Season 1 Discussion

[iMonrey]

I'm kind of puzzled why they brought Claudia back at all if this is all they ever intended to do with her. Or why Matthew didn't last past the pilot. In the original, Matthew lasted a whole season before biting the dust, and then Claudia stepped in as the main adversary, claiming the Carringtons had stolen oil leases that belonged to Matthew. 

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Do these writers realize America isn't rooting for the wealthy right now?  Claudia could have been the outsider that viewers rooted for.  

Exactly. That's kind of the purpose she served in the original series. Who are we supposed to be rooting for in this version?

[SanDiegoInExile]

On 11/30/2017 at 5:22 PM, txhorns79 said:

And I laughed quite a bit at Colhane's plot.  Are his parents supposed to be idiots?  Have they never asked him any follow up questions about his job as a "Vice President," or even asked to see where he lives?        

Laughable if that's truly the way it is. Surely someone in their circle of friends has heard of the internet or google.  VP's wouldn't be secret.  I just imagined that they are coddling their son and know full well that he is Vice President, Transportation Division.  Whether we ever get that *tender moment* when they reveal what they know remains to be seen.

[SanDiegoInExile]

23 hours ago, TobinAlbers said:

....Or Anders' secret daughter.....

I have been hoping that *Kirby* turns out to be a male......who falls for daddy's nemesis Sam.

The show is really playing up the Joseph Anders - Samuel Jo bonding/bitterness/fondness.  The best payoff would be Winifred's son falling head over heels in lust for the dough-y latino.

OriginalRecipe Kirby was a drip of a character who served little purpose.  OriginalRecipe Sammie Joe slept her way through the male cast.  The current SJ has only gotten horizontal with Steven and Ted Dennard (in a seemingly dropped plot WTF?)

[SanDiegoInExile]

On 12/1/2017 at 1:08 PM, iMonrey said:

I'm kind of puzzled why they brought Claudia back at all if this is all they ever intended to do with her. Or why Matthew didn't last past the pilot. In the original, Matthew lasted a whole season before biting the dust........Who are we supposed to be rooting for in this version?

Matthew re-surfaced alive and well in Season 6.  I doubt they can do that with the decapitated version this time.

Sadly, I think we are supposed to root for Fallon.....She has her moments, but way more misses.  Like in this episode: She's all thoughtful and supportive to the straw-stealing bratty girl, then she mocks the older woman and "the poor" before scribbling out a check with plenty of zeroes.

And Cristal, once we learn that her *shady* past is going to be something heroic, liking stealing gobs of money from drug dealers and/or saving her Venezuelan hometown from narco traffickers.

Edited December 3, 2017 by SanDiegoInExile

[Ms Blue Jay]

What was the dialogue in Spanish at the end?  Netlflix didn't provide me with any subtitles?

On 11/30/2017 at 2:15 PM, iMonrey said:

Fallon to Steven: "Don't poke that bear. It's a Pandora's Box, with a can of worms inside. Let sleeping dogs lie!"

Good grief - who writes this dialogue? A computer programmed to spit out nothing but cliches? Somebody got paid for that. The mind, it boggles.

I thought all of the cliches thrown in there was a joke, on purpose.....I don't think the writer intended that to not be funny.

[SlovakPrincess]

Obviously, I'm supposed to think Fallon is winning and clever and sympathetic after this episode.  But I'm stubbornly resisting this because having her: (a) give to the poor; and (b) make up with Michael; and (c) basically save the family from Crazy Claudia in one episode was laughably manipulative and amateurish.  

So much for what could have been a less cartoony and more interesting story arc for the Claudia character!  Shame, since the actress is pretty good.  

This show is never going to be the trashy good fun it should be if they overdo it and rush through everything like this.  Rather than having Claudia more slowly insinuate herself into the show and try to attract and gain sympathy from Blake more and more (and even make a fling with these two a legit possibility), and make the audience guess at how crazy she actually is and if she's a depressed innocent or plotting a long con to get the Carringtons (which would have kept her a viable character for at least a full season or two) -- she's suddenly a criminal mastermind who killed her own husband and blew through her storyline in basically two epodes.  Terrible, terrible, stupid decision.  

The only point of the Michael story this episode was so that he and Fallon would be back on good terms again.  Boring.

The only enjoyable part of this debacle of an episode was Sammy and the butler's interactions.  Also, some of the better acting moments from the Claudia actress.  

Edited December 2, 2017 by SlovakPrincess

[SmithW6079]

On 12/1/2017 at 10:23 PM, SanDiegoInExile said:

Matthew re-surfaced alive and well in Season 6.  I doubt they can do that with the decapitated version this time.

 

Someone's never seen "Soapdish." ?

 

[Pentwater]

"The turkey's done." Well, yes.

[Locutus]

The quickness of the plots just seems to be the way things are nowadays. I can remember in the halcyon days of the soaps it could take a year or more to complete a storyline. Frankly, I prefer the fast pace. I just don't have the patience for the long drawn out anymore, especially if it's a clunker, and I'm not getting any younger honestly.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Locutus

[TobinAlbers]

Damn. Well some stuff happened. You could feel a shift on the storytelling. Scenes moved quicker, things were wrapped up from Claudia and springboarded into new twists.

Steven learned he's responsible for a man's death and fell back into drugs and rang up Dinard.

Jeff's cousin is in and Stansfield out AND he's keeping that recording about Blake for future use. Jeff's playing a ruthless game.

I love that they touched on race and how Jeff was disappointed in Stansfield and how Stansfield scoffed at the billionaire. Makes you see why Jeff looks down on Michael- 1) he sees him as being a white man's errand boy in being Blake's driver -which is what he thought Blake wanted him to be as well by staying at CA as Blake's right hand 2) By being Blake's 'errand boy' he's close to Fallon- which Jeff wants to be and 3) Michael is what Jeff once was - poor and indebted to the Carringtons- and what he resents about himself- having been that.  

I may be reading too much into it, but damn, the show might've gone a little deep!

Fallon remains exhausting. She's constantly bouncing back and forth between men but doesn't want to commit to them - just keep them on a string. Michael's stuck on her and blew his relationship with Kori, Jeff has either moved on to just enjoying her in his bed and playing hard to get or he's playing hard to get because he's covering his feelings.

Looks like Michael and Jeff's sister may be making a match soon.

Sammy Jo showed initiative and I liked him better for it. Actually everyone did!

Good grief is Anders all up in a woman's business! Privacy violations aside, Anders just dropping the knowledge on Blake was no joke. He was clear with Cristal- your past is your past but don't fuck with Blake's future. And his furtive meeting hat and coat and gun accessory? Can we have a web series of Anders' downtime exploits?

We know Adam and Amanda didn't show up till later seasons with Blake thinking Adam lost and never knowing about Amanda but interesting that he deliberately said to Cristal that the family doctor was at the birth of both his kids. So either Blake was telling a sanitized version of the truth (leaving Adam's kidnapping out) or he really doesn't know about his potential other two kids. It's too soon for Cristal to birth baby Christina - I still think Sammy Jo will turn out to be hers.

[Maverick]

Original Fallon was always bouncing to different guys.  Culhane, Toscani, the lame German dude.   She even hit on her brother Adam once.  All while doing a dance with Jeff.   It seems like in this version Culhane is going to be her one true love.

I felt sorry for Steven.   He's got no one to support him.  His sister is too self-involved and superficial. Sammy Jo isn't exactly a responsible adult.  Jeff either views him as a rich privileged white guy who got away with a crime or a tool to use against Blake, but either way isn't on his side.  Dinard will encourage his drug habit.   Nothing good in his future plots.  I assume he'll do something to get in enough trouble to prompt Alexis' return.

 Was Blake talking about his father not showing up to his wedding to Alexis or Cristal?  I assumed Blake hadn't talked to his father in years like Original Blake but if they're in contact Tom should be showing up soon too.

 Do we know how Sammy Jo got out of Venezuela and his mother didn't?   Or how long he's been here?

 It looks like they're going to transfer Alexis' plot with her sister Caress to Cristal.  

[Lebanna]

So this thing is clearly sponsored by Google Pixel.

'Something Everyone Wants' says each character upon mentioning the device, as if they have all been body-snatched by some race of Goggle Pixel obsessed alien-worm creatures.

Which would be more entertaining.

[Scootman]

Well, Blake 2.0 handled Cristal secretly being on birth control better than Original Recipe Blake, who got drunk and committed spousal rape (never to be mentioned after Season 1). I like how B 2.0 seemed forgiving, but clearly he is having doubts.

I like Secret Agent Anders. He's the best Anders ever.

What a mind F*ck for Steven. And he goes right over the edge.

Elizabeth Gillies has perfectly captured the spirit of early-season Fallon. She's messed up, but oh so entertaining.

Interested in seeing what Jeff's game is.

This was a good episode.

[methodwriter85]

I definitely think the show is coming together at this point.

Was cocaine a thing for Steven on the original show? The show didn't seem to have much of that, but I'm going off of my memories of FX reruns from the 1990's. I did like that Steven was knocked off his pedestal. It made him feel more real.

[Maverick]

Original Steven was not into drugs.  Blake hated Ted Dinard because he Blake felt he was corrupting Steven by encouraging his homosexuality.  Since in this version no one has an issue with Steven being gay they appear to have replaced drugs as the issue that makes Blake hate Ted so much. 

[Bec]

I used to get sucked into that dumb show Passions (say what you will about this show, it's not as dumb as Passions!) You can walk away from watching it for months, and the characters would still be in the same place they were when you come back.

Is it bad that I'm still rooting for Claudia? I don't like that it turns out she killed Matthew, but I never liked Matthew anyway. I still don't think this should give the Carringtons a free pass for their shady dealings.

How is Blake okay with his new wife implying his daughter slept with the whole football team? But all his daughter had to do to get kicked out of Thanksgiving was utter the words "sex tape".

[SanDiegoInExile]

I agree that this episode seemed to have a different feel to it.  What upsets me the most is that the improvised disco-glittery opening credits were gone.  Maybe that means we will get better produced, less cartoon-y opening credits in 2018 episodes.  

[xqueenfrostine]

On 12/6/2017 at 9:22 PM, TobinAlbers said:

It's too soon for Cristal to birth baby Christina - I still think Sammy Jo will turn out to be hers.

That would be really weird given the ages of the actors.  Nathalie Kelley is only a year older than Rafael de la Fuente.  I mean I’m sure Cristal is meant to be older than Kelley is in real life, and Sammy Jo younger than de la Fuente, but I think there’s limit to how far they can believably stretch the age gap between them on the show and no way does Cristal look old enough to be Sammy Jo’s Mom.  They’d have to say she gave birth as a sixth grader.

[iMonrey]

OMG did Cristal's doctor just tell her butler about her IUD? For cripes sake! Forget about Blake, just sue the pants off that doctor and live off the malpractice settlement. I mean - what medical professional on earth would do that? 

[SlovakPrincess]

On December 6, 2017 at 2:46 PM, Locutus said:

The quickness of the plots just seems to be the way things are nowadays. I can remember in the halcyon days of the soaps it could take a year or more to complete a storyline. Frankly, I prefer the fast pace. I just don't have the patience for the long drawn out anymore, especially if it's a clunker, and I'm not getting any younger honestly.

I think there's a happy medium, but agree that it's hard to get it just right for a serial drama.  Too slow, and the audience gets bored.  Too fast, and you risk your audience not feeling the need to keep tuning in -- if someone was intrigued by the Matt death / Claudia plot more than the other stories, they may just drift off to a different show now.   Personally, I think they had more intriguing plot twists they could have used and could have done more and better things with the Claudia character, and they totally blew it.  

 

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Is it bad that I'm still rooting for Claudia? I don't like that it turns out she killed Matthew, but I never liked Matthew anyway. I still don't think this should give the Carringtons a free pass for their shady dealings.

I could sort of root for a homicidal Claudia when I thought she truly believed the Carringtons had caused her husband's death, either by murder or by accident.  But her trying to get vengeance for a death caused by ... herself is just completely WTF to me.  It's not clever writing, it's just a really weird story choice that doesn't work.  I'm weirdly mad that Crazy Claudia wasted my time!  LOL.    

Edited December 9, 2017 by SlovakPrincess

[txhorns79]

Quote

I agree that this episode seemed to have a different feel to it.  What upsets me the most is that the improvised disco-glittery opening credits were gone.  Maybe that means we will get better produced, less cartoon-y opening credits in 2018 episodes.  

My guess is that whether the credits appear is more about whether they need the time for the episode or not.   

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OMG did Cristal's doctor just tell her butler about her IUD? For cripes sake! Forget about Blake, just sue the pants off that doctor and live off the malpractice settlement. I mean - what medical professional on earth would do that? 

I vaguely recall there being a mention that the pre-nup gave the family access to all of Cristal's financial accounts, so it wouldn't be shocking if it allowed them access to all her medical records as well. 

I do feel as if Steven kind of deserved all this happening.  I can't even imagine how obnoxious it would be to have my kid offering smug lectures about how I do business, while simultaneously living off the money the business provides him. 

[SmithW6079]

On 12/9/2017 at 7:51 AM, xqueenfrostine said:

That would be really weird given the ages of the actors.  Nathalie Kelley is only a year older than Rafael de la Fuente.  I mean I’m sure Cristal is meant to be older than Kelley is in real life, and Sammy Jo younger than de la Fuente, but I think there’s limit to how far they can believably stretch the age gap between them on the show and no way does Cristal look old enough to be Sammy Jo’s Mom.  They’d have to say she gave birth as a sixth grader.

On "Dallas" 2.0, Judith Light played the mother of Mitch Pileggi, who is only three years her junior.

Anders's remarks about not as always being a majordomo and the way he's so protective about Blake makes me wonder if he's really Blake's father.

Edited December 10, 2017 by SmithW6079

[Bort]

7 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

On "Dallas" 2.0, Judith Light played the mother of Mitch Pileggi, who is only three years her junior.

Yeah, but those are actors that were in their sixties. It's a little tougher to buy when you're talking about people in their early thirties.

[methodwriter85]

20 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I do feel as if Steven kind of deserved all this happening.  I can't even imagine how obnoxious it would be to have my kid offering smug lectures about how I do business, while simultaneously living off the money the business provides him.

Yeah, he definitely needed someone to knock him off his smug pedestal.

I really hope Blake is lying about only having two children and the show isn't changing that part of the story. I want Adam Carrington to show up really, really bad. He was basically the male Alexis and he was a total nutcase in the best kind of way. Adam and Steven's rivalry was funny.

[Kaiju Ballet]

On 12/6/2017 at 10:22 PM, TobinAlbers said:

I love that they touched on race and how Jeff was disappointed in Stansfield and how Stansfield scoffed at the billionaire. Makes you see why Jeff looks down on Michael- 1) he sees him as being a white man's errand boy in being Blake's driver -which is what he thought Blake wanted him to be as well by staying at CA as Blake's right hand 2) By being Blake's 'errand boy' he's close to Fallon- which Jeff wants to be and 3) Michael is what Jeff once was - poor and indebted to the Carringtons- and what he resents about himself- having been that. 

This is a great analysis. In an earlier episode post, someone commented that they hoped this reboot does more with its move to Atlanta. I like their using the complex race relations that exist within Atlanta/South politics and economy to build story and characterization --so many more story possibilities already than in the original Denver setting.

On 12/6/2017 at 11:42 PM, Maverick said:

It seems like in this version Culhane is going to be her one true love.

They're really building a lot of depth into Culhane's character and backstory, aren't they? Meeting the parents was so sweet.

On 12/7/2017 at 6:04 PM, Scootman said:

I like Secret Agent Anders. He's the best Anders ever.

Agreed! He's the bitchier version of Alfred from Gotham.

On 12/7/2017 at 8:58 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I did like that Steven was knocked off his pedestal. It made him feel more real.

 

20 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I do feel as if Steven kind of deserved all this happening.  I can't even imagine how obnoxious it would be to have my kid offering smug lectures about how I do business, while simultaneously living off the money the business provides him. 

I keep thinking that the character might be a parody of all the trust fund kids running around being outraged about privilege, but I don't think the show wants us to laugh at Steven. I'm not sure what the show wants to do with Steven--whatever it is, so far it hasn't been entertaining or all that compelling to me. It doesn't help that the actor doesn't do it for me either--he's just there.

Even when he's "kidnapped" I found myself hoping that it would be an opportunity to swap out the actor, rather than worried for the character.

On the other hand, I like the actress who plays Crystal, even if I've been too lazy to learn her name. I just wish that we got more of a sense of why Blake fell in love with her, as its becoming more and more apparent that the person he thought he loved doesn't really exist. They went out of their way to show that she's not a golddigger, so maybe it's saying something more disturbing about Blake that he's smitten with a cypher?

Elizabeth Gillies continues to knock it out of the part.

[skotnikov]

14 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Yeah, but those are actors that were in their sixties. It's a little tougher to buy when you're talking about people in their early thirties.

And btw Dallas 2.0 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dynasty 2.0. That was real fun.

On 8.12.2017 at 2:58 AM, methodwriter85 said:

I definitely think the show is coming together at this point.

It's unlikely. The whole episode had a weird disjoined feel. They really have no clue in what direction to go. 

[Bec]

I think what Blake loves about Cristal is, she's good at making him feel like she's not after his money. She's constantly reminding everyone she's not comfortable with having money (while actually having no problem spending a lot of money).

Blake would dump her like yesterday's garbage if she's an obvious gold-digger.

It's kind of like the duality of Steven complaining about how his father does business while also enjoying the money from that business. I'm not saying these people are even consciously dishonest, they're dishonest with themselves about who they really are.

[txhorns79]

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I think what Blake loves about Cristal is, she's good at making him feel like she's not after his money. She's constantly reminding everyone she's not comfortable with having money (while actually having no problem spending a lot of money).

It's a weird situation.  I don't really see any reason for why Blake would want to stick it out with Cristal.  She's done a lot of lying to him in a very short time period.  She's also moved an extremely mooching relative into the household, and put everyone in danger by insisting that Claudia be moved into the house, along with hiding the fact that she owes a large amount of money to a potentially murderous gang.     

[JAYJAY1979]

6 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

It's a weird situation.  I don't really see any reason for why Blake would want to stick it out with Cristal.  She's done a lot of lying to him in a very short time period.  She's also moved an extremely mooching relative into the household, and put everyone in danger by insisting that Claudia be moved into the house, along with hiding the fact that she owes a large amount of money to a potentially murderous gang.     

Only reason I can see is Blake not wanting to admit he made a mistake and was 'conned' into falling for Cristal.  He doesn't like to admit defeat, so he'd stay married to her rather then divorce her thus admitting he was wrong and someone got one over him.  Fallon is kind of the same way.

[Iwassterlingarcher]

"I think what Blake loves about Cristal is, she's good at making him feel like she's not after his money. She's constantly reminding everyone she's not comfortable with having money (while actually having no problem spending a lot of money)."

Except that, between the robbery and the 300k Anders got her, she's been after Blake's money quite regularly.  Maybe that she's now spilled at least some of her beans to Blake, she won't need to drain his wallet.

Oh....and Gilles is an absolute babe...not sure if I like her more in Sex/drugs/rock/roll or this.... but DANG!

[Bec]

15 hours ago, Iwassterlingarcher said:

Except that, between the robbery and the 300k Anders got her, she's been after Blake's money quite regularly.

Yeah, I agree she's been after his money. But she also does her best to keep up the pretence that she isn't after his money.

17 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

Only reason I can see is Blake not wanting to admit he made a mistake and was 'conned' into falling for Cristal.

Ooh, I think you're onto something!

[iMonrey]

Quote

I vaguely recall there being a mention that the pre-nup gave the family access to all of Cristal's financial accounts, so it wouldn't be shocking if it allowed them access to all her medical records as well. 

Well first of all, that's not a thing. And second of all, that's not even how it went down. Anders called the doctor and spoke with either the doctor himself or someone in the doctor's office. There's no way in hell anyone working in a doctor's office would give out personal medical information like birth control to a patient's butler. He didn't even ask for the information . . . whoever was on the other end of the phone volunteered it! Now, if they wanted to play this like he was bribing someone to spill the info, that's one thing, but again, that's not how it went down. He called and pretended to be checking that her medical records had been forwarded from  wherever they had previously resided. That's it. And apparently whoever was on the other end just up and volunteered the info about her IUD!! 

[AnimeMania]

I think Anders was checking to see if there might be any medical problems since Cristal and Blake were trying to have a baby. The medical records were transfered to the Carrington family doctor who told Anders that Cristal was still using birth control so she were not likely to become pregnant.

[Locutus]

Well, everything took a sharp left turn.

[Bec]

Happy birthday, Jesus! This episode was hilarious!

So much delicious schadenfreude watching things go to hell for Blake and Cristal. I might have pointed at the screen and gone "ha HA!"

It was adorable how delighted Anders looked when he was decorating the Carrington mansion for Christmas. And then poor guy was so crushed that the decorations got destroyed and the mess all left for him and the staff to clean up.

Nice to see Fallon "evolving", but it was still funny how amused she was to be a spectator instead of a participant in a cat fight for once.

The dog showing up when Iris was stealing information(?) from Blake's computer - so random, but it made me laugh and laugh some more.

[missbonnie]

See! That's how I feel watching this show. So campy and ridiculous that it's just awesome. 

[truthaboutluv]

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but I like Blake. In fact, I enjoyed all of the Carringtons this episode, except for Steven and his whinging. Yes, even the cliche racist and offensive father. I liked all of their scenes together. I continue to not care about Cristal and think the actress is awful and I continue to want Sammy Jo recast or written out entirely. That character is just a fail on all levels, sorry not sorry.

The actor just doesn't have the charm to not make his whiny, freeloading, loser existence not annoying. When he whined at the end to Cristal about how lying about his father made him feel worthless and grow up thinking he was a loser and she said he wasn't worthless and a loser, I thought, "there you go Cristal, still lying all the time because yes, yes he is."

Anders is cool but I kind of wish he had more to do. I've seen the actor in so much and think this role so far is so beneath his talent. Interesting development with Jeff and the Colbys. Some did note that Jeff would use the stuff he found out about Steven and their working together to get rid of Stansfield, for his personal gain. Will be interesting to see where that storyline is going. Also curious what Cristal's sister was stealing off Blake's computer. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[iMonrey]

So wait . . . Cecil Colby is mad at the Carringtons because Blake was sleeping with his wife? So does that mean Jeff or his sister might be Blake's biological child? Are Jeff and Fallon siblings? I don't get what's going on here.

Also, the big reveal in the pilot was that Cristal was really Celia Machado and she changed her name. Yet when Blake told Anders to send for Iris, he said her last name, Machado. So, presumably, he knew Cristal's maiden name all along? So she just changed her first name? So what? How did that even help her evade whatever bad guys were chasing her?

I'll confess Fallon has some pretty good one-liners and wisecracks but the show doesn't really offer much more than that. 

Ratings have pretty much bottomed out at a 0.2 and a 1 share, with less than 72K viewers. I don't care what kind of deal the CW has with Netflix, I can't imagine they want to keep wasting an hour of programming on this.

[Scootman]

"Happy Birthday Jesus!"

EG is just owning the role of Fallon.

Always good to see Bill Smitrovich, even as the mean, racist Grandpa. It's clear where Fallon gets her smart assery from. And he partied with Steve Nicks!!

Anders has clearly cleaned up messes for years, but he hasn't seen anything like the Family Cristal. 

Steven is a boring whiner. Jeff Colby is officially as far from Original Jeff as humanly possible.

So can we assume that: Cecil and Alexis have an affair, Alexis is banished, Cecil is set up for prison. Lloyd Bochner's Cecil never would have let Blake get the drop on him like that. Of course, this Cecil actually lived through intercourse with Alexis, so I guess that's a win.

[JAYJAY1979]

Here is my theory after watching episode 9...

 

Monica is the daughter of Blake and Cecil's wife.... and has it been said if she's alive or not?  If she's alive... Vanessa Williams would be perfect since her show Daytime Divas was recently cancelled.

I'm kind of surprised Monica made a play for Michael, but at the same time, I'm not.  I think she realized that she will always be in Fallon's shadow.. and always thought of as the charity case by Fallon and I think this is a way for her to strike back at Fallon.  I think Fallon was trying to be nice, but like most of her attempts.. it was the wrong approach.  I do agree with monica that comparing Alexis abandoning Fallon for England is loads different then Monica's father going off to prison.   I just wish the show had done a better job showing the gradual realization that Fallon views her as a charity case in the earlier eight episodes.

I'm wondering if Cristal's sister Iris knew Sammy Jo's dad is alive and the two are in cahoots to get money out of Cristal and the Carringtons.  It's sad, but I don't like Cristal at all... in the original show, Krystle was nice.. but no pushover.  The only time Cristal was likable was the scenes between her and Matthew.. plus her vs Claudia... but the show killed off Matthew and carted Claudia off to the looney bin.  Claudia in the original had interactions with Jeff and Cecil Colby... so I'm surprised the modern day Claudia wasn't used in the Colby story more.

The reason Sammy Jo worked in the original show was that the character came and went over the seasons.. she wasn't kept on full time all the time.  Maybe this current Sammy Jo should have been written off at the mid season.. and brought back a little later after getting some money/smarts.  

Fallon is intriguing... but the writing needs to show her more human side without making her always say one liners all the time.  I can't wait till Alexis arrives.. EG will certainly raise to the occasion because I anticipate some mother/daughter arguments.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I'm confused. Did Blake have an affair with Cecil's wife or did Cecil have an affair with Blake's wife? If it's the former, Monica will probably turn out to be Fallon's sister. If it's the latter, I hope they don't try to suggest that Fallon might be Cecil's kid because that would mean she's been screwing her brother. Yeah, no, the Lannisters would point and laugh at this bunch.

What non-English language were Jeff and Cecil speaking to each other? Was it Gullah?

[Pentwater]

This should be the Anders show. He steals every scene he's in. The actor who plays Blake's father *gasp* can actually act (as can the Anders actor). Rewrite this god-awful show with the two of them as leads. I beg you. 

[TobinAlbers]

1 minute ago, doram said:

I got the impression that the Claudia reveal was plotted out from the beginning. There's the fact that most of the time the first half of the season is shot straight and then a full season is confirmed after the episodes have aired for a while.  And from the more Watsonian perspective, there's definitely a sense of a revealing mystery being gradually unravelled. As a mystery lover, I liked the way it was solved.

But I don't think it's all tied up in a neat bow. There's the "murder made to look like suicide" that Blake and the corrupt cop (I forget his name), are almost definitely involved in. And Claudia has a baby in that oven. Her story is not over. 

Oh no doubt they plotted the first block of episodes with a clear beginning, middle, and end for the launching story with a few episodes to wrap up in case they didn't get their back nine. They were confirmed for a full season fairly quickly so they knew they didn't have to rush to wrap things up so what we say is what they wanted.

I just kind of hate the twist that the justifiably pissed wife is worse than those who screwed her over. It feels like a cheat to make the shady Carringtons look better in comparison and justified in looking down on Claudia. The Carringtons were pulling some heinous crap and deserved some payback; but it coming from wackadoo Claudia takes some of the fun out of it. Guess they all can't be Emily Thorne ;)

And agreed, Claudia is pregnant so that is definitely going to come into play since she's not in prison but a sanitariumm. Her next arc will probably be a 'reformed' Claudia pleading for the Carringtons to let her be released into a family members' supervised care so she can raise her baby only to find out this family member is just as set on vengeance as Claudia or someone she paid to help get her out free and clear so she can flee to come back at another time for revenge and be a looming threat for S2 unless all is forgiven when Cristal helps Claudia deliver her baby and she becomes a Carrington lifer.

[Kaiju Ballet]

14 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

What non-English language were Jeff and Cecil speaking to each other? Was it Gullah

 

2 hours ago, doram said:

Yoruba, I think, although it went too fast to catch.

@SamAdegoke's been retweeting praise for speaking Yoruba with the actor playing his father. I loved that, too, and the scenes between Monica and Fallon. Both Monica's disgust at being turned into a cliche of a scholarship kid with a dad in prison, and the dad's about being stereotyped  interlaced beautifully with overt-racist grandpa "I’m not a racist. I was just going to say that homosexual really can dance.”

Campiness plus unexpected depth -- Happy Birthday, Jesus indeed!

[TobinAlbers]

On 12/14/2017 at 5:40 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

Monica is the daughter of Blake and Cecil's wife.... and has it been said if she's alive or not?  If she's alive... Vanessa Williams would be perfect since her show Daytime Divas was recently cancelled.

As long as she gets to play scenes with Alan Dale's Anders since they played together on Ugly Betty. Loved them together and now that he gets to throw shade at everyone as well the two of them would be a hoot.

[SanDiegoInExile]

On 12/14/2017 at 7:25 AM, missbonnie said:

See! That's how I feel watching this show. So campy and ridiculous that it's just awesome. 

And this is what is making me want to tune out.  

[SlovakPrincess]

Color me shocked when the first outfit Fallon wore in the episode ... wasn't actually pajamas.  

Why does Fallon keep calling Michael by his last name?  It's annoying.  Actually, everything she does is annoying to me.  

The Cristal and Steven plots were actually quite interesting this episode!  Quite an improvement!

Did Cristal really just offhandedly tell Blake that Sam arranged for the robbery?!  And he had no reaction?!  What?

Edited December 20, 2017 by SlovakPrincess

[SlovakPrincess]

Nice to see Monica get a point of view finally.  But have Michael and Monica ever even talked to each other before?  That happened awfully fast at the end.  The new twist with Jeff is potentially interesting..

Bill Smitrovitch!  He did a great job as Blake's jerk of a father.

I guess I'm in the minority because I really like Sam.  Yeah, he's a mooch ... but if I had access to the over-the-top Carrington breakfast buffet, I would totally mooch, too!   And he's smarter and far less mean-spirited than the original Sammy Jo, who had pretty much no redeeming qualities.  I felt bad for him when his mother took off without saying goodbye.

Finally, Blake gets fed up with all the crazy things coming out of Cristal's past!  I don't dislike Cristal, but that's a lot of craziness to learn about your new wife in the span of five months!

Alejandro actually being alive was eyeroll-inducing.  So dumb.

[tongueincheek]

On 12/19/2017 at 7:12 PM, SlovakPrincess said:

Nice to see Monica get a point of view finally.  But have Michael and Monica ever even talked to each other before?  That happened awfully fast at the end.  The new twist with Jeff is potentially interesting..

Considering Culhane has been with the family for ten years, and Monica and Fallon have been close friends (if not "best friends") since they were young, I'm assuming the two have had some casual exchanges over the years. I love that they're seemingly heading into the direction of having the Colbys become (hopefully worthy) adversaries to the Carringtons, with Jeff working to avenge for his father and family. Monica's just being straight petty, but I'm glad she's finally in the game here. Regarding her and Culhane, he should really know better, but I guess he doesn't really owe Fallon anything at this point. It's very obvious they're working towards Michael being Fallon's long (end)game. I suspect they'll be reunited, or at least on that path by the end of the season. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by tongueincheek

[SanDiegoInExile]

Yikes. Not a peep. Maybe the abrupt telenovela format didn't work for Middle America.