Be it in business, love, or real estate, the Carringtons and the Colbys were drawing “Battle Lines” all over Atlanta in this week’s “Dynasty.”
As it begins, the usual breakfast feast at Casa Carrington is bumming Blake out because it’s a table for one, given Cristal’s out of town and he’s still on the outs with his children. So he turns his attention to a new business slash family objective – reclaiming Carrington Atlantic from Van Kirk Industries. But he’s furious when Anders does some snooping and learns Jeff and Alexis are making their own play for the company. Blake pays his ex a visit, clearly hoping he can get her to stab her new spouse in the back, but Alexis just pokes the bear, needling him about being alienated from Fallon and Adam. “You made a tactical error, aligning your forces with Jeff,” Blake fires back as he storms out, “Colbys always lose to Carringtons.”
Seeking Cristal’s advice (and sidebar – I thought Cristal being away would be an excuse not to have Daniella Alonso in the episode, but she pops up briefly during this phone call and then in the final scene), she suggests using the setback as an opportunity to build a bridge with Fallon, by asking her to intercede with Jeff. But instead, and to my delight, Blake selects a different ally – Dominique! While she stands guard (her hurling her drink on the security guard to force his silence was hilarious), Blake snoops in Jeff’s office and is surprised to find a file on his neurotoxicity. To that end, he purchases a pharmaceutical company Jeff and Alexis had their eyes on and threatens to halt their research into a cure for Jeff unless he signs over Carrington Atlantic. It’s a cold-blooded move (even Anders looks taken aback), but Jeff refuses to budge on his revenge. “There are plenty of other pharma companies I can buy,” Jeff taunts, “but there’s only one C.A.” And in the short term, Blake’s the one who’s suffering, as the episode ends with the reveal that the price of Dominique’s partnership was letting her move into the manor. I, on the other hand, am thrilled, as I love the Carrington half-sibs’ dynamic and this will allow them to interact more often.
Speaking of Dom, she’s also up to no good in her subplot with Culhane. When she comes upon him at Club Colby, he’s drowning his sorrows about Vanessa blowing him off. He accepts her offer of another round and, when we rejoin them, they’re drunkenly having a laugh (Culhane: “You are a lot more fun when you’re not blackmailing me!”). But it’s not a huge shock when we see Dom’s faking being intoxicated, and it doesn’t take much further coaxing for her to get Culhane in the sack. Deception aside, it’s exactly the kind of steamy you want a soap hookup to be, way hotter than anything between Culhane and Vanessa. Who, it turns out, does want to be with Culhane after all. Dominique assures him their tryst will remain a secret so he can reunite with Vanessa, but given she recorded their romp, she’s probably got another plan in mind. I dunno if her scheme is aimed at Culhane or Vanessa or both, but go on, Dom.
Also playing love games are Kirby and Adam. Despite Sam’s warnings about Adam, Kirby decides to act on her crush by anonymously inviting him to a Valentine’s Day party at La Mirage. Adam, though, convinces himself the invitation is from Nadia and, when she discovers his misconception, Kirby and her hideous pink flower dress don’t clear things up so she can spend time with him. Sam accidentally blows up her spot, though, and Adam’s moral outrage at being tricked is a little ridiculous given his resume. She goes by the loft to apologize again and watches as Adam, frustrated about Nadia never paying for breaking his heart, smashes up the place. Instead of scaring her off, Kirby…mounts him. Not really sure where this is going, though I kinda like the idea of them teaming up to take revenge on Nadia.
Finally, Fallon spends the episode fixated on buying a house she admired from afar as a child. It’s a dumb storyline, but I did enjoy the montage of Fallon casually scaring off potential buyers. And while Liam’s wet-blanket routine quickly got old, I did find it interesting when he announced that he doesn’t want to have kids, which I’m curious to see if the show ties back to what we heard last season about Liam having fathered a child in high school. But yeah, this was not my favorite story for these two.
Which “Dynasty” war story did you find the most interesting this week? Draw your own “Battle Lines” in the comments section.
