dead and gone and allegedly buried, all because Mr Brevere asked for a little bit of extra money that is so petty. They should have kept him on the show because Alexis really could have used someone a tennis partner here in insult. She needed somebody to what is it called Volleying to go back and forth with. She didn't really get that, but what she did get is choked out. So Alexis and her new haircut, which we will spend a little bit of time talking about, comes over to see baby Blake.
Speaker 1:Now the 80s are picking up steam, the 80s that I remember a little bit, where the shoulder pads are coming. Everyone's hair is getting a little more fluffy, that makeup is getting a little powdery, it's looking a little bit differently. They are quickly transitioning from the 70s glam to 80s glam. And so Alexis comes over and she sashays upstairs only to find Kirby in baby Blake's nursery. Kirby can't stand Alexis because, as she sees it, it is her fault that her father committed suicide. I guess that's true. I didn't really think of it that way. I know Blake threw out that accusation, but we still don't really know what Joseph was hiding or who he really is protecting Kirby from, and Alexis still doesn't seem all that bothered by it. That's why she's one of my favorite characters. She just loves to. She's going to talk her trash and she's going to move on. She barely even remembers the conversation, but Kirby ain't forgot.
Speaker 1:Kirby has thought about this and, by the looks of it, kirby hasn't been in a lot of fist fights. It almost looks like she YouTubed video on how to choke someone. So when the opportunity presented itself within the nursery, she was overcome with emotion. I'm going to give her a pregnant pause pass. The hormones are at an all-time high. She's stressed out because this is not Jeff's baby, this is Adam's baby and then her dad. You know it's. It's a lot. So Alexis had to be choked out. Now she's getting choked out.
Speaker 1:Blake comes home from work and he's telling the maids what to do. Why they need 97 maids in this episode, I really don't know, but he hears a commotion. He runs upstairs. He sees Kirby choking out Alexis. He separates them and it's like Kirby oh, it's like she snaps out of it, like she blacked out for a second. She starts freaking out. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I was doing this. Meanwhile, alexis, like this bitch, tried to kill me Alexis's little.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't know what you would call this. I'm gonna call this haircut the elizabeth taylor. For those of you who are 80s babies, 70s kids, 90s kids, you're gonna remember alexis elizabeth taylor was michael jackson's homegirl back in the 40s and 50s. I suppose she was like a child star in the 30s, 40s and 50s. She grew up to be this really beautiful woman. When I was growing up she was kind of pushed out as the most beautiful woman in the world. Now I mean, she was very pretty. I don't know about that, but she was a very pretty woman and she had this haircut. As I remember, she probably would have been in her 60s.
Speaker 1:As I'm remembering her, what is? It's not quite imagine extended bowl cuts that is more triangularly shaped. Only alexis's is fluffed out to full 80s realness and kind of swooshed back like elvis. I don't know what you call pompadour, something like that. Either way, she comes in there. She comes in the nursery first. It's this kind of piece together. It's looking a little thin.
Speaker 1:She's not wearing her usual hair pieces. Well, after she is choked half to death maybe she looks like a wet rat. Her hair is all askew. So she's holy crap. I can't believe I came over this. I just wanted to give my grandbaby a stuffed toy and I get choked out and then blake blames her victim, blames alexis, get outside so they start arguing, going back and forth. She's like I can't even believe you have the audacity to speak to me that way. I don't care who she's married to. That is crazy. Get her before I get her blake. He's like you. You come over here to provoke. And again, that's what I love about alexis. Yes, she absolutely did not come over to provoke anyone that time, but she has been attacked no less than three times on this very property, so I love that she'll come over there, get beat up and still talk shit and leave.
Speaker 1:Needless to say, with this episode being called the hearing, all this did was rev her up for her day in court. She's like you know what, blake, I can't wait oh my god, I can't wait to testify against you on. Oh, I can't wait. Besides, kirby's momentary lapse of judgment, or you know what? I'm gonna let her have it. I'm not gonna say that's a lapse. She just snapped. You know what? She's having a long day. She's got a lot on her mind. She snapped, adding to the tension within the home. Now she goes outside to try to clear her mind and read a little bookie poo when in walks Adam. Adam has obviously fallen out with his mother. His father has like dude, I'm sorry I treated you the way I did, but I'd love it if you come and work for me and also you can live here. So now her rapist is now living down the hall. She can't hardly get a good night's rest for thinking about it.
Speaker 1:Jeff is absolutely useless this episode. I barely even want to mention him. Fallon is a background player. I never well, when I started this series I never thought Fallon would be in the background as deep as she is. She is simply the point of reference for the timeframe. She announces at the beginning of this episode that it's been a week or two since whatever happened since Joseph was buried. I suppose she stressed about having to testify against her father on Stephen's behalf so he can keep this baby, and then she's just sort of melancholy. For the rest of the episode she went to Billings to look up some information on Adam, but that fell through. Womp womp, womp. Kirby has a flashback-y nightmare of Adam being rapey. Womp, womp, womp, womp, womp. Kirby has a flashbacky nightmare of adam being rapey, womp, womp, womp. Alexis's back has got to be killing her, because had she not been on this episode I might have just fast-forwarded through the whole thing, if not for one other character too although alexis carried the story, bad girl sammy joe finally made an appearance.
Speaker 1:I think she might have been in the other one, at least they were talking about her, but I saw her face this time and if they don't do anything else, they're gonna put Sammy Jo in a bikini. So I suppose she's either a go-go dancer or some sort of model in New York. I know she went for modeling, but it just looked like a stripper joint to me. This guy comes out, looks that's what it was. Sammy Jo is in New York and this whole trial or the hearing I guess you don't have a trial when it comes to custody cases. The hearing is splashed over the front page of the Enquirer. She's looking all sad and depressed.
Speaker 1:Other bikini clad women are in the room and they kind of file out of the door as a balding man walks in and he's like hey, I need you out on that runway. My perception looking at this, looking at him, he's clearly not a designer. He clearly doesn't own a store. He is dressed in street clothes. He's giving I manage a strip club more than he's giving I design fine pieces of bikini wear just my personal opinion.
Speaker 1:She doesn't like what's going on. She is troubled about steven being gay, which I'm pretty sure she knew. I'm positive she knew this, but she's still tripping anyway, so she spends the majority of the episode. When we see her on the phone, she's either got a piece of paper in her hand or she's got a telephone in her hand. She's trying to get a hold of blake because she wants to get on the first thing smoking, fly down to to Denver and ensure that he and Crystal get to keep the baby. All of a sudden she wants to be mother of the year with a little string bikini on. Doesn't matter, because she's not there on day one of the trial.
Speaker 1:Now, in order for this hearing to happen, I guess a couple of things had to take place. Blake had to go ahead and go against Stephen to try to get the baby. I guess he's not suing him. I don't know what that word is. I guess he's contesting his parenting. Stephen's homeboy, chris, agrees to go ahead and be his lawyer, but Chris, who's also gay, has a totally different approach to things. Now this is where two things can be true at once. Many things can be true at one. Many things can be true at once where he and Stephen are not romantically together, they are just friends. It matters much more to Chris, who is openly gay, how he is perceived by Blake. I think he just doesn't want to stir the pot. He's a much more mellow individual. He's not not a Carrington. In other words, he's had to earn his place and I don't think he's he's afraid of losing his business or anything like that. But he just sees this as like a a lot of unnecessary rah, rah, rah, proving his point. Sort of Stephen comes home and Claudia is there with him. Now Claudia comes. We'll talk about that here in a second.
Speaker 1:So one day Claudia and Stephen come in and to his, come to his apartment. They're both holding a bag of groceries, which we'll discuss here in a second and when Stephen opens the door, there's this elderly woman who's clearly like a social worker. She is hovering out by his wet bar or his bar car. He doesn't even have a wet bar and he's annoyed because he's already gone through this with a social worker. He didn't know she was going to be there. She tries to make small talk but at the end of the day he was. He was caught off guard by her and he's annoyed because he feel like he is. He's it's just team too much. He's already under the stress and so he gets a little bit short with her, like okay, well, why are you asking all these questions? She sees Claudia and she goes oh, that's Mrs Blaisdell. And he snaps at her like yes, woman, yes, believe it or not, I have male and female friends, can you imagine? So he starts getting pissy and she starts getting defensive and leaves well, as she's leaving in walks.
Speaker 1:Chris the lawyer, chris sees this and he's like dude, you just blew the whole case if you went off on her. And Stephen's point is that he will not make accommodations for people who are ignorant. He will not accommodate his lifestyle to make somebody who already can't stand him comfortable. I'm a hundred percent with him. I have that exact sort of frame of mind. I do not think you should accommodate fools under any circumstances. But in this particular case, chris has the better point. This isn't just about your ego, stephen. This is about maintaining custody of your child. You already know you are a gay man, they're already coming for your neck anyway. Do not give these people any ammunition. That's kind of his way. Chris is all about that love, peace and patience, long suffering. We're going to penetrate people's hearts by being our very, very best selves and allowing them to express themselves and have their ideas. Chris is even did I say Chris or Steven? I meant Chris. Chris is even challenging Steven.
Speaker 1:This episode about how hard he tried to prove that just Chris and he were just friends to his dad. Steven's point is I'm not proving anything to Blake. Blake can believe whatever the hell he wants to. I'm not going to prove a damn thing to him. I owe him absolutely nothing. True, but Chris is like you know your dad, though why wouldn't you take it to the next level? I should probably move out.
Speaker 1:It's almost as if Chris sees this as this whole situation, as Stephen being passive, aggressive and getting under his father's skin just for the hell of it, and that's what Chris is like. This. This don't make no sense. You got to look at the bigger picture here. They're both right. They're both right, and it's like. Sometimes it's hard because you have to swallow your pride in order to get the thing that you want, but I'm with Stephen. I'm tired of talking about this. I'm not making any accommodations. He don't have to like it. I don't like him. He's a horrible father. I'm actually a good father, so I mean I'm just gonna take my chances in court.
Speaker 1:So the way this is set up, it's just going to be a hearing. Chris is going to represent Stephen, lawyer Andrew is going to represent Blake. Crystal Fallon and Alexis will be testifying on behalf of Stephen. Doesn't seem like Blake has any character witnesses, especially with Joseph being deceased. Alexis can't wait to tear him to shreds. Fallon is sick to her stomach. That she has to testify and either way she looks at it, like somebody she loves is going to be hurt. That she has to testify in either way. She looks at it like somebody she loves is going to be hurt. And Crystal refuses to add to Stephen's demise.
Speaker 1:Now you know they're doing the back and forth between her and Blake. She's still living in La Mirage. He wants her to just really be by his side and she says she can't. So she goes to lunch with lawyer Andrew. Apparently they're friendly. You know, ever since the Scammer, scammer, jewels episode, they're very friendly with one another and he, quote-unquote, offers her some friendly advice, quote-unquote and he's like crystal, you know, I love you. However, I am a very, very good lawyer and I'm gonna fight with the gloves off. She's like well, what do you mean? He's like baby girl, if you sit down on that, that, if you sit up there to testify, I'm gonna have to rip you to shreds. I'm gonna have to bring up the fact that you and your niece he doesn't say white trash, but he says white trash y'all are broke. He broke looking for a hand up, looking for a come up. That's what he says. And she's like yeah, we were very, very poor. And he's like and your ex-husband is kind of a gigolo, it appears he's making way more money off the court than he is on the court. Seems like you don't have very good taste in men. Seems like you and your niece, uh, were scamming on new people. You and your niece were scamming the Carrington's to get a leg up. That's what it looks like. So she's like Andrew, are you for real right now? He's like look, you don't understand. That's what's going to go down.
Speaker 1:So, of course, during the hearing, it is blatantly clear that the judge and the old woman social worker are. Indeed, they have a prejudice, they have a mindset about gay people, gay men especially. They don't seem to bring up women. But it is very, very clear that the social worker says something to the effect of well, you know, I think if you have two homosexual people raising a baby, then the baby's going to be gay. And Chris jumps up and he's like that's ridiculous, that is her opinion, that's not a fact, studies are not showing that. So, like that's a dumb point. The judge is like, ah, we need, we need her opinion Overruled. It's like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:Then the next part they ask her about how Steven reacted to her being in his home, unbeknownst to him, rummaging through his liquor cabinet. She's like, oh my god, he overreacted, he was doing so much. Basically, she was saying he was overly sensitive, he was being over the top, painting this picture, which was, I mean, he got mad, but he didn't. She's adding to it. It's kind of like when you say, um, it's that coded language. When you say, oh, this it was just an urban place and she was so urban, or you know, like those people, it's, it's that thing, people who hold the same prejudice there. They're having that conversation openly in court and all of her BS opinions are being presented as fact and Chris, every time lawyer Chris tries to jump up and like interject.
Speaker 1:The judge overrules, overruled, overruled, overruled, overruled. Now Alexis is looking at this. She's rolling her eyes. She can't take it. Crystal's looking depressed and Fallon can't be there until she needs to testify, which is fair.
Speaker 1:So then they put Blake on the stand and Blake is Blake. You know he's. He's pretending to be all cool, calm at first. I love my son so much I went to the Philippines to grab him. I wanted him to be his son's dad. So, lawyer Andrews oh, this is what he says. He says my family's love and support has always been forefront in my mind, something to that effect. Alexis can't roll her eyes hard enough and Crystal is just looking like Jesus. Please don't ask me nothing about that. Blah, blah, blah. Let's get to the good part.
Speaker 1:Crystal ends up testifying saying that Steven is amazing. She is so happy that he's going to be in Danny's life, because Danny needs that sort of like tenderness and love and someone who's going to be a friend. He was a friend to her when she needed one. She lost a baby and the only reason she's able to kind of deal with that with joy is because she knows that Steven is going to be able to raise his own son. Alexis is like oh yeah, that's cute, cute, cute. She can't wait to get on stage.
Speaker 1:She went to court in red, she tucked that hideous wig in her hat, she put on her Michael Jackson two color way thriller gloves and she sat up there like ask me, ask me. Matter of fact, matter of fact, judge. No, let me tell you, blake harrington is a psychopath. He only bought that baby. He don't care nothing about that damn baby. He likes collecting things. He's power hungry. He is absolutely murderous. He kept me away from my kids. He is crazy, crazy. He killed somebody and you know the whole. They're trying to object, but she ain't trying to have it. So the judge basically calls it a day. They have to show up the next morning. Uh, we get to see that Stanley Joe is in a rainy. She's not in the rain, she's in the rain in a phone booth calling Blake telling him that she wants to come and testify. That's it. That's all for this episode.
Speaker 1:It was kind of underwhelming and I understand. Sometimes you just need a story to build something up. I'm betting big money. Since Adam moved into the mansion. I bet Steven will move back in at some point. They're either at La Mirage or they're at the mansion and I've sort of started making a game at La Mirage where I like to see. You know, when they zoom in on it, when they first see it like the full house house there, you can see the full house, like the door and all that jazz. You can see the Cosby show stoop. They show you the outside of La Mirage and then they zoom in on the sign and there's either a woman in orange and two tennis players and like a random guy walking out. Other times they're walking in. It's always the same woman in the same dress and then there's another couple. They only have two people walking in and out and I really enjoy watching their lack of diversity.
Speaker 1:The only other interesting part to me because you have to dig deep this episode is my girl, claudia. Claudia turns out to be an event planning whiz. She knows how to set up a room. She knows you know, she's got a lot of time on her hands she knows how to work. So there's a scene where they're in Fallon's office and Stephen walks in to kind of check in on Claudia, who is now Fallon's personal assistant, and she and Fallon are hovered over Fallon's hideous wood desk and you could just she's pointing to one corner, next corner, down corner, other corner. She does that like four times before she starts talking, so it's like they just said action and instead of being like yeah, yeah, yeah I love watching the extras make horrible small talk she's making like horrible, hey, these are the plans, but she's only pointing to like the corners of the page. It's funny.
Speaker 1:The other part, the other observation that I had and I think a lot of you will notice this whenever there's a television show and they go to the store for food I don't see this so much on streaming, it's like somebody got the memo and changed it up, but on tv, if you watch the disney channel, graze doesn't really matter. When they go to the grocery store, it's always like a sack and it's like they put a big loaf of exactly French bread and there's always like a little garnish of lettuce hanging out. So when Claudia and Stephen are going to his apartment, when the old lady's in there going through the liquor cabinet, they both walk in with these identical and I do mean identical paper sacks of groceries filled exactly the same way and it's just little details like that. This is going to be a boring episode. I wish they put all the produce in one or whatever. But I understand you need a prop to be something sturdy and easy, easily managed and it can't take up too much of the scene. You need to put it down, but between the wig and the prop, and like Claudia's weirdo hand motions just goes to show that I found myself paying more attention to the ground than I did anything else.
Speaker 1:This episode, all right, we're going to keep it cute. That's it. That's all for this one. Thank you for joining me. I hope you enjoyed yourself. Don't forget to text me. Check for the number within the show notes. Keep your friends close, your enemies closest and a handful of witnesses just in case you need to go to the court to defend yourself. Also, keep a spare wig in your car in case you get choked out by your arch nemesis' pregnant daughter. Mind your own business, stay hydrated, stay moisturized and keep all of your drama on TV. Thank you, bye.